Guest guest Posted December 12, 2007 Report Share Posted December 12, 2007 Namaste Sir, Nice writeup and thanks for forwarding! However, I have an issue with the opening paragraph and the overall tone that follows later. I will take a slightly different stand. > Have you ever given a thought why the religious landscape of Bharat > remained almost intact even after a thousand years of suppression by > Muslim and Christian invaders ? Do you think it was the power of Vedas > , Upanishads and the Gita and our people's knowledge in our > fundamentals ? NOPE.. It was by the singular attachment of the lay > Hindu towards HIS God, that we are still alive as heirs to Hinduism. To show the value of aagamas, one need not put down Gita, Vedas etc. Though Vedas and Upanishats are not comprehensible to many Hindus in this age, Gita has been a fountain light of wisdom and conviction for many Hindus in this age. After all, Krishna taught the essence of Veda and Upanishats in a simple form to understand just before Kali Yuga started, for a reason. Putting down Gita and Vedas to show the value of aagamas is IMHO a wrong attitude. To praise the value of the " physics lab " class, you do not have to put down the " physics theory " class. After all, they are related and they are not opposites. If the knowledge of physics becomes weak among people (including teachers) and the teachings in the " physics theory " and " physics lab " classes start to deviate due to corruption in the understanding of teachers, then people may start taking the two sides and start fighting about the superiority of the one class over the other. But that is a wrong attitude and one who thinks that " physics theory " and " physics lab " are independent and/or opposites understands neither subject correctly! The same holds in the case of Gita/Vedas/Upanishats vs Aagamas/tantras issue. The above is a perfect analogy for what happened. There is no point in putting down either one of them by the other camp. The time has come for people to realize that they are two sides of the coin and one helps in a better understanding/appreciation of the other. * * * If you ask me, the reason for India's sanatana dharma being preserved is a few liberated sages who are engaged in tapascharya in remote corners of the land. Men of absolutely unbelievable spiritual caliber are constantly meditating in several places and they are playing their role in the divine play of the Mother. Reciting Veda or Gita and performing Aagamas are excellent things to do, but those can only accomplish limited things. There are several who recite Veda or Gita, but do not understand the true meaning. There are several who perform aagamas, but without the purity of consciousness that comes with a true understanding. Such people cannot accomplish much. On the other hand, when a yogi who understands the essence of Veda and Aagama reaches one of the higher realms of consciousness, remains in it for a long time and accumulates enough shakti, a mere wish is sufficient to change the course of world history. There are many great yogis who are immersed in the nectar of the bliss of divine communion, who are fulfilling the Divine Will through their wishes and maintaining sanatana dharma. In fact, India is set to become a major force in the material plane too (in addition to the spiritual) in the coming 100 years. All this is simply divine will, executed by the thought power of the Yogis who are in tune with the divine will as their own individual ego-consciousness and the resultant individual will have fallen off. Some of them are popular and people know them, such as Sant Jnaneshwar Maharaj, who is still immersed in constant meditation at Alandi and Lord Hanuman, who too is present on earth in his physical body and meditating on Lord Rama. But there are also many that we do not know of. As a matter of fact, I will say that the study of Vedas, Upanishats, Gita as well as performing of aagamas is still going on in India due to the meditation and thought power of such Yogis. Best regards, Narasimha Mass Satya Narayana Vratam: http://www.VedicAstrologer.org/pooja Do Ganapathi Homam Yourself: http://www.VedicAstrologer.org/homam Spirituality: Free Jyotish lessons (MP3): http://vedicastro.home.comcast.net Free Jyotish software (Windows): http://www.VedicAstrologer.org Sri Jagannath Centre (SJC) website: http://www.SriJagannath.org - " Saravanan Balaraman " <ethinder <sivacharya > Wednesday, December 12, 2007 1:20 PM [sivacharya] Fwd: from asthikasamaj > AGAMAS- WHICH SHAPED BHARAT- part 1 > > Have you ever given a thought why the religious landscape of Bharat > remained almost intact even after a thousand years of suppression by > Muslim and Christian invaders ? Do you think it was the power of Vedas > , Upanishads and the Gita and our people's knowledge in our > fundamentals ? NOPE.. It was by the singular attachment of the lay > Hindu towards HIS God, that we are still alive as heirs to Hinduism. > > How did the common man develop so much attachment to his God, > silently suffering under the brutal suppression of the worst enemies > of Humanity then and now ? It was by the Agamas. > > I now present to you all a forgotten heredity of us all which has > helped shape the spiritual landscape of Bharat. The essence of this > heredity are a series of divine scriptures. They are AGAMAS. > > When you propose to build a house, (especially in South India), the > plot is chosen by its straightness, the length and width. They have to > be in certain measure of feet. Then the direction of the site. Then > the house plan. Specially here, the location of the sump, the kitchen, > the bedroom, the bathroom are finalized only after consulting vasthu. > Vasthu science was given to us by the Agamas. > > All the temple rites are given to us by the Agamas. Even your daily > arathi and the Murthis and photos you worship are given to us by the > Agamas. In short temple worship was started by the Agamas only. > > Agama literally means coming down. > > Agamas were built into the society rather than accepted and studied. > Such has been their subtlety. For example, the adage , " do not reside > in a village that has no temple " is a direct Agamic edict that is > followed to this day by every Hindu without himself studying anything > about it. The society itself is built up on such edicts. > > Have you ever wondered why you stand up in front of the deity with > your palms joined and raised to the level of the chest in such a way > that the lower joint of the thumbs point towards the solar plexus ? > Also , why do we go around the prakara of the temple in a particular > way ? Why do we adorn specific religious symbols such as Vibhuti, > kumkum , Chandan and Gobi on our foreheads ? > > The answers to all the above are in the Agamas . > > The three major sects of Hinduism have separate agamas. In fact each > have many. Saiva sects have as many as twenty eight ( Tamil and > kashmir sects). Vaishnava sects have two main agamas namely > pancharatra and Vaikanasa. Similarly Saktha sects have their own. > > The power of Agamas is so great that, though these sects treat the > vedas with respect, they do not consider the vedas to be their > authority in their sect. Saiva Siddhantha people will resent if you > thrust vedic thoughts on them. In the 10 th century AD, Yamunacharya, > the founder of Vaishnavism as a sect wrote a treatise explaining why > Vedas do not matter for his sect. > > Agamas are self sufficient literature in that they cover the man's > life from cradle to grave. Even minute details such as brushing the > teeth, selection of sticks for brushing etc are given. If you ever > see some rites in a funeral , never laugh anymore. They are the > direct links of the man and his antique forefathers. > > These agamas are principally in Sanskrit. The Tamil people developed > the grantha lipi for writing the Sanskrit Slokas and till today they > are in Grantha form and not in Devanagari ! > for details see <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grantha_script> > > Today, the granthas are known only to a class of temple archakas known > as kurukkal. I interviewed one kurukkal a few days back and what he > told me shook me. He said that he studied for five years in a > patashala to learn Agamas alone. And also he told me that he had > nothing to do with Vedas. Remember , the archakas are also brahmins, > who do trikala Sandhyavandanam with gayatri. > > He further said that they are proficient in grantha and have written > examinations in grantha ! The only people allowed to do consecretion > of temples are kurukkals and the only mantras chanted are Agama > mantras. > > The Indonesian Hindus call themselves as Agamic Hindus. > <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinduism_in_Indonesia> > > Agmas teach tantric philosophy. What is tantra ? We will see that in > the next part. > > Venkat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.