Guest guest Posted December 17, 2009 Report Share Posted December 17, 2009 Namaskara! I have some very basic questions and was not convinced by answers that are usually given. 1. How can milk be considered pious? I understand that Cow is a divinely being and is worshiped as `Kamadenu'. But in actual sense we are extracting milk and preventing the calf from having its share of milk...Is this not a sin to stop a young calf from having milk from its mother? 2. How can silk cloth be considered sacred for worship? Silk is obtained by killing thousand's of cocoon. Using a product which is obtained by killing so many living beings and we being a cause for such an action...Are we not doing sin? 3. I tell my daily prayers but I have not learnt Sanskrit and don't understand the meaning of many prayers that I say everyday. Why is it necessary to say the slokas in Sanskrit and not other language?? Will our Supreme Lord not understand other languages ?? or is it just bcos Sanskrit has been used from the very early times it is still in practice. ~Ramya Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 17, 2009 Report Share Posted December 17, 2009 1. I can answer the first query regarding milk. If a calf is allowed to drink lots of milk from its mother it is not good for the baby's health and for the mother storing so much milk in her body is harmful. Hence the milk has to be removed or the cow and the calf's health will be in danger or to say they can die. This was told by my mother who had nurtured a cow in the village back then. These days I don't consider milk to be auspicious as animals are given hormones etc to extract more milk.2. Regarding silk its a good question I would want to know about it too.3. My personal understanding: There's no need to chant prayers in sanskrit but the intonations and vibrations coming from the mantras is what counts and makes it more effective. God can understand any language afterall he is the creator. Christians say their prayers in English. You have to learn sanskrit to understand the prayers alternatively if you surf the internet many of the day to day mantras are given with meaning. Regards,Sudha --- On Thu, 12/17/09, ramypras <ramypras wrote:ramypras <ramypras Basic queries Date: Thursday, December 17, 2009, 10:02 AM Namaskara! I have some very basic questions and was not convinced by answers that are usually given. 1. How can milk be considered pious? I understand that Cow is a divinely being and is worshiped as `Kamadenu'. But in actual sense we are extracting milk and preventing the calf from having its share of milk...Is this not a sin to stop a young calf from having milk from its mother? 2. How can silk cloth be considered sacred for worship? Silk is obtained by killing thousand's of cocoon. Using a product which is obtained by killing so many living beings and we being a cause for such an action...Are we not doing sin? 3. I tell my daily prayers but I have not learnt Sanskrit and don't understand the meaning of many prayers that I say everyday. Why is it necessary to say the slokas in Sanskrit and not other language?? Will our Supreme Lord not understand other languages ?? or is it just bcos Sanskrit has been used from the very early times it is still in practice. ~Ramya Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 17, 2009 Report Share Posted December 17, 2009 2. Silk - I am not really sure if it is mandatory to kill the cocoons for making silk. This may very well be the way silk is extracted now! Every thing is so commercialised. Once, people used to cut only the dry branches and was concerned that they do not want to make a tree loose its green branches. Now a days, world leaders argue poluting the environment is their right and only negotiate on the amount of polution that may be allowed! 3. Prayer and Mantra are two different things! Prayers does not have any language barriers. Mantras on the other hand are composed by/revealed to great sages and passed on. If a great sage belonging to your language has passed on mantras in local language, they can very well be used. Pronounciations and Vibrations are important, but, the involvement and concentration are perhaps more required. I feel more bliss full when I sit silent with out any mantra and try my best to avoid thoughts. Best regards, Vijay , Sudha Metllapalli <metllapalli wrote: > > 1. I can answer the first query regarding milk. If a calf is allowed to drink lots of milk from its mother it is not good for the baby's health and for the mother storing so much milk in her body is harmful. Hence the milk has to be removed or the cow and the calf's health will be in danger or to say they can die. This was told by my mother who had nurtured a cow in the village back then. These days I don't consider milk to be auspicious as animals are given hormones etc to extract more milk. > > 2. Regarding silk its a good question I would want to know about it too. > > 3. My personal understanding: There's no need to chant prayers in sanskrit but the intonations and vibrations coming from the mantras is what counts and makes it more effective. God can understand any language afterall he is the creator. Christians > say their prayers in English. You have to learn sanskrit to understand the prayers alternatively if you surf the internet many of the day to day mantras are given with meaning. > > Regards, > Sudha > > > > --- On Thu, 12/17/09, ramypras <ramypras wrote: > > ramypras <ramypras > Basic queries > > Thursday, December 17, 2009, 10:02 AM >  > > > Namaskara! > > > > I have some very basic questions and was not convinced by answers that are usually given. > > > > 1. How can milk be considered pious? I understand that Cow is a divinely being and is worshiped as `Kamadenu'. But in actual sense we are extracting milk and preventing the calf from having its share of milk...Is this not a sin to stop a young calf from having milk from its mother? > > > > 2. How can silk cloth be considered sacred for worship? Silk is obtained by killing thousand's of cocoon. Using a product which is obtained by killing so many living beings and we being a cause for such an action...Are we not doing sin? > > > > 3. I tell my daily prayers but I have not learnt Sanskrit and don't understand the meaning of many prayers that I say everyday. Why is it necessary to say the slokas in Sanskrit and not other language?? > > Will our Supreme Lord not understand other languages ?? or is it just bcos Sanskrit has been used from the very early times it is still in practice.. > > > > ~Ramya > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 18, 2009 Report Share Posted December 18, 2009 Namaste, Your line of thinking is good. Faith is needed in religion, but corruptions do take place and it is useful to question. Blind faith in some things is useful to make progress, but one cannot place blind faith in everything attributed to a religion and shun logic completely. Truth is arrived at by a combination of reason and faith. Without faith, only reason cannot take one to the highest truths. Without reason, blind faith cannot take one to the highest truths, especially if one starts off with faith in wrong notions (e.g. one may believe that you reach god if you kill people not belonging to one's religion). Fortunate is one who finds the right balance between faith and reason, uses reason to find the right notions to place faith in and makes quick progress. * * * (1) In practical physical terms, cow milk is a simple and nutritious food with plenty of poteins and easy to digest. It is very saattwik and has many useful properties as per ayurveda. However, if you replace cows that live a relaxed lifestyle feeding in open grasslands on grass and leaves with cows that live a hectic and stressful lifestyle in congested factories feeding on chicken etc, the gunas of milk are considerably different. It's not the same anymore. A cow can produce more milk than what is needed by its calf. People in the old days never deprived calves of mother's milk and took milk after the calf was fed. Instead, if one deprives the calf and steals all the milk (like many factories may be doing), that karma will follow the milk and go to various people handling, using and consuming that milk, in different proportions. (2) Yes, a cloth made of silk carries a lot of negative karma. Putting so many worms in boiling water and killing them is negative karma. I feel far more comfortable putting in homam fire a cotton cloth made from a tree than putting a silk cloth made by killing many worms. Though silk clothes are fashionable in religious ceremonies now, one cannot be sure whether this was a custom in ancient times or the current silk is a substitute for another kind of cloth made non-violently in ancient times. When people cannot find something that is used traditionally, they try to find a substitute to feel good that they are following the customs. If they do not clearly understand the motivation/rationale/spirit behind a custom, they may end up with a bad substitute. For example, I have seen people decorating idols with nice looking plastic flowers and plastic flower garlands. Plastic is a really bad substitute for a real flower. People only use them for decorating idols and do not put them in homam fire, but who knows, people may start offering plastic flowers in homam fire after a few hundred years. Like that, silk clothes may have come into usage as a bad substitute for something else. (3) Supreme god understands everything. The purpose of a mantra is not for requesting god for a specific thing. The purpose of a mantra is to stabilize an overactive mind and focus it on something. Mind is like a monkey jumping up and down and running here and there. Mantra is like a rope that ties it to a fixed pole (a deity or a focus point). As one tries to focus the mind on a deity/mantra and give up all other thoughts, a moment will come (perhaps after minutes of sadhana or hours or days or years or lives) when mind will let all other thoughts go. Mind will then reverberate with the mantra, with no other thoughts in it whatsoever. One forgets oneself completely and gets absorbed in the mantra *fully*. That is when one *experiences* a mantra and a deity. Such a thing is possible with any combination of sounds. One can repeat "I bow to the holy father" for ever and reach such a state. However, depending on the mantra being repeated in the mind and the deity being focused on, the experience of the mind when the mantra fills the mind and all other thoughts cease will be different. Different mantras will give different experiences. Various deities, their Sanskrit mantras and beejas were experimented by many great yogis before us and well-understood by ancients. If you want to tie a monkey to a pole, any rope can be used. But, if a rope was tested before, it may be good to use that rope. Secondly, arrangement of sounds in Sanskrit alphabet has a deep significance and correlation to the subtle body. Different sounds are vibrating in different parts of the subtle body. Sanskrit alphabet and mantras are constructed beautifully. When one's self-awareness ascends from the regular plane of consciousness, one can experience other realms of consciousness that are vibrating with different sounds. Sanskrit captures that well. Thirdly, each tangible article (such as a book or an email or a mantra) has some remnants of the energy of persons who associated with it. When I say a specific combination of words, it may have one impact on you. When a saint says the same combination of words with the same tone, it may have another impact on you. A sentence one writes when one is in a bad mood or bad spiritual state may not have any impact on readers. A sentence one writes in a very good state of mind after a lot of sadhana and control over mind may inspire readers more That is because one's shakti works through one's words and other tangible actions. For this reason, mantras that were composed by great yogis or used by great yogis are touched by their shakti and may end up storing some of their shakti. One using such a mantra has a chance to capture a little of that shakti. That is why one feels good energy when one chants mantras composed by great souls like Adi Shankara. So it is a good idea to use well-known Sanskrit mantras that were used by generations of great saints and yogis. Best regards,Narasimha- Free Jyotish Software, Free Jyotish Lessons, Jyotish Writings,"Do It Yourself" ritual manuals for short Homam and Pitri Tarpana: http://www.VedicAstrologer.org Films that make a difference: http://SaraswatiFilms.org Spirituality: Jyotish writings: JyotishWritings- --- On Thu, 12/17/09, ramypras <ramypras wrote:ramypras <ramypras Basic queries Date: Thursday, December 17, 2009, 12:02 PM Namaskara! I have some very basic questions and was not convinced by answers that are usually given. 1. How can milk be considered pious? I understand that Cow is a divinely being and is worshiped as `Kamadenu'. But in actual sense we are extracting milk and preventing the calf from having its share of milk...Is this not a sin to stop a young calf from having milk from its mother? 2. How can silk cloth be considered sacred for worship? Silk is obtained by killing thousand's of cocoon. Using a product which is obtained by killing so many living beings and we being a cause for such an action...Are we not doing sin? 3. I tell my daily prayers but I have not learnt Sanskrit and don't understand the meaning of many prayers that I say everyday. Why is it necessary to say the slokas in Sanskrit and not other language?? Will our Supreme Lord not understand other languages ?? or is it just bcos Sanskrit has been used from the very early times it is still in practice. ~Ramya Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 19, 2009 Report Share Posted December 19, 2009 , " Narasimha P.V.R. Rao " <pvr108 wrote: > > Namaste, > > Your line of thinking is good. Faith is needed in religion, but corruptions do take place and it is useful to question. Blind faith in some things is useful to make progress, but one cannot place blind faith in everything attributed to a religion and shun logic completely. Truth is arrived at by a combination of reason and faith. Without faith, only reason cannot take one to the highest truths. Without reason, blind faith cannot take one to the highest truths, especially if one starts off with faith in wrong notions (e.g. one may believe that you reach god if you kill people not belonging to one's religion). > > Fortunate is one who finds the right balance between faith and reason, uses reason to find the right notions to place faith in and makes quick progress. > > * * * > > (1) In practical physical terms, cow milk is a simple and nutritious food with plenty of poteins and easy to digest. It is very saattwik and has many useful properties as per ayurveda. > > However, if you replace cows that live a relaxed lifestyle feeding in open grasslands on grass and leaves with cows that live a hectic and stressful lifestyle in congested factories feeding on chicken etc, the gunas of milk are considerably different. It's not the same anymore. > > A cow can produce more milk than what is needed by its calf. People in the old days never deprived calves of mother's milk and took milk after the calf was fed. Instead, if one deprives the calf and steals all the milk (like many factories may be doing), that karma will follow the milk and go to various people handling, using and consuming that milk, in different proportions. > > (2) Yes, a cloth made of silk carries a lot of negative karma. Putting so many worms in boiling water and killing them is negative karma. I feel far more comfortable putting in homam fire a cotton cloth made from a tree than putting a silk cloth made by killing many worms. Though silk clothes are fashionable in religious ceremonies now, one cannot be sure whether this was a custom in ancient times or the current silk is a substitute for another kind of cloth made non-violently in ancient times. > > When people cannot find something that is used traditionally, they try to find a substitute to feel good that they are following the customs. If they do not clearly understand the motivation/rationale/spirit behind a custom, they may end up with a bad substitute. For example, I have seen people decorating idols with nice looking plastic flowers and plastic flower garlands. Plastic is a really bad substitute for a real flower. People only use them for decorating idols and do not put them in homam fire, but who knows, people may start offering plastic flowers in homam fire after a few hundred years. > > Like that, silk clothes may have come into usage as a bad substitute for something else. > > (3) Supreme god understands everything. > > The purpose of a mantra is not for requesting god for a specific thing. The purpose of a mantra is to stabilize an overactive mind and focus it on something. Mind is like a monkey jumping up and down and running here and there. Mantra is like a rope that ties it to a fixed pole (a deity or a focus point). As one tries to focus the mind on a deity/mantra and give up all other thoughts, a moment will come (perhaps after minutes of sadhana or hours or days or years or lives) when mind will let all other thoughts go. Mind will then reverberate with the mantra, with no other thoughts in it whatsoever. One forgets oneself completely and gets absorbed in the mantra *fully*. That is when one *experiences* a mantra and a deity. > > Such a thing is possible with any combination of sounds. One can repeat " I bow to the holy father " for ever and reach such a state. > > However, depending on the mantra being repeated in the mind and the deity being focused on, the experience of the mind when the mantra fills the mind and all other thoughts cease will be different. Different mantras will give different experiences. Various deities, their Sanskrit mantras and beejas were experimented by many great yogis before us and well-understood by ancients. If you want to tie a monkey to a pole, any rope can be used. But, if a rope was tested before, it may be good to use that rope. > > Secondly, arrangement of sounds in Sanskrit alphabet has a deep significance and correlation to the subtle body. Different sounds are vibrating in different parts of the subtle body. Sanskrit alphabet and mantras are constructed beautifully. When one's self-awareness ascends from the regular plane of consciousness, one can experience other realms of consciousness that are vibrating with different sounds. Sanskrit captures that well. > > Thirdly, each tangible article (such as a book or an email or a mantra) has some remnants of the energy of persons who associated with it. When I say a specific combination of words, it may have one impact on you. When a saint says the same combination of words with the same tone, it may have another impact on you. A sentence one writes when one is in a bad mood or bad spiritual state may not have any impact on readers. A sentence one writes in a very good state of mind after a lot of sadhana and control over mind may inspire readers more > > That is because one's shakti works through one's words and other tangible actions. For this reason, mantras that were composed by great yogis or used by great yogis are touched by their shakti and may end up storing some of their shakti. One using such a mantra has a chance to capture a little of that shakti. That is why one feels good energy when one chants mantras composed by great souls like Adi Shankara. > > So it is a good idea to use well-known Sanskrit mantras that were used by generations of great saints and yogis. > > Best regards, > Narasimha > - > Free Jyotish Software, Free Jyotish Lessons, Jyotish Writings, > " Do It Yourself " ritual manuals for short Homam and Pitri Tarpana: > http://www.VedicAstrologer.org > Films that make a difference: http://SaraswatiFilms.org > Spirituality: > Jyotish writings: JyotishWritings > - > > --- On Thu, 12/17/09, ramypras <ramypras wrote: > ramypras <ramypras > Basic queries > > Thursday, December 17, 2009, 12:02 PM > > > > Namaskara! > > > > I have some very basic questions and was not convinced by answers that are usually given. > > > > 1. How can milk be considered pious? I understand that Cow is a divinely being and is worshiped as `Kamadenu'. But in actual sense we are extracting milk and preventing the calf from having its share of milk...Is this not a sin to stop a young calf from having milk from its mother? > > > > 2. How can silk cloth be considered sacred for worship? Silk is obtained by killing thousand's of cocoon. Using a product which is obtained by killing so many living beings and we being a cause for such an action...Are we not doing sin? > > > > 3. I tell my daily prayers but I have not learnt Sanskrit and don't understand the meaning of many prayers that I say everyday. Why is it necessary to say the slokas in Sanskrit and not other language?? > > Will our Supreme Lord not understand other languages ?? or is it just bcos Sanskrit has been used from the very early times it is still in practice. > > > > ~Ramya > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 19, 2009 Report Share Posted December 19, 2009 I don't know what happened. After sending the message, I get blank message ad lost all the matter that I typed. So, I am re-typing. Sri Narasimha's explanation on this thread is brilliant, as it is always. I began beleiving that he is a great Sadhaka as well, since his words inspire me a lot. I also started fearing as to how much bad karma I am accumulating by consuming this commercial milk from SamsClub / Walmart and so on grocery stores within the US. Although the organic milk is available in the US, it is so much more expensive and unaffordable to me, to buy on a regular basis. And my fate is such that I even do the abhishekam to my Lord, SadaShiva, using the same milk, every monday. What is the way out? Is there a way we can get rid of this bad karma that we keep accumulating every day, knowlingly some/unknowingly some? Is there a way we can measure the amount of bad karma we already have and do appropriate remedies? I know constantly doing Sandhyavandanam, regularly doing Homam, Mantra japam etc. is one way, but how to measure how much you need to do to get rid of the bad karma and how to avoid accumulation of new bad karma? Also, is consumption of alcohol (social drinking or otherwise) also a bad karma and if so, is it as bad as or worse than consuming non veg food? I know most puranas strongly advise against any consumption of alcohol, but there are no strict dos and donts on anything in our Vedantic Tradition, in my opinion. I could be wrong and ready to be corrected. Nagraj , " nagraj " <nagraj_um wrote: > > > > , " Narasimha P.V.R. Rao " <pvr108@> wrote: > > > > Namaste, > > > > Your line of thinking is good. Faith is needed in religion, but corruptions do take place and it is useful to question. Blind faith in some things is useful to make progress, but one cannot place blind faith in everything attributed to a religion and shun logic completely. Truth is arrived at by a combination of reason and faith. Without faith, only reason cannot take one to the highest truths. Without reason, blind faith cannot take one to the highest truths, especially if one starts off with faith in wrong notions (e.g. one may believe that you reach god if you kill people not belonging to one's religion). > > > > Fortunate is one who finds the right balance between faith and reason, uses reason to find the right notions to place faith in and makes quick progress. > > > > * * * > > > > (1) In practical physical terms, cow milk is a simple and nutritious food with plenty of poteins and easy to digest. It is very saattwik and has many useful properties as per ayurveda. > > > > However, if you replace cows that live a relaxed lifestyle feeding in open grasslands on grass and leaves with cows that live a hectic and stressful lifestyle in congested factories feeding on chicken etc, the gunas of milk are considerably different. It's not the same anymore. > > > > A cow can produce more milk than what is needed by its calf. People in the old days never deprived calves of mother's milk and took milk after the calf was fed. Instead, if one deprives the calf and steals all the milk (like many factories may be doing), that karma will follow the milk and go to various people handling, using and consuming that milk, in different proportions. > > > > (2) Yes, a cloth made of silk carries a lot of negative karma. Putting so many worms in boiling water and killing them is negative karma. I feel far more comfortable putting in homam fire a cotton cloth made from a tree than putting a silk cloth made by killing many worms. Though silk clothes are fashionable in religious ceremonies now, one cannot be sure whether this was a custom in ancient times or the current silk is a substitute for another kind of cloth made non-violently in ancient times. > > > > When people cannot find something that is used traditionally, they try to find a substitute to feel good that they are following the customs. If they do not clearly understand the motivation/rationale/spirit behind a custom, they may end up with a bad substitute. For example, I have seen people decorating idols with nice looking plastic flowers and plastic flower garlands. Plastic is a really bad substitute for a real flower. People only use them for decorating idols and do not put them in homam fire, but who knows, people may start offering plastic flowers in homam fire after a few hundred years. > > > > Like that, silk clothes may have come into usage as a bad substitute for something else. > > > > (3) Supreme god understands everything. > > > > The purpose of a mantra is not for requesting god for a specific thing. The purpose of a mantra is to stabilize an overactive mind and focus it on something. Mind is like a monkey jumping up and down and running here and there. Mantra is like a rope that ties it to a fixed pole (a deity or a focus point). As one tries to focus the mind on a deity/mantra and give up all other thoughts, a moment will come (perhaps after minutes of sadhana or hours or days or years or lives) when mind will let all other thoughts go. Mind will then reverberate with the mantra, with no other thoughts in it whatsoever. One forgets oneself completely and gets absorbed in the mantra *fully*. That is when one *experiences* a mantra and a deity. > > > > Such a thing is possible with any combination of sounds. One can repeat " I bow to the holy father " for ever and reach such a state. > > > > However, depending on the mantra being repeated in the mind and the deity being focused on, the experience of the mind when the mantra fills the mind and all other thoughts cease will be different. Different mantras will give different experiences. Various deities, their Sanskrit mantras and beejas were experimented by many great yogis before us and well-understood by ancients. If you want to tie a monkey to a pole, any rope can be used. But, if a rope was tested before, it may be good to use that rope. > > > > Secondly, arrangement of sounds in Sanskrit alphabet has a deep significance and correlation to the subtle body. Different sounds are vibrating in different parts of the subtle body. Sanskrit alphabet and mantras are constructed beautifully. When one's self-awareness ascends from the regular plane of consciousness, one can experience other realms of consciousness that are vibrating with different sounds. Sanskrit captures that well. > > > > Thirdly, each tangible article (such as a book or an email or a mantra) has some remnants of the energy of persons who associated with it. When I say a specific combination of words, it may have one impact on you. When a saint says the same combination of words with the same tone, it may have another impact on you. A sentence one writes when one is in a bad mood or bad spiritual state may not have any impact on readers. A sentence one writes in a very good state of mind after a lot of sadhana and control over mind may inspire readers more > > > > That is because one's shakti works through one's words and other tangible actions. For this reason, mantras that were composed by great yogis or used by great yogis are touched by their shakti and may end up storing some of their shakti. One using such a mantra has a chance to capture a little of that shakti. That is why one feels good energy when one chants mantras composed by great souls like Adi Shankara. > > > > So it is a good idea to use well-known Sanskrit mantras that were used by generations of great saints and yogis. > > > > Best regards, > > Narasimha > > - > > Free Jyotish Software, Free Jyotish Lessons, Jyotish Writings, > > " Do It Yourself " ritual manuals for short Homam and Pitri Tarpana: > > http://www.VedicAstrologer.org > > Films that make a difference: http://SaraswatiFilms.org > > Spirituality: > > Jyotish writings: JyotishWritings > > - > > > > --- On Thu, 12/17/09, ramypras <ramypras@> wrote: > > ramypras <ramypras@> > > Basic queries > > > > Thursday, December 17, 2009, 12:02 PM > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Namaskara! > > > > > > > > I have some very basic questions and was not convinced by answers that are usually given. > > > > > > > > 1. How can milk be considered pious? I understand that Cow is a divinely being and is worshiped as `Kamadenu'. But in actual sense we are extracting milk and preventing the calf from having its share of milk...Is this not a sin to stop a young calf from having milk from its mother? > > > > > > > > 2. How can silk cloth be considered sacred for worship? Silk is obtained by killing thousand's of cocoon. Using a product which is obtained by killing so many living beings and we being a cause for such an action...Are we not doing sin? > > > > > > > > 3. I tell my daily prayers but I have not learnt Sanskrit and don't understand the meaning of many prayers that I say everyday. Why is it necessary to say the slokas in Sanskrit and not other language?? > > > > Will our Supreme Lord not understand other languages ?? or is it just bcos Sanskrit has been used from the very early times it is still in practice. > > > > > > > > ~Ramya > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 19, 2009 Report Share Posted December 19, 2009 Namaskar Narsimha, I have a further doubt on the silk cloth query.In some Pooja texts, they explcitly mention cotton or silk .The reason the texts cite is that cotton and silk are more receptive to sattvic energies from the idol or Pooja etc. All synthetics like nylon, polyester etc, they say will attract only rajas guna. Please throw some light on this aspect. Thanks Suchitra , " nagraj " <nagraj_um wrote: > > > > , " Narasimha P.V.R. Rao " <pvr108@> wrote: > > > > Namaste, > > > > Your line of thinking is good. Faith is needed in religion, but corruptions do take place and it is useful to question. Blind faith in some things is useful to make progress, but one cannot place blind faith in everything attributed to a religion and shun logic completely. Truth is arrived at by a combination of reason and faith. Without faith, only reason cannot take one to the highest truths. Without reason, blind faith cannot take one to the highest truths, especially if one starts off with faith in wrong notions (e.g. one may believe that you reach god if you kill people not belonging to one's religion). > > > > Fortunate is one who finds the right balance between faith and reason, uses reason to find the right notions to place faith in and makes quick progress. > > > > * * * > > > > (1) In practical physical terms, cow milk is a simple and nutritious food with plenty of poteins and easy to digest. It is very saattwik and has many useful properties as per ayurveda. > > > > However, if you replace cows that live a relaxed lifestyle feeding in open grasslands on grass and leaves with cows that live a hectic and stressful lifestyle in congested factories feeding on chicken etc, the gunas of milk are considerably different. It's not the same anymore. > > > > A cow can produce more milk than what is needed by its calf. People in the old days never deprived calves of mother's milk and took milk after the calf was fed. Instead, if one deprives the calf and steals all the milk (like many factories may be doing), that karma will follow the milk and go to various people handling, using and consuming that milk, in different proportions. > > > > (2) Yes, a cloth made of silk carries a lot of negative karma. Putting so many worms in boiling water and killing them is negative karma. I feel far more comfortable putting in homam fire a cotton cloth made from a tree than putting a silk cloth made by killing many worms. Though silk clothes are fashionable in religious ceremonies now, one cannot be sure whether this was a custom in ancient times or the current silk is a substitute for another kind of cloth made non-violently in ancient times. > > > > When people cannot find something that is used traditionally, they try to find a substitute to feel good that they are following the customs. If they do not clearly understand the motivation/rationale/spirit behind a custom, they may end up with a bad substitute. For example, I have seen people decorating idols with nice looking plastic flowers and plastic flower garlands. Plastic is a really bad substitute for a real flower. People only use them for decorating idols and do not put them in homam fire, but who knows, people may start offering plastic flowers in homam fire after a few hundred years. > > > > Like that, silk clothes may have come into usage as a bad substitute for something else. > > > > (3) Supreme god understands everything. > > > > The purpose of a mantra is not for requesting god for a specific thing. The purpose of a mantra is to stabilize an overactive mind and focus it on something. Mind is like a monkey jumping up and down and running here and there. Mantra is like a rope that ties it to a fixed pole (a deity or a focus point). As one tries to focus the mind on a deity/mantra and give up all other thoughts, a moment will come (perhaps after minutes of sadhana or hours or days or years or lives) when mind will let all other thoughts go. Mind will then reverberate with the mantra, with no other thoughts in it whatsoever. One forgets oneself completely and gets absorbed in the mantra *fully*. That is when one *experiences* a mantra and a deity. > > > > Such a thing is possible with any combination of sounds. One can repeat " I bow to the holy father " for ever and reach such a state. > > > > However, depending on the mantra being repeated in the mind and the deity being focused on, the experience of the mind when the mantra fills the mind and all other thoughts cease will be different. Different mantras will give different experiences. Various deities, their Sanskrit mantras and beejas were experimented by many great yogis before us and well-understood by ancients. If you want to tie a monkey to a pole, any rope can be used. But, if a rope was tested before, it may be good to use that rope. > > > > Secondly, arrangement of sounds in Sanskrit alphabet has a deep significance and correlation to the subtle body. Different sounds are vibrating in different parts of the subtle body. Sanskrit alphabet and mantras are constructed beautifully. When one's self-awareness ascends from the regular plane of consciousness, one can experience other realms of consciousness that are vibrating with different sounds. Sanskrit captures that well. > > > > Thirdly, each tangible article (such as a book or an email or a mantra) has some remnants of the energy of persons who associated with it. When I say a specific combination of words, it may have one impact on you. When a saint says the same combination of words with the same tone, it may have another impact on you. A sentence one writes when one is in a bad mood or bad spiritual state may not have any impact on readers. A sentence one writes in a very good state of mind after a lot of sadhana and control over mind may inspire readers more > > > > That is because one's shakti works through one's words and other tangible actions. For this reason, mantras that were composed by great yogis or used by great yogis are touched by their shakti and may end up storing some of their shakti. One using such a mantra has a chance to capture a little of that shakti. That is why one feels good energy when one chants mantras composed by great souls like Adi Shankara. > > > > So it is a good idea to use well-known Sanskrit mantras that were used by generations of great saints and yogis. > > > > Best regards, > > Narasimha > > - > > Free Jyotish Software, Free Jyotish Lessons, Jyotish Writings, > > " Do It Yourself " ritual manuals for short Homam and Pitri Tarpana: > > http://www.VedicAstrologer.org > > Films that make a difference: http://SaraswatiFilms.org > > Spirituality: > > Jyotish writings: JyotishWritings > > - > > > > --- On Thu, 12/17/09, ramypras <ramypras@> wrote: > > ramypras <ramypras@> > > Basic queries > > > > Thursday, December 17, 2009, 12:02 PM > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Namaskara! > > > > > > > > I have some very basic questions and was not convinced by answers that are usually given. > > > > > > > > 1. How can milk be considered pious? I understand that Cow is a divinely being and is worshiped as `Kamadenu'. But in actual sense we are extracting milk and preventing the calf from having its share of milk...Is this not a sin to stop a young calf from having milk from its mother? > > > > > > > > 2. How can silk cloth be considered sacred for worship? Silk is obtained by killing thousand's of cocoon. Using a product which is obtained by killing so many living beings and we being a cause for such an action...Are we not doing sin? > > > > > > > > 3. I tell my daily prayers but I have not learnt Sanskrit and don't understand the meaning of many prayers that I say everyday. Why is it necessary to say the slokas in Sanskrit and not other language?? > > > > Will our Supreme Lord not understand other languages ?? or is it just bcos Sanskrit has been used from the very early times it is still in practice. > > > > > > > > ~Ramya > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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