Significance of Sastram 2

  A brahmin has been reduced to a mere vegetarian nowadays.  They have moved far away from swadharmam, running behind materialistic desires. I feel pathetic when i see the eaten plates (echal plates) are happily washed in kitchen sinks.  

Many customs and rituals followed by older generation are followed only on occassions. Otherwise, our daily life is divorced from any sort of religious restriction or requirements.

Ladies were the guards of dharma in earlier generation. With the men folk abandoning Sandhyavandanam and other nithya karmas and running behind money, women still held on to sastram.

They considered kitchen as a divine place. Definitely it was place of worship. Entry without bath was a strict no no. Previous days left over were carefully kept in a corner, removing them from fresh items.  Provisions and oils were separated from cooked food. Food was never tasted while cooking. 

Also women observed three days of seclusion during their periods. Now this practice is often discouraged by all parents.  While a muslim woman happily wears a parda, a hindu finds it backward to follow these injunctions.

 

These nithya karmas and sasthram followed by men and  women had an adhrishta palan. It lays the basic step for spiritual cleansing.  Because, these duties are not transactional in nature. Other dharmic rituals like shrardham, marriage etc are transactional and with some purpose and expectation. But with nithyakarmas, we do not attach any such expectation. Tberefore, they are purer and takes us closer to God.  

These customs along with daily pooja to chosen deity, increases the quality of a human being.  Makes us more sharper and clearer. When we leave all these rituals, quality of our offsprings will decline invariably.

Hindu religion is not for individuals with only materialistic ambitions. It is for those who want to go closer to God. There is no meaning to our religion  if these subtle practices are lost.  

 

  

Sashthram and significance 1

 We use the term sashthram loosely in our day to day life. If we analyse, we will know that we do not know the meaning of this term.  Because, it has lost its relevance in our daily life. 

Though there may be many books about various shathrams, Manu Dharmam is main book on shathrams.  But the prescribed rules can hardly be followed in this time.  Then when we say sashthram, what do we mean, why should we follow?

We progress spiritually using two things.  Faith and knowledge.  Faith is the foremost quality one must earn to be nearer to God.  That is the qualification for gaining knowledge.  Till a man is materialistic, i mean with materialistic goals and needs, he is denied the path of knowledge.  Faith is the path in which he has to travel.  

Qualities required to obtain knowledge can be acquired by doing the shastric karmas with faith.  Without performing shasthric or dharmic karmas, it is difficilt to grow qualitatively. Materialistic success is quantitative in nature.

To understand anything, one way is to question.  Another way is to simply practice.  Practice gives perfect understanding of our religion. Currently, though we stick on to the frame work of sanatana dharma, we hardly practice it.  

Shasthram sets out the rules which we should follow to understand our religion.  Without sashthram our religion is meaningless. 

That said, what can we follow? Having lost all our practice to our materialistic desires, can we revive it?   

We just need to follow that which was passed on to us by our parents and grand parents. Those old rituals, which were forgotten, should be dusted and brought back to life. 

Will continue....