[tgs]

For god's sake let us face reality here. How many people go to the temples just purely out of love for the lord ( காதலாகிக் கசிந்து கண்ணீர் மல்கி) ---not even thinking about a request buried in the depth of their minds? Those are few and far between if we want to be honest to ourselves. So there is a business transaction involved. The famous late novelist Kalki used to write "Percentage transaction in prayers". Although it had a tinge of humor it was real. I am sure this discussion will go in cycles interminably.

Dear sir,

You know from where that ''ask God for this and that" sort of thinking comes about?

From parents themselves!

When I was a child I used to have a very simple form of prayer.
I used to salute the idol of God like a soldier and ask "Hello how are you?"

My mum used to tell me "what kind of prayer is this? Ask God to bless you in studies and life etc"
I used to tell my mum back"Everyone asks God for something but how many actually ask God how He is?He also needs love isnt it"

My mum was not to happy with my style of prayer.
My brothers listened to her and they used to have a long list of requests and used to be disappointed when things didn't go right.

But how many children have a mind of their own as not to be influenced by parents?
I hardly listened to my parents in most things(I would outwardly appear to agreeing with them but inwardly I would tell myself.."do what suits you right")

And now when I am a mother..I never influence my son in his mode of prayer.
I want him to find his own way to emote with God and he does it well by reciting his mantras and modifying all sorts of songs and composing even Rap music for bhajans.
But he is like me to a certain extent becos he wishes God Good morning upon waking and Good night before sleeping.

I want a child to have love for God just for the sake of God and NOT becos God will give this and will give that to us.

[Beerinkol]

>><font color="#333333">I want a child to have love for God just for the sake of God and NOT becos God will give this and will give that to us.

[Lt_Apple]

>>
Very funny. "Ask not and you will be given" will be the new paradigm.

Desire is the root cause of our endless journey in this ocean of existence.
Just take life as it comes and stop always wanting to milk God for material.

When I was working as a doctor in a rural set up I still remember a simple tribal girl had come to the clinic.
The tribal girl didn't belong to any organized religion and the Non Hindu nurses were trying to get her to convert into their religion.

They asked the girl"Do you know that there is a God"
She said "Yes"
They asked again "But you do not even have a religion?"
The tribal girl replied "But I know there is a God"

Then the nurses asked her "In time of trouble like for example now you are sick who will help you when you pray"

The tribal girl replied "God guided me to come here to see the doctor"

I was just thinking to myself..this young tribal girl knew so much more than anyone with an organized religion.

[Peptobismol]

as I mentioned earlier, it totally depends upon one's faith. I wish to narrate my own experience some years back. one night we had to attend one North Indian marriage, about 15 km from my house. almost we reached the pandal when my car stopped and found lot of smoke from engine. on examination I found there was water leakage. nearby there was tea stall and obtained from them a bucketfull of water and poured it. The tea stall owner told me that water will flow away and there will be problem. I told my wife and daughter not to disturbe me as we are going back home. I started the car, reciting Gayatri Mantram praying to take me to my home without any problem. believe me, I just reached home a few feet away and the car stopped completely. My prayer paid off. well, my faith helped me

[Lt_Apple]

................ I started the car, reciting Gayatri Mantram praying to take me to my home without any problem. believe me, I just reached home a few feet away and the car stopped completely. My prayer paid off. well, my faith helped me

That is called a placebo effect. You thought it would help you and it did. In the medical field many drugs and non-drugs work by the same technique.

[Raj_Copi_Jin]

That is called a placebo effect. You thought it would help you and it did. In the medical field many drugs and non-drugs work by the same technique.

I strongly disagree!! Gayatri Mantra can work wonders!!
Once I remember it was an emergency case and I could not find a vein on the patient cos it was all collapsed and patient was obese.
I recited Gayatri Mantra many times in my heart and a vein was suddenly visible.

Never underestimate the power of the Gayatri Mantra.

[Beerinkol]

Persistence and time can also do the same trick,
The time it takes to recite the mantras also buys time to locate the vein. It is so close to the skin is beside the point.

[Lillie_Steins]

Persistence and time can also do the same trick,
The time it takes to recite the mantras also buys time to locate the vein. It is so close to the skin is beside the point.

Dear sir,

Sometimes you have to experience it to get the feeling.Veins are not easy to locate in a collapsed state.

BTW you are opposite to me cos in the other thread you are in support of tradition and thali etc but here you do not want to give any credit to the power of Mantra and God.

I on the other hand do not hold on to tradition at all most of the while but I hold on to faith and the power of God.

Isn't it strange?

[doctorzlo]

I think we are slighlty deviating from the topic.Anyway's i have to appreaciate all the responses & posts so far made.May be we conclude prayers can be in any form that connects one with god.One may be satisfied by just doiing his everyday duties with sincerety & dedication.For others it may give a sense of completion with gifting 100 people with dhoti or doing a 1000 ltr Palabhishegam.The very nature varies but the feeling is a sense of inner consolance where we think we are connected to the lord.The rest is pshycology,spirituality....etc.,

[NeroASERCH]

Hello ,as stated its the faith had holds your hand and takes you to long run .as VR Mam ,stated in post13,17 total surrender ,is what required .mam but as you said we have to be wiser,OMG thats the tricky point and twisty position ,head weight ,chin up peoples say its all happening ,but one day they will understand the power of almighty. yes ,as DR.Renu stated in 26 ,mantras has immense of power ,its only that when we feel, that too on bottle neck situation ,when we cant pre-anticipate . My clinic is with all highly equipped infra-structures ,were I go with my medical science ,but ,I,daily pray god before I start my daily practice,cos we deal with live human ,we take up the responsilbility ,few patients do not disclose their pre-medical history,which can be contraindicated ,for examlpe-1-the basic ORAL PROPHYLAXSIS ie scaling ,done by my ULTRA SONIC Satelec unit ,person with pace makers are highly risky,even though I ask for medical history prior. 2- surgery ,we cant predict the out come ,ie time ,bleeding period ,if anxious person he may go in for faint.3. This is my own experience in my clinic ,on surgical extraction as stated for 45 minutes ,for lower wisdom tooth which is always tricky ,it just got finished in 15 minutes with sutures.4. I visit my friend clinic also once it was really a unexpected condition for my DR friend ,usually upper teeth will be extracted maxium of 5-8 mts with all procedure ,but he landed with 45minutes as it was broken into pieces .certain conditions in medical field a doctor cannot predict .finally what i tend to say is trust yourself ,trust 100% your almighty.,you can see wonders in your life.

[S.T.D.]

Total Faith can work miracles for the believers!
I have experienced it all my life!!!
When a trace of doubt enters the mind,
it becomes a different matter altogether.

[Lillie_Steins]

It is difficult to travel in a one track path when many people with many minds and with many thoughts interact.

I put the same question to my guruji.

Why can't the temple authorities collect the milk after the abhishekam
and distribute it to the poor children in the neighborhood?

He said that we have to offer food to five different categories of people.

This falls under bootha yagnam. It will feed many creatures which we are not able to see but nothing we use or throw out ever goes in waste.

I think we are slighlty deviating from the topic.Anyway's i have to appreaciate all the responses & posts so far made.May be we conclude prayers can be in any form that connects one with god.One may be satisfied by just doiing his everyday duties with sincerety & dedication.For others it may give a sense of completion with gifting 100 people with dhoti or doing a 1000 ltr Palabhishegam.The very nature varies but the feeling is a sense of inner consolance where we think we are connected to the lord.The rest is pshycology,spirituality....etc.,

[Beerinkol]

Total Faith can work miracles for the believers!
I have experienced it all my life!!!
When a trace of doubt enters the mind,
it becomes a different matter altogether.

Reminds me of a Tamil movie where Lord Krishna would keep appearing to Thengai Srinivasan but the day he doubted if it was really Krishna who came..Lord Krishna disappeared.

[NeroASERCH]

Doc

That was "Kali Yuga Kannan"

Yay Yem

[NeroASERCH]

Hello A M Sir ,it also remains me the recent movie ,Arai enn..kadavul,performed by Mr.Prakash raj,Mr.Santhanam.its the exact situation of the people ,we are right now.I feel its a worth movie.

[Slonopotam845]

Dear sir,

Sometimes you have to experience it to get the feeling.Veins are not easy to locate in a collapsed state.

BTW you are opposite to me cos in the other thread you are in support of tradition and thali etc but here you do not want to give any credit to the power of Mantra and God.

I on the other hand do not hold on to tradition at all most of the while but I hold on to faith and the power of God.

Isn't it strange?

No, it is not strange. The true sign of an intellectual, I read somewhere, is the ability to hold seemingly opposing views at the same time. Mahakavi Bharathi was not afraid to hold opposing views simultaneously while being truthful to himself. For example, while he advocated expressing sensible anger (raudram pazhagu ==cultivate anger) he also declared “sinam koLvAr thamaithAmE thIyArc cuttuc ceththiduvAr oppAr” (those who get angry are like those who immolate themselves to death). He also wrote “uyir nanRu sAdhal inidhu” (Life is good, death is sweet). Such seemingly contradictory beliefs are the true sign of a passionate intellectual.


What I said with respect to tAli was that once you accept it you should guard it. It is like staying together in a marriage because of the commitment "until death do us part" even though in Hindu marriages we don't utter that phrase. To me a mantra is something of a resolution to focus on what you are doing. You can keep on repeating "You are the force behind your own actions, so go for it" will be as good a mantra as any gAyatri mantra.

But I can understand your stand. You do not go by symbolism (except for the praNava symbol Aum). The old declaration of Janaka when he gave SItA to Rama in wedding, that she will follow him like a shadow in all his activities, isn't true anymore in view of changing preferences.

Cherry picking which aspects of tradition we want to follow and which ones to discard appears to be the norm these days.

[Ifroham4]

Does Lord ask anything?

If he does will you be able to give him?

[PhillipHer]

Great Dr Renuka. to me Gayatri mantra is not only great but also my life. if I dont recite Gayatri mantra even one day I feel lost. I dont take even breahfast without doing my sandhyavandanam with 108 Gayatri mantra. even for small things I recite Gayatri I get relived. I have vertigo problem. one day when I was shopping 20 km away from my house I got blackout.My wife was with me. She gave me the SOS tablet and I started reciting Gayatri Mantra. within half an hour i became perfectly alright and drove my car to my house. like this, there are so many incidents in my life. I believe in the greatness of Gayatri in total.

[MannoFr]

If he does will you be able to give him?

What will you do if the sun refuses to rise?

The verse: Tvam eva maataa, pitaa tvam eva,
tvam eva bandhuscha sakhaa tvam eva;
tvam eva vidyaa, draviNam tvam eva,
tvam eva sarvam mama Deva Deva.
= thou art my mother, thou art my father,
thou art my relations, thou art my friend;
thou art all knowlege, thou art my source,
thou art All to me oh my Lord of Lords.

I believe in Brahman, of the advaita. That God does not ask, nor expect anything from the seeker. We all are seeker of that God, with the aim that one day we will realize our true potential.



Bhagavad Gita 9.26


patram puspam phalam toyam
yo me bhaktya prayacchati
tad aham bhakty-upahrtam
asnami prayatatmanah


Translation


If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, fruit or water, I will accept it.


So that should answer your question. Unless of course you do not trust His words.

[softy54534]

.... I believe in the greatness of Gayatri in total.

Mr. Sudeshwer:
I have never questioned another person's belief or faith because those issues are personal. If you believe in the greatness of gAyatri mantra that is fine. I have no business in dissuading you from that. What I was suggesting was an alternate pathway which might have caused the same expected end result. I am sure you have heard the expression காக்கை உட்கார பனம்பழம் விழுந்தது. I was pointing out to that possibility. Unless one's belief impinges severely on my activities I do not interfere in that belief. Live and let live is my philosophy.