(9) Question: Why were human sacrifices conducted in temples?
Answer : The
ignorance of people in the olden times prompted them to do this. They
believed such sacrifices would please God. Misunderstanding the words of
the scriptures, they performed these sacrifices. Look at our present
day world. In the name of politics there is so much bloodshed.
Atrocities like killing a man who changes political parties, killing the
members of different political parties, shootings and stabbings are
commonplace. Do any of these party’s by-laws or ideologies sanction
murder or such atrocities? The manifesto and ideologies are very good,
but the actions of the followers may be entirely different. Similarly,
there were some fools in the olden days. Blind devotion and belief
prompted them to act like this.
(10) Question : What is the significance of temple festivals?
Answer : The word festival in Sanskrit is utsavam. The original word is utsravam,
which means to rise up and flow, or to overflow. All festivals are
symbolic of the overflowing of pure bliss and consciousness; especially
the festivals that are celebrated in temples symbolize the overflow of
spiritual energy and bliss.
The
spiritual energy that is created in the temple through prayer,
meditation, worship and chanting, fills the temple compound. It then
rises above the four walls of the temple and overflows into the entire
village or city where it is situated, purifying the whole environment.
This is the idea behind the festivals that are celebrated in the temples
every year.
(11) Question: why has the sanctity of the temples been lost?
Answer : In
the name of festivals, people collect money and conduct worldly
programs in temples. This makes the temple’s atmosphere impure. Instead
of cultivating devotion and good thoughts in people, such programs
create vulgar thoughts and passions. What nonsense is done in the name
of festivals; people getting drunk and engaging in fighting. In the
temple surroundings they conduct drama, dance and such activities that
arouse worldliness in the minds of the audience. Young children will
also be affected by this. At the tender age when good thoughts should be
developed, these programs will make them stray from the right path.
These kinds of thought waves will make the temple atmosphere unholy.
Children,
we alone destroy ourselves. First we should become good. We should see
that the temples are kept pure. Only the arts of a divine nature, which
increase devotion and faith, should be held in temples. The daily puja
should be performed properly. Now that the temple surroundings have been
made impure, it makes no sense to accuse the deities. In olden days
meditation, reading of the ancient scriptures, yogic postures and other
spiritual activities were practiced in temples. Only stories connected
with God would be presented as dramas during festivals.
The
money collected from the public for festivals should be utilized for
humanitarian purposes. There are so many people who are struggling
without a house in our villages. We can build houses for them. Clothes
and food can be given in charity to the poor. Help can be given to those
who are unable to conduct a marriage ceremony due to lack of money.
Religious books can be printed and distributed free of charge and used
for teaching children. Orphanages can be built enabling more children to
be brought up with good culture and character. In this way, there would
not be any orphans in the future. All this would help create unity
among people.
We
should take special care to renovate temples and conduct divine arts
during festival seasons. United, we should take care of temples in the
proper way. Their holiness should be preserved, otherwise our culture
will degenerate.
12) Question : There are many people who scoff at image worship. Why is this?
Answer : They
criticize image worship because of their ignorance about temples and
the science behind image worship. To put it in one sentence, the temple
represents the body and the image symbolizes Atman,
the soul, which is situated in the sanctum sanctorum (inner chamber) of
the heart. The complete temple is the seeker’s body in full prostration
with all the adharas, including sahasrara.
Ordinary
people with gross intellects cannot conceive of a formless or nameless
God even though that is His real nature. They need something to hold
onto and someone to share their heart with. Being limited individuals,
human beings are not satisfied with another limited being. Knowingly or
unknowingly one is always in search of an infinite, universal Person to
whom one can unburden one’s sorrow and find peace. The ancient sages
knew that the people belonging to the forthcoming ages would be unable
to grasp these subtle truths unless it was put in a different way. Thus
the idea of temples dawned in their hearts to make Truth available even
to the grossest. But we misinterpret it and make a mess. Whose fault is
this? Who is there to blame? Neither God nor the great forefathers, we
can blame only ourselves.
In
any case son, why do you care if somebody out of utter ignorance says
something about God or image worship? Let him babble. That shows his
lack of understanding. Let us pray and work for his upliftment also. But
let our faith be unshakable.
courtesy : Awaken children,MAM Publication.
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