We have with us plenty of devotional treatises, in the form of purANas, epics, bhAgavatam.
The ShaNmatas were established by Adishankara, shaivam, vaishNavam, gANApatyam, Kaumaram, ShAktam, and Souram, (worship of the Sun god).
All these have their own vast voluminous treatises, worthy of being taken up and studied for our prosperity, happiness and spiritual evolution. We should always remember that the fountain head of any branch of worship in our country is only one, that being the 4 Vedas which are ever eternal. Vedas the very breath of the Supreme Being, the only One without a second. We must have faith in our great seers, have to understand their teachings which are the primary musts to reap the authentic benefit of such faith. That is the only way for our progress and well-being. For the benefit of all of us
I must not fail to explain that by benefit and progress, over and above meals, residence, good education, decent income, an awareness of our binding with other living beings, society,health of all nature around us. While taking care of ourselves, our family, our attention should be expanded to take care of all that contribute to our health and well being.
Minimum of adoration forms, we all are familiar with ,is the adorations inthe form of sthothrams and the same forming the 108 names' string called nAmAvaLis.The names of the deities in the form in sthothras are formated as nAmAvaLi for archana, by adding dative case and linked with namaha.
In other words the names that appear in the sthothra are themselves formated for archana.This sthothram PART CAN BE DAILY REPEATED AS PRAYER in the morning in 10 to 15 minutes.
Once we learn the sthothra by heart, daily that can be offered as prayer and puja. This learning by heart and offering prayer with dedication willl be a very good start for children to develop faith and discipline. I have seen children very easily picking up interest and faith with additional benefit of discipline.
I would like to quote from the life of revered Swami ChinmayAnanda who conducted 500 Gnana yagnas in India before the end of his life. Swamiji had conducted few hundreds more abroad. Study groups formed Balavihar classes for children. Stories from RamayaNa and MahAbarata were told and simple bajans sung. I remember many lectures I had attended in Swamiji's gnAna ygna. When I was studying in 5th standard in "Sharada vidyAlaya branch-Secondry grade training school", Swamiji came to our class and seated himself upright on the table and and gave a lecture and asked questions. It was in the year 1945.
For the benefit of the parents I am quoting the words of revered swamiji;- "Children are lamps to be lit, not vessels to be filled. This is where real nation building work begins......The youth are not
useless. They are only used less." Realising the importance of value based education in early life, Swamiji encouraged the growth of Chinmaya VidyAlayas.(Schools).
There were "Sixty three NAyanmars-devotees of Shiva and twelve Azvars, devotees of Lord Vishnu. All these saints have out poured their single minded devotion, with love for their deities. They all composed devotional poems, charged with pure unalloyed devotion. Their love for humanity at large, knows no bound.All These adorations are held on the divine altar, like the epics and purANas. Our land can claim even today devotees of these devotees; these devotees are called dAsa-dasas and they offer all those phylosophical compositions as prayer in their daily worship.The above cited devotees lived a simple life and they spent their life totally in God thought only. Their compositions run in 1,000-s.Unless we go through those compositions, we cannot understand the science of bakti, love for God.Studying the life of saints, their devotional compositions is capable of guiding us in that path tread by them. We are to choose to enlighten our thought, word, deed and life itself under their universal love. We are sure to be blessed by those saints, and there after we are to experience happiness and progress. We have to align our children's thought, word, deed and life along the same line. We must educate ourselves to decide with confidence, that, that guidance if imparted will be the best perennial wealth, we can leave for their secure future and well being. *
The ShaNmatas were established by Adishankara, shaivam, vaishNavam, gANApatyam, Kaumaram, ShAktam, and Souram, (worship of the Sun god).
All these have their own vast voluminous treatises, worthy of being taken up and studied for our prosperity, happiness and spiritual evolution. We should always remember that the fountain head of any branch of worship in our country is only one, that being the 4 Vedas which are ever eternal. Vedas the very breath of the Supreme Being, the only One without a second. We must have faith in our great seers, have to understand their teachings which are the primary musts to reap the authentic benefit of such faith. That is the only way for our progress and well-being. For the benefit of all of us
I must not fail to explain that by benefit and progress, over and above meals, residence, good education, decent income, an awareness of our binding with other living beings, society,health of all nature around us. While taking care of ourselves, our family, our attention should be expanded to take care of all that contribute to our health and well being.
Minimum of adoration forms, we all are familiar with ,is the adorations inthe form of sthothrams and the same forming the 108 names' string called nAmAvaLis.The names of the deities in the form in sthothras are formated as nAmAvaLi for archana, by adding dative case and linked with namaha.
In other words the names that appear in the sthothra are themselves formated for archana.This sthothram PART CAN BE DAILY REPEATED AS PRAYER in the morning in 10 to 15 minutes.
Once we learn the sthothra by heart, daily that can be offered as prayer and puja. This learning by heart and offering prayer with dedication willl be a very good start for children to develop faith and discipline. I have seen children very easily picking up interest and faith with additional benefit of discipline.
I would like to quote from the life of revered Swami ChinmayAnanda who conducted 500 Gnana yagnas in India before the end of his life. Swamiji had conducted few hundreds more abroad. Study groups formed Balavihar classes for children. Stories from RamayaNa and MahAbarata were told and simple bajans sung. I remember many lectures I had attended in Swamiji's gnAna ygna. When I was studying in 5th standard in "Sharada vidyAlaya branch-Secondry grade training school", Swamiji came to our class and seated himself upright on the table and and gave a lecture and asked questions. It was in the year 1945.
For the benefit of the parents I am quoting the words of revered swamiji;- "Children are lamps to be lit, not vessels to be filled. This is where real nation building work begins......The youth are not
useless. They are only used less." Realising the importance of value based education in early life, Swamiji encouraged the growth of Chinmaya VidyAlayas.(Schools).
There were "Sixty three NAyanmars-devotees of Shiva and twelve Azvars, devotees of Lord Vishnu. All these saints have out poured their single minded devotion, with love for their deities. They all composed devotional poems, charged with pure unalloyed devotion. Their love for humanity at large, knows no bound.All These adorations are held on the divine altar, like the epics and purANas. Our land can claim even today devotees of these devotees; these devotees are called dAsa-dasas and they offer all those phylosophical compositions as prayer in their daily worship.The above cited devotees lived a simple life and they spent their life totally in God thought only. Their compositions run in 1,000-s.Unless we go through those compositions, we cannot understand the science of bakti, love for God.Studying the life of saints, their devotional compositions is capable of guiding us in that path tread by them. We are to choose to enlighten our thought, word, deed and life itself under their universal love. We are sure to be blessed by those saints, and there after we are to experience happiness and progress. We have to align our children's thought, word, deed and life along the same line. We must educate ourselves to decide with confidence, that, that guidance if imparted will be the best perennial wealth, we can leave for their secure future and well being. *
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