ARYA PRATINIDHI SABHA AMERICA

Monthly E-News – February 2017

 

VEDIC PRAYER

तस्माद्यज्ञात्सर्वेहुतः ऋचः सामानि जज्ञिरे |

छन्दां सि जज्ञिरे तस्माद्य जुस्तस्मादजायत ||

Tsmaadyjyatsrvehuth richah samani jjyire,

Chhndaan si jjyire tsmaady justsmaadjaayt. YV 31.7

Meaning: Adorable God created the Rig Veda, Sam Veda,  Atharva Veda and Yajur Veda. Not many people are aware of the Vedas and those who do are often mistaken that it as a religious book similar to the Bible or Koran. On the contrary, the Vedas are books of knowledge, they are not religiously affiliated nor do they belong to a particular race or country. They are universally applicable to all human beings. Physically, the Vedas are 4 ancient books that contain spiritual, material, and societal knowledge. The knowledge within these books; however, was revealed when humankind began life on earth, and passed down verbally generation after generation. Indians have protected the Vedas from the beginning. It is well known fact that Indian civilization was well advanced when Europeans were in stone age and lived in caves by hunting. That was because of the knowledge of the Vedas.

 

Dharm & Adharm According to

Maharshi Swami Dayanand Saraswati

Dharm or Righteousness:

Dharm, as per divine laws of the Veđas or Eeshvar or God is the just, natural, eternal, unprejudiced way of truthful, righteous, and harmonious living that benefits all. ‘Truthful teachings’ are those which are validated by direct cognition or proof.

 

Adharm:

Adharm is the unjust, prejudiced, unrighteous way of falsehood living. It does not  conform to eternal natural laws and universal Veđic conduct (not benefiting humanity). People who are engaged in selfish acts, falsehood, arrogance, cruelty, hatefulness acts without true knowledge, and possess many defects of character, are the followers of Adharm. It is to be renounced in general. These unrighteous and unjust acts are Adharm and contrary to command or orders of Eeshvar or God. Adharm is the opposite of Dharm and ought to be abandoned by all.

 

27th ARYA MAHASAMMELAN

JULY 27-30, 2017

LONG ISLAND, NEW YORK

Please mark your calendars - more details to follow

 

Significance of Shivratri

By Acharya Dr. Umesh Yadav

Shivratri is a great festival in Hindu faith. It is said that Lord Shiva was married to the daughter of Daksh Parvati. Lord Shiva was a great person who was worshipped by the people as God, creator, sustainer and destroyer of the universe. In Shiv Puran you can find detail about this. People who believe in idol worship use to worship Lord Shiva and offer Bel-patra, Milk, Chandan, flowers, some sweets etc. because Lord Shiva is considered a hot tempered and He needs to be cooled. The devotees think that Lord Shiva will be pleased with these things. This is why they used to put these things on his statue. Actually, the people use to worship the Shiva-ling which is the symbolic of creation of the universe. We do not know that Lord Shiva was a historical person or not but according to Vedas, the word Shiva is synonym for God. There are so many words which have been used for Shiva in puranas, for example - Rudra, Ambikapati, Shankar, Mahapati, Shambhu, wayambhu, Mayobhu, Mayaskar, Shivatar, Swadhiti, Jamdagni, Kasyap. Har Mahadev, Trinetra,  Trayambhak etc. All these names come in veda also but for God (Brahma) which is Omnipresent, Omniscient, Almighty and All-bliss based on several attributes of God.

 

From the Vedic thought, we think this whole creation has come out with the conjugative help of God & Nature i.e. Prakriti. Lord Shiva is considered as God and Parwati is like Prakriti. So we can say, in the beginning, God married Prakriti – i.e. nature, and exposed the whole creation as Mahat, Ahankar, Tanmatras, Panchbhuta etc. A formula comes in Indian philosophy – Satva Rajas Tamasam Samyaavastha Prakriti, Prakriter Mahan Mahato Ahankar Ahankaraat Tanmaatraani Tebhyah Panch Bhutani…………. Iti (etc) .It means creation has been exposed by God i.e. Shiva divine power in this way from Prakriti.

 

On the Shivratri festival, we have to know who real Shiva is. Maharshi Dayanand Saraswati came to know through Vedas who real Shiva is and he taught us about this. The event happened with Dayanand on Shivratri in the Shiva temple which is related to a mouse climbing on the statue and eating all Prasad offered by the devotees, that you all know. That was an inspiring moment for him and at that very moment he determined to know about the real Shiva and then went out in the search of real Shiva. He found the real Shiva through Vedas as real Shiva is god who is without birth and death, out of body and any shape, Omnipresent almighty, creator, sustainer, protector, and destroyer of the universe as well.

There are so many mantras have come for its explanation. We can see here one two or three of them as:-

 

1.      Namah shambhavaya cha myobhavaya cha, namashankaraya cha, mayaskaraya cha namah Shivaya cha Shiva taraya cha.

We bow to self existent and bestower of all pleasures and happiness. We bow to benefactor of all and giver of happiness to all and we bow to that Shiva who is the greatest of the great.

 

2.      Trayusham jamadhagni kashya psya trayusham. Yaddeveshu trayusham tanno astu trayusham

There is prayer to live in life and enjoy that up to 300 autumns. God is Jamadhagni who is enlightening power who shows the path of 300 years of life to a human being. It can be possible through Yoga. The same life we should get. If the system of life will be maintained in accordance with the knowledge of Vedas, a man can achieve 300 years of life as yogi/saints/sages used to have.

 

3.      Trayambhakam yajamahe sungandhim pushti vardhanam urvarukmiva bandhanan mrityormukhsiya maamrtitat

We worship God who has three eyes of knowledge as (gyaan, karma, upasana) Knowledge, action and meditation. God has provided us the system of knowledge, action and meditation through Rig veda, Yajurveda and Samveda and has also given the scientific knowledge through Atharvaveda. This is also a part of knowledge so there are mainly three eyes of knowledge that is Rig, Yajuh and Sam Veda . So we worship him who increases our fame i.e. smell of perfect action and satisfaction of perfect action done from inside. He alone develops our fame after good action done and also satisfies us with good prosperity and happiness after good deeds done. Here also, is a good preaching that we need to leave this worldly relation but not from salvation. like a watermelon fruit. The water melon fruit gets separated from its branches automatically when that gets fully ripen. So, thus we ought to understand our position in the world and lead our lives.

 

Here we came to know that we always live in the divine shelter whether in worldly life or Emancipated life. We never become separated from God’s shelter. God is always with us. Only we need to understand that rightly. This is why we need to go to the shelter of Vedas. There alone we will find the true knowledge and then we would conquer our Lives.

 

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