Socializing and partying are developing to maniac level. Even the events and occasions which deserve to be purely personal or family affair are being turned into a 'crowd' affair.
Shashti abdha poorthi or Shathabhishekam or birth days are personal occasions meant for retrospection and an evaluation of life. Annual birth day offers an occasion for stock-taking, for re-adjusting priorities, for fine-tuning direction of our life journey. Shashti abdha poorthi (completion of 60 yrs of age) is a step towards a life with frontiers broader than those of a family, initiation into Vana-Prastha ashrama. If Upanayanam is a gate opening into the world of Knowledge, if marriage is a gateway into a Grihastha / family life, Shashti Abdha poorthi is a moment to begin detachment from family. Sahasra Chandra darshan or Shathabhishekam should be an occasion for initiation into Sanyaasa or detachment from world and worldly affairs, an occasion to start preparing for a peaceful death. The rituals, the Vedik mantras on these occasions are suggestive of this purpose.
But.... one after another, we have turned every such occasion into an occasion for show-off, an occasion for self-glorification, photographs, videos, dresses, parlours, make-ups, artificial smiles, gifts costlier and more costlier invitation cards, huge halls, unattached and unconcerned crowd, party with more and more number of items on the menu card, a lunatic competition with other similar events. When so many around us are deprived of a good daily meal, even consumption of lavish food in public is regarded a sin by our Shastras. Japanese, devoted to Buddhism, regard even munching on road as discourtesy.
Vedik rituals continue to be part of these occasion, but.. I say this with a heavy heart, without SHRADDHA in the performer, in the host family or in the crowd. The purohita recites the Mantra and performs rituals and the assembled crowd chats at the top of its voice level as if they are born in the Vamsham of Hiranyakashipu and have taken a vow not to allow anyone to hear the Veda Mantras. The experience creates so much distaste that one does not feel like blessing. I prefer to visit the family a few days later than undergoing such a nauseating experience.
More and more occasions are being invented for such a vulgar show off. Marriage anniversaries, silver jubilees and many other jubilees of insignificant events in our lives, etc. Free in-flow of money with five figure, six figure salaries, emptiness and lack of purpose in life, feeling of inferiority and urge to feel 'I am also some one', wrong examples being set by film personalities, politicians and other rich ones around us, absence of saner heads in families to suggest better ways of expression on such occasions and growth of commercial interest in all fields, may be the chief reasons for this development. Let us train to enjoy quietness. Let us train to enjoy anonymity, let us train to enjoy simplicity. Let us explore and dig out better worthiness in self and throw away the exterior, the self-weakening crutches like applause, appreciation, recognition, gifts, bouquets, etc.
Shashti abdha poorthi or Shathabhishekam or birth days are personal occasions meant for retrospection and an evaluation of life. Annual birth day offers an occasion for stock-taking, for re-adjusting priorities, for fine-tuning direction of our life journey. Shashti abdha poorthi (completion of 60 yrs of age) is a step towards a life with frontiers broader than those of a family, initiation into Vana-Prastha ashrama. If Upanayanam is a gate opening into the world of Knowledge, if marriage is a gateway into a Grihastha / family life, Shashti Abdha poorthi is a moment to begin detachment from family. Sahasra Chandra darshan or Shathabhishekam should be an occasion for initiation into Sanyaasa or detachment from world and worldly affairs, an occasion to start preparing for a peaceful death. The rituals, the Vedik mantras on these occasions are suggestive of this purpose.
But.... one after another, we have turned every such occasion into an occasion for show-off, an occasion for self-glorification, photographs, videos, dresses, parlours, make-ups, artificial smiles, gifts costlier and more costlier invitation cards, huge halls, unattached and unconcerned crowd, party with more and more number of items on the menu card, a lunatic competition with other similar events. When so many around us are deprived of a good daily meal, even consumption of lavish food in public is regarded a sin by our Shastras. Japanese, devoted to Buddhism, regard even munching on road as discourtesy.
Vedik rituals continue to be part of these occasion, but.. I say this with a heavy heart, without SHRADDHA in the performer, in the host family or in the crowd. The purohita recites the Mantra and performs rituals and the assembled crowd chats at the top of its voice level as if they are born in the Vamsham of Hiranyakashipu and have taken a vow not to allow anyone to hear the Veda Mantras. The experience creates so much distaste that one does not feel like blessing. I prefer to visit the family a few days later than undergoing such a nauseating experience.
More and more occasions are being invented for such a vulgar show off. Marriage anniversaries, silver jubilees and many other jubilees of insignificant events in our lives, etc. Free in-flow of money with five figure, six figure salaries, emptiness and lack of purpose in life, feeling of inferiority and urge to feel 'I am also some one', wrong examples being set by film personalities, politicians and other rich ones around us, absence of saner heads in families to suggest better ways of expression on such occasions and growth of commercial interest in all fields, may be the chief reasons for this development. Let us train to enjoy quietness. Let us train to enjoy anonymity, let us train to enjoy simplicity. Let us explore and dig out better worthiness in self and throw away the exterior, the self-weakening crutches like applause, appreciation, recognition, gifts, bouquets, etc.
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