The uniqueness of Hinduism lies in the fact that all the rituals and activities
prescribed by the Vedas are to be performed by us
to get us closer to the ultimate truth of life, Ishvara and myself. But this
truth is not easily understood. It requires enormous amount of chitta shudhi
(literally meaning purity of the mind i.e.mind with minimum likes and dislikes).
The Vedas, as interested as they are in our understanding of our scriptures, are
kind enough to give us an insight into how to attain that chita shudhi before
plunging into the “knowledge”.
As I had already mentioned, one aspect of understanding and assimilating this jnanam is understanding the concept of Ishwara (or god). In our Hindu culture the truth about god is “All that is here is just only God and nothing else”. As Pujya Swami Dayananda Saraswathi, succinctly puts it “In our religion, we don’t have many gods, we don’t have one god, we have only god”.
Since EVERYTHING is manifestation of Ishwara including the body, we do alankara or decoration to the body.
Though I have always been a bindi wearer all my life, I never knew the real facts behind wearing the bindi until I had the good fortune of meeting Pujya Swamiji in mid 2011 along with a youth group. Pujya Swamiji was addressing how glorious our Hindu culture was and how small things made a huge impact on our living style.
In the beginning, the womens’ only form of bindis were kumkumam (vermillion powder). It added what we call Mangalam to the woman. Slowly, due to foreign influences, bindis were seen as fancy ornaments and started coming in various colours and shapes. Competitions were conducted for designing and colouring the bindi. The winning design was the one with the smallest size and the same colour as the skin! This became a hit among the young minds who started using it in various colours, sizes and designs thereby diluting the kumkumam and the entire mangalakaram concept. The colour bindis were a trend for years to come and there were many add-ons to the same.
Slowly this was further diluted by opining loudly that bindi was only a cosmetic and it became an OPTION whether to wear it or not (it was already too small, anyway). This became the fashion statement and has graduated into a habit which is now widely practiced and well known.
When Pujya Swamiji said this, I felt I had really been shaken awake from a deep sleep. I was shocked and proud at the same time. Shocked because of the manner in which our culture was disintegrating, and proud because of two things – (i) I am a part of this wonderful culture (ii) I have not been influenced by this so called “fashion statement” in anyway, and though I do not wear the traditional kumkumam, I am ALWAYS (I can vouch for it) with a red bindi on my forehead.
I hope this serves as an eye-opener for the delusion that girls of my age are under, and provides them even more reasons to be proud of our Sanatana Dharma.
As I had already mentioned, one aspect of understanding and assimilating this jnanam is understanding the concept of Ishwara (or god). In our Hindu culture the truth about god is “All that is here is just only God and nothing else”. As Pujya Swami Dayananda Saraswathi, succinctly puts it “In our religion, we don’t have many gods, we don’t have one god, we have only god”.
Since EVERYTHING is manifestation of Ishwara including the body, we do alankara or decoration to the body.
Though I have always been a bindi wearer all my life, I never knew the real facts behind wearing the bindi until I had the good fortune of meeting Pujya Swamiji in mid 2011 along with a youth group. Pujya Swamiji was addressing how glorious our Hindu culture was and how small things made a huge impact on our living style.
In the beginning, the womens’ only form of bindis were kumkumam (vermillion powder). It added what we call Mangalam to the woman. Slowly, due to foreign influences, bindis were seen as fancy ornaments and started coming in various colours and shapes. Competitions were conducted for designing and colouring the bindi. The winning design was the one with the smallest size and the same colour as the skin! This became a hit among the young minds who started using it in various colours, sizes and designs thereby diluting the kumkumam and the entire mangalakaram concept. The colour bindis were a trend for years to come and there were many add-ons to the same.
Slowly this was further diluted by opining loudly that bindi was only a cosmetic and it became an OPTION whether to wear it or not (it was already too small, anyway). This became the fashion statement and has graduated into a habit which is now widely practiced and well known.
When Pujya Swamiji said this, I felt I had really been shaken awake from a deep sleep. I was shocked and proud at the same time. Shocked because of the manner in which our culture was disintegrating, and proud because of two things – (i) I am a part of this wonderful culture (ii) I have not been influenced by this so called “fashion statement” in anyway, and though I do not wear the traditional kumkumam, I am ALWAYS (I can vouch for it) with a red bindi on my forehead.
I hope this serves as an eye-opener for the delusion that girls of my age are under, and provides them even more reasons to be proud of our Sanatana Dharma.
No comments:
Post a Comment