The four days of pooja has commenced yesterday. What an absolute amazing experience!
Along with our own panditji, there were three other main panditjis that took on the responsibility of performing the pooja. The two main panditjis were from the St. Louis temple and the Dallas temple respectively. What a wonderful job they did by explaining all parts of the pooja, getting the devotees involved in the pooja, and making it a once-in-a-lifetime experience!
The last panditji was almost 82 yrs old, a professor from the City University of New York. At the commencement of the pooja, he was recognized as a solid factor in the success of our mandir.
As he shared the immense wisdom that he has about Hinduism, volunteerism, and the next steps for the devotees, I was just so impressed at how much knowledge he passed to us in such a short time. Here are some of the things he said that I want to share.
Many people from other religions will ask you about our religion, such as “Why do you have so many Gods?” or “How can you worship an elephant-God?”
You should answer by saying that in Hinduism, we worship many forms of the ultimate Supreme Being. As a Hindu, you should always be open to other religions no matter what they say to you because as Lord Krishna states in the Bhagavad-Gita that there are many different rivers that all flow into just one end. Explaining the fact that there are many religions that all flow into just one Ultimate Supreme Being.
In the English language, there is a saying, “Oh my God!”. Many of us say it without even thinking twice because its part of our daily lives. But in fact, we should not say such sayings.
The reason we should not say, “Oh my God”, is because there is no one God that we believe in. In Hinduism, we have many forms of God so in fact it is better to say the name of the God that you feel you should say such as, “Oh Ganesha!” or “Oh Ram!”
Such a good point, and well noted in my part, because I say it quite often.
Yesterday in our local paper, there was an article about the four days of pooja. In the article it mentions that the panditjis had helped in the installation of idols ceremony in the temple. In fact this panditji from New York says that is the wrong way of saying.
Many religions denounce Hindus and our religion because they feel that we are idol worshippers. In fact that is wrong. We do not worship idols, we worship the many forms of that Ultimate Supreme Being.
He also talked about achieving vijay (victory) you must achieve three other Vs: vidya, vinaya, and vivek. Vidya means education. As you become educated, in the general sense, in a field such as engineering, computers, etc… In the religious sense, then you learn the fundamentals of Hinduism. Second is to attain vinaya, which in a religious sense would be to volunteer at the mandir or do any type of seva at any types of schools or nursing (aged) home. Third is vivek which means to attain buddhi. Attaining education is not enough, but you must be able to apply that as well, be able to understand why it happens. After achieving these three, then vijay just automatically happens, you won’t have to do anything for it.
He lastly talked about how the mandir is going to be different from now on. He says that are some things that shouldn’t take place such as gossip, money talks, and controversy of how the pooja was done. He says that you come to the mandir not to have social hour or to gossip but to be one with the many forms of God. He also said that you shouldn’t discuss how much money one has over the other at the mandir. Along with the same, the worst thing you could do is say that one person is more dharmic than the other, meaning that I believe more than that person. That should not happen, and it should be avoided. Lastly, there should be no question or doubt on how the pooja is conducted. No one pooja, even this one of Kumbhabhishekam, is not performed in one single way. Hinduism is quite an old religion, and many things were just passed down verbally from one generation to the next, so there is a chance of the conduction to be different, but it doesn’t mean that it is not right.
Well said. All is well said. I learned so much in just that ten minutes that it blew me away.
Alvida. Jai Mata Di.