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sponsor / Donation required for Sri Maha Sudarshan Homam

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Sri Dharma Shasta Mandali & Sri Krishna Bhaktha Jana Sabha Jointly oranised a program of 108 Kunda Sri Maha Sudarshana Homam & Sri Radha Kalyanam on 25 - 27 June 2010 at Sri Odukatthur madam in Bangalore. I have enclosed herewith the inviation card & offering details. Whoever interested can sponsor / partcipate in this noble program & get the blessing of Lord.

Incase of any further details still required, you can send me personal message.

Pranam
 

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would that money not be spent better on educating one poor youth or paying the medical bills of one poor family?

when will we ever learn that the best prayers are the ones that we do to help our fellow human beings.

even on a narrow pov, don't we have enough poor brahmin families who could do with some assistance?

what is the purpose of education if one cannot evaluate the benefits of money through help to others far outweighs pouring it down on ghee, fire and feeding a thousand brahmins?

will they not get as many புண்ணியம்ஸ் this way too? will not Lord Ayyappa appreciate one just as much?
 
totally I endorse Sri Kunjuppu. If we could help poor and downtrodden with some% that money that would go a long way towards fulfilling any prayer. All genuine spiritual gurus , maharishis speak of compassion towards fellow human beings and other living entities as best form of Bhakthi.
 
One kidney is enough for us; why two? Why cant everyone donate their other kidney to kidney banks?

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Helping the poor is important; helping brahmanas is important; similarly prayers and homams are also important, as they bring direct benefit to us by their holy meaning and the grace of the lord, even though this might be a kamya karma.

This need not be challenged always to side the cause of the suffering.

Our dharma ordains us to do serve the needy and to do charity; at the same time, it also directs us to do our duty to engage in religious and spiritual activities.
 
One kidney is enough for us; why two? Why cant everyone donate their other kidney to kidney banks?

----------------------

Helping the poor is important; helping brahmanas is important; similarly prayers and homams are also important, as they bring direct benefit to us by their holy meaning and the grace of the lord, even though this might be a kamya karma.

This need not be challenged always to side the cause of the suffering.

Our dharma ordains us to do serve the needy and to do charity; at the same time, it also directs us to do our duty to engage in religious and spiritual activities.
One kidney is definitely not enough. When God creates with one nose , two eyes and one heart etc like wise there should be a justification for two kidneys and obviously we all are endowed with two kidneys. Just for short survival of life if one kidney were to be enough for some time that can not be taken as sufficing for one's life span to carry out all its destined functions. And to adore God doing something mechanically and superficially with out any feeling of devotion is of no use and utter waste of money, time and energy. One must call upon Him with yearning and unreservedly surrender oneself to Him. To put crudely, Is there any God who tells that we will be blessed by pouring panchamirtham on His /her statues, pour milk, pour etc etc. Or any scriptures stipulates these?. How many people can be attended with that money for their sickness, hunger, education, conduct marriages etc etc. We come out doing such things say from a temple and when we see an old lady lying unattended nearby on the foot path we hardly look at her. Is this spirituality or religious?. I am not against performing Poojas; but oppose extravaganaza in the name of pooja and the total disrespect to our brethern who are in sincere need. Again if pooja if done with sincerity and in a simple manner that is enough. Ex: Feeding the poor's empty stomach will be surely loved by God.
 
Dear shri drsundaram,

One kidney is definitely not enough. When God creates with one nose , ....... Just for short survival of life if one kidney were to be enough for some time that can not be taken as sufficing for one's life span to carry out all its destined functions.
Yes, you have the answer sir; feeding the poor should be done, but bhagavath karyams should not be neglected. They are like two kidneys in our body (or two eyes, if you want).

And to adore God doing something mechanically and superficially with out any feeling of devotion is of no use and utter waste of money, time and energy. One must call upon Him with yearning and unreservedly surrender oneself to Him.
Even if one does not 'know' god as per the vedas, he can simply follow the path of bhaagavadhas, and the enlightened; or live life as prescribed by them. It is accepted.

Devotion comes with knowledge; knowledge comes with learning & dedication; dedication comes with performing our prescribed karmas.

To put crudely, Is there any God who tells that we will be blessed by pouring panchamirtham on His /her statues, pour milk, pour etc etc. Or any scriptures stipulates these?.
Of course it does; we do archanas and alankaras to bhagawan to our hearts desire; to see him glorified for ever.

How many people can be attended with that money for their sickness, hunger, education, conduct marriages etc etc. We come out doing such things say from a temple and when we see an old lady lying unattended nearby on the foot path we hardly look at her. Is this spirituality or religious?.
This is wrong. If you say, we can help the needy, yes, that is our dharma. But to say that pujas and homas need not be done and we can dispense that amount to charity is unacceptable. There is no difference between this statment, per se, and EVR's outlook.

We have to help the poor; but keep that as a separate agenda; do not prescribe it in lieu of bhagavath seva.

I am not against performing Poojas; but oppose extravaganaza in the name of pooja and the total disrespect to our brethern who are in sincere need.
This is just your assumption; there is nothing in the invitation to say that it is an extravaganza and it disrespects our needy.

Again if pooja if done with sincerity and in a simple manner that is enough. Ex: Feeding the poor's empty stomach will be surely loved by God.Well then,
There can be no enough in 'bhagavath karyams'. Period.

Regards,
 
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Dear shri drsundaram,

Yes, you have the answer sir; feeding the poor should be done, but bhagavath karyams should not be neglected. They are like two kidneys in our body (or two eyes, if you want).

Even if one does not 'know' god as per the vedas, he can simply follow the path of bhaagavadhas, and the enlightened; or live life as prescribed by them. It is accepted.

Devotion comes with knowledge; knowledge comes with learning & dedication; dedication comes with performing our prescribed karmas.

Of course it does; we do archanas and alankaras to bhagawan to our hearts desire; to see him glorified for ever.

This is wrong. If you say, we can help the needy, yes, that is our dharma. But to say that pujas and homas need not be done and we can dispense that amount to charity is unacceptable. There is no difference between this statment, per se, and EVR's outlook.

We have to help the poor; but keep that as a separate agenda; do not prescribe it in lieu of bhagavath seva.

This is just your assumption; there is nothing in the invitation to say that it is an extravaganza and it disrespects our needy.

There can be no enough in 'bhagavath karyams'. Period.

Regards,
ok noted & understood sir. My only contention is while being passionate in worshiping and praying God, let money be not spent in some avenues which are not called for and which can be otherwise channelised in those by which some people's life can be improved which is again a great seva for the same God only.
Let me stop dwelling more on this topic please.
 
I agree with Sri.Sapthajhiva. An appeal to help poor and down-trodden may be posted elsewhere in the forum; such appeal need not sound critical of the persons who believe in homam and poojas. We really do not know, such persons involve in homam and also in helping poor and down trodden, do we? Just thought of adding my opinion, please. Thank you.

Cheers!
 
One kidney is enough for us; why two? Why cant everyone donate their other kidney to kidney banks?

----------------------

Helping the poor is important; helping brahmanas is important; similarly prayers and homams are also important, as they bring direct benefit to us by their holy meaning and the grace of the lord, even though this might be a kamya karma.

This need not be challenged always to side the cause of the suffering.

Our dharma ordains us to do serve the needy and to do charity; at the same time, it also directs us to do our duty to engage in religious and spiritual activities.

saptha,

atleast we have to agree that one can justify any amount of actions thanks to our inherent intellect.

i see your arguements are based on faith and tradition. i accept that. though i find it difficult, when you compare drs/myself attitude to that of periyar. (ie no difference).

periyar would have gone further, as you probably know.

if i can speak for myself, there is a point when we a tamil brahmins, specifically us, having been blessed with so much - material, intellect, traditions et al.

how well and wisely we spent it, is a reflection of our ability to stand apart and prove that our generation too can command respect based on our humanity.

without arguement, these yagnams cost a lot of money. let us take the prime beneficiaries. these are not brahmins (for the parochially minded ones). these are not the contractors, whom i would hardly consider among the needy class.

i have often found, as in a recent pooja in my extended household, 101 brahmins were fed and clothed. most of them were retired ias officers and executives, who in the best of intentions have taken up vedic studies. but the cost per person was around 1000 ruppees which works out to over a lakh. the vadhiyar sambavanai itself was only 5,000.

now, to me, i have no problem, giving a vadhiar 5,000 ruppees for prayers intoned. i do have a problem feeding many comfortably off brahmins all in the name of expected well being in return. since when we can bargain with God for a tit-for-tat you scratch-my-back-i-scratch-your-back transaction.

i would go along more with the chants of the lonely devoted at kapali temple anyday, to witnessing a bunch of priests, overlording a huge fire, pouring ghee and what-not, all in the name of well being for the community.

there is a limit. there is moderation. there is a rationale.

i think, under all these above conditions, the said sudharsana homams do not come upto par, considering that there are folks within our community wanting the basics.

saptha, this is in no way critical of faith or tradition. it is more a critique of blind adherence to traditions, without giving as much thought to a credible interpretation of the vedics towards a better life for the living.

hope this explains.
 
shri kunjuppu,

the choices available to us are:

-> do the spiritual practices; help the poor and needy

-> do the spiritual practices; dont help the poor and needy

-> help the poor and needy; dont do the spiritual practices

-> dont help the poor and needy; dont do the spiritual practices

we could belong to anyone of the groups above; that is according to our karma and gnyanam, imo. some prefer to term it as a choice. be it so.

your aversion arises because you implicitly assume that all brahmins, or the majority, fall into the second category. maybe you are right, maybe not. individual yardsticks differ; what is good to one may not be to another. this is universal and fundamental. but can we extrapolate our individual perceptions to interfere into anothers deed?

you can readily see that, at least in a majority of your opinions i am at the opposite extreme. there may be many more; the only difference is that i post my thoughts in the forum and others do not.

the reason i interjected is that, a seemingly benign information about a homam is being used to pile on thoughts about utilising the resource to another cause. this certainly is not the thread to voice such opinions.

each have their place; if i extend your logic to the govt. administration, perhaps we have to close down our entertainment ministry, tourism ministry etc as they ostensibly do not contribute to uplift the citizens above the poverty line. next to be pulled down would be sports ministry and so on and so forth.

sir, we need all kinds of positive activities... what is waste to one's eyes may not be really so...

those involved in this homam might contribute towards the needy cause, either individually or collectively; do we know that?

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the question of pujas and homams should be done according to one's ability, as a nishkamya karmam. that is the general objective in the long run. as a short term measure we ask material benefits too...

it is not a 'you help me, i help you' attitude with god, as you seem to think so. one has to do it, devotion and realization are warranted if one sticks to the basic karmas. that is all. no question of scratching god's back.

as far as vadhyars competency, i would not say more. are we competent brahmins? let us think that first. do we perform our svadharmams? we only ask a lot of questions, but never do anything.

...this is in no way critical of faith or tradition. it is more a critique of blind adherence to traditions, without giving as much thought to a credible interpretation of the vedics towards a better life for the living.
as i said before, blind adherence to traditions would, further on, lead to enlightenment. may not be in this janma.

regards,
 
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Well it is going towards the other way around. My intention of posting this is help the organiser from like minded people.

In context of this, if we start debating this way, it never ends. But as far as my knowledge goes, this will help lot of persons to get their earning through their skill / works such as pendal provider, cooks, cleaners ...etc. May be amount to the vadyars a little bit high, But I have seen hundreds of vadyar living in remote areas not able to meet their ends everyday. THese type of oppurtuanity gives them some saving to take care dry days. The amount spent towards the ghee & other items are very minimum say about 10% of the amount.

However, I remember a article read long before during the Bhopal Tragedy, it says one entire village was not affected from the gas & some So called sceintifically educated made a study. They concluded that, the entire villagers were conducting the agnikaryas from past somany years. so this helped them to save their life. It shows exactly why our elders had made these systems.

I agree that we should donate, But donating directly make them lazy. By providing them work & pay them will keep them going.

Also these were organised to see that, the low income group, who may not be able to perform these homas individually with highly educated scholar, so this will be an oppurtuanity for them to involve themself.

Also we have a great concern that, our cultural heritage / practices are vanishing. In return we want to promote these type of programs. In my knowledge not even 10% of us know exactly what our culture was & how we have to lead the life.

If Modorator feel this appeal is not right in this section, they have freedom to remove this thread.

Pranam,
 
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.... So called sceintifically educated made a study. They concluded that, the entire villagers were conducting the agnikaryas from past somany years.

dear srinikam, I wish you well, so please do not take this personally, but you know the original version of this story was one family, just one, was saved because the head of the family was performing aupasanam everyday. You are now saying there is scientific validation that an entire village was saved because of Agnihotram performed some years earlier. I don't want to put you in a spot, but please look for this study and verify for yourself whether this is true.

Even this single family saved claim is only that, a claim. Such claims could never be verified because of the obvious difficulties in creating these deadly conditions and subjecting people to it.

Cheers!
 
... And to adore God doing something mechanically and superficially with out any feeling of devotion is of no use and utter waste of money, time and energy. One must call upon Him with yearning and unreservedly surrender oneself to Him.

dear drsundaram, I cannot presume to know the level of sincerity of the people performing homas. But, I am interested in examining why god would want anyone to beseech him and abjectly surrender to him. This conjures up the image of Saddam Hussain benevolently extending his hand and a meek soldier crawling up on fours and kissing it.

Would a really compassionate god condition his love upon we surrendering to him with a feeling of being utterly undeserving of his love, I think not. Heck, I, the least among flawed individuals, do not expect that from my children.

If I, with all the warts that come with samsara, had all the powers ascribed to god, I will transport everyone at this very instance to Sri Vaikuntam or whatever other place where eternal bliss is supposed to be. A god who does not do it is surely mean and does not deserve our meek obedience.

If there is god, he has left us to our own devises, and I like it that way. He does not care for us, the way a loving parent wouldn't, so we can make something of ourselves.

The fact that we have made a mess of it and he has not come to our rescue tells me there is nobody out there, we are all alone and we better learn to get along.

Cheers!
 
... But, I am interested in examining why god would want anyone to beseech him and abjectly surrender to him. ...
...
He asks only those who wish for liberation to surrender to him (as a sign of their dedication and commitment to the cause), so that life-death cycle would be stopped.

So, in fact, he leaves this to our choice. We would understand the importance of something only if we strive for it. If gifted in our hands, probably we would not seek moksham, rather dwell in this samsara for eternity, enthralled in its throes of passion and suffering alike.

Regards,
 
....So, in fact, he leaves this to our choice.

Saptha, this is why I think god is very mean. Why does he leave it to our choice. He, with perfect knowledge, knows (i) we have imperfect knowledge and don't really know what we are missing, and (ii) once taken to Sri vaikuntam with our Dharmabhootha jnyanam we will surely have no difficulty understanding and appreciating how valuable this moksham is. So, I see no reason why god should wait for us to make this choice. Only a mean god would do that.

Cheers!
 
srinikam,

pray continue to post, whatever you wish. let it not be said, that due to intolerance of a few, one member desists from expressing his thoughts or wishes. please continue sir.

saptha,

in the same tone as above, i request you not to please consider limits of expression, as to what is appropriate in any one thread. i think that is the job of the moderator.

in addition, i wish to say, that what i stated in my post, is but a reflection of the broad spectrum of the faith and practices within our community. i certainly respect your stands and hopefully, have been disagreeing only to your points, and not you yourself personally.

i will concede that you have been a gentleman and scholar regarding your posts to me, and do read your responses with delight.

back to my repartee - saptha, to quote from my earlier post the very first statement 'atleast we have to agree that one can justify any amount of actions thanks to our inherent intellect'.

your stand based on faith and practices definitely overrides any plea towards rationality. to give the sponsors of the homam the benefit of the doubt, i would presume they have weighed the benefits sum toto of this function, and concluded that the derived believed benefits would override that money spent towards any physical immediate betterment of a fellow brahmin.

or maybe, it does not matter.
 
Saptha, this is why I think god is very mean. Why does he leave it to our choice. He, with perfect knowledge, knows (i) we have imperfect knowledge and don't really know what we are missing, and (ii) once taken to Sri vaikuntam with our Dharmabhootha jnyanam we will surely have no difficulty understanding and appreciating how valuable this moksham is. So, I see no reason why god should wait for us to make this choice. Only a mean god would do that.
Why not? Until and unless we realize that this cycle of life and death are more of a pain rather than a pleasure, we will not recognize that there is any other happier place than this. Even if transported to Vaikuntam in a swish, all the jivas would be sad thinking about their 'apparently greener' samsara.

The jiva would have to recognize for itself, realize the truth for itself, through repeated trials of life/death, until at last, it breaks free from the bond of samsara. Until then, all sorts of maya weave their magic on the jiva.

So why blame god for this... it would appear that, after all, it is but our inability to letgo of the samsara while aspiring for vaikunta.

Regards,

P.S. ISKCON belief is that, initially the jiva was with Krishna enjoying the eternal bliss. Gradually the thought of the jiva shifted from Krishna to itself; that is when it got entrapped into the samsara. (anything wrong, ISKCONites, please correct me).
 
...

in the same tone as above, i request you not to please consider limits of expression, as to what is appropriate in any one thread. i think that is the job of the moderator...
isn't such a request a limit of expression by itself...?

regards,
 
.... Even if transported to Vaikuntam in a swish, all the jivas would be sad thinking about their 'apparently greener' samsara.

Saptha, I wonder whether you understand what Sri Vaikuntam is supposed to be. It is not like a vacation in a 5 star hotel that you grow tired of after sometime, SVs call that Swargam.

Sri Vaikuntam is supposed to be a place and state where Jeevas attain perfect knowledge equal to that of Iswara. This state is called Sayujya. So, it stands to no reason at all that a jeeva with perfect knowledge, that too equal to that of Iswara, will have second thoughts like you are suggesting.

I don't know about ISKONites, but SVs do believe Muktas will never return to Samsara.

This is why a god who does not instantly transport everyone to Sri Vaikunta is a mean god.

Cheers!
 
Saptha, I wonder whether you understand what Sri Vaikuntam is supposed to be. It is not like a vacation in a 5 star hotel that you grow tired of after sometime, SVs call that Swargam.
You seem to go along with all the assumptions of SV but for the Leela Vibuthi of the Lord!

If you accept that Vaikuntam is Sayujyam, then you have to accept that jivas have to aspire for liberation at the feet of the Lord. You cannot consider one and disregard the other; that is selective.

Regards,
 
Folks,

With increasing affluence of TBs, homams at home and mass homams in public venues have become increasingly common. Lots of ghee, nuts, fruits, and expensive silk garments get thrown ritually into fire. Pious people standing around are awestruck, either genuinely or fake it very convincingly. Cameras click away. Photos get circulated in Picassa, Flickr or Facebook. An occasional pattern in the flames resembling Anjanesya or Garuda or Nandhi create frenzied excitement all around. All good fun.

But, what is the purpose of conducting these mass homas? What benefits are supposed to accrue to those conducting them and those sponsoring them?

In general we can look at human activities productive or consumptive. Homam is at best a consumptive action, it does not produce anything. It may generate a lot of economic activity, but all of it is consumptive. If this consumption provides fun, excitement, and satisfaction to some -- say like seeing a good movie or reading a good novel -- then it is all fine I suppose.

But I am not very convinced. These kinds of activities promote gross superstitions and prepare the minds of the masses to accept any claim of spirituality blindly. It is no wonder a million godmen and godmwomen thrive even after getting outed. There is no use griping about the activities of these charlatans, they are only the drug pushers. It is the drug addiction that must be dealt with.

Cheers!
 
You seem to go along with all the assumptions of SV but for the Leela Vibuthi of the Lord!

Huh!!! This is why the lord is mean, he wants a leela vibhuthi and not satisfied with bhoga rasam of nithya vibhuthi.

If you accept that Vaikuntam is Sayujyam, then you have to accept that jivas have to aspire for liberation at the feet of the Lord. You cannot consider one and disregard the other; that is selective.
I don't know where I am being selective! You said jeevas who don't aspire when they are in samsara may have second thoughts if they are per force transported to Sri vaikunta. All I am saying is that is not logical as the jeeva, once transported to Sri Vaikunta will have perfect knowledge and there is no question of second thoughts given Sri Vaikunatam is a place of perfect knowledge and eternal bliss, according to SV.

Cheers!
 
I was also curious about this, you can check the following weblink for forther info.


Dear srinikam, there are lots of web sites claiming lots of stuff. I wouldn't expect anything less about the benefits of Homam from a web site with the title Homa Therapy International.

Cheers!
 
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