How can we encourage our kids to go to temple more?

[Servall]

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Folks:

Not sure if this question belongs to this thread or if this has been discussed ever before..

Something that has been bothering me for sometime. I am talking about Hindus living abroad (including myself).
I get the distinct impression that we go to temples less. When I compare Hindus with muslims or Christians, I see
many of the other faiths going to mosques and churches more often than Hindus. I seem to go to temples only on special
occasions or festival days but never made it a practice to schedule periodic trips to temples. This does not mean my faith
is any less or I am becoming less of a Hindu. When other faiths make it a priority, some how we do not do that. In my office
building we have a huge hall to accomodate muslims to pray.

What can we do to encourage ourselves to go to temples more:

1. In my case, I do pray and do abishekam to my ishta devata on specific days at home; should it preclude
me from going to the temple;
2. If I dont go, how can I set an example to my kids from going to the temple;
3. Is it because some how we have become less of an Indian?
4. Is it because we are not proud of our heritage?
5. I have attended lectures on Hinduism conducted by whites and have been fascinated by their love of our religion and its content how come some of us are not able to realize the vast richness and heritage of our culture?
6. If I become more knowledgeable with the scriptures, vedas and able to answer the questions that my kids have on Hinduism,
will it be a factor to encourage them to go to temple?

Perhaps the answer is a combination of all this. In my case, there is no lack of temples around where I live; but some of them
find to be more commercial than religious so I am not finding what I am looking for in those establishments.

I am wondering how the other tabras feel about this ....

P.S. Needless to say, this question is directed to those that are believers!!

Good day

 

[amala]

The thing is our religion is more individualistic and personal with regards to worshipping in temples. We, from what I have seen don't do congregational worship like Muslims, Christians, Sikhs etc. Individual groups like SSB satsangs and ISCKON do however but for the most part we can go whenever we like to the temple, pray a while and leave.

Perhaps as parents one can take their kids when small to the temple often. Both my parents aren't into temple going much at all and we didn't go much at all during my childhood/teenage years. But i turned to like/enjoy going to the temple and do go as often as i possibly can.

 

[Servall]

Yes Amala your point is well taken that our religion is more individualistic whereas the others are congregation based.

Still the point I was trying to make is how come for e.g. I see many kids going to the mosque or many youngsters praying compared to Hindu kids or youngsters that might go to temples. I dont have any specific numbers to validate what I am saying, but this is what I see when I drive around mosques!! What are they doing right and is there anything we can learn from them to encourage our kids to be more religious or go to temples (more)? I certainly dont think all kids I see that go to mosques are coerced by their parents!!

But my concern is more towards the kids who are born outside of India. When my grand parents lived in the village, his home became our second home and we would go there every year; but after he and my grand mother passed away and the rest of the family moved away to cities or abroad, I never went back there. It created such a big vaccumn in my life that the roots were cut off permanently. I have the same feeling now. With my kids being born here, I am beginning to think that may be their roots will be cut off after this generation. As you say when they are small, we can teach and encourage them to follow our ways, but once they come of age, not much we can do to encourage them to follow what we believe in!!

 

[prasad1]

The thing is our religion is more individualistic and personal with regards to worshipping in temples. We, from what I have seen don't do congregational worship like Muslims, Christians, Sikhs etc. Individual groups like SSB satsangs and ISCKON do however but for the most part we can go whenever we like to the temple, pray a while and leave.

Perhaps as parents one can take their kids when small to the temple often. Both my parents aren't into temple going much at all and we didn't go much at all during my childhood/teenage years. But i turned to like/enjoy going to the temple and do go as often as i possibly can.

I like your new avatar, and I like your post#2

We grew up away from Tamil Nadu. In our family it was customary to go to Temple on Saturdays. We also visited temples during any trips we took during my younger days. In US being very actively involved in the Hindu Temple committees we were both involved in the operation of the temple. So in addition to temple services we also used to volunteer our services. My child always accompanied us till she went to collage. So every Sunday she will attend Bal Vihar, and help in other temple activity. Our temple was very special as it was also a cultural gathering. After puja hour 11am- 1pm we had communal food and social. She even now says she missed that group, now that she has moved to a big city.

Will the 1st generation born here keep coming back? I do not know, I hope so. In the local Temple here, the present Chairman is a 1st Generation born in USA, one of the other board member is also American Born of Indian origin. The majority of congregation is immigrant. When we visit India, we make it a point to visit a place we have not been, and visit local temple. My child too visits Temple, when she feels the need. She is active participant in the Food bank her local temple supports.

The swaminarayan Temple here has dedicated members and their children participate in all activities, They even volunteer in other BAPPS organization to foreign countries. Some of the BAPPS members left India more than 100 years ago. I have seen similar fervor in Sai Groups. The local sai group is very active here and some of its young members devote time in India on regular basis.

I do not know how religious or spiritual it is, but I love the rich architecture, and history of Indian Temples, and very proud of Indian culture.

PS: my post is for believers.

 

[Yamaka]

Yes Amala your point is well taken that our religion is more individualistic whereas the others are congregation based.

Still the point I was trying to make is how come for e.g. I see many kids going to the mosque or many youngsters praying compared to Hindu kids or youngsters that might go to temples. I dont have any specific numbers to validate what I am saying, but this is what I see when I drive around mosques!! What are they doing right and is there anything we can learn from them to encourage our kids to be more religious or go to temples (more)? I certainly dont think all kids I see that go to mosques are coerced by their parents!!

But my concern is more towards the kids who are born outside of India. When my grand parents lived in the village, his home became our second home and we would go there every year; but after he and my grand mother passed away and the rest of the family moved away to cities or abroad, I never went back there. It created such a big vaccumn in my life that the roots were cut off permanently. I have the same feeling now. With my kids being born here, I am beginning to think that may be their roots will be cut off after this generation. As you say when they are small, we can teach and encourage them to follow our ways, but once they come of age, not much we can do to encourage them to follow what we believe in!!

Perhaps my input here will be laughed at..

In any case, this is what happened to my son who used to go to Meenakshi Temple (here in Houston) along with my wife...for him it was more of a curiosity as to what exactly is happening inside the Temple.

Long time ago, he was asking my wife, "Ma.. are we Shiva worshipers? If we are, then why do we worship the lingam as God?"

My wife didn't like the question.. she shut him out saying, "It's tradition.. I don't want to talk about it anymore!"

Alas.. my son's curiosity is slowly gone... he refused to go to Temple with her anymore! She also doesn't go to Temple that often now...!

My point is youngsters growing up in the US will ask all sorts of good questions.. without any hesitation... if you don't answer them right, then they will lose interest, and will move away from Temples, Mosques and Churches! (In my personal view, that's not that bad at all... he.. he..he -)

Most youngsters don't go to Churches in the US.. it depends how religious the parents are - I believe only about 20% of Americans are truly religious, others are just Pragmatists, for whom Santa Claus is more important than the birth of Jesus!

 

[praveen]

This is a wonderful topic that can be discussed with an open mind. I have made this a sticky topic, so it will stay above all.
i will reserve my full views on this till the last, but nevertheless here i one that i could not resist

When other faiths make it a priority, some how we do not do that.

Our ancestors and elders keep saying God is omnipotent and god is everywhere, within you and me. So it negates the idea of going to a particular place to worship him/her.

 

[renuka]

Good thread and topic..this is something I really need to pay attention too.
We as kids never really had the habit of going to temple but we were taught about religion and god at home by mum.
We used to attend bhajans on and off but not that regular.
My brothers used to never miss any prayer at home and it was me who used to wake up late and sleep through even a Deepavali morning prayer.

I still remember my mum and dad screaming at me for not joining prayers and my brothers will be praised by them!!!hehehehe
But finally it was me who turned out so so interested in God and religion..both my brothers are quite "open minded" about religion and try to be very liberal in the approach and they call me Militant.
One didnt even mind marrying a non hindu which is something I will never even dream of in my wildest dream.
One more brother doesnt comment about God but he is not an Atheist.


My parents were so scared that I will grow up to be an Atheist as I never liked to sit for prayers.
Even if i was at a temple..i will busy checking out people.

Somehow I always felt that I liked praying alone and that too when no one is around.
Still remember in Manipal as a student I went to a temple at 12 midnight with a friend and he was asking me.."who on earth will pray at such an hour that too at a locked temple?"
I like the calm feeling of silence that only a 12 midnight can give.

I dont seem to feel comfortable in crowded places and like prayer to be a private affair.
So I developed this habit to pray without idols even as a child cos I wanted to be alone where no one was watching me pray.

This habit made me read more instead of doing rituals.

Somehow I feel I must devote time to take my son more to temple.
He is somewhat like me and prefers to recite his mantras upon waking when he is alone and in his room.
My dad is not too happy with this trend as he feels children need to go step by step in religion and culture need to be instilled.
I know my dad has got a point and I must make an effort.

 

[tbs]

hi
just i will give some practical solutions....im part of this problem....we tried some solutions too....initially i dont want to discuss much..

we are in USA....the problem in india and other countries are different....just example....in india every hindus celebrate DIWALI in india...

majority hindus follows tradition.....govt declares holiday.....the whole country some part of celebration......every try to go to

temple on festival days......in USA the deepavali is like other normal day.....becoz majority never follow our traditions....so

the outside peer pressure makes dufferent.....we have BALA VIHAR in our temple....more than 200 indian children studying

in our sunday school abt hinduism...its purely volunteerism....children are happy to come to temple and parents are makie them possible...its peculiar situation.....we can teach hinduism through disney like story telling methods.... many white american

children are the part of this program.....they enjoy DIWALI/HOLI /ANNAKUT FESTIVALS......EVEN WE HAVE FIREWORKS FOR CHILDREN....IF THERE IS A WILL ...THERE IS A WAY...


P.S. Needless to say, this question is directed to those that are believers!!

i like this sentence.....so im writing....otherwise im not here....thanks servall



my 2 cents....

 

[renuka]

hi
just i will give some practical solutions....im part of this problem....we tried some solutions too....initially i dont want to discuss much..

we are in USA....the problem in india and other countries are different....just example....in india every hindus celebrate DIWALI in india...

majority hindus follows tradition.....govt declares holiday.....the whole country some part of celebration......every try to go to

temple on festival days......in USA the deepavali is like other normal day.....becoz majority never follow our traditions....so

the outside peer pressure makes dufferent.....we have BALA VIHAR in our temple....more than 200 indian children studying

in our sunday school abt hinduism...its purely volunteerism....children are happy to come to temple and parents are makie them possible...its peculiar situation.....we can teach hinduism through disney like story telling methods.... many white american

children are the part of this program.....they enjoy DIWALI/HOLI /ANNAKUT FESTIVALS......EVEN WE HAVE FIREWORKS FOR CHILDREN....IF THERE IS A WILL ...THERE IS A WAY...


P.S. Needless to say, this question is directed to those that are believers!!

i like this sentence.....so im writing....otherwise im not here....thanks servall



my 2 cents....

Yo dude!!! You are here yet you say you are not here.
Just be here yaar..I know you are in invisible mode.

 

[Servall]

Dear Y :

Long time ago, he was asking my wife, "Ma.. are we Shiva worshipers? If we are, then why do we worship the lingam as God?"

My wife didn't like the question.. she shut him out saying, "It's tradition.. I don't want to talk about it anymore!"

Alas.. my son's curiosity is slowly gone... he refused to go to Temple with her anymore! She also doesn't go to Temple that often now...!

My point is youngsters growing up in the US will ask all sorts of good questions.. without any hesitation... if you don't answer them right, then they will lose interest, and will move away from Temples, Mosques and Churches! (In my personal view, that's not that bad at all... he.. he..he -)

Most youngsters don't go to Churches in the US.. it depends how religious the parents are - I believe only about 20% of Americans are truly religious, others are just Pragmatists, for whom [COLOR=#DA7911 !important][COLOR=#DA7911 !important]Santa [COLOR=#DA7911 !important]Claus[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR] is more important than the birth of Jesus!

Exactly the point. Instead of parents setting an example and teaching kids our religion, beliefs, what is right or wrong, we shun away from questions. Y, I dont know if your son is a believer or a non-believer, but I wish I had your knowledge to answer my kid's questions!

After I read your post this morning, a script worthy of all woods out there (K, M, B even Hollywood) ran through my mind that would shatter all BO records. It bags Oscar in 2015!!
Disclaimer : I write this only in humour and please dont take me seriously. I do respect what you believe/ or dont believe in!!

Here goes the script:
-------------------------

1. Junior Y out of his curiosity from tagging along with you and Mrs. Y begins asking bunch of religious questions;
2. You and Mrs. Y answer them diligently, at times you are shocked that he would ask questions that might shake your non-belief!!
3. Jr. Y disappears for days, months and years
4. During these years he goes on his own mission, traverses the entire universe to find truth, visits all temples, churches, mosques, synogogues and et al, and interviews all madam heads, pope etc. and spends months with atheists such as Madalyn O'Hair and Ellen Johnson interviewing them
5. One day he appears again unannounced looking like Surya in 7am Arivu in saffron clothes, with reverence and kind but piercing eyes and with such calmness that you have not seen him with hitherto before
6. He quietly but firmly engages in serious debates with Mr and Mrs Y for days to come
7. Sparks fly, you refute all his findings with your brilliant defence
8. In the end, there, right in front you, he proves beyond shadow of doubt, that God indeed exists, and not a blade of
grass moves without Him
9. You are cornered, and you can see it clearly, and falls to your knees with tears rolling down your eyes and
see Jr.Y revenrentially and claim alas, you have found your Godman, that you loathed for so many years
10. Finally you realize all you read was based on abstracts and there was someone else who saw it differently
and proved to you that there is God (this happens in 2015, hence Oscar in 2015)
11. You finally join our 'camp' and we welcome you with open arms and debate happily ever after.......
-----------------------------------------
Note: I much prefer Bala produce the script and not Udhayanidhi Stalin......

 

[kunjuppu]

how can me make our kids to go to temple more?

there are many ways of looking at this.

simplest is just stick to the title. ie vist temples regularly. i guess, if you yourself have the habit of weekly or monthly visit planned or vists during important festivals, the kids, till they are teens, will and can be persuaded to accompany you.

after that, during the teens, when the children growing through self realization and more into worldly things, it may or may not be possible to get them to visit abodes of god.

this then moves on to a bigger question. children have a very strong sense of curiosity and fairness, as Yamaka's son has shown. we need to be able to answer the queries, instead of shutting them up. and some of those questions may be embarassing, considering the past inequalities.

where we ourselves believe absolutely in equality, and honest enough to accept the inequalities of the caste system as perpetuated in the past, and identify ourselves with the temple goers, considering them as our own, we have then set an example. the children may not follow us to the temple, but when they grow up, they would remember it as a fond experience, which is worth passing on.

in my own case, we are infrequent temple visitors. and it is more for the atmosphere and ambience. south indian temples, all over the world, have the same smells, sounds, noises, the pitter patter of the children running, the nadaswaram music, the bhajan chants, the archanai murmurs at the various altars - all in all a mix of ambiences, which probably has not changed in milleniums.

i enjoy it. my children appear to enjoy it and willingly tag along. but are they religious? nobody can force their children to religiosity. you can take horse to the water. cannot make the horse drink the water

finally, if we are taking our children to the temples, out of our insecurity, i think, it is the worst reason. let us, if we must, analyze ourselves and do such, with faith ourselves. or not because of other faiths. that simply wont hold water with the kids.

 

[prasad1]

This is a wonderful topic that can be discussed with an open mind. I have made this a sticky topic, so it will stay above all.
i will reserve my full views on this till the last, but nevertheless here i one that i could not resist


Our ancestors and elders keep saying God is omnipotent and god is everywhere, within you and me. So it negates the idea of going to a particular place to worship him/her.

Religion and spirituality is a personal experience and is not a group exercise. I agree with you that if you are going to temple to see God, you need more knowledge.
Temple is more to focus your attention, knowledge, learning from others, social contacts and various other activities. So going to temple accomplishes many social needs. To practice spirituality you have to gain knowledge of the Self.

 

[கால பைரவன்]

Our ancestors and elders keep saying God is omnipotent and god is everywhere, within you and me. So it negates the idea of going to a particular place to worship him/her.

The idea of a temple is not to propound that God resides only there.

Rather it is to create a place to help people focus!

 

[Servall]

I can speak only of my kids and perhaps many of you feel the same way.

The reality is this:

1. When I take my kids today to temple, the first thing that happens is, their eyes wander around and they immediately look for kids of their own age.
2. They all then gather around in some corner of the temple and start doing their own thing, oblivious to what pooja is being performed or what rituals are being done in the temple
3. At the end of the temple visit, the visit to them was no more than any other outing
4. The matters involving temple activities or having to get our kids involved more in religious activities, all these are becoming more a conversation in desi parties on saturday nights over samosa, tea and beer

So having laid out my concerns, I think in my mind what can be done constructively to resolve these may include the following:

1. In our temple activities, create programs to explain to our kids the purpose of each pooja or ritual as they are being done
2. Not only that, more importantly the value that these poojas or rituals create in our daily lives and how participating in these activities can enrich their well being and make them productive/responsible/useful/moral human beings in their own communities
3. Make these activities more interesting???
4. Not sure if any of our temples in North America offer any of these programs already to effectively integrate our kids into the temple activities and nurture them to attending these activities out of their own volition and not forced by parents
5. Can we make this thread just not a discussion thread but offer constructive ideas to those other tabra members who might be in various temple committees or religious organizations so they can take these concerns and act on them.

My 2 cents.

 

[sangom]

This is a wonderful topic that can be discussed with an open mind. I have made this a sticky topic, so it will stay above all.
i will reserve my full views on this till the last, but nevertheless here i one that i could not resist


Our ancestors and elders keep saying God is omnipotent and god is everywhere, within you and me. So it negates the idea of going to a particular place to worship him/her.

Though I am a religious Tabra-turned-agnostic, I feel I may put in my views here.

I agree with Praveen's statement that "Our ancestors and elders keep saying God is omnipotent and god is everywhere, within you and me. So it negates the idea of going to a particular place to worship him/her."

When we were young (and brahmins really enjoyed the caste supremacy) we did not go to temple much at all. Though I was interested in going to the local Subrahmanyaswamy Temple [where young brahmin boys were given cash for doing "angapradakshiNam" for a specified distance before the 'koTimaram', and some of my friends (classmates) used to boast about how they enjoyed vada and coffee in the nearby brahmin hotel with money so earned] and enjoy in the same way, I was not allowed. (Relevant to note here that after Independence, boys of all castes were allowed to do this ritual called உருளிச்சை.)

In those days, temple-going was mostly on (star) birthdays only. On all other days it was prayers and namaskaram to the devapooja at home. My wife's family (she is my uncle's daughter) who lived very close to a temple, also did not have the practice of going to temple daily.

Hence temple-going does not define hinduism, at least the tabra hinduism, imho. But since the OP talks about foreign countries and a comparison with Christians and Muslims which are basically congregational religions, may be some steps have to be taken to convert the temples also into daily/weekly congregational spots. Of course a similar change has already come over here in Trivandrum and temple-going has become the most important ritual for most religious hindus (all castes).

Children today seem to be more logically/rationally programmed; they will learn to operate the most complicated mobile phones, digicams and computers with comparative ease, but will expect religion also to be equally logical! It is for all those concerned, to make the religion rationally appealing to the kids of today. Thus, marketing religion successfully to the next generation is the key to ensure continued adherents for our religion, imho.

 

[Yamaka]

Hello Servall: Ref post # 10.

As I have written before, we raised our kids in totally a secular environment. My daughter (27) does not show any curiosity towards God and Religion. My son (22) showed some curiosity, as I said earlier... not anymore, he doesn't care much.

But we always tell them, "Now you are all over 21 years of age, adults.. you can choose anything you want to follow - or not to follow... Your adult life is yours..you can marry a Hindu, a Christian, a Jew or another Secular minded person, a Black, a Hispanic, a White or whoever..we don't have any say in your personal life, period".

If your screenplay comes true, I will not be upset.. get your Oscar for 2015! But, please ask AR Rahman to compose and sing the musical score! LOL

Regarding my wife, as I have said before several times, she is an Agno-Theist! She has lots of doubts about God and Religion..

She once told me, "Y... you are very unique since you were age 20.. you somehow got clarity of matter.. you don't follow any tradition and you are fearless to the core.. you neither worry about God or any authority in real life or virtual (the other world) life. That way you are very comfortable in your skin... whereas, I am traditional.. I have fears.. I am one very confused person, and I am a Scientist too". "When I read about why we worship LINGHAM, I get upset and angry.. the explanations are very obscene and wrong.. but still we do! Why? Why can't we worship the Dancing Nataraja, instead of a LINGHAM?"

So goes things in our house!

Y is a peaceful guy.. watching everything in wonder!

 

[sangom]

She once told me, "Y... you are very unique since you were age 20.. you somehow got clarity of matter.. you don't follow any tradition and you are fearless to the core.. you neither worry about God or any authority in real life or virtual (the other world) life. That way you are very comfortable in your skin... whereas, I am traditional.. I have fears.. I am one very confused person, and I am a Scientist too". "When I read about why we worship LINGHAM, I get upset and angry.. the explanations are very obscene and wrong.. but still we do! Why? Why can't we worship the Dancing Nataraja, instead of a LINGHAM?"

So goes things in our house!

Y is a peaceful guy.. watching everything in wonder!

Shri Yamaka,

I don't mean any disrespect to you but my feeling is that you were able to come to your atheistic position with comparative ease because you did not have the deadweight of religious indoctrination which any ordinary tabra child gets for free - as has happened in your wife's case.

 

[Servall]

Mr. Y:

If your screenplay comes true, I will not be upset.. get your Oscar for 2015! But, please ask AR Rahman to compose and sing the musical score! LOL

Thank you for being a sport!!

Children today seem to be more logically/rationally programmed; they will learn to operate the most complicated mobile phones, digicams and computers with comparative ease, but will expect religion also to be equally logical! It is for all those concerned, to make the religion rationally appealing to the kids of today. Thus, marketing religion successfully to the next generation is the key to ensure continued adherents for our religion, imho.

As Mr. Sangom quite aptly put it, the kids today are lot smarter and rational than our generation and they will not accept anything that is not rational or logical to them; and religion, being so abstract, is not easy to explain or comprehend. There is no one easy way to 'market' religion to kids. And this problem is not new just for this generation either!! I tried to create a spreadsheet of all action plans to summarize what we can do to encourage our kids to integrate with our religion and nothing stunning came to my mind. I jotted down all suggestions through this discussion, such as Bala vihar, Satsung, Distribution to the needy, chanting sessions, and they were not too effective, were they? I remember I enrolled my kids to vishnu sahasranamam learning session, bunch of kids did that for a few weeks and slowly it disintegrated simply because we didnt teach these kids the value of vishnusahasranamam!! Back to Sangom, until they understand why they are doing something, it aint going to cut it!! Can we think more so we can come up with more practical and creative ideas....here is a sample so please go ahead and log your suggestions and we will see what we end up with!!

Some suggestions:

1. The suggestion logged may not be specific to Hindu religion, it may apply to all kids of all faiths!!
2. No suggestion is small, but if you think something has been tried but did not work, can we improve on it by enhancing the suggestion?
3. No jokes, lets be serious at least when logging the suggestions....
4. I put in the Post # and name, so if we want more details, we can go back to the post......

[TABLE="class: MsoTableGrid"]
[TR]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent, colspan: 4"]Title : Action Items To Integrate Kids More Into Religious/Temple Activities
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 31, bgcolor: transparent"]No
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[TD="width: 180, bgcolor: transparent"]Post Number & Name
[/TD]
[TD="width: 60, bgcolor: transparent"]Date
[/TD]
[TD="width: 319, bgcolor: transparent"]Description of Suggestion
[/TD]
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[TR]
[TD="width: 31, bgcolor: transparent"]1
[/TD]
[TD="width: 180, bgcolor: transparent"]# 15: Mr. Sangom
[/TD]
[TD="width: 60, bgcolor: transparent"]11/03/11
[/TD]
[TD="width: 319, bgcolor: transparent"]1. Enhance temple premises into daily/weekly congregation spots

[/TD]
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[TD="width: 180, bgcolor: transparent"][/TD]
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[sarang]

Another issue in which perception is different from practice.

All the old well known temples are visited by increasing number of devotees (in millions) - tirumala, srirangam, kanchi madurai, rameswaram.

Even small temples have become popular and attract lots of devotees and revenue- melamaruvattur, mangadu.

There are special temples for specific needs - sani, rahu temples and a temple where aspirants go to pray for getting US visas.

Temples meet multiple needs of the individual and the community. I do not see any conflict in praying for the success of my company's project or launching of a product. We go to temple and pray for success in exam, interviews, promotion and for every wish to be fulfilled and for curing of illnesses and misfortune and money problems.

One will find people of all ages visiting temples. We need not worry about our youngsters as long as we go to the temples whenever we can. Our children will take the cue from us and their peers and gurus.

 

[prasad1]

sarang post#19
I fully agree with you. I do see more attendance at the temples. I just assumed it is due to the increase in population. Religious and social activities are basically maintained and encouraged by ladies of the house. Generally the men folks will accompany or at least not hinder in the activity. Then only religion flourishes. If the women gives up or gives in the family gives up on that value. The men might think they have influenced their children, but only time can tell.

This is my opinion, and is not disrespect to any other individual.

 

[prasad1]

"Naturally, every Hindu does not attend a temple. Some schools of Hinduism even eschew temples and the rituals often affiliated with them. For those who do attend temples, especially for interested visitors: there is no such thing as the average Hindu temple. They reflect the diversity of Hinduism itself, varying architecturally by region, town, or village of India, by historical era and philosophical school of thought, or by a specific diaspora's spiritual inclinations."

Deepa S. Iyer: How To Visit A Hindu Temple: What You Will See And What It Means

 

[prasad1]

"Unlike other organized religions, in Hinduism, it is not mandatory for a person to visit a temple. Since all Hindu home usually have a small shrine or ‘puja room’ for daily prayers, Hindus generally go to temples only on auspicious occasions or during religious festivals. Hindu temples also do not play a crucial role in marriages and funerals, but it is often the meeting place for religious discourses as well as ‘bhajans’ and ‘kirtans’ (devotional songs and chants)."
All About the Hindu Temple


"Hindu temples across the globe form the cynosure of India's cultural tradition and spiritual succor. There are Hindu temples in all almost countries of the world, and contemporary India is bristled with beautiful temples, which hugely contribute to her cultural heritage. In 2005, arguably the largest temple complex was inaugurated in New Delhi on the banks of river Yamuna. The mammoth effort of 11,000 artisans and volunteers made the majestic grandeur of Akshardham temple a reality, an astounding feat which the proposed world's tallest Hindu temple of Mayapur in West Bengal is aiming accomplish."

http://hinduism.about.com/od/temples/a/historyoftemple.htm
















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[Nara]

...P.S. Needless to say, this question is directed to those that are believers!!

The OP has directed the question to believers, that I am not. So, with due trepidations, may I submit a question that may be swatted away if deemed impertinent. My question is "why", why must we encourage kids to go to temples more? Perhaps possible answers to the "why" question may open up new possibilities for answering the "how" question.

Cheers!

 

[sravna]

The OP has directed the question to believers, that I am not. So, with due trepidations, may I submit a question that may be swatted away if deemed impertinent. My question is "why", why must we encourage kids to go to temples more? Perhaps possible answers to the "why" question may open up new possibilities for answering the "how" question.

Cheers!

Dear Shri Nara,

Your thoughts and behavior depend on time and place. Would you have the same thoughts when you are in a pub, as those when you are in a temple? It is more discipled in the latter case. May be going to temples frequently could orient your thoughts in the right direction.

 

[suraju06]

Yamaka's #16:

.........I am traditional.. I have fears.. I am one very confused person, and I am a Scientist too". "When I read about why we worship LINGHAM, I get upset and angry.. the explanations are very obscene and wrong.. but still we do! Why? Why can't we worship the Dancing Nataraja, instead of a LINGHAM?"......

Our inadequate understanding of our religion is perhaps the reason for the fears as is evident from this post. If what is meant here is the representation of phallus by the lingam, which is the interpretation of the deities by the ignorant westerners, Mrs. Y should read Vivekananda for the correct interpretation of the Linga which is not at all obscene or wrong. To the Europeans the Lingam looked like the phallus perhaps because they had their brain between their legs when they tried to understand the Hindu religion. I can explain what is the significance of the term Lingam but I think I have done this earlier in another thread.