Being a Hindu

ॐ असतो मा सद्गमय ।

तमसो मा ज्योतिर्गमय ।

मृत्योर्मा अमृतं गमय ।

ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ॥

What does being a Hindu mean to you?

For me Being a hindu means to acquire spiritual knowledge

• Reading the teachings and biographies of the saints and mahatmas of India like Sant Gynaeshwar, Sant Tukaram, Eknath, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Goswami Tulsidas, Surdas,Kabir Das, Ramana Maharshi , Ramakrishna Paramhansa,Swami Vivekananda etc. to name a few.

• Gaining the knowledge of the scriptures like the Bhagavat Gita, Narayaneeyam,Shrimad Bhagavatam and Ramayanam.

• Reciting the archana’s like Lalitasahasranamam, Vishnusaharanamam, Hunuman Chalisa or the Shiv Namavali (Any one) everyday.

• To chant the mantras like Panchakshari Mantra, Gayatri Mantra, the Mrityunjaya Mantram or the Maha Mantram

        (Hara Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

          Hare Krishna Hare krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare ) continuously.

• Bhajanam – Singing praises of the guru and the god.

• Meditation or Dhyana

• Having opportunities to listen to Satsang of realized saints and mahatmas

• Most importantly to develop an attitude of selfless service towards the downtrodden and the daridra narayans.

• And having unflinching faith in one’s guru.

In addition to this I will add one more point seeing the current environment

Every Hindu should become self sufficient. i.e he should be able to earn money through dharmic ways so that he does not require to takeup adharmic activities for his livelihood. For that the hindu has to be skilled so that he is employable or can be a dharmic entrepreneur. The relentless focus has to be on the upliftment of the hindu and not to teach anybody else a lesson.

One must definitely point out any unrighteous activity coming before our eyes, but to impose what one thinks as righteous on others is adharma, and one should strictly keep away from it and only
follow one’s dharma.

Japo Re Japo – Ram Naam Japo

              If one chants the holy names of the lord, even in helpless condition or without desiring to do so, all the reactions of his sinful life departs, just as when lion roars, all the small animals flee in fear. – Bhaktivinoda Thakur

We have noticed in the recent years, there has been an exponential rise in drugs and alcohol addiction, divorce rates, acts of violence, old parents being thrown out by their children, sexual crimes against women, love-jihad cases, being unpatriotic, antisocial, getting in depression and anxiety eventually leading to suicides amongst children.

As per the Bhagavat Gita the increase in Kama(Lust), Krodha (Anger), Lobha (Greed), Mada (Ego),Moha (Attachment),matsarya(Jealousy) are the reasons for the evil in the society.

Today when we open the news channels in the morning all we hear is about how many people have dies in the wars happening across the globe.

An unrighteous rule leads to the rise of terrorism or naxalism. The scriptures say that a righteous leader or govt in power will always lead to a happy and prosperous nation and a peaceful world.

Some people have linked the terrorist attacks to religion. I strongly believe that no religion would support the killing of innocent civilians be it Islam or any other religion. I am sure holy places like Mecca-Madina are to bring sense of happiness and joy to the pilgrims and devotees visiting it.

The western modern-day solution to these problems seem to be setting up of deaddiction and rehabilitation centres for drug abuse along with therapy for depression and sex education of sexual crimes. I believe these are myopic solutions.

I believe an holistic approach would be to give them spiritual education at an early age so that they develop the courage and valour to face the problems of the world.

I believe when children get attached to bad influences they get caught in a vicious circle. If children get attached to God and have faith in him they would not get attached to bad influences and in case he does, he would get back to normal, as he would have stains of spirituality in him, inculcated at an early age.

Hinduism says, the easiest way to get attached to God is to recite the name of Lord continuously. Having a realised guru helps in the spiritual process.

Shrimat Bhagavatam says sravana (listening),kirtana (singing),smarana (meditating),pada-sevana (serving),archana (praising),vandana(worshipping),dasya (slaving), sakhyam (friendship) and atma—nevidanam (surrender of the self) these nine processes are accepted as pure devotonal service.

Man has progressed enormously in his intellectual capacities, he has reached the moon and also has AI enabled driverless cars, but sadly had dropped down on his value system. There is need to make sure that the spiritual quotient gets better in every individual so that we can have a peaceful world.I am sure all religions and leaders would coincide on that.

PS: This article is inspired by the Satsang of Shri Hit Premanand Govind Sharan Ji Maharaj

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