The Foundational Emblems of Indian Culture: Shikha and Sutra (Translation of a discourse of Revered Pandit Shriram Sharma Acharya)

(Post 08)

(http://literature.awgp.org/akhandjyoti/2004/Sept_Oct/ShikhaSutra/) 

What is the origin of the Vedic Religion and the Indian Culture?

It is the ultimate knowledge, the pre-eminent force of spirituality, the divine light, and the eternal values, embedded in Gayatri Mantra.

I have therefore motivated you all towards the sadhana of Gayatri Mantra.

This mantra is the root of the Vedas.

Lord Krishna himself was a devotee of Gayatri Mantra.

Look at the Valimiki Ramayana; it mentions that Lord Ram was also given the deeksha of Gayatri Mantra.

Further back, this mantra has been described in the Vedic scriptures as also being the root of inspiration and activation of the powers of the eternal Trinity: Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva.

It is said to be the source of all creation and existence, in the gross and the subliminal realms of manifestation.

The Foundational Emblems of Indian Culture: Shikha and Sutra (Translation of a discourse of Revered Pandit Shriram Sharma Acharya)

(Post 07)

(http://literature.awgp.org/akhandjyoti/2004/Sept_Oct/ShikhaSutra/)

Origin of Religion and Culture:

If we are to revive the glory of religion, we will have to look into its origin.

The varieties of communes and sects, mushroomed in the field of religion since the post Vedic Age, need to be converged towards their fundamental unity.

Recalling the emblems (and the associated knowledge) of this origin could be one effective way of achieving this goal. I have always believed in that.

Our national flag is the symbol of our national unity, strength and prestige; we all, irrespective of whether we are Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians or someone else by faith, respect it. See how a symbol unites us!

The Foundational Emblems of Indian Culture: Shikha and Sutra (Translation of a discourse of Revered Pandit Shriram Sharma Acharya)

(Post 06)

(http://literature.awgp.org/akhandjyoti/2004/Sept_Oct/ShikhaSutra/)

The blind attachment to the gross symbol, with a desire of gaining favor from this inert God, in return for the offerings of worship, make a mockery of the deep philosophy and psychological intensity underlying idol-worship.

It is this superficial devotion and emotional excitement of affinity with the symbols of deities, that correspond to blind faith and superstition, which are criticized by the savants.

These misconceptions and associated insane customs were at their peak in the medieval times. The real meaning and importance of the emblems of Indian Culture, founded by the Rishis (the seer-sages of the Vedic Age), were also lost in the mist of this dark phase of ignorance and religious anarchy.

The Foundational Emblems of Indian Culture: Shikha and Sutra (Translation of a discourse of Revered Pandit Shriram Sharma Acharya)

(Post 05)

(http://literature.awgp.org/akhandjyoti/2004/Sept_Oct/ShikhaSutra/)

Our worshiping the idols is no better than kids toy game:
- if we do not have any living aspiration to imbibe divine attributes and values, and
- make no efforts to materialize our worship by following the disciplines and teachings of the divine incarnations in real life.

What is the point in saluting the book of Bhagavad Gita or lighting a lamp near it, if we don't read it and learn from what Lord Krishna had taught to Arjuna?

The Foundational Emblems of Indian Culture: Shikha and Sutra (Translation of a discourse of Revered Pandit Shriram Sharma Acharya)

(Post 04)

(http://literature.awgp.org/akhandjyoti/2004/Sept_Oct/ShikhaSutra/)

Prophet Hazarat Muhammad had opposed idol worship because of the sinful customs that were propagated and practiced through it during his times.

The place where he was born was dominated by the blind rule of might is right, those days. Dacoits and hoodlums used to rob the villages, and take away all the crops, cattle and young women for their pleasure; some of them used to possess ten to fifty women. Some of the children born by them were allowed to grow to serve as bonded laborers or work in the dacoit gangs. As it was found a waste to raise the rest, those kids were killed in the name of sacrifices before the giant idols, made in the lands occupied by the dacoits.

The angelic soul of Hazarat Muhammad was born in human form to eliminate such heinous acts and insane customs.

He destroyed the roots of such evils by opposing the mindless and cruel rituals of worship.

It was the necessity of that time and that place.

This does not mean that all kinds of idol-worship are bad or irrational.

You must remember that all the idols of Divine manifestations are simply the source of reminding us of God.

We may, for example, go to the temples of Lord Krishna, and also bend our head and offer prayers.

But we should know that this pranam and prayers are not for the stone that is enshrined in the temple. Rather, these are for Lord Krishna, whose divine incarnation in human form had taken place to bestow the light of divinity, to establish the law of righteousness, to give new direction of enlightened progress to the world.

The idols simply help to awaken our devotional sentiments.

These may activate the linkage of our inner mind with Him during meditation or emotionally engrossed prayers, if we have really purified our mind and have adopted the true meaning of devotional faith in our lives.

The Foundational Emblems of Indian Culture: Shikha and Sutra (Translation of a discourse of Revered Pandit Shriram Sharma Acharya)

(Post 03)

(http://literature.awgp.org/akhandjyoti/2004/Sept_Oct/ShikhaSutra/)  

The idols we enshrine in the temples, the Holy Scriptures like the Vedas, Bhagvad Gita, the Ramayana, and the Guru Granth Sahib are symbols of deities for us. We worship them.

The symbols of our faith, our reverence for them are the source of light in our lives.

Many times people also place the photographs of their ideal heroes, their guides, their gurus in their houses and at their place of work. My disciples have also placed the photographs of Mataji and myself at the Gayatri Tapobhumi Mathura and in our old house (now Akhand Jyoti Sansthan), in our memory, since we left that place. This indicates their affection and respect for us.

Well! In fact, emblems carry within them a message, an effect and have great importance in our lives as sources of inspiration, and moral support and guidance.

They have intimate linkage with sentiments and create immense impact on human psychology.

I do have great regards for them, and have also enshrined them in the form of idols, pictures and other models.

Look at the temples of Goddess Gayatri at Shantikunj and Brahmvarchas for example; or the model of the Himalayas there.

Some of you might wonder then why do I sometimes criticize symbolic worship, and even admonish you against it in some of my writings and speeches?

Good, if you have noticed that, I will certainly admonish you, if you remain stuck only to the symbol and learn nothing from it.

If you regard an idol as omnipotent, and believe that just bending your head and praying before it will solve all your problems, then you are living in a fantasy, in blind faith.

Then, for some of you Lord Krishna sitting in the temple of Badrinath would be superior to that in the temples of Mathura or Vrindawan; while the latter would be mightier for some others. Does it have any sense?

The Foundational Emblems of Indian Culture: Shikha and Sutra (Translation of a discourse of Revered Pandit Shriram Sharma Acharya)

(Post 02)

(http://literature.awgp.org/akhandjyoti/2004/Sept_Oct/ShikhaSutra/) 

The communists deny all religions and even deny the existence of God. Worshiping His idols is therefore a mark of blind faith and absurdity in their views.

But, what if somebody burns their red flag, or tears off the manuscript of the manifesto of communism?

They would certainly feel hurt and insulted and react furiously against any such attempt.

But why should they? After all, the flag is only a piece of cloth and there must be several copies of their manifesto available in print.

Well, it is not the physical entity, but the sentiments, the faith in the implications associated with it that count.

So many of our freedom fighters had dared to risk their lives for protecting our national flag; great revolutionaries had sacrificed their lives by placing this mark of our national prestige in place of the British flag those days!