Why we need to go to temples ?

Scientific reason:

There are thousands of temples all over India in different size, shape and locations but not all of them are considered to be built the Vedic way. Generally, a temple should be located at a place where earth's magnetic wave path passes through densely. It can be in the outskirts of a town/village or city, or in middle of the dwelling place, or on a hilltop. The essence of visiting a temple is discussed here.

Now, these temples are located strategically at a place where the positive energy is abundantly available from the magnetic and electric wave distributions of north/south pole thrust. The main idol is placed in the core center of the temple, known as "*Garbhagriha*" or *Moolasthanam*. In fact, the temple structure is built after the idol has been placed. This *Moolasthanam* is where earth’s magnetic waves are found to be maximum. We know that there are some copper plates, inscribed with Vedic scripts, buried beneath the Main Idol. What are they really? No, they are not God’s / priests’ flash cards when they forget the *shlokas*. The copper plate absorbs earth’s magnetic waves and radiates it to the surroundings. Thus a person regularly visiting a temple and walking clockwise around the Main Idol receives the beamed magnetic waves and his body absorbs it. This is a very slow process and a regular visit will let him absorb more of this positive energy. Scientifically, it is the positive energy that we all require to have a healthy life.

Further, the Sanctum is closed on three sides. This increases the effect of all energies. The lamp that is lit radiates heat energy and also provides light inside the sanctum to the priests or *poojaris* performing the pooja. The ringing of the bells and the chanting of prayers takes a worshipper into trance, thus not letting his mind waver. When done in groups, this helps people forget personal problems for a while and relieve their stress. The fragrance from the flowers, the burning of camphor give out the chemical energy further aiding in a different good aura. The effect of all these energies is supplemented by the positive energy from the idol, the copper plates and utensils in the *Moolasthan*am /*Garbagraham*. *Theertham*, the “holy” water used during the pooja to wash the idol is not plain water cleaning the dust off an idol. It is a concoction of Cardamom,*Karpura* (Benzoin), zaffron / saffron, *Tulsi* (Holy Basil), Clove, etc...Washing the idol is to charge the water with the magnetic radiations thus increasing its medicinal values. Three spoons of this holy water is distributed to devotees. Again, this water is mainly a source of magneto-therapy. Besides, the clove essence protects one from tooth decay, the saffron & *Tulsi* leafs protects one from common cold and cough, cardamom and *Pachha Karpuram* (benzoin), act as mouth fresheners. It is proved that *Theertham* is a very good blood purifier, as it is highly energized. Hence it is given as *prasadam* to the devotees. This way, one can claim to remain healthy by regularly visiting the Temples. This is why our elders used to suggest us to offer prayers at the temple so that you will be cured of many ailments. They were not always superstitious. Yes, in a few cases they did go overboard when due to ignorance they hoped many serious diseases could be cured at temples by deities. When people go to a temple for the *Deepaaraadhana*, and when the doors open up, the positive energy gushes out onto the persons who are there. The water that is sprinkled onto the assemblages passes on the energy to all. This also explains why men are not allowed to wear shirts at a few temples and women are requested to wear more ornaments during temple visits. It is through these jewels (metal) that positive energy is absorbed by the women. Also, it is a practice to leave newly purchased jewels at an idol’s feet and then wear them with the idol’s blessings. This act is now justified after reading this article. This act of “seeking divine blessings” before using any new article, like books or pens or automobiles may have stemmed from this through mere observation.

Energy lost in a day’s work is regained through a temple visit and one is refreshed slightly. The positive energy that is spread out in the entire temple and especially around where the main idol is placed, are simply absorbed by one's body and mind. Did you know, every Vaishnava(Vishnu devotees), “must” visit a Vishnu temple twice every day in their location. Our practices are NOT some hard and fast rules framed by 1 man and his followers or God’s words in somebody’s dreams. All the rituals, all the practices are, in reality, well researched, studied and scientifically backed thesis which form the ways of nature to lead a good healthy life.

The scientific and research part of the practices are well camouflaged as “elder’s instructions” or “granny’s teaching’s” which should be obeyed as a mark of respect so as to once again, avoid stress to the mediocre brains.

Importance of cow

Our fellow intellectuals sneer at the mention of the cow. The same intellectuals first sneered at yoga. Now it is a fashion to do pranayama at cocktail parties? .The arguments for cow slaughter are no more uncontested.

Some facts about the cow in the perspective of modern Hindutva are:-

The cow was elevated to divinity in the Rig Veda. In Book VI, Hymn XXVIII attributed to Rishi Bhardwaja extols the virtue of the cow. In Atharva Veda (Book X, Hymn X), the cow is formally designated as Vishnu, and 'all that the Sun surveys'.

Indian society has addressed the cow as gow mata. The Churning of the Sea episode brings to light the story of the creation of the cow. Five divine Kamadhenus (wish cows), viz, Nanda, Subhadra, Surabhi, Sushila, Bahula emerged in the churning.

Thousands of names in our country are cow-related: Gauhati, Gorakhpur, Goa, Godhra, Gondiya, Godavari, Goverdhan, Gautam, Gomukh, Gokarna, Goyal, Gochar etc. They signify reverence for the cow, and our abiding faith that the cow is Annapurna(possessed of food ? Monier Williams Sanskrit Dictionary).

In 2003, the National Commission on Cattle under Justice G. M. Lodha submitted its recommendations to the NDA government. The report called for stringent laws to protect the cow and its progeny in the interest of the rural economy, a constitutional requirement under Directive Principles of State Policy. Article 48 of the Constitution says: 'The State shall endeavour to organise agriculture and animal husbandry on modern and scientific lines and shall, in particular, take steps for preserving and improving the breeds, and prohibiting the slaughter of cows and calves and other milch and draught cattle'. During the First War of Independence in 1857, when Bahadur Shah 'Zafar' was installed as emperor by the Hindus in Delhi for a brief period, his Hindu prime minister, on the emperor's proclamation, made cow killing a capital offence. In Maharaja Ranjit Singh's kingdom, the only crime that invited capital punishment was cow slaughter.

Even China has granted distillate of cow urine a patent as a DNA protector. A global patent has been granted for cow urine, neem and garlic as a pest repellent and for fungicidal and growth promoting properties for different crops (WHO 2004/ 087618A1). A US patent has been granted for strains from Sahiwal cow milk for plant growth promoter phytopathogenic fungi controlling activity, abiotic stress tolerating capability, phosphatic solubilisation capability, etc. And CSIR has filed for a US patent for amrit pani, a mixture of cow dung, cow urine and jiggery, for soil health improvement properties.

The arguments for cow slaughter are no more uncontested. There are better sources of protein than beef. Any dietician's chart shows that beef with 22 per cent protein ranks below soya-bean (43), groundnut (31) and pulses (24 per cent). One kilogram of beef takes seven kg of crops and 7,000 kg of water to produce.

Thus cow protection makes economic and ecological sense. Swami Dayananda Saraswati, convenor of the Hindu Dharma Acharya Sabha, has argued that non-vegetarianism indirectly contributes heavily to greenhouse gases and other pollution. He quotes a UN report from 2006 that says, "Raising animals for meat as food generates more greenhouse gases than all the cars and trucks in the world combined". Ten of billions of animals farmed for food release gases such as methane, nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide through their massive amounts of manure. "The released methane", the report says, "has 23 times the global warming potential of CO2". For these animals to graze, virgin forests are cleared. The livestock industry also needs vast stretches of land to raise mono-crops to feed the animals. The CO2 that the trees and plants store escapes into the air when they are destroyed.

Growing fodder implies heavy use of synthetic fertilizers produced with fossil fuels.

While this process emits a huge amount of CO2, the fertilizer itself releases nitrous oxide (3) -- a greenhouse gas that is 296 times more potent than CO2. Alarming though these facts are, all that people have to do is to avoid red meat. There will be no need to breed millions of animals for daily slaughter. The animal population will consequently decline.

A single individual by not consuming meat prevents the equivalent of 1.5 tonnes of CO2 emissions in a year. This is more than the one tonne of CO 2 prevented by switching from a large sedan to a small car. So there are a number of reasons to be a vegetarian. People who eat meat think a pure vegetarian diet is optional. But now they have no choice if they are alive to what is happening to this life-bearing planet. There is no justification for eating meat, given the devastating consequences for the planet. A new fervour for a cow renaissance is necessary. It is constitutional (for India) and we should defend it with all our might.

Glory of Sanskrit

It is indeed a privilege to speak on the greatness and glory of Sanskrit. Sanskrit is often hailed as a divine language - Deva Bhasha. Therefore, only celestials are qualified to expatiate on the matchless splendor of this language, and not mere mortals like me. In reality, Sanskrit is as resplendent as the Sun. Therefore, it's intrinsic worth and value cannot be brought out in full measure in words. Nonetheless, let us share with all something about the history of the growth and development of Sanskrit in ancient India.

How old is Sanskrit? Well, it is as old as the nature. According to modern day historians, the exact antiquity of Sanskrit cannot be established with any degree of certainty. This is because, they have written records only for the past 5000 years. Therefore, histories beyond that period are in the realm of fancy and conjecture for them. The Rig Veda, the oldest among the Vedas, is said to be 10,000 years old, if not older. But, there are no written records to prove this fact. But, the fact remains that Sanskrit was the lingua franca of India for thousands of years.

Sanskrit is the foundation of Hinduism. In fact, it can be said without fear of contradiction that without Sanskrit, there is no Hinduism. The four Vedas and the Upanishads, the Brahma-Sutra written by Veda Vyasa, the two epics Ramayana and Mahabharata and the Bhagavad-Gita, which forms part of the Mahabharata, are all in Sanskrit. There are numerous devotional works and hymns in Sanskrit.

WHAT IS THE IMPORTANCE OF SANSKRIT?

There are four reasons.
1. The accuracy of grammar, beauty of the expressions and the sound of Sanskrit is not found in any other language of the world. It provides the basis for all other Indian languages like what Greek and Latin are for the western languages.
2. Indian culture rests on Sanskrit. Vedas, Upanishads, Puranas, Epics like Mahabharata and Ramayana, Yoga sutras are all in Sanskrit. It is these that have bonded India together.
3. Sanskrit is rich in literature by poets like Vyasa, Valmiki, etc., It is not that it deals only with spiritual matters. It caters to all needs of all people including finance, politics, law, mental health, mathematics, astronomy, medicine, engineering and many others.
4. It provides values applicable to the whole humanity. It not only provides a hope for the individual that he can rise to the level of the divine and through that concept, one can identify with every one else and thus helps in developing brotherhood in the whole world.

SPECIALITY OF SANSKRIT

1. Expressions of vowels and consonants. Consonants have no independent expression without the vowels. This system is not seen in other languages. (Example: - FRY, DRY. In come and coma, "co" has different expressions. TOP, MOP, JUM, CHUM - here, O AND U have expression like "a".) Such anomalies are not found in Sanskrit.
2. From the root word, it is possible to create a number of words in Sanskrit. There has been no change in either the words or their meanings from times immemorial.
3. There has been no change in the rules of grammar and hence the same type of poetical works is there irrespective of when the works were created.
4. There is a specialty in the literature connected to Vedas, Upanishads and Puranas. Although there is a difference in the style in these works, there is no difference in the words used.
Let us now learn about Sanskrit history as told by our modern day historians. Sanskrit grew from strength to strength, so long as India was ruled by Hindu Kings. It reached the pinnacle of its glory during the Golden Age of the Guptas. Indeed, the Golden Age of the Guptas was also the Golden Age of Sanskrit. Kalidasa, the one of the literary figures in Sanskrit and author of plays like Meghaduta, Abhijnana-Sakunthalam, Kumara Sambava, Raghuvamsa etc. lived during the Golden Age of the Guptas. It is not only literature, but also all forms of art and science had a luxuriant growth and development during the Gupta rule. Varahamihira, an eminent scientist, lived during the Gupta age and wrote brilliant works on various faculties like astronomy, geography and botany. His brilliant works include Brihat Samhita and Loghu jataka. Arya Bhatta, the great mathematician, laid the foundation of the Number system. Zero was invented by him. He was also a great astronomer who wrote Surya Siddhanta, in which he proved that the earth revolved round its axis. Many such examples can be cited to prove that it is not only arts and literature, but science and technology also made rapid strides during the Golden Age of the Guptas. Decimal system, for example, was invented only during the Gupta period.

There were standard books in Sanskrit on almost all the disciplines in ancient India including science, technology, mathematics, astrology, astronomy, medicine etc. So, it is not as if Sanskrit is literature alone, including devotional literature, and nothing else.

DECLINE OF SANSKRIT LANGUAGE

But the decline of Sanskrit began with the establishment of the Muslim rule in India. Mohamed Ghazni was a marauder who invaded India seventeen times only to despoil India of its wealth. Also, Mohamed Ghauri, not only invaded India, but established Muslim rule in India in the twelfth century. He replaced Sanskrit with Persian, as the language of administration. Since then, Sanskrit was on the wane, though it did not become extinct, thanks to God's grace.

The British rule came as deliverance to the Hindus who were oppressed, suppressed and depressed because of the tyrannical and ruthless Mughal rule. But the British were no different either. They introduced English as the official language of India in 1835. Some Englishmen did learn Sanskrit with avidity and realized its immeasurable value. One such distinguished Englishman was Sir William Jones, Chief Justice of India, Calcutta. It must be remembered that till 1911, Calcutta was the capital of India during the British regime. It was only in 1911 that New Delhi became the capital of India. The British rule, however enabled Western scholars to learn Sanskrit with a motive to degrade the valuable knowledge of the Vedas, which were available in Sanskrit language. Max Mueller of Germany was undoubtedly the greatest among such cheats. He became such an erudite scholar in Sanskrit that he was able to translate Rig Veda, the oldest among the Vedas and ten principal Upanishads into English, which actually became the foundation for the downfall of peoples' belief in the Vedic knowledge. Mueller's translation of the Vedas was like milk touched by snakes. This was what the British contributed to Indian culture.

When India became independent on August 15, 1947, Sanskrit should have been adopted as the official language of India. Instead, Hindi was adopted as the official language of India in 1950. It was an egregious blunder, because Hindi is an undeveloped language, not at all on the standard of Sanskrit. Except for Tulasidasa's Ramayana, there is no other outstanding literary work in Hindi. Besides, there are no standard works in Hindi on various disciplines, as in Sanskrit.

Cynics and skeptics may well ask whether Sanskrit, a language which fell into disuse eight centuries ago can be revived and made the official language of India and medium of instruction in education. They must cast their eyes wide and see what happened in Israel. Hebrew was the language of the Jews for thousands of years. But, it fell into disuse because the Jews did not have a homeland of their own for a long time and were persecuted in several countries for mote than tow thousand years.But, the Jews had their own homeland when the State of Israel came into existence in 1948 and Ben-Gurion became the first Prime Minister of Israel. It was Hebrew, and not any other language which was adopted as the official language and medium of instruction in education in Israel. But, Israel is none the worse for having adopting Hebrew as the official language, and medium of instruction in education. On the contrary, it had made rapid strides in various realms of human endeavor. Emulating the shining example of Israel, we too can adopt Sanskrit as the official language instead of Hindi, a hybrid language, in a phased manner. But, English should continue to be an associate official language or link language, as well as the medium of instruction in education, especially higher education. But Sanskrit can be introduced as an alternate medium of instruction in education by and by so that in course of time, it can become an effective alternate medium of instruction in education.

This suggestion is of course based on sound commonsense. A person who has been fasting for several days should not be given solid food immediately after he breaks his fast. Likewise, since Sanskrit fell into disuse eight centuries ago, it cannot be made either the official language or the alternate medium of instruction in education overnight. It will take quite some years before Sanskrit becomes an effective official language as well as an alternate medium of instruction in education.

SANSKRIT - A SCIENTIFIC LANGUAGE

Is Sanskrit a scientific language? Is it not an anachronism in this age when science and technology has made rapid strides? Instead of answering these questions directly, let us see quotes of Western scholars about the scientific value of Sanskrit.

A German magazine, which deals with world history of facts about India, has recorded the following facts about the scientific advance of India in ancient times, when Sanskrit was the medium of instruction in education.

I think all of you will agree with me that medicine is a science. The German magazine says:
(1) "Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to humans.

Charaka, the father of Ayurveda, consolidated Ayurveda 2500 years ago." Today, Ayurveda is gaining ground in the U.S and other countries. Sanskrit was the medium of instruction in Ayurveda in ancient times and there are several standard books on Ayurveda in Sanskrit.

(2) Again, the German magazine of Germany says:

"Susruta, is the father of surgery. 2600 years ago, he and health scientists of his time conducted complicated surgeries like caesarians, cataract, artificial limbs, fractures, urinary stones and even plastic surgery and brain surgery. Usage of anaesthesia was well-known in ancient India. Over 125 surgical equipments were used. Deep knowledge of anatomy, philosophy, etiology, embryology, digestion, metabolism, genetics and immunity is also found in many texts." Sanskrit was the medium of instruction in medicine in ancient times.

(3) You will agree that astronomy is a science. The Forbes magazine says:
"Bhaskaracharya calculated the time taken by earth to orbit the sun hundreds of years before the astronomer Smart." As stated earlier, Sanskrit was the medium of instruction in astronomy too during the Golden Age of the Guptas.

(4) Forbes magazine brought out from the U.S. had published a report in its issue of July 1987 that of the languages in the world, Sanskrit is most suitable for computer software, which means that is is most useful for modern technology. Therefore, when Western scientists and technologists say that Sanskrit will fill the bill as a scientific language, doubting Thomases must give up their imaginary misgivings and accept the reality as it is.

Sanskrit and the growth of Indian culture and civilization had been indissolubly bound together in ancient and medieval India. The German magazine says that the world's first university was established in Takshasila (Taxila) in 700 BC, and more than 10,500 students from all over the world studied more than 60 subjects. The University of Nalanda built in the 4th century BC was one of the greatest achievement of ancient India in the field of education. Sanskrit was the medium of instruction in both these universities.

However, we have lost our moorings after the advent of independence and relegated Sanskrit to the background. This is a massive tragedy. One Western scholar who had mastered Sanskrit recently bewailed that "Sanskrit is slowing dying in India". But, the silver lining in the dark cloud is that more and more Western scholars are learning Sanskrit with avidity, and realizing much to their pleasant surprise that is a veritable treasure trove.

So, if thousands of foreign scholars well-versed in Sanskrit wax eloquent on the glory of Sanskrit and also write a number of books on the greatness and glory of Sanskrit, explaining in detail that it will be a valuable vehicle of thought even in science and technology, then our Indian politicians will sit up and take notice and eventually veer round to the view that Sanskrit can be introduced as the official language of India and also as an alternate medium of instruction in education. Therefore, till enlightenment dawns on our Indian politicians, a number of whom are either semi-literature or illiterate, we must wait patiently for the restoration of Sanskrit to its pristine glory. There is a famous saying in English: "Those who wait shall also serve". Therefore, if we wait patiently, then at least our children, grandchildren and great grandchildren will serve the cause of Sanskrit, as and when it is introduced both as the official language of India and as alternate medium of instruction in education. Hindi, will soon be drowned by the weight of its own inherent weakness and inadequacies, not to speak of its innumerable dialects, making confusion worse confounded and Sanskrit, which is now like the resplendent Sun completely obscured by the dark clouds, will re-emerge from the dark clouds and scintillate lustrously with re-charged luminosity like the Phoenix, the mythical bird which burnt itself on the funeral pyre and re-emerged from the ashes with renewed vim and vigor. Let us, therefore, pray to God with unflinching faith and what is wishful thinking at present will become a tangible reality in the foreseeable future.
SOURCE: www.ariseindiaforum.org