I realise suddenly that this blog has not been well taken care of and updated. I couldn't even manage one blog. I wonder what made me start this one, and maintain this one too. I have another blog, but that one is mainly to post personal and random stuff. If I were to infuse posts related to Hinduism about Hindu philosophy over there, then it will not be fair for the authenticity of these musings. Because these are serious discussions here, which I'm writing for people out there to benefit.
I just want to let the readers out there know that everything I talk about in this blog have a strong basis in the scriptures or in logic. I swear on God that I will never stray away from scriptural evidence and logical explanations. Nothing in this blog should be taken blindly as well. You, as readers, should process whatever I have said in your own minds and come to your own conclusion.
I also realise that I had not started off this blog correctly. What I mean is this. Before learning anything new, we have to ensure that we do so with a clean slate. Only then we can approach the subject and understand it to the fullest. If we do not have a clean slate, we might tend to view the new subject we are trying to understand in a light that is tainted by our previous thought impressions already in our mind.
I'll give an example for this. So today, many people think that Hinduism is all or mostly about temple worship, and all you have to do is just visit the temple once a week, and you are a Hindu. But this preconceived notion about Hinduism will later hinder in your understanding of what Hinduism is really all about. Later when you learn that there weren't really any temples 3000-5000 years ago during the Vedic civilization, and temple worship only started in around 1000 BCE, you will be stumbled/shocked.
I might wrong in the exact datings, but it is true, there weren't really any temples built yet. Most of the oldest Hindu temples in India were only really built during the Raja Raja Cholan, or Pandian kings' time. Another thing is, do you remember any mention of temples, worship, etc. in Mahabharatha or Ramayana? We would have only heard about fire sacrifices and other forms of ritualistic worships, but not temple worship. So, this is just an example.
Therefore, I would wish to start of the new year with some common and interesting misconceptions most people have when it comes to Hinduism. Now, when I say "Hinduism", what I really mean is Sanatana Dharma, and not the name that the British people gave us. I'm just using this term for convenience and nothing else.
So hope you guys are all geared up for another fresh start... :)
It's been a while...
under:
misconceptions
I think I've read/seen in some adaptation of the Mahabharatha about Subhadra (was it?) being taken away by Arjuna (upon Krishna's insistence) as she was exiting from a 'temple'. So, maybe temple worship was existent then? I am not too sure of the exactness of the details. However, yes, I do agree that the mention of temples seems less frequent in works of those days. The abundance of rituals seen, may perhaps be attributed to the fact that elaborate descriptions of rituals were found in the Vedas (that probably were the driving spiritual tools of the day).
Sathej