A garland of verses by Adi Sankara

CHENNAI, JULY 23. How the deterioration in moral values and valuable spiritual tradition can be arrested and the craze to adopt western civilisation be stopped, are questions which are to be given serious consideration at present. People are seen blindly following the customs which the foreigners were practising here and had left them, not realising how rich their own Indian heritage is. The remedy lies in making people resort to religious ways reminding them of the glory of the traditions which had been bequeathed to us by our sages and saints.

They should be taught to render hymns in praise of God thereby weaning them away from the current unfortunate trends. The ``Soundarya Lahari'', a garland of verses by Adi Sankara, contains both ``Mantras'' and philosophy, besides adoring God spelling out the grace that He showers on devotees. During his Chaturmasya Vrata camp (in East Tambaram) steps are to be taken to teach such slokas to devotees, particularly women, to make them realise the rich treasure that had been handed over to us, said Sri Sakatapuram Sankaracharya in his Anugraha Bashanam.

The manner in which people have been deviating from the path laid down by our ancient wisdom is such that even the terms used to address parents have been changed to ``mummy'' and ``daddy''. They will shun to use the former, as in Egypt, it refers to the bodies laid to rest in pyramids and if this is explained, will they allow the children to use the word to call their mother? During their rule here, the foreigners had changed the original names of even places like the one honouring Dronacharya into Dehradun and ``Kudagu'' into Coorg. People forget that even calves utter the name ``Amma'' to call their mother. Our cultural glory is such that on arrival of a visitor to our house, we honour him and offer him ``Gangodakam'' (water), showing the respect that we had even for the sacred rivers like Ganga. Devotees saw God as the in-dweller in rivers and all the elements of Nature. The Mahabharata presents us the origin and sanctity of the river Ganga.

Indians should not lose their religious moorings and should reflect how the lives of Divine characters like Rama should guide them and how a sip of Ganga water would purify them. Adi Sankara's ``Soundarya Lahari'', a part of which is studded with incantations, when recited, would fetch spiritual benefits. So too is the chanting of Lalitha Sahasranamam. Both these hymns should be sung by women to obtain prosperity.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Miscellaneous
Previous : Solution to Puzzle 7113
Next     : dated July 23, 1951: After the Jerusalem
           assassination