Loka Dharma Seva Foundation Trust (Regd.)
90/2 --[old 153], Beracah Road, Varadhambal Thottam Main St,
Kilpakkam, Chennai-600010
Regn . No: 1044/2007 Book IV, - Registered Under The Indian Trust Act of 1861
 
   
 
Articles on LDSFT and Hindu Dharma
 
   
 
Must Read - Articles for All - B - 02
 
Part - 02
Bala N. Aiyer, M.D.
International President, LDSFT
01 October, 2007
 

 

 

  
An English Translation of a speech prepared in Tamil for the occasion of the 2nd Anniversary of LDSFT
 
  

In this, at basic level of studies, we must encourage all Hindus to study and learn various aspects of the Hindu paths including the sampradhayas of Smartha, Saiva, Vaishnava and Saktha, as also the philosophical paths of Vedantha and the simple thoughts of Village Devatha worship methods. We must teach these without any difference and once they complete, they can be taught the paths of their choice in higher studies to follow.

 

Then, there are those who are not interested in seeking spiritual knowledge or performing any devotional prayers to a Supreme Being, those that ignore such thoughts, the Agnostics, and those who do not believe in such a Supreme force, the Atheists, among Hindus who are also part of our community. We must encourage having them join with us in seeking the truth and learn the paths of Dharma and the true meaning of our philosophy and prayers. In the same way, those who have been following other faiths and paths also shall be encouraged to join us in Hindu Dharma if they come to seek the truth and wish to follow our faith.

 

Now, we need to teach our younger generations all aspects of Hindu Dharma in the proper way, in accurate but simple way. When we teach our philosophy, history, principles, devotion, art and the daily practice of our Dharma, we need to think if we are teaching our faith with proper meaning and proper paths or if we are just teaching some meaningless blind beliefs and traditions. We also need to analyze if we are just repeating some baseless age-old texts of the past century about our history and philosophy as well as the Vedic Texts translations as dictated by the Western authors of the British rulers in stead of teaching the proper paths, texts, philosophy and proper history of our faith according to our own research.

 

At the present time, with Western Culture spreading with computer-internet world view of our younger generation, it is not easy to teach our children the time-old ancient traditions of Hindu Dharma. At the same time, we can take advantage of the digital revolution of modern age with Computers, internet, DVD and Television media to spread this glorious knowledge of our ancient sages more efficiently around the world to everyone.

 

We have given the details of LDSFT objectives, plans and progress and also photos and sound recordings of events as also some simple lessons on Hindu Dharma for everyone in our websites. Please see the websites: www.Lokadharma.org and www.us-hindus.com .
In our families, the parents have been spending most of their time in pushing their children in their school studies to get more marks, pass competitive examinations to secure proper higher education in professional colleges and top universities to gain top employment, forgetting the spiritual part of the human development of the individual. There is no time for them to pursue the spiritual studies of Hindu Dharma.

 
 

We need to learn all aspects of Hindu Dharma ourselves and then teach that to everyone. Now this becomes a very important project. In this modern age we do not have the joint family system like ancient days. We do not have the grand parents to tell and guide the children about our Dharma and its traditions and customs. We are also not able to tell them to just listen to the elders and blindly follow the rules. So, we need to study all aspects of our Dharma ourselves, then as a group we must take efforts to teach the various aspects of out faith, the philosophy and traditions of religious beliefs and prayers to the general public and to our youth.

 
 

As we have already discussed, we need to attend to the restoration and renovation of thousands of our village temples and arrange for daily prayer services and rituals. We need to train and support several priests, purohits, preachers and teachers to attend to the growth of our Dharma. We need to create a mechanism for the proper help for the welfare of these members of our society and their families for a decent living and for their educational needs. When we work on these aspects of our Dharma, our people will develop a vigour and a true interest in our faith. They will start involving themselves with temple activities, learning our traditions and our Puranas as a united group and show more interest to support the Temples and other institutions of Hindu Dharma and in the growth of our faith.

 
 

We need many Priests, Poojaris, Gurus, Preachers and Teachers for this. We need regularly employed persons like bankers, engineers, doctors, lawyers, computer specialists and businessmen who will study and learn Hindu Dharma to become part-time Priests, Preachers and Teachers on evenings and week-ends to work as volunteers or with remuneration.
We need to organize periodic seminars, lectures, students' camps and summer retreats to spread the message and develop a disciplined group of devoted Hindu Dharma followers who will be the future for our community.

 
 

In today's seminar, there are several eminent speakers and leaders of our community who will discuss these aspects of the education of Hindu Dharma and its history and philosophy. All of you, elders of our community, also should think about the problems and solutions of these aspects of our Dharma and its survival and help to create many plans and projects for the advancement of the Hindu Dharma and Hindu community.

 
   
 
Talk on LDSFT programmes and Hindu Dharma education
Speech prepared for LDSFT Anniversary Celebrations - Full Text - by Dr. Bala N. Aiyer
 
 
 
 
Sã Vidyã Yã Vimukthaye'
Strength of Knowledge will lead to Liberation