Traditions are the beliefs or custom that flows down from generations to generations. It can also be called as the long established procedures that flow in the lineage. The traditional values were those that were followed with great respect and fear of blasphemy. There are examples in the history that has created sweet memories as well as agony. There are examples that have stood the testing times to stand the devastation of the nature, also there are examples that has taken the traditions to their advantage and created a pain the minds of the people.
Traditions are nice, if they create a value to us, give us a satisfaction in life and help us achieve, whereas it can be a bane if it makes the lives miserable.
Traditions that created pain: widowhood, child marriage, sati
Traditions that has sweet memories: pregnancy,
The traditions were like the pride treasure that were carried, and some misinterpreted, and some were misused.
Today, we can see the ancient palaces, and mahals that adored the traditions to everything. Today we feel that we are missing the beauty that lied in the rich traditions that our ancestors carried with them to every nook and corner of the country. But only those people knew the pain in maintaining the traditions and the punishment that were given to those people who led themselves / others from the traditions. They were given a lot of praise for maintaining a good traditions, also punished harshly for sacrificing it.
We can take the example of the palaces / mahals of Rajasthan in the north to the vijayanagar empire in the south, to
coming to the present days, where the major link to the old traditions are lost, and has implemented what they learnt, or thought to be right, or being that influenced by the environment. There are only a few traditions that have its strong foundation with science, and many that can be categorized as a belief (blind belief). Generally the blind belief goes hand in hand with some of the traditions. The reason being that the link being broken between those intelligent people who sow the seeds of traditions had a correct reason and good intension behind it. in the next part, where, these people couldn’t effectively transfer the knowledge they had in this direction, made some less intelligent people to take the things in the direction they thought was right, or that suited them in some situations or in their environment. Traditions should always be a cream to enjoy, not indigestible oil. An example to these shall be discussed here below. The simplest of the traditions that can be seen even today in some houses or families is bowing to the elders & parent, every morning, or at least on some special occasions. The traditions vary from family to family, to, clan to clan, to, individual. People in the some parts of
The tradition says to fast food during worshiping. It doesn’t mean that if the person is traveling or ill has to follow all the traditions. in today' world that may not seem very apt. we have to see that broken bridge is restored, not to demolish it. Tradition is like a knife. So beautiful to look, so sharp, that if not used can cut us, or can harm others, cuts if we are careless or the beholder of the knife. Also, we must not force any traditions to others. An example to this that, as we see in the present day' the chain messages that are sent saying that, u recite a hymn, and send it to 10 people, 100 people and so on. Due to fear of fate, or of the supreme almighty, they circulate. The main intention behind these messages may be over, but may still go on and on. One must see if the traditions or the traditional values are apt, and meaningful. a clear mind has to be given to it, or an elderly wise and knowledgeable person must be approached. There are several instances that the fear of loosing traditions could have made them take hasty decision and the result being that many suffer from it, or that to retain their prestige, they take a decision in the name of traditions that can cause damage in the hearts of many people that can go even to years.
Some people tried day in and day out to abolish the widowhood. Their reason to it could be the torture that were given to the widows, the miserable lives that they lived, and so on. The widows should tonsure their head, wear white dress, they were considered as a bane to the society, and were seen as a bad omen, which was the reason for the death of her husband. But our elders did all these with a strong reason and a projection of the future. A widow did not have the right to come to the public so easily, nor dress well, tonsure their head and so on. The reason behind all these was that the wife should not marry again, and lead to population explosion. As is, in those days a family had at least 6 children, and remarry could increase the population. but the tragedy is that they were treated as inauspicious, and more torture were give, which made the social reformers in that direction, whereas the crux of these were not dealt correctly.
there are several insights about the wrong decisions that were taken by our elders and a wrong notion was given to it, and changed to something that dint actually give a good judgment to it, which might have solved the problem, but in turn created problems multi fold. History has evidence to all this, ans if this continues, shall not only ruin traditions, but also the true belie that could have been saved. Because of the wrong judgment of a few, mass are suffered.
1. Cow dung: Olden day’s tradition was to clean the house, front of the house, and in many cases the flooring was of cow dung. Strange are the reasons, but very scientific to these. First of all, cows were and even today n also in future cows will be considered as holy, religious, and pious. It is called as kamdhenu, means in a sense that all products of the cow are very useful, starting from milk, dung for biogas, and cow dung cake for burning, holy powder or vibhuti, urine that has many medicinal properties that can cure many diseases, and so on. The dung has is endothermic in nature, so it produces good heat. Another most fascinating point about the cow dung is that, it is used to clean the floor in the houses in the early times. The reason was that, it can create the required warmth during the winter season, and coolness during the summer season. More over it has a fine property to prevent the spread of bacteria and similar micro-organisms. This is also used sometimes during the worshiping in some festivals. off late its a positive gesture to produce alternate forms of energy, now possible to charge a AA battery (on a small scale), can become one of the prime power sources.
2. Offerings to the priests: traditions of offering the first food to the priests & then to the guests, & then to his family members. This is because traditionally we consider guest and priests as godly. The priests are knowledgeable people & powerhouse of goodness and positive energy. So, by worshipping such superpower, who is like the alter ego of god, we get benefit out of it. Those who belong to upper class cant be considered as supreme just because they are from an upper class. They should be supreme in things they do, supreme in thinking, supreme in actions, supreme in decisions, supreme in all respects. Only then he is a superior human being. Its like a sword that’s not used for long time gets rusted. So, if we are not supreme in our thoughts, we don’t belong to a superior class. A priest satisfied in every sense, blesses the performer of prayer or puja. They have lots of positive energy within them. So by getting blessed by them, we also get the positive energy that improves our virtues.
3. Tradition of feeding the animals and nature worshipping:- in ancient times the nature was the ultimatum. Nature was worshipped by all. All parts of nature were worshipped, that includes sun, water, fire, tree, animals and so on. This was basically done as a reciprocal thanks-giving to the nature and its parts. These kinds of occasions were used by people to feed the animals, and the other parts of nature. Also this was an indirect link to the protection given by nature to man.
4. Direction to sleep:- people say not to sleep in north or south direction. The reason they state is that, lord GANESHA got his elephant head from an elephant that was in north direction. So don’t sleep in the north direction, and south is the place of YAMA, the god of death. So don’t sleep in the north of south direction. Scientific reason being that, the north or south has magnetic forces.
No comments:
Post a Comment