Whats missing in Hinduism ?

I was talking to my brother about a family event to happen in a few days. The 7 day event was a hindu puja ritual ('chaturveda yajna' with 'Bhagwat Sapthah') that was a pretty big deal to be done in today's times. After talking a bit about it, his reaction was clear that he was not really interested in it and would probably be there on the last day only. At the time we talked it did not strike me but thinking back I know why he felt the event not interesting. Here is my explanation with an example.

If I ask you to come along for a game of Cricket and you are familiar with the basic rules of the match, maybe you would agree to come along. If you knew the players and have your favorite teams, maybe you might show more interest. If you have Cricket as your favorite sport and have spent your childhood playing on the grounds with your friends, definitely you will join in and maybe drive me there too.

But if you never knew what was the game all about and I tell you its a test match which goes along for three days, you will not join me.
This experiment is pretty straight forward  - there was no education about the subject and therefore no interest. and this principle applies to most other things if not all, for there can be some things, like say an amusement park activity, which we never did before but have an idea that it wont be boring for sure.

So coming back to why Hinduism as a religion, in todays times, sees a lot of isolated interests. With modern education breaking its back, robbing it of the original language and looting away the spirit of Indian cultural practices, what is left behind is a dry ritualistic approach. The only way I can think of to educate at this point in time, would be that parents show interest in whatever bit of hindu religion that practice and educate themself with why they are doing those customs. If someone knows the meanings behind these practices, they should come forward and provide ways to spread this education.

Even today the Brahmin families have kept themselves isolated from the rest of the community. This has already back fired to the extent that only a few individuals within their family really practice the rituals, and even they may not be knowing the meaning behind it.

There is a necessity now to help hindus around the world get educated right with the meaning behind the practices. Unless the meanings are clear, the practice wont have interest in the hearts of a common man.

His Holiness Shri Chandrashekhara Bharati Mahaswami, the Sringeri Mathadhipati between 1912-1954

Fate and Free Will (at advaita-vedanta.org)
http://www.advaita-vedanta.org/articles/The_Riddle_of_Fate_and_Free.htm

Disciple: The success or failure of an effort can be known definitely only at the end. How are we then to know beforehand whether with our present capacity we may or may not exert ourselves to attain a particular object, and whether it is the right kind of exertion for the attainment of that object?

His Holiness: Your question is certainly a pertinent one. The whole aim of our Dharma Shastras is to give a detailed answer to your question. Religion does not fetter man's free-will. It leaves him quite free to act, but tells him at the same time what is good for him and what is not. The responsibility is entirely and solely his. He cannot escape it by blaming fate, for fate is of his own making, nor by blaming God, for he is but the dispenser of fruits in accordance with the merits of actions. You are the master of your own destiny. It is for you to make it, to better it or to mar it. This is your privilege. This is your responsibility.

Disciple: I quite realize this. But often it so happens that I am not really the master of myself. I know, for instance, quite well that a particular act is wrong; at the same time, I feel impelled to do it. Similarly, I know that another act is right; at the same time, however, I feel powerless to do it. It seems that there is some power which is able to control or defy my free-will. So long as that power is potent, how can I be called the master of my own destiny? What is that power but fate?

His Holiness: You are evidently confusing together two distinct things. Fate is a thing quite different from the other one which you call a power. Suppose you handle an instrument for the first time. You will do it very clumsily and with great effort. The next time, however, you use it, you will do so less clumsily and with less effort. With repeated uses, you will have learnt to use it easily and without any effort. That is, the facility and ease with which you use a particular thing increase with the number of times you use it. The first time a man steals, he does so with great effort and much fear;. The next time both his effort and fear are much less. As opportunities increase, stealing will become a normal habit with him and will require no effort at all. This habit will generate in him a tendency to steal even when there is no necessity to steal. It is this tendency which goes by the name vasana. The power which makes you act as if against your will is only the vasana which itself is of your own making. This is not fate. The punishment or reward, in the shape of pain or pleasure, which is the inevitable consequence of an act, good or bad, is alone the province of fate or destiny. The vasana which the doing of an act leaves behind in the mind in the shape of a taste, a greater facility or a greater tendency for doing the same act once again, is quite a different thing. It may be that the punishment or the reward of the past act is, in ordinary circumstances, unavoidable, if there is no counter-effort; but the vasana can be easily handled if only we exercise our free-will correctly.

Disciple: But the number of vasanas or tendencies that rule our hearts are endless. How can we possibly control them?

His Holiness: The essential nature of a vasana is to seek expression in outward acts. This characteristic is common to all vasanas, good and bad. The stream of vasanas, the vasana sarit, as it is called, has two currents, the good and the bad. If you try to dam up the entire stream, there may be danger. The Shastras, therefore, do not ask you to attempt that. On the other hand, they ask you to submit yourself to be led by the good vasana current and to resist being led away by the bad vasana current. When you know that a particular vasana is rising up in your mind, you cannot possibly say that you are at its mercy. You have your wits about you and the responsibility of deciding whether you will encourage it or not is entirely yours. The Shastras enunciate in detail what vasanas are good and have to be encouraged and what vasanas are bad and have to be overcome. When, by dint of practice, you have made all your vasanas good and practically eliminated the charge of any bad vasanas leading you astray, the Shastras take upon themselves the function of teaching you how to free your free-will even from the need of being led by good vasanas. You will gradually be led on to a stage when your free-will be entirely free from any sort of coloring due to any vasanas. At that stage, your mind will be pure as crystal and all motives for particular action will cease to be. Freedom from the results of particular actions is an inevitable consequence. Both fate and vasana disappear. There is freedom for ever more and that freedom is called Moksha.

Talent

Vaasanaas are expressed in ones life by ones true talents.

When an artist is asked how does he paint so easily or a sculptor sculpt so perfectly well, there is no science attached to it. Its inherent in the soul. The talent and the liking to do that activity the most.

Similarly sometimes we can pickup false desires also. which we try to fulfill by our will, by practicing and by trying very hard to accomplish it. But truly speaking, that talent may not be in us and so its almost impossible to hone it into an impeccable art.

The body one takes is perfectly made to fulfill this desire for the lifetime. Once the vaasanaa is exhausted, one is free to look for more or look out no-more.

How to be a Nobody!

I was just seeing a Self-help guru say "Be unique, be a somebody". Passion to succeed and a desire to achieve something is very very necessary for the "somebody" goal.

Then does it mean that as you start working towards desire-less-ness, we loose the unanimity in us. That seems very true. But please don't be under the false assumption that you will be a nobody by that.

With materialistic desires, we are most likely to see selfish and personal gains. But as we work in the world in a desire less manner, we start incorporating in us an impersonal goal. Whenever anything works in that mode of unattachement, its above the nobody/somebody category. Its (for) everybody. Its universal.

Anything that's universal is always impersonal, all assuming. Love is impersonal. When we say "My love", its then personal.

God-ness is impersonal.

As one walks towards the East, we automatically are walking away from the West

Constructive Desires

A lethargic and lazy mind and body can also be desire less of doing any work. This is when a person feels lax in life and does not proactively do any activity.

Desire to acquire something material is what drives a man into action and plants the idea of fruits earned there after. This is constructive desire. Until the man works and fulfills the basic needs, the desire plays the role of fuel. Its only after this desire outgrows its size to completely engulf the man into greed, the desire then is turned destructive.

Once a man has acquired the goal of desire that initiated the work, the man should continue his work in the desire less mode - Karma yoga mode. Work with the intention of pure desire less motive is worship in the form of Karma yoga.

Swami Tapovan Maharaj

One must perform one’s duties not for the sake of sensuous pleasure but out of devotion to God. The scriptures as well as experience show us convincingly that desire is at the root of all action. No desire, no action. If one has absolutely no desires why should he stir out of his seat? One desires physical cleanliness, so he bathes। One desires to satisfy hunger, so he eats. So a devotee performs his action out of love for God, as an act of service to Him. God fills the world. The world is His form. So whatever is done in the world, for the world, is an act of service to God. The devotee, sitting in the world performs his duties out of love for the world which is His form and thus worships Him. He does nothing to enjoy the world of senses or to glorify himself. It is a worldly man who labours night and day to enjoy sense objects.

Until the mind becomes perfectly tranquil, until it transcends all doubt, it will not be free from desire. Desires will sprout up till then, either for good or for evil. Worship of God is a good action, done out of a good desire. As one worships God with flowers and nama japa, another who follows the path of karma worships Him with good actions. His aim is to win the grace of God and reach His presence. These are his ultimate gains. In his eyes, therefore, there is no distinction between a great action and a little one. With whatever God has bidden him to perform, whether it is big or small, he worships Him. This is an important truth grhastas* ought to know।

What makes an action good or bad is the absence or presence of selfishness. Selfishness makes an action sinful and impure. If one has no selfish consideration or motive for his action why should he be affected by its success or failure? Why should he be anxious about its outcome? Leave off all selfish thought that defiles the mind; make the mind still and fix it upon the feet of God; sit in a steady posture as far and as long as possible and worship Him regularly; be like children living in the present worrying little about the past or the future; convince yourself by proper thought it is peace of mind that is the highest pleasure, not even the status of Indra। A life of that kind is the true spiritual life; blessed and blissful it is coveted even by Indra. There are steps still higher than these. Daily unbroken, steady, intense practice enables an aspirant to ascend to them.

* householders

http://www.chinmayasaaket.org/articles/tapovan/guidancefromtheguru5.php

The 3 monkeys

In the book - Meditation and Spiritual life, a nice experience is recorded by the author. It seems the swami was in Europe and besides a lake he saw a stone structure of 3 monkeys. Unlike the usual structure we have assumed of the 3 monkeys; ie One covering ears, other eyes and another mouth(hear, see or speak no evil), these were special.

These monkeys were covering one ear, one eye and half the mouth. The significance behind this was - Hear no evil, but only good; see no evil but only good and speak no evil but only good!

This thought seemed original, but in the vedas we found a similar analogy in the following stotra.

"ॐ भद्रं कर्णेभिः श्रुनुयामा देवाः

भद्रं पश्येमाक्षभिर्यजत्राह

स्थिरैरंगाई

स्तुश्तुवाम्सस्तानूभिः

व्यशेम देवहितं यदायुह

स्वस्ति न इन्द्रो वृधाश्रवाह

स्वस्ति नह पूषा विश्ववेदाः

स्वस्ति नस्तार्क्ष्यो अरिष्टनेमिः

स्वस्ति नो ब्रिहस्पतिर दधातु

ॐ शांतिः, शांतिः, शांतिः"

Meaning: The literal meaning of this mantra is: "OM. O Gods! Let us
hear promising things from our ears. O respectful Gods! Let us seepropitious things from our eyes, let our organs and body be stable,healthy and strong। Let us do what is pleasing to gods in the life spanallotted to us. May Indra, inscribed in the scriptures do well to us, MayPushan who is knower of world do good to us and May Trakshya whodevastates enemies do good to us! May Brihaspati do well to us! OMPeace, Peace, Peace".