Samdhya Meditation and Agnihotra

Sunny Bhardwaj sunny_bhardwaj at HOTMAIL.COM
Wed Oct 31 09:42:49 CST 2001


This might not appeal to most people (purists), but I'm always glad to learn
anything from anyone and then use viveka to assimilate relevant knowledge
and use what I've learnt to learn more. I can definitely say that in my
case, the school made me curious to learn more about the Vedas.

>  Unfortunately it is popular belief, that when it comes to performance of
>homam (a.k.a havan), that mantra is sufficient, and that kriya is
>subservient. IT IS NOT. Kriya is just as, if not more, important as the
>mantras.

Just so that people are not misinformed, the school taught the actual Kriya.
Not just the Mantras.

>The post from Jaldhar, and my post now, I think, will hopefully mean that
>we
>**all** place more emphasis on the traditional methods of learning, even if
>it is very little, than on the newer versions which aim to teach you more
>at
>the cost of the quality of teaching.

I agree that more emphasis should be placed on traditional methods of
teaching. But I won't deny the role of the Arya Samaj and similar
organizations in at least making people aware that something called Vedic
Dharma exists. Let me give you an example. My sisters studied in convent
schools while I went to the Arya Samaji one. All they learnt about religion
was not to make the *cross sign* like their other friends because they were
Hindu. This can be generalized to the majority of kids where I'm from. If my
school even suggested me to think about, say, the fact that there are
different forms of worship then I think I'm better off.

The purpose of this mail is not to defend the Arya Samaj. But an attempt
contribute to some *constructive criticism*.

In the end, while I've now gotten a lot of information on the negatives of
the organization, I still don't know then how to perform the Sandyha or
Havan. Maybe someone could help direct.




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