On Apr 5, 2:08=A0pm, cyberhinwa <CYBERHIN...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> http://bharataagamas.blogspot.com/
>
> Agamas that helped shape Bharat
>
> Wednesday, December 12, 2007
> AGAMAS - AN OVERVIEW
>
> AGAMAS- WHICH SHAPED BHARAT- part 1
>
> Have you ever given a thought why the religious landscape of Bharat
> remained almost intact even after a thousand years of suppression by
> Muslim and Christian invaders ? Do you think it was the power of
> Vedas , Upanishads and the Gita and our people's knowledge in our
> fundamentals ? NOPE.. It was by the singular attachment of the lay
> Hindu towards HIS God, that we are still alive as heirs to Hinduism.
>
> How did the common man develop so much attachment to his God, silently
> suffering under the brutal suppression of the worst enemies of
> Humanity then and now ? It was by the Agamas.
>
> I now present to you all a forgotten heredity of us all which has
> helped shape the spiritual landscape of Bharat. The essence of this
> heredity are a series of divine scriptures. They are AGAMAS.
>
> When you propose to build a house, (especially in South India), the
> plot is chosen by its straightness, the length and width. They have to
> be in certain measure of feet. Then the direction of the site. Then
> the house plan. Specially here, the location of the sump, the kitchen,
> the bedroom, the bathroom are finalized only after consulting vasthu.
> Vasthu science was given to us by the Agamas.
>
> All the temple rites are given to us by the Agamas. Even your daily
> arathi and the Murthis and photos you wor****p are given to us by the
> Agamas. In short temple wor****p was started by the Agamas only.
>
> Agama literally means coming down.
>
> Agamas were built into the society rather than accepted and studied.
> Such has been their subtlety. For example, the adage , "do not reside
> in a village that has no temple" is a direct Agamic edict that is
> followed to this day by every Hindu without himself studying anything
> about it. The society itself is built up on such edicts.
>
> Have you ever wondered why you stand up in front of the deity with
> your palms joined and raised to the level of the chest in such a way
> that the lower joint of the thumbs point towards the solar plexus ?
> Also , why do we go around the prakara of the temple in a particular
> way ? Why do we adorn specific religious symbols such as Vibhuti,
> kumkum , Chandan and Gobi on our foreheads ?
>
> The answers to all the above are in the Agamas .
>
> The three major sects of Hinduism have separate agamas. In fact each
> have many. Saiva sects have as many as twenty eight agamas( Tamil and
> kashmir sects). Vaishnava sects have two main agamas namely
> pancharatra and Vaikanasa. Similarly Saktha sects have their own.
>
> The power of Agamas is so great that, though these sects treat the
> vedas with respect, they do not consider the vedas to be their
> authority in their sect. Saiva Siddhantha people will resent if you
> thrust vedic thoughts on them. In the 10 th century AD, Yamunacharya,
> the founder of Vaishnavism as a sect wrote a treatise explaining why
> Vedas do not matter for his sect.
>
> Agamas are self sufficient literature in that they cover the man's
> life from cradle to grave. Even minute details such as bru****ng the
> teeth, selection of sticks for bru****ng etc are given. If you ever see
> some rites in a funeral , never laugh anymore. They are the direct
> links of the man and his antique forefathers.
>
> These agamas are principally in Sanskrit. The Tamil people developed
> the grantha lipi for writing the Sanskrit Slokas and till today they
> are in Grantha form and not in Devanagari !
>
> Today, the granthas are known only to a class of temple archakas known
> as kurukkal. I interviewed one kurukkal a few days back and what he
> told me shook me. He said that he studied for five years in a
> patashala to learn Agamas alone. And also he told me that he had
> nothing to do with Vedas. Remember , the archakas are also brahmins,
> who do trikala Sandhyavandanam with gayatri.
>
> But the fact remains that Agamas only use Vedic mantras for most
> rituals. n fact they can be considered as the watered down version of
> Vedas. They have segregated many Vedic Gods among themselves to form
> sects of their own. All the Vedic Kriyas like Achamanam, Arghyam,
> Padhyam, Proshanam etc were simply adapted to suit temple wor****p. In
> short Vedism was fully Yagnic and Agamas were temple based. Hence it
> can be safely concluded that the Agamas can be dated after the
> upanishadic and Mahabharatic period since no temple was mentioned in
> these texts.
>
> Incidentally the 'Indus Valley Civilization' - also called Indus
> Saraswati Civilization was also an Agamic Hindu culture where they
> wor****pped ****va Linga. Saiva sect can be called the oldest Agamic
> sect. Thammanna Chettiar, a saiva scholar and writer opines that the
> symbology of Lord Nataraja of Chidambaram came from the Indus
> Saraswati Civilization. The Dixitars are some Kashmir Saivites.
>
> These sects had the same Vedic varna system, the same Sanskrit
> language and the same Guru- ****shya parampara. Only in Agamas, the
> initiation was called a Dhiksha. This Dhiksha is mainly Tantrik.
> Agamas also adapt a diluted Sandhya Vandanam and Nama Japam.
>
> He further said that they are proficient in grantha and have written
> examinations in grantha ! The only people allowed to do consecretion
> of temples are kurukkals and the only mantras chanted are Agama
> mantras.
>
> The Indonesian Hindus call themselves as Agamic Hindus.
>
> Agmas teach tantric philosophy. What is tantra ? We will see that in
> the next part.
>
> Venkat
I dont know what is this nonsense?
Hindus remained Hindus because all Hindus are not converted to
Islam .Just that.
Regards
Satish
http://satishnavada.blogspot.com
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