The story is basically framed for children to know better about religion.

 

Thinking about the days when I was young…

It was a fine evening while I came back home from school. After refreshments, I and my brother used to play at the empty space near our home but that evening it was raining heavily. So we decided to make our games indoor. We ran into our doors and later it was a fine surprise to have our grandparents soon in home. They had been in a pilgrimage for the past week and now they are back. We felt happy to have them since they were our best companions.

After a while, I took seat beside my granny while my brother sat beside grandpa and we almost made a circle. Feeling ultimate silence except the noise of the raindrops falling from the leaves outside, Granny began a story. We always loved listening stories from her.

“So today I would like to teach you something rather than a mere story.”

We looked indifferent at what she had planned to teach us and looked at each other. She continued.

“ Hinduism is not a Religion, it is an ocean of Faith. For those who believe, miracles happen in the name of God. Of course, miracles had happened through Faith in the history of almost all of the religions yet, Hinduism, here has many more incidents and evidences proving the Divinity.”

She gave a pause and questioned me. “Who is God?” I being a devotee to Shiv, immediately replied “SHIVA”.

 She smiled and said, “Yes my dear, you are right. It is believed in Hinduism that Lord Shiva is the Supreme Power and controls the entire Universe. The Trinity Concept also plays a major role in the framework of Hinduism. According to Trinity, among the three major powers, Brahma, plays the role of creation, Vishnu plays the role of preservation, while Shiva, the supreme power is responsible for destruction. Lord Shiva is believed to be a destroyer yet, he could save the people who have faith on him. Yes, he is known for the destruction of the evils around and that does not mean he destroys everything in the world.”

As she paused we gave an eager look at what she was about to say next. Understanding our eagerness she continued. This time, she pointed at a photo hanging in the doorstep of our pooja room and proceeded. It was the picture of Lord Shiva in the dancing form.

“The Nataraja form of Shiva symbolizes the five major actions for the existence of the world such as 1) Sristi or the creation 2) Sthiti or the maintenance or time 3) Samhara which means destruction  4) Tiro-bhava which means concealment and 5) Anugraha which means the favor or acceptance. Thus, the entire concept compiling this Universe has been explained through a single form i.e the Nataraja or Dancing form of Shiva.

But my little dearies, for the fact, Lord Shiva has actually no form. There exists a story where the Lords Brahma and Vishnu decide to find up Divine Shiva’s head and feet and fails at last revealing that Shiva has no forms in real. There is no ending of his form in a head or feet. Shiva is simply everything. He has no specific forms and the forms that are worshipped by us were created to educate the young minds like you, about spirituality.”

This time I felt a little confused. I asked, “What are you trying to say granny?”

She replied, “ I know you are confused. Hinduism is actually an ocean of faiths and you are not forced to adopt any particular rules. You can have faith and worship the Lord in any from you believe in. The Freedom of thoughts and beliefs is the most important point that adds up dignity to this wonderful religion.

Getting deeper into the powers and supremacy of Hinduism, The Vedas stand at the First place. In a broader sense, Vedas are sources of wisdom and a beginning of the spiritual knowledge. A right thinking, right understanding and a right action combines to form the Divine Truth and riches. Vedas play a major role in inculcating these three in a man who learns them. Vedas are simply a collection of Mantras mainly composed of words, symbols and rhythms. To avert unfavourable things by rituals is the framework of the Vedas or mantras.”

This time, my brother interrupted her. He asked her “Granny, all the religions are having their own Vedas. They call their holy books as Vedas. Are all the books same or different from each other granny?”

Granny looked at us and exclaimed that it was a good question. She felt that it was really essential to explain us this important difference among the Vedas.

“Each religion has its own Veda, the book that comprises the sayings of the great men who framed that religion. But, for Hinduism, Vedas not only instruct us for life, yet, itself plays a role in averting the bad things away from us through its rhythms. OM (pronounced as AUM) is the very basic mantra that has the utmost power of positivity in it. Mantras purify the air around us through their vibrations thereby creating a positive environment.

And, in Hinduism, Vedas are majorly classified into three types as Rig, Sama and Yajur which has several sub classifications in them. Among these, the Rig Veda is a collection of words, having a specific counts in each set. They are similar to a collection of words or a prose. The Sama, on the other hand, is a collection of words and symbols and they are sung according to the symbols they contain. The Yajur Veda finally is framed of rhythmic prose. A classification known as Atharvana Veda is derived by a combination of the Rig and Yajur Vedas.

These Vedas create a positive energy around the people who learn them which the Vedas of other religion does not.”

“How do you say so granny?”  we asked together. “Scientifically, the Universe acts on the basis of the vibration of molecules and the pronunciation of the Vedas are capable of controlling these vibrations of these molecules. Also, singing helps in Pranayama, or the breathing exercise to keep your mind and body in a healthy state. Thus, every ritual in Hinduism was framed with a scientific background that helps in making us have a great life both physically and spiritually.”

we never felt tired on listening to our Granny. It was time for dinner and hence we decided to continue this travel into Hinduism later on. We had a nice supper prepared by our mom, chit-chaatting with the whole family.

Days were always happy in those times…

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