Harii_Puttar 

What you say about -
Baba Log (So called Godmen) come on TV daily and tell do this, do that.
Many have built Huge Ashrams, Some found exploiting women, children, Some travel in Business Class, Stay in 5 Star Hotels and ask others to live simple.
These (except respectable persons like Morari Bapu etc. ) Baba's no where fit in criteria of Saint given in Hindusm.
So, what you think, they are doing something good for religion or harmful for religion?

This factor depends on the type of baba....... for example, I applaud the Sri Sri, Ramakrishna Math, Bharat sevashram Sangha, Patanjali etc. which work for betterment of people by opening schools, collages, hospitals and provide rescue from natural calamities......etc....
but when giving to these God men we should check very thoroughly about to whom we are giving???? if these you have seen these people to have luxury then these are NOT saadhus.... as that is the primary requirement to become one ..... leave out luxuries...... and how are the funds going to be handled........ all well known religious institutions who take money for chairty have taxation and auditing systems.... so the in exchange for the money you are giving you can track their expenditures if you want....... Ramakrishna Math even publishes it financial info every year in their magazines.....

so if these are not Saadhus and you usually find these out easily enough then why pay them anything???? but I feel people pay because they have tendency to pay to God as to buy forgiveness for their sins..... so they are not giving to charity but selling paaps..... in this case most good saadhus will not take your daan....... only the bad ones will..... cause its only money for them...... but I dont know why they dont realise this money is going to waste.... Paap punya cant be sold or bought....... if you have done paap do some charity involving yourself..... may not require any money at all......

Coming to TV etc. in itself is not bad..... that is just spreading of knowledge...... that should not be related to what they have done in their ashrams....... as in any group of entertainers/reporters some will always do bad (e.g. Barkha Datt etc.) ...... does not mean their job is not important......

ipspunjabi 

well u see..i am a sikh...i dont much about hindu mythology...i am just trying reason wid u on human nature as u have put up this question..i have watched ramayan and mahabharat as a child...i used to like watching it..this was my opinion on that episode..!!


now about this question..my thinking is if i m correct..in those days i think girls didnt had much say in concieving or not...u see those were the periodic times and as all of us know ladies(even if shes a princess) didnt used to get that much respect as they would have deserved in those times...now u have to admit male egos were bigger than anything (in those days) and ego of a king was much much bigger, bigger than the whole state..!!

if kans can put his own biological father in dungeon just for the throne n power..well i think killing his nephews to save his own life wouldnt have been a much of a problem for him..and secondly he wanted her sister to give birth to the child so that he can kill him..his male ego was at stake that a kid will kill amighty king...it was more about satisfying his ego then conquering death..!!

Actually if you read the books the Ramayan and Mahabharat, they feel like a description of the current times......for example: some women are powerful...... others are not........ as in this case, you see that Yashoda is very powerful..... even without having many children etc.... but Devaki is weak and helpless.......... may be due to having a bully as brother...... also her husband is a good for nothing (in my view).......... I bet there are these characters in our societies now.... in your surroundings you can easily find these characters right now!!!

I have no idea about other religions.... in the Brahm Supergroup of religions, meditation is one of the primary aspects of our religions... when you are taught meditation your taught of focus on an object.... the rock in front of which we are praying is just such an focus.... and if a focus has been used by a lot of people .... it can give you more focus than you yourself have...... so with prayers we are increasing focusing power of the object we are focusing on...... I will tell you something you might not like..... many saadhus teach to consider Muslims as Air worshipers..... and Chiristians as Cross worshipers.... as they feel that is their focus of praying......

similar is true for samadhis and dargahs..... a sage's tomb contains the focusing power that he/she earned during long prayers..... and this power enhances your own meditation when prayed there..... and of course popular saints have a lots of payers focused on their tombs...... growing powers with each prayer........ and this is the reason famous sages in Hindu/Boudh traditions are also entombed not burned.....

we are not confining the prayer to anything!!! Dunno how else to explain to you..... as the power of meditation is something I cant explain.....

a_decent_1 

I  am not talking about "My Feelings" ..
I am talking about what my Religion asks me to do.
It is in our Religion to offer Prayers when someone dies for "Aatma Shaanti" .. Not just once, A Lot of them.. Since we are Brahmins, there are many more Rituals.
your religion does not ask you to pay a pandit..... it asks you to do certain rituals which can be done by you.... if you want to be very correct a book describing the rituals can be used..... a pandit is only a knowledgeable guide, and he should only assist, his dakshina only is a payment for that..... God will never ask payment from you..... why would god need money??? so when next time a pandit asks to put some money somewhere during a pooja tell him that I will pay you for the whole thing and your time but I will not do God the insult of offering money......

a_decent_1 

Ankhi,
Are you not aware of the concept of giving Food and Dakshina to Pandit on Shraad..?
Are you suggesting that a common man can understand each and very Ritual that needs to be followed..? With his busy Schedule..?

I know and that is what I said.... think about it.... Food and Dakshina is given as daan in behalf of the departed..... I am not saying that is wrong.... but I am saying not to offer money in all the swahas and stuff like you were describing the Pandit in Haridwar made you to do.....

And none of the people are talking about sharddh here but even for that..... if the exact book is available and it is.... it mostly a matter of reading a 20 page book twice.... one to find which stuff are required and gathering them..... and second while the ceremony for the mantras.... some of the parts can not be done if you are not a brahmin and dont have yagyopawit but other than that and the daan brahmins are not required...... and believe me..... mantras spoken by a relative with love in heart are much better than a impartial paid pandit.....

My fathers friend and collegue acted as the Pandit for us During my fathers vatasarik, as he is a brahmin and he did NOT make all those put one rupees here and two rupee there gestures... and he explained that professional pandits act like that to make more money and that has nothing to do with the ritual.....

Roger69 

Whether God live in Temple/Mosque/Church?
If yes, then Go to any Hindu religious place like Mathura, Kashi, Tirupati etc. where Pujari and other management and surrounding people are only target - how to loot this devotee?
In Tirupati, you are pushed in temple to go fast, but if you give Rs. 50/100 to the attender, he will keep you in side for couple of minutes. Muslims are not far behind, go to Ajmer Dargah, you will find how everyone one want to loot you.
Some places may be exception to this.
When God can't correct his surrounding people, why others visit there?

Surrounding people??? of God!!!..... if God is everywhere there is no specific people who Surround God....

On the topic of temples, and people charging/looting for a visit..... all depends who is willing to pay..... and who there as a tourist... and who came to see/feel god..... I feel all temples /places of God which are overcrowded now as people can afford to visit them are the worst...... they are thinking visiting famous temples/holy places is only a matter of money and status!!! they shouldn't come!!! I believe that is the same thing somebody wrote about govt sponsored Hazz......

In Kashi (Hometown example again!!!) When people come there are always two ways to get darshn in Viswanath Temple... the same as you described..... and I have found the people who pay are the people who want to show that they can.... otherwise it is considered paying to dodge the line as sacrilege and so is pushing people in a line to hurry up!!! dont come to visit Shiva if you are in a tight schedule....Bhola Baba does not have a watch to his name.....

..... a person who sells Religious stuff in that area and quite a good panda Himself once told me that one sphatik mala for jap costs about 100 Rs.... the real deal too... but the people who come from far and wide will feel cheated if he quotes less than 500! they will walk off if he says its the real price! and I have seen this happen in my own eyes too..... so do these people come so far to get cheated???

Roger69  I would like to share my views on Rebirth-

Concept of Rebirth is accepted in Hindu literature. You have to take birth/form again and again unless you reach to Moksha level. Many religions don't believe in rebirth concept. Their view is after death men (including women) goes to heaven or hell according to their deeds. 
In Geeta, when Arjuna asked Krishna how he can kill his own relatives. Krishna replied that You can't kill anyone. because Atma is not destructible. It can't be killed, cut, burnt etc. So, no one can get killed only changes forms. (Mind you, this is purest knowledge, to understand Truth. Not for taking legal stand after killing someone)
In every knowledge book it is emphasized that 'You are not body, you are Atma' By this principle, you are here when the world came into existence and you will be here till the world is existing. You will only change forms. 
This makes concept of swarg and Narak as imaginary concepts prepared for genral public so they can do good things in the greed to go to heaven/ Swarga.
The concept of Atma is same as Energy. As energy can't be destroyed, it can transformed from one form to another. Atma is energy. 
When a person realize at his own (not by other's experience) that everyone is Atma or consciousness and part of Universal Consciousness or paramatma. He is said to attained Enlightenment. Then he can say that I am part of Parmatma -Amah Bramhasmi. At this stage, his energy becomes part of Universal consciousness and he is freed or attained Moksha.
And a possible explanation of rebirth in terms of present population blast..... has following points..... the total number of soul at a given time is constant in total number of living forms..... so as Humans are increasing they are doing so at the expense of souls in other forms..... and that is why we are facing a mass extinction..... 

a_decent_1 

Agreed.
Question arises when a Disaster takes place.
Take the example of 9/11 Terrorist attack. A LOT of people died. Did they all have it in their Karma to die at the Same time, Same Place and Same Misery..? Too co-incidental to be true. When there was TSunami, did each one of them deserve to die..?

I believe that Karma is not only effected by what you do...... in a chaotic system..... state of each component is effected by all other components states.... even if they are not in any contact..... any student of chemistry will tell you when precipitation starts many particles not having the precipitating tendency in those conditions also precipitate due to this effect....... take death as precipitation.... its like death around them is attractive ... so there is a domino effect......

What are these Rahukalam and Yamagandam ? Why not any good important things should not do in these time ? Any scientific reasons ?
These are Astrological terms... even if most karmkandi rituals follow astrology, it is not a must for Hindus.....

Hindu Astrology is a set of correlations based on passage of time as measured by stellar movements...... then stories were made to explain them..... they are as good as the correlation factors measured...... which means not 100% or even 90%..... so... these are more complex statistics than physics.....