Post by ramya475 on Sept 17, 2013 19:03:51 GMT 5.5
VIII. Dhaanam (charity)
1.Yagnavalkya:-
Daily, some things should be given in charity to somebody , who will use it properly. During eclipse , Dhana (money) should be given to elders who are rich in the knowledge of Vedas. Even if you beg alms , you should also give depending on your capability.
2.Manu;-
The one who gives water in charity gets good contentment, he who gives food (annam) gets perennial pleasure filled life, he who gives gingili(Til) gets good children, he who gives lamp gets good eye sight, he who gives land will get more land, he who gives gold will get long life ,he who gives a house will get mansions, he who gives silver would get good personality, he who gives cloth will attain the world of moon, he who gives bulls would get immeasurable wealth, he who gives cows would attain land of Sun, he who gives cart and bed would get a pretty wife, he who gives protection would get wealth, he who gets cereals would get stable well being, and he who teaches Vedas(gives Vedas) would attain the land of Brahma.
The greatest Dhana(act of charity) among all is gifting away Vedas.
3.Shandilya:-
All charity should be given to that man who does not ask or beg but gifting away knowledge, bride (kanya-virgin) and food should be given only to the one who asks.
In the heaven two people shine viz one who gives food during famine and one who gives gold or cloth in times of plenty.
4.Devala:
Charity can be less or more but that is not important. Its importance can only be measured by the devotion of one who gives.
Bragging about yagas done by us, the charity we have given and the Vedas we have learned would completely destroy the good effect (punya) due to them. Self Praising the good deeds done by us or becoming sad after giving things in charity , would reduce our power and fortunes. So do not talk about the good deeds done by you.
5.Daksha:-
The return (compensation ) we get for charitable act depends on the man to whom it is given. Giving alms to the person who is not a Brahmin definitely has effect as told in the Shastras,, Giving to a Brahmin who does not follow rituals has double the effect, Giving to a Brahmin who can recite Vedas without mistake gives one lakh times the effect and giving to one who understands the meaning of Vedas and recites it well and follows rituals , results in immeasurable compensation.
6.Yama:-
The character of one can be understood by closely moving with him. Whether he follows rituals will be known by his conduct and his wisdom can be gauged by talking to him. Like this we have to determine about the suitability of people to whom we give charity.
7.Prajapathi:-
He who gives up prescribed rituals is a sinner. Any one depending on him also is a sinner. He who thinks very poorly of God is a sinner, These people would go to hell. Do not give anything in charity to these people.
8.Manu:-
It is important to look after old parents , a virtuous wife and sons and daughter when they are children. Do everything to see that these people are properly looked after.
9.Parasara:-
Brahmins who do bathing , Sandhya Vandhana, worship, Oupasana , Brahma Yagna and Vaiswadeva, can earn money by cultivating the earth . In times of crisis , they can do trade or live by selling their wealth.
IX. Kshatriya Dharma(The king’s Dharma)
1.Vishnu Purana:-
The king who punishes the bad people and looks after the good people attains the highest of the desirable worlds. For does he not look after the respectability of Varnas?
2.Manu:-
The king is the innate power of the Dig Palakas (Guardians of directions) and so he should follow the characters of the Dig Palakas.
Like the Indra giving rain during four months of the year, he should give all things desired by his people. i.e he follows Indra in giving,
Like the Sun taking away water from earth using his rays, the king should collect tax during the eight months , without troubling people.
The wind roams about outside our houses and does good to people. Like this the king using his spies collects information of the good and bad of people and takes suitable action.
Yama, the God of death punishes people who commit sins without showing any partiality. The king also should punish bad people without showing any partiality.
Varuna , using his pasa , ties and makes sinners helpless, similarly the king should control bad people and not allow them to act.
Like people become happy on seeing the full moon, the people should feel happy on seeing the king.
The good and famous king , is harsh to criminals and troubles enemy kings like the fire.
Similar to the earth having mercy on all people and carries them with patience, the king should look after all beings.
Using these and other techniques , without showing any laziness the king should control all robbers and dacoits. He should also help other countries to do this for if thieves are supported , the economy will decay .
3.Parasara:-
Looking after people, collecting of weapons for punishing of bad people, doing Dharmic war , winning over enemies army and ruling the world are the duties of Kshatriya.
He should specially worship Brahmins for they are the visible Gods , since they learn Vedas according to rules , worship Devas and protect the entire world. The king gets one sixth of the blessings they get by doing good deeds. This is the prize that he gets for looking after them.
X . Vaisya Dharma:-
(The Dharma of vaisyas-business people)
Manu:-
Vaisyas who are the third Varna should protect the cows, should give charity , perform yagas , should get knowledge, carry out trade in cereals, gems, gold , silver and other articles, should give money on loan and cultivate the land.
The fourth Varna can easily perform their Dharmas. They can worship God in their homes (Applicable to every body), should do service to Brahmins and produce things which are required by others.
XI. Varna Sadharana Dharma
(The ordinary Dharma applicable to all four Varnas)
Vishnu:-
The Dharma common to all the four varnas are:-
Be patient, talk softly, tell the truth , control the mind, clean the body with mud, to the possible extent give things useful to others to them, control senses , not give trouble to others, do service to elders, undertake pilgrimage to holy rivers like Ganga, show mercy, not having hypocrisy, not having king sized desires, worshipping Devas and Brahmins, be without jealousy and the common dharma for all.
Some general rules applicable to all actions:-
1. If we are not able to perform a ritual at the correct time, do it immediately afterwards.
2. When you are doing rituals at the improper time , do Prayachitha (redemptive rituals)
3. If we are not able to do a ritual during day time, it can be performed before 9 P.M. This is not applicable to Surya Namaskarams (worship of Sun) and Brahma Yagna.
4. If we are not having money to do a ritual at the proper time and are expecting to get it later, do not postpone the ritual and do it at the proper time , with the money that you are expecting to get later.
5. If we are not able to perform some rituals, they can be got performed by the son, priest, brother, wife , father and friend.
6. All rituals have to be performed with right hand.
7. No ritual should be performed without Yagnopavita (sacred thread)
8. Normally all actions should be performed sitting down. In special cases it can be done standing.
9. All rituals should be done facing north or east.
10. All rituals are to be started with Aachamanm (inner cleaning) and Sankalpam.(saying the intention)
11. If important aspect of a ritual is forgotten, it has to be redone. If a minor aspect is forgotten, there is only need to do Prayachitha(redemptive action)
12. All rituals have to performed according to one’s own Suthra (Example :aapasthamba)
13. If the chief article is not available for a ritual , it can be done with representative article.
14. That which is not told in one’s own Suthra can be taken from other Suthras and ritual performed but it should not be against one’s own Suthra.
15. If there is any problem in getting done a ritual according to one own Suthra, it can be got performed using the Bodhayana Suthra.
16. Doing a ritual before the correct time is equivalent to not doing the ritual. So in case it is done, it should be repeated at the proper time.
17. All actions have to be performed sitting normally (swasthikasanam) but this can be altered depending on the rules laid down by a ritual.
18. No ritual should be performed with a cloth over the neck.
19. All rituals should be done between our two knees.
20. For all rituals, meditating on Krishna is the Prayachitha (redemptive action)
1.Yagnavalkya:-
Daily, some things should be given in charity to somebody , who will use it properly. During eclipse , Dhana (money) should be given to elders who are rich in the knowledge of Vedas. Even if you beg alms , you should also give depending on your capability.
2.Manu;-
The one who gives water in charity gets good contentment, he who gives food (annam) gets perennial pleasure filled life, he who gives gingili(Til) gets good children, he who gives lamp gets good eye sight, he who gives land will get more land, he who gives gold will get long life ,he who gives a house will get mansions, he who gives silver would get good personality, he who gives cloth will attain the world of moon, he who gives bulls would get immeasurable wealth, he who gives cows would attain land of Sun, he who gives cart and bed would get a pretty wife, he who gives protection would get wealth, he who gets cereals would get stable well being, and he who teaches Vedas(gives Vedas) would attain the land of Brahma.
The greatest Dhana(act of charity) among all is gifting away Vedas.
3.Shandilya:-
All charity should be given to that man who does not ask or beg but gifting away knowledge, bride (kanya-virgin) and food should be given only to the one who asks.
In the heaven two people shine viz one who gives food during famine and one who gives gold or cloth in times of plenty.
4.Devala:
Charity can be less or more but that is not important. Its importance can only be measured by the devotion of one who gives.
Bragging about yagas done by us, the charity we have given and the Vedas we have learned would completely destroy the good effect (punya) due to them. Self Praising the good deeds done by us or becoming sad after giving things in charity , would reduce our power and fortunes. So do not talk about the good deeds done by you.
5.Daksha:-
The return (compensation ) we get for charitable act depends on the man to whom it is given. Giving alms to the person who is not a Brahmin definitely has effect as told in the Shastras,, Giving to a Brahmin who does not follow rituals has double the effect, Giving to a Brahmin who can recite Vedas without mistake gives one lakh times the effect and giving to one who understands the meaning of Vedas and recites it well and follows rituals , results in immeasurable compensation.
6.Yama:-
The character of one can be understood by closely moving with him. Whether he follows rituals will be known by his conduct and his wisdom can be gauged by talking to him. Like this we have to determine about the suitability of people to whom we give charity.
7.Prajapathi:-
He who gives up prescribed rituals is a sinner. Any one depending on him also is a sinner. He who thinks very poorly of God is a sinner, These people would go to hell. Do not give anything in charity to these people.
8.Manu:-
It is important to look after old parents , a virtuous wife and sons and daughter when they are children. Do everything to see that these people are properly looked after.
9.Parasara:-
Brahmins who do bathing , Sandhya Vandhana, worship, Oupasana , Brahma Yagna and Vaiswadeva, can earn money by cultivating the earth . In times of crisis , they can do trade or live by selling their wealth.
IX. Kshatriya Dharma(The king’s Dharma)
1.Vishnu Purana:-
The king who punishes the bad people and looks after the good people attains the highest of the desirable worlds. For does he not look after the respectability of Varnas?
2.Manu:-
The king is the innate power of the Dig Palakas (Guardians of directions) and so he should follow the characters of the Dig Palakas.
Like the Indra giving rain during four months of the year, he should give all things desired by his people. i.e he follows Indra in giving,
Like the Sun taking away water from earth using his rays, the king should collect tax during the eight months , without troubling people.
The wind roams about outside our houses and does good to people. Like this the king using his spies collects information of the good and bad of people and takes suitable action.
Yama, the God of death punishes people who commit sins without showing any partiality. The king also should punish bad people without showing any partiality.
Varuna , using his pasa , ties and makes sinners helpless, similarly the king should control bad people and not allow them to act.
Like people become happy on seeing the full moon, the people should feel happy on seeing the king.
The good and famous king , is harsh to criminals and troubles enemy kings like the fire.
Similar to the earth having mercy on all people and carries them with patience, the king should look after all beings.
Using these and other techniques , without showing any laziness the king should control all robbers and dacoits. He should also help other countries to do this for if thieves are supported , the economy will decay .
3.Parasara:-
Looking after people, collecting of weapons for punishing of bad people, doing Dharmic war , winning over enemies army and ruling the world are the duties of Kshatriya.
He should specially worship Brahmins for they are the visible Gods , since they learn Vedas according to rules , worship Devas and protect the entire world. The king gets one sixth of the blessings they get by doing good deeds. This is the prize that he gets for looking after them.
X . Vaisya Dharma:-
(The Dharma of vaisyas-business people)
Manu:-
Vaisyas who are the third Varna should protect the cows, should give charity , perform yagas , should get knowledge, carry out trade in cereals, gems, gold , silver and other articles, should give money on loan and cultivate the land.
The fourth Varna can easily perform their Dharmas. They can worship God in their homes (Applicable to every body), should do service to Brahmins and produce things which are required by others.
XI. Varna Sadharana Dharma
(The ordinary Dharma applicable to all four Varnas)
Vishnu:-
The Dharma common to all the four varnas are:-
Be patient, talk softly, tell the truth , control the mind, clean the body with mud, to the possible extent give things useful to others to them, control senses , not give trouble to others, do service to elders, undertake pilgrimage to holy rivers like Ganga, show mercy, not having hypocrisy, not having king sized desires, worshipping Devas and Brahmins, be without jealousy and the common dharma for all.
Some general rules applicable to all actions:-
1. If we are not able to perform a ritual at the correct time, do it immediately afterwards.
2. When you are doing rituals at the improper time , do Prayachitha (redemptive rituals)
3. If we are not able to do a ritual during day time, it can be performed before 9 P.M. This is not applicable to Surya Namaskarams (worship of Sun) and Brahma Yagna.
4. If we are not having money to do a ritual at the proper time and are expecting to get it later, do not postpone the ritual and do it at the proper time , with the money that you are expecting to get later.
5. If we are not able to perform some rituals, they can be got performed by the son, priest, brother, wife , father and friend.
6. All rituals have to be performed with right hand.
7. No ritual should be performed without Yagnopavita (sacred thread)
8. Normally all actions should be performed sitting down. In special cases it can be done standing.
9. All rituals should be done facing north or east.
10. All rituals are to be started with Aachamanm (inner cleaning) and Sankalpam.(saying the intention)
11. If important aspect of a ritual is forgotten, it has to be redone. If a minor aspect is forgotten, there is only need to do Prayachitha(redemptive action)
12. All rituals have to performed according to one’s own Suthra (Example :aapasthamba)
13. If the chief article is not available for a ritual , it can be done with representative article.
14. That which is not told in one’s own Suthra can be taken from other Suthras and ritual performed but it should not be against one’s own Suthra.
15. If there is any problem in getting done a ritual according to one own Suthra, it can be got performed using the Bodhayana Suthra.
16. Doing a ritual before the correct time is equivalent to not doing the ritual. So in case it is done, it should be repeated at the proper time.
17. All actions have to be performed sitting normally (swasthikasanam) but this can be altered depending on the rules laid down by a ritual.
18. No ritual should be performed with a cloth over the neck.
19. All rituals should be done between our two knees.
20. For all rituals, meditating on Krishna is the Prayachitha (redemptive action)