The other day in our mandir, Pandit ji gave a nice analogy to explain why we sound the conch and ring the bells before arti. He likened it to the police siren. He said that if there are any unsavoury people hanging around a street corner and they hear a siren of a police car approaching they disappear. They know that the police will be following soon. Similarly when we hear the sound od the conch and the ringing of the bell our bad thoughts disapear. They know that the darshan is coming!
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Yes! The Kuru army knew they were in trouble when they heard the sound of Krishna’s conch, and the Pandavas found strength in that same sound because they knew it was the transcendent sound, not just the mundane.
Excellent analogy. Thank you for sharing it, Tandava.
The pundits at my temple don’t speak much to the “congregation.” There was once, in the entire time I’ve ever attended, when one of the pundits spoke to a crowd gathered-a college group, and he was offering a very of the bare-bones essentials of Hinduism. Aside from that, our pundit-jis serve almost entirely in the context of rituals/sacraments.
Our discourses are offered either by guest speakers(90% of all our speakers are this kind) or by one of the more educated elders.
This is a very nice analogy, though!
The bells at my temple ring so frequently, it reminds me of being back on the military base growing up…and listening for the ice cream truck. As then, we all come running…but now it is for the wonderful Darshan<3
Hi, I believe you have a new entrant “Dhrishti(http://ardhanarishwar.wordpress.com/)” under “Westerners Following Hinduism”
Hello,
I just came across your blog and find it extremely interesting! I just wanted to ask a question about scripture in Hinduism. From what i understand, they are not as important as one’s own spiritual journey and upholding dharma. I take it that scriptures and not held in Hinduism as they are in the Abrahamic religions. I read the Gita but i take it not in the literal sense but try to glean values and principles from it.
I was just wondering what do the scriptures mean to you? Also have you read anything by Swami Vivekananda?
Thanks for reading and God Bless.
Hi,
I have answered most of this comment in the post “The Hindu view of Scriptures”. I have read some things by vivekananda, the only one that springs to mind is his speech at Chicago.
Aum
Hari Om,
Just nice. Good way to awaken us for moment who we are. We are One.
Om Shanti
FFTW
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foolish thought
I thought it was a nice analogy!
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Hi
I’ve heard that conches are not blown during Lord Shiva’s aarti/pooja. Is it true? And why?