April/May/June 2003

We Are the Hindu Future

Youth should understand their responsibility

BY MOOTHOOSAMY DEVARAJ SHANKARA

It is a fact that weyoungsters are greatly influenced by Western ideas. Because of this, many of us are becoming less involved with our religion and culture. Often we even stop attending temples. Is this right? Should we let go of our heritage like this?

Hinduism is the oldest living religion in the world. At the basis of its elaborate mythology, there is a profound philosophy revealing the realities of our existence. Actually, mythology was only set up by ancient sages to help explain the very complicated Hindu philosophy in an unphilosophical way.

God revealed Himself to our great sages. They saw that, indeed, man was created in the image of God, meaning that man looks a lot like God and vice versa. This makes it easy to relate to God in the temples, because we can see, from the way that He looks, that he is not so different from us.

Temples were built to enshrine these images of the Almighty and give devotees a place to worship. The very structure of these temples inspires discipline, respect, humility and all of the moral ethics that promote good living.

Even though all of this is true, youngsters are just not that interested in going to temples and becoming involved in religious activities. Why is this? What can be done to fix this?

One of the main factors youngsters are missing is knowledge. They just don't understand the point of temple worship. A bigger problem is that parents usually do not understand either. If such is the case, how and what are these adults going to teach their children? This is a common problem we face here in Mauritius. And I am sure that it exists elsewhere as well.

According to dharma, or divine law, temple worship is important because it focuses our concentration on God. This concentration toward God helps us purge our worries and absorb the shakti (divine force, scientifically defined as psychic energy) emanating from the murti, or statue representing the God.

Youngsters should take the responsibility to read or somehow instruct themselves in matters concerning our religion and culture. Temple societies should organize lectures and activities designed for youngsters. Societies should create youth clubs. In this way we will become interested and get involved with temples and religious organizations.

There is something else which puts distance between youngsters and temples. Very often we do not find religious activities and functions organized by the temples to be very interesting. More precisely, they are boring. It could be argued here that a temple is not supposed to be interesting. But youngsters are still in the process of learning, and they have not yet reached a point where they can forget the world and plunge into the deep stillness of a temple.

Of course, we do pray, but our manner of praying differs from that of our elders. Prayers and rituals could be better organized in ways that would inspire youngsters more. For example, the duration of the pujas could be reduced. Also, youngsters should be given things to do during the activities and worship, like receiving or welcoming people attending the pujas or taking care of people’s requests. There are many other ways through which temple societies can attract a greater participation of youngsters in religious activities.
I urge all my Hindu brothers and sisters out there not to let go of their religion and culture. Doing so could mean putting an end to a very fine religion and way of life that is more than 5,000 years old and should not perish. Just remember! One day we will no longer be the youngsters. We will be the adults, trying to get our children to go to the temple.

Moothoosamy Devaraj Shankarais 18 and finishing his last year of high school in Mauritius. He is deeply interested in Hinduism and would like to propagate its values to better future generations.