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orlando
05 July 2006, 12:05 PM
Namaste all.
Someone told me that in Hinduism the phrase "God bless you" is given as a blessing by an elder to an younger always.He told me that vaishnavism vaishnavism does not agree with such superiority of age in the light of knowledge.
That person said that he is trusting that I am not telling this to non vaishnavites who are elder than me.
Is this rule mentionated in the shastra?
Regards,
Orlando.

orlando
12 September 2006, 11:45 AM
Namaste all.
Please could someone reply to my post.
Is true that I should never say "May God bless you" to a hindu older than me?
Thanks and regards,
Orlando.

sarabhanga
13 September 2006, 06:14 PM
Bhadram te Orlando ;)

sm78
14 September 2006, 03:17 AM
Is true that I should never say "May God bless you" to a hindu older than me?

Don't know about shastras but in our culture elders have great respect. One generally touches the feet of elder relative on meeting them. We don't bless elders but elders bless us. This is a social norm.

Ofcourse if you are a sadhu there is no age rule. But if you are not, then you should not say "God bless you" to an elder, rather ask for his/her blessing.

sarabhanga
14 September 2006, 04:50 AM
May GOD bless you !

Bhadram is prosperity or good fortune or good luck ~ i.e. God's blessing.

How can it be wrong for one person to wish that God would bestow good fortune on another person (whatever their relation) ?

Were the Rishis in error when they praised Vyasa as the best of their class with bhadraM te, in the Bhagavatapurana ?

sUta jAnAsi bhadraM te bhagavAnsAtvatAM patiH devakyAM vasudevasya jAto yasya cikIrsayA.

Sudarshan
14 September 2006, 05:50 AM
Don't know about shastras but in our culture elders have great respect. One generally touches the feet of elder relative on meeting them. We don't bless elders but elders bless us. This is a social norm.

Ofcourse if you are a sadhu there is no age rule. But if you are not, then you should not say "God bless you" to an elder, rather ask for his/her blessing.

Probably more of a cultural affair than a religeous one. It is not considered polite to say "May God bless you" to an elder in the Hindu circles, though I have seen non Hindus use that. My elder relatives would probably consider it offensive too.:)

When a Christian says "God bless you" he usually means "let the good news be beleieved by you".;)

sarabhanga
14 September 2006, 06:39 AM
Namaste Sudarshan,

In strict Brahmana circles, any language other than Sanskrit is considered offensive! :rolleyes:

Bhadram te is the Sanskrit equivalent of God bless you; so, if God bless you may offend in some Hindu circles, then Bhadram te should be equally offensive; and so, how could the senior Vyasa ever have been praised in this way by his juniors without causing offence??

Sudarshan
14 September 2006, 06:56 AM
Namaste Sudarshan,

In strict Brahmana circles, any language other than Sanskrit is considered offensive! :rolleyes:

Bhadram te is the Sanskrit equivalent of God bless you; so, if God bless you may offend in some Hindu circles, then Bhadram te should be equally offensive; and so, how could the senior Vyasa ever have been praised in this way by his juniors without causing offence??

Vyasadeva is a God realized soul and perhaps has no one to bless him. He also sees equality everywhere. That is not the same with other people. Unless one is a saint it is not usually considered orthodox to bless elders in anyway. Age is not the criterion though...age remains the standard criterion world wise. If your dad or guru is not objecting it is not a problem to bless him. However, if he does not like better not do it.;)

If your tradition and culture allow it, it shoud'nt be an issue.

saidevo
14 September 2006, 07:16 AM
A Tamil saying popularised by the DMK and ADMK reads:

vAzhttha vayadillai, vanungukirom - We are not of age to greet you, so we bow to you.

This is typically used in political posters by the party functionaries to greet their leaders on their birthdays!

sarabhanga
14 September 2006, 08:08 AM
Bhadram is prosperity or good fortune or good luck ~ i.e. God's blessing.

How can it be wrong for one person to wish that God would bestow good fortune on another person (whatever their relation)?

The phrase “may God bless you” does not imply that the speaker is intending to personally bless anyone ~ only trusting that the Gods will grace the other person with their (i.e. the Gods’) own blessings!

I suppose that by saying “good luck” to an elder it implies that the younger thinks the older (and presumably wiser) one actually requires additional luck to succeed, which would certainly be presumptuous. But it really must depend on the context and the preferences of the elder in question.

sarabhanga
14 September 2006, 09:38 AM
We are not of age to greet you, so we bow to you.

We dare not bhadram te, so we namas te.

We have nothing worthy of offering to you, but our respect.

Arjuna
20 September 2006, 04:17 AM
The phrase “may God bless you” does not imply that the speaker is intending to personally bless anyone ~ only trusting that the Gods will grace the other person with their (i.e. the Gods’) own blessings!

Fully agree with Sarabhanga. There can be nothing wrong in saying "God bless U" to anyone, even a Siddha. There is no personal notion in this good wish.

If someone gets offended with such saying, it merely reveals his ego and lack of intelligence.

orlando
21 September 2006, 08:49 AM
Fully agree with Sarabhanga. There can be nothing wrong in saying "God bless U" to anyone, even a Siddha. There is no personal notion in this good wish.

If someone gets offended with such saying, it merely reveals his ego and lack of intelligence.

Namaste.
Arjuna,I think that it is always better to follow the traditions.Even if that "someone" will not get offended,other people who hear me could consider inappropriate my behavior.I decided that I will never say phrase like "May God bless you" to an hindu older than me.
Regards,
Orlando.

Arjuna
22 September 2006, 12:20 AM
Namaste.
Arjuna,I think that it is always better to follow the traditions.Even if that "someone" will not get offended,other people who hear me could consider inappropriate my behavior.I decided that I will never say phrase like "May God bless you" to an hindu older than me.
Regards,
Orlando.

Namaste.
Well, this is already up to U, what to do or say. According to Dharma there is nothing wrong in saying this. But there is no prescription to say this as well :)

yajvan
24 September 2006, 11:46 AM
Hari Om
~~~~~


Namaste.
...this is already up to U, what to do or say. According to Dharma there is nothing wrong in saying this.

Namaste,

All of us have the best intent for wishing well to others. It is the quality of the heart that we wish Bhadramte, Namaste. Of this there no doubt.

Another saying is jijivishet satam samah or should you wish to live 100 years.
This is from the Isavasya Upanishad. At first glance, its wishing one long life, yet
the rishi's of the Upanishads always have deeper meanings.

Achieving 100 is another way of saying enlightenment. That is, the first 0 is the fullness of the Absolute, the second 0 is the fullness of the relative. The 1 is the
Unity of both, or Brahman. This is the wisdom of the kavi ( or rishi) of the Ved.

jijivishet satam samah !