Convenience Dharma

[AmIHindu]

Namaste to all Devotees.

I am not sure how I can represent this but I feel like we follow convenience dharma rather than Sanatan Dharma.

We had Janmastmi on Monday but temples had celebrated it on Sunday. Other last Hindu festival was Guru Purnima, which was actually on Friday but temples celebrated on Saturday. Every festival has its own importance. Janmastmi has to be celebrated on Monday only - Srawan Sude Asthami, how come we can celebrate it on Srawan Sude Satam/Saptmi !!!!

Even temples are finding weekends to celebrate festivals as well as puja. How much busy we are, that we do not have time for GOD on weekday. All of the Hindus make money but they just want to make money on weekdays. Of course there are some exceptions but it became like a habit now a days.
There is nothing to do on weekends that's why they go to temple ?? I feel like it is total insult of GOD. We do not go to temple to socialize or for free dinners.

It is like if you give respect then you receive respect in return, but if we look for our convenience to see GOD then GOD looks for His convenience time.

I am not sure who we are cheating, ourselves or GOD ?

[Eastern Mind]

Vannakkm AMIHindu: That isn't true at the temple I go to, but some of the ones in this city are like that. I think there is a basic lack of knowledge of the significance of dates. Its actually important! I think a lot has to do with temple size and who is running it.

But better on the nearest Sunday than not at all, I suppose.

Some of the smaller temples are only open one day a week. Some of it has to do with everyone, including pundits, and priests, being volunteers. This makes it harder too follow.

Aum Namasivaya

[sanjaya]

I'm guessing you live in the states, right? I think the situation in India is somewhat different. My dad always tells me about how he used to go with his friends to the temples in the evening after they finished their homework. Here in the States, the weekends were initially envisioned as religious holidays. Saturday was for the Jewish sabbath, and Sunday for the Christian day of the Lord. As Hindus migrate to non-Hindu communities, we have to work within the confines of the system that already exists. So it makes some sense to have weekend activities at the temple.

For me the situation is somewhat different. My university is in the middle of nowhere, and there isn't a convenient Hindu temple nearby. But when I visit my parents (where I also plan to live after graduate school), I do indeed go to the local temple at any reasonable time that they have services. If only to get prasadam for the rest of my family (my mom and brother are basically athiests who just abide by Hindu restrictions to keep my dad and me happy).

Every culture has a way of separating the sacred from the profane. I think that this process simply needs to be better applied amongst us Indian Americans.

[shantiseeker]

I hear what you are saying. I agree with EM that some of this can have to do with size and finances, if it's a temple in the West for example. I'm in the US, and there is a large temple near me which is in fact, open every day. But it was built by financial contributions from its members and clearly has ample financial support. Here in the US, much of things are centered around "convenience". Certain generic national holidays are celebrated on Mondays instead of the actual date, all to give a "3 day weekend" to the Monday-Friday work set. Plenty of people have jobs that require weekend hours. The recognition of the significance of the holiday is lost. Only certain religious holidays like Christmas are still on the actual day, but then half of everyone wants the "next" weekday day off for "convenience", and it's not because people are focusing on the religious aspect. And Christmas is also rather a commercial venture here too-another whole thing in itself.

[Eastern Mind]

Vannakkam: The unintentional yet Kali Yuga flow of restructuring core values away from religion and arts etc, into materialism and selfishness hasn't helped. There was a time not so long ago, here in the west when everybody took Sundays off, and people in general didn't work so hard. I think that's true for the planet. When the mass consciousness focus is on selfish things like economic growth and competition, religion gets left behind in the dust.

The solutions for the individual is to bite the dust, and join the group, or to rebel, and volunteer at that temple 3 nights a week for an hour just to keep the place open for drop-in worshippers. Soon there will be others joining you.

Aum Namasivaya