1) Nine Beliefs of Hinduism
Our beliefs determine our thoughts and attitudes about
life, which in turn direct our actions. By our actions, we create our destiny.
Beliefs about sacred matters--God, soul and cosmos--are essential to one's
approach to life. Hindus believe many diverse things, but there are a few
bedrock concepts on which most Hindus concur. The following nine beliefs,
though not exhaustive, offer a simple summary of Hindu spirituality.
1. Hindus believe in a one, all-pervasive Supreme Being who is both immanent
and transcendent, both Creator and Unmanifest Reality.
2. Hindus believe in the divinity of the four Vedas, the world's most ancient
scripture, and venerate the Agamas as equally revealed. These primordial hymns
are God's word and the bedrock of Sanatana Dharma, the eternal religion.
3. Hindus believe that the universe undergoes endless cycles of creation,
preservation and dissolution.
4. Hindus believe in karma, the law of cause and effect by which each
individual creates his own destiny by his thoughts, words and deeds.
5. Hindus believe that the soul reincarnates, evolving through many births
until all karmas have been resolved, and moksha, liberation from the cycle of
rebirth, is attained. Not a single soul will be deprived of this destiny.
6. Hindus believe that divine beings exist in unseen worlds and that temple
worship, rituals, sacraments and personal devotionals create a communion with
these devas and Gods.
7. Hindus believe that an enlightened master, or satguru, is essential to know
the Transcendent Absolute, as are personal discipline, good conduct, purification,
pilgrimage, self-inquiry, meditation and surrender in God.
8. Hindus believe that all life is sacred, to be loved and revered, and
therefore practice ahimsa, noninjury, in thought, word and deed.
9. Hindus believe that no religion teaches the only way to salvation above all
others, but that all genuine paths are facets of God's Light, deserving
tolerance and understanding.
Hinduism, the world's oldest religion, has no
beginning--it precedes recorded history. It has no human founder. It is a
mystical religion, leading the devotee to personally experience the Truth
within, finally reaching the pinnacle of consciousness where man and God are
one. Hinduism has four main denominations--Saivism, Shaktism, Vaishnavism and
Smartism.
2) How to Cook for God
Kamika Agama offers its best recipes for preparing temple
naivedyam
The following is a lucid translation of passages from the
Kamika Agama, chapter 6, verses 30 through 59, explaining the preparation of
food offerings. The scriptural recipes, arguably the oldest recipes known to
man, will be instantly familiar to anyone conversant with South Indian cooking.
THE SADHAKA SHOULD FILL
A WATER-VESSEL WITH CLEAN, FILTERED WATER. With a purified vessel, he should
wash the rice while reciting the hridaya mantra. Having washed the rice
six times, he should squeeze the grains repeatedly and once again wash them
while reciting six anga mantras. He should then pour the grains into the
clean water of the cooking vessel, knowing the exact quantity of water as
guided by experience and through reasoning; or using one and a half times the
measure of the grains. He should reverently bind darbha grass around the neck
of the vessel.
The interior ground of the kitchen should be smeared with
cow dung and sprinkled with consecrated water. With offerings of rice and the
recitation of the hridaya mantra, the sadhaka should worship the hearth, which
has two projections at its top, representing dharma and adharma. While lifting
the firewood and reciting the vamadeva mantra, he should place the wood
inside the hearth, reciting the hridaya mantra. After igniting the fire while
reciting the aghora mantra, the sadhaka should kindle the fire with the
recital of ashtra mantra. He should not use woods that are damaged by
insects or spoiled by sparks of fire. Food which is burnt, over-boiled, cold,
impaired by hair or insects or which is old and stale should be abandoned.
To prepare sweet rice, milk measured to twice the measure
of rice, along with mung beans equal to half the measure of rice, should be
boiled well. This dish is known as payasa (from payas, the mung
bean).
Now, the details about gulanna (rice cooked with
molasses). Having prepared the payasa as done before, the sadhaka should add
the pieces of molasses at one part to four, then add ghee, which measure may be
half or a quarter the measure of molasses. These should be cooked well and pieces
of banana added. Sesame with a measure equal to half the measure of rice should
be ground and added. If not available, half or quarter of this measure may be
taken. The cooked rice mixed with sesame is called krusaranna (sesame
rice).
Cooked rice mixed with powdered mung beans measuring half
or a quarter of the rice is called mudganna. Or, all of these varieties
of mixtures may be prepared according to the availability of needed
ingredients. Pepper, turmeric powder, cumin seeds and mustard should be mixed
well and cooked, then added to the cooked rice. This dish is known as haridranna.
The details about the main offerings have been shared.
Now I will speak about the appetizing condiments and seasoned dishes. Mung
beans, other legumes, mung beans and rajam (a kind of lentil) should be
winnowed well and cleared of pods and broken or empty grains. Rajam and other
lentils can be used with or without the skins. Pumpkin, gourd, jackfruit,
bottle gourd, kalinga gourd, wild eggplant, cucumber and karkari
(a type of eggplant) can be taken with or without the covering skins. Banana, karakhi
(asafoetida), vyaghri (another type of eggplant), mango, melon, roots,
bulbous roots and other edible roots are the recommended substances to be used
for the preparation of appetizing dishes. For one measure of cooked rice, there
should be one fourth measure of such other dishes.
All varieties of seasoned dishes should be fresh and
pure, cooked well, free from all defects and should include ghee. They should
be well mixed with ground coconut and other dry fruits and should be seasoned
with pepper, cumin seeds and other spices. Such seasoned dishes are highly
valued as the offerings of naivedya. They should have sufficient salt and ghee,
and be seasoned with tamarind juice, pepper and other spices.
The measure of pepper should be 3 parts out of 4 parts of
salt; that of clarified butter, twice the measure of pepper. The pounded beans
should be one part of 16, or one part out of 32 parts the measure of rice.
Pepper and other spices mixed into the form of paste, such as that of mustard
and other juicy items, should be added to the dishes and boiled well.
Some of these dishes may be mixed with pieces of
well-dressed sweet cakes. Having kneaded the powder of bean and pepper, the
sadhaka should mix them with the dishes, slowly churn the mixture to make it
soft, and cook it over mild fire. After adding sufficient molasses and pieces
of juicy fruits, he should boil the soup. He may prepare many varieties of
soups through different processes with suitable ingredients. Varieties of soups
prepared in this way should be offered along with the pure, cooked rice.
Then the sadhaka should take the well-boiled dishes from
the hearth with the accompaniment of the sounding conch and with the displays
of honor, such as the parasol, light and others. He should arrange them over
ground which has been smeared with cow-dung and decorated with five kinds of
powder. He should drip warm ghee over the dishes with the recital of Siva
mantras and then drip normal ghee with the recital of anga mantras and
offer the oblations of ghee three times. He should purify the vessels and smear
over them three stripes of vibhuti mixed with water.
DR. S. P. SABHARATHNAM SIVACHARYAR, of the Adi Saiva
priest lineage, is an expert in ancient Tamil and Sanskrit, specializing in the
Vedas, Agamas and Shilpa Shastras. This excerpt is from his recent translation
of the Kamika Agama.
Om Tat Sat
(My humble salutations to Sadguru Sri Sivaya Subramuniyaswami ji,
Satguru Bodhianatha Velayanswami ji, and Sri S P Sabharathnam Sivacharyar for the collection)
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