Different Sides

Anandchitra,

This is one of things that bugs me as well...the reason given from the higher beings of the temple (and confirmed by my dad as he is an actively devoted member) is that if the men and women sit together, there is a tendency for your mind/thinking to be in the wrong place (there is an energy that our minds and bodies radiate when both genders are together, as per them, that is not appropriate for the temple). And more than that, the people who have taken "diksha" will be tempted to return back to the "sansarik Jivan" when they see other "sansarik" devotees (married couples) together. The feeling that they don't want the "sants" to have is "vikaar" meaning lust. I know I am not doing a very good job explaining this.

I have a lot of questions and comments once I heard this but knowing how sensitive people get on this, I have left it alone.

Vib

 

Dear Anandchithra,

I had never thought about this why do they seperate and all but whenever we go to a temple in our lclty there the same way men and women are seperated. though my hands will be together raised and my mouth uttering slokas and prayers my eye will be always on my husband :spinnot bcos of suspiscion that he may have a glance over other women but bcos i shouldnt miss him or he shouldnt utilise this opportunity:biggrin2: to miss me in the crowd since im new (1 year of stay) to this place and dnt know the way to home.

that makes me worried always.

regards
vidyasundar

 

hey ac...
I have often seen this in temples and at bhajans and meetings....have wondered...but this angle is new to me.mg:...when in muscat, we used to go for picnics and all...some of our friends were muslims...they typically tend to sit aside as men folk and women folk... where in i would like to enjoy the banter as a single group.....

 

Dear AC,

This happens... We follow some of the traditions without knowing the real reaons... Which includes me also...

The reasons, which I can think of is:

Those days, husband and wife dont sit together. Females dont sit next to a male... Even today, my grand mother (mother's mom) will not stand in the same room and talk to my father... There will always be a messenger...

Secondly, the people can concentrate on the bhajan or the pooja rather than being distracted...

I couldnt think of any other reason... There may be some...

 

Dear AC,

at the end of any religious rituals, the person (grihasthu) offering the puja is asked / expected to feed a certain number of brahmins to get the puja phalam ( the benfits of doing the ritual). In the olden days the brahmins used to be recognised by their attire and the kum kum / vibhuthi namas on the fore head. But in modern times only the priests still follow the traditional attire and that too only when they are conducting the rituals and the rest (brahmins) are undistinguishable from the rest(non brahmins).

Udipi temples being famous for their annadanam rituals may be makes the lives of the devotees easier who wish to feed certain number of brahmins by offering those seperate feeding arrangements for the brahmins??

The seperation of the sexes while attending temple festivities / Rituals might have been to control rowdy behaviour by few even when in a place of worship. Since all the religious rituals require married men to be accompanied by their wives while doing the puja, accepting blessings/prasadam Or offering tambulam to the priest. We even have a specific side the wife should be sitting next to husband (is to his left or right ?? i can never get that right)

Personally we always sit as a family, ask our guests to approach the deities as a family and do aarathi to the deity as a family.

Now during parties the men flock together and the women flock together for obvious reasons( men talk politics and women talk clothes/jewellery ) and may be they involuntarily do the same when they see a lot of their own kind??