Tuesday, November 20, 2012

TEXAS FAITH 88: Why do we say grace over a meal, including at Thanksgiving?


Dallas Morning News,
Each week we will post a question to a panel of about two dozen clergy, laity and theologians, all of whom are based in Texas or are from Texas. They will chime in with their responses to the question of the week. And you, readers, will be able to respond to their answers through the comment box.

We are only two days away from Thanksgiving, when many of us will join others for a wonderful meal around a table. Presumably, many will say thanks and offer a prayer.

The writer Anne Lamott offered her observations about saying grace in this Parade article. The piece is based upon her new book, Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers.

Here’s one quote from her Parade essay that struck me as realistic and pertinent:

“We’ve all been held hostage by grace sayers who use the opportunity to work the room, like the Church Lady. But more often, people simply say thank you — we understand how far short we must fall, how selfish we can be, how-self-righteous, what brats. And yet God has given us this marvelous meal.”

She has her take on saying thanks, which I rather like. But why do we say grace over a meal, including a traditional one like the Thanksgiving dinner?

NITYANANDA CHANDRA DAS, minister of ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness), Dallas 

What I practice is often called the kitchen religion.  For example, last Sunday our temple held a festival wherein we had a 1000+ preparation feast.  Sacred food is part of our every day life, for spirituality should not be a once a week event but rather 24/7.  

How can we do this practically? Everyone has to eat, and food is produced by the mercy of God.  We cannot eat nuts and bolts from factories.  So out of respect, food should be first cooked and offered to God.  This offering is not simply an affair of respect.  Cooking for someone is a natural way to express love.  So in the intermediate stages such an offering may be out of respect, but in the advanced stage it is out of love. 

Love means that acts are done selflessly for the other person's benefit.  Sacred literature proclaims that one can offer pure foods - vegetarian food - to God and He will accept if it cooked and offered with love.  That is what called a karma free diet: no one is harmed, and even the soul in the vegetables that are offered are benefited.  Such food is called prasadam.

One is example is that of a wife who eagerly awaits for her husband to return from war.  On the day of his return, she goes to the grocery store buying ingredients for the food that she thinks that he would like.  She then cooks that food and lovingly serves him when arrives at home.  So her shopping and cooking and serving are all being done with the meditation pleasing her husband.  So similarly one can shop, cook and offer food to God with loving feelings.  Therefore not only moment of saying grace is sacred but the entire endeavor down to the trip to the grocery store becomes a spiritual meditation.  By offering vegetarian food not only is the turkey thankful but even God Himself is pleased to see that we are following His commandment of Thou shalt not kill.

 

To see all responses of the TEXAS Faith panel click here.

Sunday, November 11, 2012

TEXAS FAITH 87: After the election, how do we become one?


Dallas Morning News,
Each week we will post a question to a panel of about two dozen clergy, laity and theologians, all of whom are based in Texas or are from Texas. They will chime in with their responses to the question of the week. And you, readers, will be able to respond to their answers through the comment box.

By the time this answer gets posted, Election Day will have arrived. The presidential campaigns will have made their closing arguments. Supporters will have advocated for their candidate. And, if polls are any guide, Americans will be pretty evenly divided.

So, barring another Florida, America will wake up Wednesday with one side joyously happy and another bitterly disappointed. Or, that’s how core supporters of Barack Obama and Mitt Romney will feel. The losing side will be tempted to demonize those who voted for the winner. And the winner’s supporters will be tempted to gloat about the victory.

Neither response will help the country move forward as one. Neither response will help us move beyond the politics of division. And neither will help us realize that we really function best as a country when we balance individuality with community.

With that in mind, here’s the question for this week:

“What is the message that different faith traditions can send about the importance of being one?”

NITYANANDA CHANDRA DAS, minister of ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness), Dallas 

Everyone speaks about some so-called brotherhood, but generally there is no mention of the father. Unless we can recognize the supreme fatherhood of God, we will never realize any sort of brotherhood or unity. As long as people speak in terms of ‘my’ God and ‘your’ God or ‘there is no God’ there will be no factual brotherhood whatsoever.

In the United Nations, for instance, all the nations have their particular national ambitions, and consequently they cannot be united.

In a Krishna Conscious, or God Conscious, society, individuals have the mutual goal of giving pleasure to the Supreme Father. The ripples caused by stones thrown in a pool at one point do not interfere with other ripples. Rather, they create strength.

Similarly, the God Conscious help each other rather than compete. A true leader protects all prajas (those born in his kingdom) - not just the Caucasians or African Americans, but all creatures - from injustice. Thus there is the most often ignored commandment, thou shalt not kill.

In regard to oneness, advaita, in theism the Vedas exclaim unity in diversity. Hence the oneness of God must not overshadow His diversity. God is in everything but God is not so impotent that He loses His own individual existence. Just as the sunlight spreads everywhere but the Sun planet continues to exist.

To see all responses of the TEXAS Faith panel click here.

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

TEXAS FAITH 86: Do we thirst too much for political leaders?


Dallas Morning News,
Each week we will post a question to a panel of about two dozen clergy, laity and theologians, all of whom are based in Texas or are from Texas. They will chime in with their responses to the question of the week. And you, readers, will be able to respond to their answers through the comment box.

“I have spent the last several days in Colorado, interviewing voters in that very swing state. If predictions hold up, we are down to only a handful of states that matter now to each campaign.

Last week, both Mitt Romney and Barack Obama campaigned in Denver. Romney drew 10,000 people at Red Rocks Amphitheater. Obama drew 16,000 in City Park.

By all reports, the crowds were enthusiastic. If you like politics, this is when campaigns turn fun and bubble over with energy.

But as this campaign draws to an end after more than a year of rallies, debates, speeches, ads and strategy sessions, I have also been thinking of something else:

Do we thirst too much for a leader?

I love our democracy as much as the next person. And I really like the thrill of a campaign. But it has been 10 months and many dollars since New
Hampshire and we still haven’t selected the next president. At moments during this marathon, it has felt like we spend too much time and energy searching for a leader, almost like a people who want a king to come fix their problems for them.

What do you think? Is this just democracy-in-action? Or are we too hungry for a leader?”

NITYANANDA CHANDRA DAS, minister of ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness), Dallas 

I do not have much faith in our democracy. We do not know what is an ideal leader, so our enthusiasm is misplaced. One proper leader is far better than hundreds of ministerial puppets put into a position in an X Factor-like fashion. A proper leader is toned by training and responsibility, rather being swayed to win the popularity contest.

The working class are like the legs of the social body, the business class the stomach, the political leaders the arms which protect. The best political systems are when the leader takes guidance from morally upstanding spiritual philosophers who are unconcerned with financial gain. Such philosophers are the head of the social body.

To see all responses of the TEXAS Faith panel click here.