இலண்டன் சைவ மாநாடு (சிறப்புமலர்)

7வது 6061 மாநாடு what they ask the children to practise; within limits, of course. Children must see for themselves, due benefits in prayers, the purposes of receiving religious education, no ambiguities in rituals imposed on them, and so on. To this extent, Saivite education and training should start in the home, with the mothers perhaps playing a major role, conscientiously supported by their fathers. In this task, the parents have to receive due share of encouragement from schools and temples. Schools should provide properly trained, knowledgeable, proficient teachers and simple, lucid and thoroughly researched text books. Temples which engage paid or voluntary teachers must ensure that the teachers are of the correct calibre, training and temperament. Males in charge of female pupils must firstly be thoroughly vetted. Ideally, those who teach religion should be seen as potential candidates to be priests. In the context of Europe, Asian languages like Tamil being secondary languages, care must be taken to educating the children primarily in the local languages of the lands. But it mustn't also be forgotten that Tamil and Saivism are closely linked, historically. Hence, at least for Tamil children, Tamil must also be taught. For classes located in temples, there must be well worked out time-tables which should not be impaired by prolonged and boring poojas, etc., so as to sustain the interests of the pupils. A good teacher will use his sense of humour, theatrical devices, artwork, audio-visuals, etc., to make his lessons interesting and fruitful. Practical work could include stringing of garlands, voluntary cleaning of temple premises, etc. Special facilities would be useful for children in temples, and they must be encouraged to use their personal initiatives. [Most of the above views on Saivite education and training of children at school were gathered at a Seminar in 2003 that chaired at the Lewisham Sivan Temple as part of the Sixth International Saiva Conference. Messrs Anantha Thiyagar, Atputhaananthan, K. Jegatheeswaran, K. Rajamanoharan, M.T. Selvarajah, S. Karunalingam, C.N. Paramasivam, M.R. Ranganathan, V.R. Ramanathan, C. Sithamparappillai, Ahil, Thandapaani Othuvaar, Mrs. Vijaya Thiraviyarajah, Mrs. Gnanambikai Veemarajah, and N. Satchithananthan spoke. I have இலண்டன் 2004 summarised them above, with some of my owr ideas. But the opinions in the rest of this article are my personal views, and if anyone finds any of them unclear or unacceptable, I take full responsibility for those views.] Is There Really A Heaven? Where? And What About the Concept of Rebirth? The concept of heaven is a part of the mythology of almost all religions including our oldest, Saivism-cum-Hinduism-where one is said to reach heaven when one comes to the end of one's cycle of birth, and merges with the Almighty at His feet. In terms of modern science however. this theory seems to be unsustainable, unless we do consider matter changing from one form into another, cloning, etc., to constitute rebirths. Also rebirths become meaningless since no one is able to know exactly what he or she was, in previous births. Also, the reasons for the rebirths (sins committed, slips made) are not known and understood, for future use. Heaven too seems to be confused concept since questions could be raised, which have no answers. E.g., Is there only one heaven where all the souls go to, when they die (i.e. if they deserve it) where one can meet the older generations who died centuries ago? It will be more pragmatic and practically useful to consider one's heaven or hell in this very world, realized or reached as per what each person does, learns, experiences, and so on, earlier on in this life. Maybe one's heaven is really in one's mind! More research is needed on these aspects. a 148 Duties and Responsibilities of the Several Saiva Temples in Cities Like London Why are there so many temples today, in places like London? Why are they competing against one another? Why are there constant quarrels in certain Management Trusts? How are the temples performing their intended purposes? How can they be improved? These are some typical, topical questions of Saivite devotees in the United Kingdom. Let us try to answer the important ones objectively, independently, in general terms.