இலண்டன் சைவ மாநாடு (சிறப்புமலர்)

7வது சைவ மாநாடு இலண்டன் 2004 Saivaism - who has the answers? Saravanan Anandathiyagar Religious Secretary Saiva Munnetta Sangam (U.K.) When initially asked to write this piece I accepted without much hesitation, with the vague notion of writing something about Saivaism and its place in our contemporary society. As I sit and write now, I am still confident that my words will indeed follow in that direction; however actually pinning myself down to one specific topic is proving to be very difficult. Being 23 years old I, like many others, have experienced (and still experiencing) conflicting issues in everyday life. On the one hand, we face the temptations and opportunities offered by growing up in a modern, profligate western society. On the other, we are also influenced by the wishes and traditions that the elder generation are trying so hard to uphold. It is the balance of these two facets that shape us as the first generation of Saiva Tamils born in the U.K. It is exactly this that is the root cause of continual debate within our community. I have been a student and supporter of Saiva Munnetta Sangam (U.K.)'s activities since my young age. SMS is a charity set up to provide Saiva services to the community. In most cases, the way of life led by people in Sri Lanka and India gave them a continual, slow-burning exposure to Saivaism. Our surroundings here are vastly different, and SMS was set up to recreate some of those influences and activities in the U.K., with the objective of sustaining and expanding the understanding of Saivaism in this country. In recent times, its focus has especially fallen on the younger members of the community. Our objective is to encourage them to find out more about our culture and religion, thus perhaps shifting the balance of influence mentioned above towards the ideals supported by our parents. We believe it is important to give children and young adults the opportunity to learn more, rather than forcing it upon them. This often proves to be a difficult task. Raising the level of interest and support for our work is usually undermined by three factors: a complete lack of desire and commitment on the part of students, little positive encouragement from parents, and our activities being interpreted as boring, pointless and antiquated. However, I believe these problems can be slowly resolved, and we are starting to see some progress being made. Activities like our regular Yoga sessions that take place in our purpose-built Yoga and Meditation Hall have been tremendous successes across all sections of the community. Furthermore, a weekly class was initiated for students who wanted the opportunity to ask the questions they want answering. The response has been dramatic. It is some of the thoughts and issues raised at these classes that I wish to mention here. Children are Inquisitive I think it is the attitude of many parents to simply say that their children are not interested in religion and culture. In some cases they may be accurate but I think, in others, the parents show a distinct lack of understanding. Young children are naturally inquisitive of everything they see, hear, touch and experience. Furthermore, this curiosity and "question everything" attitude is actively encouraged in western societies a fundamental difference between 'here and there' not often fully appreciated. However, their thirst to know about everything will soon diminish- primarily due to adolescence, where their attitude can flip to caring about absolutely nothing but also due to their questions being continually muted, answered unsatisfactorily, or simple ignored. Our western upbringing teaches us to accept nothing at face value. It encourages us to lead the life we want to 152