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Thread: No "God bless you" to the elder than me?

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    No "God bless you" to the elder than me?

    Namaste all.
    Someone told me that in Hinduism the phrase "God bless you" is given as a blessing by an elder to an younger always.He told me that vaishnavism vaishnavism does not agree with such superiority of age in the light of knowledge.
    That person said that he is trusting that I am not telling this to non vaishnavites who are elder than me.
    Is this rule mentionated in the shastra?
    Regards,
    Orlando.

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    Re: No "God bless you" to the elder than me?

    Namaste all.
    Please could someone reply to my post.
    Is true that I should never say "May God bless you" to a hindu older than me?
    Thanks and regards,
    Orlando.

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    Re: No "God bless you" to the elder than me?

    Bhadram te Orlando

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    Re: No "God bless you" to the elder than me?

    Quote Originally Posted by Bhakta of God
    Is true that I should never say "May God bless you" to a hindu older than me?
    Don't know about shastras but in our culture elders have great respect. One generally touches the feet of elder relative on meeting them. We don't bless elders but elders bless us. This is a social norm.

    Ofcourse if you are a sadhu there is no age rule. But if you are not, then you should not say "God bless you" to an elder, rather ask for his/her blessing.

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    Post Re: No "God bless you" to the elder than me?

    May GOD bless you !

    Bhadram is prosperity or good fortune or good luck ~ i.e. God's blessing.

    How can it be wrong for one person to wish that God would bestow good fortune on another person (whatever their relation) ?

    Were the Rishis in error when they praised Vyasa as the best of their class with bhadraM te, in the Bhagavatapurana ?

    sUta jAnAsi bhadraM te bhagavAnsAtvatAM patiH devakyAM vasudevasya jAto yasya cikIrsayA.

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    Re: No "God bless you" to the elder than me?

    Quote Originally Posted by sm78
    Don't know about shastras but in our culture elders have great respect. One generally touches the feet of elder relative on meeting them. We don't bless elders but elders bless us. This is a social norm.

    Ofcourse if you are a sadhu there is no age rule. But if you are not, then you should not say "God bless you" to an elder, rather ask for his/her blessing.
    Probably more of a cultural affair than a religeous one. It is not considered polite to say "May God bless you" to an elder in the Hindu circles, though I have seen non Hindus use that. My elder relatives would probably consider it offensive too.

    When a Christian says "God bless you" he usually means "let the good news be beleieved by you".
    Guard your Dharma, Burn the Myth, Promote the Truth, Crush the superstition.

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    Post Re: No "God bless you" to the elder than me?

    Namaste Sudarshan,

    In strict Brahmana circles, any language other than Sanskrit is considered offensive!

    Bhadram te is the Sanskrit equivalent of God bless you; so, if God bless you may offend in some Hindu circles, then Bhadram te should be equally offensive; and so, how could the senior Vyasa ever have been praised in this way by his juniors without causing offence??

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    Re: No "God bless you" to the elder than me?

    Quote Originally Posted by sarabhanga
    Namaste Sudarshan,

    In strict Brahmana circles, any language other than Sanskrit is considered offensive!

    Bhadram te is the Sanskrit equivalent of God bless you; so, if God bless you may offend in some Hindu circles, then Bhadram te should be equally offensive; and so, how could the senior Vyasa ever have been praised in this way by his juniors without causing offence??
    Vyasadeva is a God realized soul and perhaps has no one to bless him. He also sees equality everywhere. That is not the same with other people. Unless one is a saint it is not usually considered orthodox to bless elders in anyway. Age is not the criterion though...age remains the standard criterion world wise. If your dad or guru is not objecting it is not a problem to bless him. However, if he does not like better not do it.

    If your tradition and culture allow it, it shoud'nt be an issue.
    Guard your Dharma, Burn the Myth, Promote the Truth, Crush the superstition.

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    Re: No "God bless you" to the elder than me?

    A Tamil saying popularised by the DMK and ADMK reads:

    vAzhttha vayadillai, vanungukirom - We are not of age to greet you, so we bow to you.

    This is typically used in political posters by the party functionaries to greet their leaders on their birthdays!

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    Post Re: No "God bless you" to the elder than me?

    Bhadram is prosperity or good fortune or good luck ~ i.e. God's blessing.

    How can it be wrong for one person to wish that God would bestow good fortune on another person (whatever their relation)?
    The phrase “may God bless you” does not imply that the speaker is intending to personally bless anyone ~ only trusting that the Gods will grace the other person with their (i.e. the Gods’) own blessings!

    I suppose that by saying “good luck” to an elder it implies that the younger thinks the older (and presumably wiser) one actually requires additional luck to succeed, which would certainly be presumptuous. But it really must depend on the context and the preferences of the elder in question.

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