The question asked was what is the significance of wearing a tilak( a mark worn on the forehead) and why are there different types of it?
Om Swami says that he was initiated by his guru Naga baba, and at that time it was the norm to smear three horizontal lines on the forehead made of sandalwood paste with the red vermilion dot in the centre. During those days, he was busy handling many things and the process of grinding sandalwood to make the white paste took time. Further, when smeared on the forehead the powder used to keep falling into the eyes. Om Swami says that he then felt that it was not necessary to do it that way as it represented only a symbol. But since his guru had instructed him that he should not have a barren forehead in front of the society, he started to mark his forehead with a smaller dot of sandalwood paste and vermilion powder. He says, any mark worn is a symbol to remind a person of their commitments in life. For example, many married women in India wear vermilion powder in the parting of their hair to show that they are married and committed. He says that wearing this symbol, for him, is also his way of showing gratefulness to Sri Hari and Ma Tripurasundari, the masculine and the feminine energy who have given him his saffron robes and their vision countless times. The white dot represents Sri Hari and the red dot mother Divine. He says, that the whole universe is there only due to the masculine and the feminine energy coming together and this is his way of respecting both forms of energy equally.
Om Swami says that all religions without exceptions have symbols or some such thing that they follow. Initially, the marks or symbols even like turbans etc were worn or kept so that the differences between the different sects were visible to all and they could be identified on those basis.
He says, later there comes a time when one starts to love these symbols. Thereafter, these symbols may not carry any meaning and people also may not give it much thought or importance. They just do it because they start to love it and they wear it according to the sect they belong to.
Listen to the full discourse to get deeper insights into this topic.
Timeline:
00:00-start
00:18-the reason for him wearing the symbols on his forehead
02:55-why are different kinds of symbols worn by different sects
04:20-what was the reason for wearing turbans or covering of heads
BREATHE / SMILE / MEDITATE/ LET GO
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