Love Marriage or Arranged Marriage

Both Love Marriage and Arranged Marriage have their own pros and cons.

In India arranged marriages are part of the Hindu tradition and also culture. But, we cannot say love marriages are banned or looked down in Hindus. Marriage of Krishna and Rukmini was a love marriage. Marriage of dushyanta and shakuntala was a love marriage - our country got the name Bharat from their son!

We had many different types of marriages and all were accepted by the society. Love marriage was also called as "Gandharva Vivaha". Also, there was swayamvara - this also is not considered as arranged marriage. But, all these were mainly practiced by kings and their families.

Today, girls are also getting formal education just like boys. After that they are also seeking a career and go out to work. So, chances of boys meeting girls is more today than ever before. So, it is very natural for a boy to get attracted to a girl and vice-versa. This is leading to more love marriages now-a-days.

The main problem that comes in the ways of love marriage is the caste and family tradition. Slowly the society is starting to accept inter-caste marriages and that would reduce the caste-ism, untouchability, etc, which are plaguing Hindu society for more than a century. I see this as a positive outcome of love marriage. But, the biggest problem with love marriage is the love itself. The boy and girl would have got attracted to each other and this they think as love. This attractions blinds their mind and they forget the ground realities. So, chances of them committing mistake and repent later is more. But, realizing the mistake later is going to cost the life itself. Girls are more emotional and they goto the extreme step of taking out the life itself in the end!

India's foremost contribution to the world is "Family System". Marriage is a very important aspect of this system. The young couple should realize this. Marriage is not just about a girl and boy coming together; It is about building a family.

So, whether it is a arranged marriage or a love marriage, the most important thing is how they live after the marriage; how is their family life? Living together in a family for life-long needs lot of sacrifice - both husband and wife have to sacrifice lot of things. The foremost thing that they need to sacrifice is their ego. If this is not done, whatever kind of marriage it doesn't matter - they will fail.

When we talk about love marriages, people immediately draw our attention to the fact that many of them lead to divorce. But, I have witnessed many love marriages (in-fact most of the marriages happening today are all love marriages) and majority of them are leading a good life. Also, I have witnessed failed arranged marriages. So, given this background, the conclusion that I make is that, it doesn't matter what kind of marriage is yours - the only thing matters is, how is your life after that.