FESTIVALS WHY DO WE OBSERVE THEM
Let me make it very clear at the outset
I am just placing my observations not judgments or criticisms.
1] First we need to be clear whether we
want to celebrate festivals purely as social entertainments and/or as social entertainments
rationalized and justified by religious, traditional, cultural or some other
ethnocentric vindication. If this is the case then we can celebrate
anything on any day.
2] If we are running a commercial
enterprise selling some items then we can always discover and assign some
significance which has an appealing USP and could be easily marketed.
3] This is where this AADI or AUDI
month significance comes in where in the women folk want a long holiday from
sex and also engage in nostalgic reunion with their parents. It is fine and
there is nothing wrong in that but why to cut off so many healthy Neem tree
branches and make life very noisy in and around all Amman Temples
4] If they are based on some
astronomical phenomenon or astrological significance or astrophysical factors
then we need to be very seriously working on all these factors to perfection.
5] As everything in nature these too
have undergone a sea change and also we as human beings have discovered
scientifically some hitherto unknown facts or unraveled mysteries. These are
the inevitable positive elements of growth based on observation, enquiry,
exploration etc.
6] We all know that the earth’s
magnetic pole reversals though it is neither a daily nor a frequent occurrence
but a gradual variations, though
probably minuscule but can have their own impacts refer http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/2012-poleReversal.html
and http://www.naturalnews.com/030996_bird_deaths_pole_shift.html
7] In
the recently conducted Space Festival
jointly conducted by NASA, ISRO, DRDO, TATA
ATOMIC RESEARCH CENTER etc at
Coimbatore which attended along with my
daughter last week, we attended two interesting and informative lectures by
scientists from NASA as to a] Why we spend so much of money and time on Space
Travels and space research and b] The Sun and us wherein he gave they spoke
about the impact and importance of
changes in Solar magnetic fields every 11 years causing cycles of
extreme drought and floods . In fact this as well as greater number of air
accidents have been observed , attributed and
documented with astrological justifications to the Jupiter’s
transition to a particular Zodiac sign .
8] In
fact, our traditional knowledge of astrology is something much deeper and more
reasonable than traditionally promoted rituals where the importance is more
towards marketing and maintaining priesthood as a profession. This may be a bit
harsh but inevitable survival fact, otherwise how else can anyone explain all
of a sudden one particular year Jayendra Saraswathi swamy says that if women
wear green colored dress that year they will be prosperous and the green sarees
and churidhars sold in that year outnumbered
the total of the same two dresses
of all other colors put together.
9] This
is why the celebration of Shankaranthi is important and excellent and there is
nothing religious about it
10]
Everything done with complete seriousness and sincerity with the rider that all
the concomitant factors both internal
and external are also in tune then the desired impact can or may be expected as
per the situation, context or circumstance otherwise any festival is just a
celebration of some local tradition , ritual etc without any sound reason and
therefore likely to fade in its importance as it has happened with our poonal
and its associated activities. Former
director of cotton research
institute and internationally renowned
entomologist [ not a brahmin] once
explained how great and good is
just wearing the poonal made of a particular
cotton with a small piece of dead
deer skin held tightly near the heart and ashes made of burnt cow dung and some
other materials applied as vibhuthi and standing in the sunlight at dawn and
dusk, these as they are without any dilution in the process or quality of any
of these along with serene and unpolluted atmosphere accompanied by calmed mind. Are all these
possible then , naturally you will not get proper result , it is like preparing
veg biriyani without onion and garlic , it can at best be rice mixed with some
vegetable you cannot call it veg biriyani. Besides the very important and
interesting aspect of Sanathana Dharma [otherwise labeled as Hinduism] is the
higher level of freedom and priority given to individual importance rather than
collective folly.
11] Let us not
blindly follow anyone or any authority however great or good it may be because
that would be doing a disservice to
Sanathana Dharma instead let us these in
whatever we do . There must
be intrinsically important value addition to either the physical body like yoga
and many other rituals.
Intrinsic value for the human mind like the philosophical and esoteric
concepts available
aplenty in VEDAS, UPANISHEDS, BHAGAWATH GEETHA etc some of the most popular and
known text there are many more in HINDUISM, there must be intrinsic value
addition to the spiritual aspect of the human being especially its soul and the
many methods to realize and relink it
,i.e.relink the ATMA with the PARAMATMA [ in fact this is what the meaning of
the word RELIGION itself etymologically, it is from the LATIN ‘re+ligere’
, where're' as a prefix
always means ‘again’ as in redo ,return, re pair etc
and 'ligère' means 'to link'] through multiple means depending on the level of
perception, inspiration, inclination, impulse, interest and/or capabilities,
conviction and so on.
Sanathana dharma as
it is a science evolved through experiences of observations made with total
intensity and intense totality by many souls it has taken into account the
various frequencies at which the same thing can appeal, appear or perceived
differently by different people. So it has incorporated the various methods
like Manthras, Bhakthi[ manifested in various ways like songs, dances ,pujas
etc] philosophical enquiry, doubting the scriptures and even denouncing the
scripture or even atheistic approaches to enlighten the soul and spirit. So
there are multiple forms of worships and multiple gods because all souls are
not alike nor can they be assumed or treated to be alike but every soul has a
right to make its spiritual journey the way it wants [It is not often our
perception but the scale of observation and frames of reference which creates
the phenomenon. The scale of observation depends on man; it is he who creates
it. In nature, different scales of observation do not exist. There is only one
immense, harmonious phenomenon on a scale which, in general, escapes man. The
structure of man's brain necessitates dividing into arbitrary compartments and
cutting up into isolated pieces. With the aid of several instruments science
creates more phantasmagoria: "on our scale of human observation, as
pointed out before, the edge of a razor-blade is a continuous line. On the
microscopic scale, it is a broken but solid line. On the chemic scale we have
atoms of iron and carbon. On the sub-atomic scale we have electrons in
perpetual motion which travel at the rate of several thousand miles per second.
All these phenomena are in reality the manifestations of the same basic
phenomenon, the motions of the electrons. The only difference which exists
between them is the scale of observation" [Human Destiny, Lecomte du Nuoy-
a marvelous book that everyone must read – if I remember correctly this comes
in 34th page I have read that book at least 8 times-
12] There must be
intrinsic value addition to the environment as is manifested in not only the
care and concern of all the elements but worship of all forms lives like
worshiping animals and trees etc and conducting festivals to welcome the
oncoming of different seasons and celebrating thanking nature as in the
celebration of PONGAL There must be intrinsic value addition to social well
being and social interaction with joy, greeting and kindness as is
manifested in the form of many festivals and sathsanga [ gathering of
individuals from various walks of life for a common prayer].
13] There must be
inherent freedom for individual improvisation and aesthetic appeal in whatever
you do be it art, architecture, music, dance etc. That’s why our classical
music the same song can be rendered differently by different artist with
multiple ways of rendering the raga alapana, kalpana swaras , sangathies etc.
So, in brief the very
essence of Sanathan Dharma is humane life style with concern for all others,
the environment and nature leading to a smooth, pleasant and enjoyable journey
of the soul [atma] to seek its ultimate goal of spiritual enlightenment
[reaching the paramathma].
14] Therefore,
Sanathana dhama teaches us to lead life looking for intrinsic value in whatever
we do; it teaches us to see the underlying concepts beneath every ritual; it
wants us to grasp and give out substance and not gas and superficiality; it
helps us to seek essence in whatever we do rather than the extraneous
paraphernalia; it wants us to take cognizance of facts, however unpleasant they
may be , rather than pander to hypocritical preaching of social moralistic
theories or performing mumbo jumbos; it wants us to incorporate noble,
important and laudable humane value like LOVE, FORGIVENESS, THANKSGIVING etc in
our daily lives rather than making them into commercial shows of Calendared
rituals like Forgiveness weeks, Lovers day or Thanksgiving day etc.
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