Dhanteras

Dusshera is over and the festival of lights - Diwali is just upon us. Interestingly, not all people know that the festival of Diwali is actually a five day long celebration which begins with Dhanteras. The festival of Dhanteras falls in the month of October-November on the thirteenth day of the dark fortnight, as the word ‘Dhan’ literally means wealth and ‘Teras’ comes from the date thirteenth. It is celebrated two days before the festival of lights and also known as ‘Yamadeepdaan’.

On Dhanteras, Lakshmi – Goddess of wealth is worshipped to provide prosperity and well being. Hindus also worship Lord Kuber as the treasurer of wealth and bestower of riches, along with Goddess Lakshmi.

Case in point bring up the word ‘Dhanteras’ and chances are everyone around you will immediately talk of buying Gold, Silver, Diamonds, Clothes, Utensils, electronics and other items of value. Of course it is an occasion to seek wealth and prosperity, but how this tradition comes about?

As the legend goes, the horoscope of king Hima’s sixteen year old son read that he would die on the fourth day of his marriage by a snake bite. On that particular day, the prince’s young wife laid all her ornaments, gold and silver coins in a big heap at the entrance of her husband’s chamber, lighted lamps all over and starting singing songs and narrating stories. When Yama arrived in the form of snake, his eyes got dazzle and blinded by the brilliance of the lamps and jewellery and he couldn’t enter the prince’s chamber. In a trance like state, he sat on top of the heap and spent the whole night listening to the melodious songs, thus missing his deadline and sparing the prince’s life.

For this reason, this is considered an auspicious time to buy gold and silver and light earthen lamps or deep and these are kept burning throughout the night glorifying Yama (God of death). 

The First lamp of Diwali are lit on this day. People hang up paper lanterns with festoons and send out the message of the arrival of Diwali. Dhanteras is not all about material wealth, it is also a time to develop spiritual wealth and family bonding. All family members arrive at ancestral home on the day. Grandparents and Parents wait for the day as sons, daughters and grandchildren arrive from distant places.

Happy Dhanteras to all of you!

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Navratri

Navratri (Nav-Durga) is a nine day festival of Indians honoring the Mother Goddess and tenth day is celebrated as Vijayadashmi or Dussehra, famous for the day when lord Ram killed Ravana. This celebration occurs twice a year. The first one is in the spring during March/April and the second one is in the fall during September/October, based on the lunar cycle. It is celebrated widely in every part of India with great enthusiasm with a different name of Goddess, like in Gujarat devotees worship as Goddess Jagdamba while in West Bengal it is named as Durga Puja. In Kolkata people erected huge pandals at various places for Durga Puja and set up great idols of Mata Durga for worship. In Gujarat, Dandiya and Garba are the two popular dance forms which are performed by the people during Navratri festival and in Rajasthan people worship at Sheela Mata mandir especially at Amer fort, Jaipur, Harsha mata mandir,Abhaneri, Mehrangarh fort, Jodhpur etc.. In every state of India worshipping and celebration style is different but the devotion is same.

Navratri is not just a time to celebrate and of joy but is to attain overlasting happiness, peace and bliss through self-disipline, self-control and sacrifice. Every day the festivities begin with aarti focusing on the nine different manifestations of the Goddess each day. Mother goddess is the energy of the trinity as the creative aspect of Lord Brahma, sustaining aspect of Lord Vishnu and destructive aspect of Lord Shiva are all encompassed within her. The trinity of Goddesses Durga (known to remove evil, misery, pain from our lives), Lakshmi (Goddess of wealth) and Saraswati (Goddess of knowledge) together represent feminine energy that provides protection, love, prosperity and knowledge.

Nav-Durga is spiritually significant because it represents the three stages of an individual’s spiritual journey:-

·         Self-purification- eradication of the negative tendencies of our minds and hearts. People pray to Mother Goddess, asking her to use her destructive power to destroy all imperfections and faults.

·         Self-transformation – after self purification, the next three days of Navratri are devoted to worshipping the Goddess in her prosperity- bestowing form as Lakshmi. Goddess Lakshmi doesnot merely bestow material prosperity but also grants qualities such as calmness, peace, compassion, happiness, positive attitude and love.

·         Self-realization – during last three days, Goddess Saraswati is worshipped as the bestower of the true light of knowledge, wisdom and understanding.

Navratri is not just a time to celebrate Mother Goddess victory over the demons; it is also the time to pray to Mother Goddess to remove our enemies within us like anger, selfish desires, greed, ego and undue attachments.

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