Happy Holi!

Hello All! :)
I hope all my readers are doing great!

As I said, an article about Holi was waiting in the queue of being published over here. And today is Holi. So here's the article! :P

Holi (Hindi: होली), is a religious spring festival celebrated by Hindus. Holi is also known as festival of Colours. It is primarily observed in India, Nepal, and countries with large Indic diaspora populations following Hinduism, such as Suriname, Malaysia, Guyana, South Africa, Trinidad, United Kingdom, United States, Mauritius, and Fiji.

The main day, Holi, also known as Dhuli in Sanskrit, also Dhulheti, Dhulandi or Dhulendi, is celebrated by people throwing scented powder and perfume at each other. Bonfires are lit on the eve of the festival, also known as Holika Dahan (burning of Holika) or Chhoti Holi (little Holi). After doing holika dahan prayers are said and praise is offered. The bonfires are lit in memory of the miraculous escape that young Prahlad accomplished when Demoness Holika, sister of Hiranyakashipu, carried him into the fire. Holika was burnt but Prahlad, a staunch devotee of god Vishnu, escaped without any injuries due to his unshakable devotion. Holika Dahan is referred to as Kama Dahanam in South India.

Today is the main day called Dhulandi, and yesterday was the Chhoti Holi. Chhoti Holi is rather the religious one and Dhulandi the playful one. The kids are the most amused about the festival. In India, the kids get over the roof loaded with water-balloons a week before Holi to prank the pedestrians! LOL! Though it's fun but it is not too safe, I know.

Holi is celebrated at the end of the winter season on the last full moon day of the lunar month Phalguna (February/March), (Phalgun Purnima), which usually falls in the later part of February or March. In 2009, Holi (Dhulandi) was on March 11 and Holika Dahan was on March 10. In 2010, Holi was on March 1 and Holika Dahan was on February 28. In 2011, Holi was on March 20 and Holika Dahan was on March 19. This time Chhoti Holi or Holika Dahan was on March 7th and Dhulandi on March 8th(Today).

The religious significance for holi makes it one of a major festival for Hindus. The stories about the festival :

In Vaishnavism, Hiranyakashipu is the great king of demons, and he had been granted a boon by Brahma, which made it almost impossible for him to be killed. The boon was due to his long penance, after which he had demanded that he not be killed "during day or night; inside the home or outside, not on earth or in the sky; neither by a man nor an animal; neither by astra nor by shastra". Consequently, he grew arrogant and attacked the Heavens and the Earth. He demanded that people stop worshipping Gods and start praising him.

According to this belief, Hiranyakashipu's own son, Prahlada, was a devotee of Lord Vishnu. In spite of several threats from Hiranyakashipu, Prahlada continued offering prayers to Lord Vishnu. He was poisoned by Hiranyakashipu, but the poison turned to nectar in his mouth. He was ordered to be trampled by elephants yet remained unharmed. He was put in a room with hungry, poisonous snakes and survived. All of Hiranyakashipu's attempts to kill his son failed. Finally, he ordered young Prahlada to sit on a pyre on the lap of his demoness sister, Holika, who could not die because she also had a boon. And a boon which would prevent fire from burning her. Prahlada readily accepted his father's orders, and prayed to Vishnu to keep him safe. When the fire started, everyone watched in amazement as Holika burnt to death, while Prahlada survived unharmed, the burning of Holika is celebrated as Holi.

In Vrindavan and Mathura, where Lord Krishna grew up, the festival is celebrated for 16 days (until Rangpanchmi) in commemoration of the divine love of Radha for Krishna. The festivities officially usher in spring, the celebrated season of love.

There is alternative story detailing the origin of Holi. This story is about Kamadeva, a god of love. Kama's body was destroyed when he shot his weapon at Shiva in order to disrupt his meditation and help Parvati to marry Shiva. Shiva then opened his third eye, the gaze of which was so powerful that Kama's body was reduced to ashes. For the sake of Kama's wife Rati (passion), Shiva restored him, but only as a mental image, representing the true emotional and spiritual state of love rather than physical lust. The Holi bonfire is believed to be celebrated in commemoration of this event.

I was so tired after playing holi today that I could barely write. I took help from Wikipedia for this article. So be kind enough not to blame of any copying! :P

Anyways, hope you all had an awesome Holi, a colorful, cheerful and awesomely-amazing day! :) May God Bless you all.

Good Day! ^_^

Mahashivaratri - Hindu Festival

A big hello to all my dear readers! :)

Today was a very important day from the point of view of a Hindu. A day, with utter importance on the Hindu Calendar. The day being - Mahashivaratri!

Time for some General Knowledge about the great festival : (Although I don't believe in copy-paste, but well! Wikipedia has so nicely compiled the knowledge, that it would save me time, so I am doing it this time!)

(Of course I don't have copyright to this pic!)

Shivaratri literally means the great night of Shiva or the night of Shiva. It is celebrated every year on the 13th night/14th day of the Maagha or Phalguna month of the Hindu calendar. Since many different calendars are followed by various ethno-linguistic groups of India, the month and the Tithi name are not uniform all over India. Celebrated in the dark fortnight or Krishna Paksha(waning moon) of the month of Maagha according to the Shalivahana or Gujarati Vikrama or Phalguna according to the Vikrama era. The festival is principally celebrated by offerings of Bael or Bilva/Vilvam leaves to Lord Shiva, all day fasting and an all night long vigil. In accordance with scriptural and discipleship traditions, penances are performed in order to gain boons in the practice of Yoga and meditation, in order to reach life's summum bonum steadily and swiftly.

From the very early morning, Shiva temples are flocked by devotees, mostly women, who come to perform the traditional Shivalinga worship (puja) and hence hope for favours from the god. Devotees bathe at sunrise, preferably in the Ganga, or any other holy water source (like the Shiva Sagartank at Khajurao). This is a purificatory rite, an important part of all Hindu festivals. Wearing a clean piece of clothing after the holy bath, worshippers carry pots of water to the temple to bathe the Shivalinga. They offer prayers to the sun, Vishnu and Shiva.Women pray for the well-being of their husbands and sons. An unmarried woman prays for a husband like Shiva, who is considered to be the ideal husband. The temple reverberates with the sound of bells and shouts of “Shankerji ki Jai” meaning 'Hail Shiva'. Devotees circumambulate the linga, three or seven times, and then pour water over it. Some also pour milk.

According to the Shiva Purana, the Mahashivaratri worship must incorporate six items:

• Bathing the Shiv Linga with water, milk and honey, and Wood apple or bel leaves added to it, representing purification of the soul;
• The vermilion paste applied on the Shiv Linga after bathing it, representing virtue;
• Offering of fruits, which is conducive to longevity and gratification of desires;
• Burning incense, yielding wealth;
• The lighting of the lamp which is conducive to the attainment of knowledge;
• And betel leaves marking satisfaction with worldly pleasures.

Tripundra refers to the three horizontal stripes of holy ash applied to the forehead by worshippers of Lord Shiva. These stripes symbolise spiritual knowledge, purity and penance (spiritual practice of Yoga), so also they represent the three eyes of Lord Shiva.

Wearing a rosary made from the rudraksha seed of the rudraksha tree (said to have sprung from the tears of Lord Shiva) when worshipping Lord Shiva is ideal. A rudraksha seed is a mahogany-like color, sometimes black, and sometimes may have traces of sacred sandalwood powder, turmeric, kumkum, or holy ash if the rosary was used in worship ceremonies or anointed.

Anyways, enough of the General Knowledge, for more you can refer to the articles at the end of this one. So the thing that urged me to post this. Well, I just saw on msn, an article on the great day. The best part was that article. The article was titled - "For Kashmiri Hindus and Muslims, Shivratri bridges a gap". Kashmir is an amazing place, but has been a point of tension between India and Pakistan. Let's not go into details, things could take a turn, and the article would become endless, engulfing in itself, many other articles. (The msn article is attached at the end!).

The article is very nicely written. I was quite happy to read that the great festival was bridging the gap between the two religions who had been in a state of tension since quite long(on the contrary! I am a hindu and I have some great Muslim friends! :D )

I was rather in a mood of talking about it too, but they have completed the article so well, there is nothing I could say about it, more than that, please please please!! Read the article! :)

A big thanks for giving your precious time to read this. Hope you all had a great day! :)

You may like to check out this article for more knowledge about the Lord Shiva, and Shivaratri, and the offerings used. CLICK HERE for the article.

For legends associated with the great festival, you may refer wikipedia. CLICK HERE for the article.

You may find this article also nice. It's also about Lord Shiva, and Shivaratri. CLICK HERE

And finally the msn article that I found really worth sharing with all of you my readers. You all must read it! :) CLICK HERE for the article.

And the Festival of lights starts its one year countdown again!

Alright, I don't own these pics on this post, okay? I have googled them.
So, Diwali, the festival of lights, one of the major Hindu festivals, thus has a very important place in my life. The overall celebrations, prayers, and all, last for five days, in which, the major day is the third day, which is Diwali. Diwali, or you may say, Deepawali, is celebrated on the 15th day of the month of "Katika" called, "Kartik Maas". For those people following Jainism, Diwali is the day when "Lord Mahavir" attained Moksha, or Nirvana, in 527 BC. For Hindus, it is the day when Lord Ram, an incarnation of Lord Vishnu, came back to his home, and kingdom, "Ayodhya" after living for 14 years in forest.

Now should I go into some details about the festival?! I think, yes, as it would make my readers familiar with what they are reading about on my thought desiccator, right?! ;)

Lord Ram is considered to be the seventh avatar(incarnation) of Vishnu in Hinduism, and a king of Ayodhya in ancient Indian Puranas. Based on Puranic genealogy, Rama is believed by Hindus to have lived around 5000 B.C.E. in the second Yuga called Treta Yuga(2 millennia before Krishna who was born towards the end of Dwapara Yuga). Rama is traditionally considered to have appeared in the last quarter of Treta Yuga. Born as the eldest son of Kausalya and Dasharatha, king of Ayodhya, Rama is referred to within Hinduism as Maryada Purushottama, literally the Perfect Man or Lord of Self-Control or Lord of Virtue. Rama is the husband of Sita, whom Hindus consider to be an Avatar of Lakshmi and the embodiment of perfect womanhood.

Rama's life and journey is one of perfect adherence to dharma despite harsh tests of life and time. He is pictured as the ideal man and the perfect human. For the sake of his father's honour, Rama abandons his claim to Kosala's throne to serve an exile of fourteen years in the forest. His wife Sita and brother Lakshmana, unable to live without Rama, decide to join him, and all three spend the fourteen years in exile together. While in exile, Sita is kidnapped by Ravana, the Rakshasa (evil Lord) monarch of Lanka. After a long and arduous search that tests his personal strength and virtue, Rama fights a colossal war against Ravana's armies. In a war of powerful and magical beings, greatly destructive weaponry and battles, Rama slays Ravana in battle and liberates his wife. Having completed his exile, Rama returns to be crowned king in Ayodhya (the capital of his kingdom) and eventually becomes emperor, rules with happiness, peace, prosperity and justice — a period known as Rama Rajya. Now this day when he returned from his exile is celebrated as Diwali.

The name "Diwali" is a contraction of "Deepavali" (A Sanskrit word), which translates into "row of lamps". Diwali involves the lighting of small clay lamps (diyas) filled with oil to signify the triumph of good over evil. These lamps are kept on during the night and one's house is cleaned, both done in order to make the goddess Lakshmi(Goddess of wealth and prosperity in Hinduism) feel welcome. Firecrackers are burst in order to drive away evil spirits. During Diwali, all the celebrants wear new clothes and share sweets and snacks with family members and friends.

The festival starts with Dhanteras on which most Indian business communities begin their financial year. The second day of the festival, Naraka Chaturdasi, marks the vanquishing of the demon Naraka by Lord Krishna and his wife Satyabhama. Amavasya, the third day of Diwali, marks the worship of Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth in her most benevolent mood, fulfilling the wishes of her devotees. Amavasya also tells the story of Lord Vishnu, who in his dwarf incarnation vanquished the Bali, and banished him to Patala. It is on the fourth day of Diwali, Kartika Shudda Padyami, that Bali went to patala and took the reins of his new kingdom in there. The fourth day is more popularly celebrated as Kartika Shudda Padyami in Southern India, and as "Annakutt" in Northern India. In northern India "Annakutt" marks the day when Lord Krishna saved the people from the wrath of Lord Indra(The God of Rain). The fifth day is referred to as Yama Dvitiya (also called Bhai Dooj), and on this day sisters invite their brothers to their homes. It is considered very auspicious and rather mandatory for a brother to eat something at his sister's house that day, which is forbidden in many traditional Hindu families.

Also, you people might be interested in knowing the fact that, Diwali is an official holiday in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Mauritius, Guyana, Trinidad & Tobago, Suriname, Malaysia, Singapore, and Fiji.

Now this was all about Diwali, my favorite festival, that as I said, has a very special place in my heart as I am a Hindu. So why here on desiccator? Well! You all can get certain idea after reading all those just too prefect things, right?! o_O Ram-Rajya, a thing for which a common man tries different-different politicians and political parties to let run the government. But alas! seeing the current scenario, this all seems to be something totally non-existent! :/ A man like Lord Rama! Can he exist in the today's world? A man with perfect self-control, and who is so calm always! One can only wish to be like him, but frankly speaking, the world is too bad that it all seems to be like a childish longing, that is too difficult to be fulfilled. Diwali is celebrated to show that good can defeat evil in any case. Ravana, the one who was so intelligent, shows that power corrupts everyone, and this corruption makes the most intelligent person to behave like a fool! Isn't t similar to what we are seeing these days happening in our countries?!

Diwali is celebrated by most of the people just as a holiday, or fun-day, but how many of us celebrate it with the real spirit of Diwali?! Well, quite too handful people do that. I wish people understand the message this beautiful festival is trying to give us. Though I don't even know, how many of you actually read this, or thought about it on an intellectual level. Sometimes I feel like I have spoken here what I thought, but still there are hardly any people who are listening! Because there is always a difference between Hearing and Listening!