Why Do We Celebrate Festivals?
There are so many festivals in the Hindu pantheon that we feel every single day is a feast.
We celebrate our own birthday and expect everyone to remember it and bring some presents.
We hope that they will cut a cake and take us out for a treat.
If no one remembers it we feel terrible and want to shut up the world.
Festivals are the way of celebration and activity which brings us closer to the truth.
Celebrations of these festivals are ways of appeasing the Gods and thanking those involved with the act which leads us to that celebration.
But we get lost in rituals and forget the real meanings of it.
Just the way everyone celebrates Navratri, Thanksgiving, Holi and every other festival whose main purpose is lost and its only about fun, laughter, drinking, eating choicest foods, dirty dancing, taking the girls out and every possible misuse that we can do of such a grand celebration.
Just as Dusshera is the triumph of good over evil, similarly is Divali, Holi and so on.
But what do we actually get into?
Unnecessary spending, pomp, glory, buying pricey objects, showing off and all that we are actually supposed to avoid, we end up doing exactly that!
Dusshera is celebrated for reasons which have a mythological story attached to it.
The victory of Durga over Mahishasura and other demons and there are rituals attached to it also.
We distribute leaves of a tree called aapta to everyone touching their feet and asking for blessings.
Once upon a time a disciple called Kautsa after finishing his lessons wanted to thank his Guru by giving Guru Dakshina. Muni Varanthu did not want him to give anything since true Guru's believe that just the fact their disciples have reached the state of liberation is the highest dakshina. But since the disciple insisted, Varantu asked him to give 14 crore coins of gold. He goes to the benevolent king of Ayodhya who promises him that. He in turn approaches Indra and Kuber who shower gold coins which are then collected and handed over to the sage. There are so many coins that the sage gives it back asking them to be distributed to all. Since the coins fell from skies and the trees like aapta, hence we give leaves of aapta in lieu of real gold to one and all.
It is just a mock method of completing the ritual.
Celebrations are supposed to tell us the real meanings and the whys and the wherefores of the lores.
But hardly anyone knows the stories anymore.
They twist the rituals to their own benefits and make complete mincemeat of it.
Dandiya in the Raas leela is supposed to be a very divine but the color it has taken today shames the festivals altogether.
You should find the true meaning of such great days of celebration and then give them the due respect and teach the future generations about it and never degrade them.
The future generation carries lots of impressions about these and hence we should not commercialise it and convert it into some game for our self gratification.
We celebrate our own birthday and expect everyone to remember it and bring some presents.
We hope that they will cut a cake and take us out for a treat.
If no one remembers it we feel terrible and want to shut up the world.
Festivals are the way of celebration and activity which brings us closer to the truth.
Celebrations of these festivals are ways of appeasing the Gods and thanking those involved with the act which leads us to that celebration.
But we get lost in rituals and forget the real meanings of it.
Just the way everyone celebrates Navratri, Thanksgiving, Holi and every other festival whose main purpose is lost and its only about fun, laughter, drinking, eating choicest foods, dirty dancing, taking the girls out and every possible misuse that we can do of such a grand celebration.
Just as Dusshera is the triumph of good over evil, similarly is Divali, Holi and so on.
But what do we actually get into?
Unnecessary spending, pomp, glory, buying pricey objects, showing off and all that we are actually supposed to avoid, we end up doing exactly that!
Dusshera is celebrated for reasons which have a mythological story attached to it.
The victory of Durga over Mahishasura and other demons and there are rituals attached to it also.
We distribute leaves of a tree called aapta to everyone touching their feet and asking for blessings.
Once upon a time a disciple called Kautsa after finishing his lessons wanted to thank his Guru by giving Guru Dakshina. Muni Varanthu did not want him to give anything since true Guru's believe that just the fact their disciples have reached the state of liberation is the highest dakshina. But since the disciple insisted, Varantu asked him to give 14 crore coins of gold. He goes to the benevolent king of Ayodhya who promises him that. He in turn approaches Indra and Kuber who shower gold coins which are then collected and handed over to the sage. There are so many coins that the sage gives it back asking them to be distributed to all. Since the coins fell from skies and the trees like aapta, hence we give leaves of aapta in lieu of real gold to one and all.
It is just a mock method of completing the ritual.
Celebrations are supposed to tell us the real meanings and the whys and the wherefores of the lores.
But hardly anyone knows the stories anymore.
They twist the rituals to their own benefits and make complete mincemeat of it.
Dandiya in the Raas leela is supposed to be a very divine but the color it has taken today shames the festivals altogether.
You should find the true meaning of such great days of celebration and then give them the due respect and teach the future generations about it and never degrade them.
The future generation carries lots of impressions about these and hence we should not commercialise it and convert it into some game for our self gratification.
Comments