Happy diwali

[zenzero]

This year Obama lit the ceremonial diya at the West Room of the white House to welcome Diwali with the chant of
asato ma sadgamaya
tamaso ma jyotirgamaya
mrtyorma amrtam gamaya

OR

Lead me from the asat to the sat.
Lead me from darkness to light.
Lead me from death to immortality.

(Brhadaranyaka Upanishad — I.iii.28)



Whatever may be the significance of Obama's gesture but the significance of the mantra chanted remains for all human beings.

Once again, lighting the lamp of consciousness within, wish every being and non-being a very very HAPPY DIWALI.

Love & rgds

 

[anupj]

happy diwali to everyone

 

[Riverwolf]

I'd like to wish everyone a happy diwali, but I'm afraid I don't know anything about it.

TAL has started a thread asking what it is, so could someone who knows about it say something there?

 

[Sunstone]

Happy Diwali!!!

 

[Breathe]

Happy Diwali!

 

[T-Dawg]

This year Obama lit the ceremonial diya at the West Room of the white House to welcome Diwali with the chant of
asato ma sadgamaya
tamaso ma jyotirgamaya
mrtyorma amrtam gamaya

OR

Lead me from the asat to the sat.
Lead me from darkness to light.
Lead me from death to immortality.

(Brhadaranyaka Upanishad — I.iii.28)



Whatever may be the significance of Obama's gesture but the significance of the mantra chanted remains for all human beings.

Once again, lighting the lamp of consciousness within, wish every being and non-being a very very HAPPY DIWALI.

Love & rgds

LOL, OBAMA is going to be acknowledging this holiday? That's gonna go REALLY well with the religious right... .

But on a serious note, I did some research on the holiday and it appears that I need candles and firecrackers, neither of which I'm allowed to have on my college campus . I suck.
And just as a slap in the face, they put our SAT tests today, ON DIWALI. Imagine the heat they'd get if they put a test on Christmas... and on top of that, they're putting it at 8:00 in the morning .

 

[Kathryn]

TAL, you are going to school in the US, right?

I bet in India the universities are closed during Diwali. If you want to observe that holiday test free, you may want to move somewhere where Hinduism is the dominant religion. However, you may find yourself taking a test on Christmas or Thanksgiving.

Here are the major religious holidays worldwide for 2010:

2010 Calendar of World Religion sacred times

Seems that Obama may be pretty busy if he's going to celebrate all of these. Sounds like fun, but it's really not what his job is.

 

[anupj]

LOL, OBAMA is going to be acknowledging this holiday? That's gonna go REALLY well with the religious right... .

But on a serious note, I did some research on the holiday and it appears that I need candles and firecrackers, neither of which I'm allowed to have on my college campus . I suck.
And just as a slap in the face, they put our SAT tests today, ON DIWALI. Imagine the heat they'd get if they put a test on Christmas... and on top of that, they're putting it at 8:00 in the morning .

Hey TAL may this diwali bring more light to your life and may you pass your SAT test with flying colors

 

[Renji]

Happy Diwali! May the light forever shine upon us, and the darkness forever be vanished.

 

[T-Dawg]

TAL, you are going to school in the US, right?

I bet in India the universities are closed during Diwali. If you want to observe that holiday test free, you may want to move somewhere where Hinduism is the dominant religion. However, you may find yourself taking a test on Christmas or Thanksgiving.

Here are the major religious holidays worldwide for 2010:

2010 Calendar of World Religion sacred times

Seems that Obama may be pretty busy if he's going to celebrate all of these. Sounds like fun, but it's really not what his job is.

Yeah, I'm in the US . Hopefully the government won't take away the right of movement by the time I'm old enough to leave.

It's not that big of a deal for me personally (can't really celebrate the holiday, no access to candles or firecrackers and I just found out about it yesterday and had no time to prepare), but I can't imagine the Hindus on my campus (if there are any) standing for for such a thing. I'd be ok with taking a test during Thanksgiving - it never was a real holiday for me, just an excuse my parents used to make me interact with my family and watch them eat disgusting food. No one ever gives thanks on Thanksgiving anymore, it's just a holiday of the Three Bad F's - food (that I don't like), family, and football, all of which I disdain. And Christmas is nothing but bad memories too me. Sure, presents were nice when I was young, but nowadays anything material that I would want is something that my parents wouldn't be able to get me or that I could easily get myself. And Jesus seems to have officially walked out of Christmas. I still remember the Great Christmas Debate last year *shudder* (I could tell you that story but you probably don't want to hear it and it's a bit off-topic). Christmas is just that time of year when corporations take advantage of the people's festive mood by selling stupid mythologies to the children, selling overpriced decorations to the unprepared, selling gifts to the generous, selling innaccurate religious knick-nacks to the pseudoreligious (NO, the three wise men were not there to witness Jesus' birth, they arrived a couple years later. Also, we don't know how many wise men there actually were.), selling, selling, selling...


Thanks for the list of holidays by the way .

 

[K.Venugopal]

Obama or any future president celebrating Diwali or other religious festivals in White House signifies that the President of the USA somewhat considers himself to be the President of the world. I think it would be more natural and less appeasing if the President restricts his celebration in the White House to his own religious festivals. For celebrating other festivals he could go to his friends' homes. Or does the President at all times have to be a representative of everything and not his mere self?

 

[zenzero]

Friend TheAmazingLoser,

Though went through the grind years back till MBA but never was serious about studies and exams are something that one has to sit for; results immaterial.
Just relax as relaxation is celebration, is festivity.
Love & rgds

 

[England my lionheart]

Happy Diwali Zen and everyone

 

[zenzero]

Friend Venu,

Forget all individuals; just remember that they are also atmans and everything is made of the same stuff including ourselves.

Love & rgds

 

[Kathryn]

You can please some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time.

Or something like that. Anyway, it's true.

I want everyone to have a great time on the holidays (hey, that word is actually HOLY DAYS) of their choosing, and it would be nice if they could take the day off, but even big bad Christians have to work on Christmas sometimes.

There's ideal and then there's real. Let's keep it real. Obama isn't Hindu for pete's sake.

(scary music...) or...is he....?

 

[Metempsychosis]

No One asked Obama or any other Indian to celebrate Diwali, these holidays are mere mental imaginations,forming all together crap called religion .

 

[Copernicus]

I celebrated Diwali with the Indian Ambassador to the US, Meera Shankar, and other dignitaries. (See this photo.) India has given the US a statue of Mahatma Gandhi as a gift, and it was dedicated on Saturday, October 17, at the Bellevue Library in downtown Bellevue, WA. India will also open up a new regional consulate in Bellevue. It was great fun--free entertainment and free food for all.

 

[Wannabe Yogi]

No One asked Obama or any other Indian to celebrate Diwali, these holidays are mere mental imaginations,forming all together crap called religion .

I would not go on the Atheist threads and call you names ? Why do you think its OK to call our beliefs crap when you have no idea what many of us believe. You do know that it was the Hindu who came up with the idea of Atheism 1st. Atheists use to teach there ideas in the Hindu temples. Atheism has a place in Indian thought. I know Indian Atheists who celabrate Diwali.

 

[T-Dawg]

No One asked Obama or any other Indian to celebrate Diwali, these holidays are mere mental imaginations,forming all together crap called religion .

1.) Religion is not crap.
2.) Obama is not an Indian, what do you mean by "Obama or any other Indian"? O_O Anyways, they celebrate the holiday because they want to and have a sense of fun. Ever heard of fun? Some people enjoy blowing up firecrackers and exchanging gifts. I guess it's religion's fault for brainwashing them, right?
3.) You do realize that you're in the "discuss individual religions" section, where debate (and trolling) is unallowed, right?

 

[Metempsychosis]

1.) Religion is not crap.

Sorry,religion contains some crap or rather it has become crap .Anyways it introduces many rituals that are mere imaginations.

People have become dogmatic,and thats where the problem lies.How can u be dogmatic to the one which cannot be proved?This is esp.for abrahamic reliigions.And religion has become new way for showing off materialism.

2.) Obama is not an Indian, what do you mean by "Obama or any other Indian"?

Sorry,for the word "other".

O_O Anyways, they celebrate the holiday because they want to and have a sense of fun. Ever heard of fun? Some people enjoy blowing up firecrackers and exchanging gifts. I guess it's religion's fault for brainwashing them, right?

Its certainly not a problem in developed countries like U.S.But in country like India,where 25% lives below poverty,diwali celebrations cannot be justified.

Diwali cracker bursting causes lot of problems to birds, and animals and causes extreme sound pollution and smoke in India every year.The cracker production factory (centerd in an south india) are famous for its child-labour.Truly they lit the light of Knowledge!!!

3.) You do realize that you're in the "discuss individual religions" section, where debate (and trolling) is unallowed, right?

Ok.

Why do you think its OK to call our beliefs crap when you have no idea what many of us believe.

I had to take that stance because diwali in India is classic example religion becoming a crap.Same reasons as told before.

You do know that it was the Hindu who came up with the idea of Atheism 1st. Atheists use to teach there ideas in the Hindu temples. Atheism has a place in Indian thought. I know Indian Atheists who celabrate Diwali.

My point is not about atheists celebrating religion.Its the way in it celebrated. Thanks for reminding me of carvaka,i am not a atheist however.Carvaka materialism or any other materialism has been screwed in other schools of Indian philosophy.

Do u know that it is the most popular Hindu philosophy?Infact,70% of Hindus are followers of carvaka theory.They however dont know that name or dont call themselves as carvaka followers.