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- Thread starter Maya3
- Start date
And today is your birth anniversary (at least on a certain calendar). I hope it’s a pleasant one. You are someone who I appreciate here.
Aupmanyav
Be your own guru
Thanks for appreciation, Mangalavara. I use only the Gregorian calendar, easier than the traditional Vikram calendar. However, we have two birthday dates for my wife, one by the Gregorian calendar (December 23) and the other by the traditional calendar. But what makes that easy to remember is that she was born on a religiously important date for my community, Kedigree New Moon (Khichri Amavasya). That is a salute to mid-winter. We worship the local Kashmir deity for protection from winters, Yaksha, who wears a swab of cotton for a hat to indicate snow. So what, if we now live in hot Delhi? It is customary, not to go out of the house after this Puja.
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Aupmanyav
Be your own guru
Shrāddha Paksha : September 17 to October 2.
Remebrance of ancestors, Pitri Paksha. 'Pitri' (Paters) is not limited to males only. We remember the female ancestors also.
My wife keeps the record of dates.
I cannot perform the shrāddha of her parents because they are not my ancestors, but my son can. They are his ancestors.
I perform the shrāddha of my maternal grand parents, but not of my maternal uncle (He is not among my ancestors).
If he did not have any progeny, then I would have been eligible to perform his shrāddha.
Some one has to do it to give peace to his soul. Otherwise, he turns into a dissatisfied ghost. That is the tradition.
It does not matter if I am an atheist and non-believer in existence of soul. I would not need any consolation after my death.
Remebrance of ancestors, Pitri Paksha. 'Pitri' (Paters) is not limited to males only. We remember the female ancestors also.
My wife keeps the record of dates.
I cannot perform the shrāddha of her parents because they are not my ancestors, but my son can. They are his ancestors.
I perform the shrāddha of my maternal grand parents, but not of my maternal uncle (He is not among my ancestors).
If he did not have any progeny, then I would have been eligible to perform his shrāddha.
Some one has to do it to give peace to his soul. Otherwise, he turns into a dissatisfied ghost. That is the tradition.
It does not matter if I am an atheist and non-believer in existence of soul. I would not need any consolation after my death.
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Aupmanyav
Be your own guru
Edit: Dissatisfied ghosts does not mean malevolent ghosts, dissatisfied only, like most people in the world are for various things. Souls of good people do not turn malevolent, generally. 'Ha, nobody to remember me'. That is why 'Shrāddha' from 'Shraddhā' (reverance).
Aupmanyav
Be your own guru
Navaratras begin. Have to take bath early. Wear washed clothes, before I take a bow to the deities and then have breakfast. No non-veg., onion, for these nine days. Garlic, otherwise also we do not use.
Muslim fundamentalists in the new Bangladesh regime. Hindus being openly threatened. 5,000 puja pandals stopped because of threats. 13 million people making 8% of the Bangladesh population.
Muslim fundamentalists in the new Bangladesh regime. Hindus being openly threatened. 5,000 puja pandals stopped because of threats. 13 million people making 8% of the Bangladesh population.
Aupmanyav
Be your own guru
Lost my younger brother two days ago.
After long illness, parkinsonism. Was being fed by a tube to the stomach. Was immobile. And he was once the strongest of the family and handsome as well, very blue eyes, mine take a greenish tinge. He was a doctor (Public Health), and at one time in-charge of New Delhi region health services.
Relief for him and his family. We lived together for 50 years. Our sons have gone to Haridwar (125 m.) to immerse the ashes.
I won't want that. Perhaps immersion (of my ashes) in a nearly Ganges bank (Garh Mukteshwar, 57 m away) will be enough for me.
After long illness, parkinsonism. Was being fed by a tube to the stomach. Was immobile. And he was once the strongest of the family and handsome as well, very blue eyes, mine take a greenish tinge. He was a doctor (Public Health), and at one time in-charge of New Delhi region health services.
Relief for him and his family. We lived together for 50 years. Our sons have gone to Haridwar (125 m.) to immerse the ashes.
I won't want that. Perhaps immersion (of my ashes) in a nearly Ganges bank (Garh Mukteshwar, 57 m away) will be enough for me.
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oṃ śāntiḥ
My condolences. I'm sure that your younger brother was a wonderful man and that he helped countless people by doing his peculiar duties.
I had to look up Garh Mukteshwar. Some webpages say that it was constructed during the time of the 'Hastinapur Kingdom,' but I cannot find anything online about a Hastinapur Kingdom.
Aupmanyav
Be your own guru
It is a legendary city, not much of archaeology remains till a strong search is made. Garh Mukteshwar has a Shiva temple near the bank of River Ganges and has come to signify a place where worship can remove the effects of karmas to give release from the cycle of birth and death. Many places like that, many on the banks of River Ganges, like Haridwar or Gangasagar in Bengal where Ganges empties into the Bay of Bengal.
My choice for immersion of my ashes, closest place to Ganges from Delhi, just 57 miles. Why make my children travel 125 miles to Haridwar? River Yamuna too would have been OK, but it is too polluted. Of course, the community priest (Panda) in Haridwar will be looking for my demise so that he gets some money if my children visit at that time.
Namaskāra, everyone. Happy Śārada Pūrṇimā to all who observe it.
This evening at work, I had time to go upstairs in the building and observe the full moon rising in the east. As it rose and rose above the hills in the distance, it was wide, bright, and had a yellow shine. Candra Deva was given obeisance and so was Lakṣmī Devī. Soon, when I went to teach a class, I felt so calm and had a disposition of kindness toward all. I had began a fast at sunset for Lakṣmī and it will not be broken until sunrise.
When I got home, I spent four hours cleaning my place for Lakṣmī. After I took out recyclables and general waste, I set up a picture of her and then chanted her 108 names in front of it four times (40 minutes were spent on the chanting). Finally, I stepped outside and looked up at the moon for a while.
The photo above was taken tonight outside of the villa in which I live.
While others believe that Śārada Pūrṇimā had already passed, I believe that it began on 17 October at sunset with the rising of the actual full moon. After all, the word pūrṇimā means 'full moon.' I've always thought it was strange that a pūrṇimā tithi as it's commonly understood begins and then ends before the fully illuminated moon rises.
It is commonly understood that a 'tithi is completed when the moon is ahead of the sun by 12°, or integral multiples of 12°' (Saha and Lahiri 221). Since the fifth century CE, this is how a tithi has been understood in scientific astronomy. On the other hand, the Aitareya Brāhmaṇa states that a 'tithi is that time-period about which the moon sets or rises' (Saha and Lahiri 221). Finally, a Professor P. C. Sengupta was of the view that for the writer(s) of the Aitareya Brāhmaṇa, the pūrṇimā tithi began at moonrise (Saha and Lahiri 222). This is the view that I personally go with.
Saha and Lahiri. History of the Calendar: In Different Countries Through the Ages. PDF.
This evening at work, I had time to go upstairs in the building and observe the full moon rising in the east. As it rose and rose above the hills in the distance, it was wide, bright, and had a yellow shine. Candra Deva was given obeisance and so was Lakṣmī Devī. Soon, when I went to teach a class, I felt so calm and had a disposition of kindness toward all. I had began a fast at sunset for Lakṣmī and it will not be broken until sunrise.
When I got home, I spent four hours cleaning my place for Lakṣmī. After I took out recyclables and general waste, I set up a picture of her and then chanted her 108 names in front of it four times (40 minutes were spent on the chanting). Finally, I stepped outside and looked up at the moon for a while.
The photo above was taken tonight outside of the villa in which I live.
While others believe that Śārada Pūrṇimā had already passed, I believe that it began on 17 October at sunset with the rising of the actual full moon. After all, the word pūrṇimā means 'full moon.' I've always thought it was strange that a pūrṇimā tithi as it's commonly understood begins and then ends before the fully illuminated moon rises.
It is commonly understood that a 'tithi is completed when the moon is ahead of the sun by 12°, or integral multiples of 12°' (Saha and Lahiri 221). Since the fifth century CE, this is how a tithi has been understood in scientific astronomy. On the other hand, the Aitareya Brāhmaṇa states that a 'tithi is that time-period about which the moon sets or rises' (Saha and Lahiri 221). Finally, a Professor P. C. Sengupta was of the view that for the writer(s) of the Aitareya Brāhmaṇa, the pūrṇimā tithi began at moonrise (Saha and Lahiri 222). This is the view that I personally go with.
Saha and Lahiri. History of the Calendar: In Different Countries Through the Ages. PDF.