HINDUISM

Sri Krishna Jayanthi:

Birth of Lord Vishnu

Chelvatamby Maniccavasagar

The Sri Krishna Jayanthi which fell on September 1, 2010 was celebrated by Hindus all over the world as a religious festival. The word ‘Jayanthi’ is linked with the birth date of Lord Krishna. Jayanthi is a term for the constellation of stars that took place during the appearance of Lord Krishna in this world.

Sri Krishna was born in a prison cell in the city of Mathura on the banks of the river Yamuna approximately 3,000 years before the birth of Jesus Christ. It was predicted that his birth would spell the death of his wicked uncle Kamsa. This prompted the cruel Kamsa to put in prison his sister Devaki and her husband Vasu Deva and ordered that each child of theirs should be put to death as soon as the child was born.

But inscrutable are the ways of providence and the eighth child was born to the accompaniment of thunder and lightening and this was Krishna, a blue baby boy like a lotus flower with a beautiful smile on his tiny lips. Seeing this extra-ordinary sight the parents bowed down in a revered attitude.

A voice was heard directing Vasu Deva to take the child to Gokulam and bring back the baby girl of Yasoda to Mathura. All prison doors opened and the river parted for Vasu Deva to take the child to Gokulam.

Krishna is the eighth child of the ten incarnations of Maha Vishnu and he slew Kamsa and wiped out all other wicked demons.

In fact, Krishna was a formidable warrior, an unsurpassed statesman, the greatest philosopher and world teacher. As a charioteer to Arjuna, he decided the fate of the great battle of Kurushetra. On the battlefield the armies of the Kanravas and the Pandavas stood face to face, poised to destroy each other. Seeing on the opposite side his cousins, the uncles, grandfathers, teachers and several close friends and relatives Arjuna finds himself unable to fight and put his weapons down.

Declaring himself the teacher of universe. (Jagadura), Krishna revealed to Arjuna the most profound knowledge and expounded the importance of duty above everything else. This was how Krishna happened to deliver the eternal message of Bhagavad Gita.

Indeed, the Bhagavad Gita which forms part of Mahabharatha is the most popular religious poem of Sanskrit literature. It is said to be the most beautiful, perhaps the only true philosophical song and is the most influential work of Indian thought.

In the battlefield of Kurushetra, Arjuna typifies struggling individual who feels the burden and mystery of the world. The dependency of Arjuna is not the passing mood or disappointed man, exciting the sense of unreality or things. Further, Lord Krishna was considered to be the preserver of the universe. He descended to earth as a great Avatara to save mankind and establish Dharma.

For this purpose he took ten Avataras (incarnations). His first incarnation was in the form of ‘gold fish’ (Machcha Avataram), the second was as a ‘tortoise’ (Kurma), third as a wild boar (Varaha), fourth in the form of a human body and lion’s head (Narasimha), the fifth incarnation of Lord Vishnu was ‘Vamana’, that statured man, in the sixth incarnation he was born as Parasurama and the seventh incarnation he was born as ‘Palaraman’, in the eight incarnation he was born as Rama and in the ninth incarnation he was born as Krishna. At the end of Kali Yuga he will take the form of Kalki Avatara to establish righteousness (Dahrma) when there is decline in spirituality and morality.

Indeed, Krishna Jayanthi is a religious festival which will be observed at ‘Dehiwela Maha Vishnu Temple’, Modera Venketeswara Temple, Colombo 15 and even at Sri Vallipura Alvar Vishnu Temple at Point Pedro and all other cultural centres in an elaborate manner to the accompaniment of Bhajans, Poojas, Abishekams and Archanai

Whither divinity

Sinnathamby Rasiah

Religion is the gateway to self-realization. It regulates life of man in the correct path which is essential to reach this goal. The word religion means binding one back to the origin or fountain-head. Any systematic attempt to reach infinite state of being is religious. In this context, the question arises as to where does divinity exists. Is it within you or outside. In studying the religions of the world, generally, there are two methods of procedure.

The one is from God to man. In other words we have the Semitic group of religions, in which the idea of God comes almost from the very first and strangely enough without any idea of soul. It was very remarkable among the ancient Hebrews that until very recent periods in their history they never evolved any idea of human soul. Man was composed of certain mind and material particles. The other idea of religion is the communication from man to God. It was the Aryans who first mooted this idea. As such the inquiry into the Vedas was always through the soul.

The Aryan man was always seeking divinity inside his own self. It became in the course of time, natural characteristic. In the Eastern religions when an enlightened person is depicted in a painting or statue the eyes are closed and turned inwards, for example in Hinduism and Buddhism this aspect is clearly evident. These religions say that to find the truth, go inward. Jesus Christ too said that divinity is within man.

There are two subjects of study for man external and internal nature, and though at first they seemed to be contradictory there is no contradiction between the two modes of procedure in religion mentioned above. The ultimate goal is the same. In order to amplify this statement I would like to quote from Swamy Vivekananda.

For he says “I do not mean that those who want to search after truth through external nature are wrong nor that those want to search after truth through internal nature is higher. These are the two modes of procedure. In the end we shall find that they meet.” It should be noted that neither the body is antagonistic to the mind nor the mind to the body. This idea is further corroborated from the Vedas, which says that the body melts into the mind and the mind into the body.

In a sense it could be said that the end justifies the means. The end is to know the truth. Religion is a means to achieve the end; that is self realization. The object and goal of life is that every human being should realize the divinity within himself, says A Parthasarathy in his book on Vedanta Treatise. Therefore whatever may be said about the two modes of procedure in religions, ultimately the object is same and we cannot outweigh one over the other. The purpose is same and both should exist.

Annual festival:

Sri Sarwartha Sidhi Vinayagar Temple

Chelvatamby Maniccavasagar

The annual festival of Sri Sarwartha Sidhi Vinayagar Temple at Modera commenced with the flag hoisting ceremony on September 3, 2010 and the chariot or Ther Festival was held on September 11, 2010 and water cutting ceremony on September 12, 2010.

All the rituals will be performed by the chief priest of this temple Sivagama Kiriya Jothi Siva Sri K Somasundara Kurukal. The chief trustee of this temple Dr AS Kunasingam and all other members of the Board of Trustees have made elaborate arrangements for the success of this festival.

In fact, Hindu temples are intended to persuade men in the art of removing the veil of attachment that covers their hearts. Thus the renowned poet Thiyagarajah cried in the temple at “Thirupathy” to remove the veil, O! remove the veil within me, the veil of pride and hate.”

Temples are centres of discipline where the aspirant is guided step by step to attain a vision of truth. They are schools for the training of the spirit, for the promotion of sastraic studies, they are instituted for super science, they are laboratories for the testing of the values of life and awaken the divinity in humanity. Among all the Gods in Hinduism the God Ganesha or Vinayagar is the most powerful God since he removes the obstacles of his devotees.

As the eldest son of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvathy he is worshipped by Hindus before they embark as new ventures. In all Hindu temples pujas are performed by Hindu priests first to God Ganesha and thereafter to all other deities. Further, in any religious functions in homes or temples pujas are done first to God Ganesha by breaking coconut to him with the view to remove obstacles and the success of this functions. God Ganesha has several names like Vinayagar, Wickrresurasar Katpaga Vinayagar, Arambar and Ganapathy.

Even when his younger brother Lord Muruga wanted to get married to Valli he could not succeed since he failed to worship Lord Ganesha. Thereafter with the blessings of Lord Ganesha only Lord Muruga got married to Valli.

During the Ther or Chariot Festival of Sri Sarwartha Sidhi Vinayagar Temple at Modera the statue of Lord Vinayagar is decorated and illuminated and taken along the streets in a Chariot followed by pujas and bhajans. The Chariot carved out of pure silver and laden with gold deities studded with diamonds, rubies and amethyst etc and more slowly from the temple will symbolize peace, communal harmony and prosperity.

The Chariot symbolizes human body and the statue of Lord Vinayagar is the soul. In front of the Chariot are the wooden horses depicted as galloping and the reins attached to their mouths are held in the hands of the image of Lord Vishnu.

These horses represent human passions and the reins symbolize the necessity of guiding these passion. The journey of the Chariot through the streets symbolizes the progress of life. This shows that throughout his life man must control himself and guide his passions. These passions are the motive powers, the driving force of life, but unguided will wreck a man’s life. This is the symbolic meaning of the Chariot Festival.

Hinduism Summit brings Hindus together in California

Subhamoy Das

Prominent Hindu leaders and activists from various parts of the United States and Canada gathered in Sunnyvale Hindu Temple in California to discuss current issues facing the worldwide Hindu community on August 28, 2010 or Shravan Krishna Chaturthi 5112 according to the Hindu calendar.

Organized by the Forum for Hindu Awakening (FHA), the California Hinduism Summit, first such gathering in the western USA, conferred on topics such as Hinduism preservation and unity, science behind Hinduism, Hindu living and concepts of spirituality, maintaining Hindu identity, clearing misconceptions, and so on. An exhibition of Hindu living and spiritual practices will also be organized on the occasion and the Summit ended with a question-answer session.

Hindu interfaith leader Rajan Zed was honoured with “Vishwa Nagrik Adhikar Hindu Shiromani Puraskar” or the Global Civil Rights Hindu Jewel Award on the occasion. According to Forum for Hindu Awakening, one of the Summit coordinators, Zed has been chosen for this special honour “for consistently, bravely and selflessly taking-up human and civil rights, religious freedom and equality, and issues worldwide in the spirit of Hinduism”.

Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism and Senior Fellow of Foundation for Interreligious Diplomacy, has undertaken Hindu, interfaith, religion, environment, Roma and other causes all over the world. The Summit has received blessings of various prominent religious leaders and Hindu saints from India. It also honoured Dr Mihir Meghani, Co-Founder, Hindu American Foundation - who discussed ‘Issues facing Hindus in America’ and social worker Easan Katir, who spoke on the ‘Relevance of Hinduism in America and Hindu human rights’ with the Vishwa Hindu Ratna or the Global Hindu Jewel Award.

A quote from Thirukkural

Prof M Sivasuriya

Thirukkural is a well-known ethical work in Tamil Literature written by a celebrated Tamil poet Thiruvalluvar. The quote reproduced below seem to be very appropriate to a couple who are to be married or even already married.

“If the married life possess Love and Virtue there will be both its duty and reward.

The whole design of living in the domestic state and laying up properly is to be able to exercise the benevolence of hospitality.”

Adherence to and practise of what has been quoted above would make many marriages more happy and more stable instead of vice-versa.