Tag: <span>Indian Festivals</span>

Tag: Indian Festivals

Yoga & Meditation

The Eternal Kumbh – of Yoga, Maya and Mukti

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Bharat and Sanatana Dharma is marked by stories that are eternally true. And not only that, stories that relate intimately to our experience as conscious beings on this planet. Being woven into the fabric of the land, these stories are ever present both physically outside us, as well as within. The story behind the Kumbh mela is such a one.

Yoga & Meditation

Unravelling the Deeper Meanings of Diwali

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The spiritual traditions in Bharat include thousands of stories relating to events that happened over tens of thousands of years. However, these stories don’t intend to bind us or keep us stuck in history. They intend to show us how things happened (iti-h-aas), as is relevant for us presently. The beauty of Sanatana Dharma is that while the stories do relate to actual events, they also relate to subtle understandings and often metaphorically explain to us certain truths about our human condition and how to transcend ignorance.

Devotion (Bhakti)

Krishna Janmashtami: When the Infinite Walks the Earth

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Those who follow the path of bhakti to the Saguna form of Brahman i.e. Brahman with attributes, will say that there is some intrinsic desire in the human being to know and feel the Infinite here, on Earth. To know the Infinite in form and present to our human experience.

Musings, Philosophy (Jnana)

Krishna & Holi, Light & Colours

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There is something within us that whispers, ‘choose me’. It is the voice of Light that has the potential to burst into a rainbow of colours. As we come upon Holi, the festival of colours, we also usher in the first month of the Hindu new year, Chaitra. The eve of Holi, Holika Dahan, is marked by a large bonfire where we surrender the past within us to the Light, to make way for the new. This is always a conscious choice, just as weeds grow wantonly but a flower needs deliberate planting.

Featured, Philosophy (Jnana)

Shakti and the Dance of Discernment

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O Mother, as Aruna, the crimson-coloured Goddess,Thou art like the light of morning’s rising sun to the lotus flowers symbolising the minds of gifted poets (helping their poesy to blossom forth).Therefore, those devoted ones who adore Thee become capable of delighting the minds of assemblies of literary connoisseurs with the …

Featured, Philosophy (Jnana)

Holi – Burn the Old, Celebrate Life

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The festival of Holi is often dubbed the most ‘fun’ festival that is about playing with water and colours, singing, dancing and eating. But what really is the significance of this festival apart from ‘having fun’? Or maybe that’s just it. Some reflections on Holi, a festival that conveys the wisdom of joy and the joy of wisdom.

Philosophy (Jnana)

Meaning of Diwali

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The ‘light’ has always been associated in Indian culture with wisdom and joy, with our higher Self – such references can be found in the Upanishads, ancient mantras and Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras to name a few.
Shruti Bakshi delves into the meaning of Diwali – from the traditions associated with the five days of Diwali, to the deeper spiritual significance – in the very first LWP Digest released at this auspicious time of Diwali.

Devotion (Bhakti), Featured

Who is Krishna?

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How can we understand this most colourful and attractive incarnation of the Divine? His exhalation is the Gita and his inhalation is the Leela, as Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev puts it. If we want to understand the nature of life, we must study the Gita but if we want to know the essence of Krishna, we must become his inhalation. We must approach with the devotion of Radha and Meera writes Shruti Bakshi.

Devotion (Bhakti)

Rath Jatra (Yatra) in pictures

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The Rath Jatra (Chariot Festival) is one of the most colourful, enigmatic and important festivals in India and one of the oldest of its kind, finding mention in the ancient Puranas. It is an annual festival held at the Lord Jagannath (Lord of the Universe) temple at Puri in the state of Orissa, India which is considered to have its origins in tribal culture (tribal art shows itself in the depictions of the deities of the temple) . The English word ‘juggernaut’ meaning an unstoppable force, derives from Lord Jagannath and the massive force of the Rath Jatra procession.

The festival involves the idols of the three deities of the temple – Lord Jagannath (form of Vishnu), his elder brother Balabhadra and younger sister Subhadra – along with the Sudarshana Chakra (celestial wheel) being taken out of the temple in a huge procession, to the Gundicha temple (at a distance of ~2km) where they remain for 9 days before being returned to the main temple.

The chariot (rath) of Lord Jagannath is called Nandighosha. It has 16 wheels and 832 pieces of wood are used in its construction.

This year the festival took place between 25 June and 3 July. Below are a few glimpses (credit to @shrijagannatha for the tweets).

The first day of the Rath Jatra (25 July this year) is traditionally marked by a frenzy of festivities including song, dance and rituals. Both classical Odissi and tribal dance and music is performed side by side.

The idols are carried out of the temple amid an explosion of festivities.

The ISKCON Hare Krishna movement was instrumental in making the Rath Jatra an international event that happens every year in over 108 cities around the world in the US, Canada, Europe, Russia and South East Asia.

The festival includes several rituals. One of the most important of these is the Chhera- Pahanra. This ritual is performed once the deities are brought from the sanctum of the temple, to their chariots (raths). It is part of ritual for the king of the region to come to pay respects to Lord Jagannath, perform aarti, fan the deities with a golden hand fan, offer flowers and fragrant sandalwood water and sweep the chariot with a golden broom. It is believed that the chariot cannot budge unless the king performs this ritual which symbolises humility through the complete submission to the Lord of the Universe by the lord of the land.

The Chhera-Pahanra is performed by diverse peoples, from Hindu royalty to Muslim leaders and tribal chiefs – in a spirit of universality.

Around the grand chariots are the  lesser-known Gods, Parshwadebatas, such as Harihara (composite form of Vishnu and Shiva), Ganesha (son of Shiva and Parvati and the remover of obstacles), Bhubhaneshwai (Goddess of the world), Goddess Bimala (presiding deity of Puri and identified with one of the 4 Shakti Peeths), Varahi (feminine counterpart of Lord Vishnu’s boar or varaha reincarnation), Madhusudana (Vishnu as the vanquisher of the demon Madhu), Banadurga (a form of Goddess Durga), Tantric Goddess Chamunda, Chintamani (benevolent Krishna) and Gajantaka (form of Shiva that destroyed the elephant demon Gajasura).

On the 9th day, Lord Jagannatha returns from the Gundicha temple on the day of Bahuda Jatra, culminating the festival. This was on 3 July this year.