AKSHAYA TRITEEYA--THE DAY OF WORSHIP OF SRI BHARATAMATA
Sadhu Prof. V. Rangarajan
Vaishaaka Shukla Triteeya, the third day of the bright fortnight of the month Vaishakh of Vasanta Ritu (Spring Season) according to Hindu calender, known as Akshaya Triteeya, falling on April 30, 2006, is a day auspicious for the worship of Sri Bharatamata. Mother Earth is productivity and plenty incarnate and the Spring season is resplendent with the natural glory of Mother Earth.
The mark of a true Hindu is not whether he worships any god or goddess in the Hindu pantheon, follows any system of Hindu philosophy, cult or guru, practises Hindu rites, traditions or rituals and visits Hindu temples, Maths and pilgrim centers, but whether he adores and worships his mother and Motherland that are greater than heaven. If he is not, he is a mlechcha – a non-Hindu and an outcaste. The word mlechcha was used in the past to denote those who came from outside India, who had no loyalty to this nation and to those who accepted the culture and religion of the aliens and gave up the precious cultural and spiritual heritage of the Motherland.
Rishi Bankim Chandra eulogizes Sri Bharata Bhavani in his famous Vande Mataram song with the words: "Mother I bow to Thee! Rich with thy hurrying streams, bright with Thy orchard gleams, cool with Thy winds of delight, dark fields waving, Mother of Might, Mother free". This is the Spring Glory of our Motherland. "Life on this earth, to be prosperous and happy, needs a suitable mental outlook. Such an outlook is said to dawn upon humanity with every glimpse of the slender moonlight of the crescent moon that appears on the third lunar day of each bright fortnight (shukla triteeya). Hence the selection of this tithi for the worship of the Mother", says Skandanarayan, a renowned scholar and writer on Hindu scriptures and astrology. This day is also auspicious because it is the day of the commencement of Treta Yuga which saw the advent of Maryaadaa Purushottama Sri Ramachandra. It is also the auspicious day of Sri Parasurama Jayanti. The womenfolk of Bharat adore the Divine Mother in the form of Saraswati, Lakshmi and Kali and go in for purchase of ornaments etc., which mark the prosperity of the family.
During the struggle for India’s freedom, Mahayogi Sri Aurobindo who dreamt of setting up a Bhavani Mandir, a temple dedicated to Bharatamata, presented his ideal in inspiring words:
“We cannot get strength unless we adore the Mother of Strength. We will therefore build a temple to the white Bhavani, the Mother of Strength, the Mother of India. This temple will be the centre from which Her worship is to flow over the whole country…. This is also what the Mother has commanded.”
“The Shakti we call India, Bhavani Bharati, is a living unity of the Shaktis of 300 million people (then in about 1907). It is not a piece of earth, nor a figure of speech, nor a fiction of the mind. This is our mother country.”
“Adoration will be dead and ineffective unless it is transmuted into Karma (action). We will have, therefore, a Math with a new Order of Karmayogins attached to the temple, men who have renounced all in order to work for the Mother.”
Who is a True Hindu?
Hiranmayena paatrena satyasyaapihitam mukham
Tattvam pooshan apaavrunu satya dharmaaya drishthaye!
"The face of Truth is covered with a golden chalice! Oh Nourisher of the world, please unveil it so that we shall see the face of Truth-Righteousness!!"—This is the fervent prayer of the Vedic Rishi in the Kathopanishad. We too have to cry out and pray earnestly to the Divine Mother if we have to see the true face of the Hindu. And when the Mother unveils for us the true face of the Hindu, we will be shell shocked to realize that Hindus are an insignificant minority in this very land of Bharatavarsha.
If we go by the definition of the word Hindu—
Aasindhu sindhuparyetaa yasya Bhaarata bhoomikaa,
Pitrubhoo, punyabhoo sa vai Hinduriti smritah
—"All those who adore and worship this Bharatavarsha extending from the River Sindhu in the north to the Sindhu, that is Hindumahasagar or Indian Ocean, in the south, as the land of their forefathers and the holy land, alone are Hindus"—then the majority of the people living in this country do not qualify themselves to be called Hindus. How many of the Hindus in our land today adore and worship the Motherland every day? Breaking a coconut while doing bhumi pooja once or twice in a lifetime, on occasions like laying of foundation for a house or shop, is not adoration or worship of the Motherland. It is an utterly selfish act prompted by a superstitious belief that something will happen to the structure if it is not built after bhoomipooja. How many of the so called Hindus touch the Mother Earth every morning when they get up from the bed, uttering the traditional prayer to the Mother to forgive them for the sacrilege of placing their feet on Her holy dust—
Samudravasane devi, parvata sthanamandale
Vishnupatnee namastubhyam paadasparsham kshamaswa me—
"Oh Mother Bhudevi, the Divine Consort of Lord Vishnu, who wears the oceans as cloth, whose breasts are the mighty mountains, salutations unto You; please forgive me for the sin of placing my legs on you"
—and touch the sacred dust of Motherland with both the hands and place them with all reverence on their heads and hearts?
The great Tamil poet-philosopher, Mahakavi C. Subramania Bharati, addressing the little kids of his Motherland, sang:--
Chedamillaata Hindusthaanam
Atai deivamenru kumbidadi paappaa—
"Oh little child, adore and worship the Undivided Hindustan—Akhanda Bharat—as your Goddess."
Vaishaaka Shukla Triteeya, the third day of the bright fortnight of the month Vaishakh of Vasanta Ritu (Spring Season) according to Hindu calender, known as Akshaya Triteeya, falling on April 30, 2006, is a day auspicious for the worship of Sri Bharatamata. Mother Earth is productivity and plenty incarnate and the Spring season is resplendent with the natural glory of Mother Earth.
The mark of a true Hindu is not whether he worships any god or goddess in the Hindu pantheon, follows any system of Hindu philosophy, cult or guru, practises Hindu rites, traditions or rituals and visits Hindu temples, Maths and pilgrim centers, but whether he adores and worships his mother and Motherland that are greater than heaven. If he is not, he is a mlechcha – a non-Hindu and an outcaste. The word mlechcha was used in the past to denote those who came from outside India, who had no loyalty to this nation and to those who accepted the culture and religion of the aliens and gave up the precious cultural and spiritual heritage of the Motherland.
Rishi Bankim Chandra eulogizes Sri Bharata Bhavani in his famous Vande Mataram song with the words: "Mother I bow to Thee! Rich with thy hurrying streams, bright with Thy orchard gleams, cool with Thy winds of delight, dark fields waving, Mother of Might, Mother free". This is the Spring Glory of our Motherland. "Life on this earth, to be prosperous and happy, needs a suitable mental outlook. Such an outlook is said to dawn upon humanity with every glimpse of the slender moonlight of the crescent moon that appears on the third lunar day of each bright fortnight (shukla triteeya). Hence the selection of this tithi for the worship of the Mother", says Skandanarayan, a renowned scholar and writer on Hindu scriptures and astrology. This day is also auspicious because it is the day of the commencement of Treta Yuga which saw the advent of Maryaadaa Purushottama Sri Ramachandra. It is also the auspicious day of Sri Parasurama Jayanti. The womenfolk of Bharat adore the Divine Mother in the form of Saraswati, Lakshmi and Kali and go in for purchase of ornaments etc., which mark the prosperity of the family.
During the struggle for India’s freedom, Mahayogi Sri Aurobindo who dreamt of setting up a Bhavani Mandir, a temple dedicated to Bharatamata, presented his ideal in inspiring words:
“We cannot get strength unless we adore the Mother of Strength. We will therefore build a temple to the white Bhavani, the Mother of Strength, the Mother of India. This temple will be the centre from which Her worship is to flow over the whole country…. This is also what the Mother has commanded.”
“The Shakti we call India, Bhavani Bharati, is a living unity of the Shaktis of 300 million people (then in about 1907). It is not a piece of earth, nor a figure of speech, nor a fiction of the mind. This is our mother country.”
“Adoration will be dead and ineffective unless it is transmuted into Karma (action). We will have, therefore, a Math with a new Order of Karmayogins attached to the temple, men who have renounced all in order to work for the Mother.”
Who is a True Hindu?
Hiranmayena paatrena satyasyaapihitam mukham
Tattvam pooshan apaavrunu satya dharmaaya drishthaye!
"The face of Truth is covered with a golden chalice! Oh Nourisher of the world, please unveil it so that we shall see the face of Truth-Righteousness!!"—This is the fervent prayer of the Vedic Rishi in the Kathopanishad. We too have to cry out and pray earnestly to the Divine Mother if we have to see the true face of the Hindu. And when the Mother unveils for us the true face of the Hindu, we will be shell shocked to realize that Hindus are an insignificant minority in this very land of Bharatavarsha.
If we go by the definition of the word Hindu—
Aasindhu sindhuparyetaa yasya Bhaarata bhoomikaa,
Pitrubhoo, punyabhoo sa vai Hinduriti smritah
—"All those who adore and worship this Bharatavarsha extending from the River Sindhu in the north to the Sindhu, that is Hindumahasagar or Indian Ocean, in the south, as the land of their forefathers and the holy land, alone are Hindus"—then the majority of the people living in this country do not qualify themselves to be called Hindus. How many of the Hindus in our land today adore and worship the Motherland every day? Breaking a coconut while doing bhumi pooja once or twice in a lifetime, on occasions like laying of foundation for a house or shop, is not adoration or worship of the Motherland. It is an utterly selfish act prompted by a superstitious belief that something will happen to the structure if it is not built after bhoomipooja. How many of the so called Hindus touch the Mother Earth every morning when they get up from the bed, uttering the traditional prayer to the Mother to forgive them for the sacrilege of placing their feet on Her holy dust—
Samudravasane devi, parvata sthanamandale
Vishnupatnee namastubhyam paadasparsham kshamaswa me—
"Oh Mother Bhudevi, the Divine Consort of Lord Vishnu, who wears the oceans as cloth, whose breasts are the mighty mountains, salutations unto You; please forgive me for the sin of placing my legs on you"
—and touch the sacred dust of Motherland with both the hands and place them with all reverence on their heads and hearts?
The great Tamil poet-philosopher, Mahakavi C. Subramania Bharati, addressing the little kids of his Motherland, sang:--
Chedamillaata Hindusthaanam
Atai deivamenru kumbidadi paappaa—
"Oh little child, adore and worship the Undivided Hindustan—Akhanda Bharat—as your Goddess."
at 7:51 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home