Mahasiv Ratri and such......

2012-02-20

Today is Mahashivratri. It is one of the main festivals  for Hindus, schools are closed ,people are fasting and visiting Temples of Shiva. It is morning but already newspapers have news of people dying in the crowds and the buses crashing in accidents etc  etc.  I wondered why was Mahashivratri celebrated and no one around me new the reason even though they are celebrating it by fasting .

So, I turned to trusted Google and there are many reasons to celebrate Mahashivratri, the main ones being  ; 1) Shiv Lingam appeared on this day from nothing and started the beginning of life, billions of years ago 2) It is the day when Shiv and Parvati got married 3) When the Gods ( trinity)  churned the oceans , the  churned milky waters produced life forms and a very potent poison. Shiv quickly swallowed the poison otherwise the newly created life would have been destroyed and Shiv Ratri is celebrated to remind of the event and importance of Shiv.

I like the third  reason the best, it is bits of truth to it ( even though clouded  by mystery and  religion. “Billions of year” . “ life from water” …sound close to science .

Religion and religious celebrations have increased many folds since I was growing up. We grew up with the respect for the religions and Gods but also quite Atheist. At that time, right after the freedom ( 1947 onwards) , the country, let by Nehru was going through Idealist phase of society building, modernizing , democracy  and well being of all Indians regardless of caste, religion or financial status. It was the golden era of India. Over the years, even though the prosperity for few has increased exponentially, I feel the income gap , dissatisfaction and material desire has increased and so has the religious orthodoxy. It is  almost a falsity that even though the “westernization” and  education is prevalent so is the religion and celebrations.

I am told that most rich people have a partnership with GOD. They commit to certain percentage of their income towards giving to Temples and religious purposes and that;s how the Temples are filled with the riches of all sorts ( one temple is said to be even richer that Vetican…and there are many more like that) . I guess the guilt of corruption and other activities drive people ( rich and poor) to GODS for forgiveness and trying to find salvation and MOKSHA.  Most people will rather give to Temples and spend precious time and money and risk their lives to so do the “DARSHAN ( see GOD’s statue) than give to poor or take care of themselves and family.

One of many Shiv statues around

I think, two biggest business in India are  religion and education. I will talk about education later, but on the auspicious occasion of Mahashiratri , I thought I was appropriate to talk about religion. There are people like KAnkaria Aunti and others who are involved in social causes but the majority leans towards giving a percentage of income , time and energy to GODs and Temples . They feel content about their  responsibility towards this and next life.