Monday, August 20, 2012

How Green Is My Valley

Monsoon has always defined the course of world's most civilizations in the long past human history. Cultures either flourished along with or vanished in the thin air leaving their traces behind, deep hidden in the barren grounds for archeologists to assumptions many. 
This is the most awaited & loved season of the year in India. Monsoon-rain factors like mountain 'Himalaya' & 'Sky' up above has always been revered and sung by poets in 'Rig Veda', the oldest writing available in India
And great many civilizations sprang up along side the rivers, in the course of time. 
Rivers have always been near to life and even in the death after..
picture at: Saraitikra, Ambikapur



picture at: Saraitikra, Ambikapur
picture at: Saraitikra, Ambikapur


picture at: Saraitikra, Ambikapur


picture at: Saraitikra, Ambikapur
picture at: Saraitikra, Ambikapur
picture at: Saraitikra, Ambikapur


picture at: Saraitikra, Ambikapur


picture at: Saraitikra, Ambikapur


picture at: Saraitikra, Ambikapur



Thursday, August 16, 2012

Faith Matters: Vedic Rituals En Masse

'Faith' is a science of bodily-powers which transcends the confine of human body and finally acts as desired/projected.

'Particle Physics' too believes that the 'Graviton' are the only closed 'String' form (particle/energy:the duality) which has capacity to move through all other 11 known dimensions.


Such is the human spirit that one fine morning we found out that villagers are busy in erecting a huge podium for their faith sake to observe the oldest known rituals of Indian civilization, that is 'Vedic' observation and offerings to 'Agni' the 'Fire'.

Temporary tents were erected in the field by the villagers for the participants..

And a temporary covered-podium for the sermon of the Saints, who were gathering from the different parts of this huge nation..

And a temporary staying-utility-there-in the field too for the guest who shall share their insight with audience..

A central canopied structure made purely of Bamboo stem & leaves with native decorations.

This centrally erected structure shall be the place of worship with a place of 'sanctum sanctorum' in the most central to it.

And the Vedic rituals of worshiping 'Fire' with various 'Mantras' from 'Rig Veda' and other age-old scriptures would contain a wish for the well-being of all humans including the mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms with the crucial balance of Nature with everything.

More references for the 'Yajna' (the sacred fire worshiping):
 (courtesy:Wikipedia)


HinduSwastika.svg


Om.svg


In Hinduism, yajna (Sanskrit यज्ञ wikt:yajna; also Anglicized as Yajna, Yadna) is a ritual of sacrifice (also "worship, prayer, praise, offering and oblation, sacrifice" according to Monier-Williams) derived from the practice in Vedic times. Yajna is a ritual of sacrificing and sublimating the havana sámagri (herbal preparations) in the fire accompanied by the chanting of the Vedic mantras. The sublime meaning of the word yajna is derived from the Sanskrit verb yaj, which has a three-fold meaning of worship of deities (devapujana), unity (saògatikaraña) and charity (dána). An essential element is the sacrificial fire - the divine Agni - into which oblations are poured, as everything that is offered into the fire is believed to reach God. As the name of the service, the term yajna is linguistically (but not functionally) cognate with Zoroastrian (Ahura) Yasna. Unlike Vedic Yajna, Zoroastrian Yasna has "to do with water rather than fire".(Drower, 1944:78; Boyce, 1975:147-191)
Rituals associated with temple worship in Hinduism are called agamic, while those involving communication with divinity through Agni are considered to be Vedic. Temple rites in modern-day Hinduism are a combination of both Vedic and agamic rituals. The ritualistic portion of the Hindu scriptures is called Karma-Kanda. Parts of Vedas which describe or discuss Yajnas or sacrifices fall into this portion. The Nambudiri Brahmins of Kerala are among the most famous Śrauta Brahmins who maintain these ancient rituals.
Today, only a few hundred individuals know how to perform these sacrifices and even fewer are able to maintain the sacred fires continuously and perform the Śrauta rituals. Only a few thousand perform the Agnihotra or basic Aupasana fire sacrifice daily .

#place:Bhitthi, Ambikapur, India.
#date:11th February, 2012