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nvraaTRii = NINE
NIGHTS
TO PRAY FOR LIFESTYLE BASED ON DHARm |
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The pujaa and prayers
to DuARgaa-maataa for nine-days in
form of bhk`ti were offered by
SRii raam to empower him and his army
to destroy King raavAN and his
kingdom. This historic occasion is still being celebrated in
pRuthvii-lok as the festival of
nvraaTRii. During these
nvraaTRii period meaning period of
nine nights humans are supposed to offer puujaa
and prayers to DuARgaa-maataa so that
humans are empowered and also safeguarded by the grace bestowed by
DuARgaa-maataa to live by the rules and
regulations of DHARm.....DuARgaa-maataa
is a form of manifestation of shk`ti
(powers) of mHaa-maayaa out of which
all physical bodies of all aat`maa
(souls) are created in infinite diversity of ruup
(forms) and naam (names)....
SRii raam lived for 11,000 years
in teTRaa-yug (1,296,000 years) which
follows the first yug (veDik
time era) called st`y-yug (1,726,000
years) in the veDik time concept of
repetitive cycles of 4-yug (chtuAR-yug)
of 4,432,000 years). teTRaa-yug is
followed by Dvaapr-yug of 864,000
years which is followed by the last and the 4th yug
called kli-yug of 432,000 years. We
are presently living in the 5106th year of
kli-yug. This time line means that
nvraaTRii is being celebrated by
humans in pRuthvii-lok for more than
a million years if it is assumed that SRii raam
lived in the end portion of teTRaa-yug....
That is a long period for nvraaTRii
celebrations to exist....and as is the rule in nature with age everything in
creation evolves to new forms...Also this evolution is affected by the
prevailing strength of DHARm in each
yug...based on the
veDik rule that
DHARm decreases by 25 percent in each
yug with start of st`y-yug
which provides an environment for all creations to live by following
DHARm 100 percent....In
kli-yug humans live by
DHARm only 25 percent of the
time.....Therefore nvraaTRii
celebration in kli-yug has to loose
its DHARmik intent by 75
percent....and it is already happening among the peoples celebrating
nvraaTRii in
gujraat, bhaart....DHARm
is the universal laws which sustains and cyclically re-creates all that exists
in the entire bRHmaaND (universe) and
empowers all creations to harmoniously co-exist and co-support...
Do you want to see proof of the above fact that the present day
nvraaTRii celebration has only 25
percent DHARmik intent?...please
click on the next line to read about this proof with a little bit of knowledge
sharing from veD texts about
nvraaTRii along with some primer on
the veDik concept of time and
3-lok which are domains of existence
of all creations in a bRHmaaND
(universe) with the knowledge compiled from the veD library of
SRii Champaklal Dajibhai Mistry of Edmonton,
Alberta, Canada.....
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QUICK PRIMER ON KING raavAN and
SRii raam
King raavAN through his long and
arduous tp and
bhk`ti of shiv-Daev
and boons from shiv-daev had become
powerful to reign over the 3-lok
(worldly domains) of bhu, bhuARv and
svAR. This
3-lok domain is very large in a
bRHmaaND (universe). bhu-lok
or pRuthvi-lok is the domain of
mortals. bhuARv-lok is the space
between bhu-lok and
svAR where piTRuo
(ancestors), stars and planets reside. svAR
or svARg-lok is the domain of
Daevo (divine beings) who are immortals
compared to the residents of pRuthvi-lok
or bhuARv-lok with life span ranging
from a chtuAR-yug (3.2 million years)
to klp (4.32 billion years).
SRii raam was the 7th avtaar of
viSH`ANu-daev out of the 10 avtaar
forecast for this current chtuAR-yug
we presently live in. An avtaar means
taking birth by an original embodied aat`maa
as created by creator bRH`m
with powers, body and name to suit the purpose for which the
avtaar is taken. The
avtaar of
SRii raam came about from the request of
DHARtii-maataa who is the presiding
shk`ti (deity) of
pruthvi-lok who complained to
viSH`ANu-daev that pRuthvi-lok
was inhabited by too may peoples who led aDHARmik
life....And as it is the creator bRH`m-ordained
duty of viSHANu-Daev
to ensure the all creations in the 3-lok
live the rules and regulations of DHARm
and that DHARm remains established
when threatened with destruction, viSH`ANu-Daev
incarnated as SRii raam
along with numerous Daevo from
svARg-lok to assist
SRii raam in destroying
raavAN and his evil and
aDHARmik kingdom which was terrorizes
all the creations in 3-lok.
nvraaTRii festival is celebrated
among all peoples who live veDik
lifestyles....in gujraat, Hindustaan,
nvraaTRii is celebrated with nightly
offering of folk song and dance called raas-grbaa as prayers along with
puujaa.....Now keep on reading about how
the nvraaTRii celebration is being
corrupted as forecasted above in gujraat in
this kli-yug in which people live by
the rules and regulations of DHARm
only less than 25 percent of the time....
Traditional is passé in
the modern-day garbaa
RICHA BANSAL AND PRATHIMA NANDAKUMAR
TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ MONDAY, OCTOBER 11,
2004 01:25:12 AM ]
AHMEDABAD/VADODARA:
Innovation is the name of the game when it comes to wooing the
crowds during Navratri . The traditional garba-raas is improvised with new
themes and swanky sets each year so much so that a Mumbai-based event manager
Niraj Damanwala was in for a shock when he planned a garba on the traditional
lines in Ahmedabad.
"I have been working on this for three months now. But when it came to the
crunch, I could hardly get sponsors. I don't think they are keen on my
insistence of a traditional set-up," says Damanwala.
In fact, had he chosen Vadodara, he would still have stood a chance because it
is in this sanskarnagari that tradition still holds fort. "In Vadodara, garba
has seen many innovations in terms of costumes, ambience, ritual, music and
dance movements, yet it has remained within the framework of tradition. The
basic rules are never violated but the city is at its creative best," says Parul
Shah, in-charge head of MSU's department of performing arts faculty.
Says Avantilal Chawla, who has been taking part in the Ghadiali Pol garba since
1965, "The newage garbas appear commercial. The costumes are glamorous and the
element of devotion seems to be missing. Traditionally, all devotees used to
sing and dance garba , which were based on anecdotes about Mataji."
Elsewhere in Vadodara, however, commercialisation has taken over. Talk of the
crowd-puller garbas like the United Way of Baroda, BITA or Maa Shakti and Arkee
, it is an invasion of massive sponsorship and publicity into the event.
However, the transition from devotion to glamour, has not gelled well with
old-timers.
In Ahmedabad, the impact of modernity is much more striking.
Says Falguni Hiren, who runs Spandan, a group that performs traditional garba,
"Navratri was originally a purely religious festival. The songs were either
prayers offered to 'Ma Amba' and 'Shakti' or they were sung in the praise of
Lord Krishna. 'Tali' was very important and the steps were in keeping with the
rhythm."
But today, disco beats and Hindi remixes have replaced the traditional rhythm
and the lyrics are meaningless, she says. "The big clubs have completely
commercialised it and people dance in any way they like."
Agrees Saumil Munshi, a well known musician and garba singer of the old school,
"Barring CEPT, NID and a few small societies where the traditional style is
still retained, it is total chaos elsewhere."
At NID, students begin practising a month in advance. The singers are called in
from the interiors and they only use traditional instruments. At CEPT too,
students dance in the dodhiyo style around the matka , in tune with traditional
songs.
However, at clubs like Rajpath and Karnavati, except for a couple of days when
they organise traditional garba for their members, the rest are booked by
different organisations.
So while Devang Patel will be belting out his remix garba at Karnavati, among
others, Himanshu Shah of the SOI Event Management Cell will be arranging the
show at Rajpath.
Says Shah, "Other than Rajpath, I am also organising garba at the education
ground, where the entire backdrop will be that of a space craft with props to
match. I have hired the latest sound equipment system for creating the digital
effect and there will be special lighting, crackers shows etc. We will also have
cartoon characters playing dandiya with the children."
Cosmos Castle has divided its premises into three zones — for children, adults
and youngsters with a specially created skating rink for the young crowd.
"There will be different music on all the nine days. The youngsters can dance
both on the ground or do disco garba on the skating rink with the orchestra
being placed right in the middle of the rink," says Suresh Agarwal of Cosmos.
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