Wish you all a blessed Sri Rama Navami. Today, March 24, 2010, is Sri Rama Navami. The Sanatana Dhama Temple and Cultural Center in Maple Valley, WA is celebrating Sri Rama Navami along with Sita Rama Kalyanam on April 3, 2010. On this auspicious occasion, I thought I would write a little note about the significance of both (why celebrate?).
Sri Rama Navami is Sri Rama’s Birthday – plain and simple.
Quoting Bhagavat Gita, whenever Dharma (or righteousness) faces a grave threat and Adharma is rampant, the Supreme God (Sri Maha Vishnu) himself will come down to earth to punish the wrong doers and save the righteous. Hindu Puranas give a list of 10 such instances when the God Himself incarnated as one of the worldly creatures and saved the mankind from the personification of evil. Rama (pronounced raama) is considered one such incarnations of the God Himself (Seventh incarnation to be exact).
Ramayana, the story of Rama, portrays a story of idealism – ideal man, woman, relationships, evil, and ideal ending to the evil. Rama is known as “Aadarsha Purusha”, the model man (or the “Ideal Role Model”). Rama plays many roles in his life time, including a Son, a Son-in-Law, a Brother, a Husband, a King, a Master, and even an Enemy. In each of these roles, Rama shows how anyone must play that role in an ideal situation. He gives us a benchmark or a baseline; a goal we all must aspire to reach (thus, making Rama the ideal role model). As a normal human being, Rama struggles with each of these roles and the conflicts of interest (Role of King vs. Husband, Son vs. Brother, Enemy vs. Savior etc.) and each time, he comes through with the right decision, outlining which role takes precedence over the other (and more importantly, why). A thorough reasoning from Dharma perspective is given for every decision Rama makes throughout the Ramayana.
It is, therefore, a divine blessing to celebrate the birth and life of such a wonderful man and commit ourselves to strive towards the higher goals of life and be a model human being.
As outlined in Ramayana, Rama was born on Chaitra Maasa Shukla Paksha Navami.
According to the Hindu Lunar Calendar, each month is divided into two halves of 15 days. The first half ends with a full moon (or Purnima/Paurnami) on the 15th day and is known as Shukla Paksha (the white moon half). The second half ends with a new moon (or Amaavas/Amaavasya) on the 15th day and is known as Krishna Paksha (the black moon half). Chaitra Maasa is the first month of the lunar calendar. The days in each half are numbered in Sanskrit from one (Padhyami) through fourteen (Chaturdhasi) and the fifteenth day is either a Purnima or an Amaavas. Navami is the ninth day.
There… that’s a more complicated and real reason for celebrating Sri Rama Navami – the birth of the Supreme Lord in the form the ideal man!
Why celebrate Kalyaanotsavam?
The term Kalyaanotsavam is a union of two Sanskrit words – KalyaNa and Utsavam. Kalyaana ( कल्याण ) in Sanskrit has several meanings including prosperous, good fortune, happiness, and auspiciousness. In regular usage while referring to a marriage, it is used to denote a prosperous/happy/auspicious union of two bodies and souls (marriage). Utsavam also has several meanings including festival, celebration, ceremony, beginning etc. Kalyaanotsavam, therefore, means an auspicious festive and celebrating ceremony of unifying two bodies and souls into one (marriage ceremony).
Marriages in India are celebrated with much pomp, typically to tell the world how well-to-do the family is. Traditionally (100s of years ago), marriages were celebrated in Southern India by chanting Vedas and mantras for Seven days performing various rituals on each day. These rituals and Vedas were aimed at cleansing the environment, body, mind and soul, and bring internal joy and prosperity to all the attendees. Due to growing cost of living over the years and the busy schedule of people, the number of days was reduced to five, then to three, then to one and now to half a day. Although the rituals and Veda mantras are shortened, the spirit and idea of cleansing and bringing internal joy and prosperity still remains.
Why Sita Rama Kalyaanam?
कर्येशुदासि, करिणेशुमंत्रि।
रूपेशु लक्षमि, क्षमया धरित्रि।
भोज्येशु मत, शयनेशु वेश्य।
सत्कर्म नरि, कुल धर्म पत्नि
Such is the description of an ideal wife according to Hindu Puranas. For an ideal husband, an ideal wife takes several forms including that of a slave when it comes to working, minister while advising, Goddess Lakshmi in appearance, Mother Earth in patience, the mother of the husband while feeding him, a vashya in intimate companionship, a woman with true good actions/duties – such is a “Dharma Patni” (or wife).
Rama being the ideal husband, Sita was known to be every bit of an ideal wife as described above. Never before has there been such a heavenly union of souls, nor will there ever again be (“na bhuto na bhavishyati”). One must be really fortunate to celebrate the union of such ideal couple and learn/strive to be as such. Sita is considered a better wife for Rama than Rama was as a husband to Sita. It is also said that Sita’s love for Rama was more than Rama’s love for Sita.
Sita Rama Kalyanam, the ceremony that united this ideal couple, is more popularly known as Sita Kalyanam (and never is it called Rama Kalyanam). Hindu Puranas say that Rama without Sita is like a body without life (cannot exist). Further, the story of Sita and Rama well-articulates and proves that a husband’s existence is dependent on the righteous wife (saha dharma patni) and hence, the right way of taking the names of a couple is to spell the wife’s name first and then the husband’s name (Mrs., and Mr. Shastri, or Smt., and Sri. Yogeshwara Sharma). Such a model couple is Sita and Rama, who have been guiding marital unions for 1000s of years and generations.
In the modern day’n’age, with disintegrating families and high divorce rate, it is all-the-more important to celebrate the union of Sita and Rama, learn from their marriage life, and strive to strengthen marital and family bonds.
The actual Sita Kalyanam is said to have taken place on Margashirsha masa Shukla paksha Panchami, the fifth day of the Margashirsha masa (November/December), and is celebrated by Hindus worldwide on that day. However, performing, witnessing, or attending Sita Rama Kalyanam on any auspicious day at any temple or an auspicious location is considered immensely fortunate. The location where such a wedding is performed or celebrated is blessed by the gods and received not only by the location and the performers, but also the attendees. The aura of the auspiciousness fills the hearts, minds and souls of the attendees.
May the gods bless everyone. Sarvam Sri Sita Rama Arpanam!
cabaõૐõbabd
Also blogged on http://gollakotainc.com/GeneralTopics.aspx (External Website - Open in new window/tab) Temple Website: http://www.sdtccwa.org/ (External Website - Open in new window/)
