Festive Seasons
With Deepavali & Hari Raya Puasa approaching I took the chance to approach some colleagues and asked them what are the reasons for them fasting / celebrating the season.
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Hari Raya Puasa Fasting -
Fasting is a means of attaining taqwa (piety, being conscious of their God), and taqwa means doing that which their God has enjoined & avoiding that which He has forbidden. It is stated as 1 of the 5 requirements required by Islam.
Reasons behind Fasting -
1. Fasting is a means that makes them appreciate & give thanks for pleasures. For fasting means giving up eating, drinking and intercourse, which are among the greatest pleasures. By giving them up for a short time, they can appreciate their value & thus motivates them to be grateful.
2. Fasting is a means of practising self-control. A term 'haraam' [hope I spelt that correctly] was used to describe the things they must learn to 'avoid' for these things are supposedly harmful. So fasting is like training their resistance to the 'haraam' things.
3. Fasting enables them to control their desires, because when a person is full his desires grow. A theory called Maslow's Hiearchy of Needs coincidentally illustrates that all humans have this Hiearchy of priorities which after satisfying hunger they will move up the hiearchy to desire for more things like Social Status or Material Wants. So by keeping oneself in a state of constant hunger the wants stays at just the bottom level [i.e. you only want food & nothing else].
4. Fasting makes them feel compassion and empathy towards the poor, because when the fasting person tastes the pain of hunger for a while, he remembers those who are in this situation all the time, so he will hasten to do acts of kindness to them and show compassion towards them. So fasting is a means of feeling empathy with the poor.
One thing that struck me was they had a term for their evil, it's called Shaytaan. Very resembling "Satan" dont you think? And according to some verses they even translate into "the evil that flows through the blood of the Son of Adam."
This is something new to me indeed.
5. The fasting person is training him/herself to remember that their God is watching them so by abstaining oneself from desires it's like letting their God see that they want to be like him, abstaining from desires and wants.
6. It enables them to get used to doing a great deal of acts of worship, because the fasting person usually does more acts of worship and thus gets used to that.
Note: I am not mentioning the name of their God for I feel it might not be respectful. Do correct me if any information has been misinterpreted or misunderstood.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Significance of Deepavali -
Deepavali, or Diwali as it is termed in India, is widely known as the Festival of Lights.
This celebration is supposed to last 4 days.
The first day of the festival Naraka Chaturdasi marks the vanquishing of the demon Naraka by Lord Krishna and his wife Satyabhama.
Apparently Naraka, son of Bhudevi, acquired immense power from a blessing given by Lord Brahma and unleashed a reign of terror in the kingdom of Kamarupa. The celestial beings pleaded with Lord Krishna to save them from his torture.
But Naraka could not be easily killed as he had a boon that he would face death only at the hands of his mother Bhudevi. So, Krishna asks his wife Satyabhama, the reincarnation of Bhudevi, to be his charioteer in the battle with Naraka.
When Krishna feigns unconsciousness after being hit by an arrow of Naraka, Satyabhama takes the bow and aims the arrow at Naraka, killing him instantly.
The slaying of Naraka by Sathyabhama could be interpreted that parents should not hesitate to punish their children when they stray on to the wrong path and that the good of the society should always prevail over one's own personal bonds.
The second day is Amavasya when Lakshmi puja is performed. It is believed that on this day Goddess Lakshmi would be in her benevolent mood and fulfill the wishes of her devotees. One version says that it was on this day that Goddess Lakshmi emerged from Kshira Sagara (Ocean of Milk) when the Gods and demons were churning the sagara (ocean) for nectar (Amrit)
The third day is "Kartika Shudda Padyami." On this day Bali would come out of Pathala Loka and rule Bhuloka as per the boon given by Lord Vishnu. Hence, it is also known as "Bali Padyami".
The fourth day is referred to as "Yama Dvitiya." On this day, sisters invite their brothers to their homes.
The Celebration usually takes form in lighting earthen 'diyas' (lamps), decorating the houses and inviting people to their households for partaking in a sumptuous feast. The lighting of lamps is a way of paying obeisance to god for attainment of health, wealth, knowledge, peace, valor and fame.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The friend whom I helped chereographed the dance for his performance has invited me on 14th November for his Hari Raya Celebration.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hari Raya Puasa Fasting -
Fasting is a means of attaining taqwa (piety, being conscious of their God), and taqwa means doing that which their God has enjoined & avoiding that which He has forbidden. It is stated as 1 of the 5 requirements required by Islam.
Reasons behind Fasting -
1. Fasting is a means that makes them appreciate & give thanks for pleasures. For fasting means giving up eating, drinking and intercourse, which are among the greatest pleasures. By giving them up for a short time, they can appreciate their value & thus motivates them to be grateful.
2. Fasting is a means of practising self-control. A term 'haraam' [hope I spelt that correctly] was used to describe the things they must learn to 'avoid' for these things are supposedly harmful. So fasting is like training their resistance to the 'haraam' things.
3. Fasting enables them to control their desires, because when a person is full his desires grow. A theory called Maslow's Hiearchy of Needs coincidentally illustrates that all humans have this Hiearchy of priorities which after satisfying hunger they will move up the hiearchy to desire for more things like Social Status or Material Wants. So by keeping oneself in a state of constant hunger the wants stays at just the bottom level [i.e. you only want food & nothing else].
4. Fasting makes them feel compassion and empathy towards the poor, because when the fasting person tastes the pain of hunger for a while, he remembers those who are in this situation all the time, so he will hasten to do acts of kindness to them and show compassion towards them. So fasting is a means of feeling empathy with the poor.
One thing that struck me was they had a term for their evil, it's called Shaytaan. Very resembling "Satan" dont you think? And according to some verses they even translate into "the evil that flows through the blood of the Son of Adam."
This is something new to me indeed.
5. The fasting person is training him/herself to remember that their God is watching them so by abstaining oneself from desires it's like letting their God see that they want to be like him, abstaining from desires and wants.
6. It enables them to get used to doing a great deal of acts of worship, because the fasting person usually does more acts of worship and thus gets used to that.
Note: I am not mentioning the name of their God for I feel it might not be respectful. Do correct me if any information has been misinterpreted or misunderstood.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Significance of Deepavali -
Deepavali, or Diwali as it is termed in India, is widely known as the Festival of Lights.
This celebration is supposed to last 4 days.
The first day of the festival Naraka Chaturdasi marks the vanquishing of the demon Naraka by Lord Krishna and his wife Satyabhama.
Apparently Naraka, son of Bhudevi, acquired immense power from a blessing given by Lord Brahma and unleashed a reign of terror in the kingdom of Kamarupa. The celestial beings pleaded with Lord Krishna to save them from his torture.
But Naraka could not be easily killed as he had a boon that he would face death only at the hands of his mother Bhudevi. So, Krishna asks his wife Satyabhama, the reincarnation of Bhudevi, to be his charioteer in the battle with Naraka.
When Krishna feigns unconsciousness after being hit by an arrow of Naraka, Satyabhama takes the bow and aims the arrow at Naraka, killing him instantly.
The slaying of Naraka by Sathyabhama could be interpreted that parents should not hesitate to punish their children when they stray on to the wrong path and that the good of the society should always prevail over one's own personal bonds.
The second day is Amavasya when Lakshmi puja is performed. It is believed that on this day Goddess Lakshmi would be in her benevolent mood and fulfill the wishes of her devotees. One version says that it was on this day that Goddess Lakshmi emerged from Kshira Sagara (Ocean of Milk) when the Gods and demons were churning the sagara (ocean) for nectar (Amrit)
The third day is "Kartika Shudda Padyami." On this day Bali would come out of Pathala Loka and rule Bhuloka as per the boon given by Lord Vishnu. Hence, it is also known as "Bali Padyami".
The fourth day is referred to as "Yama Dvitiya." On this day, sisters invite their brothers to their homes.
The Celebration usually takes form in lighting earthen 'diyas' (lamps), decorating the houses and inviting people to their households for partaking in a sumptuous feast. The lighting of lamps is a way of paying obeisance to god for attainment of health, wealth, knowledge, peace, valor and fame.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The friend whom I helped chereographed the dance for his performance has invited me on 14th November for his Hari Raya Celebration.
posted by Inarticulate at 9:59 AM
2 Comments:
MY gosh, if those are your baby pictures, you must been one helluva sight as a baby!
ms. beautifuk
*LOL* This was already considered passable & pic's not mine by the way, my very own picture was really ugly. I was basically labelled "beach ball" by my aunties so... thank god I look totally different now.
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