Father’s Day: The First Superhero to his children

Posted on June 17, 2022 by memoriesandsuch

On Sunday, across most of the world, people will celebrate Father’s Day.

Anyone can father a child, but being a dad takes a lifetime. Fathers play a role in every child’s life that cannot be filled by others. Children look to their fathers to lay down the rules and enforce them. They also look to their fathers to provide a feeling of security, both physical and emotional. Children want to make their fathers proud, and an involved father promotes inner growth and strength. Studies have shown that when fathers are affectionate and supportive, it greatly affects a child’s cognitive and social development as well as instils an overall sense of well-being and self-confidence. A father influences the way the child sees relationships and a daughter will decide who her future partner is based on the relationship between her mother and her father as well as how she sees her father treating others. A son, on the other hand, will model himself on his father’s character because he sees his father as the role model for how an adult male should behave. And this is not just for biological fathers, even father figures play a very important role in a child’s life.

Children with sensitive and supportive fathers have higher levels of social competence and better peer relationships. Children whose fathers provide them with learning materials and speak with them frequently perform better in school and have more advanced language skills. A father also influences a child’s well-being indirectly through his relationship with the child’s mother. Conflicts between parents is detrimental to a child’s well-being, especially if the conflict is hostile and unresolved. Supportive co-parenting relationships, by contrast, are related to better self-regulation and fewer behaviour problems in children.

For centuries, the Eastern Orthodox Church has appointed the second Sunday before Nativity as the Sunday of the Forefathers to commemorate the ancestors of Christ according to the flesh, starting with Adam and emphasising the Patriarch Abraham. This feast can fall between December 11 and 17 and includes the ancestors of the Mother Mary. A customary day for the celebration of fatherhood in Catholic Europe is known to date back to at least 1508. It is usually celebrated on March 19, as the feast day of Saint Joseph, who is referred to as the fatherly Nutritor Domini or the Nourisher of the Lord in Catholicism and the putative father of Jesus in southern European tradition. This celebration was brought to the Americas by the Spanish and Portuguese with the Catholic Church actively supporting the custom of a celebration of fatherhood on St. Joseph’s Day from either the last years of the 14th century or from the early 15th century, on the initiative of the Franciscans. In the Coptic Orthodox Church, the celebration of fatherhood dates back to the 15th century is also observed on St Joseph’s Day, but on July 20.

The day which is mostly celebrated today originated in the United States. This day was not celebrated in that country until the 20th century outside of the catholic traditions. People started celebrating in the early 20th century to complement Mother’s Day by celebrating fathers and male parenting. After Anna Jarvis’ successful promotion of Mother’s Day in Grafton, West Virginia, the first observance of a day honouring fathers was held on July 5, 1908, in West Virginia. In 1911, Jane Addams proposed that a citywide Father’s Day celebration be held in Chicago, but she was turned down. On June 19, 1910, a Father’s Day celebration was held in Washington state by Sonora Smart Dodd to honour her father Willday and felt fathers should also have a similar holiday to honour them. Although she initially suggested June 5, her father’s birthday, the celebration was deferred to the third Sunday in June and on June 19, 1910, the first Father’s Day was celebrated.

However, in the 1920s, Dodd stopped promoting the celebration because she was studying and it faded into relative obscurity, but she started promoting the celebrations again in the 1930s. She had the help of retailers who realised that such a celebration would help promote their products and services, which are specifically targeted at men. In addition to Father’s Day, International Men’s Day is celebrated in many countries on November 19 to honour both men and boys.

Fathers are important to children’s well-being. Sensitive, supportive, and involved fathers contribute to children’s physical, cognitive, emotional, and social adjustment. Fathers also influence children’s well-being in conjunction with mothers and other caregivers, making it important to understand father-child relationships as part of entire family systems.

To all my readers who are fathers and father figures, here’s wishing you a very Happy Father’s Day! And to those who have fathers or father figures, please take some time on Sunday to spend with them and wish them.

Music Appreciation: The most potent instrument of education

Posted on August 4, 2021 by memoriesandsuch

When I was young, most people I knew had a subscription to a local music sabha. A sabha is supposed to be a congregration or an assembly in ancient India and in the south, a music sabha is a conregration for music lovers, especially during the music season. Close to our home and very close to my grand mother’s home was the music sabha we went to. My grand parents were members and when they moved out of Bombay (when it was still Bombay and had not yet been renamed to Mumbai), my parents took over the membership.

I remember a representative from the sabha would come home once every few months and pass us the membership card along with the sabha schedule for the next few months. This was way before social media and mobile phones, so everything was done manually. This sabha was one of the most prestigiuous sabhas in Bombay at that time. It was established a few years after India’s independence with the aim of promoting the fine arts and provide a platform to showcase various artists in the various areas of the fine arts, especially music, dance and drama.

My parents and grand parents from both sides used to look forward to this programme and we would also be taken to the sabha for a dose of culture and music appreciation. Sometimes when a friend was also going there, we would not mind going, but most times we would rebel. When they could not get us to accompany them, my mum would leave us at my grandmother’s house which was just 2-3 minutes away from the sabha and go and enjoy the concert. We would enjoy the next few hours in the company of friends and when the concert ended, they would come to my grand mother’s house, have dinner and go home. Most of the concerts used to involve classical Carnatic music and dancen and when a distinguished artist was scheduled to perform, people would beg and borrow extra passes so family and friends could also listen and see the artist at play.

When a distinguished artist was performing, we would all troop down to the sabha and any requests to stay at home would not be entertained as this would be a rare opportunity to hear and see such a distinguished performer. Relatives who stayed in other parts of the city would also make their way and I remember an aunt, my mother’s sister who was herself a singer and had learnt Carnatic music when she was younger would come down, especially if the concert was on a Saturday and stay at her mum’s place so she could attend it. I remember either attending or my parents attending performances by M.S Subbulakshmi among other celebrated artists.

When I just finished school, the sabha was unfortunately destroyed in a devastating fire and for a very long time all performances were stopped while it was being rebuilt. By then, we had all grown up and after a few more years of being members, my parents also gave up their membership and the sabha is now just a distant memory or a place for nostalgia when we pass by it.

Though I didn’t really recognise it then, this forced attendance has help me appreciate music. Though I did learn Carnatic music and my sister learnt Bharatanatyam, as did pretty much every tambram girl I knew, we did not take it up far and gave it up when school got too much for us. But those lessons and the concerts and dance performances we attended gave us a appreciation of what good music was all about. We learnt how to carry a tune and recognise when someone is out of tune. Even today, when I hear music which is even slightly out of tune, even though I may not recognise the raga being played, I know it is not correct and I wince, mostly unconsciously.

Today, research has confirmed what our parents and grandparents instinctively knew. That when you learn and listen and appreciate good music, it is extremely beneficial, especially to young children. Music is a megavitamin for the brain, the ultimate mood enhancer for emotional balance, a golden key for unlocking creativity, the secret code behind health and longevity, and the connective fiber between human beings of all races, nationalities and generations.

Musical training helps develop language and reasoning as it develops the areas of the brain related to language and reasoning. Children who are exposed to music early are more emotionally developed with empathy towards other cultures and also tend to have a higher self esteem and are better at coping with anxiety. Math and pattern recognition skills are developed with a music education and someone who has learnt music can better detect meaningful, information-bearing elements in sounds. Music also builds the imagination and intellectual curiosity and help foster a positive attitude toward learning and curiosity. An artistic education develops the whole brain and develops a child’s imagination. It is universally known that music helps fight stress and can be incredibly relaxing and also develop spatial intelligence in children.

When I look back in hindsight, I am so thankful to my parents for forcing this on me, even when I could not see it then. At that time, all it meant that going to classical concerts and dance performances meant that my Saturday evenings were being wasted, and I could use that time to play with friends. But today, as I do the same to my children, I realise how much this has benefitted me. GG & BB started learning Carnatic vocal music at about the age of seven. BB dropped it when he was about 12, when puberty hit and his voice started to break, but GG has still continued to learn. When I told her she could drop it if she wanted to, she told me it was very relaxing and wanted to continue. I do believe that these forced lessons have made them appreciate good music, even if their current music taste is not classical. GG also learnt western ballet for almost a decade, but gave it up when school got too much to balance. Today GG continues to sing, both classical and other music while BB, who actually has a good voice and a head for tune, sings very casually, though he will not really admit it.

Festivals of India: Baisakhi

Posted on April 14, 2021 by memoriesandsuch

Today marks the beginning of the Hindu solar new year and this means its festival time! The new year is set in sync with the solar cycle of the lunisolar Hindu calendar and it falls on or about 14 April every year according to the Gregorian calendar. Across the Indian subcontinent, various communities celebrate the day as their new year. It is the New Year’s Day for Hindus in Assam, Bengal, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Kerala, Odisha, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Uttrakhand and other parts of India. However, this is not the universal new year for all Hindus. For some, such as those in and near Gujarat, the new year festivities coincide with the five-day Diwali festival. For others, the new year falls on Cheti Chand, Gudi Padwa and Ugadi which falls a few weeks earlier. Essentially a spring harvest festival, in the state of Punjab, it is known as Baisakhi, Vaisakhi or Vaisakha Sankranti as it marks the first day of the month of Vaisakha.

Baisakhi is a historical and religious festival in both Hinduism and Sikhism. For Hindus, the festival is their traditional solar new year, a harvest festival, an occasion to bathe in sacred rivers such as the Ganges, Jhelum, and Kaveri, visit temples, meet friends and take part in other festivities. For the Sikhs, Vaisakhi observes major events in the history of Sikhism and the Indian subcontinent that happened in the Punjab region.

The significance of Baisakhi as a major Sikh festival marking the birth of the Sikh order started after the persecution and execution of Guru Tegh Bahadur for refusing to convert to Islam under the orders of the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb. This triggered the coronation of the tenth Guru of Sikhism and the historic formation of the Khalsa, both on the Vaisakhi day. The Khalsa tradition started in the year 1699, as it is on this day that the 10th Guru of the Sikhs, Guru Gobind Singh laid down the foundation of the Panth Khalsa, that is the Order of the Pure Ones, by baptising Sikh warriors to defend religious freedoms. This gave rise to the Vaisakhi or Baisakhi festival observed as a celebration of Khalsa Panth formation and is also known as Khalsa Sirjana Divas and Khalsa Sajna Divas. The Birth of the Khalsa Panth was probably on 30 March 1699. Since 2003, the Sikh Gurdwara Prabhandak Committee named it Baisakh or Vaisakh, making the first day of the second month of Vaisakh according to its new Nanakshahi calendar. A special celebration takes place at the Talwandi Sabo, where Guru Gobind Singh stayed for nine months and completed the recompilation of the Guru Granth Sahib, in the Gurudwara at Anandpur Sahib the birthplace of the Khalsa, and at the Golden Temple in Amritsar.

Ranjit Singh was proclaimed as Maharaja of the Sikh Empire on 12 April 1801, which was the Baisakhi day, creating a unified political state with Sahib Singh Bedi, a descendant of Guru Nanak dev, conducting the coronation. Vaisakhi was also the day when the British colonial empire official, General Reginald Dyer, committed the Jallianwala Bagh massacre on a gathering, an event influential to the Indian movement against colonial rule.

On Baisakhi, Mandirs and Gurdwaras are decorated. Hindus perform a mandatory daan or charity especially of hand fans, water pitchers and seasonal fruits. A ritual dip in the Ganga river or other holy water bodies is often performed and community fairs are held at Hindu pilgrimage sites and in many areas, a procession of temple deities is taken out. Sikhs hold kirtans, visit local Gurdwaras, community fairs and Nagar kirtan processions are held, and people gather to socialise and share festive foods.

The tradition of celebrating Baisakhi among Punjabi Hindus predates the birth of Sikhism. In undivided Punjab, before India’s partition, the Hindu shrine of Katas Raj was known for its Baisakhi fair which was attended by around 10,000 pilgrims, mostly Hindus. Similarly, at the shrine of Bairagi Baba Ram Thaman, a Baisakhi fair was held annually since the 16th century, which is today in Kausar in Pakistan’s Punjab, which was attended by around 60,000 pilgrims and Bairagi saints from all over India used to throng the shrine. The most spectacular gathering of the Baisakhi fair is at Thakurdwara of Bhagwan Narainji at Pandori Mahatan village in Gurdaspur district of Punjab where the fair lasts for three days from the 1st day of Vaisakha to the 3rd day of Vaisakha. The celebrations start in form of a procession on the morning of the 1st day of Vaisakha, carrying the Mahant in a palanquin by Brahmacharis and devotees. After that, the Navgraha Puja is held and charities in money, grains and cows are done. At sunset, the Sankirtan is held in which the Mahant delivers religious discourses and concludes it by distributing prasad or holy offerings of Patashas or candy drops. Pilgrims also do the ritual bath at the sacred tank in the shrine.

According to the Khalsa Sambat, the Khalsa calendar started with the creation of the Khalsa which was 13 April 1699 and accordingly, Baisakhi has been the traditional Sikh New Year. The alternative Nanakshahi calendar begins its year a month earlier on 1 Chait which generally falls on 14 March and begins with the birth year of the Guru Nanak Dev in 1469.

Vaisakhi is an important festival among Dogra Hindus of the Jammu region. On this day, people get up early in the morning, throng the rivers, canals, and ponds and take a ritual dip on this occasion. In Dogra households, a puja or prayer is performed then and part of the food crop is offered to the deities. New fruits of the year are enjoyed with the ritual bath at the Tawi river being common in Jammu. Baisakhi is celebrated at Udhampur on the banks of the Devika river where for three days devotees enjoy folk songs. At Sudhmahadev, this festival is celebrated with great pomp and show where folk singers come down and competition of folk songs is held. You will find vendors with stalls of eatables and games during this time. People also go to the Nagbani temple near Jammu to witness the grand new year celebration. The occasion is marked by numerous fairs and people come by the thousands to celebrate the festival.

In Himachal Pradesh, Baisakhi is an important festival for the Hindus. People get up early in the morning and have their ritual bath. Two earthen lamps are lit on this day, one with oil and the other with ghee and kept in a large saucer along with a water pot, blades of evergreen turf, Kusha, Incense, sandal, vermillion and money and the household deities are worshipped with all these items. Alms are given in form of rice and pulses with small coins called Nasrawan. Fried cakes of black gram prepared a day in advance are distributed to neighbours after the prayers and other special delicacies are prepared. In the evenings’ people enjoy the many fairs organised for three days.

In the state of Haryana, Baisakhi is celebrated with a fair in Kurukshetra at Baan Ganga Tirtha, which is associated with Lord Arjuna of the Mahabharata. There is a Vaisakhi tradition of a ritual bath at the sacred tank of Baan Ganga Tirtha and a fair is held annually on Baisakhi. The Haryana government also organises a Baisakhi festival in Pinjore Gardens to commemorate this festival.

In the state of Uttar Pradesh, Baisakhi is also known as Sattua or Satwahi, as Sattu, made by dry roasting and finely grinding grams is donated and consumed on this day. The common rites during this festival are bathing in a river or pond and eating sattu and jaggery.

Wishing everyone who celebrates this festival a very Happy New Year! Enjoy this day and especially the yummy food, though socialising may still not be allowed under social distancing norms in most countries.

Festivals of India: Janmashtami

Posted on August 12, 2020 by memoriesandsuch

Yesterday was the Hindu festival of Krishna Janmashtami, also known as Janmashtami or Gokulashtami, an annual Hindu festival that celebrates the birth of Krishna, the eighth avatar of Vishnu. It is observed according to the Hindu luni-solar calendar, on the eighth day or Ashtami of the Krishna Paksha or the dark fortnight in Shraavana or Bhadrapad, depending on whether the calendar chooses the new moon or full moon day as the last day of the month, which overlaps with August/September of the Gregorian calendar.

It is an important festival particularly to the Vaishnavism tradition of Hinduism. Dance-drama enactments of the life of Krishna according to the Bhagavata Purana, such as the Rasa lila or Krishna Lila, devotional singing through the midnight when Krishna was born, fasting, a night vigil, and a festival on the following day are a part of the Janmashtami celebrations. It is celebrated particularly in Mathura and Vrindavan, along with major Vaishnava and non-sectarian communities pretty across India, each with their own unique spin in the festivities. This is followed by the festival of Nandotsav, which celebrates the occasion when Nanda Baba distributed gifts to the community in honour of Lord Krishna’s birth. This is a festival celebrated in the Braj region where on hearing about Krishna’s birth, all the villagers visited Nand Baba’s house to see little Krishna and congratulate Mata Yashoda. Nand Baba distributed ornaments, clothes, cattle and various other valuables among saints and sages, who bestowed blessings on Lord Krishna in return. In Vrindavan this festival is celebrated in the Radha Vallabh Temple. Panchamrit abhisheka and Maha aarti are performed in honour of the Lord’s birth. On this day people also celebrate ‘Govinda’ across many parts of India where devotees form small groups and break pots of butter called Maakhan Haandis tied to ropes on high rise buildings.

Krishna is Devaki and Vasudeva Anakadundubhi’s son and his birthday is celebrated by Hindus as Janmashtami, particularly those of the Gaudiya Vaishnavism tradition as he is considered the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Janmashtami is celebrated when Krishna is believed to have been born according to Hindu tradition, which is in Mathura, at midnight on the eighth day of Bhadrapada month which happens sometime in August or September of each year according to the Gregorian calendar. Born in an era of chaos and rampant persecution, Krishna’s birth was seen as a threat to life by his maternal uncle King Kansa and so to foil this threat, his parents Devaki and Vasudev were imprisioned by Kansa. Immediately following the birth at Mathura, his father Vasudeva Anakadundubhi takes Krishna across Yamuna, to foster parents in Gokul, named Nanda and Yashoda. This legend is celebrated on Janmashtami by people keeping fast, singing devotional songs of love for Krishna, and keeping a vigil into the night. After Krishna’s midnight hour birth, statues of baby Krishna are washed and clothed, then placed in a cradle. The devotees then break their fast, by sharing food and sweets. Women draw tiny foot prints outside their house doors and kitchen, walking towards their house, a symbolism for Krishna’s journey into their homes.

Hindus celebrate Janmashtami by fasting, singing, praying together, preparing and sharing special food, night vigils and visiting Krishna or Vishnu temples. Major Krishna temples organize recitation of ‘’Bhagavata Purana and Bhagavad Gita and many communities organise dance-drama events called Rasa Lila or Krishna Lila. The tradition of Rasa Lila is particularly popular in Mathura region, in northeastern states of India such as Manipur and Assam, and in parts of Rajasthan and Gujarat and these begin a few days before each Janmashtami.

Popularly called Gokulashtami in Maharashtra, the festival is celebrated with the breaking of the Dahi Handi the day after Janmashtami. Literally meaning “earthen pot of yoghurt”. The festival gets this popular regional name from legend of baby Krishna who would seek and steal milk products such as yoghurt and butter and people would hide their supplies high up out of the baby’s reach. Krishna would try all sorts of creative ideas in his pursuit, such as making human pyramids with his friends to break these high hanging pots. In Maharashtra, this Krishna legend is played out as a community tradition, where pots of yoghurt are hung high up, sometimes with tall poles or from ropes hanging from second or third floors of a building. Teams of youth and boys called “Govindas” go around to these hanging pots, climb one over another form a human pyramid, then break the pot. Its quite fun to watch, though can be very dangerous at times, especially when the pots are hung very high.

People in Dwarka in Gujarat – where Krishna is believed to have established his kingdom – celebrate the festival with a tradition similar to Dahi Handi, called Makhan Handi or a pot with freshly churned butter. Others perform folk dances at temples, sing bhajans, visit the Krishna temples such as at the Dwarkadhish Temple or Nathdwara. In the Kutch district, farmers decorate their bullock carts and take out Krishna processions, with group singing and dancing. The carnival-style and playful poetry and works of Dayaram, a scholar of the Pushtimarg of Vaishnavism, is particularly popular during Janmashtami in Gujarat and Rajasthan.

Janmashtami is the largest festival in the Braj region of north India, in Mathura where Krishna was born, and in Vrindavan where he grew up. Vaishnava communities here celebrate Janmashtami where Krishna temples are decorated and lighted up, attracting numerous visitors on the day, while Krishna devotees hold bhakti events and keep a night vigil.

Janmashtami is widely celebrated by Hindu Vaishnava communities of eastern and northeastern India. The widespread tradition of celebrating Krishna in these regions is credited to the efforts and teachings of 15th and 16th century Sankardeva and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. They developed philosophical ideas, as well as new forms of performance arts to celebrate the Hindu god Krishna such as Borgeet, Ankia Naat, Sattriya and Bhakti yoga now popular in West Bengal and Assam. Further east, Manipur people developed Manipuri dance form, a classical dance form known for its Hindu Vaishnavism themes, and which like Sattriya includes love-inspired dance drama arts of Radha-Krishna called Raslila. The Shree Govindajee Temple and the ISKCON temples particularly mark the Janmashtami festival. Janmashtami is celebrated in Assam at homes, in community centers called Namghars and temples. According to the tradition, the devotees sing the Nam, perform pujas and share food and prasada.

Gokula Ashtami as the festival is called in South India is celebrated in Tamil Nadu with kolams or decorative pattern drawn with rice batter. Then footprints of baby Krishna are drawn from the threshold of the house till the pooja room, depicting the arrival of Lord Krishna into the house. A recitation of Bhagwadgita is also a popular practise. The festival is celebrated in the evening as Krishna was born at midnight. In Andhra Pradesh, recitation of shlokas and devotional songs are the characteristics of this festival. Another unique feature of this festival in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana is that young boys are dress up as Lord Krishna and visit neighbors and friends. Eatables along with milk and curd are prepared to make offerings to Krishna. Legend says that the Sree Krishna Idol installed in Guruvayur is from Dwarka which is believed to be submerged in the sea.

This festival is also celebrated with much joy and gusto outside of India where the diaspora lives. It is a public holiday in countries like Bangladesh and Fiji.

I used to enjoy celebrating it, especially when BB & GG were younger. We used to use them to make tiny footprints from our home’s entrance to our home altar. Since it is not a holiday here in Singapore, I didn’t make the traditional offerings, but would instead rustle up something after work and pray to baby Krishna. This year, I did make some of the traditional offering which was not too badam planning to make some of the traditional offerings, so wish me luck!

Festivals of India: Guru Purnima

Posted on July 6, 2020 by memoriesandsuch

Guru Gobind dono khade, kaake laagu pa aye | Balihari Guru aapne, Govind diyo bataye ||
Teacher and God both are standing whom should I greet first; I will great the teacher first because it is only due to him that I came to know about God!
– Sant Kabir

In a country where education is seen as sacroscant, it is no wonder, teachers are placed on a high pedestal. There is a Sanskrit adages which says Mata, Pita, Guru, Deivam which puts parents, especially a mother above everyone else, then the father, after whom comes a teacher and then lastly, after you have gained knowledge, you turn to the divine. So it is no wonder that Guru Purnima or the day teachers and Gurus are venerated is a festival in India. Yesterday, on Sunday, July 6th, the nation celebrated the festival of Guru Purnima.

India does also celebrate Teachers Day in the conventional way it is celebrated elsewhere in the world. Teacher’s Day in India is celebrated on 5th September each year in honour of Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan who was born on this day and was India’s the first Vice President and second President. Dr. Radhakrishnan, a well-known scholar, teacher and promoter of education believed that teachers should be the best minds in the country and so to honour his memory and legacy, Teachers Day is celebrated on his birth anniversary each year since 1962.

Guru Purnima also known as Vyasa Purnima marks the birthday of Ved Vyasa. It is a spiritual tradition in Hindu culture dedicated to spiritual and academic teachers, who are evolved or enlightened humans, ready to share their wisdom, with very little or no monetary expectation, based on Karma Yoga. It is celebrated as a festival in India, Nepal and Bhutan by the Hindus, Jains and Buddhists. This festival is traditionally observed by Hindus, Buddhists and Jains to revere their chosen spiritual teachers and leaders and express their gratitude. The festival is celebrated on the full moon day or Purnima as its is known in most Indian languages in the Hindu month of Ashadha which comes in the months of June and July. The festival was revived by Mahatma Gandhi to pay tribute to his spiritual guru Shrimad Rajchandra.

The celebration is marked by spiritual activities and may include a ritualistic event in honor of the Guru that is, the teachers, which is called Guru Pooja. The Guru Principle is said to be a thousand times more active on the day of Guru Purnima than on any other day. The word Guru is derived from two words, gu and ru. The Sanskrit root gu means darkness or ignorance, and ru denotes the remover of that darkness. Therefore, a Guru is one who removes the darkness of our ignorance. Gurus are believed by many to be the most necessary part of life. On this day, disciples offer pooja or worship or pay respect to their Guru and spiritual guide. In addition to having religious importance, this festival has great importance for Indian academics and scholars. Indian academics celebrate this day by thanking their teachers as well as remembering past teachers and scholars.

Traditionally the festival is celebrated by Buddhists in honor of the Lord Buddha who gave His first sermon on this day at Sarnath, in present day Uttar Pradesh, India. In the yogic tradition, the day is celebrated as the occasion when Shiva became the first Guru, as he began the transmission of yoga to the Saptarishis. Many Hindus celebrate the day in honor of the great sage Vyasa, who is seen as one of the greatest Gurus in ancient Hindu traditions and a symbol of the Guru-shishya tradition. Vyasa was not only believed to have been born on this day, but also to have started writing the Brahma Sutras on Ashadha Sudha Padyami, which ends on this day. Their recitations are a dedication to him, and are organised on this day, which is also known as Vyasa Purnima. The festival is common to all spiritual traditions in Hinduism, where it is an expression of gratitude toward the teacher by his or her disciple. Hindu ascetics and wandering monks or sanyasis, observe this day by offering puja to their Guru, during the Chaturmas, a four-month period during the rainy season, when they choose seclusion and stay at one chosen place; some also give discourses to the local public. Students of Indian classical music and Indian classical dance, which also follow the Guru shishya parampara, celebrate this holy festival around the world.According to the Puranas, Lord Shiva is considered the first Guru.

This was the day when Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, the author of the Hindu epic, the Mahabharata was born to sage Parashara and a fisherman’s daughter Satyavati and so this day is also celebrated as Vyasa Purnima. Veda Vyasa did yeoman service to the cause of Vedic studies by gathering all the Vedic hymns extant during his times, dividing them into four parts based on their use in the rites, characteristics and teaching them to his four chief disciples – Paila, Vaisampayana, Jaimini and Sumantu. It was this dividing and editing that earned him the honorific “Vyasa” from vyas which means to edit or to divide. He is said to have divided the Holy Veda into four, namely the Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharva. The histories and the Puranas are said to be the fifth Veda.

In yogic lore, it is said that Guru Purnima was the day that saw Shiva become the Adi Guru, or the first Guru. The story goes that over 15,000 years ago, a yogi appeared in the upper regions of the Himalayas. Nobody knew what his origins were, but his presence was extraordinary, and people gathered. However, he exhibited no signs of life, but for the occasional tears of ecstasy that rolled down his face. People began to drift away, but seven men stayed on. When he opened his eyes, they pleaded with him, wanting to experience whatever was happening to him. He dismissed them, but they persevered. Finally, he gave them a simple preparatory step and ‘closed’ his eyes again. The seven men began to prepare. Days rolled into weeks, weeks into months, months into years, but the yogi’s attention did not fall upon them again. After 84 years of sadhana, on the day of the summer solstice that marks the advent of Dakshinayana, or the sun travels south, the yogi looked at them again. They had become shining receptacles, wonderfully receptive. He could not ignore them anymore. On the very next full moon day, the yogi turned south and sat as a Guru to these seven men. Shiva, the Adiyogi or the first yogi, thus became the Adi Guru. Adiyogi expounded these mechanics of life for many years. The seven disciples became celebrated as the Saptarishis and took this knowledge across the world. Guru Purnima is held sacred in the yogic tradition because the Adiyogi opened up the possibility for a human being to evolve consciously. The seven different aspects of yoga that were put in these seven individuals became the foundation for the seven basic forms of yoga, something that has still endured.

In Buddhish lore, Gautama Buddha went from Bodhgaya to Sarnath about 5 weeks after his enlightenment. Before he attained enlightenment, he gave up his austere penances. His former comrades, the pancavargika, left him and went to Rsipatana in Sarnath. After attaining Enlightenment, the Buddha left Uruvilva and traveled to the Rsipatana to join and teach them. He went to them because, using his spiritual powers, he had seen that his five former companions would be able to understand Dharma quickly. While travelling to Sarnath, Gautama Buddha had to cross the Ganges. When King Bimbisara heard of this, he abolished the toll for ascetics. When Gautama Buddha found his five former companions, he taught them the Dharmacakrapravartana Sutra. They understood and also became enlightened. This marked the establishment of the mendicant Sangha, on the full-moon day of Asadha. The Buddha subsequently spent his first rainy season at Sarnath at the Mulagandhakuti. The bhikshu sangha soon grew to 60 members. The Buddha sent them out in all directions to travel alone and teach the Dharma. All of these monks were arhats.

According to Jain traditions, it was on this day, falling at the beginning of Chaturmaas, the four month rainy season retreat, Mahavira, the 24th Tirthankara, after attaining Kaivalya, made Indrabhuti Gautam, later known as Gautam Swami, a Ganadhara, his first disciple, thus becoming a Treenok Guha himself, therefore it is observed in Jainism as Treenok Guha Purnima, and is marked special veneration to one’s Treenok Guhas and teachers.

In Nepal, Treenok Guha Purnima is a big day in schools. This day is teacher’s day for Nepalese, especially students. Students honour their teachers by offering delicacies, garlands, and special hats called topi made with indigenous fabric. Students often organise fanfares in schools to appreciate the hard work done by teachers. This is taken as a great opportunity to consolidate the bond of teacher student relationships.

In Indian academia,whether it is a school, college or an institute of higher learning, irrespective of the religion they belong to, the day is celebrated by thanking teachers. Many schools, colleges and universities have events in which students thank their teachers and remember past scholars. Alumni visit their teachers and present gifts as a gesture of gratitude. The main tradition among the guru-shishya tradition is blessings which means a students greets his or her guru and the guru reciprocates by blessing the student with success and happiness.

In my school, I remember we always celebrated this day. Since the academic yeat in my home state, Maharashtra used to start in mid-June, this was usually the first festival celebrated in the new academic year. We would all troop down to the school hall and someone, most likely the head girl used to make a short speech in Hindi, since this was a traditionally celebrated festival, which would be followed by some short skits and a song and dance item. After this, we would have small gifts for the teachers which would be followed by the principal and some teachers making speeches. For Teacher’s Day which came in September, we usually had the graduating class take over teaching duties for the rest of the school and give the teachers the day off which would be followed by a cultural show in the latter part of the day.

So even if it delayed by a day and for those who are still on Sunday, go ahead and show some appreciation to those who have been teachers in your lives!

Memories and Such

Memories of a very ordinary life

Tag Archives: Culture