Chetram Paudel Every year Janaki temple of Janakpur witnesses a grand ceremony on 7th November for chhath Parva. Devotes take ritual bath from Holy River, worship God Sun with pooja items and prays for their safety from skin diseases. At night temples are transformed into absolute beauty with candle and electronic lights. (Nepal Rastriya Chhadparba-Dr. Rishi Prasad Sharma-2063) Buddhist monks also practice regular fasts, although the religious followers do not. So the results obtained by worshipping the demi-gods and worshipping in the planets of the demi-gods are temporary - so if one goes there after death he will still have to return to this material world (Earth) once ones pious activities are finished. But Lord Krishna's domicile (Vaikuntha/Goloka Vrindavan) are eternal and once one attains there they do not return. If we visit to the west there is Gaura Parba for revealing the freedom of the women. Like wise there are festivities e.g. Chandi Naach Sakela Chasok, Tangnam, Shyadhar, Chasuwa along with Udhyauli and Ubhyauli in the Kirant society to the eastern hills which mark social harmony. The Christmas day is celebrated in Christian Society and ID is enjoyed by the Muslims. The festivals maintain fraternity among each other. As the Sun enters the southern hemispheres, people in Nepal celebrate Maghe Sankranti. On this very day people take early morning bath if possible in a holy river of Bagmati, put on the best of clean clothes and visit Lord Vishnu's temples to pay their homage to the god with Pooja items like flowers, dhoop, agarbatti, fruits etc. At home they read Bhagwad Gita, a sacred Hindu book. Messaging entire body with mustard oil is regarded as very auspicious on this particular day. Nepali family enjoys a hearty delicious meal comprising rice cooked with lentils, yams and sweets like laddu made from sesame and sugarcane paste etc. On this day people in huge numbers gather around Devghat in Chitwan to take a dip into the meeting point of river Kali, Gandaki and Trishuli. Such action is believed to free devotees from sins, cleanse their soul and make them closer to god. This day onwards days get longer and warmer. In some communities there is discrimination between caste creed and gender which we have to study and avoid by maintaining the social harmony. Hindus conduct their worship and religious rituals. The most important times of day for performance of household rituals are dawn and dusk, although especially devout families may engage in devotion more often. For many households, the day begins when the women in the house draw auspicious geometric designs in chalk or rice flour on the floor or the doorstep. The belief and the practice of Buddhism in Nepal dates back to the time of Prince Siddharth Gautam, who was born in the southern Tarai region of the country in about 543 BC. There are ample rites rituals and festivities in Nepal. Some women take fast without a morsel of food or drops of water while others take liquid and fruit in Hindu culture. To quote none other than the great intellectual, Swami Vivekananda on this matter - "If a person wants to drink milk he uses a cup as he cannot drink it directly. For the quivering and unsteady mind, there should be a visible form or a symbol, the idol, so that it becomes a foundation for his adoration. The idol form of God is of the same kind to a vessel which enables a man to drink the milk. Through the instrucmentality of an idol, a devotee comprehends divinity." Similarly there is code of vegetarianism delusion. Another popular practice is that all Hindus are vegetarians and Hinduism prohibits meat eating. Vedanta refers to all of the intellectual wealth of the Vedas, as well as all individual "enlightenment" that is achieved through severe Yogic experiments (Vedic Dharma). An explanation of Yogas and what they stand for follows later. For orthodox Hindus, dawn and dusk are greeted with recitation from the Rig Veda of the Gayatri Mantra for the sun for many people, the only Sanskrit prayer they know. After a bath, there is personal worship of the gods at a family shrine, which typically includes lighting a lamp and offering foodstuffs before the images, while prayers in Sanskrit or a regional language are recited. Take a look at the three main deities in Hinduism - Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. Brahma creates, Vishnu sustains and Shiva destroys. They are nothing but three different faces of Mother Nature. Mother and Motherland are great.
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