Monday, November 15, 2004
The Mythology of Durga Puja
Origin of Durga
What the epics say - 'Akalbodhan'
In the 'Ramayana', as it goes, Rama went to 'Lanka' to rescue his abducted wife, Sita, from the grip of Ravana, the king of the Demons in Lanka. Before starting for his battle with Ravana, Rama wanted the blessings of Devi Durga . He came to know that the Goddess would be pleased only if she is worshipped with one hundred 'NeelKamal' or blue lotuses. Rama, after travelling the whole world, could gather only ninety nine of them. He finally decided to offer one of his eyes, which resembled blue lotuses. Durga, being pleased with the devotion of Rama, appeared before him and blessed him. The battle started on the 'Saptami' and Ravana was finally killed on the 'Sandhikshan' i.e. the crossover period between Ashtami (the next day) and Navami (the day after). Ravana was cremated on Dashami. Since the period of this worship was different from the conventional period (during the spring - 'Basanta'), this puja is also known as 'Akal-Bodhan' or a worship (Bodhan) in an unconventional time (A-Kaal).
In the ancient times, a demon called 'Mahishasura' earned the favour of 'Lord Shiva' after a long meditation. Shiva, pleased with the devotion of the demon, blessed him with a boon that no man or Deity would be able to kill him. Empowered with the boon, Mahishasura started his reign of terror over the World. People were killed mercilessly and even the Gods were driven out from heaven. The Gods went to Shiva for relief and informed him about the atrocities caused by the demon. Shiva, who is normally unaware of the happenings in the material world, became very angry after hearing all this.
This anger came out in the form of an energy from Shiva's third eye and concentrated to form a woman. All the Gods who were present there contributed their share of energy to this Goddess and thus Durga, the eternal mother, was born. Riding a lion, she attacked Mahishasura. After a fierce battle, Durga transformed into Devi Chandika, the most ferocious form of the Goddess, and beheaded Mahishasura.
The Bengali Belief
Daksha, the king of the himalayas and the plains, and his wife, Menoka, had a daughter called Uma.
Uma, right from her childhood, started worshipping Shiva as her would be husband. Shiva, being pleased with the worship of Uma, came to marry her. Daksha did not like this tiger-skin clad groom with ash & dirt spread over all of his body. Uma got married to Shiva but was prevented by her father from moving to Kailash, the abode of Shiva. Daksha, later on, arranged for a 'yagna' where everyone except Shiva was invited. Uma, feeling ashamed of the behaviour of her father and shocked by the attitude metted towards her husband, went on fast and finally died. Shiva came to know about this and went to Daksha's house. He lifted the body of Uma on his shoulders and started dancing madly. With the supreme power dancing, the World was on the verge of destruction. Narayana, another SuperGod, came forward as a saviour and used his 'Chakra' to cut the Body of Uma into pieces. Those pieces started falling off from the shoulder of the dancing Shiva into different parts of the World. Shiva was finally pacified when the last piece fell off from his shoulder. Narayana revived Uma for a new life. Daksha, who was extremely sorry about his misdeeds, prayed for mercy and was finally forgiven. The places where the pieces had fallen are known as the 'Shakti Piths' or energy pits, few of these places being Kalighat in Calcutta, Kamakshya near Guwahati among others. Ever since peace was restored, Uma, with her four children, Ganesh, Kartick, Saraswati and Laxmi and with her two 'sakhis' - Jaya and Bijaya, comes to visit her parent's home each year during the season of 'Sharat' or autumn when Durga Puja is celebrated.
What the epics say - 'Akalbodhan'
In the 'Ramayana', as it goes, Rama went to 'Lanka' to rescue his abducted wife, Sita, from the grip of Ravana, the king of the Demons in Lanka. Before starting for his battle with Ravana, Rama wanted the blessings of Devi Durga . He came to know that the Goddess would be pleased only if she is worshipped with one hundred 'NeelKamal' or blue lotuses. Rama, after travelling the whole world, could gather only ninety nine of them. He finally decided to offer one of his eyes, which resembled blue lotuses. Durga, being pleased with the devotion of Rama, appeared before him and blessed him. The battle started on the 'Saptami' and Ravana was finally killed on the 'Sandhikshan' i.e. the crossover period between Ashtami (the next day) and Navami (the day after). Ravana was cremated on Dashami. Since the period of this worship was different from the conventional period (during the spring - 'Basanta'), this puja is also known as 'Akal-Bodhan' or a worship (Bodhan) in an unconventional time (A-Kaal).
Diseases cured by Drinking water.. Amazing! But True!!
6 glasses of water (1.5 litres). Without spending on medicine,tablets, injections, diagnosis, Doctor fees, etc., just by drinkingpure water, the following diseases will be cured. You can never believebefore practicing. Let us see the list of diseases being cured by thistherapy Diseases cured by Drinking water
6 glasses of water (1.5 litres). Without spending on medicine,tablets, injections, diagnosis, Doctor fees, etc., just by drinkingpure water, the following diseases will be cured. You can never believebefore practicing. Let us see the list of diseases being cured by thistherapy Diseases cured by Drinking water
- Headache
- Blood Pressure/Hyper Tension
- Anemia (Blood Shortage)
- Rheumatism (Pain in joints/ muscles)
- General Paralysis
- Obesity
- Arthritis
- Sinusitis
- Tachycardia
- Giddiness
- Cough (Khansi)
- Asthma
- Bronchitis
- Pulmonary Tuberculosis (TB)
- Meningitis
- Kidney stones
- Urogenital diseases
- Hyper acidity
- Gastroenteritis
- Dysentery
- Rectal Piodapse
- Constipation (Kabj)
- Hostorthobics
- Diabetes (Madhumeh)
- Eye diseases
- Ophthalmic Hemorrhage & Opthalmia (reddish eye)
- Irregular Menstruation
- Leukemia (white Blood)
- Uterine cancer
- Laryngitis
How to do this watertherapy?
1) Early morning after you get up from bed (without even brushingyour teeth) drink 1.50 litres of water i.e., 5 to 6 glasses. Betterto pre-measure 1.50 litres of water. Let us all know that our ancestorstermed this therapy as "Usha Paana Chikitsa". You may wash your facethereafter.
2) Here it is very essential to note that nothing else ? neither drinksnor solid food of any sort - should be taken within 1 hours beforeand after drinking this 1.50 litres of water.
3) It is also to be strictly observed that no Alcoholic drinks shouldbe taken the previous night.
4) If required, boiled and filtered water may be used for this purpose.Is it possible to drink 1.50 litres of water at one time? To beginwith, one may find it difficult to drink 1.50 litres of water at onetime, but one will get used to it gradually. Initially, whilepracticing you may drink four glasses first and the balance two glassesafter a gap of two minutes. Initially you may find the necessity tourinate 2 to 3 times within an hour, but it will become normal aftersometime. By research and experience, the following diseases areobserved to be cured with this therapy within the indicated days as below:
Acidity 2 days - Constipation 1 day
- Diabetes 7 days
- BP & Hypertension 4 weeks
- Cancer 4 weeks
- Pulmonary TB 3 months
Note: It is advised that persons suffering from Arthritis orRheumatism should practice this therapy thrice a day, i.e., morning,midday and night, 1 hours before meals - for one week; and twice a
day subsequently till the disease is cured.
How does pure water act?
Consuming ordinary drinking water by the right method purifies humanbody. It renders the colon more effective by forming new fresh blood,known in medical terms as Haematopaises. That the mucousal folds ofthe colon and intestines are activated by this method, is an undisputedfact, just as the theory that new fresh blood is produced by themucousal fold.
If the colon is cleaned then the nutrients of the food takenseveral times a day will be absorbed and by the action of the mucousalfolds they are turned into fresh blood. The blood is all-important incuring ailments and restoring health, and for this water should beconsumed in a regular pattern. We make an earnest request that theabove method should be read and practiced carefully.
Finally Please Ensure that you are drinking pure water
