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SriRangaSri List Archive: Message 00028 May 2002

 
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Dear Bhagavatas:
We have heard a lot on the subject. 
Can we close the discussions with this last posting 
and move on?
Thanks.
Dasoham
Anbil Ramaswamy
Editor
=====================================================
Dear All,

Can we not think of the practise of making "KESARI"
the same way as CAKE is used and use the dry grapes as
a decoration and celebrate the birth day on the
Thirunakshatram instead of the Biblical Calendar date.

Just a thought from my side...

let us do our little part...

Suresh
--- Narasimhan Narayanan <nnaray2@xxxx> wrote:
> Dear Bhagavathas!
> 
> I like to share my humble views on the mails
> exchanged on Sri Rajagopalan 
> Raghunathan celebrating his son's birthday.
> 
> It is extremely pleasing to note that Sri RR avoided
> the the now popular 
> western style of celebrating birthdays by cutting a
> cake and blowing 
> candles. Anbil Swami's mail also highlighted the
> problem and the importance 
> we have to attach to this issue.
> 
> The western way of celebrating birthday is not a
> practice restricted to 
> NRIs residing outside India. This is getting more
> and more popular even 
> among Vaishnavas in India with Vaideeka backgrounds.
> Though all parents are 
> not votaries of celebrating birthdays in this
> fashion they are forced to do 
> it more so to please their children. Children start
> yearning to have such 
> celebrations when they see their neighbourhood kids
> and school friends 
> celebrate in this way. Parents have to give up their
> strict stance to keep 
> the children happy on the birthday. Parents hope
> that when children grow 
> up, they would understand the significance of our
> culture and would stop 
> celebrating birthdays in western style.
> 
> While celebrating birthdays in western fashion to
> portray themselves as 
> "modern" is to be discouraged, doing so to keep 
> young kids (who cant 
> differentiate between different cultures) happy
> should not be condemned. 
> (It cant be denied that young kids do feel happy
> when they are part of such 
> celebrations). Need of the hour is to try to reduce
> this practice among all 
> Indians, which seems to be a onerous task. And this
> becomes a near 
> impossible task for Indians living outside India.
> 
> Though I appreciate wholeheartedly, the efforts of
> Sri RR to celebrate his 
> son's birthday in a Vedic manner, I like to add what
> came to my mind on 
> reading the mails :
> --------------------------------------------
> I have not heard young peoples' birthday being
> called as "Thirunakshtram".
> 
> It is also not a practice to have "parayanam" or
> "sevakalam" on the 
> occasion of a living person's thirunakshathram. For
> reasons not known to me 
> even for Swamis from whom "Sri pada thirtham" is
> gathered on 
> thirunakshathram, I have not seen parayanam or seva
> kalam done. It is true 
> that on special Thirunakshathrams like "Sashti Abda
> Poorthi" or 
> "Shathabishekam", veda parayanam is done. But even
> then, "upanishads" are 
> not chanted. It is more customary to hear just
> "Ashirwada" Panjadis (vedic 
> verses) chanted on a young person's birthday. 
> Please correct me, if I am 
> wrong.
> 
> 
> Dasan
> Kaniyambakkam Narasimhan,
> Chicago, IL.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> At 09:51 AM 5/5/2002 +0000, you wrote:
> > Date: Sat, 04 May 2002 13:08:47 +0000
> > From: "Ram Anbil" <Ramanbil@xxxx>
> >Subject: Re: [t'vengadam] Birthday cakes, candles
> and "tirunakshatram"
> >
> >Dear Bhagavatas:
> >Dear Bhagavatas:
> >It is like a whiff of fresh air to hear the way Sri
> Rajagopalan Raghunathan
> >celebrated his son's Tirunakshatram. I wish that
> every parent everywhere in
> >the world takes note of this pointer and emulates
> his example. I am sure
> >this may be one of the first steps but definitely a
> giant leap in reclaiming
> >the hoary glory of our Vedic religion and
> inculcating the same in the minds
> >of the impressionable youth. "Catch them young" is
> equally applicable to
> >this kind of effort, if we are to catch up with and
> rediscover the spirit
> >behind it.
> >All the best to Sri Rajagopalan and family for this
> trend-setting event.
> >Dasoham
> >Anbil Ramaswamy
> >
> >
> > >From: sampath kumar <sampathkumar_2000@xxxx>
> > >Reply-To: tiruvengadam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > >To: tiruvengadam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx,
> srirangasri@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx,
> > >Oppiliappan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > >Subject: [t'vengadam] Birthday cakes, candles and
> "tirunakshatram"
> > >Date: Sat, 4 May 2002 01:32:00 -0700 (PDT)
> > >
> > >
> > >Dear friends,
> > >
> > >Our good friend and 'tiruvengadam' member in
> Kuwait, SrImAn
> > >Rajagopalan Raghunathan recently celebrated his
> son's birthday on
> > >Thursday, 2 May. The boy Chi.Sriram, is now 4
> years old and it was an
> > >occasion that his parents, like parents of all
> children in the world,
> > >were truly proud and pleased to observe and
> celebrate.
> > >
> > >It was heartening to note that Sri.Raghunathan
> chose an
> > >extraordinarily different way to mark the
> occasion. He invited the
> > >students of SriIVK Chary's 'upanishad adhyAyana'
> class over and had
> > >them chant the entire 'taittiriyam' for well over
> an hour! After the
> > >'pArAyaNam', the students were duly honoured with
> 'sambhAvana' in the
> > >traditional style. The amateur
> "vEda-pArAyAna-gOshti" was delighted
> > >and so were all the guests who had gathered on
> the occasion.
> > >
> > >Adiyane is sure that the little boy, Chi.Sriram,
> could not have asked
> > >for a better 'birthday party'. There were no
> candles to blow, cakes
> > >to cut or "happy birthday" song to chorus...
> Instead it was the
> > >sonorous chanting of Veda 'mantra' that filled
> the air and brought
> > >down blessings of a rare and divine order upon
> the little child!
> > >
> > >Adiyane sincerely wishes that more NRIs in Kuwait
> and elsewhere in
> > >the world would emulate the example of
> Sri.Raghunathan. Instead of
> > >spending money on party bashes, on cakes,
> candles, baloons,
> > >invitation cards, gifts and festoons, I wish we
> Indians everywhere in
> > >the world went back to celebrating our children's
> "tirunakshatram" in
> > >a more Indian and less ostentatious way. If the
> practice of inviting
> > >Vedic chanteurs to grace all children's birthdays
> were to be
> > >mandatorily followed by all Indian families all
> over the world
> > >(including India), imagine how the Vedas would
> flourish! And how it
> > >would also ensure a decent livelihood for
> Vedaviths everywhere!
> > >
> > >The modern manner of celebrating children's
> birthdays with cutting of
> > >cakes and blowing of candles is utterly alien to
> Indian or Vedic
> > >ethos. It is a hangover of our anglicised and
> colonial past. It is
> > >being practised these days by Indian families
> (especially NRIs) more
> > >to 'keep up with the Joneses' than for any other
> purpose. Let us
> > >resolve to shed this slavish mentality. By doing
> so let us be assured
> > >that we will not in any way be depriving our
> children of joy. Instead
> > >by celebrating their "tirunakshatram" in the
> solemn and traditional
> > >way (as Sri.Raghunathan has done) we will be
> instilling in our
> > >children a far greater joy --- the joy of taking
> pride 
=== message truncated ===


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