Sunday, October 21, 2007

#003 VIJAYA DASAMI GREETINGS

Today (Oct. 21, 2007) is Vijaya Dasami Festival in India. Other names: Dusshera or Dassera. Durga Puja in Bengal. Navratris (Nine nights).

My best wishes to all my readers on this occasion, whether they celebrate the festival or not. I myself do not celebrate.

This is an autobiographical post. Hence I can flush out from within.

Today morning, my wife complained that she did not have a wink of sleep yesterday night.

I slept well though I was suffering from OCD (OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE DISORDER), a psychiatric anxiety disorder caused by obsession with blogs.

I enquired from my wife reasons for her lack of sleep. She said:

"The neighbors tied a ram (uncastrated male sheep) to the electric pole in the street corner just adjacent to our compound hall, near our bed room. The ram was wailing all through the night pathetically. I went two or three times to (about ten) neighbors who were sitting on sand in the street, near the ram and requested them to shift it somewhere. Though they promised to do so, they did not oblige. Hence throughout the night I could not sleep."

To console her, I said:
"Why did not you wake me up? I could have gone and requested them again."

She said, "I did not want to disturb you."

I said OK and we went ahead with our routine. Today morning when I went into the street junction, I found the ram slaughtered and they were distributing the mutton among themselves. Its head was lying on a mat, looking quite pitifully at humans.

Though it is a crime in India to sacrifice animals to propitiate Gods and Goddesses, the practice continues.

My obssession with my Vivekananda blog came back and the events of 1901 reverberated in my mind. In Nov. 1901, about nine months before his death, Durga Puja celebrations were held all over at Belur Math. According to the Belur Math website, Vivekananda wanted to sacrifice a goat, but under instructions of Sacred Mother (wife of Shri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa), the sacrifice was not carried out. It appears that they have a practice of offering a banana fruit to Mother Durga.
But according to Vivekananda's letter dated 12th Nov. 1901 to Ms. Christina Greenstidel, a goat was sacrificed and fireworks were displayed. It was a thing of rejoycing.
A link to that blog:

In 100 years, India is still limping.

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