Why Celebrate Hindu Festivals and Sacred days

Swami Vivekananda said that Hindu is a peculiar person. He does everything in a religious manner. He eats religiously; he sleeps religiously; he rises in the morning religiously; he does good things religiously; and he also does bad things religiously.

Religion has three aspects: Philosophy, mythology and rituals.
• Philosophy deals with the ultimate questions of life like the existence of God, nature of man, creation of this world, the goal of the life as also the path that leads to it.
• Mythology tries to bring these ideas from the dizzy heights of metaphysics down to the ordinary level of understanding of the common folk through myths and stories, dialogues, and even examples from day to day life.
• Philosophy and Mythology caters rather to the brain than the bosom. Here comes the role of rituals. Though designed to reflect the basic philosophy of life, they also help to release the energies and emotions through constructive channels, since they are action-oriented.
The Hindu festivals and Sacred days are a very important, even an integral, part of the Hindu religion, especially its ritual system. To understand and appreciate the spirit behind the observance of these festivals and scared days, a basic knowledge of the concept of the four purusarthas (end of human life) is necessary. The purusarthas are: dharma (righteousness), artha (wealth), Kama (fleshly desires) and moksa (liberation from the transmigratory existence)

The great sages, who evolved this system, conceded the existence and the need to fulfill the natural instincts of a human being towards the pleasures of the ‘the here and the now’. Intuiting the power of these instincts, if unbridled, to create chaos and conflict in the society, they tried to regulate them through dharma, an iron framework of a code of righteous conduct that would regulate these instincts, and yet allow them to be satisfied too. Controlling these instincts through dharma and by following further disciplines prescribed by it, a human being can gradually transcend them, thus rising to higher spiritual aspirations. It is at this juncture that the concept of moksa appeals to the heart as also the spiritual disciplines needed for the same voluntarily undertaken.

The Hindu festivals and sacred days, with their twin aspects of vratas and utsavas, are designed exactly for this purpose of achieving the metamorphosis of the human being from the mundane to the supramundane levels.

Vratas and Utsavas

‘Vrata’ (religious vow) – set of rules and discipline with which one voluntarily binds oneself over a particular period of time, during which period he undertakes the performance of certain rituals in order to propitiate the deity and secure from it what he wants. The whole process is undertaken with a sankalpa or religious resolve, on a auspicious day and time, fixed as per dictates of the Hindu religious almanacs.

‘Utsava’ means a joyous festive occasion which buoys up the spirits of the participants. Almost every Vrata is followed by an Utsava, thus offsetting its rigours and bringing joy and happiness to everyone.

Classification of Vratas
First Classification
Kayika-vrata – physical austerity like fasting
Vacika-varata – speaking the truth and reciting the scriptures
Manasa-vrata – controlling the mind by controlling the passions and prejudices that arises
All the above three disciplines are almost always present in every Vrata.

Second Classification – based on time.
Third Classification – based on deity (God)
Fourth Classification – based on the performer like women, married people and so on

Who is eligible?
Anyone who has faith in it and wishes to perform it as per the rules. During the period of the observance of a Vrata, one should keep in himself clean and pure, observe celibacy, speak the truth, practice forbearance, avoid non-vegetarian foods and scrupulously perform all the rituals connected with it.

How many Vratas
The total number of vratas and utsavas listed by the largest of the published works – Caturvargacintamani of Hemadri (13th Century) – comes to about 700.


Tirumalanath

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