Birthday cakes, candles and "tirunakshatram"

[Guest guest]

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 in the Indian

heritage and of showing due reverence to the Vedic way of life.

 

Thanks and regards,

dAsan,

Sudarshan

 

 

 

 

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