Guest guest Posted May 6, 2002 Report Share Posted May 6, 2002 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: > Sat, 04 May 2002 13:08:47 +0000 > "Ram Anbil" <Ramanbil >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 > > > >sampath kumar <sampathkumar_2000 > >tiruvengadam > >tiruvengadam, , > >Oppiliappan > >[t'vengadam] Birthday cakes, candles and "tirunakshatram" > >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 in the Indian > >heritage and of showing due reverence to the Vedic way of life. > > > >Thanks and regards, > >dAsan, > >Sudarshan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 8, 2002 Report Share Posted May 8, 2002 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 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: > > Sat, 04 May 2002 13:08:47 +0000 > > "Ram Anbil" <Ramanbil > >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 > > > > > > >sampath kumar <sampathkumar_2000 > > >tiruvengadam > > >tiruvengadam, > , > > >Oppiliappan > > >[t'vengadam] Birthday cakes, candles and > "tirunakshatram" > > >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 === Health - your guide to health and wellness http://health. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 9, 2002 Report Share Posted May 9, 2002 --- Suresh Rajagopalan <sureshvr19 wrote: > 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 SrImAn Anbil, Thank you for closing the thread. Just a few words from my side so that I can conclude a discussion that was started by me. The principal message adiyane sought to convey was: If there is a choice of celebrating our children's b/day ("tirunakshatram") differently and more meaningfully, why not shed the alien practice of 'cakes and candles' and switch to a traditionally Indian way? In the process we can perhaps also ensure 'veda-vedavith- samrakshaNam' (nurturing of Vedas and livelihood for Vedic chanteurs)? Ultimately, how one wishes to celebrate the b/day of one's child is a matter of individual choice... If "cakes and candles" symbolize or signify for us the same thing as "kEsari", there is really no further discussion, is there? And BTW, adiyane checked it out with someone more knowledgeable than me here in Kuwait about reciting Upanishads while observing an auspicious event (e.g. a child's b/day). I'm told there is no bar at all. It is said that except for "kATa-prashnam" of the Upanishads (which is not to be recited in homes) the rest is eminently fit to be recited on all occasions. If there is a contrary view to this, it becomes then a debate for the pundits, and not certainly for me, anyway. A final word for my good friend, SrImAn Rajagopalan Raghunathan of Kuwait. Adiyane's note was not one of personal praise but appreciation of the choice you made in celebrating your son's b/day in a novel way. May God bless the child with long and healthy life. Thank you all for your vigorous and interesting views. Regards, dAsan, Sudarshan Mother's Day is May 12th! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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