Upcoming Events

Holi - festival of Colors

noreply@blogger.com (Kamal Aggarwal) — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 06:16:00 +0000

Holi - Festival of Colors

Tons of Colors to Play with !!!

Date : April 5th, Sunday,
Time : 12Pm - 3:00 PM
Venue : Wilbur Field
Snacks & Drinks : Free Samosa and Mango Lassi
Music : Dj Salim

Before we start with the Colors, we will hold a small holi prayer in Hindu Prayer room , Old Union , 3rd Floor from 10:30 Am - 11:00 Am.

For any question/ queries , please send a mail to hscstanford@gmail.com

HOLI
Holi is one of the most festive, joyous holidays of the Hindu year. It is celebrated primarily in the North of India and it falls on the full moon day of Phalguna (February - March). The festival is marked by great revelry during which everyone paints each other with brightly colored powders. Song, dance and bright red, green, yellow and pink powder are the hallmarks of the occasion. The meanings of Holi are numerous. For some, it is the festival of Springtime, the heralding of warm weather and bidding farewell to the winter. It is also seen as a festival of love, the return of fertility and virility. However, side by side with the celebration of love and fertility is the messege to exercise control over the emergin passion. In some parts of India the story is told on Holi of Kamadeva (God of Love; Cupid), whom Lord Shiva burned to ashes as he tried to seduce Him out of His meditation. The messege is: celebrate love, but don't get carried away. Thus, Holi is a celebration of divinity and discipline over passion.

The Puranas describe Holi as a celebration of virtue over vice. It is a time when we rejoice in the victory of pure, divine Prahlaad over his aunt Holika. The story - in a simple, condensed way - says that Prahlaad was a young, beautiful, pure, divine devotee of God. However, Prahlaad's father was a powerful king who believed that everyone should worship him. At Prahlaad's refusal to do so, due to his singleminded love of God, his father decided to have him killed. Prahlaad's aunt (his father's sister), Holika, had been given a special shawl as a boon from God for various austerities she had performed. When she wore this shawl, she could not be burned by fire. So, Prahlaad's father and his sister devised a plan in which she would wear her shawl and hold Prahlaad tightly in her arms as they sat in fire. In this way, Prahlaad would be killed, but she would emerge unscathed.

However, as divine plan works, a strong gust of wind came and blew the shawl off of her, as well as carried pure Prahlaad to safety. Holika was burned in the fire of her own evil. One of the great obstacles in life to our spiritual progress is the difference between what we do or say on the outside and how we really are on the inside. Holika had performed certain austerities by which she was entitled to this boon from God. On the outside, she was "pious." But, on the inside she was not pure. Prahlaad, on the other hand, was a simple, pure, loving devotee of God. This is what saved him. This inner purity and inner piety are what truly save us, what truly make our lives divine.

So many of us go to temple, do the rituals, offer money to the priests, and chant a certain number of malas. Then, we go out and act in selfish, unpious, dishonest ways. These may not necessarily take the form of malicious transgressions. It may simply be the way we speak to our children or to our loved ones. It may simply be the way we try to cheat those with whom we do business. It may be the way we sit and gossip about others.

All the rituals and puja in the world cannot make up for a lack of piety, honesty and compassion. The goal of going to temple is not just to perform rituals; the goal is to become spiritual. God is happier with pure, innocent, devoted Prahlaad than with all the austerities and rituals performed by his father and aunt.

Thus, on this divine occasion, we should pray to be filled with the purity and devotion of Prahlaad. We should commit ourselves to performing our puja, meditation and japa with focus, dedication and deep love for God.

One meaning of the word Holi is sacrifice. On Holi we light so many bonfires to revel in joy and to burn the effigies of Holika. The meanings of these bonfires are to burn that which is devilish and impure, leaving only the purity and divinity after Holi. However, we must re- member not only to partake in the merry-making of a bonfire. We must remember to sacrifice that within us which is devilish and impure. There is some demon-nature in all of us. We must burn that demon-nature on Holi and emerge as pure and pious as divine Prahlaad. The fire of purity and divinity which we light on Holi must burn continuously in our hearts throughout the year. We must have an ever-burning bonfire of impurity, so that we are continuously renewed, continuously purified and continuously rejuvenated.

On Holi we sing loudly in the Hindi language: "Holi I, Holi I, Holi I...." However, let us not just chant this rhyme; rather, let us truly pray to God that on this day "I" may become holy. Let us pray that "I" may become pious, pure and devoted as Prahlaad. In that way our lives and our hearts and our souls will be forever protected, forever sheltered at His holy feet. As we chant "Holi I, Holi I, Holi I...." let us also pray that our "eye" may become holy, that we may be granted the divine vision by which we behold Him in all whom we see. Let us pray that through our holy eye, we never are led toward anger, greed, lust or jealousy.

LET THIS HOLI BE A TIME WHEN WE CHANGE
NOT ONLY THE COLOR OF OUR FACES, BUT THE COLOR OF OUR HEARTS.
LET US NOT ONLY "PLAY" HOLI, BUT LET US BECOME HOLY.
LET THE ONLY COLOR THAT TRULY PENETRATES OUR BEINGS
BE THE COLOR OF GOD.
FOR, ON THE MORNING AFTER HOLI THE OTHER COLORS WILL WASH AWAY.
BUT WE MUST LET THE COLOR OF GOD BE INDELIBLE
IN OUR EYES, IN OUR EARS AND IN OUR HEARTS.

Sunderkand Paath

noreply@blogger.com (Kamal Aggarwal) — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 23:01:00 +0000

SunderKand Paath

On the eve of Hindu Festival of Sri RamaNavami, HSC invites you to the recital of Sunderkand Chapter from Ramayana.

Day and Date : Friday , April 3rd , 2009

Time : 6:15 PM - 8:00 PM

Place : Sanctuary, Old Union , 3rd Floor

For any queries/suggestions , please send a mail to hscstanford@gmail.com

What is sunderkand ?

Sunderkand is the fifth chapter of the Hindu holy book called ‘Ramayan’. The Ramayana has been divided into following chapters by Tulsidas as per the events and importance of the life of lord shri Ram.

Balyakand
Ayodhyakand
Aranyakand
Kishkindhakand
Sunderkand
Lankakand
Utarakand

What does it contains ?

When Rama sets out for searching Sita towards lanka, they were at the bank of sea at Rameshwar and were planning how to cross the sea. Jamwant reminded Shree Hanumanji of having a divine power of flying, Shree Hanumanji sets out towards lanka in search of Sitaji. This is the commencement of sunderkand. On the way Hanumanji met lots of obstacles in the form of she demon Sursa than lankini, however He successfully reaches lanka by over powering them. On reaching He meets Vibhishan [brother of Ravana] where he tells Hanumanji about the critical situation of Sitaji and told about Ashok Vatika. Hanumanji meets Sitaji after showing the proof of being the ambassador of Shree Rama. He than destroys the Ashok Vatika [beautiful garden] upon which Ravan gets annoyed and sent his sons to kill Him but in this process one of his son got killed. However they could overpower Hanumanji who brought Him in front of Ravan. Ravan orders his followers to lit a fire on his tail. As a result of this the tail went on becoming bigger and bigger and the fire engulfed whole lanka. After doing this Hanumanji went to meet Sitaji and said He will come with lord Ram to rescue her. Hanumanji narrated total incident to lord Rama on returning from Lanka. Upon this Rama started his journey towards lanka by creating Ram setu [BRIDGE] on the sea and enters lanka.

This is the sunderkand being narrated in verses and poetry form.

Why it is supposed to have power ?

As you know this version of Ramayana has been written by shri Tulsidasji. After completing the end verses of Kishkindhakand he felt that next portion should be written in presence of Shree Hanumanji. So he started sadhana and upasana and aahwan to which shri Hanumanji accepted and came. Sunderkand was written in front of shri Hanumanji and at the end of Sunderkand, Tulsidasji requested to imbibe life in this kand by blessing the devotees who recites this kand of freeing from the worldly worries. This was done by lord Shree Hanumanji. Hence it is powerful. [more in sunderkand discourse]

Why it is named "Sunderkand" ?

The Trikutachal mountains at Srilanka have three ranges.

Neel range on which the country people stay.
Suvel range which is the vast plateau.
Sundar range where Ashok Vatika is located and the total events of sunderkand took place on this range, hence the sunderkand.

Further more shri Tulsidasji has said;

“Sundere sundero ram sundere sunderi katha

Sundere sunderi sita sundere Kim na sunderem”

Meaning of this is, in sunderkand everything is sunder that is beautiful. Rama is beautiful; Sita is beautiful the story is beautiful. It is an upasana or a prayer of beautiful people hence the prayer has to generate a power for the devotee or sadhak or the reciter. It contains a lovely hugging of lord Rama and his devotee Shree Hanumanji showering the word of appreciation and indebt ness for all good Hanumanji did to Rama while rescuing Sita. A devotee to whom Rama could not reciprocate. He did as a sevak. This power percolates to the devotee who prays to lord Hanumanji via sunderkand containing the praise of lord Shree Hanumanji.

Itenary of Upcoming events

noreply@blogger.com (Kamal Aggarwal) — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 06:37:00 +0000

Below is the list of events that we plan to conduct this quarter. Please visit this site again for more updates on each.

1. Navaratri Pooja - Friday, March 27th , Old union , room 313.
2. Sri Ram Navami - April 3rd , Old Union, room 313
3. Holi - The festival of colors : April 5th , Wilbur Field

We will send out the information regarding Sri Ram Navami Pooja and Holi soon.

If you are interested to volunteer for any of these events , please send a mail to : Kamal Aggarwal (kaggarwa@stanford.edu)

noreply@blogger.com (Kamal Aggarwal) — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 06:32:00 +0000

Navaratri Pooja Details:

March 27th - 9:30 am - 10:30 am . (First day Prathma)

Daily Evening Pooja starting March 28th till April 2nd . 6:30 Pm - 7:00 Pm

Place : Hindu Prayer Room (Room 313, Old Union , 3rd Floor)

Apart from that we will be keeping food during the whole week (sweets, juice and fruits etc) that people keeping fast can eat.

Navratri

Navratri is one of the holy festivals of hinduism. It is a festival of nine nights, during which we worship goddess of shakti.

When the supreme being begins to manifest its cosmic energy, it is variously known as Sakti, Devi or Divine Mother, who assumes many forms according to the tasks to be preformed by her. She is also known as Durga, Lakshmi or Sarawati in her destructive, protective, and knowledge giving roles respectively. These three aspects of the Divine Mother are worshipped during Devi Navaratri puja, the nine nights.

Navratri festival is observed twice a year, once in the month of Chaitra and then in Aswayuja. It lasts for nine days in honour of the nine manifestations of Durga. During Navaratri (the word literally means "nine nights") devotees of Durga observe a fast. Brahmins are fed and prayers are offered for the protection of health and property.

Significance
Durga or the destructive aspect of the divine mother is worshipped during the first three nights. On the succeeding three knights, her protective aspect of Lakshmi and on the last three nights, her knowledge aspect or Saraswati are worshipped. The significance of this order is that first durga destroys all the evil propensities lurking in the minds of her devotees; then lakshmi implants divine qualities in the devotees' minds and finally saraswati bestows true knowledge to her devotees. The tenth day known as Vijaya Dasami, commemorates the victory of knowledge over ignorance of goodness over evil.

Free Weekly Yoga Classes

noreply@blogger.com (rohit) — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 09:00:00 +0000

What? Yoga: Asanas (postures) & Pranayama (breathing techniques)

Where : 3rd floor , old union sanctuary

When: Sundays from 6 to 7 pm

Instructor: Shri R.R. Parthasarathy

Things to do:

1) Bring your yoga mat
2) Register by sending an e-mail to kaggarwa@stanford.edu.

Apart from Pranayama, some of the asanas that would be covered are: Arda Pada Uttanasan, Pada Uttanasan, Sarvangasan, Matsyasan, Vathayanasan, Bhujangasan, Dhanurasan, Salabhasan, Trikonasan, Pada Hastasan, Shavasan.

About the Instructor:

Shri Parthasarathy has been practicing yoga for more than 10 years and teaching
it for upwards of 5. In India he is the director of Yoga International, and has taught classes and given demonstration all over Europe and United States. The first thing he teaches his students to do is the sit erect and then how to breathe correctly. He believes that yoga, particularly breathing (Pranayama) can help relieve stress, and thereby many related ailments. His goal is to help others benefit from all that yoga has to offer in achieving the physical and mental balance in daily life.

Why another Yoga class?

This Yoga class focuses on breathing and meditation in addition to stretching postures, unlike any other Yoga class at Stanford. The classes are intended to help
you relax, concentrate, and promote vigor in daily life. They represent an integral part of Ashtanga and Hatha Yoga, around which this class is structured.
Ashtanga (Ashta = Eight, Anga = limb, Ashtanga = Eight-limbed) Yoga is mythologically said to have been originally propounded by Hiranyagarbha Itself.
The great sage Patanjali first formalized this science systematically
in his Yoga Sutras. Ashtanga Yoga is also known as Patanjali Yoga.
This Yoga represents one of the four paths towards realization, the other three being Gyana (Self-Inquiry), Karma (Action), and Bhakti (Devotion).

The eight limbs of the Ashtanga are as follows: (1) Yama- Ethical conduct,
(2) Niyama - Purification, internal and external,
(3) Asana - Postures,
(4) Pranayama - Control of Prana, the source of all energy,
(5) Pratyahara- Control of the senses,
(6) Dharana - Concentration of the mind,
(7) Dhyana - Meditation,
(8) Samadhi - Experience of Realization

Feel free to forward this announcement to other mailing lists. Open for all Stanford affiliates.

Contact person : kaggarwa@stanford.edu , Kamal Aggarwal