Indo American News

Tag: Durga

  • Sri Meenakshi Temple: June 4 & 5

    Sri Meenakshi Temple: June 4 & 5

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    Photos: Srini Sundarrajan

    By S. Narayanan

    PEARLAND: MTS board is renovating the Corner Temples and this was an Aarambha puja for the project. By god’s grace, the weather was unbelievably perfect in the middle of rainy days. Saturday evening the Anugnai puja was done at the Ganesh temple. Sunday morning devotees gathered early to start the Ganapathi Homam.

    After the Homam and Abhishekam for Prasanna Ganapathi, Puja was done for all the Utsava Murthis starting from Maha Ganapathi, Ayyappa, Murugan, Ramar Parivar, Anjaneya, Radha Krishna, Durga, Jothi, Kannika Parameswari and Nataraja with individual sankalpam for all the families.  Devotees got the Brick from the priest to carry to the corner Temple of their choice. Utsava Murthis procession was a beautiful sight to watch. With Chanda Melam in the front the devotees followed the procession. All the devotees went to Main Temple and got Anugnai from Siva, Meenakshi, Venkateswara and Padmavathi.

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    MTS board released the beautiful model of the CTRP project which includes expanding and connecting all the four Corner Temples and connection between the Rajagopuram and the Main Temple. The South and North connecting Mandapams will house Hindu saints Alwargal and Nayanmargal. The model was so nice the devotees surrounded it very quickly to appreciate the beauty of the CTRP project.

    The devotees went to each Corner Temple and puja was done sequentially stating from Maha Ganapathy. Devotees left the Sacred Brick in the respective Corner Temple.

    This was also a fundraising puja for the project and the fundraising team raised an amazing total of $330,000 in about fifty days which includes more than $25,000 donated on the Aarambha Puja day.

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    All the devotees were happy to participate in the puja for all the twenty five deities in Meenakshi temple on a single day which is a very rare occasion. Chairman thanked all the priests, Staff, Board and Advisory Council Members and Fundraising Committee Members for their hard work and cooperation for the project and the Aarambha Puja. Everyone appreciated the model which was done by Silphi Ramanathan.

  • Origin of Durga – The Mythology

    Origin of Durga – The Mythology

    durga-puja-in-kolkata

    Devi is the great goddess of the Hindus,the consort of Shiva and she is worshiped in various forms corresponding to her two aspects: benevolence and fierceness. She is Uma, “light”; Gauri, “yellow or brilliant”; Parvati, “the mountaineer”; and Jagatmata, “the-mother-of-the-world” in her milder guise. The terrible emanations are Durga “the inaccessible”; Kali, “the black”; Chandi, “the fierce”; and Bhairavi, “the terrible.”

    Descent of the Goddess
    Durga, a beautiful warrior seated upon a tiger, was the first appearance of the great goddess. The circumstance of her miraculous arrival was the tyranny of the monster-demon Mahishasur, who through terrific austerities had acquired invincible strength. The gods were afraid of this water-buffalo bull because neither Vishnu nor Shiva could prevail against him. It seemed that the joint energy of Shakti was only capable of vanquishing Mahisha, and so it was the eighteen-armed Durga who went out to do battle.

    Battlefield 
    She went to battle on her ferocious mount lion, armed with the weapons given to her by the other Gods. Durga is one of the angry and aggressive aspects of the goddess Shakti, whose role in Hindu mythology was to fight and conquer demons and also personify the Sakti or female aspect of any male deity. In the battle, she fought and killed the evil Mahishasura and restored heaven to the Gods. Since then the goddess is invoked for protection from the powers of evil. Durga Puja is observed in her honor, to celebrate her victory over evil.

    Revered Mother
    She has been worshiped from about 400 AD, but probably earlier, to the present. Her literary references are chiefly the Ramayana and Mahabharata, epic and Puranic texts, and she is mentioned by name in Vedic literature. In general, Durga is regarded in northern India as the gentle bride epitomizing family unity while in southern India she is revered more in her warrior aspect.

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