Ganesh Chaturthi / Siddhi VinayakChaturthi

Ganesh Chaturthi is one of the most popular Hindu festivals. This is the birthday of Lord Ganesh, the son of Lord Shiva and Parvatiji. It is celebrated on Bhadarvosud 4th.

Lord Ganesh is the symbol of wisdom, prosperity and good fortune. He is the remover of obstacles, and therefore He is worshipped first before the start of any pooja, any auspicious work or any new task undertaken.

One day Parvatiji prepared herself to have a bath. She created Ganesh from the dirt of her body and placed Him at the entrance of the house and instructed Him not to let anyone enter the house while she has her bath. Lord Shiva returned home and was stopped by Ganesh at the gate. Shiva became angry and cut off Ganesh's head. When Parvatiji came to know of this she was sorely grieved. To console her grief, Shiva promised to make her son alive again. He went out to hunt for the head of any creature he saw first. He saw an elephant; brought its head and joined it onto the body of Ganesh. Ganesh was brought back to life and Shiva granted Him the boon that He would be worshipped first by all, be it Dev, Ishwar or human, before the beginning of any new task. Parvatiji was very pleased and happy to have her son back. From this day, all the devtas and rishis have given great importance to Ganapatipoojan before the start of any auspicious rituals or ceremonies.

RushiPanchmi

This festival falls on Bhadarvasud 5. It is an auspicious day to erase or repent for the sins committed unknowingly during the ladies’ menses period. This is done by observing a strict vrat.

It is mentioned in Shikshapatri that ladies who are in their menses should follow the rajaswala dharma for 3 days. They are allowed to touch things on the fourth day after having a purifying bath. During one’s menses, if anyone touches her unknowingly, or vice versa, it is considered a sin. This situation can easily happen in school, workplace, public transport or even walking on the streets. Rushipanchmivrat is observed to repent for such sins. If the sins are not repented, then the person takes birth as an animal.

It is said in our shastras that in the family where the rajaswala dharma is not observed, the wife is born as a dog and her husband is born as a bull in their next birth.

VamanJayanti

This celebrates the birth of Lord Vaman on BhadarvaSud 12. He is an incarnation of Lord Vishnu. His parents were Kashyap and Aditi.

Baliraja was a fearless and mighty asura. Through his penance and might, he conquered the whole world. Indra and other gods feared that he would conquer all the three worlds, so they went to Lord Vishnu for help. Lord Vishnu incarnated as a dwarf brahmin (Lord Vaman). He went to Baliraja and asked for three strides of land in alms. Baliraja gracefully agreed. Vamanji grew in size and covered the earth (mrutyulok) and heaven (swarglok) in His two strides. Baliraja selflessly offered his head for Vamanji to place the third step, and was pushed to underground world (patallok). Thus, helping the Gods from this mighty asura.

Shraadh

Shraadh is a period of 15 days when we are required to remember our deceased ancestors. People perform religious duties in the name of their ancestors e.g. by way of a donation, feeding brahmins or doing thaad in the temple. A specific tithi (Indian date) is allotted to make the offerings for the ancestors. Females’ shraadh is done on the 9th (nom) and males’ shraadh is done on the tithi they passed away. If the tithi is not known, or forgotten, then the offering can be made on the last day of shraadh.

Shraadh can also be performed in holy places like Gaya, Varanasi, Haridwar etc.

Navratri

Nav means nine and ratri means night. Navratri is the festival that lasts for nine nights. It starts on Aasosudpadvo and ends on Aasosud nom. They are dedicated to worship different forms of Shaktidevi. The first 3 days are dedicated to Goddess Durga, the next 3 days are dedicated to Goddess Lakshmi and the last 3 days are dedicated to Goddess Saraswati. She took these forms to kill the demon Mahishasur.

Mahishasur, the mighty demon worshipped Lord Shiva and obtained the power of eternity. He started to kill and harass innocent people and set out to win seven loks. Devtas were tired of the harassment from the demon. They requested Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva (Tridevs) to help them. Tridevs united their supreme powers and created a divine being called Shaktidevi or Durga the Warrior Goddess. Shaktidevi took different forms and fought with the demon for 9 days continuously and finally beheaded him. All the people and devtas celebrated the victory of the Goddesses with great joy on the 10th day (VijayaDashmi).

VijayaDashmi (Dashera)

Vijaya means victory. The essence of this festival is to remember that good always overcomes evil. The day also marks the victory of Goddess Durga over the demon Mahishasur. This is the day when Lord Rama conquered the evil King of Lanka - Ravana. Also on this day, after 12 years of exile and one year of hiding, the five Pandavas, picked up their weapons hidden under the Shami tree to battle with Kauravas.

SharadPoonam

SharadPoonam falls on Aasosud15; this is when the moon is at its brightest in the year.

This auspicious night celebrates Lord Krishna’s raasleela in Vrindavan. On hearing sweet sound from Lord Krishna’s flute, Gopis immediately abandoned all their housework and rushed to meet Lord Krishna. Their devotion and love for Lord Krishna was so great that Lord Krishna assumed multiple forms and played raas with each and every Gopi. The light of the gleaming moon shone over this divine dance, which allowed all the devtas to witness the dance and shower them all with flowers.

This night similarly marks the raasleela played by ShrijiMaharaj in Panchala with His santos. He too assumed multiple forms to play raas with each sant individually. The santos, like the Gopis, were so lost in playingraas with ShrijiMaharaj, they didn’t even notice that their dhotis were loose, or that their upper garments were falling off. ViharilaljiMaharaj captured this glorious occasion in the kirtan, ‘JuoJuonesaheliyoaajrasiyoraasrame’.

On this day, powa / dudhpak is offered to God and taken as prashad.