Where's holy in holy festivals?
Dussehra is one of the most celebrated festivals of Sanatan dharma in Hinduism and like any other major festivals, it celebrates the triumph of good over evil, of principles over arrogance.
I have always loved the vibrant melas, community ram-leela and Raavan Dahan that precedes the Dussehra celebration, not to forget the overlapping celebration of joyful Navratri and Vijya Dashmi.
Every year, a makeshift Ravan is burned down signifying the burning of ego, anger, arrogance, pride and other worldly desires. But the question is do we really try to rise above these? The recent wave of online hindu warriors tells a very different story.
The misinformation and hate is all time high with everyone consuming the rage-filled toxic religious content. The problem starts when this misinformation bleeds into reality from the virtual world. Questioning the practices, tradition, logic and practicality behind the rituals or the interpretations of the puranas and holy text is a right given to every individual but using that to twist the text and mythology to fit into the narrative that some individuals are constructing is completely different and very dangerous to the already fragile religious peace.
People trying to justify the deeds of the demon king Raavana and butchering the teachings of Lord Rama is one such example. Raavan was a devotee of Shiva, a learned Brahmin as well as acknowledged person. And apparently a great brother for avenging his sister. But these things cannot blind you to the fact that he tricked Lord Shiva to get Lanka, misbehaved with his own daughter-in-law and countless other women, killed his sister’s husband and kidnapped Sita to get her as ‘such beauty deserves a place only in his palace’ not to avenge his sister.
Lord Rama who’s teaching has taught us about the love of a son for his father, love of a brother for the brother, of a husband for his wife, of a king for his subjects, of a god for his devotees is being criticised.
Those who are learned and are not as ignorant as I am can answer these much better but I’ll still try to put my point forward. The point of the massive rant above is that though we are celebrating our festivals ostensibly, apparently more now than the previous decade, we are forgetting or letting go off the core value of the reason behind those celebrations. Now all festivals are a party with DJ, liquor and entertainment.
For example, Navratri and Durga pooja was a community religious ceremony highlighting the goddess Durga and her avatars, reminding the strength of women and celebrating the thousands of years of culture and tradition but now it is a rave party. Diwali is for a shopping spree and tash parties, Holi is for bhang and harassment, Raksha Bandhan is for gift exchange and Ganesh Chaturthi is for gambling till late at night.
Not saying it’s everywhere, there are still individuals and communities trying and succeeding in preserving the meaning and values behind our festivals and I absolutely respect their dedication towards their Dharma and culture in today’s fast paced modern society.
What we need is nothing of a big movement, just half an hour with our parents and grandparents, listening to them, how they performed ceremonies or what they did to celebrate their festivals, that’s all we need to do to preserve the culture that they knew. After all that’s what’s been happening for thousands of years, stories, myths, folktales and folk music being passed down from generation to generation via word of mouth.
Instead of running after brands, learn to embrace the rich heritage and arts of our forefathers that are slowly dying in this capitalist world. Ask and learn, don’t be a sheep and use the mind that our gods have so generously bestowed to us.
Technology and modernism has given us such marvels to enhance our celebrations, twinkling lights, vibrant colors of rangoli, far reaching sound system, eco-friendly fire crackers, organic colors but that doesn't mean one forget the teachings of a culture and religion older than certain civilizations. It is our duty to correct the spread of misinformation and hate regarding our religious practices, history and myths.
I do hope you enjoyed the festival and ate lots of sweets and had fun.
Happy Dussehra!!!