Comments on: The God for Everyman

By: Ansari

Ansari — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 10:11:27 +0000

what happens to u all guys you ppls have no mind to think about the real God, How can you believe that Ganesha is a God Even Shiva is a God, According to Upanisahd, Vedas, Puranas God Has no Pic, Image, idols if u guys are true hindu refer to your actual books and see where u all are standing. Please its an appeal to all my Borthers and Sisters, Dont take it in wrong ways just think on my comments and try to find out truth if u really wants to be in Heaven. Your Brother – Ansari

By: Hari N Iyer

Hari N Iyer — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 04:01:30 +0000

20 days !

You guys were sure lucky. We got one day without the books for saraswathi pooja ! It was all fine and dandy that day ... but the next day , my mom wakes me up @ 4 AM , asks me take head bath and sit in the pooja room and study for 4 hrs continuously !

By: A N N A

A N N A — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 20:30:51 +0000

family is tamil and as long as i can remember charthurti has been a massive deal. preparations would go on for days…its my favourite religious event anyway. the sweets never stop coming.

Now THAT sounds like a holiday I can get behind.

By: Pravin

Pravin — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 20:45:45 +0000

When I went to India, the festival i loved the most was Diwali. I didnt give a crap about the lights or sweets. I loved it because you could blow up stuff without government regulation. Explosives in tins. In Andhra, they had these things called Hawai Sawai. These were pretty much rockets without the little fuse and were tied to a flexible stick instead of the rigid stick rockets are attached to. You had to pinch the paper out from the bottom of these rockets and then light the powder directly(the powder would not fall out as it was tightly packed). Then you would have to time it properly to throw it and get the maximum distance out of it. The most popular use was throwing these Hawai Sawais at friends in mock fights. A lot of accidents, as you can imagine.

I liked Bhogi too which I think was either during Sankranti or Ugadi. I forget. You just set up a hugeass bonfire.

I find Diwali celebrations boring in the U.S. Indian community.

By: nala

nala — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 20:36:13 +0000

Lol…My mom says you are supposed to include your books in the puja to ensure that you get good grades and knowledge and blah blah blah, and you have to leave them at the alter/mandiram the whole 10 days and in high school leave my ALL SAT BOOKS there so my parents didnt make me do them for 10 days

this year I wanted to include a copy of Lucky Magazine, but my mom was all, “Vat? Don’t you think you should put an MCAT book instead?” (I didn’t mean to trivialize the holiday, she just said to pick any 2 books that have special meaning to me. And without getting into a lot of personal bull$hit, i can’t quite explain why a fashion mag has that much meaning to me, but it does).

By: Karthik

Karthik — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 18:09:33 +0000

Best Part= New Clothes :]+ Sweets&Farsan

This was the case for Diwali, well as long as I was a kid. The minute my parents figured that I could wear a dothi, I started getting dothies for Diwali.

Lol…My mom says you are supposed to include your books in the puja to ensure that you get good grades and knowledge and blah blah blah, and you have to leave them at the alter/mandiram the whole 10 days and in high school leave my ALL SAT BOOKS there so my parents didnt make me do them for 10 days

And this was for Saraswathi pooja. I remember that we could not touch the books for a day.

By: A N N A

A N N A — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 17:25:15 +0000

My mom says you are supposed to include your books in the puja to ensure that you get good grades and knowledge and blah blah blah, and you have to leave them at the alter/mandiram the whole 10 days and in high school leave my ALL SAT BOOKS there so my parents didnt make me do them for 10 days

Adorable. And exactly the sort of anecdote I was hoping for, when I posted this.

By: fallen jumki

fallen jumki — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 08:57:47 +0000

Actually im from the south, and they celebrate ganesh chaturthi quite splendidly with really big ganesha idols on palonquins and this procession and pujas and everything at home. Best Part= New Clothes :]+ Sweets&Farsan

Lol…My mom says you are supposed to include your books in the puja to ensure that you get good grades and knowledge and blah blah blah, and you have to leave them at the alter/mandiram the whole 10 days and in high school leave my ALL SAT BOOKS there so my parents didnt make me do them for 10 days

By: Global Sanskrit

Global Sanskrit — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 07:33:34 +0000

Pinda USA, much respect for your numerous postings, but I think you missed the point of my posting. A lot of the stories we hear about hinduism are deeply rooted in superstition. Could we not argue that all of this does not serve the pupose of providing a moral compass which is not necessarily a bad thing? I could recommend a whole discussion on the practical application of all the hindu/beliefs/superstitions. When it comes to my upbringing, my father always tried to show the practical wisdom of some of these superstitions. I’ll give a slight example. My father said that when a wedding is happening, the night before the wedding, the groom is not allowed to go anywhere, travel anywhere, or leave the house. He gave me stories about his wedding in 1969 as practical examples. Now, when the Sean Bell massacre happened in NYC, where I live, I was appalled, but also, I thought about the wisdom of what my father told me. I am just saying that although we view all these rituals as archaic/outdated, my dad told me that in the end there are some practical reasons to follow them.

By: Puliogre in da USA

Puliogre in da USA — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 17:40:52 +0000

Not sure if it's written anywhere or just a superstition to promote better parenting...

lesson learned. sleep facing your child or god will decapitate your baby.