Nice warm parsad..
The first Navratri for 2010 is finshed. Thanks to the Ramayana Gole, I was privileged to visit a few mandirs . I am no devout 'keeper' of 'Navratra'. Parsad as we call it is the offering, made with ghee, flour, sugar, milk, fruits. And no purist is going to cuss me and tell me what is the right thing. Where I come from in Guyana, it is called parsad.
So I ate a lot of parsad this Navratra. I could have eaten more because there is always a lot. Some of my non-Hindu friends like parsad. One or two though.. ask first.. was this made for a puja, because even though they like parsad, they belong to religions which talk about devil food, so they have to abstain from it.
There are different atmospheres in the different mandirs. Some of them are crowded, some of them are not so crowded. Some people have quieter services while others have services which feature multiple activities. I liked how the Ogle Mandir integrated the Ram Lila enactment, if only to keep the children interested. As a child, I have been bored by long sermons from Pandits who forgot what it was to be a child listening to a long boring sermon. The trick is 10 minutes, maximum. Some pandits now have learnt the art of integrating music.. concert pandits they are called now.. but I have found that I stop listening to what is being said, and just listen for the music.
That is just me, I am a harkati or maybe a laparwah (no english translation ) when it comes to this.
The Non Pareil Vishnu mandir is a small mandir, and it reminds us of how mandirs must have been built in Guyana from earnings of indentured servants, mostly poor people, who did not have to build those temples. The young Pandit there does a different kind of service, he has a good voice, though sometimes, I wonder if he did not distance himself too much from the congregation though, with some beautiful high notes which left me in awe but then also left me not being able to join with him in singing.. and I usually sing to everything regardless of pitch, tempo or whatever. It was a pleasure to be there, because the activity of young hindus are a constant reminder of the regeneration that happens and how the religion is kept alive.
Regardless of the jhanjhat (no english translation) which exists , each mandir is a tribute to the people, mostly women who voluntarily sustain and nurture the religion. Some mandirs will have massive attendances at some services - Cummings Lodge mandir we went to is always impressive like that, every night. But I am not fussy about numbers, I dont care if it is one or one thousand, Sanatan Dharma is eternal and Universal regardless of the size of the congregation in a mandir.
Ram Navami service this midday was good at Radha Krishna Mandir, some mandirs retain the traditional midday service, and some do the service in the evening. I am glad Radha Krishna, in the middle of Georgetown, keeps this because it reminds those who work that our religion does not have to be separate from our lives, only for Sunday morning or the particular week night.
Tonight, I was happy to be at the Rama Krsna Mandir where the revived Ramayana gole had its first experience of singing. The leader is a man who has all the baani in his head, and I hope that we could get some of that from him. We might not have sung perfectly, but I dont care too much about that, the thing is that we want to learn, and the rest will come after that.
This navratra, i was happy to hear the MC at the Cummings Lodge service encourage the congregation not to accept domestic violence and child abuse. There are other people gradually doing that and hopefully the speakers at mandirs will try to link the teachings with everyday issues. One of the members of the Ramayana Gole did that at Non Pareil, talking about the individual power to effect change, that God resides within and not outside.
Music is critical, I like when the mandirs have open mic and invite members of the audience who want to sing the bhajans rather than restrict the singing to an expert few. The raw talent in our country is often seen in kirtan groups.
I have probably eaten too much parsad..
So I ate a lot of parsad this Navratra. I could have eaten more because there is always a lot. Some of my non-Hindu friends like parsad. One or two though.. ask first.. was this made for a puja, because even though they like parsad, they belong to religions which talk about devil food, so they have to abstain from it.
There are different atmospheres in the different mandirs. Some of them are crowded, some of them are not so crowded. Some people have quieter services while others have services which feature multiple activities. I liked how the Ogle Mandir integrated the Ram Lila enactment, if only to keep the children interested. As a child, I have been bored by long sermons from Pandits who forgot what it was to be a child listening to a long boring sermon. The trick is 10 minutes, maximum. Some pandits now have learnt the art of integrating music.. concert pandits they are called now.. but I have found that I stop listening to what is being said, and just listen for the music.
That is just me, I am a harkati or maybe a laparwah (no english translation ) when it comes to this.
The Non Pareil Vishnu mandir is a small mandir, and it reminds us of how mandirs must have been built in Guyana from earnings of indentured servants, mostly poor people, who did not have to build those temples. The young Pandit there does a different kind of service, he has a good voice, though sometimes, I wonder if he did not distance himself too much from the congregation though, with some beautiful high notes which left me in awe but then also left me not being able to join with him in singing.. and I usually sing to everything regardless of pitch, tempo or whatever. It was a pleasure to be there, because the activity of young hindus are a constant reminder of the regeneration that happens and how the religion is kept alive.
Regardless of the jhanjhat (no english translation) which exists , each mandir is a tribute to the people, mostly women who voluntarily sustain and nurture the religion. Some mandirs will have massive attendances at some services - Cummings Lodge mandir we went to is always impressive like that, every night. But I am not fussy about numbers, I dont care if it is one or one thousand, Sanatan Dharma is eternal and Universal regardless of the size of the congregation in a mandir.
Ram Navami service this midday was good at Radha Krishna Mandir, some mandirs retain the traditional midday service, and some do the service in the evening. I am glad Radha Krishna, in the middle of Georgetown, keeps this because it reminds those who work that our religion does not have to be separate from our lives, only for Sunday morning or the particular week night.
Tonight, I was happy to be at the Rama Krsna Mandir where the revived Ramayana gole had its first experience of singing. The leader is a man who has all the baani in his head, and I hope that we could get some of that from him. We might not have sung perfectly, but I dont care too much about that, the thing is that we want to learn, and the rest will come after that.
This navratra, i was happy to hear the MC at the Cummings Lodge service encourage the congregation not to accept domestic violence and child abuse. There are other people gradually doing that and hopefully the speakers at mandirs will try to link the teachings with everyday issues. One of the members of the Ramayana Gole did that at Non Pareil, talking about the individual power to effect change, that God resides within and not outside.
Music is critical, I like when the mandirs have open mic and invite members of the audience who want to sing the bhajans rather than restrict the singing to an expert few. The raw talent in our country is often seen in kirtan groups.
I have probably eaten too much parsad..
Comments
Post a Comment