My experience of following Shrawan Month rituals for the very 1st time...

1861st BLOG POST

Yesterday, the month of Shrawan ended for all of us who follow the Hindu calendar as per Purnima. The folks who follow Amawasya calendar shall be following the religious month of Saawan until 19^th August, 2020. The month of Shrawan is an auspicious one where all of us pray in complete devotion of Lord Shiva. When it comes to Lord Shiva – whatever you do for the God is always less hence in the month of Shrawan, we devote ourselves as much as possible in the Lord and pray for his blessings. Lord Shiva is known for his bholapann and forgiving or blessing his devotees. I have always been mesmerized by Lord Shiva’s presence since I saw the idol of the divine in the Gorakhnath temple in Gorakhpur at Uttar Pradesh. I had remembered the idol and its image since childhood and always felt that there is only one God and it is Lord Shiva. It is later when I realized that there are other forms of God too.

Frankly speaking, in the last 30 years, I never followed the month of Shrawan by prohibiting non-vegetarian food and following other small sacrificial activities such as fasting etc. First of all, I always questioned this logic of not eating meat for a month and eating for rest of the 11 months as I believed that God is omnipresent in each and every moment – either it’s a day/month of festival or not. Also there has been another reason that in case you even take the pledge of following the prohibitions and sacrifices but as soon as your friends start enjoying their life who aren’t following the month, you end up breaking your promise with God as you get compromised by their endless requests immediately. According to me, this is a bigger sin than not following at all. Being unaware is okay but being aware and still committing the sin isn’t.

This year as we are working from home, I knew that any such negative energies are away from me so let’s try it out as I am anyway trying to follow as much religious practices as possible since the lockdown began in March 2020. And I am liking the process of learning my religion and following it to the best of my capacity. There is an altogether different feel to it. The temple at home has never given me the kind of feeling as it has given me in last 4-5 months. There have been times when I have ended up crying and weeping while praying to God or reading some mantra or shloka. Such has been the devotion which I hardly remember if I have ever experienced the same. Things with life has not been great in this phase but still – the belief in God stays intact. Now I realize that nothing is in my hands or my parents/friends but the almighty. Hence, the most we can do is to pray and ask him to give us the life which is best for us.

I had abstained myself from eating non-veg, eggs and drinking milk in Shrawan. In this month itself, I also did religious proceedings needed for the festivals and occasions such as Nag Panchami, Raksha Bandhan, Guru Purnima and others. I also fasted on the five Saawan Somwaars (Monday) as it is been done as the day is associated with Lord Shiva. The kind of poojas that I have performed on these Mondays have made me feel so special. I have also read Shiv Chalisa twice- morning and evening – throughout the month. Before this, I never did any kind of rituals or prayed Shiv Linga but this is the first time I learnt about it and performed it on every Monday in this month. I offered water on Shiv Linga daily though. Along with this, there were two Ekadashis that had come in this month- namely, Kamika Ekadashi and Putrada Ekadashi – on which I fasted for both the auspicious days dedicated to Lord Vishnu. I never knew about Mahamrityunjay Mantra but now, I remember it by heart and chant it every time I am aware about my presence and the moment.

Doing all of this makes you realize that you are in hands of a power beyond us and our understanding. I understood that life happens the way it has all been planned by God. I also realized that your scripted life is re-written as per your practices, Karma and Dharma that you are following. In case you are still suffering a lot, may be God is punishing you for some of your past sins. It is still good as that account of yours is getting closed. Once you are being tested by God in such difficult circumstances and you stay as truthful to your Dharma even then, you become one of the favorite devotees of God and great and magical things start happening with you. It is all about beliefs. Now, something has happened internally which makes me believe in everything I read about our God. Earlier, I used to question each and everything. Today, now, when I realize that Shravan has ended, it seems as if I am missing something and I wish if the days continued. But now I am waiting for next auspicious occasion as the next 4-5 months are all going to be festive, so we have multiple opportunities to be as close to God as possible.

I just wished to share my feelings I had after following the rituals of the month dedicated for Lord Shiva and wrote as it came in my heart. Hope my feelings were clear to everyone who read it. I request everyone to not be proud of being an atheist. Have some belief as per your gut feeling but please believe in a power above you.

Thanks.

WRITING BUDDHA