09 Nov 2008 Vrindavan, India
Category: Celebration
Today was a great day. The whole day and the whole night, around the clock thousands of people were doing the Parikrama of Vrindavan which is a walk of 9 kilometers. Local people, pilgrims from elsewhere, young, old, men, women, children, some alone, some in groups with family and friends, all without shoes. There was chanting going on and some were dancing. It was a great atmosphere.
Our Ashram is on the Parikrama road, so we prepared potatoes in a special way to distribute them to the pilgrims who were all coming by. Today is a very special Ekadashi of the whole year. Ekadashi is the eleventh day of the moon so it is twice a month. Many people keep a fast on this day. In this fasting potatoes and some green vegetables are allowed to be eaten so we boiled potatoes and prepared them with cumin, coriander, black pepper and crystal salt. We started in the morning and until six o’clock in the evening we distributed these potatoes to thousands of people. Everybody in the Ashram had fun in preparing, cooking and distributing and the people of course enjoyed the potatoes very much. We had the live cam on, too, and many people were watching what was going on. In this way I like technology. Only with that our friends around the globe were able to be with us.
It is also a special day in Hinduism. According to the Hindu belief Tulsi, who is considered a holy plant and Goddess, got married to Shaligram, a form of Vishnu on this day. With this day a time started which people consider as very good for starting something new. This is also a day on which many couples get married and everybody does a pooja in their home. My parents also got married on this day and this year we are celebrating their 45th wedding anniversary.
Click here to see pictures of today's distribution of food and the pilgrims
Tags:: Celebration, Charity, Cooking, Pilgrimage, Vrindavan
3 Comments
Posted By Swami Balendu
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so cool that you have such old traditions. In the US we don't realize it but- we are so new. Our culture is still forming and somewhat blank. We don't have old practices like this to celebrate, it almost seems like we are still finding our identity.
Reply By Sarah James on December 31, 2010 06:30
Where does the tradition of walking without shoes come from? What is it rooted in? Just curious if anyone knows. This sounds like such a lovely time.
Reply By Bic from the UK on October 30, 2010 12:06
Today was the last day of the school year 11/12. The children got their report cards, the olde...
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Human worship in any religion and culture is always wrong.
SourceSometimes the mind creates an illusion in which true love cannot be seen. However love never dies and if you make an effort and don’t give importance to your ego, you can see clearly and find the love which was always there.
SourceMany poor Indian people are happy and proud even with the little they have. Reduce your needs and learn to be happy with less, even in the abundance of the west.
SourceReligion kills. Fasting can take the life of an unborn baby.
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SourceIn a relationship you have to dissolve your ego without any expectations to the other one. If you don’t want to dissolve your ego, why do you want a relationship?
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SourceOur stress is created by thinking with ego: I have to do this, I have to be good in that and I should be perfect in another thing. Actually it would be good if I was perfect in everything! Of course this creates stress! We put such high demand on ourselves and on what we should be able to do and to achieve.
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SourceScriptures were written by men, in a male-dominated society, when war, killing and fighting was a daily occurrence, when people were tortured, women were beaten and slaves were being held. You cannot call that holy.
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