Monthly Newsletter

March 2016 – Events and Festival dates (Please confirm exact date and time with Panditji)

WEEKLY PROGRAMS AT THE TEMPLE(4/3 Onslow Avenue, Papatoetoe, Auckland)

Tuesday: RAM KATHA, HANUMAN CHALISA, AARTI AND MAHA PRASAD. Friday: BHAJAN SANDHYA, PRAVACHAN, HANUMAN CHALISA AND DURGA CHALISA Saturday: MATA RANI CHOWKI or BHAJAN SANDHYA FOLLOWED BY AARTI AND MAHA PRASAD

Temple Timings: 9am to 12.00 am and 5pm to 8.00pm Panditji: Tel. 09 2798108

FREE HINDI CLASS EVERY SUNDAY FROM 10.30AM & MUSIC CLASSES ON MONDAYS FROM 5PM AT TEMPLE CONTACT TEL. 09 2798108

March 2016 Issue #16

Maa Durga Temple, Auckland, NZ

The Maa Durga Temple and its Devotees express

their heartfelt sympathies to the Fijian people

affected by the Cyclone Winston and convey their

wishes for rapid rehabilitation and reconstruction

of the affected areas. Maa Durga Temple has

organised special programs to raise funds for the

affected people. If you wish to help Please Contact

Panditji for full details.

February Highlights at the Temple

On 13th February 2016 Vasant Panchami was

celebrated at the Temple. A Samuhik Vidya arambh

Puja was held with many children attending the puja

with their parents. Free Notebook and Pens were distributed to all Children present at the puja. Later

many children gave live performances in singing,

dancing and speech. These performances were quite good and all participants were awarded a Trophy

and Certificate of appreciation. Please check out the

photos and videos posted on our facebook page. Many devotees participated in the festival.

On 20th February Mata ki Chowki was held by

DIvya Jagruti Sansthan (DJJS). Many Devotees and DJJS members attended the Chowki which was

followed by Mahaprasad being served.

March Festival Details: Maha Shivrathri

(07/03/2016): Maha

Shivaratri is celebrated with

great devotion and religious feeling by Hindus, in honor

of Lord Shiva, one of the

Hindu Gods forming the Trinity. The festival falls on the moonless, 14th night of the new moon in the

Hindu month of Phalgun (Usually in February or

March). On the festival of Maha Shivaratri, devotees observe day and night fast and worship Shiva

Lingam, to appease Lord Shiva.

There are many interesting legends related to the festival of Maha Shivaratri, explaining the reason

behind its celebrations as well as its significance.

According to one of the most popular legends,

Shivaratri is the wedding day of Lord Shiva and

Parvati. It is also believed that Lord Shiva performed ‘Tandava', the dance of the creation,

preservation and destruction on this auspicious night

of Shivaratri. According to another popular legend, described in

Linga Purana, it was on Shivaratri that Lord Shiva

manifested himself in the form of a Linga for the first time. Since then, the day is considered to be

extremely auspicious by the devotees of Shiva and

they celebrate it as Maha Shivaratri - the grand night of Shiva.

Another legend is during the great churning of the

ocean called Samudra Manthan, a pot of poison

emerged from the ocean. The gods and the demons

were terrified as it could destroy the entire world.

When they ran to Shiva for help, he in order to protect the world, drank the deadly poison but held

it in his throat instead of swallowing it. This turned

his throat blue, and since then he came to be known as 'Nilkantha', the blue-throated one. Shivratri

celebrates this event by which Shiva saved the

world. There is another legend from the Shiva Purana, once

Brahma and Vishnu the other two of the tri devas were

fighting over who was the superior of the two. Horrified

at the intensity of the battle, the other gods asked Shiva

to intervene. To make them realize the futility of their

fight, Shiva assumed the form of a huge column of fire in

between Brahma and Vishnu. Awestruck by its

magnitude, they decided to find one end each to establish

supremacy over the other. Brahma assumed the form of a

swan and went upwards and Vishnu as Varaha went into

the earth. But light has no limit and though they searched

for thousands of miles, neither could find the end. On his

journey upwards, Brahma came across a Ketaki flower

wafting down slowly. When asked where she had come

from, the Ketaki replied that she had been placed at the

top of the fiery column as an offering. Unable to find the

uppermost limit, Brahma decided to end his search and

take the flower as a witness. At this, the angry

Shiva revealed his true form. He punished Brahma for

telling a lie, and cursed him that no one would ever pray

to him. The Ketaki flower too was banned from being

used as an offering for any worship, as she had testified

falsely.

A legend explains the reason behind the all-night worship

of Shiva on Shivratri. There was once a poor tribal man

who was great devotee of Shiva. One day he went deep

into the forest to collect firewood. However he lost his

way and could not return home before nightfall. As

darkness fell, he heard the growls of wild animals.

Terrified, he climbed onto the nearest tree for shelter till

day-break. Perched amongst the branches, he was afraid

he would doze and fall off the tree. To stay awake, he

decided to pluck a leaf at a time from the tree and drop it,

while chanting the name of Shiva. At dawn, he realized

that he had dropped a thousand leaves onto a Linga to

keep himself awake, the tribal plucked one leaf at a time

from the tree and dropped it below which he had not seen

in the dark. The tree happened to be a bel tree. This

unwitting all-night worship pleased Shiva, by whose

grace the tribal was rewarded with divine bliss. This

story is also recited on Mahashivaratri by devotees on

fast. After observing the all-night fast, devotees eat the

Prasad offered to Shiva. Sincere worship of Lord Shiva

yields merits including spiritual growth for the devotees.

Shiva Purana further says that performing abhisheka of

ShivaLinga with six different ingredients including

milk, yoghurt, honey, ghee, sugar and water while

chanting Sri Rudram, Chamakam and Dasa Shanthi

pleases Lord Shiva the most. According to the

mythology, each of these ingredient used in the abhisheka blesses a unique quality.

Holi (24/03/2016)

Holi is celebrated on the full moon day in the month of Phalgun which is the month of March. Holi is a

spring festival also known as the festival of colours

or the festival of love. This colorful festival celebrates 5 day-long last day is rang panchami.

We all celebrate Holi because there are many

legends and history associated with the origin of this spring festival. The most popular is the one about

the story of Prahlad, the son of the evil King

Hiranyakasipu and one of the sisters of the king named Holika. Hiranyakashipu was the great king of

demons, and he had been granted a boon by

Brahma, which made it almost impossible for him to be killed. According to the boon he cannot be killed

“during day or night; inside the home or outside, not

on earth or on sky; neither by a man nor an animal; neither by astra nor by shastra". Consequently, he

grew arrogant and attacked the Heavens and the

Earth. He demanded that people stop worshipping gods and start praying to him. Despite this,

Hiranyakashipu's own son, Prahlada, was a devotee

of Lord Vishnu. In spite of several threats from Hiranyakashipu, Prahlada continued offering prayers

to Lord Vishnu. He was poisoned but the poison

turned to nectar in his mouth. He was ordered to be crushed by elephants yet remained unharmed. He

was put in a room with hungry, poisonous snakes

and survived. All of Hiranyakashipu's attempts to kill his son failed. Finally, he ordered young

Prahlada to sit on a pyre on the lap of his demoness

sister, Holika, who could not die because she also

had a boon which would prevent fire from burning

her. Prahlada readily accepted his father's orders,

and prayed to Vishnu to keep him safe. When the fire started, everyone watched in amazement as

Holika burnt to death, while Prahlada survived

unharmed, the burning of Holika is celebrated as Holi. Holi is thus celebrated as the festival of the

victory of good over evil

There is alternative story detailing the origin of Holi. This story is about Kamadeva, a god of love.

Kama's body was destroyed when he shot his

weapon at Shiva in order to disrupt his meditation and help Parvati to marry Shiva. Shiva then opened

his third eye, the gaze of which was so powerful that Kama's body was reduced to ashes. For the sake of

Kama's wife Rati, Shiva restored him, but only as a

mental image, representing the true emotional and spiritual state of love rather than physical lust. The

Holi bonfire is believed to be celebrated in

celebration of this event. Another legend has it that once upon a time an old woman’s grandchild was to

be sacrificed to a female demon named Holika. A

Sadhu advised that abuse and foul language would pacify Holika. The old woman collected many

children and made them abuse Holika in foul

language. The demon fell dead on the ground. The children then made a bonfire of her remains. Holi is

also has been associated with the immortal love of

Krishna and Radha. In Braj region like Mathura, Nandagaon, and Barsana Holi is celebrated with

great enthusiasm..In Vrindavan and Mathura, where

Lord Krishna grew up, the festival is celebrated for 16 days to celebrate the divine love of Radha for

Krishna. Lord Krishna is believed to have

popularized the festival by playing pranks on the gopis here. Krishna is believed to have complained

to his mother about the contrast between his dark

skin complexion and Radha’s fair skin complexion. Krishna's mother decided to apply colour to Radha's

face. The celebrations officially usher in spring, the

celebrated season of love. In West Bengal and Orissa of India it is known as Dolyatra (Doul Jatra)

or Basanta-Utsav ("spring festival"). Holika Dahan

is like Dusshera where effigies are burned signifying

the end of dark or demonic forces. The main

importance of the festival is on the burning of the

holy fire or Holika. The origin of the traditional lighting of Holi is attributed by some to the burning

of demonesses like Holika, Holaka and Putana who

represent evil. The next day of Holi also known as Dhulandi or Dhulendi, is celebrated by people

throwing colored powder and colored water at each

other. Holi Food preparations also begin many days in advance, with collection of gujia, papads, kanji

and various kinds of snack items including malpuas,

mathri, puran poli, and dahi badas, which are served to Holi guests. The night of Holi, the baithak take

turns churning bhang into intoxicating milk shakes and they make sweet laddoos mixed with bhang.

Abeer and Gulal are the two most important things

of the celebration in all possible colors. Next comes spraying of colored water using pichkaris. Colored

water is prepared using Tesu flowers, which are first

gathered from the trees, dried in the sun, and then ground up, and later mixed with water to produce

orange-yellow colored water. Holi also means

“sacrifice”. Burn all the impurities of the mind, such as egoism, arrogance and lust, through the fire of

devotion and knowledge. Ignite cosmic love, mercy,

generosity, Selflessness, truthfulness and purity through the fire of Yogic practice. This is the real

spirit of Holi. The call of Holi is to always keep

ablaze the light of God-love shining in your heart. Real Holi is the illuminating of hearts.

Did you know ? Miraculous Bhuteshwar Shivling

That Is Growing Every Year On Its Own!!

At a distance of 90 km from Chattisgarh’s capital

Raipur there is a district situated named Gariabandh.

Around 3 kms from there - in a district called Mukhyalya there is a forest named Gram Maroda

where there is a shivling called 'Bhuteshwar

Mahadev’ . All over the world the Shivling is famous as the ‘

worlds only Shivling that grows every year’ . This

Shivling is also known as ‘ Bakurra Mahadev ‘ . The surprising feature of this Shivling is that it

keeps on increasing in height and width on its own.

It is about 18 feet tall and the width of the spherical

surface of the Shivling is about 20 feet.

The Shivling's length is measured and recorded

every year by the Revenue department.

According to the

villagers, the story behind this Shivling is

that several years ago, a

zamindar had a field in this place and there was

a mound in his field

from where people could hear the roaring of a lion.

When he informed the others of this development, they also flocked to the mound and heard the

roaring. From then onwards, people started

worshipping this mound.

Comments / suggestions: Email to

maashakti2011@gmail.com : or at

www.http://maaDurgatemple.co.nz/

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Disclaimer:We publish this Newsletter only for our Devotees in

Auckland, NZ. Articles published provide information of a general

nature and is not intended as a substitute for professional

consultation and advice. The opinions and interpretations expressed

herein are those of the author only and may not reflect those of

other identified parties.