Hyderabad: As part of campaigning from Chilkur during Rakhi pournami falling on August 26, the Temples Protection Movement has distributed Raksha threads as prasadam to the girl students of Devanar School of the Blind and girls of Manikonda Govt. Primary School.
There will be a call to young boys to have at least one new girl to tie a rakhi and accept her as his sister for life. The Chilkur Temple will celebrate Rakhi Pournami in the afternoon of August 26. The temple chief priest Soundararajan appealed to the parents to inculcate the habit of Rakhi tying among the boys and girls so that the negative instincts today are reduced. The value of relation between brother and sister has been shown in many festivals and rituals in our country.
Rangarajan said on the day of Raksha Bandhan, Mahalakshmi tied Rakhi on the hands of Bali Chakravarthi to release her husband Lord Vishnu from Bali’s service. In terms of symbolism, the brother-sister relationship is depicted in Jagannath Mandir in Puri and is one of the temples in the country where Gods and Goddesses are not worshiped in the form of husband and wife.
All three festivals Jagannath Yatra, Raksha Bandhan and Bhai Dooj are observed in the last six months of a year in the period of dakshinayana, which is the period with darker or the negative side of the mind. In Chaturmas the mind is more negative, violent, irritable and with more non fulfillment of desires. All festivals which relates to purity of relationship are thus observed in this period.
Rangarajan said on August 29 “Kanyavandanam Festival” will be celebrated at Manikonda Govt. Primary School. The program consists of little girls dressed like the Goddess. At 2 pm at the School, Chilkur Balaji Archakas and elders will apply Parani to the little girls. “Through this worship, we want to revive the respect for women and girls”, he added.
Rangarajan said, “Eve teasers are portrayed as Heroes in movies. Womanizers have become the Idols, Rapists dominate the society today and hence the time has come for us to respond and show the right path…. Love and romance has been hijacked by market forces, Hotels, Pubs, restaurants. It is a great money spinner. Expression of love has become Demonic and violent. Recent worst developments in this country relating to little girls have angered our Divine Mother Mahalakshmi”.
Acid attacks, Rape, Female Foeticide, Dowry deaths are all happening and the society is unable to find an answer. The answer lies in restoring the divine status to the Women. Women are the exact form of Mahalakshmi. These atrocities have increased very recently and we are all to blame for it as we have reduced the stature of women to that of only objects of sexual satiation. Young boys and girls in their teens don’t realize the impact of this addiction, which becomes an impediment in their quest for growth in life. We requested other temples, schools, NGOs, Women organizations to participate in their domains and make this a great event”, he added. (NSS)
