Grand celebrations of Ratha Saptami at Gemstoneuniverse.com and Astromandir.com at Varadha Vinayaka Temple!
Ratha Saptami or Magha Saptami is a festival, which marks the change of season to spring. It is also celebrated as Surya Jayanti. Ratha means chariot and Saptami means the Seventh. This festival falls on the seventh day of the bright half or Shukla paksha of the Hindu month of Magha, and signified by the Sun god turning his chariot towards the northerly direction, marking the change of direction of the Sun towards the northern hemisphere and the onset of Spring. It also signifies the start of the harvesting season.
On this festival, the Sun god is worshipped in the early hours of the morning and the Surya Sahasranama is recited. It is also said that good deeds done on this day yield manifold results. This day is also the festival to seek the benevolent cosmic spread of light and energy from the Sun god, Surya. On this auspicious day a Rangoli is drawn depicting the Sun God, Surya.
The Surya namaskaar, which is a ritual, made of 12 postures is performed on this day in the morning, to get the blessings of the Sun God, as this ritual is very dear to Lord Surya. It is also believed that the chariot of Lord Surya has only one wheel, which signifies the Kal- Chakra, or the wheel of time, as his movement bring about day and night, and all life forms are dependant on the Sun for energy! And seven horses, which are the 7 days of the week, draw the chariot.
A closer view of Surya Vigraha
We did special Surya Pooja , Surya Homa, Nava Graha Homa and Mahamrityunjaya Homa-Holy Yagya for common good followed by drawing the chariot of Lord Surya. Some images from the program are below:
The Deities invited in the Holy kalashas-
Homa Being performed at the temple
The chariot of Lord Surya being taken out for a procession
©1999-2011, Gemstoneuniverse.com, All rights reserved.
http://www.gemstoneuniverse.com
Gemstoneuniverse- Precious Gemstones for Precious People
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.