CHHATH POOJA
About Chhath
Festival
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Chhath
Festival is dedicated
to the God of energy
People offer thanks to the Lord Surya for blessing
the life on the earth as ever
Sun worship is related to the cure of a range of
diseases such as leprosy, etc.
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Chhath is a
Hindu festival celebrated each year by the people very eagerly. This is very
antique festival of the Hindu religion dedicated to the God of energy, also known as Dala Chhath or Surya Shashti.
People celebrate this festival to offer
thanks to the Lord Surya for blessing the life on the earth as ever.
People worship the God Sun very enthusiastically and pray for the well-being, success and progress of their family
members, friends, and elders. According to the Hinduism, Sun worship is
related to the cure of a range of
diseases such as leprosy, etc.
The rituals
at this day is to wake up early in the morning, take a holy bath in the Gange
and keep fast for whole day, even people do not drink water and they keep
themselves standing in the water for a long time. They offer prasad and aragh
to the rising sun. It is celebrated in the various states of India like Bihar,
UP, Jharkhand and Nepal. According to the Hindu calendar, it is celebrated at 6th day of the month of Kartika
(month of October or November).
At some
places, Chaiti Chhath is also celebrated in the month of Chaitra (March or
April) few days after Holi. It is named as chhath because it is celebrated at
the 6th day of the month of Kartika. Chhat puja is very famous in the
Dehri-On-Sone, Patna, Dev and Gaya. Now, it is celebrated all over the country.
Chhath Puja 2016 Dates
§
Friday, 4th
of November 2016 is the
day of bath and eat.
§
Saturday,
5th of November 2016 is the
day of fast which ends after sunset after the 36 hour long fast.
§
Sunday, 6th
of November 2016 is the
day of Sandhya Argh known as the evening offerings.
§
Monday, 7th
of November 2016 is the
day of Suryodaya Argh and the Paran or breaking of the fast.
History and Origin of Chhath Puja
Chhath puja
has a great significant in the Hindu religion and it is assumed that the oldest
Purohits were requested by the kings to come and perform the traditional puja
of the Lord Sun. They chant the ancient Rigveda texts and a variety of
hymns for worshiping the Sun. In the ancient, Chhath puja were celebrated by
Draupadi and Pandavas of Hastinapur (New Delhi) for solving their instant
problem and regaining their lost kingdom.
It is also assumed
that the Chhath puja was first started by the Surya Putra Karna. He was a
great warrior and had ruled over the Anga Desh (Munger district of Bihar)
during the Mahabharata period.
Worship of
Chhathi Maiya (consort of the Lord Surya) is held at Chhath puja, Chhathi Maiya is also known as Usha in
the Vedas. Usha means dawn (the first light of the day). People
pray to Chhathi Maiya to overcome their troubles as well as to get the Moksha
or liberation. T
The Goddess who is worshipped during the
famous Chhath Puja is known as Chhathi Maiya.
Chhathi Maiya is known as Usha in the Vedas. She is believed to be
the beloved younger wife of Surya, the sun god. Usha and Pratyusha are wives of
Surya and Aditi is his mother.
Usha
is the term used to refer to dawn– The first light of day. But in the Rig Veda
she has more symbolic meaning. Symbolically Usha is the dawn of divine
consciousness in the individual aspirant. It is said - Usha and Pratyusha, wives of
Sun are the main source of Sun. Both Usha and Pratyusha are worshiped along
with Sun in chhath parva. Usha(literally-the
first morning sun-ray) is worshipped on the last day and Pratyusha(the last
sun-ray of day) is worshipped in the evening by offering water or milk to the
rising and setting sun respectively. This is the only parva which signifies
rising sun as well as setting sun both
Another
history behind celebrating the Chhath puja is the story of Lord Rama. It
is considered that Lord Rama and Mata Sita had kept fast and offer puja to
the Lord Sun in the month of Kartik in Shukla Paksh during their coronation
after returning to the Ayodhya after 14 years of exile. From that time,
chhath puja became the significant and traditional festival in the Hindu
religion and started celebrating every year at the same date.
Chhath Puja Katha
A long year
ago, there was a king named, Priyavrat and his wife Malini. They were
living very happily but there was a big unhappiness in their life as they have
no child. They decided to make a big Yagya by the help of Maharishi Kashyap in
order to be blessed with a child. His wife became pregnant because of the
effect of Yagya. But she had given birth to a dead child after nine months.
King was very sad and decided to suicide. Suddenly, there came a Goddess in
front of him while suicide. Goddess said that, I am a Goddess Khashti, if
someone would offer puja to me with pure mind and soul, he would definitely get
a child. The king, Priyavrat did the same and blessed with a very beautiful and
cute child. Since then, people started celebrating the chhath puja.
Rituals and Traditions of Chhath
Puja
It is
believed that worshipers of the Chhath take holy bath and follows a period of
abstinence and become separate for 4 days from the main family. Throughout
the period he is believed as the pure spirit and sleep on the floor having
single blanket. There is a normal belief that once a family begins Chhatt
Puja, he has to perform it yearly as well as pass it to his next generations
and it can only be skipped when there is a death of any person in the family
that year.
Devotees
offer prasad to Sun at the Chhath such as sweets, Kheer, Thekua and fruits
included in a small bamboo tokari. The prasad should be cooked without salt,
onions or garlic with maintained purity. It is a four days festival which
includes:
§
On the first
day, devotees take bathe early in the morning in the holy water of Gange
and bring some water to their home to prepare the offerings. The home and its
surroundings should be cleaned at this day. They take only one meal a day known
as kaddu-bhat cooked only by using the bronze or soil utensils and mango woods
over the soil stove.
§
On the
second day (the day before Chhath), Panchami, devotees keeps fast for whole day
and break their fast in the evening after sunset after the worship of Sun. They
offer Rasiao-kheer, puris, fruits in the puja. After taking meal in the
evening, they go on a fast without water for the next 36 hours.
§
On the third
day (day of Chhath) they offer the Sanjhiya Arghya at the ghat of riverbank.
After Arghya, they wear the single saree of turmeric color. Other family
members are waiting for getting the blessings from worshiper. At the night of
Chhath a vibrant event of Kosi is celebrated by lighting the lamps of clay
diyas under the covering of five sugarcane sticks. The five sugarcane
sticks indicate the Panchatattva (earth, water, fire, air and space) that human
body made of Panchatattva.
§
On the early
morning of the fourth day (Paarun), devotees along with their family and
friends offer Bihaniya Aragh at the ghat of riverbank of Gange. Devotees end
their festival through breaking the fast by having the Chhath prashad.
Stages of Chhath Puja
There are
six great stages of the Chhath puja which are:
§
The belief
of fast and cleanliness of body on the festival identify the detoxification of the body and mind in
order to set up the body and mind to accept the cosmic solar energy.
§
Standing in
water with half of the body inside the water diminishes the escape of energy as well as facilitates the prana to
elevate to the sushumna.
§
Then the
entrance of cosmic solar energy takes place
in the pineal, pituitary and hypothalamus glands (known as the Triveni
complex) by the retina and optic nerves.
§
In the 4th
stage Triveni complex gets activated.
§
After
activation of the Triveni complex, spine gets polarized and body of devotee
gets transformed into a cosmic powerhouse and gets the Kundalini Shakti.
§
At this
stage the devotee is fully able to conduct, recycle and pass on the energy
into entire universe.
Benefits of the Processes of Chhath
puja
§
It is the
way of detoxifying the body and mind which lead to the biochemical changes.
§
Through
detoxification it becomes possible to control the flow of prana as well as
getting more energetic. It
improves the look of skin, develops better eyesight and the ageing process gets
slow down.
Benefits of Chhath Puja
§
Devotee of
the Chhath puja can improve the immunity
of body.
§
A variety of
skin infections can be cured through the safe radiations of sunlight.
§
It increases
the fighting power of blood by improving the performance of WBC.
§
Solar energy
provides the power to control the secretion(emission,discharge) of hormones.
Daily sun meditation relaxes the body and mind.
Pranayam, yoga, meditation are also the way to improve the control on body and
mind. Pilgrims comes at Varanasi for a
peaceful yoga and meditation at the bank of river Ganga.
Significance of Chhath Puja
Chhath puja
has a special significance during the Sunrise and Sunset periods. The Sunrise
and sunset are the most important periods of the day during which a human body
can safely get the solar energy without any harm. That’s why there is a myth of
offering the Sanjhiya Arghya and Bihaniya Arghya to the Sun at the Chhath
festival. During this period the solar energy has low level of ultraviolet
radiations so it is safe for the human body. People perform the Chhath puja
in order to thank the Lord Sun for continuing the life on the earth as well as
to get blessings.
The ritual
of Chhath puja provides mental calmness (by detoxifying the body and mind),
enhances the energy level and immunity, reduces the frequency of anger, jealous
as well as lot of negative emotions. It is also believed that following the
Chhath processes helps in slowing down the ageing process. Such beliefs and
rituals of the Chhath make it the most significant festival in the Hinduism.
