[jyotirmoy]

Here are some pics of Durga Pujo 2007 Delhi.

Attached Files

•  Puja2.jpg   141.6K   10 downloads
•  Puja3.jpg   150.34K   16 downloads
•  Puja4.jpg   148.63K   17 downloads
•  Puja5.jpg   149.62K   6 downloads
•  Puja6.jpg   151.56K   18 downloads
•  Puja7.jpg   152.09K   7 downloads

[dzibead]

What is the big furry looking thing???

[jyotirmoy]

These are decorations for the drums. The drummers dance while playing and these furry things flutter. I had posted a pic of them in action last year.

[dzibead]

It looks like a giant tarantula!

[WonderWomanUSA]

This was at Durga Puja in 2003; I arrived while the pandal was still standing on the lane from Janpath past Scindia House.

Attached Files

•  Dsc00538.jpg   98.54K   8 downloads

[Yashodhara]

Great photos, thanks for sharing these Durga Puja impressions. I loved the line about every woman being a Goddess   .

[Shilpaks]

argh!! missed all tht food

[Somerset]

Thanks for posting the snaps; makes me realize how much I'm missing.

Good article in the NYTimes on Durga Pujo in Calcutta (sic). Includes photographs and video, including nice write up:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/22/world/asia/22India.html

Edited by Somerset, 23 October 2007 - 01:02 AM.

[gautam]

Yasodhara,

If you like the line about about "all women being the Goddess" then you will love this from the core text dealing with Durga, the Devi MAhAtymam, [without diacritics and sandhi]

striyah samastAh sakalAh jagatsu : the entire consensual reality is female by nature; i.e. all that is visible is Female.

That strain of thought is strongly reinforced not just in the SrimadBhAgavatam, but in the Vaishnava Tantras themselves:

It takes 10,000 human births to move FROM a male to a female body, a higher evolution.

Since it is exceptionally difficult and unlikely for a human being  to repeat a human birth, the sum of 10K to progress to a female birth is a huge problem.

Therefore,  and I cannot quote whole passages nor the specific Tantra for certain reasons, but  a certain line I shall quote


....... ucchistam vA api bhunjithA tasya siddhih akhanditAh : or also eats the left-overs/leavings [jootha, the biggest taboo for most Hindus] (of a woman) for that person) all  powers shall be in unbroken continuum.

That breaks down such a huge taboo and sanctifies even the spit of a woman, any woman at all, that it is difficult to explain. Certainly anyone consecrated in these paths cannot break samaya by mistreating women, let alone hitting or abusing or degrading them in any way.

The Great Mother is not an external Deity, like the Abrahamic God. It is difficult to explain Her pure non-existence etc., dependent existence, non-regressive and non-conceptual being, and the Akhanda Mandala, the uninterrupted mandala, without a person immersing oneself into this way. She is not a She, nor an Other. Whatever.

So today is a very sacred day, that is why I make bold to publicly write these things, but he Cycles of the Great Mother is wholly sublime in ways you may not be able to even imagine.  But the very fact that you have chosen the name Yashodhara means something enormously auspicious and powerful in your continuum. So, I am quite wrong in saying, "you may not be able to imagine" because it seems that  you may already in some way have generated far more requisite prajna and karuna conjoined than I can ever conceive of.

Edited by gautam, 23 October 2007 - 01:23 AM.

[Shilpaks]

im missing something here
yash wht line are u talking abt?

[Yashodhara]

Wow, gautam, thanks for that post. What you say about the feminine concept is very interesting to learn. I think I understand your explanations of a non external deity and the difficulty to describe something or someone that eludes the rules of static language. Thanks for saying all these nice things about my name that I cannot really say I did actually choose. This name has been with me for such a long time in so many different ways, this is hard to explain as well. But I have a feeling you might understand this.


Shilpa, take a look at Jyoti-Da's 5th photo (stage), there you will find the line, it is an ad. gautam put much meaning into it.

Edited by Yashodhara, 23 October 2007 - 04:38 PM.

[Shilpaks]

ah ty, i hadnt seen all the photos , had opened only the food one

Edited by Shilpaks, 23 October 2007 - 06:56 PM.