Nov 18, 2007

2007 Diwali at Cleveland Shiva Vishnu Temple in Parma

On arrival at the temple, one finds that the temple parking lot is full and one is directed to parking lots on adjacent properties. Cabs shuttle folks back and forth. Tea lights are placed along the walkway to the temple and it looks cool in the dark.

The main temple hall gets filled with devotees, my guesstimate is about 600. I heard someone say that about 1,000 devotees attend this event at times. One sees a few gora log among the devotees. The temple sticks to the announced pooja schedule pretty much. I think folks sang bhajans in Hindi and Bengali and this was cool too. The folks who sponsor the pooja are given a lamp on a plate for performing pooja. The aarti rocks and this is the highlight of this celebration.

The tall guy, whose I name I should find out, does a pretty good job and wisely announced that desis should not use the fire escape staircase as a short cut to the Patel hall where the prasad is served. The scene in the Patel hall is indicative of some chaos as desis chow down the food brought for the Annakoot pooja and served the volunteers.

It appears that the Gujrati community takes the lead in this event and I suppose people would have opinions about this circumstance. Similarly, the situation at the Sri Venkateshwara Temple in Pittsburgh where the Tamil community takes the lead in events.

I hope this Diwali Celebration is on your to do list for 2008.

Nov 6, 2007

Diwali Schedule at Cleveland Shiva Vishnu Temple


On Saturday, November 10
3 PM – Lakshmi Puja
4:30 - PM Govardhan Puja
5 PM – Annakoot Puja
6 PM
– Arati
6:15 PM – Maha Prasad

Deepavali is one of the most widely celebrated festivals of the Hindus from all walks of life, and brings great joy and jubilation. Deepavali is celebrated in 5 parts, starting with Dhanteras, which is the invocation of Bhagwan Dhanvantari, who brought to society the important therapeutic medicines during ocean churning.
On this day, people clean and illuminate their houses, and get ready for the next day, which is called Choti Deepavali, when Bhagwan Shri Krishna is said to have killed the terrible demon Narkasur, releasing 16,000 captive women.
Deepavali means a row of deepaks or lamps, and the reason for lighting lamps is to symbolically remove darkness from our lives. On this day, the citizens of Ayodhya decorated their houses with lamps to welcome Bhagwan Shri Ram on his return from 14 years of Banwas, after having killed Ravana and freeing the world from his terror. This day has added significance, since Bhagwan Mahavir is considered to have attained eternal bliss or Nirvana, and Swami Dayananda Saraswati and Swami Ram Tirth took Samadhi on this day. Thus, Deepavali unifies Hindus from all beliefs.
Govardhan Pooja is celebrated the next day, with devotees offering hundreds of dishes of food to Bhagwan Shri Krishna in gratitude of him freeing them from the wrath of Lord Indra.
Finally, the last day is the celebration of Bhaiya Duj, when brothers get blessings from their sisters for a long and happy life.
Happy Diwali to you all