Saturday Story (updated on pg 38 ) - Page 26

Govardhan Puja History

'Govardhan' is a small hillock situated at 'Braj', near Mathura. The legends in 'Vishnu Puraan' have it that the people of Gokul used to worship and offer prayers to Lord Indra for the rains, because they believed that it were He, who was responsible for rainfall for their welfare. However, Lord Krishna told them that it was Mount Govardhan (Govardhan Paevat) and not Lord Indra, who caused rains. Therefore, they should worship the former and not the latter.

Bhai Dooj History

According to the legends, Lord Yamraj, the God of Death, visited his sister Yamuna on the 'Shukla Paksha Dwitiya' day in the Hindi month of 'Kartik'. When Yamraj reached Yamuna's home, she welcomed him by performing his aarti, applying 'Tilak' on his forehead and by putting a garland around his neck. Yamuna also cooked varieties of dishes, prepared many sweets for her brother and offered all those to Him.

Lord Yamraj ate all those delicious dishes and when he was finished, he showered blessings on Yamuna and gave her a boon that if a brother visits his sister on this day, he would be blessed with health and wealth. This is why this day of Bhayya Duj is also known by the name of 'Yam-Dwitiya'. Thus, it has become a tradition that on the day of Bhai-Dooj for the brothers to visit their sisters' home and offer them gifts. Sisters also make various dishes for their brothers and give gifts to them

History of Jain Community's Diwali

For the Jain community, the festival of Diwali has special significance. It is the day when the famous Jain prophet Bhagvaan Mahaveer, the founder of Jainism, attained 'Nirvana'. Therefore, the people of Jain community celebrate the festival of Diwali in remembrance of Lord Mahavira.

Originally posted by: coolfizzy

wow...

beautiful story it z :)

Originally posted by: foram.

wow thanks for the info about how it is celebrated in diff community. and you wrote right about jains. 👍🏼

Hello friends,

Ganesha and the Atmalinga

Seeing the Linga on the ground an enraged Ravana started chasing the boy to hit him on his head. Lord Ganesha showed his true form. The Ganesha statue in the temple has a hollow on the head, where Ravana is supposed to have struck him Ravana, realizing that he had been tricked, got really angry and tried to uproot and destroy the but could not.

In spite of using his twenty hands, he could not budge the Linga. Though the Linga could not be moved, the pressure from Ravana's hands had changed its shape like the ear of a cow & hence the place came to be called Kokarnam (Ko-cow, karnam-ear). The linga came to be called Mahabaleswara since it could not even be shifted by the mighty Ravana (maha-great, balam-power, Eswara-Lord Siva). Then he decided to destroy the covering of the AtmaLinga, and threw the case covering it to a place called Sajjeshwara, 23 miles away. Then he threw the lid of the case to a placed called Guneshwara (now Gunavanthe) and Dhareshwara, 10-12 miles away. Finally, he threw the cloth covering the AtmaLinga to a placed called Mrideshwara in Kanduka-Giri (Kanduka Hill).