The Foreign Self: Part XIV to XVI-B - Page 5

Originally posted by: khushboo2006

I completely agree with you Armana........go ahead with this POV

Khushboo

I completely agree with you Armana........go ahead with this POV

...er....thank you K. I did not realise that i needed your permission for 'going ahead' with MY POV!😕

Armana

i truly agree with the response u gave....and i applaud u for your sense of rationalism and not blinded my religious customs......
menal

Thanks Menal.

Here is another response via pm, the sender who i've named Stranger, wishes to remmain anonymous.

(1) Mumbai gets its name from mumba-devi. She resides in Mumbai only because when she had her periods everyone closed their doors to her, save the fisherfolk women in Mumbai. As a result, she has permitted all women to enter the famous mahalakshmi temple in Mumbai at all times. I am from Mumbai and as far as I recollect, this is the only temple in India that permits it. It is rather ironic that the first move from the norm in your story is in Mumbai and that too on a seashore home where mumbadevi was found tired and angry by the fisherfolk.

(2) Personally, my inlaws came down very hard on me when they saw me praying in my room when I had my periods. This was one of the few battles, I refused to back off from. I respect their wishes by not entering the temple room even today, but I say my prayers in my room where I have my own idols.

(3) I asked a priest why this custom was mandated. His reply is similar to what you mention but I'll include it for your reference. The priest is from an amba (durga) temple in Chennai. His reply was (a) the woman lights the lamp facing the east direction early in the morning to herald sunrise. She then symbolically and literally wakes up the household to a clear and promising day. (b) She then completes the household tasks and sends her husband to work on the farms. (c) When a woman has periods she is tired and her body temperature is high. At these times she will kill the herbs such as tulsi etc because of her body heat if she tends to it. Also, she is incapable of standing and working in the fields at this time. Additionally, she cannot cook at this time because the food can spoil (high body temperature) which gets aggravated with the heat from the wood and coal. (d) Consequently, survival forced the issue and mandated that woman rest during these times not only for their sakes but for others sakes too!!.

Look forward to hearing more of your views
regards,
Armana

Originally posted by: armana

Thanks Menal.

Here is another response via pm, the sender who i've named Stranger, wishes to remmain anonymous.

(1) Mumbai gets its name from mumba-devi. She resides in Mumbai only because when she had her periods everyone closed their doors to her, save the fisherfolk women in Mumbai. As a result, she has permitted all women to enter the famous mahalakshmi temple in Mumbai at all times. I am from Mumbai and as far as I recollect, this is the only temple in India that permits it. It is rather ironic that the first move from the norm in your story is in Mumbai and that too on a seashore home where mumbadevi was found tired and angry by the fisherfolk.

(2) Personally, my inlaws came down very hard on me when they saw me praying in my room when I had my periods. This was one of the few battles, I refused to back off from. I respect their wishes by not entering the temple room even today, but I say my prayers in my room where I have my own idols.

(3) I asked a priest why this custom was mandated. His reply is similar to what you mention but I'll include it for your reference. The priest is from an amba (durga) temple in Chennai. His reply was (a) the woman lights the lamp facing the east direction early in the morning to herald sunrise. She then symbolically and literally wakes up the household to a clear and promising day. (b) She then completes the household tasks and sends her husband to work on the farms. (c) When a woman has periods she is tired and her body temperature is high. At these times she will kill the herbs such as tulsi etc because of her body heat if she tends to it. Also, she is incapable of standing and working in the fields at this time. Additionally, she cannot cook at this time because the food can spoil (high body temperature) which gets aggravated with the heat from the wood and coal. (d) Consequently, survival forced the issue and mandated that woman rest during these times not only for their sakes but for others sakes too!!.

Look forward to hearing more of your views
regards,
Armana

Interesting, thanks for the post, I learned some thing knew today.....

Originally posted by: armana

Perhaps you are being harsh on xyz. She is only telling us what she has been taught. The blame lies on those who taught her this without also teaching her to think for herself even when it came to religion. Not her.
Just my pov. no offence intended!
thank you for writing in and sharing your opinion.
Armana

Hi ...
I agree with your view on astrology...maybe the blurred lines between ritual and religion where I grew up have coloured my views---no offense taken! Thanks for pointing that out.

As for my views on xyz...I'm not trying to judge her at all and if my words came out a little harsh..I apologize to her. I just felt bad at the thought that she feels compelled to think in a certain way about herself...

onto other things... I look forward to the next episode in the life of Jai and his "bunny"
cheers

Our weekend treat! Your update and the days JB are spending remind me of a beautiful spring afternoon, lazy, peaceful, a few birds chirping here and there, relaxed siesta-like atmosphere, close to perfection...Mera BP kam ho gaya 😉

Bani patiently letting him set the pace, just loving him like she promised to.

👏 👏 👏
bt

Stranger wishes to offer another example on the whole Period-Pollution:

"t seems our scriptures use the story of Matangi to illustrate what we are all been trying to say to our online "Pandit Police." It is long, SORRY

----

In Hinduism, Matangi is the aspect of Devi (in other words, the Mahavidya) who is the patron of inner thought. She guides her devotee to the uncaused primordial sound. Matangi has a dark emerald complexion and has three eyes.

Origin

It is said that once Vishnu and Lakshmi went to visit Shiva and Parvati. Vishnu and Lakshmi gave Shiva and Parvati fine foods, and some pieces dropped to the ground. From these remains arose a maiden endowed with fair qualities. She asked for leftover food (uccishtha). The four deities offered her their leftovers as prasada (food made sacred by having been tasted by deities). Shiva then said to the attractive maiden: "Those who repeat your mantra and worship you, their activities will be fruitful. They will be able to control their enemies and obtain the objects of their desires." From then on this maiden became known as Uccishtha-matangini. She is the bestower of all boons.

The legend of her origin stresses Matangi's association with leftover food, which is normally considered highly polluting. Indeed, she herself actually arises or emerges from Shiva and Parvati's table scraps. And the first thing she asks for is sustenance in the form of leftover food (uccishtha). Texts describing her worship specify that devotees should offer her uccishtha with their hands and mouths stained with leftover food; that is, worshippers should be in a state of pollution, having eaten and not washed. Since for Matangi worshippers make offering in a polluted state, she is known to have been offered a piece of clothing stained with the menstrual blood in order to win the boon of being able to attract someone. Menstrual blood is regarded in almost all Hindu texts and contexts as extremely polluting, and menstruating women are forbidden to enter temples or otherwise serve the deities. In the case of Matangi, these strict taboos are disregarded, indeed, are flaunted.

Symbolism

We live in a society that is very much governed by religious rules. One of these rules asserts that physical cleanliness is a must whenever performing pooja or visiting a temple. As young children, we were taught that we should have a shower before performing a pooja and wash our feet before entering the temple. These are good habits as ensuring cleanliness is a very important form of personal hygiene. At the same time, they freshen us up and make us more alert. However, does it mean that God will object to us connecting or praying to Him if we are in a physically unclean state or if its something that's beyond our control, e.g. women undergoing their menstrual cycle? Do you think that the all-loving and all-compassionate God will ever object to His female devotees from worshipping Him when they are undergoing their menstrual cycles? No. The Mahavidya Matangi teaches us that one can be in the dirtiest of state physically and still be able to connect with Her. She is not at all concerned with the external cleanliness of her devotees. She is only concerned with the state of the devotees within. If the devotees' mind, thoughts and heart are clean, they will be able to connect with the Goddess. And this applies not just to Matangi, but this applies to God in general. Just think for an instance. Will your parents prevent you from entering the house if you are having a menstrual cycle or if you are all dirty after a football game? Surely not. Then why would the all-compassionate and all-loving God prevent you from entering the temple or praying to him? Surely He won't. However, these are rules that we have been taught to obey and follow.

Of course, it is not proper to worship in an unclean state just to mock at God. That shows that the mind is unclean.

The detailed ways of worshipping Matangi, e.g. offering Her leftover food, is but a way to condition a person mentally that it is okay to worship the Divine even if one is physically unclean. Having observed rules of cleanliness for years, the best way to adopt a new thinking towards prayer and cleanliness is by physically performing an act and associating it with the thought, hence the act of offering leftover food and others described in the scriptures. At the end of the day, one has to come to the realization that the Divine is only interested in the purity of the thoughts, mind and soul, not the physical body."

Hi,

Just my two cents on the topic that is being debated upon.

I come from an orthodox South Indian Shaivite sect. If you have noticed, Brahmin men wear the sacred thread around their shoulder. This thread is changed in a religious ceremony in the month of Shravan (sometime around Raksha Bandhan). The day itself is called the Upakarma day. It might be Rig, Yajur or Sama based on stars and people following that particular Veda, will change the sacred thread on that day.

Ours is not a brahminical caste. But we too have the concept of the sacred thread. except that our sacred threads have a small container (called the Garudige) attached to it. This small box (Almost like a locket) contains a small atma linga.

The best part is that both men and women just have to wear it... there is no distinction. And since women always wear the atma linga (even during their periods), it does not really matter. The only mandate is that women as soon as they get their periods, should take a head bath and then do puja and do their normal chores.

In our Math, the swamiji who performed the puja of putting the scared thread for me for the first time, he told me the significance of the puja etc. (My elder brother also got his sacred thread in the same ceremony), I asked the swamiji, that I being a woman would not be able to do puja on those days.

The Swamiji told me, "God has made both Men and women alike except for some biological differences. These differences always point out that women are different from men. Hence the way that you do puja is also different from men. That is the reason why you need to have a head bath (Mainly cleaning yourself) and then do the puja. You need to do this only on the first day of your period... you can continue with your normal puja on the other days."

My elder sister is an orthodox Tamil Brahmin married to an ortho tamil brahmin. Till recently she used to sit seperately on days that she had her chums and my bil used to do all the house work etc. But recently her fil expired and since my bil is the eldest son of the family, he got the saligramam's etc (Sacred idols) that his dad used to worship and since she had to do the puja etc, she cannot sit separately.

So it is all what we have been taught... and it also depends on one's personal beliefs too. Religion and Politics are always a to-each-his-own thing... One should just let the other person be.


Just my two cents and meant in a purely non-judgemental way.