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Re: About Sashtiaapdapoorthi

From the Bhakti List Archives

Sadagopan • December 24, 2001 


Dear Srimathi Sripriya Srinivasan:

A month ago you had asked why we celebrate 
Shashti-abdha -Poorthy in the context of your 
father's forthcoming 60th birth anniversary.

The Cycles of time are from seconds to minutes to
hours to days , nights , pakshams ( 15 day intrvals),
Months and Years . Soorya NaarAyaNa NamaskAram
and other Vedic texts salute the Lord behind this
wheel of Time that drives the Universe and marks
the different cycles in Human beings'lives.
In the Hindu calendar , the cycle of years 
is pegged at 60 .Once some one has reached
60 years , they reach the next second cycle 
of alloted life.This is cause enough to celebrate
their aaasthika life of having learnt Vedams ,
entering GrahasthAsramam , raising children 
devoted to the service of the Lord and His
devotees (BhakthAs and BhAgavathAs ) and
performing the ordained duties as a GrahasthA 
and setting an example to the family and society .
Marriage itself is a vaidhika KarmA and I have
posted a special article on the veda Manthrams 
behind the Vedic Ceremony of VivAham , which
defines some of the vows in front of Agni BhagavAn.
Those vows are repeated by the blessed ones by
reenactment of some aspects of marriage ceremony
( maalai MaaRRal, Maangalya DhAraNam et al)
in forn tof childrena nd grand children and
taking manthra SnAnam with waters consecrated 
with Udhaka Sayana Manthrams. Vedic recitations
for 4 days before the Sashti-abdha Poorthi 
along woith Srimath RaamAyaNa reitation are 
also conducted to remind others of the Vedic
way of life and to celebrate their blessings
with children , family and freinds .This is a
Subha Kaaryam.

The 80th birthday is celebrated as SathAbhishEkam.
By that time , the one has lived htat long has been
blessed ot have seen 1000 Moons in a lunar calendar .
Recently , a great AchAryan , PoundarIkapuram
Andavan celebrated His 80th birthday at the request
of His sishyAs . The many auspicious events that 
took place serve as a model for the celebration
(chathur Veda  PaarAyaNam , Vidvath Sadhas ,
Tamizh Prabhandha PaarAyaNam , release of 
special monographs , Bhagavath AarAdhanam  et al).

The 100th birthday is celebrated since it is
the span of years assigned as target for us
to live and enjoy by Vedams as an Aasthikan and Vaidhikan.

There is lot more  to these ceremonies .This brief 
note will give some information points , since no one has
answered your questions sofar.

The name of the years in the 60 year cycle are:

Prabhava , Vibhava, Sukla , PramOdhUtha,
PrajOthpatthi , Aangirasa , SrImuka , Bhava ,
Yuva , DhAthu , Iswara, BahudhAnya , PramAthi , Vikrama ,
Vishu (where we are now in this cycle and ends with Akshaya.

We are now in the Vishu stage of this 60 year cycle.

Great AchAryAs like RaamAnujA lived 120 years 
to set an example of how to lead Vedic way of
life. Swamy Desikan lived 100 years .
Their longevity in times , where there was no 
antibiotic and miracle drugs is based on
their strict anushtAnams ordianed by
SaasthrAs.

With best wishes for a Joyous celebration of
your Father's 60th anniversary,
V.Sadagopan       
to   




Arriving in this world is an important marking point.

> At 09:28 AM 11/24/01 -0800, you wrote:
 >dear fellow bhakthas,
 >
 >i would like request the learned members of the
 list
 >to clarify a few things for me.
 >
 >i have my fathers sashtiaapdapoorthi fast
 >approaching. I would like to know about it before
 >getting involved in it.
 >
 >what is the main reason behind making this a grand
 >occassion with all vaideeha karyams being done?
 >what are the vaideeka kramams that preceed and
 follow
 >the main ritual?
 >also, what is the inner meaning of the rituals
 being
 >performed?
 >why is the thirumangalya dhaaranam repeated?
 >
 >i would like to learn more about such things
 >just to be sure that they are not simply done for
 the
 >sake of doing them.
 >
 >please pardon any offensive lines.
 >
 >Sincerely yours,
 >Sripriya Srinivasan




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