Thursday, December 13, 2007

Why Durga Puja ?

It is a sad case that this ten-armed weapon holding goddess of local Bangali and Assamese(note that Durga is celebrated only in west bengal and some other Bengali
localities of Tripura, Assam and Bangladesh) people becoming the most important
festival for Bishnupriya Manipuris day by day. This is against the thought and philosophy of our ancestors and also much against the very philosophy of Gaudiya Vaishnavism our people adopted. There are solid reasons to oppose the observance of Durga -

a) According to philosophy of Chaitanya Vaishnavism nothing short of prem(love of god) can give us the pure state of salvation. The ultimate aim and purpose of human life is the attainment of the spiritual form of Krisha. I had asked some ISKON gurus and devotees they told me that when you are devoting toward the Lord himself, you dont need anymore devotion toward any shakti like Durga, Kali, or whatever.

b) Durga is a meat-eating blood-thirsty deity, so Durga puja require animal sacrifices, which cannot be carried out by a non-meat-eater conservative manipuri Vaishnav.

c) Durga celebration is very costly, expensive and going to become costlier day by day. Even in the rural areas the picture is very terrifying. A community with a very low average income spending 50/60 thousands of taka or even more money for observing a very unimportant ritual of vaishnavism with a luxuries manner. Whats the benefit we get from that? Our eminent great leader late Bimal Singha was against the celebration of Bengali custom Durga puja.

d) Only handful of brahmins benifits from Durga puja and they succseed in keeping alive the pourahit rules.

Durga orininated from Saivism and historical materials available till date doesnt give us any proof about Saivism or the phallus cult of Indus valley at Manipur before 18th century. The main tanets of Saivism, viz, Pati, Pasu and Pasa are lacking in Manipuri thouht. No kapalikas,Kanphates, Aghories, Bahikathas found in either in Manipur or in our people ever.Saktism also a very recent origin, came to occupy our religion by the hands of some manipuri brahmins by misidentifying manipuri traditional goddess Nompok-Panthoibi/ Leimaren /Imagithani with Durga. Apart this none of our folklore suggests that our forefathers ever had any pronounced worship of male/female reproductive organ together with shakti which was a local culture of tantric hindu people of Bengal.

Just give me one good reason why should we continue worshipping the mayang goddess Durga?

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

dont worry,sari clad mayang becoming unpopular in manipur. one day we will show our true identity to the world.

Uttam Singha said...

Just one correction we need here is "Durga" is not a Bengali devi nor a meat eater. Devi durga is a Porom Vishnavi. May be Bengali made her meat eater. We know how devi durga came with diffrent names in Krishna leela, like Mahamaya was born in gokul as Nanda Maharajas daughter, then Basudeb bring her to the Kangsa's jail, and gave her to Kangsa instant Krishna. After that Kangsa tried to kill her, and she vanished and said "Tore jegoi martoi ogo mi nabe, ogo Gakule dangor or." Then she prayed to Lord Krishna to become his sister. After that she was born as Krishna's sister Subhadra (Arjun's wife). Mohamaya is another name of Durga. Mohamaya is a power of lord Krishna. Srimati Radha Rani and all gopis worshiped Durga to get Krishna closer. Arjuna worshiped durga to win Mahabharata war. Lord Rama worship Durga with 108 blue lotuses to win the war with Ravana. All of them worshiped Durga with Vaishnava faith, and did not offer her any meat. Nowdays, why Bengalis offer her meat? We have no clue!!! Even we have a famous myth that Manipur was build by Mahadev and Durga. There are so many example that devi Durga is a Vaishnavi. Also Durga puja is celebrated all over the world by many other communities, but not like Bengalis. Yes, indeed we do not need to follow Bengali and spend 60,000 or may be more. You may worship Durga as a Vaishnavi devi, or as our mother Subadhra without spending money.

Anonymous said...

Mr Singha had some good points no doubt.

But there is difference between a "form" and the real deity,the durga bengalis worship was made identical to that mahamaya was done in later shaktism literature like chandimongol, you wont find a 10 hand durga in ancient scriptures like bhagabatam.

anyways its all about material benefit.

name doesnt matter said...

Historically Durga is a member of the tantric Kali- Sati- Parvati- Durga- Gauri- Ambika- Uma- Chandi class of goddess which are worshipped mainly with blood sacrifice. In the olden days tantric people used to chop down human heads in front of their idols.

The origin and explanation of Durga in the Purans are very contradictory and conflicting. Neither of the explanation is satisfactory. She had never been mentioned in the Vedas and not worshipped during the vedic period.

Durga is found in later periods scriptures prepared by brahmins and tantrics.The clever tantrics manufactured many forms and manifestation and tried to find a common link between different goddess so that they can exploit people and run their business easily. In fact Mahamaya, Subhadra, Kali, Sati, Parvati, Durga, Gauri, Ambika, Uma, Chandi etc are not the same goddess and there origin and development are also different. Some of them developed in South india, some developed in Orissa and some are in Bengal. The name "Durga" was limited within Bengal and areas near Bengal.

The imaginary idol used to be carried out at the time of war by the commanders and placed first in the fort or durgo in the war field. She was first worshipped and then preceded for war. So she is the protector of durgo, from this durgo the ward and form of Durga had come into being in modern day.

As per history Durga puja in the modern form was first celebrated by Koch king Kongsha Narayan in the 16th century, who was descendant of Borok race. Later when Shakti culture of hinduism spread among the bengali and assamese tribe, they sticked to it deeply and claim the goddess of their own. The Bengalis used to treat Durga as a village housewife, which is a very recent myth.



Source:

1) David R. Kinsley. Hindu Goddesses: Visions of the Divine Feminine in the Hindu Religious Tradition (Berkeley: Uni of Cal Press, 1986) 1.
2) C. Mackenzie Brown. The Triumph of the Goddess: The Canonical Models and Theological Visions of the Devi-Bhagavata Purana (Albany: State Uni of NY Press, 1990) ix.
3) Vasudeva S. Agrawala. The Glorification of the Great Goddess (Ramagar: All-India Kashiraj Trust, 1963) 24.
4) Maheswar Neog. Religions of the North-East: Studies in the Formal Religions of North-Eastern India (New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt. Ltd., 1984) 106.
5) http://www.kiratisaathi.com/forum/968.html?PHPSESSID=6e8e9cbce908b0d6d3a70bed9f1ed58b

Anonymous said...

Typical Gaudiya Vaishnava drival. If one chooses to worship Durga let them. I've got a big surprise for you, not all Bengalis are Gaudiya Vaishnavas, heck most of them are Shaivas or Shaktas. And to call her a bloody meat eating deity is pure blasphemy. Even most Gaudiya Vaishnavas will tell you she is a pure devotee of Krishna.

"She had never been mentioned in the Vedas and not worshipped during the vedic period. " Krishna is also foreign to the Vedas.

Anonymous said...

according to gaudiya vaishnavism, durga is krishna's internal potency whereas radharani is his external potency.according to scripyures and also as explained by iskcon founder srila prabhupad,durga is shakti[power}and krishna is shaktimaan[powerfull].shakti n shaktimaan together constitute the whole.so if any idiot derogates that inseperable shakti[durga] by calling her ill names then he is also automatically derogating krishna. and as to her vedic origins who said dat all deties of hindu pantheon r totally vedic? even the concept of radha herself originated in puranic times,which is why u wont find her name in most of the ancient scriptures.hinduism today is a complex amalgamation of different faith systems,which any person of minimum intellect n reading is aware of.even the 'mudras' n 'yantra' followed by gaudiya vaishnabs are of tantric origins.dere r various methods or vidhis of worshiping durga.worshipping with blood n wine is considered tamasic[mode of ignorance] n designated for mlecchas[outcastes] n worship with hyms,meditations n vegeterian food is designated for saintly individuals[sattvik worship].if worshipping durga was so very unnecessary why did krishna advise his greatest disciple arjuna to do it just before battle of kurukshetra? does my learned frriend know that father of nityananda prabhu[the foremost exponent of gaudiya vaishnavism] was himself a ardent devotee of durga.is he aware dat in many biographies of chaitanya mahaprabhu he and nityananda prabhu is seeen to pray to the goddess with ecstasy?and his view dat shaktism n shaivism should be discarded coz it came to occupy manipur at a much later date is also ridiculous,for according to dat principle even gaudiya vaishnavism is alien to manipur n needs to be thrown out.does he know that in jagannath puri[the seat of chaitanya n vaishnavism]there is situated the temple of goddess vimala who is offered a live goat once a year in night of ashtami.this has been the custom since millenia and mahaprabhu never objected to dat. are u even aware of the marginal differences between radha and durga .in geetgovindam by famous jaydev [the songs of which are considered to be favourite of krishna and hence sung to him every day at puri],krishna calls out to radha by the name of chandi.chandi is a name given to durga on account of her having slain the demons chanda and munda.lastly i would quote from bhaktisandarbha of jiva goswami where he writes"ya krishna sa cha durga,yah durga krishna eva syat"which means he who is known by the name of krishna is also venerated by some by the name of durga.so by derogating the devi u have actually blashphemised krishna's shakti and probably offended him.god bless your spiritual life.

Anonymous said...

continuing from previous post........ my learned friend here talks about 'later scriptures' and 'earlier scriptures'. on dat note most of the purans date back to tantric times.historrically purans were written over a period of 1500 years culiminating in 17th century.if as according to ur veiws later scriptures do not have shashtric authority then large parts of bhagavatam and entire of chaitanya charitamrita would fall invalid. and durga puja a see know it today was not stared by kangshanarayan.we have durga puja vidhi by raghunandan mentioning 10 armed goddess complete with laxmi,saraswati,kartik and ganesh even in time of chaitanyadev. incidentally chaitanyadev set up his pathshala or toll[educational center] in a chandi mandap suggesting the pre eminence of durga puja. still before we have rules or vidhi written by famous vaishnav saint vidyapati of mithila in his book durgabhaktitarangini.texts like krityachintyamani,durgotsav-prakaran dating even before shows us the antiquity of durga pujas.practise of worshiping the devi in mud deity is also ancient for such references can be found all over the purans.kanshanarayan did not originate durga puja in modern form but only used it as a means of show off of power and wealth[he spent over 9 lac rupees in those days].brahmavaivarta puran is one of the sixteen main ones and authorised by iskcon which says"prathame pujita saa cha krishnena paramatmana,vrindavane cha srishttyaadau goloke raasmandale"meaning in the first part of creation krishna worshipped the devi in golok vrindvan. besides whu do u think subhadra is?did you know dat in her dhyan mantra she is reffered to as bhadrakaali,which is not even puranic but a tantric name.

Anonymous said...

I randomly found this post when looking for information on Krsna and Durga and let me say I'm highly intrigued by how learned you all are by the responses.At first, I wanted to research my name(being born on Durga puja) subsequently, I have been following Krsna consciousness; this site is a wealth of information!

Anonymous said...

The blogger doesn't seem to any understanding spritualism and various forms faiths that blossomed in indian culture. Any Tom, dick or Harry can't understand what Godess durga or Mahamaya symbolizes, So let's not try to make him understand the fact. He might have seen only distorted forms of faiths and lacked the ability to explore and understand it in its true sense.

In many puja pandals, I have heard filmy songs. If this blogger, listens such thing, he might call Godess Durga " Bollywood Music Lover" snd may think that is the Way to woo her... amy find one more reason to protest Durga Puja.

Sir, Hats off to your depth and breadh of knowledge on relegion, spritualism, various faiths and deities.

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Unknown said...

sorry but durga puja is very much assamese as well...not just of the bengalis.....we hv in course of history developed an entire catagory of classical hymns called "DURGA gosanir naam", "maloshree geet" etc

Amit Bikram Chakraborty said...

Maa Durga is the ultimate power of all god and godess.All god ,godess,world itself,thought,the thing exists in universe and the things not exists are all her creation.She is the supreme power of creating,protecting and diminishing.From different books we can see that from time to time lord Vishnu,lord Shiv and lord Brahma worship her for her blessing.For example One day Narad ask lord Vishnu that You the supreme God then why u take "dhyan" or for whom u take dhyan....lotus eyed god smile and explained him the supreme power by whose desire he(Vishnu),Shiv and Brahma do their respective work for welfare of universe,he do dhyan for that Supreme or Ultimate power.....Narad asked him who is that supreme power......lord said that the supreme or reality of these universe is Devi Mahamaya(Durga)by whose power these universe run without her power a leaf also can not move.
Mahadevi DURGA IS NOT BLOOD THIRSTY she kill "asubha shakti" for welfare of universe.Her modern tenhanded image is the sign of that.In her pooja no blood is needed.It is only offering to her by her devotees .In the same sense blood is needed in all hindu pooja as we need to cut the plants and it also have life.
One can know all Gods but Knowing Mahamaya is very difficult ,without her desire anyone could not have any power to know her.

Anonymous said...

Without knowing any things....people comment in the site.........Durga is vedic Godess ......she is much worshipped during vedic time......Durga,Kali,Uma,Gouri are the name of one Godess in different forms....it does not matter how her name origin,as Maha Devi take different forms in time to time for our welfare.......She can be numerous from one......as ahe is the supreme of supreme....these universe runs by her Maya so she is Mahamaya.....All Gods ,peoples could not do anything without her desire.......the argument that she is meat eater or not it is fully baseless......those people think that they are vegeterian they are not right as all living things need to kill other living things(plants or animal)for our food.......we bengalis offer meat to our beloved mother so why it is yours headache........only by reading books,going to temple ,being vegeterian,talking to gurus and monks of different temples one can not know Devi Durga as she is Mahamaya(free from all "maya"of these universe).......for knowing Mahadevi one should meditate her in true concentration......not by fake drama of being MAHA devotee.....

Anonymous said...

All bogus......We all know that the biggest davta of ours,is our parents, who are the symbolized with Ohm shiva and ohm shakti.

There are several procedures to perform Durga Puja. MAA Durga is not a property for bengali's only, or any other casts or clans- perhaps she is the global mother.

Neither I believe that Vishnu is the biggest god nor I want to make any comparison. Guys please you also grow up, can you compare your mom and dad with anybody else.....where your parents are the biggest God in this world therefore let it be Krishna or anybody else all are subordinates of them.
There are several examples exists regarding Vishnu's prayer to Maa Durga to save him as well as all devtas from evil demons-please go through it before jump into such bogus comparison.

Though there are procedures like tantrik where blood of a human or animal is required to carry out the sadhanas....similarly there are Vishnabi way of puja is also there.
it is you which path are you going to follow.......whose ultimate aim is to get moksha......

Anonymous said...

All bogus......We all know that the biggest davta of ours,is our parents, who are the symbolized with Ohm shiva and ohm shakti.

There are several procedures to perform Durga Puja. MAA Durga is not a property for bengali's only, or any other casts or clans- perhaps she is the global mother.

Neither I believe that Vishnu is the biggest god nor I want to make any comparison. Guys please you also grow up, can you compare your mom and dad with anybody else.....where your parents are the biggest God in this world therefore let it be Krishna or anybody else all are subordinates of them.
There are several examples exists regarding Vishnu's prayer to Maa Durga to save him as well as all devtas from evil demons-please go through it before jump into such bogus comparison.

Though there are procedures like tantrik where blood of a human or animal is required to carry out the sadhanas....similarly there are Vishnabi way of puja is also there.
it is you which path are you going to follow.......whose ultimate aim is to get moksha......

Anonymous said...

you really don't know durga!


you fool!(writer of this blog),

according to vedas , 'Agni' is supreme god. and Vishnu is minor god.Shiva is not mentioned at all.

Uma-haimavati (daughter of KIng HImavan) was mentioned in VEDAS.

Durga is none other than Parvati (wife of Siva).


if you consider vedas as authentic, worship Agni as supreme god.

If you consider Puranas as authentic you can worship either VISHNU or SIVA or DEVI(Adi-Sakthi).

when worship of vedic gods declined, worship of gods like VISHNU, SIVA, DURGA emerged.

people divided themselves according to these gods.

1. Vaishnavas are those who worship Vishnu as supreme.
2. Saivites are those who worship SIva as supreme
3. Saktas are those who worship Devi Parvati and her forms.


when Islam and Christianism ,Buddhism developed in India , People are further divided into three groups.


since the time previous to vedas(according to Europeans, Vedas are oldest written records )people worshipped Vishnu,Siva and Durga.


Durga is not a manipuri goddess neither bengali goddesss. SHe is a Hindu goddess ,sister of Vishnu(called MAHA MAYA or YOGA MAYA) wife of Siva(since parvati killed Durgama demon she is called Durga devi)



Read Puranas and Vedas carefully before you write this silly and stupid blog




Tyto Alba said...

GODDESS DURGA IS NOT A BLOOD-THIRSTY, MEAT-EATING GODDESS. BENGALI'S DID NOT MAKE HER MEAT EATING.

Friends, this article is really very very derogatory. Goddess Durga is the symbol of Power. She is the destroyer of evils, and she is the cosmic Goddess. That is the reason why we Bengali's worship her with full vigor. Her blessings give us the much needed ENTHUSIASM without which life is nothing. Worshiping and meditating on her fills one's mind with PURITY, STRENGTH and removes any unwelcome obstacle.

It is pretty clear that the writer of this very very derogatory and unacceptable article is either a hater of Bengali's, or has failed to understand the real meaning of Hinduism. Hinduism is a peace-loving religion, and animal sacrifices are done by those tantriks who desire for evil satanic powers. Due to some cultural misconception in the past, this practice had also been adopted by a few Nepali and East Indian Pandits. However, this is no longer popular in the urban area pujas of West Bengal, Odisha and Assam. Animal sacrifice was never a part of mainstream Hinduism, and this has come from the devil worshipers.

And before you say anything about the divine Goddess, let me remind you that before getting in to fight with Ravana, Lord Rama had worshiped Goddess Durga to obtain her blessings.

Personally, in many difficult situations, chanting silently "Ya Devi Sarvabhuteshu Shaktirupen Samsthitha" has given me a lot of energy, and has brought me good luck.

Dear Bishnupriya Manipuri Person, since the Goddess killed the demon Mahishasura, she is associated with non-vegetarianism, but the fact is that she HAD to kill the demon to save the entire SwargaLoka.

And if you have any intentions to write against another fierce Goddess called KALI, let me tell you that she too was a destroyer of the demons, and she drunk blood to save the Heaven, as even if a single drop of blood of the demon Raktabeeja fell in the soil, the drop would turn into another powerful demon. When people are haunted by evil spirits and those demons and all that, worshiping Goddess Kali frees them from those evil forces.

It's a hearty request to not associate Bengali's with any form of devil worship, for it is totally false. Shaktism is a sect of Hinduism wherein we enjoy the motherhood of God. Such festivals should not be associated with non-vegetarianism, and vampirism.

your servant said...

there nothing wrong praying durga devi who is mahamaya, the external potency of lord krishna.

brahma samhita 5.44 "The external potency Māyā who is of the nature of the shadow of the cit potency, is worshiped by all people as Durgā, the creating, preserving and destroying agency of this mundane world. I adore the primeval Lord Govinda in accordance with whose will Durgā conducts herself."

as far as we pray to her only regarding bhakti of krsna, praying to them for material benefit is not desirable as per lord himself. anyhow as a vaisnav we respect even ant what to say personal servant of the lord, ma durga.

Navratri 2016 said...

Goddess Durga is also known as Navdurga especially in the occasion of Navratri which is festival of nine nights and ten days where in Maa Durga is worshipped in her nine different incarnations.

Partha said...

The Gaudiya Vaishnavas have been trying to demean Shiva and Shakti for last hundred years, mentioning them as demigods. They also call very cleverly that Durga is the बहिरंगा or छाया ie inferior form of the Shakti of Lord Krishna. They are trying to fool the ignorant people. The actual facts are :

1. Sri Chaitanyadeva was worshipped by His devotees as Durga as described in one of His most authentic biographies named Sri Chaitanyabhagavata written by Srila Vrindabandasa. Their She has been referred to as the Adyashakti, the Yogamaya.

2. Sri Chaitanya has copied Sri Sri Saptashati Chandi Himself. So He respected Durga. Sri Sri Chandi is a very respected book in Bengal.In Chandi, Devi is the Supreme Godhead.. So Sri Chaitanyadeva knew very well and Sri Krishna and Sri Durga are one and the same.

3. According to the popular belief, Sri Chaitanyadeva Himself started the annual Durgapuja festival at Puri temple.

4. Sri Chaitanyadeva asked His devotees never to demean any form of God or Goddess.

5. Sri Shrijiva Goswami, the nephew of Sri Rupa and Sri Sanatana Goswami and one topmost saint of the Gaudiya Vaishnava sect quotes a sloka from the Gautamiya Kalpa : Durqga is Vishnu and Vishnu is Durga. One who sees them as two can not be get liberation from the worldliness.

6. Sri Nityanandadeva, the companion of Sri Chaitanyadeva, always kept on his head bound by His matted hair one Vaneswar Shivalinga and one Shree yantra and worshipped them regularly. These two are still worshipped at the Khardaha Shyamasaundara temple established by His son. His heirs all worship Durga till today.

7. Brajagopikas worshipped Devi Katyayani to get Sri Krishna as their husband. Katyayani is a name of Durga. This is mentioned clearly in Srimadbhagavatam--a book that the Gaudiya Vaishnavas respect the most.

8. In the Vishnusahashranama, some names of Vishnu like Sarva, Shiva, Swayambhu, Shambhu show that Shiva is one with Vishnu.

Dogmatism and Bigotry is very different from one's Ishtanishtha. Satyameva jayate.

Unknown said...

Where is it stated that Chaitanya dev was worshipped as adyashakti maa durga. Please quote the sloke number and chapter

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