My dear Children Roopa, Vijay,took special care to celebrate my 61st Birthday on April 9, 2008. My son in law Nandu , my sweet grand son Arjun were also there and made the function a memorable event. I can not describe the joy Ranjani and I had palying with Arjun. Every movement of Arjun was a act of creation for us. We realised a different meaning of life while playing with Arjun.
In Sanskrit we call this event in a man's life Sashtiyabdha Poorthi that means completion of 60 years. For Hindus this is an important mile stone in ones life. A man's full life is 120 years. First half of life is spent on learning, working for earning, enjoy common pleasures of life , bring up family by discharging duties faithfully. The second half of life is expected to be spent more meaningfully towards realization of Self that is the very purpose of being born as a human. The path for self realization is to do voluntary social service such as teaching younger ones what has been learnt, read scriptures, visit places of worship, devote more time on prayer, help kith and kins, family members and friends with out expecting any returns and thus get purity of soul.
In Tamil this celebrations is called 60th marriage which means after completion of 60 yeras of age by the husband he marries his wife once again. The couple experience inexplicable joy going through the marriage conducted by his children witnessed by his grand children, siblings and their spouses, other elders like parents of the couple, aunts , uncles, nieces, nephews, friends and host of other relatives.
The function is filled with fun. But more emphasis is on vedic prayers and rituals, invoking and seeking blessings of various Gods and Devas for longevity, health, and wealth for not only the couple but also for every member of his family.
More in next posting
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