Dussehra: Celebrate the Triumph of Good Over Evil
On the auspicious occasion of Dussehra, may you find the courage to vanquish the evil within you and follow the path of righteousness. Watch the video to learn the true meaning of Dussehra.
Dussehra is a very important Hindu festival which is celebrated with much joy in the entire country. On this day, Lord Ram and his brother Lakshman went to Goddess Durga to ask her for her blessings to kill Ravana. Ravana was a great scholar and a big devotee of Lord Shiva. After praying for thousands of years, Lord Shiva blessed him with powers and knowledge. However with Goddess Durga’s blessings Lord Ram killed Raavana.
During the nine days of navratri, plays about Ram's life. On the tenth day colossal effigy of Raavana, his brother Kumbhakarna and son Meghnath are placed in vast open spaces and burnt.
Raavan’s ten heads signify bad qualities such as greed, jealousy, lust, anger, pride, delusion(Moh), hatred, selfishness, Ego and Negative mind.His multiple heads signify that he was extremely knowledgeable. Even though he was given strong powers and knowledge he did not use it correctly. Thus every year on Dussehra an effigy of his is built and burnt to remind people to kill the evil qualities inside us and follow the right path which will bring happiness in our life. This day is important because it shows people that good will always defeat evil.
Today Vidyarambham is celebrated in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka. ‘Vidya’ means knowledge and ‘Arambham’ means beginning. Children are introduced to music, dance, languages and other folk arts. Children are made to write a mantra on rice or sand spread on a plate with the help of the father or any other elderly member of the family.
Another celebration on this occasion is a three-day Saraswati puja in which books are worshiped. On the eighth day of Navaratri the books are placed for puja in front of Goddess Saraswati for her blessings. On the day of dussehra books are then taken and used.
This Dussehra no matter what troubles you have in life, remember that if you follow a righteous path the you will always succeed in life. We wish you all a happy Dussehra!
