Brother, sister bond celebrated SOUL JOURNEY
RAKSHA Bandhan will be celebrated on August 11.
The most appropriate times to perform the Raksha Bandhan thread ceremony is from 5.21pm to 8.06pm.
Raksha Bandhan means bond of protection. The festival intensifies the bond of affection between brothers and sisters, and maintains this emotional relationship.
The festival usually falls in August, on a full moon day during the lunar month of Sawan. Raksha Bandhan popularly celebrates all brother-sister relationships of male and female who are biologically related or unrelated.
It celebrates the love and duty between brothers and sisters.
On this day a sister ties a sacred thread called rakhi on the brother’s wrist, symbolising her love and prayers for him. The brother, in turn, vows to protect her lifelong and remains committed to do his duty as a brother.
The ceremony of tying the rakhi broadens the thoughts and strengthens the love beyond the borders of family, religion, ethnicity and nation.
People can tie a rakhi for a neighbour and promote the feeling of unity and mutual commitment in social life.
The significance:
The festival of Raksha Bandhan has far-reaching significance today. It invokes love, care and respect, and emphasises the need for peaceful co-existence across all boundaries.
The festival conveys the message of universal brotherhood and sisterhood as well as the need for purity of mind and deeds, making way for the Vedic concept of “Vasudhaiva kutumbakam” (whole world as one family).
According to scriptures, once when Lord Krishna hurt his hand, Draupadi tore a piece of her sari and tied it on the wrist of Krishna. Krishna said he would always protect her and at the right time she would get limitless benefits. This was seen when Lord Krishna protected her by supplying an infinite amount of cloth when it was most needed. Since that time, on the day of Raksha Bandhan, brothers take a vow to protect their sisters. To mark the ceremony, sisters tie a rakhi on their brothers’ wrists.
As per astro advice, the following should be done:
1. Before the ritual, tie the first rakhi to Lord Krishna or offer it to his feet. Leave it there until the next spiritual event.
2. The brother can sit on a stool and face east. Next, the sister applies tilak (a dot) and then a few grains of rice on the forehead of her brother using her ring finger.
3. Then she ties the rakhi on his right wrist. Afterwards, she prays and
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expresses her wish for the well-being of her brother, who in turn pledges to take care of his sister lifelong.
4. A whole coconut is given to the brother. The sister also makes him eat some sweet dish if possible, or gives him a pinch of jaggery first.
5. The sister rotates an aarti (a tray with a lit lamp for prayer) in a clockwise direction around her brother’s face.
6. On the aarti tray, put a tiny lota (metal vessel) of water, with a few strands of grass. After completing the aarti, sprinkle this water on the right and left side of his shoulder. It will ward off bad eyes.
7. The younger of the two should touch the feet of the elder and then they should hug each other.
8. The brother must give a gift or money as a token of appreciation to
his sister as soon as she completes the prayer.
9. Always have rakhis tied in even numbers. If one has one sister, she can tie two rakhis, to make it even.
10. It’s good to chant the Hare Krishna mantra, the Gayatri Mantra (if one knows the correct pronunciation) and/or Om Namah Shivaya.
11. This is one of two days in the year dedicated to brother and sister festivals. The other falls two days after Diwali and is called Bhai Dooj. This is where the brother goes to his sister’s house to celebrate, unlike on Raksha Bandhan, where the sister goes to her brother’s house.
12. People of other faiths also celebrate this day, to improve emotional bonds between a sister and brother. Astrologically, a sister’s sincere prayers for her brother can help him prosper.