UCP's Ode to Diwali!

Remember we said if we were having any particular Diwali fun here at UCP we'd come share it with you all...although in general we here at UCP are on a bit of a go easy until the launch of the Advent calendar for 2010. Well we've been having that particular fun and so here we go! Here's a UCP poem for ya...it was developed for a small Diwali function that we are a part of organising yearly and was read by a lovely lady there at the function! It's particularly about Diwali or Divali (as it is often spelt there)as it evolved in the country of Trinidad and Tobago which is the home of the Meady's Musings Production House that houses the producers of UCP! So although UCP normally spells Diwali with the 'w' throughout this particular ode you will see it spelt as Divali with the 'v'. Although UCP normally goes with the 'w' spelling to cater for the wider audience it banters too...after all it is UCP-Universal Collective Prayer and so not just for those in Trinidad and Tobago and most other parts of the Hindu world spells it with the 'w'.

So here it goes...UCP's Ode to how Divali evolved in Trinidad and Tobago as it came as a festival with the indentured labourers in the 19th century from India and then grew into a national celebration!

Divali-An Evolution

A UCP poem written in free verse or shall we say the dance that is UCP! :)

You came in the hearts of ancestors
From a continent far away
Your light burned brightly within those souls
That occupied bodies that toiled and toiled

The Ramayan they read and often sang
As your deeyas they lit to celebrate the return of Raja Ram
For he is the hero of that great epic
That Sant Tulsidas had spun

The Goddess Lakshmi on your special evening came
To homes made of mud, bamboo and tapia grass
Prayers were said and then deeyas were lit
The villages came alive
With a thousand lights and smiles
One neighbour offerred food and drink to the other
Gifts were unwrapped and new things begun

And so you came to them and then us
Year after year after year
And we continued to celebrate your arrival
With good faith, reverence, cheer and prayer

The festivities began to spread
Whole villages gathered
To extol Shri Ram in the form of village theatre
A leela is a story and a story is a leela
So this story of Ram is Ramleela
And some of us have done this leela a 100 years since this year

We continued to gather to celebrate you
Bamboo bursting
Small stages performers began to alight
However on that one special night
All the villagers still stayed at home
To welcome the Goddess Lakshmi
And to bright deeyas light

Then we became independent
And the festivities continued to become more abundant
Larger events were held
Festivities came to towns
Garlanded mayors sang songs of praise
Your flame grew brighter
As momentum for you grew and grew
Oh Divali we so loved you
So much so that in '86 in your name a village was born
Divali Nagar it was named
You see you now had your own village
And wait that's not all...

Love for you continued to overwhelm us
Every office and company started to sing your praise
To celebrate you became the vogue
Your name had spread throughout the nation
You became a tourist sensation
Everyone wanted to dress for you in Indian fashions

And today Oh Divali
Your lights continue to burn brightly
Not only in the hearts of a few
But in the hearts of a nation
For you, Divali this must be overwhelming
To see your praise go on in weeks of celebration
To see brilliant fireworks displays
To have your own personal village
To be celebrated across the nation

But one thing Divali I'm sure must make your heart the warmest
Is that despite the evolution of you and us
Your light still burns brightly within our souls
We still as a people toil and toil
We still welcome the Goddess Lakshmi to our homes
And still special deeyas we light so bright
As with loved ones with sit in prayer and celebration
For on that special day named after you...
It is Divali!

To Everything There is a Season!

According to Ecclesiastes 3 of the Bible (King James Version):
"1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
6 A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.
9 What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth?
10 I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it.
11 He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.
12 I know that there is no good in them, but for a man to rejoice, and to do good in his life.
13 And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour, it is the gift of God.
14 I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him.
15 That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past.
16 And moreover I saw under the sun the place of judgment, that wickedness was there; and the place of righteousness, that iniquity was there.
17 I said in mine heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked: for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.
18 I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.
19 For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity.
20 All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.
21 Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?
22 Wherefore I perceive that there is nothing better, than that a man should rejoice in his own works; for that is his portion: for who shall bring him to see what shall be after him?"


This no doubt would have been the inspiration that was extrapolated upon by The Byrds in their 1960s hit 'Turn! Turn! Turn!' to come up with this lovely tune!


And here on UCP the time has come...to put an end to the God Series and to take a bit of a rest...have some time for reflection and meditation...perhaps this is like the Hindu or Vedic concept of a breath of Vishnu but not on such a large and grand scale of course! Just on our smaller scale...if we don't breathe in we can't breathe out...so if we don't rest, recuperate, reflect and meditate we cannot think, create and do!

So we are going to be away on UCP for a bit...also the Hindu calendar really is winding down now again...we just have Diwali and Kartik Snaan to go and we have enough content on here from over the years to keep readers entertained from our archives...but we will from time to time come on to add some fresh content if we have some particular Diwali fun for instance! But really readers can check in with our sister blog-Meady's Musings too as we are about to spend November as a Nanowrimo participant!

Of course we will be back 1st of Dec fresh and new...God and Universe willing to open our Advent calender yet again as we ring in the Christmas celebs for the year 2010! Boy time sure does fly in this dance we call UCP:Universal Collective Prayer! So we'll catch you here and there in November but please breathe in as we come back daily from 1st Dec! :)

God Series: Episode 6-God as Water!

Meady's Musings Production 2008

We return to the elements once more on the God Series as we explore the concept of God as Water. We also join in with our parent blog Meady's Musings as they mark Blog Action Day 2010(by discussing water and the need to get it world over) and Global Handwashing Day!

First of all let's recall past blogs on UCP about the concept of water as deity...as we did this before when we marked the Hindu festival of Kartik Snaan where we spoke about how Hinduism worships water as the Goddess Ganga (also the name of the largest and most powerful river in India.)

-Kartik Snan, Kartik Snaan or Kartik Nahan? Either Way an Ode to the Great Element Water!

-A Pilgrimage in the Month of Kartik

Water is also seen as an important conduit between the divine and man in most major religions...for example in Christianity it is often used in Baptisms.

In Greek mythology water was also deified as in Hinduism but unlike in Hinduism it was seen as masculine taking on the name Poseidon when seen as a king...so Poseidon is the King of the sea! Poseidon has a similar counterpart in the Roman God- Neptune.

There is another subtle difference from in Hinduism as well...because in Hinduism Ganga is see as a Goddess but she is also the Water itself...where as in these mythologies i.e. Greek and Roman Poseidon and Neptune are Gods of the Sea. So they aren't exactly the water itself but have power over it and so can manifest some of its attributes but still not the water itself like how Ganga is!

And that difference although subtle makes all the difference to us on UCP. You see to deify the actual element itself as Hinduism does...it takes on a whole different meaning...it tells us how much this element means to man directly...it is man's very life blood...without it he could not live...yet it can also destroy man if it goes rampant in nature...and on the spiritual side it is man's conduit to the divine...Oh WATER! No wonder we here at UCP have written more than one ode to you and poets everywhere have saluted you...and will continue to do so for eternity!

Jai Ganga Maa!

God Series:Episode 5-God as Mother!

Today on UCP we take a break from the elements although we have one more element to go...WATER! However we do so with good reason...you see our parent blog Meady's Musings along with its Purple Elephant and Little Mouse are celebrating Blog Action Day 2010 and the action on that day is well...WATER! It's about getting water to the world over! It's also Global Handwashing Day courtesy the people at Clean the World...so we are planning to join forces with them also on that day so on UCP we will celebrate God as WATER!

However it is also fitting to celebrate mother on the God series right now anyway as in Hinduism it's the festival of Nav Ratri...the nine nights celebration of the Mother as Divine!

Now we here on UCP since its inception have been surrendering to the Divine Mother...sitting on her lap...and even at times if necessary suckling at her breasts for nourishment...so we are no strangers here to celebrating God as Mother...so we need not even write a fresh post on this but merely dance forth and celebrate with her instead as we recall all our loving memories with her over the years! :) So let's crank up ours and one of the fav bhajans of all time by all Hindu fans of the Divine Mother as well...'Mein To Aarti Utaaroon' from the classic film 1970's film- 'Jai Santoshi Maa'!


The Divine Mother Leadership Series lasted for nine nights earlier this year as we celebrated each night of that Nav Ratri Festival with a post as follows:
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
Day 8
Day 9

Celebrating the Divine Mother on Mother's Day

I surrender onto the Divine Mother Again!

I Surrender onto the Divine Mother!

Worshipping the Divine Mother!

Jai Santoshi Maa-A Film of Ultimate Surrender to the Divine Mother!

Happy Durga Ashtami 2009!

JAI JAGAT JANANI MAA DURGE!

And see you on Friday!