What is Akshaya Trithiya?
The third day of the Bright Lunar month Vaishakha [Shukla paksha Vaishaka maasa ] marks the auspicious day - Akshaya Trithiya.
Akshaya as its literal meaning goes - Never diminishing,eternal,imperishable - in Sanskrit - is associated with Gold as this metal is enduring and long lasting.
In the past decade this day has gained lot of prominence , rather I'd put it this way - The modern day retailers have exploited the materialistic urge in people - thus making the day very popular. Nowadays the purity is turned to marketing gimmick by most of the jewellers. However starting a new activity or buying valuables on this day is considered to bring luck and success.
Last evening as I walked into a local store to buy some groceries I heard a couple talking about the auspicious day ahead of them. She demanded a gold chain. Her husband was trying to convince her for a simple ring. She refrained from saying anything. He persuaded till she said a Okay. And finally as she did say a half willing "Yes" he was happy to have saved a couple of thousands in his bank account.
I had bought a pair of earrings couple of years ago when the golden gaga had just set in. Not sure if I tracked the rest of the year as to how much I gained of the buy.
Apart from Gold and Diamonds do we guys know the actual heritageous aspects of this special day?
Jains and Hindus consider this to be a very auspious day on their calendar. Here is a short snippet below
which tells us the day's significance.
The first of the 24 thirthankaras Rishabadeva or otherwise well known Adinatha performed penance without food and water for about 6 months and upon attaining enlightenment he set out in quest of food. The lifestyle of any monk was not known to the people of Ayodhya and they offered him with gemstones, diamonds, jewellery, elephants, horses. He sought for a morsel of food but none offered it to him. Monks do not cook food and neither do they ask for it. They only accept food when offered.He continued his fast until his grandson Shreyansha Kumara through his purna bhava smaran understood Rishabadeva's need and offered him sugarcane juice. Today Jains follow fasting as a tradition on this day to break the fast in the evening by consuming sugarcane juice.
Thus the Day of Akshay Tritiya is worshipped and said to be auspicious in Jainism because it is said to have established the very first "ahar charya" a methodology to prepare and serve food to Jain Monks.
Hindus worship Diety Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and prosperity.It is believed that Sage Parashuram, an incarnation of Lord Vishnu was born on this day according to Puranic scriptures. Also they say that it was this day that the Sacred Ganges river came down to Earth from Heaven. Treta Yuga is marked to have started from this auspicious day.Mythological belief says that the Lord Ganesha started writing the greatest epic known to mankind - Mahabharata to Ved Vyas's dictation.
Yet another myth around this auspicious day: In Mahabharata when Pandavas were in exile, Lord Krishna, on this Akshaya Trithiya day, presented them an 'Akshaya Paatra,' a bowl which would never go empty and produce an unlimited supply of food.
I guess that's enough information loading on you fellows. Hope you enjoy the day. May all of your lives be filled with joy and GOLD :) Tink Tink ti Tink :)
The third day of the Bright Lunar month Vaishakha [Shukla paksha Vaishaka maasa ] marks the auspicious day - Akshaya Trithiya.
Akshaya as its literal meaning goes - Never diminishing,eternal,imperishable - in Sanskrit - is associated with Gold as this metal is enduring and long lasting.
In the past decade this day has gained lot of prominence , rather I'd put it this way - The modern day retailers have exploited the materialistic urge in people - thus making the day very popular. Nowadays the purity is turned to marketing gimmick by most of the jewellers. However starting a new activity or buying valuables on this day is considered to bring luck and success.
Last evening as I walked into a local store to buy some groceries I heard a couple talking about the auspicious day ahead of them. She demanded a gold chain. Her husband was trying to convince her for a simple ring. She refrained from saying anything. He persuaded till she said a Okay. And finally as she did say a half willing "Yes" he was happy to have saved a couple of thousands in his bank account.
I had bought a pair of earrings couple of years ago when the golden gaga had just set in. Not sure if I tracked the rest of the year as to how much I gained of the buy.
Apart from Gold and Diamonds do we guys know the actual heritageous aspects of this special day?
Jains and Hindus consider this to be a very auspious day on their calendar. Here is a short snippet below
which tells us the day's significance.
The first of the 24 thirthankaras Rishabadeva or otherwise well known Adinatha performed penance without food and water for about 6 months and upon attaining enlightenment he set out in quest of food. The lifestyle of any monk was not known to the people of Ayodhya and they offered him with gemstones, diamonds, jewellery, elephants, horses. He sought for a morsel of food but none offered it to him. Monks do not cook food and neither do they ask for it. They only accept food when offered.He continued his fast until his grandson Shreyansha Kumara through his purna bhava smaran understood Rishabadeva's need and offered him sugarcane juice. Today Jains follow fasting as a tradition on this day to break the fast in the evening by consuming sugarcane juice.
Thus the Day of Akshay Tritiya is worshipped and said to be auspicious in Jainism because it is said to have established the very first "ahar charya" a methodology to prepare and serve food to Jain Monks.
Hindus worship Diety Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and prosperity.It is believed that Sage Parashuram, an incarnation of Lord Vishnu was born on this day according to Puranic scriptures. Also they say that it was this day that the Sacred Ganges river came down to Earth from Heaven. Treta Yuga is marked to have started from this auspicious day.Mythological belief says that the Lord Ganesha started writing the greatest epic known to mankind - Mahabharata to Ved Vyas's dictation.
Yet another myth around this auspicious day: In Mahabharata when Pandavas were in exile, Lord Krishna, on this Akshaya Trithiya day, presented them an 'Akshaya Paatra,' a bowl which would never go empty and produce an unlimited supply of food.
I guess that's enough information loading on you fellows. Hope you enjoy the day. May all of your lives be filled with joy and GOLD :) Tink Tink ti Tink :)
Comments
Thanks a lot for information. I did not know most of it.
Take care
Keep buying gold (24 carat only) regularly in however small quantities. Nobody gave me this advise; now I see that gold prices have shot up so much in my career time (10 years). So I started investing 3 years back and already the returns are more than 20%.
It is a free advice after all, so feel free to ignore :)
--
Regards,
Mahesh.
http;//rachnaparmar.com
@Rachna: and @Rahul Bhatia: Thank you.