Today is a holiday, a day of celebration once again here in India. It is a day of two celebrations together: Shraavani and Raksha Bandan.
Shraavani is the full moon day of this month, the monsoon month shraavan. It is a holiday especially for people of the Brahman caste. You know that the Hindu religion has divided society into four castes, Brahmans, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, and Shudras. Each of these castes has one holiday in a year which is especially important for them.
For the Brahman caste it is today, Shraavani, the full moon of the rainy month which is especially holy. They do their rituals and poojas at the holy rivers or at other auspicious places.
The Kshatriya caste is the caste of soldiers and warriors. Their biggest holiday is Vijayadashami and on this day they worship their arms.
For the Vaishya caste it is Diwali, which is obvious – they are the businessmen and on Diwali they worship Lakshmi and make ceremonies with their silver, gold, their money and their account books. Sales are big for them in that celebration time!
And finally there are the Shudras, the lowest of the castes who are responsible for any kind of ‘dirty work’. Their biggest festival is Holi, when everyone is allowed to make things dirty and to say dirty things.
The second celebration today is called Raksha Bandhan. It is a very big celebration day in India, especially for sisters and brothers. It is tradition that girls tie a thread or a wristband around their brothers’ wrists and give them sweets. The brothers thank their sisters with a gift or some money. Several of our staff members and even some of the kids who live here went home to their families on this day to meet their siblings.
We are three brothers and had only one sister. I remember the time before my sister was born and how I wished and prayed for a sister after having already one brother, Purnendu. I also remember the day she was born and how we grew up together. On Raksha Bandhan she always tied a thread around the wrists of all three of us. When I grew up, I started travelling and with the years became more and more busy so that I could not always be with her on this day. Sometimes I was at home and sometimes I was not.
Then there was a time before I went into the cave when I tried to make it possible to be at home on this day, to be with her. After coming out of the cave however, I started my journeys around the world and was always abroad in summer and on this day.
Only in 2006 I decided I wanted to be home on Raksha Bandhan. I rescheduled my program and I came home from Europe to Vrindavan for this day. I spent a short time in India only before I flew to South Africa to work there. A few days later I was back on a plane to India – she and Purnendu had been in a car accident and she had died.
Since that year, Raksha Bandhan is obviously a day on which my brothers and I think of Para, our sister, miss her but also remember the days that we spent this day together.
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