Khumbhabishegam at Sivan Temple

Yesterday I went to the temple consecretion ceremony at the Sivan Temple. Me and 22,000 others were there. But it did not feel like it as the event was so very very well organized. The organizers had wisely estimated the crowd that was going to turn up and had many volunteers and traffic marshals in hand to help the devotees and ensure that things went orderly.

The pouring of the holy water onto the Khumbum of the temple is the highlight of the event. A green flag is waved before the holy water is poured on the Khumbum - the symbolic head of the temple and the highest point of the temple. The Hindus believe that this holy water is particularly sacred and has amazing vibration. So when we entered the temple a couple of priests also sprinkled the water on the top of our heads. Wonderful.

The MC or compere for this event was amazing. He was a bilingualist - fluent in both Tamil and English. This is a difficult area to be bilingual - temple rituals, processions etc are filled with technical jargon - many of them do not lend themselves well to translations in English. But he did a superb job translating for those in the audience who were not conversant in Tamil. His Tamil quality was also excellent. His choice of classical Tamil words were right on. He used high Tamil and poetic words that had deep historical and spiritual significance. Like English Tamil is becoming a functional language - so it was wonderful to see that he was not falling into this trap and stripping either language of its aesthetic qualities.

All the devotees also received a "goodie bag." This is a really strange Singapore phenomenon I abhor. People want free things to take home after an event. Can we please stop all this consumption? What about the environment and trying to create less waste? Sigh !!! However, in the context of this event, the "goodie bag" became a very important source of cultural, spiritual and intellectual gifts. Whoever designed the goodie bag was a thoughtful person. The bag itself was a reusable bag - ie a cloth bag that one can take grocery shopping and thereby cut down plastic bag consumption. Secondly they had imported the most delicious sweets from the best candy store in Chennai - Sri Krishna Sweets. Thirdly they had put a CD on divine Shiva chants. Again something beautiful for your ears and that can be part of your library's personal collection. There was also the holy water in a bottle and kungumam. Great.

The next 48 days there will free concerts every night at the temple to celebrate and raise the vibration of the Gods and Goddess. Some world class performers from India will be coming. Wonderful ways to keep our traditions alive in Singapore