{"id":41318,"date":"2017-02-25T11:06:06","date_gmt":"2017-02-25T05:36:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/globalpress.hinduismnow.org\/?p=41318"},"modified":"2017-02-25T11:06:06","modified_gmt":"2017-02-25T05:36:06","slug":"austin-hindus-gather-celebrate-god-destruction-rebirth-daily-texan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/?p=41318","title":{"rendered":"Austin Hindus gather to celebrate god of destruction and rebirth – The Daily Texan"},"content":{"rendered":"
\nA quiet festival, a quaint gathering, where loyal devotees and inquisitive newcomers convene from dusk till dawn, praying and meditating in honor of Shiva.
\nThis Friday is Maha Shivaratri, a holiday which honors Lord Shiva, the Hindu god of rejuvenation On this day, Austin Hindus will flock to their friends\u2019 homes or one of Austin\u2019s several Hindu temples. The Austin Hindu Temple and Community Center will host the festival all night. Followers will keep one another awake while praying, meditating and fasting. The only thing consumed is milk and, if necessary, fruit \u2014 yet some go the full term without eating or drinking anything.
\n\u201cMaha Shivaratri is one of the most auspicious days,\u201d temple visitor Venkata Adavikolanu said. \u201cOne of the (most) holy days in Hinduism, actually. People pray to Shiva, fast that day and try to stay awake throughout the night.\u201d
\nBut Shivaratri itself, the worship of Shiva, is a regular practice. The festival serves as a vigil for great moments and legendary feats in Shiva\u2019s life. There are varying beliefs surrounding the motivating story, one being an account in which Shiva survived a night of sacrificial trials.
\n\u201cMaha is \u2018great,\u2019 like \u2018mega,\u2019\u201d Adavikolanu said. \u201cSo Maha Shivaratri is Great Shivaratri day.\u201d
\nThe temple staff welcome all guests regardless of faith and any visitor regardless of frequency.
\n\u201cWe don\u2019t have a congregation per se. People just come,\u201d said Rao Aradhyula, chairman of the temple\u2019s board of directors.
\nThe temple was built by the community and serves as its backbone. It fulfills several collective obligations, hosting religious ceremonies, festivals and even classes for Hindi and Sanskrit.
\n\u201cFor everything in between, we provide a service,\u201d Aradhyula said. \u201cWhether a baby\u2019s born or somebody died, everything, all the way through, it\u2019s ceremony.\u201d
\nTemple traditions even influence everyday life.
\n\u201cTypically, if I buy a new home, I call the priest for a blessing at the home,\u201d Aradhyula said. \u201cIf we buy a new car for example, they come and bless it.\u201d
\nAradhyula explained the significance of each holy statue and the deities they represent. These statues are treated as conduits to their namesakes.
\n\u201cEvery day in the morning, (worshippers) wake him up, him or her,\u201d Aradhyula said. \u201cThen they do the Naivedya, which is like an offering to the god at certain times in the day.\u201d
\nA faith of many divinities, Hinduism has a considerably deep, long running history and has even paved the road for other religions.
\n\u201cBuddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, they all came from Hinduism,\u201d Aradhyula said. \u201cSo, you will see some commonalities. There were certain things they didn\u2019t like in Hinduism \u2014 they removed those things \u2014 but pretty much, these are all the origins.\u201d
\nThis significance of \u201corigin\u201d is evident in every detail of the temple. The priests studied in India, and even the architects and craftsmen are given work visas and flown in to ensure authenticity.
\n\u201cThis temple definitely has a lot of background to it,\u201d visitor Sruthi Adavikolanu said. \u201cOf good hearts, built by good hands. It has a long way to go, yeah. It\u2019s in construction work. It\u2019s a huge temple, comparatively. In Austin, this is one of the biggest temples.\u201d
\nAradhyula wanted to impart that it\u2019s important to remember all are welcome, even during prominent events.
\n\u201cHinduism is more a way of life. It\u2019s called the sanatana dharma,\u201d said Rao, \u201cIt\u2019s a way of life. How you worship, how you live. And yes, we are all Hindus in name, but if somebody wants to become a Hindu they just come and worship, that\u2019s it.\u201d\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A quiet festival, a quaint gathering, where loyal devotees and inquisitive newcomers convene from dusk till dawn, praying and meditating in honor of Shiva. This Friday is Maha Shivaratri, a holiday which honors Lord Shiva, the Hindu god of rejuvenation On this day, Austin Hindus will flock to their friends\u2019 homes or one of Austin\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41318"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41318"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41318\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}