DEEPAVALI - KEDARAGOWRI VRUTHAM

THAILE LAKSHMI JALE GANGA DEEPAVALYAM CHATURDHASH

month of ipasi or tula is for early bath .throughout the month , early in the morning people take bath worship god .tula snanam in kaveri river is considered good.
demon called narakasur did atrocity and troubled devas. he was killed by krishna on chaurdashi . diwali is celebrated as narakachaturdashi snanam in south india. much before diwali planning is started in buying new cloths for whole family, different kinds of sweets that are prepared and how much of crakers to buy. at 2 or 3 AM people get up and have oil bath in hot water .wear the new dress . crackers and sparklings are bursted, as a custom. sweets are exchanged with neighbouers and visiting the relations and taking the blessings of the elders are important.
the story of mahabali is famous in south india for diwali .
In north india , DANDHERAS IS CELEBRATED on the thrayodashi (13th) day . they worship LAXMI and KUBER . both are related to wealth , so this is called DANDHERAS. people buy gold and silver items on this day. some new item is purchased . all the gold and silver items are kept in front of laxmi and kuber and pooja is done in the evening. for entrepreneurs this day is very `auspicious and they do the pooja very sincerely. they lit lamp outside the shop and houses.
it is believed that LORD DHANVANTRI came from sheer sagar taking amrutkalash on his head. so dhanvantri jayanti is also celebrated in this day. dhanvantri is worshiped for longevity of life and good health. he is the founder for ayurved.
laxmi pooja is done . all the family members sit together and seek the blesssings of laxmi devi and then they lit lamp outside the house and the crackers are bursted by the children. it is believed that mid night goddess laxmi visits the houses. whereever there is light she enters their house so people make it a point that the lamp outside is lit through out the night. sweets are distributed and blessings of the elders are taken.
there is a popular story behind diwali .
in a village lived a brahmin family. they were very poor. he will go and ask for bhiksha daily and bring home what ever he got. some times he use to come empty handed also. continuously for two or three days he did not get anything. his wife was upset. so on the next day when he went out in the morning , his wife said bring something to day definitely. but poor brahmin, did not get anything, so he picked a flesh piece from the ground and took it home. when he went home , he dropped it outside. his wife was not there at home she went to have bath in the river.
the queen also came to have bath . she left her red stone necklace on the shore. the eagle watched this, mistook it as flesh and took it. her servants ran behind but could not do anything. king announced that who so ever brought the necklace back from the eagle will be honoured. on the way, the eagle saw the flesh piece in front of the brahmin's house . so it dropped the necklace there and took the piece. now brahmin's wife took it and told her husband to take it to the king. he went to the palace and gave the necklace to the king. king asked him what he wants. bhrahmin said- on diwali day the lamp should be lit either in the palace or in his house andin no other place . king accepted and announced that no body will light lamp on diwali.
on diwali day, brahmin's wife cleaned the house and did lakshmi pooja and lit lamps outside. mid night when lakshmi came she saw nobody else is interested in welcoming her with light. so she entered brahmin's house and blessed them nicely with food and money. they lived happily afterwards. this is the importance of cleaning and lighting the lamp .
On the second day after diwali Yama Deep is celebrated. Lamps are lit for Yama Dharma raja praying for safe journey to heaven.

KEDARA GOWRI VRUTHAM.

kedar means field .parvathi/gowri observed this vrath so it is called kedaragowri vrutham observed on diwali day. there was a sage called brigu. he was a very strong shiva baktha. he will not bow down to any other god or goddess. he will daily go to kailasha and circumumbulate lord shiva and come back. goddess parvathi will be seated next to him, he will not bow down to her. she felt very bad that shivan and shakti both are inseperabable then how can brigu muni bow down to siva. one day she sat very close to lord shiva. as usual brigu muni came when he saw that parvathi is seated too close, he took the form of a bee and curcumumbulate only shiva and went back. parvathi thought the ego of brigu muni should be cut down. she cursed him of becoming limb. shiva immediately cured his leg .parvathi got hurt by lord shiva's action. but shiva felt sad for parvathi's ignorance if brigu is circumumbulating him it is done to parvathi also, as shiva and sakthi are one. parvathi found a way for this. she went on penance to get merged with lord shiva. she came to earth selected an open field started her meditation there.her penance was so severe that she was radiating heat. crops in the field could not withstand the heat. shiva understood that this is because of brigu muni's action. pleased siva took her back with a boon that she will be in his body. they will be together always.shiva became ardhanareeswara - means half body will be of lord shiva and half of parvathi. she was very happy that brigu muni or anybody else will not be able to separate them . shiva and shakthi are one. now the world will know and understand that shiva and shakti cannot be separated. this day is celebrated as kedaragowri vrutham.
since this comes on diwali day. after the celebration of diwali, daily shiva pooja can be performed .chanting of namaha shivaya is good. if possible vruth can be observed on that day. or in the next day .
the couple should live long together and for the mutual love and affection this vruth is observed.

TAMASO MA JYOTIR GAMAYA. diwali gives the message of happiness , hope , health and harmony .