a holy combo - 5 in 1

yesterday was a very auspicious day.friday 22nd march.it was fortunate that i signed a very important agreement for my company on such an occasion.

the moslems celebrated their prophet mohammed's birth anniversary. eid-e-milad-un-nabi.his death anniversary also falls on this day.it was jamshed navroz for the zoroastrians.the first day of the fasli calendar.the jews celebrated purim,the day when esther,the hebrew princess was married to the persian king ahaseurus.the christians were solemnly observing good friday. jesus christ was crucified on this day and christians believe that blessings of humanity arose as a result of jesus's execution. two days later jesus was resurrected from the dead.and the hindus celebrated the colourful holi. a festival of bohomie and camaraderie.

and it was also the day when celestial weddings took place. lord shiva married parvati on 'panguni uttiram' day. lord rama (an avathar of lord vishnu) married sita (an avathar of mahalakshmi) in the third month of the lunar calendar.known as phalguni in the north and panguni in the south. uttiram star was on the ascendant. mahalakshmi emerged on this day when the ocean was churned(samudramanthan) in search of nectar.and also the only day in the year when lord ranganatha and ranganayaki thayar come together at the srirangam ranganatha temple.on this day sri ramanujacharya,the vaishnavite preceptor offered three compositions (gadya traya) at the feet of perumal and thayar.

the victory of good over evil,the defeat of the asuras.when hiranyakashipu became intolerable and tried to kill his son prahalada,a devotee of lord vishnu,by making him sit on his sister holika's lap who then entered a pyre. holika was covered with a woolen shawl to prevent her from getting burnt. miraculously,the shawl flew and covered prahalada and holika ws burnt to death.from that day onwards,holi is celebrated by lighting a bonfire.and following it up the next day with splashing of colours on each other's faces.the men in gujerat where lord krishna was born, are driven away by sticks on this day as was the case when lord krishna used to chase the maidens in mathura and the young girls would take sticks in their hand and go after krishna.

substantially,the theme of all these religious festivities remains the same.goodness,the victory of truth over evil and the togetherness of humanity. let us all pray on this auspicious day for peace in this planet and happiness for all mankind.