My Munji experience

(Some posts are out of order due to internet unavailability from time to time)

At a certain age, boys of some Hindu cultures have a 2 day celebration called the munji (upanayana or sacred – thread ceremony). Different families have it at different times. It is a number of rituals to a help a boy attain spiritual enlightenment. A special mantra is taught as well, called the Gayathri Manthram. They also give the boy a Yajnopavitam (or sacred thread) to symbolize his right of passage. This year, I had my munji.

The first day of my munji was July, 12, 2009. I woke up at 4:00 A.M. I dressed up in panche early in the morning. We went to the temple where I would have my munji at around 7:00 A.M. I recited a lot of mantras. They were all prayers to the gods to give me good fortune. My parents and the priests at the temple also did many things. We had many homas, which are fires used to pray to the Gods. We also put things like fruits and clothes into the homas to give a fragrant smell. My eyes burnt because of the smoke though. We had a break sometime in the afternoon. After that, we had a music concert (flute) & Mahabharata epic singing.

On the second day of my munji, July, 13, 2009, we did some of the same things as we did yesterday, such as making homas. That day, I was given the Gayathri Upadesha by my dad & the sacred thread was put around my body. I memorized some of the mantras I would need to know. I got some money, Wee game, a few board games, a cool watch, and a few books as gifts

Today, July, 14, 2009, was the first day after my munji. I did my sandyavandana, a bunch of rituals I have to do every day, my madhanka, which is like a sandhyavandana, and today evening, I’m doing the rituals again. The mantras I memorized went like this:

Keshavaynama
Narayananamaha
Madhanayanama
Govindayanamaha
Vishnavadanamaha
Madhavayanamaha
Trivikramenameha
Vamanyanamaha
Sridharayanamaha
Rishikeshayanamaha
Padmanabyanamaha
Dhamodarainamaha

My munji was complicated, but rewarding. Looking forward to practicing it all.

My Experience at Cubbon Park

On July 29, 2009, my sister, grandfather, and I went to a place called Cubbon Park. My sister was really excited and said there were motor boats and roller coasters, but said I was a baby just because I don’t like speed and heights (And I’m older than her by 2 years!). My first thought at arriving at the park was that this was either a city in a metropolis or it was a township in a city! The park was at least 10 acres long and wide! The trees were huge and the place had a playground, a train, at least 3 ice cream parlors, a planetarium, an aquarium, and I think there was even a Museum of Industry, among other things!

We went on the 3:30 train ride around the first area of the park. We ate snacks along the way. My grandfather and I thought it was fun, but my sister said it was stupid. Then my grandfather bought us a small cup of vanilla ice cream, which we ate. Then my sister started complaining because there were no roller coasters and things like that and there were only swings, slides and monkey bars. Honestly, I don’t know why she expected what she expected. Anyway, my sister said it was boring.

We went to the aquarium next. We saw lots of fish, small sharks, albino goldfish (albino!) giant gouramis (which are quite ugly), and even a tank full of small, deadly tiger sharks! I thought it was interesting.

Next, we went to the planetarium. We heard there was going to be a celestial fireworks show at 4:30 PM. While we waited, we checked what our weight, in kilograms, would be on different planets. My sister told my mom when we got home that I weighed 109 kilograms and that she weighed only 2.2. But she said what my weight would be on JUPITER (which has a lot of gravity) as if it were mine on EARTH, an, she gave what her weight would be on PLUTO (which has very little gravity) in the same way! Anyway, at 4:30, we went to the fireworks display. It was actually an IMAX show about outer space. However, it was very realistic. We saw supernovas, black holes (simulated, because in real life, it is impossible to see a black hole because not even light can escape a black hole because of its immense gravitational power, and light is needed to see things), and what effects an asteroid’s impact would have on earth (which is bad, bad, bad!). We thought it was really cool. I know my sister even thought that. But she still complained.

I thought my experience there was really fun. We will go again to the other parts of Cubbon Park soon. Until then, stay tuned!

My Visit to Halebidu Temple

On August 3, 2009, my sister & I went to the Halebidu temple from Hassana with our grandparents. It is a very important ancient temple. It is gigantic! There were statues of giant bulls and hundreds of rock carvings!

We left home at about 10:00 A.M. on a bus to Halebidu. It was a bumpy ride. I actually flew a few times!

We got to the temple between 11:00 and 11:30 A.M. My sister and I were hungry, so we ate a small snack. Then we went to the temple. We saw the two giant bull statues. They were the size of elephants. We also looked at the stone carvings on the temple walls. They depicted ancient gods and stories. Sadly, most of the temple’s carvings were damaged beyond repair. The gods were missing a number of hands, and it was rare to find an elephant, tiger, or horse with there head, tail, or legs all still stuck to their bodies.

The inside of the temple was dark. It was very small and plain compared to the outside of the temples.

At between 12:00 and 12:30 P.M., we ate our lunch. We had bhath and mosrana. We gave the leftovers to 2 dogs.

Then we went to the archeological museum. Everything was damaged. You couldn’t find a single peacock statue with its head still on its body. There were Hero Stones and inscribed slabs, as well as statues and archways. My sister and I asked our grandmother to read the slabs, but she said they were in old Kannada, and that she couldn’t read it.

We went to another mountaintop temple. However, it was very small. It took us 5 minutes to see the whole thing.

Then we went home on a bus. My sister and I took some short naps. We got home at 3:00 P.M.