The South Indian community gathered together to perform Kartika Masam puja on Friday at Habitat School in Ajman.
About 100 couples participated in Satyanarayana Vratham in the morning who were joined by others to light 1,000 Karthika Deepams (clay oil lamps) later in the evening.
Kartikam is the holiest month in the Hindu lunar calendar during which Diwali is celebrated on Amavasya, or New Moon. And the Full Moon day or Kartika Pournima, a fortnight later, is considered most auspicious when Vishnu and Shiva of the Hindu triumvirate are worshipped. Offering prayers to these deities is believed to bring luck and prosperity for all.
The Satyanarayana Vratham was conducted by Veda pandits flown in from Hyderabad in Telangana. The vratham is the worship of Vishnu. Satya means truth and Narayan means the highest being. It literally means the worship of the highest being who is an expression of truth. Later in the day, Sadhus (holy men) from Akshar Dham Mandir, Abu Dhabi, held a religious discourse.
Sri Sri Sugunendra Theertha Swamiji of Udipi, Karnataka, who recently addressed the Interfaith Alliance Summit in Abu Dhabi, graced the Deepotsavam (festival of lights) in the evening.
The 1,000 clay lamps with 365 wicks in each, signifying each day of the year, were arranged tastefully like the floral arrangement rangoli in the Jyotirlinga design, supervised by Veda exponents Radhakrishna Sharma and Kuchi Vamshi Krishna. A Jyotirlingam is a representation of Shiva. Jyoti means ‘radiance’ and lingam the ‘image’ of Shiva.
