Editorial May 2022
Greetings! Summer is here, finally! And like every other month, May too is filled with numerous festivals all over the country. This month has some very unique celebrations, very relevant to emphasizing the diversity of incredible indian cultures.
Rabindra Jayanti Celebrations
This marks the celebration of the birth anniversary of Indian poet laureate Rabindranath Tagore. It is celebrated in early May, on the 25th day of the Bengali month of Baisakh. Tagore set up an entire schooling system in contrary to the then prevalent British system of materialistic education. What we now know from some of the letters & writings from British envoys working in India for the Queen, the British realized the only way to “break the backbone” of the country to help them colonize & rule, is to attack their education & religion.
Rabindranath Tagore boldly set up a school in Shantiniketan, land of the red soil, in West Bengal near Kolkata, & taught in the same fashion that Indian acharyas have taught for ages in the Gurukul system. Many Indian tribes, to this day, continue with this brilliant style of education in some shape or form.
Read:
Eid
Islam is a dominant religion in India & the entire culture in many shapes & forms have been greatly influenced by Muslim ways of life, from architecture, sciences, literatures & arts. Eid is celebrated all over the country & reminds us of the blessings we count from this immense religious diversity of the country.
Delhi, which used to be the capital city of the Mughal rulers, has one of the most authentic representations of their art, architecture & food. During Eid, the mosques in the city come to life in the prayers of thousands of followers of Islam.
Shankaracharya Jayanti
Adi Shankaracharya is the first, and probably the only Vedic scholar from the 8th century CE to have realized the essence of non-duality & taught the philosophy & the practices of Advaita Vedanta extensively all through the country. In addition his he expounded several Upanishads for the modern reader – the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, Chandogya Upanishad, Aitareya Upanishad, Taittiriya Upanishad, Kena Upanishad, Isha Upanishad, Katha Upanishad, Mundaka Upanishad, Prashna Upanishad & the Mandukya Upanishad.
Although Shankaracharya’s exact birth anniversary is unknown, it is generally celebrated in the middle of the May.
So there you go! An entire month for us to celebrate our history of growth, cultures & heritages & celebrate our diversity through religion & literature.
We wish you celebrations, keeping yourself & your community & families safe & tolerant.
Sincerely Yours!
Explore India TV Team
