Sita Kalyanam

Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati

Sita Kalyanam literally means the welfare of Sita. Sita can be understood from
different perspectives: one who is considered to be all good personified; the aspect
of mother, the aspect of wife, the aspect of a person who has seen the luxuries and
comforts in life, the aspect of a person who has suffered physically, mentally and
emotionally in her life and who could become the epitome of certain human
qualities. Many people also consider Sita to be the wedded wife of Sri Rama, who
himself was a king of great renown during his time and to whom the epic of Rama
is dedicated. For many she is also an avatar, a manifestation of the divine cosmic
force in the form of Sri sri meaning the auspicious, the best, the pure. So Sita is
the goddess of whatever is pure, whatever is auspicious and which is taken to be
our wealth in life.
This celebration in Rikhia is a recognition of that cosmic force of Sita. For the
villagers there will be a program during which Sita will be wedded to Rama. During
this period there will be a couple officiating on behalf of Rama and Sita. The
ceremony will be conducted by the villagers. It will be a marriage function because
for villagers marriage is a very big event. For them it is the beginning of life. On the
day of marriage the colour of life begins. Before marriage there is no colour, no
rasa, in life, is there? You just sit alone in a corner and study books. After marriage
there is masala, spice, in the khichari of life, and everything becomes very tasty.
Then there are battles, love, tussles, beatings, giving and receiving help.
Sometimes things are very straightforward, sometimes we dance.
In the vicinity of Paramahamsaji's sadhana place there are some villages which
have been adopted by Sivananda Math. We look after their medical needs and treat
many diseases which are difficult to cure due to the lack of proper medical facilities
in the area. We also give the villagers the means of self-employment: bicycle
rickshaws, thelas, three-wheelers, motor cars which can be used as taxis, we open
shops for them, provide help in schools with books, notebooks, pens, game sets,
everything they need. This year we will also be assisting those people who are
disabled. In this last year we assisted with agriculture and there was a bumper
crop. So the whole area is slowly, slowly prospering, and there is a sense of
happiness, contentment and wellbeing.
As a tradition, Paramahamsaji always gives presents to newlywed couples,
especially to the bride saree, mangalasutra, ornaments, clothes, food, cosmetics,
eyeshadow, lipsticks. Since Sita Kalyanam is dedicated to the Cosmic Mother, as an
outcome of Sita Kalyanam, gifts, presents, will be given to each home, each family,
each person in their own village, at their doorstep. They won't even have to come
to ask. Everything will be delivered to them, from the most basic items to the most
expensive ones. They have the right to enjoy life, the right to every kind of
conceivable right.

Sita Kalyanam is also the culmination of Paramahamsaji's year long sadhana which
he began on 14th January 1997 and which will finish during the next full moon of
Kartik Poornima. Friends, students, devotees and disciples from different parts of
the world will come for this event. There will be lectures by eminent scholars on
Ramayana. One day there will be a Lalita yajna performed by the yoginis from
South India.
So it will be a gathering of sannyasins and a sharing of thoughts and offering of
gifts representing our auspicious feelings, representing our sincere feelings of
compassion and affection towards each other, towards everyone not only the
affluent and the rich, those people who have everything, and not only the middle
group, those who make up society, but also the lower group of society who have
very limited resources at their disposal. This is the feeling of unity that Sita
Kalyanam will bring if we are open to it.
Ganga Darshan, October 1997
[top]