In this course, you will learn about some of the traditions for the New Year. Please note that there are tremendous regional and historic variations in terms of how these holidays get celebrated, and many parts of South Asia actually celebrate their New Year in the spring. What we are sharing here is what most of the Northern and Western regions practice – although you’ll find each community – and even each family – has its own personal rituals and traditions.
As with all of these traditions, you are welcome to practice as much or as little as you are able. Remember that the outer ritual helps us to connect with the spirit of the holiday inside, so maintaining that connection and cultivating wisdom will yield greater fruit than just trying to do every ritual perfectly!
Also, please note that these traditions have ancient roots but are still fully alive today. Accordingly, we will teach you their modern Hindi names as well as Sanskrit ones so you can recognize them in the world.
The common theme through this holiday season is offering gratitude for the abundance in our lives, and choosing light over darkness. Mahālakṣmī – the power of Śrī, is the primary deity of this time, and each day we welcome and honor her in different forms.
Śrī is a spiritual understanding that is hard to translate, but yet we all innately seem to recognize her power. Śrī is the power of divine beauty, prosperity, abundance, goodness, and radiance. Śrī is often described as an infinite golden light – the beauty of the universe, the beauty of God, and all creation. The goddess Mahālakṣmī embodies Śrī, and we envision that we are inviting her into our homes and our lives. Śrī is the prasāda, the fruit, of living a dharmic life; it makes perfect sense then that Mahālakṣmī is married to Śrī Viṣṇu, the embodiment of dharma.
In Hindi, we call this day Vāgbāras, and in Sanskrit, this day is known as Govatsa-dvādaśī. It is a day where we honor and give thanks for the cows, who are the most ancient form of wealth and abundance.
Why are cows so revered in this tradition?
Our tradition is rooted in the earth and in natural rhythms. Although now most of us rarely even see or interact with cows, for most of our ancestors, and many today, cattle were powerful assets and both the source and measure of abundance. In many native cultures around the world, wealth was determined by how many cows you owned, and you could trade cows like you can trade money today.
An underlying principle of this tradition is that the sacred is that which sustains life. Nearly every part of the cow – more so than almost any other domesticated animal – helps to protect and nurture life.
For example, its milk is full of fat, protein, and vitamins – and something you can live off of for a long time if need be, in both heat and cold. Bulls can be used to lift heavy loads or plow fields. Cow dung can be dried and burned for fuel – this is especially useful in an area that has few trees. It provides warmth, food, and light.
You can also use it as a sustainable building material – walls and flooring that are both waterproof and, more amazingly – that stay cool to the touch even in scorching heat. (In case you’re wondering, the dung smell actually goes away in a few hours and then it turns into a subtle sweet, grassy, smell that could even be called pleasant). And finally, no matter how old we are, the foods we find sweet and comforting all come from cows – cream, yoghurt, butter, cheese, etc!
Additionally, cows embody many of the qualities we seek to cultivate on the spiritual path – for one, they are a wonderful combination of sweet, strong, generous, steady, and loyal. Cows are affectionate and intelligent, capable of deep emotion and sweetness (like puppies, they are known to lick their favorite people when they greet them!)
When we destroy something that embodies qualities we hope to cultivate, we run the risk of confusing our mind-bodies as to what our values actually are. This is a major reason why we are traditionally advised not to eat beef.
In fact, killing and eating cows is as emotionally and morally repugnant in this tradition as it would be to kill and eat dogs or cats in most Western countries. It would be like killing your best friends, because cows give us so much and ask for so little in return.
The traditional practice for the day is to honor and take care of cows.
Most people feed, bathe, cuddle, and do pūjā – ritual worship – of their cows (this practice, when witnessed by early colonialists, led them to believe that we worship cows the same way we worship God). However, doing pūjā is recognizing the sacred power within something, not idolizing it AS the entirety of the sacred. By doing pūjā to cows, we recognize the strong, sweet, life-giving power within them and offer our gratitude to it.
An easy way to honor the cow is to abstain from beef as much as possible. This also has great environmental benefits – scientists agree that a tremendous amount of deforestation, water shortage, and global warming is due to the cattle farming industry.
If you can’t or don’t wish to give it up entirely, you can still make a step towards reducing beef consumption. And all of us – vegetarian or not – can make an effort to make sure our dairy is sourced from healthy, happy, pasture-fed cows.
If you are not physically near a cow today, you can still do the practice by reflecting on the many great qualities of cows, or doing pūjā to a picture or other representation. Try to discover the cows’ great qualities in yourself: reflect on how you can also be a source of support, sweetness, strength, and abundance for yourself and your world.
If you have any questions, or want to share your experience, you can do so by emailing us at admin@livingsanskrit.com.
Teacher: Shivani Hawkins
Maitreya Larios is a scholar and practitioner of the ancient and living traditions of India. He has been a practitioner of Indian spirituality since he was 9 years old.
In 2013, he obtained a doctorate in classical Indology from the University of Heidelberg in Germany, where he is currently employed as a research fellow. He wrote his dissertation on the living Vedic traditions of Maharashtra, which will appear as a book in late 2015.
He is most excited about being a student of Sanskrit and philosophy and about igniting that enthusiasm in his students. His personal journey over the 26 years of studentship in this tradition has been a humbling experience, but it is a path that he assures brings the most amazing transformations.
Besides his area of expertise as a scholar of Indian culture and religion, Maitreya is passionate about photography, visual arts, traveling and vegan/vegetarian cooking.
He is happily married and a father to a beautiful boy named Kabīr.
Few artists have the power to create an indelible impact on the minds of their audiences through their art form and one such name in the world of Kathak is Shambhavi Dandekar. Shambhavi Dandekar as an accomplished Indian Kathak master performer, has carved a niche for herself through her sheer talent, unique performances and unparelled choreography, that has brought her recognition on the national as well as the international platforms.
As a young dancer, Shambhavi started her training under the able guidance of her own mother and renowned Guru Pandita Maneesha Sathe, a celebrated dancer and a teacher in her own right. Shambhavi then went on to complete her intense training in ‘laya and tala’ or rhythm and beats from Table virtuoso “Taalyogi” Pandit Suresh Talwalkar. Along with her top-notch traditional dance training, Shambhavi also has a strong academic educational background with a Bachelors in Commerce and two Masters degrees in Dance. Furthermore, she also holds Diplomas both in French and Sanskrit.
Shambhavi has more than 20 years of teaching experience at an undergraduate and a graduate level at various dance education institutions in India. She has also started her own international school of dance in 2008, called ‘Shambhavi’s International School of Kathak’ or SISK. SISK is a prominent and a thriving international institution with five branches in India and the United States of America with over 400 students and a staff of 15 teachers who are trained by Shambhavi herself.
SISK has produced many a talented student over the years. Shambhavi’s years of experience, intellectual understanding and analysis of the nuances of the art form, has helped her create stellar performers out of her dedicated students. Many of her students are emerging as budding Kathak professionals. Shambhavi guides performers and students all over the world through workshops and master classes.
Shivani is a meditation teacher and multi-disciplinary artist, and the founder of Living Sanskrit. Born both American and into the yogic tradition, she is devoted to preserving and accurately practicing ancient indigenous wisdom in modern times and non-native contexts.
Shivani first heard Sanskrit in the womb, and not a day has gone by without it. She grew up immersed in dharma culture, yogic teachings, and sacred practices under the guidance of her spiritual teacher and also her grandmother.
Living Sanskrit is the culmination of a long-held dream to keep this tradition alive and share its magnificent gifts with the world.
Shivani started teaching meditation in 2001, and professionally a few years later at the suggestion of her spiritual teacher. Since then, Shivani has shared meditation with thousands of people at venues that range from corporate offices to hospitals to schools. From 2008-2014, Shivani was a Fellow with the Berkeley Initiative for Mindfulness and Law, leading retreats and weekly meditation sessions at Berkeley Law School.
Alongside teaching, Shivani is a prolific artist, photographer, and writer. She is a graduate of the Waterfront Conservatory and Playhouse, a member of the California Bar, and has a J.D. from the University of Southern California and a B.A. in Rhetoric with minors in Theater, Business Administration, and South Asian Studies from the University of California, Berkeley.
She lives with her beloved husband Nick in Redwood City, California, where she can often be found dancing, gardening, listening to birdsong, and hiking in nature.
Ekabhumi is an award-winning poet, author, illustrator, yoga instructor and arts educator with 18 years of international teaching experience. Through a ritualized and meditative creative method, he makes artworks for ceremonial and educational use that help people deepen their spiritual practice, recognize the divinity of common experiences, and find meaning in the beauty of our world. His artworks may be found in yoga studios, private homes, and on altars around the world. He is currently part of the core faculty of livingsanskrit.com.
His name was given by his first guru during a formal initiation ceremony into a tantric yoga lineage in 2005. Since that time, he has studied with many spiritual teachers and traditional artists both in India and the States. His art teachers include eminent western figurative painters like Domenic Cretara, as well as Newar artist Dinesh Charan Shrestha, Bikaner-style miniature painter Mahaveer Swami, Thangka painter Andy Weber, and yantra painter Mavis Gewant.
Ekabhumi’s writing and artwork has been published widely, appearing in anthologies and journals like The Poetry of Yoga, Berkeley Fiction Review, and Pearl, as well as books like Tantra Illuminated by Christopher Hareesh Wallis and Awakening Shakti by Sally Kempton. His instructional Shakti Coloring Book and the uplifting Bhakti Coloring Book are now available world-wide from Sounds True Press.
Though his first love is the arts, he has a wide range of interests that are reflected in his many past occupations: event producer, stock options broker, handyman, journalist, ski boot fitter, competitive surfer and champion sailor. He toured internationally as a performance poet, and the poets he coached won numerous regional and national titles. He facilitated writer’s groups, hosted poetry readings, and organized spoken-word festivals for nearly 20 years, culminating in the acclaimed 2009 Individual World Poetry Slam.
Ekabhumi is an inspiring, playful yet methodical teacher who helps students cultivate deeper intuitive states. For nearly two decades, he variously taught yoga, painting, public speaking, and creative writing to students ranging from kindergarten to post-graduate level. Much of his time is now spent creating educational material about interpreting, making, and utilizing sacred art of the dharma traditions. On weekends, he can be found in his garden practicing silence and learning directly from Nature.
Hema Patankar has spent her life immersed in study, practice and service to the Vedic tradition. It began when she was a teenager irresistibly attracted to the sound of Sanskrit and images of yogis who had become profoundly wise and blissful through meditation.
An alumni of a gurukula in Western India, Hema spent over 30 years intimately engaged with the traditions that have emerged from the Vedas. She worked on research, translation, and editorial projects in the company of learned pandits and scholars. She assisted with yajnas – ancient fire ceremonies – and rituals, which allowed her to get extraordinarily close to the living practice of Vedic traditions. She immersed herself in the sādhana of singing Sanskrit hymns and the songs of the poet saints, which she studied intensively with her Gurus and traditional devotional singers. She became known for devotional singing, and taught students from around the world.
Hema has a passion for the preservation of sacred Vedic heritage. For several years she was the Executive Director of the Muktabodha Indological Research Institute. There she spearheaded the development of an extensive online collection of rare Sanskrit texts. She nurtured the establishment of a traditional Vedic school where an endangered branch of the Vedas is preserved. She also directed the video documentation of remarkable Vedic rituals and brought rare texts on Śaiva philosophy and Vedic ritual to publication.
She later studied traditional Āyūrveda and earned a Vaidya Bhusana (vaidyabhūṣaṇa) Ayurvedic Practitioner degree. She is President of the Board of Trustees of Vedika Global, a school for the study and practice of traditional Āyūrveda and Vedic sciences. She has published articles on Āyūrveda, the Bhakti tradition, and the preservation of Vedic manuscripts. Most recently she edited a text on Vedic full and new moon rituals. Her current writing focuses on the intersection of living Ayurveda with the rituals and philosophy of the Vedic tradition.