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TRINIDAD, May 23, 2004; The annual Hindu water festival of Ganga Dhaara takes placed on June 6, at Blanchisseuse. The festival will begin at 4 a.m. and will feature some 30 religious rituals including the mundan sanskaar (the first shaving of baby’s hair), non-stop chanting of the Hanooman Chaaleesa, Ganga aarti and many more. Swami Aksharananda will deliver an address during the festival “to release the Annual Ecological Mantra of the Year, taken from the Rig Veda,” according to festival director Raviji. He stressed that the ancient river festival had important relevance to modern problems. “It connects to a cataclysmic event in man’s history when human civilization was threatened by extinction for want of fresh water,” said Raviji. The records in Sanskrit texts records the Bhagirathian sacrifices man must make to restore sufficient and accessible fresh water for the survival of humankind and the environment, Raviji said. The festival focuses attention on the crisis of the planet Earth and calls for human resolve to stave off the impending environmental chaos. It says that a life of unrestrained luxury and consumerism would lead to an inhabitable planet Earth, according to Raviji. The festival seeks to take man away from the concrete jungle to the laps of nature and a consciousness of the Divine Spirit existing in and through all things of the Earth. The festival provides for a sangam, a union of man, nature and spirit. Participants are advised to wear non-leather footwear, wear something yellow and contribute to the collection of 20,000 yellow buttercups for the offering of a sari to Ganga Mata. Parents may register children for shaving of the head with Raj Mata Bhagwat at 665-4103.

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