BBC News – Hindus flock to marry on auspicious day

Reminds me of the “yet yaza’s” (auspicious days), “pyat thadar’s” (inauspicious days), and “nagar layt” (facing dragon) in Myanmar calendars. “Don’t move towards a dragon facing in the opposite direction and waiting to swallow you up”  is the idea behind this direction finder. Fortune tellers especially love to couple their advice with certain days.

Like the Indians, Chinese also have an almanac based on ancient astrology and sold all over the world even in Vietnam and L A Chinatown.

However, over dependency on “Bay din” (fortune telling, astrology) can prevent people from doing what they should be doing normally. Sitagu Sayadaw made a video that essentially said Dumb people rely on Bay Din, instead of relying on their intellect. Than Shwe had it banned. He took it rather badly as an inference to him, an ardent believer in “Bay Din.”

Buddha’s Vinaya monk rules prohibit monks from studying or discussing about Prediction (fortune telling), Magic, making charms, amulets, .. as low animal like knowledge which are doubtful or deceiving…

BBC News – Hindus flock to marry on auspicious day

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8682170.stm

Thousands of Hindus across the world will be tying the knot on Sunday 16 May. BBC Asian Network’s Catrin Nye investigates the phenomenon.

“I’ve hardly slept, everything is just clashing all at once. We’ve had to use new companies to source the flowers, cars, favour boxes. Once Sunday is over I think it will be time for a nice long sleep.”

Those are the frantic words of wedding planner Rita Yadav who is severely under pressure ahead of a weekend of great importance in terms of Hindu matrimony.

She is planning three Hindu weddings taking place on Sunday 16 May in west London, but that is only part of a bigger and amazing picture.

The day and date in question is one thousands of Hindu couples across the world have been waiting for to get married because it is said to be blessed.

And, this year, with it following months of unsuitable dates, a backlog of brides and grooms has built up.

Some estimates say that in the Indian city of Mumbai (Bombay), which is dominated by Hindus and is the centre of Bollywood, 50,000 weddings have been planned for the day, including that of Indian cricketer Pragyan Ojha.

In the UK, the Hindu Council has approximately 250 priests and they have all been booked for the day, with many having had to turn down some requests to conduct weddings.

Dr Raj Sharma, president of the Hindu Council UK, is one of those as he will be travelling to the Netherlands to marry a Hindu couple at The Hague.

Foundation

He says that there are four or five times the usual number of bookings on this particular day.

“Hindus believe a union between two souls is very important and choosing that auspicious date is incredibly important,” Dr Sharma told BBC Asian Network.

“It has been particularly inauspicious between February and 16 May – our scriptures telling us that this would be a period of calamity, and so it has caused this backlog.

“Most Hindus, even if they are marrying non-Hindus, would want to marry on an auspicious date to build the best foundation possible for their relationship.”

He added: “Sometimes people question me because I come from a medical scientific background and ask, ‘How can you believe these things?’…