Queens-based Guyanese observe Shivaratri

TIMES INT'L

By Vishnu Bisram

The large Guyanese Hindu community and other Hindus in New York observed the annual auspicious festival of Shivaratri, or the worshipping Lord Shiva, last Sunday evening and Monday morning.

Shivaratri is one of the most important festivals of Hinduism glorifying Lord Shiva, who is known as the Destroyer in the Hindu Trinity of Brahma (the Creator), Vishnu (the Protector and Preserver), and Shiva. For Hindus, Shiva is the Lord of all things in the universe, including its originator.

People streamed by the hundreds into temples during the evening, as it was a night of prayer and celebration.

Shivaratri obtains its name from the word rath which means night. So Shivaratri is observed in the evening, but puja is also performed the following morning before sunrise. All of the Caribbean temples in the New York metro area were jam packed with worshippers in a long line waiting to perform oblations to the Murthi of Lord Shiva. Devotees kept vigil all night singing praises and offering supplications to the Lord.

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