5th May 2011
Axaya Tritiya

Adorable Soul and Blessed Self,

The third day of the ascending cycle of the moon before Gautama Buddha’s birthday on the full moon (this time on May 16th) is considered a special day in the Vedic soli-lunar calendar. This day is revered in Sanskrit as the Axaya Tritiya or literally the “imperishable third” coinciding with an exalted position of the moon in constellation Taurus on Rohini Naxatra (lunar asterism).

This day has a special significance in Himalaya, so much so that virtually all major pilgrimage sites and temples in the mountainous terrain reopen to the pilgrims after the harsh winter. Sanskrit verses of immense historical significance are said to have been composed and written on this day.

There is something ‘immortal’ about the day which is etched in the tradition for those who track the actual positions of the heavenly bodies of the solar system in accordance to the Vedic soli-lunar calendar. Besides scriptural events and lore that relate to this day, Axaya Tritiya heralds a new beginning and is very meaningful for starting affirmations, deeper meditation practices, offering charity and special projects.

The spiritual philosophy tradition takes this day to remind that bliss is more natural and internal than pleasure. And the opposite of pain is not pleasure but the absence of pain. Experience of pleasure and pain can be avoided by discarding worldliness. It is the worldliness which is responsible for all miseries. Pleasure gathered from the world makes one indebted to the world, and hence there is the memory of worldliness. Contrarily bliss feels immortal and momentous, and is bereft of the cycle of pleasure, pain and stupor. Bliss is in the state of repose and is indeed ‘imperishable’.

The very changing nature of things yields to pain from pleasure and then to numbness due to the mutations at every step of evolution. Pleasure is derived from attachment and misery arises therefrom resulting in aversion from the attendant pain. Then there is the ultimate misery lurking in the future after deriving pleasure. Any hatred from aversion clouds the present. And the past is replete with memory of sorrow! It then adds up to misery from all three aspects, and therefore it is this pain which is yet to come that is to be discarded. Past suffering cannot be avoided because it has taken place. Present suffering cannot be easily forsaken the very next moment, but the future can be charted hopefully without pain and filled with love, Godly love.

Healthful and mindful living through principles of wellness and wellbeing can bring about a mature lifestyle thus providing the inner strength to discard the future misery. Otherwise God-centered living has always proven to be filled with love that mollifies suffering. Axaya Tritiya is that special day which is ripe for the resolution to embrace the way of bliss. While God is beheld as abounding, it is godliness that is a rarity. Godliness can replace worldliness from this day!  

With my abounding holy blessings,

Swami Vidyadhishananda