Raksha Bandhan: History, Significance and Purpose

History of Raksha Bandhan

Deity Lakshmi tied a rakhi onto the wrist of the King Bali from hell thus making him Her brother and liberated Lord Narayan i.e. Vishnu. That day as per the Hindu lunar calendar was ‘Shravan Paurnima’.

“By tying this wristband (raksha) onto your wrist I am binding you just like the powerful and generous King Bali was bound by it. O wristband, do not get displaced.” The Bhavishya Puran states that Raksha Bandhan was basically meant for kings. A new custom of tying rakhis began from the historical ages. The sister is supposed to tie the rakhi to the brother’s wrist. The feeling behind this is that the brother should become prosperous and he should protect the sister.

A Prayer
Along with a prayer of the sister ‘for welfare of the brother’ and the brother ‘for protection of the sister’, both should pray for ‘strength to protect the nation and Dharma’.

Significance and Purpose of Raksha Bandhan
•    The brother pledges to protect the sister in every birth. To symbolise this he allows her to tie a string on his wrist. The sister complies so that he keeps his promise. Since the historical ages this custom is prevalent to keep a brother and sister in a relationship. The rakhi is a symbol of the purity of a relationship between a sister and brother.
•    Just as the brother is bound by a promise to protect the sister after getting a string tied onto his wrist, so also the sister prays to God for his protection.
•    On this day frequencies of Lord Ganesh and deity Saraswati reach the earth in greater quantities and both the siblings benefit from the custom to a greater extent.
•    When tying the rakhi the Divine Energy principle in the woman gets manifested and is transmitted to the man through the wrist. Thus he derives 2 % benefit from it for upto 5 hours.
•    The more the spiritual emotion in the sister, the more her motivation to attain God and the more the grace of the Guru upon her, the greater is the effect of her prayer unto God for her brother which results in greater spiritual progress for him.
Give-and-take account between siblings

The rakhi is tied every year to signify the reduction of give-and-take account between the siblings. In fact this is an opportunity for them to reduce the give-and-take account between them.

What should Rakhis be like?

Both the sister and brother benefit from the frequencies in a rakhi. That is precisely why one must choose a rakhi, which will preserve the God principle for longer periods instead of choosing grossly attractive ones. Otherwise the three attributes from the rakhi have an effect on the person and his attitude too becomes rajasik-tamasik, etc.
Importance of Rakhis created by Sanatan Sanstha and Hindu Janajagruti Samiti
Frequencies from the rakhis produced by Sanatan Sanstha reduce the negative energy attacking the brother and sister by 2% each. Since the feeling of love from the rakhi is transmitted into the atmosphere, the person derives benefit as per his spiritual emotion and his devotion grows. The chaitanya in the rakhi decreases the proportion of the six foes of the soul viz desire, anger, greed, lust, jealousy and envy by 2% for 5 hours. (For details visit : http://www.hindujagruti.org/hinduism/festivals/raksha-bandhan)
Stop denigration of deities occurring through the medium of the Rakhi!

Nowadays ‘Om’ or pictures of deities are seen on Rakhis. After use, the Rakhi is thrown out, so in a way it is ridicule of the religious symbol and denigration of deities, which in turn induces demerit. To avoid this immerse the Rakhis in water ! (Nimajjanam)

Also due to commercialisation of festival and lack of proper knowledge of its spiritual significance, people go far beyond in so-called creativity that compromises festival’s very purpose. Picture above depicting ‘Rakhi symbolising friendship between India and Pakistan’ is such an example. Also people use Rakhis with cartoons like Pokemon, which is not correct as per Spiritual Science.

(This year Raksha Bandhan falls on 20th August.)

Courtesy: H.H. Dr. Jayant Balaji Athavle (Founder of Sanatan Sanstha)