On Mother’s Day, Indian-Americans celebrate birth of Goddess Sita at Hindu Mandir Lake County, Illinois

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The Hindu Mandir of Lake County, Grayslake, IL, celebrated Sita/Janaki Navami or Sita Janma Utsav (the birthday celebration of Goddess Sita), one of the central figures in Ramayan.

It fortuitously coincided with the celebration of Mother’s Day, on Sunday, May 12. Hundreds of Hindu devotees visited the temple from 4:00pm to 6:00pm to celebrate together.

The Hindu Mandir which celebrates all the Hindu festivals according to Vedic scriptures, makes a special effort to involve the younger generation in the celebrations with the goal of continuing the culture and tradition of the community.

Temple priests performed the rituals including the Sankalpam and chanting of Vedic Mantra, the Abhishekam of the Sita Ma, the daughter of Janaka, the king of Mithila with all the female deities of the temple.

Babies symbolizing the young Sita were welcomed into the shrine by the temple priests with all the Vedic rituals and the shouting of Jai Sita Mata slogans by the devotees and young children.

Pundit Joshi delivered a discourse on the significance of Sita Navami.

Bhajans were sung by Rita PatelAthul Soni, and Kamlesh Desai, Sringar Darshan and Arati were performed,

This was followed by the Mother’s Day celebrations in a typical Hindu way with all the Vedic rituals. In the first round, all the Grandmas were revered by washing and wiping of their feet, offering of flowers, tilak, blessed chunni, gifts, and salutations to their feet by the young children. In the second round, all the mothers were also venerated in the same way by the children.

At the end of the ceremonies, Pundit Joshi thanked and blessed all the children, grandparents and parents and all other devotees for their active participation, wishing them a successful life. All the devotees were served Maha Prasadam prepared by Neelkanth Anand and his team.