Understand the meaning of 'Raksha Bandhan' tied with threads

Priyanka Saurabh *

The festival of Rakhi does not only mean protecting the sister from others, but the brother also must protect her rights and dreams, is the sister protected in the true sense? In today's time, it has become very important to protect the responsibilities of Rakhi. If on this holy day, along with your sister, a pledge is taken to protect every girl in the world, then the purpose of this festival will be fulfilled in the true sense.

The relationship of brother and sister is above all the relationships in the world. And why not, brother and sister are the true friends of the world and guides of each other. When the sister gets married and goes to her in-laws' house and the brother leaves home for a job and goes to another city, then one realizes how precious this best relationship of brother and sister is.

How much a soldier standing on the border misses his sister and what is the condition of the sisters at such times, there are no words to describe this. This sacred bond of colorful threads has been deeply connected to our culture for centuries. This festival is a bond of precious love and emotions that commits a brother to protect not only his sister but every girl in the world.

The festival associated with the bond of mutual affinity, affection, and duty between brother and sister infuses new energy and strength in the brother-sister relationship. Sisters are eager to tie a Rakhi on their brother's wrist with great enthusiasm on this day. While this festival shows the love of a sister for her brother, it also makes the brother aware of his duties.

Raksha Bandhan is a festival of brother-sister relationship, Raksha means protection and Bandhan means bound. On the day of Raksha Bandhan, sisters pray to God for the progress of their brothers. Rakhi is generally tied by sisters to their brothers, but it is also tied by Brahmins, Gurus, and younger girls in the family to respected relatives (such as a daughter to her father).

This festival is associated with protection, which commits to protecting anyone. If on this holy day, along with your sister, a vow is taken to protect every girl in the world, then the purpose of this festival will be fulfilled in the true sense. This holy festival has its golden history, but with changing times, like other relationships, many changes have come in this too.

Modernity is dominating our values and relationships. As a result of the decline in culture, show-off has replaced strength and love in relationships. In today's changing times, modernity has started dominating this festival too, since then this tradition has been going on till today but somewhere we are losing our values.

Now the feeling of belongingness and warmth of love has started to diminish in the colorful threads. The kind of principles and sensitivity that were there about Rakhi at one time, perhaps now they have started getting eaten up by the termites of the name of money, as a result, money has started replacing love in relationships.

In such a situation, to save culture and values, there is a great need to respect Rakhi which is bound by responsibilities. Because this precious relationship of Rakhi is not just a tradition of raw threads. There is no value of love in the tradition of transactions. Rather, where there is a tradition of transactions, love cannot survive, how can unbreakable relationships be formed?

The story of Krishna and Draupadi is famous in history, in which Shri Krishna's finger was injured during the war, Draupadi tied a piece of her saree to Shri Krishna's injured finger, and in return for this favor, Shri Krishna promised to help Draupadi in any crisis.

The stories of Raksha Bandhan tell that earlier whenever the shadow of a sister trapped in danger called out to her brother, the brother would run to protect her even after fighting with every power in the world and respected her Rakhi.

It is said that Queen Karmavati of Mewar got prior information about Bahadur Shah attacking Mewar. The queen was unable to fight, so she sent a Rakhi to the Mughal emperor Humayun and begged for protection. Despite being a Muslim, Humayun upheld the honor of the Rakhi and after reaching Mewar, he fought on behalf of Mewar against Bahadur Shah and protected Karmavati and her kingdom.

When Krishna killed Shishupal with the Sudarshan Chakra, his index finger was injured. Draupadi tore her sari at that time and bandaged his finger. It was the full moon day of the month of Shravan. Krishna repaid this favor by extending her sari later at the time of her disrobing.

It is said that the feeling of mutual protection and cooperation started from here in the festival of Raksha Bandhan. Today once again the sister is challenging the limits of brotherhood, because every stage of her life is insecure, her honor and identity are being repeatedly scratched.

Despite having more intellectual talent than boys, she is denied higher education because after all she has to take care of the household. She is kept unaware of the new civilization and new culture so that she does not rebel against Indian ideals and principles. In these adverse circumstances, her abilities, rights, thoughts, and every dream of life keep on restless.

Therefore, I believe that on this most sacred festival of Rakhi, there is an important need for brothers to once again take an oath to protect and respect not only their sisters but the entire womanhood. Only then will this sacred festival of Rakhi become meaningful and the love of brother and sister will remain eternal on earth.

This festival is so widely and deeply embedded in Indian society that it has social importance, but religion, mythology, history, literature, and films are also not untouched by it. Raksha Bandhan festival has been a cultural means of social and family unity.

But now, instead of colorful threads soaked in the essence of love, silver, and gold Rakhis have replaced them. In social behavior, instead of understanding duties, it has become a matter of following customs. Instead of love and goodwill, show-off has taken the place of love. That is why, as soon as one wakes up in the morning on the day of Raksha Bandhan, everyone's status is filled with pictures and videos of Raksha Bandhan.

Now, instead of sisters, e-commerce sites take online orders and deliver Rakhis to the given address. If instead of showing off on social media, we water these relationships with the water of love in real life, then the family will always remain strong. The festival of Rakhi does not only mean protecting the sister from others, but the brother also must protect her rights and dreams, is the sister protected in the true sense?

In today's time, it has become very important to protect the responsibilities of Rakhi. On the day of Rakhi, we should not only take a pledge to protect our sister but also take a pledge to protect the honor and rights of the entire womenfolk so that the responsibilities of Rakhi can be fulfilled in a true sense. On the festival of Raksha Bandhan, we should also take a pledge to protect our country and religion.