Surya Pongal

The second day of Pongal is Surya Pongal, named for the sun god, Lord Surya. Light is growing now with both the sun and the moon, as the moon moves towards full. Today I give attention to my blessings, and my vision for the future.

Agenda:

1. Make Pongal Paanai (Sweet Rice)

2. Recite the Surya Mantra

3. Write a mission haiku

4. Creative visualization

5. Living room blessing

1. Make Pongal Paanai (Sweet Rice):

One year, we made a rangoli on red paper on the kitchen floor.

On Surya Pongal people cook sweet rice at sunrise; the pongal pot is the main attraction- it is decorated, and set up on the kitchen floor or in the front yard, with decorations surrounding it and the cooking fire. 

Everyone watches as the rice cooks and the moment the rice bubbles out of the clay pot, someone rings a bell, and everyone shouts "Pongalo-o-o-o Pongal!" The boiling over symbolizes good luck and prosperity for the family. The Pongal rice is central to this holiday. You can make the rice on the stove in the usual manner, but if at all possible, try to experience the "overflowing" that gives Pongal its name. 

These photos are from a few years ago, when my art class observed the Pongal ceremony with great anticipation. In addition to the food ingredients, you will need a bell and / or a conch shell. For a longer explanation see this site.

Ingredients:

• 1 c. water
• 2 c. milk
• 1 c. white Basmati rice
• 1/4-c. moong dal (yellow lentils) 
• 1/4 c. dark brown sugar
• 2 tsp. molasses
• 1/2 c. water
  
• 1/2 tsp. cardamom powder

1- Wash the rice and moong dal. Put water, milk, rice and moong dal into a pot and begin to simmer. 

Waiting for the rice to boil over, so we can ring bells!

We set up a hot plate on the floor, and that's where we cooked our rice.

2- Heat to a rolling boil, stirring occasionally. Watch carefully: As it rises up to boil over, allow it to slightly overflow, ring a bell and yell “Pongal-o-o-o pongal!”

The overflowing of the rice symbolizes good luck and prosperity.

3- Reduce the heat and continue to cook, stirring frequently, until thick and soft.

 


4- Meanwhile, in another pot, melt brown sugar, molasses, and 1/2 c. water. Bring to a rolling boil, reduce the heat, and simmer for about 5 minutes. Turn off the heat. Let the syrup cool a bit- it should be very sticky.

Just about ready to eat now.

5-  Add the syrup to the cooked rice-dal. Stir in cardamom. Simmer on medium, stirring constantly, until the whole mixture comes together into a sticky, gooey mass. Turn off the heat and let it sit for 10 minutes, covered. It will thicken further as it cools.

6 -  To serve, mound into bowls and sprinkle with roasted cashews.

2. Recite the Surya Mantra:

Om Hrim Sum Suryaya Namaha

(pronounced "Om Hreem Soom Soor-yah-yah Nahm-ah-ha")

which means: “Om and salutations to Surya (the sun), bringer of clarity and dispeller of darkness”.

3. Write a Mission Haiku:

Today, as the moon turns towards full, I'm thinking again about my top missions - those most important themes, actions, or transformations that I'm moving towards now.

I find it useful and fun to write my missions as haiku. A poem has a unique ability of getting to the core of a Truth. You might be surprised by what surfaces in this process, so give it a try!

1. Start by ranking your missions in life: If you discovered today that you had just six months to live, what would you focus on? How would you rank your goals, themes, or explorations  by priority so that they would be accomplished before you die? 

2. Which mission has risen or is rising to the top right now? (If it's something new and vague, you don't have to commit to it just yet, but go ahead and explore it.) Write a brief, evocative sentence or two describing this top mission in life, and the significant issues that surround it. Mine is:

Paint urban landscapes that are evocative of the seasons and the land I live on (my garden, neighborhood, city, and valley), and express my love of Creation and the earth. Go out to the studio to paint (or dream of painting), with regularity and tenacity.

3. List the most exciting or pleasing verbs that describe what you want to do with this mission.

Express, create, explore, play, delight, inspire...

4. Next, list some of your core values that go with your top mission.

Integrity, Creativity, Purpose, Discernment, Witness, Unity with Nature

5. Turn these sentences, verbs, and values into a haiku, an unrhymed poetic form consisting of 17 syllables arranged in three lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables respectively (or you could try a Cinquain, which is five lines, with 2, 4, 6, 8, and 2 syllables), that gets to the core of your mission, and gives you a framework for your actions.

Paint the winter-scape

quilt of earth, green, sky, bird, rain;

sadness and delight.

4. Creative visualization:

As light grows towards the yin time of the full moon, I call on the practice of visualization to help bring my ideas to fruition. Visualization is a scientifically proven technique for performance improvement, based on the idea that "seeing is believing". It also helps with relaxation and self-confidence. It works because brain neurons interpret imagery as equivalent to reality. Visualization creates new neural pathways, just like a memory or a learned behavior.

Today I choose my top three action goals to shine a light on: My teaching, my painting, and my writing practice.

Creative visualization has three steps:

• First, I center and relax each part of my body. Then I open a connection to the Spirit of Love by softening my heart (something like feeling vulnerable), and sending my attention outward as far as I can.

• Secondly, I create a clear, detailed picture in my mind of each of my action goals, as though the objective has been reached. I paint a vivid mental image of exactly how my painting might look and how it will feel to paint it, and I put as much positive energy into the image as possible.

• Lastly, I affirm that this is what I want with a short positive phrase in the present tense; for example, "My new painting expresses my thoughts and feelings about the land I live on, and painting it brings me joy and contentment."

This thought-image is like a signal-flare that guides the physical thing or deed to manifest in my life - or maybe it's just a good way to keep my intentions clear in my mind!

5. Living room blessing:

Last week I started my annual house blessing in the kitchen, and this week I've moved into our living room. My own understanding of a house blessing is that the act of cleaning itself is a blessing on the house, and that sitting in a newly cleaned room is a good way to remember that we are each blessed, always and forever.

But I love a good ritual! My custom is to bless each room this month, first by cleaning it, then with a ritual, and then by remembering the blessings of life.

I've done the physical cleaning of the floor, furniture, mold, and windows, and I've tidied the shelves. But my house also holds emotional "dirt" that needs clearing, lingering psychic odors of angry words and melancholy thoughts, and the bad vibes of political debate heard on the tv.

For a simple house cleansing ritual, I use a twofold approach: Salt water and sage smoke.

Sea salt is an ingredient used in Christian holy water, and also in water used by Pagans for cleansing and blessing. I keep a small bottle of water with dissolved sea salt for this purpose. Sprinkling salt water is known as asperging. Salt water covers the elements of earth and water.  

 

Sage smoke is tied to the element of fire and air, and will scatter away negative vibes to the winds. I use the Old World culinary sage that my ancestor shamans may have used, and which I grow in my garden. I dry it in the fall and wrap it together with sewing thread.

1. Set the intention to clear out bad energy and invite in blessings.

2. Light a candle, and from that ignite the sage. Once it catches, blow it out so that it smolders.

3. Walk around the room and waft the smoke into every corner. As you walk, think about the intentions you set.

4. Pour a little salt water into a small bowl, dip your fingers in and lightly sprinkle it as you walk around the room a second time.

After the ritual, I'll sit quietly with the lit candle, and savor the blessing of a clean living room.