God made religion so that people can live in harmony and attain inner peace. People derived rituals out of the religions as per their interests and choice. And, the crowd followed these rituals blindly.

One of the examples of blindly followed ritual is ‘buy gold on Akshay Tritiya’ without knowing what the day is all about.

Akshay Tritiya is one of the most auspicious days to perform all the good karmas– donation, yagya, fast etc. It is also considered a favorable occasion to start any new business, work, relationship on this day.

According to the legends, myths and writings in the ancient texts, on Akshay Tritiya…

• Ved Vyasa started dictating the epic Mahabharata to Lord Ganesha.
• First of the four yugas, Satya Yuga began.
• River Ganges descended to the earth from the heaven.
• Goddess Annapoorna devi was born.
• Kubera received his wealth and position by worshipping lord Shiva.
• Sudama visited Lord Krishna.
• Dushasana, Duryodhana’s brother attempts Draupadi’s Cheer-Haran.
• It is the birthday of the sage Parashurama, the sixth avatar (incarnation) of god Vishnu.
• Lord Rishabhdev ended his yearlong fast (undertook without water) with sugarcane juice.

Mahabharata was written to remember that dharma (it is NOT about perceived definition of religion here) is supreme. Ganga descended the earth for the wellbeing of humans. Annapoorna, the goddess of food, took birth to save the world from hunger. Kubera worshiped the destroyer to attain wealth and prosperity. Krishna and Sudama defined friendship. The life of Sage Parshurama has many things to teach. He was also a mentor to Dronacharya and Karna. Draupdi’s case taught all men how not to behave. King Rishabhdev denounced material world and after the tapasya, preached the world to live in harmony with nature.

What we learned from this? ‘Let’s buy gold on Akshay Tritiya. It’ll stay with us forever!!’

The day to remember the maker, the day to perform good deeds, the day to make others happy, the day to celebrate friendship, the day to respect the teachers, the day to respect women, the day to donate to the needy, the day to take steps to save the environment has unfortunately become a day to accumulate wealth.