Time (correction)

[Guest guest]

Dear BhagavathAs,

 

On SankarAnthi day we keep pongal at a particular time. Since all these

festivals (sankarAnthi, diwali, upAkarma et al) are unique to India only,

the keeping

up of auspicious time also very important in all these occasions for

performing spcecific rituals. Now going by our Earth's rotation, how do

you perform these auspicious activities in time with Indian time. Asper

Indian time it would be nearly 2 to 16 hours difference in other parts of

the world. Obviously either it would be either too early or too late as

compared to Indian time for such celebrations. For e.g. In Australia,

though the sun enters to Makara (journey towards northern direction) earlier

than Indian time, only the entry asper Indian time is celebrated as

Utharayana punkakAlam (Makara SankarAnthi). For the US it is too late

almost a day later). Same is the case for almost all festivals. So other

than symbolic celebration, in my opinion no real significance has been

attached for

celebration in places other than India.

 

Giving another example, even within India auspicious time for all functions

is calculated with respect to

the sun rise of the day. Even start of the RAghu Kal and Yama Kanta time is

based on sun-rise on a particuar

day. So asper Indian calender anything with respect to time is purely based

on sun rise on this land. When we Indians are so conscious

of time (esp for auspicious occasions) how a larger difference in time

elsewhere for

auspicious occasions can be accepted. Astrological time based on

longitudes and latitudes may provide accurate information for an horoscope.

But how to achieve the real benefits in other situations like

festivals/functions performed in places other than India.

 

In my opinion, all NRIs (living abroad) definitely miss the values and

benefits as we have in India (the indian way of living) and trying to

adjust with a country specific time (celebration sake) may not yield that

much significance associated with festivals/functions.

And in many circumstances including in the indian context, there is a

feeling that neither one is able to follow the rituals strictly nor able to

leave it

completely, probably for want of proper guidance.

Such is our way of life.

 

Adiyen posted this for want of scholarly opinion though this topic may not

be directly relevance to Bhakti topics.

 

My earlier mail in this topic was abrutply sent and sorry for the same.

Adiyen look forward to correct in my observations if I am wrong.

 

 

Namo Narayana

 

 

Adiyen

K Balaji

Bangalore