Brahma-Muhurta

[Guest guest]

> > As far as calculating muhurtas is concerned, please note that it is not

> > always 48 minutes -- more precisely it is 1/15th of the time between

> > sunset and sunrise, so it varies every day. If you want to have the

> > exact time, you should consider this.

>

> Thank you for this additional info Adipurusa Prabhu. It is quite

> important. What is the reference for this statement? Can Jaya Tirtha

> Charan Prabhu confirm that this is true?

>

> If we consider like this each Muhurta in the day comes to around 52

> minutes for Aug 1 in Mumbai for eg instead of 48 minutes. But what happens

> to each muhurta in the night from sunset to sunrise, does that decrease in

> duration?

>

> Sunrise Sunset

> Aug 01,02 6:15 7:14

>

> Daso'smi, Tridandi Bhikshu Bhaktiratna Sadhu.

 

 

A day is divided into 60 Ghatikas each of 24 minutes. A Ghatika is also

called a Nadika or Danda. 2 Ghatika = 1 Muhurta = 48 minutes.

 

A Ghatika is a fixed length of time. In ancient times it was measured by the

use of a clypsedra -- water clock. A container of fixed volume has a hole

made in it of a certain fixed diameter. This is described in SB 3.11 and

also astronomical texts. The amount of time it takes the water to leave the

container is fixed as a Ghatika, ie. 24 minutes.

 

While it is true that for some types of calculations a fraction of the total

day time or night time is used. However, ultimately there must be a fixed

time measure which even this continually changing relative time must be

measured in. By that I mean how long will 1/15 of a day be? What will the

unit of measurement be? Whatever unit that is it must be fixed otherwise it

will lead to absurd situations.

 

Fractions of a day or night are used in astrological calculations for

example ascertaing the position of Mandi. This is a specialized use. For

calendric puproses fixed units of time are to be used.

 

I am aware that the present VCAL program uses relative Muhurtas but that is

not how I designed it. This was put in later and over my protest by the

Calendar committee. To change a fixed length of time to a continually

changing and relative length is absurd imho. That would be like saying today

1 hour = X and next week 1 hour = 2X.

 

yhs

Shyamasundara Dasa

 

www.ShyamasundaraDasa.com