More remains the same!

Chhath Pooja Malaysia 2025

Every living day is a learning experience. Learnt something new again today that just shoots down the arbitrary cultural divide between the northern and southern regions of India. 

I have known about Kantha Sashti my entire life. Just like how Deepavali/Diwali is celebrated to remind us of the eternal victory of good over evil, whether it is Rama and his entourage's return to Ayodhyā or to fete Krishna's slaying of the demon king, Narasvara, Kantha Sashti is observed to remind us of Skanda's preparation, strategisation and subsequent defeating the demon Surapatman. It is celebrated after Deepavali, in the month of Aipasi/Karthik corresponding to October/November in the Gregorian calendar, usually within the week of Deepavali. The fast lasts six days, usually starting on or a day after Deepavali and ending on the sixth day of the waning moon.

Now, I have discovered that this sixth day of the waning phase of the month is also an important day for Hindus across Bihar, Jharkhand, the eastern part of Uttar Pradesh, and parts of Nepal. It is the day to pay respects to Surya, the Sun God and Chhata Maiya, the sixth form of Prakriti, the primary substance of anything. (Contrasted to Purusha, which is awareness). In the regions mentioned above, this Pooja holds an even more significant part in the hearts of Hindus than Diwali. 

Lord Murugan @ Skanda

Chhath Pooja involves a gruelling fast, which requires abstaining from food and water from dusk on the fourth day of the month through to dawn on the sixth, for at least 36 hours. Some push the limit by having food restrictions even before the finale.

There seems to be a particular fixation with the number six and the Sun God in both these celebrations, even though they are celebrated in regions quite poles apart. The climax of both celebrations is on the sixth day. Lord Muruga was born as six babies to be nursed by six Krittikas, celestial nursemaids.

Now, Chhath is called Chhath (six in Sanskrit) because it refers to the sixth day of the waning moon. Sashthi in Skanda Sashthi refers to the same number six as an aberration of Chhat.

Just as Chhath Puja is a celebration to show homage to the Sun for its innumerable contributions to life on Earth, Skanda Sashti has its connections to the Sun too. The seed of life that emanated from Shiva was so powerful that it had to be transported by Agni, the Fire God, a representation of the Sun God himself. This powerful flash of life split into six babies, to be cared for by six Krittikas, the cluster of stars corresponding to the Pleiades in Western astronomy. In Hindu astrology, the Krittikas are ruled by the Sun. 

The more we try to say we are different, the more we realise we are all the same. One fasts up North to show gratitude to Nature, and another down South to prepare oneself to face the contemporary challenges of the world. Coincidentally, both celebrations happen on the sixth day of the waning moon just after Deepavali. It must be more than a sheer coincidence!

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Just another day?

The Sun rears its orangey hue over the horizon. Yet another new day dawns. The Sun does not know it is starting a new horizon. It performs its preordained duty, firing nuclear fusion reactions on its surface. It is the round Earth that revolves around the Sun. The Earth does not know a new day has begun. It just revolves counterclockwise on its axis. It has multiple new dawns at its manufactured latitudes. It neither knows where it started nor its point of reference. A series of celestial accidents brought it to be with its speed and its faithful lunar companion.

https://borderlessjournal.com/2025/02/14/just-another-day-2/

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

I am Margazhi among months!

When I was young, I was taught that the Tamil month of Margazhi (Dhanur Maas, Margashira) in mid-December was inauspicious. That was why weddings were not held in Margazhi but in the month preceding, Kaarthikai and the month following, Thai. In fact, the adage 'தை பிறந்தால் வழி பிறக்கும்' (ways open up when the month Thai is born), convinced us that good things only happen in Thai - Thaipusam and Thai Ponggal. Thaipusam celebrations are to venerate Lord Murugan for defeating the demon king, Padmasooran. Ponggal is a harvest festival to appreciate Nature's interplay that sustains us.

Then I heard a Kannadasan song composition classic from the movie 'Paava Manippu' (பாவமன்னிப்பு) named 'Kaalangil Aval Vasantham' (காலங்களில் அவள் வசந்தம்). In that song, the hero describes all his beau's excellent traits. If she were a flower, she would be jasmine; if she were a bird, she would be a dove and so on. He goes on to say if she were the month in the calendar, she would be Margazhi. Then it struck me. Perhaps Margazhi was a cold month, perfect to describe the lover, but it was inconvenient to come to attend relatives' weddings. I was happy with that explanation. For the same reason, delivery in August was not preferable as it was the height of summer. With the heat and all, puerperal sepsis must have been a real problem.

Now, I am hearing new things, which gives a big jolt to my contentment thus far.

Krishna declared Margazhi a special month. In fact, he described himself as Margazhi among months (Masanam Margasirso hum). So, it was not a figment of the Great Poet Kannadasan's imagination. It is in Margazhi that the Sun begins to move northward. When one looks at the direction of the Sun, one is looking at the direction of the Galaxy's centre. It is a special time for prayers. Early mornings in this month are ideal for spiritual practices. Shaivites and Vaishvanites have recitals of their scriptures. On the 11th day of the growing moon, Vaikunda Ekathasi is celebrated. It is believed that one of the doors to Vishnu's abode, Vaikundam, is open for serious Vishnu worshippers.

With so much going on in this auspicious month, waking up early to uplift mind and knowledge, there is no time for worldly duties like officiating weddings.

Milky Way Galaxy with our Sun in the Orion Arm – the Local Arm

https://bharathgyanblog.wordpress.com/2024/12/08/why-does-sri-krishna-refer-to-himself-as-margashira-month/

Kaalangalil Aval Vasantham

(the part about Margazhi is Bhagavad Gita derived,

not Kannadasan's imagination)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Not our crowning glory

COVID-19?
jumping species or wannabe predator??

Is it funny that every time Man thinks that he has it all figured out, Nature (or fate if you like to call it) just jolts him back to reality? Like Will E Coyote and his spanking new latest invention from ACME Corporation, it just falls flat and blows right on his face again and again, and Roadrunner always goes scot-free, scooting off yet again, screeching "beep..beeep!" 

The latest viral scare of COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease 2019) just opens up our vulnerability. All the so-called foolproof systems that we had installed are just scribblings on the sand - they cannot withstand the test of time. And they are so porous. We thought we had all the arsenal that could not only not annihilate our enemies but ourselves in the process too. All these are useless in combating our electron-microscopic size enemy. We are literally crippled by an unseen offending foe. All the King's horses and the King's men cannot put our peace of mind together at least for now. 

In the 1990s, our leaders were hellbent on embracing globalisation. They argued that we were heading to a borderless world where physical borders were an illusion. Commerce transcended boundaries, and we should welcome it with open arms. No one could live in isolation. Now, see what is happening. Countries are scurrying to close the borders as not only diseases spread like wildfire, refugees who bungled up their own nation are clawing through the immigration gates displaying their victim card. Many have opted for self-isolation to keep their people safe.

Over-dependence on particular countries for supplies and over-concentration of the supply chain from a specific region has not been a smart move after all. It looks like when China sneezes, the whole world may get pneumonia.

The democratisation of flying made travelling no more an activity of the bourgeois. Now, everyone could fly. With it came secondary industries and opening of new regions and tourists attractions. Unfortunately, the concept of open skies also opened the Pandora box of international subversive activities and seamless flow of problems. At the time of writing the tagline of one of the most popular low-cost airlines has changed from 'Everyone can Fly' to 'No one wants to Fly' or 'Nowhere to Fly'.

We thought the world wide web of interconnectivity was going to transform the world into a utopia of a knowledge-based society,  well-informed consumers and broad-thinking creative communities. How naive we were. What we have are fake news of questionable authenticity and a band of fist thumping keyboard warriors who type away their hate speeches under the cloak of anonymity without a thought of the effects of their actions. 

Generations before us grew up without any exchange of physical touch or public display of affection. In some societies, physical touch between unmarriageable kins was frowned upon. With open-mindedness, bodily contacts by handshakes, hugging and pecking became the norm. Come SARS, MERS-CoV and now COVID-19, and we are back to our traditional ways of salutations - bowing and placing of own palms together; fear of transmission of pathogens.

Just a thought...

The mighty Chinese armada used to travel to the four corners of the globe. They are said to have 'discovered' the Americas even before Columbus' alternate route to India. But then everything stopped. The Ming Dynasty decided to opt for a closed-door policy of the world. Even the Japanese kingdoms underwent a similar transformation. Was the spread of disease the reason for this move?

(Nerd Alert: Corona is Latin for Crown. Corona also refers to the gaseous accumulation around the Sun (which looks like a crown enveloping the Sun), mainly around its equator. Did you know that there is a field of study dedicated to studying the Sun called Solar Science (Helioseismology)? The suffix 'seismology' is used here because Solar Scientists principally study it via the oscillations of sound waves (?Om - ௐ, ॐ etc.) that are continuously driven and damped by convection near the Sun's surface. One of the puzzling thing about the Sun is that the Corona is hotter than the Sun surface by a factor of 150 to 400. The Corona can reach temperatures of 1 to 3 million Kelvin.)