Today's Pournima has contact with Chitra and Swati stars and no contact whatsoever

with Visakha star. Yet, people take this as Vaisakha Pournima (instead of Chaitra
Pournima). People of this deep Kali yuga have polluted definitions and ended up
with a system that is neither here nor there, i.e. neither truly star based nor
season based!

* * *

As per today's popular definition, 12 lunar months start with Sun-Moon conjunction
in 12 *sidereal* signs, starting from Pisces (instead of Aries). If this same
definition was used 12,000 years back, Chaitra month would come in autumn (instead
of spring)!!

* * *

As per the original definition of rishis, 12 lunar months start with Sun-Moon
conjunction in 12 *tropical* signs (starting from *Aries*, of course).

With this, stars at New/Full Moon are not fixed and slowly shift along the zodiac.
However, the first month will always come in Spring.

The first month (called Madhu maasam originally and also as Chaitra maasam in later
revisions) would come in spring, even if you go back thousands or millions of
years!

After all, first month always starts with the first New Moon after Spring equinox.
So it is guaranteed to be in spring.

BTW, 4 important navaratris start from the New Moon following Spring equinox
(Vasanta navaratris), summer solstice (Vaaraahi/Gupta navaratris), autumn equinox
(Saarada Navaratris) and winter solstice (Saakambhari/Gupta navaratris).

* * *

But, the definition people ended up with these days is neither faithful to seasons
nor always to stars. For example, a Pournima that coincides with Chitra & Swati
stars today is taken as Vaisakha Pournima.

Both the mis-alignment with seasons and the occasional mis-alignment with stars,
will get much worse after 1,000 years!

[Facebook reminded of a nice writing from the past]

Some people believe that mantras have an inherent power and make things happen
magically. Though there is some truth to it, it is not entirely accurate.

Mantra literally means "that which shields/protects mind". There are 3 types of
benefits from mantras: (1) Mental discipline, (2) Material results, (3) Spiritual
progress. Let us look at how each comes.

As repeating mantras with some level of focus engages the mind and protects it from
harmful activity, it is clearly a tool for disciplining the mind and channeling
mind's abilities and powers.

* * *

Repeating different mantras creates different vibrations in mind. Normally mind

vibrates with thousands of thoughts in addition to the mantra one is chanting.
Though vibration of a mantra may not completely eliminate other vibrations, it will
dominate them after some practice.

As that happens for a sufficient duration, the power of that mind gets channeled
through that vibration. That may bring some material results.

It must be remembered though that the power is in the mind and not the mantra.
Mantra just channelizes that power.

Suppose a chaotically flowing river floods surrounding villages often. Suppose we

construct a dam and hold that water in a big reservoir. It avoids the flood and
allows us to use the water better. Mind is like a chaotic river and mantra is like
the dam!!

Of course, the dam has to be strong enough. Similarly, one has to be do enough
sadhana to generate force needed to channel the power of a mind.

* * *

Will mantras give material results or spiritual results?

It depends on the mind that is doing the mantra. Even if someone pretends to
oneself that one only wants "spiritual progress", there may be some material
desires hidden in the layers of mind. Then mind will work on fulfilling them.

As the power of a mind gets channeled, mind tries to fulfill its desires. But then,
world is filled with many minds with many desires. And each desire has a different
force behind it, determined by the intensity of the desire and how well the power
of the desiring mind is channeled. Depending on the balance between various forces,
some of one's desires may be fulfilled.

* * *

As one makes more and more spiritual progress, overcomes desires (not at the level
of external pretension, but at the level of inner reality!) and develops surrender
to Lord, one's mind becomes more stable. Things that normally excite, irritate,
repel and scare one do not shake that mind that much. Such a stable mind catches
the vibrations of mantras better.

Such a mind has a lot of power to fulfill any desires, but ironically it has far
fewer desires than us. This is a stabilizing negative feedback loop that Nature has
created - it makes it easier for one with very few desires to fulfill them!

* * *

How important are rules and technicalities, when it comes to fulfilling material
results?

After all, using the dam analogy above, dam needs to be constructed well and water
needs to be taken from the reservoir efficiently. Similarly, many rules were
designed to maximize the ability of a mind to channel its power.

Various deities are personifications of different powers of mind. Though they are
all essentially Brahman, Brahman manifesting as different deities and beings has
different agendas, likes and dislikes. That cannot be ignored. Thus, there are some
rules designed to maximize the ability of a mind to tap into any of its powers.

However, our understanding of the purpose/essence of rules is mostly corrupted. So

most of us end up following the letter and not the spirit.

If one has a guru or mentor that one has faith in, one may follow the rules set by
him, whether or not they make sense. Even otherwise, it is better to follow rules
as far as possible, instead of taking a chance or letting guilt or apprehension
distract the mind.

Though all rules can eventually be transcended, that has to be happen through
sattwa and not through the tamas of laziness.

* * *

If one has a desire, it is better to accept it and work towards fulfilling it even
while trying to genuinely (not just for pretension) overcome the desire by
surrendering to Lord or at least transform it into something less self-centered and
more expansive. One can make progress through a combination of honesty, sense of
purpose and unshakable clarity about the end goal.

Sun brings about time and stars bring about our destiny. Accordingly, rishis and
siddhantas referred to 2 zoadics - Nirayana (sidereal) and Saayana (tropical).
Saayana chakra is w.r.t. Sun and nirayana chakra is w.r.t. stars (Sun along with
the entire solar system moves around stars over time).

In saayana chakra, Sun enters Mesha on spring equinox day (equal day and night) and
enters Makara on the shortest day in winter (solstice). It determines time cycles
and calendar.

Nirayana chakra is w.r.t. stars, i.e. Mesha contains specific stars, Makara
contains specific stars etc.

Saayana chakra is to be used for reckoning calendar and determining years, ayanas,
ritus etc (Sun is "ritukartaa"). Nirayana chakra is for casting horoscope and
seeing destiny from it.

* * *

These 2 chakras are constantly moving relative to each other and coincide once
every 24,000 years (approx). Rishis knew of both and taught both.

But, unfortunately, we are living in Kali yuga anc corruptions crept into how
people practice the teachings of rishis! :-(

In the west, they use saayana for both charts and calendar. In India, we are now
using nirayana for both charts and calendar. Neither is fully correct.

We must use nirayana chakra for casting horoscopes (destiny) and saayana chakra for
reckoning calendar. Parasara Maharshi was extremely clear when teaching solar and
lunar calendars to Maitreya in "Vishnu Purana", but corruptions persist. He
specifically referred to Sun's entry in some signs occurring on the shortest or
longest day, making it clear that he was referring to Sun's transit through
tropical signs.

* * *

Any intelligent person should wonder why on earth new lunar years are currently
started with Sun-Moon conjunction in *Pisces*. Why not Aries, the first sign?
It was originally supposed to be *tropical* Aries (first sign of zodiac!). That
would always be in *spring*. In other words, first new Moon after spring equinox
starts a new lunar year.

However, we mistakenly use sidereal Pisces instead of tropical Aries now-a-days.

This is a corruption, though it aligns correctly 75% times.

As years pass, this definition will move the start of year from spring to summer,
then to autumn, then to winter! I am sure someone will change "sidereal Pisces" to
"sidereal Aquarius" after a couple of millennia and to "sidereal Capricorn" after
couple more millennia, etc, so that it remains around spring.

Instead, we can just follow Parasara's teaching and use tropical Aries always. :-)

Then and only then will you get correct calculations as meant by rishis.

Uttarayana starts today, though many in India will celebrate it after 24 days. It
literally means "northern travel". One can actually see in the sky that Sun reached
his southernmost point and will slowly move towards north from now on! He will
reach his northernmost point around June 21 and will start his southern travel
(dakshinayana).

Maharshi Parasara referred to Sun's entry into Makara (Capricorn) and Karka
(Cancer) in "Vishnu Purana", when defining lunar year, ayanas and ritus to his
disciple Maitreya. Sun's entry into Makara starts Uttarayana. Parasara clearly said
that day is the shortest and longest when Sun enters Makara and Karkataka
respectively. He defined calendar w.r.t. those events.

If we use sidereal signs, day is NOT the shortest/longest when Sun enters
Makaraka/Karka (Jan 14 and July 14). That is true only for tropical signs (Dec 21
and June 21).

* * *

Sidereal signs are to be used ONLY for casting charts. For reckoning TIME and
calendar, tropical signs MUST be used. Parasara was clear.

Unfortunately, Kali yuga scholars replaced tropical signs with sidereal signs
everywhere. As Kali deepened, that definition became commonplace. Now, people will
celebrate "Makara Sankranti" and "Uttarayana" on Jan 14. That reduces the meaning
of the word "uttarayana" to a joke! :-( Sun starts physically moving towards north
today and not on Jan 14.

* * *

If anybody uses a long sankalpa for rituals and mentions ayana, I strongly
recommend saying "uttarayana" from today. Don't wait till Jan 14.

Though I am in a very small minority today, I am 100% (not 99.99999999%!!!) sure

that mainstream opinion is wrong on this topic.

* * *

Some scholars have suggested that sidereal and tropical signs coincided at
Parasara's time and hence he mistakenly referred to an attribute of tropical signs
(shortest/longest day), though he meant sidereal signs.
First of all, these people falsely date Parasara to a few centuries after Christ.
Parasara, father of Veda Vyasa, lived around 3000 BC and sidereal and tropical
signs did NOT coincide then.

Secondly, Parasara's works (e.g. Brihat Parasara Hora Sastram) demonstrate that he
was of a much much higher intellectual caliber than scholars of the last 2
millennia (such as Varahamihira, Kalyana Verma, Neelakantha etc). Rishis like him
use words carefully. To say that he got confused between sidereal and tropical
signs, as both coincided at his time, is an insult to his intelligence.