Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Lord Ram

Lord Ram was born on the noon of January10 in the year 5114 BC. In Hindu calendar, it was the ninth day of Shukla Paksha in Chaitra month. Stunned! Well, this exact date of the birthday of Lord Rama is found in the book ‘Dating the Era of Lord Ram’ by Shri Pushkar Bhatnagar. The exact date was obtained by entering the planetary configuration at the time of the birth of Lord Ram as mentioned in the Valmiki Ramayana in Planetarium Software. Interestingly, for thousands of years Hindus have been celebrating Ram Navmi, the birthday of Lord Ram, exactly on the same time and date.

In the original Sanskrit Ramayana written by Sage Valmiki, while mentioning about the birth of Lord Ram, Valmiki had mentioned the astronomical details of the precise moment. Valmiki himself was present in the palace of Dasaratha and he mentions it thus in Bala Kanda of Ramayana.

On completion of the ritual six seasons have passed by and then in the twelfth month, on the ninth day of chaitra month when the presiding deity of ruling star of the day is Aditi, where the ruling star of day is punarvasu, the asterism is in the ascendant, and when five of the nine planets viz., Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Venus are at their highest position, when Jupiter with Moon is ascendant in Cancer, and when day is advancing, then Queen Kausalya gave birth to a son with all the divine attributes like lotus-red eyes, lengthy arms, roseate lips, voice like drumbeat, and who took birth to delight the Ikshwaku dynasty, who is adored by all the worlds, and who is the greatly blessed epitome of Vishnu, namely Rama. [1-18-8, 9, 10, 11]

When this data was entered in the Planetarium software, the day was January 10, 5114 BC. But how could Chaitra Shukla Navami occur in January? We celebrate Ram Navami in March or April. The answer to this was found in an article in Organizer.

There is an astronomical phenomenon called ‘precision’ of the sun as also of the equinoxes. According to the latter, the star which is now taken to be the Pole Star (Dhruv Tara), would yield the place to the Star Abhijit (Vega, alpha Lyrae), 14,000 years from now. So when the lunar month of Chaitra occurred seven thousand years ago in the month of January, 7000 years later, it occurs in the month of (generally) April.

Further, Valmiki had mentioned about other planetary configuration. One such was the planetary configuration when King Dashratha decided to make Lord Ram the king of Ayodhya. According to the book, such a planetary configuration was prevailing on January 5, 5089 BC. Lord Ram was then 25 years old and there are indications in the Ramayana that Lord Ram left Ayodhya when he was 25.

The solar eclipse mentioned in the Ramayana work out precisely to the Ramayana period. From an article written in 2003 in the Tribune by Saroj Bala on the book ‘Dating the Era of Lord Ram’

Valmiki Ramayana refers to the solar eclipse at the time of war with Khardushan in latter half of 13th year of Shri Ram’s living in forests. Valmiki has also mentioned that it was Amavasya that day and planet Mars was in the middle. When this data was entered, the computer software indicated that there was a solar eclipse on October 7, 5077 BC (Amavasya day) which could be seen from Panchvati. On that date, the planetary configuration was the same as has been described by Valmiki i.e. Mars was in the middle, on one side were Venus and Mercury and on the other side were Sun and Saturn. On the basis of planetary configurations described in various other chapters, the date on which Ravana was killed works out to December 4, 5076 BC. Shri Ram completed 14 years of exile on January 2, 5075 BC. That day was also Navami of Shukla Paksha in Chaitra month. Thus, Shri Ram had come back to Ayodhya when he was 39 years old (5114-5075).

To understand the book ‘Dating the Era of Lord Ram’ one needs to have some elementary knowledge of astronomy.

When we try to prove the birth of Hindu icons, it must be understood that these Hindu icons rarely bothered about birth and death. Through Sanatana Dharma they teach us to rise above birth and death. It believes that life is a continuity. And therefore it scoffs at the debates like ‘No Ram’ and ‘Yes Ram lived.’

Hindu festival dates in 2010

This is a list of important Hindu festival dates in 2010 based on various regional calendars followed in Hinduism. The same festival might be celebrated a day earlier or later in different parts of India.

January 2010

Makar Sankranti – 14th January, 2010

Pongal – 14th January, 2010

Haridwar Kumbh Mela begins on January 14, 2010

Basant Panchami – Saraswati Puja – 20th January, 2010

Ratha Saptami – 22nd January, 2010

Thaipusam – 30th January, 2010

February 2010

Shivratri – 12th February, 2010

Holi – 28th February, 2010

March 2010

Gudi Padwa – 16th March, 2010

Ugadi – 16th March, 2010

Cheti Chand - 16th March, 2010

Chaitra Navratri Begins – 16th March, 2010

Ram Navami – 24th March, 2010

Chaitra Navratri Ends – 24th March, 2010

Hanuman Jayanti – 30th March, 2010

April 2010

Tamil New Year – 14th April, 2010

Vishu Kerala – 15th April, 2010

Bengali New Year – 15th April, 2010

May 2010

Akshaya Tritiya – 16th May, 2010

Narasimha Jayanti – 26th May, 2010

June 2010

Vat Purnima – 25th June, 2010

July 2010

Puri Rath Yatra – 13th July, 2010

Guru Purnima – 25th July, 2010

August 2010

Nag Panchami – 14th August, 2010

Onam – 23rd August, 2010

Raksha Bandhan – 24th August, 2010

September 2010

Sri Krishna Jayanti – 1st September, 2010

Hartalika Tritiya – 10th September, 2010

Ganesh Chaturthi – 11th September, 2010

Rishi Panchami – 12th September, 2010

Anant Chaturdasi – 22nd September, 2010

October 2010

Navratri begins – 8th October, 2010

Lalita Panchami – 11th October, 2010

Durga Ashtami – 15th October, 2010

Mahanavami – 16th October, 2010

Dasara – 17th October, 2010

Vijaya Dasami – 17th October, 2010

Kojagari Purnima – 22nd October, 2010

Sharad Purnima – 22nd October, 2010

Karwa Chauth – 26th October, 2010

November 2010

Dhantrayodashi – 3rd November, 2010

Diwali – 5th November, 2010

Annakut – 6th November, 2010

Gujarati New Year – 7th November, 2010

Bhai Dooj – 7th November, 2010

Chhath Puja – 11th November, 2010

Tulsi Vivah – 17th November, 2010

December 2010

Gita Jayanti – 17th December, 2010

Snakes and Ladders

The game had its origin in India and was called Moksha Patam or Parama Padam or Mokshapat. It was used to teach Hinduism and Hindu values to children. The British renamed it as Snakes and Ladders.

Now, when and who created this game? Most people believe it was created by the 13th century poet saint Gyandev. There are certain references which take the game back to 2nd century BC.

The ladders represented virtues and snakes vices. In the original game square 12 was faith, 51 was Reliability, 57 was Generosity, 76 was Knowledge, and 78 was Asceticism. These were the squares were the ladder was found.

Square 41 was for Disobedience, 44 for Arrogance, 49 for Vulgarity, 52 for Theft, 58 for Lying, 62 for Drunkenness, 69 for Debt, 84 for Anger, 92 for Greed, 95 for Pride, 73 for Murder and 99 for Lust. These were the squares were the snake was found.

The Square 100 represented Nirvana or Moksha.

The British took the game to England in 1892 and named it Snakes and Ladders and changed it according to Victorian values.

Monday, December 21, 2009

WATER

Correct timing to drink water, will maximize its effectiveness on the Human body.

Two (02) glass of water - After waking up - Helps activate internal organs

One (01) glasses of water - 30 minutes before meal - Help digestion

One (01) glass of water - Before taking a bath - Helps lower blood pressure

One (01) glass of water - Before sleep - To avoid stroke or heart attack