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Time (correction)

From the Bhakti List Archives

K Balaji • January 16, 2001 


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




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