January 2008

           Makara Sankranthi, January 15th 2008                

Makar Sankranti is the day when the glorious Sun-God begins its ascendancy and entry into the Northern Hemisphere. Sun - the manifest God, who symbolizes, the one, non-dual, self-effulgent, glorious divinity blessing one & all tirelessly. Sun is the one who transcends time and also the one who rotates the proverbial Wheel of Time. Sun not only represents God but also stands for an embodiment of knowledge & wisdom. Just as the sun embarks on his northward journey, Sankranthi is the day on which the intellect should be turned towards the Atma for Self-realisation, and it is time when the inward journey towards a pure heart should be made.

Sankranthi, signifying light, also gives the message of intellectual illumination. It is the capacity to discriminate between the right and the wrong, the just and the unjust, truth and falsehood, virtue and vice. It is this discriminative wisdom - Viveka - which leads the individual on the path of human evolution and human happiness. Mere dry reasoning power devoid of this insight will be like the charging of a wild horse without the stirrup and the rider.

The Uttarayana punyakala or the Makara Sankranthi is a holy occasion to pray to the Lord : Asatho maa sath Gamaya (lead me from unreal to real); Tamaso maa jyothi Gamaya (lead me from darkness into the Light); Murthyor maa Amritham Gamaya(Lead me from death to Immortality). When the sun moves northward that is God-ward, the Intelligence too must pursue Godward. That is the significance of Uttarayana.

The Sankranthi festival should be regarded as the day on which man turns his vision towards God. Man's life may be compared to a stalk of sugarcane. Like the cane, which is hard and has many knots, life is full of difficulties. But these difficulties have to be over come to enjoy the bliss of the Divine, just as the sugarcane has to be crushed and its juice converted to Jaggery to enjoy the permanent sweetness of Jaggery. Enduring bliss can be got only by over-coming the trials and tribulations.

Thus Sankranthi is intended to bring about various changes in man's attitude, so that he may sanctify his life. It is a festival for the entire mankind. Its message has a meaning for every one in the world. It has a message for people of all castes, creeds and countries.

Swamiji has conveyed His divine Blessings to all on the ocassion of Sankranthi and said that the mind should be filled with good and pure thoughts and should reach the highest state, there by progressing from humanity to divinity and working for the welfare of the society and the world, and make this earth an abode of peace and joy, this in real sense is the UTTARAYANA.

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