The Vedas are considered to be the most sacred texts by the Hindus. Rigveda is generally believed to be the oldest of all the four Vedas. Rishi Yaska applauds the Moon for its ability to reflect the sunlight as seen from the Earth, a fact duly reiterated by Rishi Gautam, son of Rishi Rahugana. In those days, Full Moon was referred to as Raka and the New Moon as Sinivali. The cause of the eclipses is assumed to be a demon, called Svarbhanu, striking the Sun with darkness. When the Gods could not discern the Sun, they invoked Rishi Atri who repelled its darkness by chanting four Rik mantras. Before he could chant the fourth Rik, which must have taken at least 50 seconds, Atri must have had to be informed by his disciples or his sons about the sudden darkness that fell upon the Earth; in which case, the actual process must have lasted a few minutes– the typical duration of a total solar eclipse. In the ninth Rik of the same sukta, it is clearly mentioned that only the students and descendants of Atri knew how to dispel the sudden darkness which befell the Sun. It can perhaps be interpreted that only these people knew how to predict the duration of a total solar eclipse.
Even more revealing passages exist in the Pancavimsa Brahmana which describes Atri’s dispelling of the darkness by the four Riks in four steps: the first part of the darkness he repelled became a reddish sheep (solar chromosphere), the second part he repelled became a silvery sheep (solar corona), the third part again became a reddish one, and the fourth a white sheep (regaining the original colour.) It is also to be noted that Rahu is nowhere mentioned in the Rig, Sama and Yajurveda. In the Atharvaveda, the description of Ketu is more suited for what we today call a comet. In the primitive form of astrology, there was no place for Rahu and Ketu, in particular in the manner in which the division of the twelve houses among the five planets, the Sun and the Moon was conceived. However, Rahu has been earmarked for a quota of twelve years in the Astottari Dasa system, in addition to the quotas for the seven other regularly wandering celestial objects.
In the original version of the Valmiki Ramayana, a vivid description of a total solar eclipse is given in the first fifteen shlokas of the twenty-third sarga of the Aranyakandam, but there is indeed a mention of Rahu as the cause. The description appears in the context of a ravaging war between Khara and Lord Rama. In the Navagrahastotrom, supposedly composed by Vyasadeva, the description of Rahu fits quite well with that of its Pauranika version. However, the description of Ketu is more akin to that of a comet devouring stars as well as planets. No eclipse can come in the way of the stars and planets exclusively, except for the bodies themselves.
It is suggested in the Mahabharata that during the 18- day long war between the Pandavas and Kauravas, there were only thirteen days between a Full Moon and a possible total solar eclipse presumed to have been seen over the battle field of Kuruksetra. Now, as we noted earlier, a similar condition was invoked in the Holy Quran for prophesying the return of Muhammad in the future. It is therefore, the expected rarity of such an event that must have been known to the authors of such Holy Scriptures.
A sizable portion of the 35th chapter of the Bhagvata Purana is devoted to narrating an incident as to why Rahu and Ketu are responsible for all the solar and lunar eclipses. Initially, at some stage, the gods and the demons were engaged in a great war over a very long period. Lord Vishnu persuaded both the gods and demons for a temporary peace so that the ocean in its entirety could be churned and both devas and the asuras could benefit from what the sea had to offer. The gods under the leadership of Indra grabbed the tail of the king of snakes, Vasuki, who was used as a rope for churning the ocean, while the demons under the leadership of Vali held the mouth of Vasuki. The great mountain Mandara acted as the churner. As a result of this churning, the first to come out was the terrible poison, Halahala. It was voluntarily sucked in by the Lord Siva, but he held it in his throat, the reason why Siva is also known as Nilakanta. Then out came Surabhi, Kaustubha, Parijata, Lakshmi, the Moon, Varuni (the goddess of wine). And finally emerged Dhanvanatari, the originator of medicine, with a pot of Elixir, the nectar. The demons ran away with the pot. Lord Vishnu acting in the interest of the gods transformed himself into Mohini, a beautiful woman. Dazzled by her beauty, the demons offered the pot to Mohini and asked her to distribute the nectar amongst themselves as she was found to be an appropriate person. Of course, she gave all the nectar to the gods. One of the demons, Rahu, saw through the trick and sat in the line in disguise, where the nectar was being distributed.
But before he could swallow the divine nectar, the Sun and the Moon detected his act and reported it to Lord Vishnu, who then chopped off Rahu’s head with his Sudarshan Chakra. Because Rahu had already drunk the nectar, he remained alive in spite of his being reduced to a trunkless body. Since then Rahu has not forgiven the Sun and the Moon. And this is the reason why, it has been depicted in the style of Pauranik description, every once in a while Rahu gobbles up the Sun or the Moon and we witness the solar and the lunar eclipses. Of course, being trunkless he cannot hold either the Sun or the Moon for long, and they come out safely after a while. With time the headless trunk of the demon came to be known as Ketu, and the earlier version of Ketu gracefully turned into what is known as Dhumaketu.
Since then, Rahu has become acceptable as the eighth planet, and in the astrological formulations, we find it in the Astottari Dasa system. Later on, another Dasa system, called the Vimsottari Dasa system, was introduced which referred to nine ruling planets, the ninth being Ketu. Sometime in the third century A.D., the era of Siddhantas was ushered in. The Surya Siddhanta gives detailed methods for making ecliptic calculations. It was around this time that Rahu and Ketu were astronomically defined to be the ascending and the descending nodes of the lunar orbit, intersecting the plane of the Earth’s orbit.
The astronomical significance of Rahu and Ketu was reduced to mere imaginary points of intersection between the lunar orbit and the plane of the ecliptic. As we have noted earlier, evidence for observation of eclipses is found in the ancient Indian texts. A solar eclipse is mentioned in the Mahabharata, where Lord Krishna skillfully uses his knowledge of eclipse predictions to save the life of Arjuna, the great warrior. The accuracy with which eclipses have been predicted is incredible. In the Indian almanacs, the time at which an eclipse begins, at which it peaks, and when its ends have all been given. This entire period of an eclipse is called the Parvakala. Thorough prescriptions of the customs which an orthodox Hindu is supposed to observe on the eclipse days are given in the Manusmriti, Grahalaghava, Nirnaya Sindhu, and a number of similar textbooks including Atharvaveda.
It is believed that during an eclipse all the water becomes as pure as the water of the holy river Ganga. Any surging water (say, waterfall or a fountain) or water in the lakes, river and the seas is regarded as a good omen, its auspiciousness increasing in the above sequence. The more pious may go to some sacred place or to the nearest seashore for taking a holy bath. There is a strong belief that any donation given during the eclipse hours is most auspicious and valuables such as money, clothes, cows, horses, land and gold are to be gifted away.
However, performing Sadhanas and mantra recitation has the most positive outcome when performed during eclipse. One can gain thousand times the positive results of the Sadhana performed during eclipse as compared to performing the same Sadhana on any other day. We are in an era where stress and suffering is a part of our daily life. Without doing any wrong to others, we see that we are gaining more and more enemies as compared to friends. Thus, a wise person is one who grabs such opportunities of life and makes the most out of it.
Lunar eclipse is going to occur on st 31 January this year and Solar Eclipse is occurring on We are sharing a very special th 15 February. Diksha which is most suited to be obtained on the Lunar Eclipse. In the next month’s edition, Sadhanas related to Solar Eclipse will be shared. One can even get initiated with any other desired Diksha during this favorable time.
Many of you may not know, but ‘water tides’ are a result of gravitational attraction of moon and sun. Earth and Moon are constantly attracting each other, like magnets. But, as Earth’s gravitational force is much greater than Moon, it is able to hold on to everything, except water. Water on earth is persistently moving over a vast space, and Moon’s slighter gravitational pull is able to create tides. Therefore, each day, there are two high tides and two low tides. And, just like water bodies, Moon’s gravitational pull also has an effect on our body; eventually affecting our well-being and mood which can be concluded by the fact that a human body too is made up of 70% water. On a full moon night, some of us may feel sleep-deprived, while a few may experience a tide of emotions hitting them, and the rest may get confused over the awkwardly activeness .
Astrologically, moon is related to all the soft skills of our life like our voice, beauty, acting, love, poetry, art etc. It has been seen that people who have a favorable moon gain great success in these fields. Thus, people working in these fields or those who aspire to create a mark for themselves in these fields must take full advantage of this time. Time and again, we have published many Sadhanas related to Lunar Eclipse which can bring a great change in the life of all the sadhaks and we highly recommend to try these Sadhanas.
However, this time, Gurudev has also agreed to grant ChandraKala ManoKaamna Siddhi Diksha to all His disciples during the Lunar Eclipse st falling on 31 January. Apart from instilling a person with the favorable boons of moon, this diksha also fulfills one wish of a person. This diksha is a must for any person for whom moon is unfavorable. Without any doubt, to progress in life our mind must always remain in the best shape. Moon is the one which has full control over our mind and a person who wishes to gain control over the mind and reach to the highest level in one’s field must get initiated in this diksha and perform Sadhana on this auspicious day.
It is mandatory to obtain Guru Diksha from Revered Gurudev before performing any Sadhana or taking any other Diksha. Please contact Kailash Siddhashram, Jodhpur through Email , Whatsapp, Phone or Submit Request to obtain consecrated-energized and mantra-sanctified Sadhana material and further guidance,
