Hari OM!
To understand why Krishna mentioned Marga-Shirsha month, also known as Dhanur or Marghazi masam, we delved into how ancient Hindus mastered calendar and time without the telescopes and computers we have now. We looked at different elements of Vedic calendar, especially tithi and nakshatra. We watched a video that explained the angular distance of the moon and the sun being the same from the earth even though the vast difference in size and distance between them. We reviewed the tithis grouped under Krishna and Sukla paksha and how different pujas and rituals are based on them. We reviewed the names of the nakshatras that are based on stars observed on the moon's path and the names of the months under two different zodiacs, Solar and Lunar.
We reviewed different time units such as triti, nimesha (time it takes to blink an eye), and muhurta. We did a fun exercise of what fraction of a second it takes to blink an eye (0.43 seconds). Not only the ancient Hindus mastered the distance between the stars in the galaxy, they also had a grasp of milli and microseconds!
Brahma muhurta is the duration that begins one hour and 36 minutes before sunrise and ends 48 minutes before sunrise. This time is considered to be very auspicious for spiritual practices such as yoga and meditation. With one human year equivalent to a day in deva loka or heaven, Dhanur or Marghazi masam on earth is considered to be Brahmamuhurta in heaven. Hence Lord Krishna said I am Dhanur masa among the months. Coincidentally, December 15th happened to be the first day of Dhanurmasam under the Solar calendar and the first tithi in the Krishna paksha!
We have asked each child to find out the nakshatra, month based on either the sun or moon Indian zodiac according to their family tradition, and the tithi of their birthday for the next class. Please help your children know their birthday according to the ancient Vedic calendar system.
Children witnessed the grand Radha Kalyanam event at the temple before the class. We reviewed one shloka from the 10th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita in which Lord Krishna says I am Samaveda among the Vedas, Marga-shirsha among the months, and Spring among the seasons.
To understand why Krishna mentioned Marga-Shirsha month, also known as Dhanur or Marghazi masam, we delved into how ancient Hindus mastered calendar and time without the telescopes and computers we have now. We looked at different elements of Vedic calendar, especially tithi and nakshatra. We watched a video that explained the angular distance of the moon and the sun being the same from the earth even though the vast difference in size and distance between them. We reviewed the tithis grouped under Krishna and Sukla paksha and how different pujas and rituals are based on them. We reviewed the names of the nakshatras that are based on stars observed on the moon's path and the names of the months under two different zodiacs, Solar and Lunar.
We reviewed different time units such as triti, nimesha (time it takes to blink an eye), and muhurta. We did a fun exercise of what fraction of a second it takes to blink an eye (0.43 seconds). Not only the ancient Hindus mastered the distance between the stars in the galaxy, they also had a grasp of milli and microseconds!
Brahma muhurta is the duration that begins one hour and 36 minutes before sunrise and ends 48 minutes before sunrise. This time is considered to be very auspicious for spiritual practices such as yoga and meditation. With one human year equivalent to a day in deva loka or heaven, Dhanur or Marghazi masam on earth is considered to be Brahmamuhurta in heaven. Hence Lord Krishna said I am Dhanur masa among the months. Coincidentally, December 15th happened to be the first day of Dhanurmasam under the Solar calendar and the first tithi in the Krishna paksha!
We have asked each child to find out the nakshatra, month based on either the sun or moon Indian zodiac according to their family tradition, and the tithi of their birthday for the next class. Please help your children know their birthday according to the ancient Vedic calendar system.
Regards
Siva and Sankar
