Today, I happened to call my mother early afternoon (read evening in India) and she
said that today she would be cooking dinner late stating as there is an eclipse
today. On asking, she like many others in the society had no answer to it. She said
we Hindus follow it. This gave rise to one more question; Are we Hindus only
humans on earth? Don’t Christians, or Muslim community or atheists have any
harmful effect (if any) of Lunar Eclipse? I never knew Eclipse has religion
too. Sensing that there are more questions lined up for her; she pretended she
is busy and disconnected the call. Nothing new; sometimes we follow traditions
blindly but there are times when we need to open are eyes, ears and mouth and
ask “Why?”
What is a Lunar Eclipse?
So in layman’s term lunar eclipse is when the Sun, the
Earth and the moon come in one line earth being at the centre. The earth blocks
the sunlight and earth’s shadow falls on moon causing an eclipse. Isn’t this a
simple concept of light and shadow? So why do we Indians have to complicate
things? We want our kids to excel in their lives but we are teaching them that
this day is like a bad day in your life. The innocent one just learnt about the
basic concepts of eclipse in school and would be excited to see it in real; but
wait we have created a whole list of restrictions for him. Do not go out to
play at this time. Do not eat at this time and many such “DO NOTS.” If some
smart kids asked most of the parents would say; “Don’t ask many questions;
elders have told; they follow, we follow so you follow.” The poor kid sometimes
just follows; unconsciously we gave a break to their reasoning ability. Next
time he will think twice before asking, “Why?”
Innumerable Myths
With eclipse irrespective of Solar or Lunar there are
innumerable myths associated; do not allow pregnant women to move, do not allow
her to cut anything, do not use washroom, no deliveries at this time. There are
no scientific backings for all of these things. So a lady goes into labour but
she has to wait for some natural phenomena happening miles. Starving because
the earth is in center of moon and Sun. Just Wow. I just find it funny and illogical.
Does anyone have reasoning to this?
Yes there are scientific reasons of not seeing the solar
eclipse with naked eyes due to harmful UV rays. This is the ONLY precaution to
be taken during eclipse. But wait; we again have a list of things to do and NOT
do. Our ancestors did use dry grass to cover their food, they did let go the
cooked food; many households still follow that. The ancestors were right as
during those times; many cooked food in open; the houses did not have proper
roofs and windows, no storage facilities were there. Today, we keep our
leftover cooked food in a refrigerator; how on earth the UV rays would enter a
concrete building, in your house and then your refrigerator? Again I know there
are poor who come to collect the food post the eclipse; many households give it
to them in pretext of discarding their food. So if we go with that belief that
the food is contaminated; Why are you are it giving a beggar? Will that person
not have any effect or there is no value of poor’s life?
We are a great country; we observe bandh on social
fights, movie release due to fear of insecurity then if Eclipse is so harmful
why are school and colleges not operational? Why do corporate function? Think
over it.
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