Mrigajal (mirage)

During the hot months, when the Deer are traveling in the desert, because of the heat of the Sun they think they see water just a little ahead. They go on running after it, couldn't get because it isn't water but an optical illusion, a deception of the mind, caused by atmospheric conditions, especially the appearance of a sheet of water in a desert or on a hot road caused by the refraction of light from the sky by heated air. At the end the thirsty deer in search of water, not finding any, die.

Ramayana tells us a tale of 'mrigamarichika' in Panchvati. Sita is collecting flowers and sees the golden deer and lures over it. She persuades Rama to get the deer dead or alive, Rama goes after the deer, dying Maricha cry out, Lakshmana goes in search of Rama, Ravana appears and kidnaps Sita, in Lanka war Rama defeats Ravana and regains Sita. Mrigamarichika, the desire of deer by Sita (mrigtrishna), the illusion, was the reason of whole Ramayana. 

Our desires are the reason for all our worries and sorrow. Our mind is the mriga (the deer), it is the merkat (monkey), run like Mrigamarichika after the illusive world of Mrigajal (mirage) in search of peace and happiness but get the fire. Two puppies (Raga and Dvesha) and five thieves: lust, anger, greed, attachment, and ego; are the fires burn our heart and take away the peacefulness, the inbuilt software placed by the creator. 

The Universe is the Brahman Himself. The creator is not seen but his creation, an illusive world appears before us. The visible world is the vivarta (alteration) or abhas (inkling) of the Brahman. We see the ornaments but not the Gold in them, we see the pots but not the earth, we see the waves but not the Ocean. We accept the illusive world as real and run after the mirage and die with the heartburns of unfulfilled desires. This is called agyana, avidhya. 

What is vidhya? What is Gyana? To know of thyself, who am I, the swaroop gyan is the vidhya, gyana, the master key of the salvation. 

How to get this master key?

Through the thought (vichar). Thought is our real friend. It is the torch that guides our path. It can be placed by external Guru or internal light of God within us. Once it illuminates, the vision changes, the life changes. It is the turning point of life.

A Sufi poet sang:

Nazar badli to nazare badle;

Kishti ne badla rukh, to kinare badle !

(When the stance changes, scenery changes; 

When the boat changed the direction, the destination also changed!)

My mother used to teach us: વિચાર બડો સાર છે, તેના રૂપિયા એક હજાર છે. (सोच बड़ी सार है, इसके रूपया एक हज़ार है)

As are our thoughts, so are our actions; as are our actions, so are our habits; and as are our habits, so is our behaviour. In other words, our personality is the outcome of our thought process. The seeking of inner happiness is not about changing the world around us but it's all about changing our thought process and eventually, our own vision to the world: "Sarvam Brahmamayam"

None can change the past and none can predict the future, only the present moment is in our hand. And the present is going in past in the mouth of 'kala' moment by moment. None knows, which breath is the last. When death comes, all our likes and dislikes, all our run, desires, greeds ends on the spot. The body dies and the 'I' either merge with the Brahman (moksha) or go to parloka (new world) or take new birth in this world. 

Then why to cry? Why to worry? The Yaksha asked, "What is heavier than Earth, higher than heavens, faster than the wind and more numerous than straws"? Yudhishthira answered, "One's mother is heavier than the Earth, one's father is higher than the heavens, the mind is faster than the wind and our worries are more numerous than straws ".

Leave the worries and swim joyfully in the Ocean of Brahman. You are the Ocean and the world around you, is your drama (Lila). The script writer, director, actor, screen, projector, spectator, the picture, etc, are you, the Self, the Brahman of your own world (Srishti). You are the creator, you are the operator and one day you will be the destroyer of your world, the drama of your mind. 

વિચાર બડો સાર છે, તેના રૂપિયા એક હજાર છે.

Punamchand

29 June 2017

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Solstice Day 21 June

Solstice Day 21 June

Today is International Yoga Day.

Sun transits in Ardra Nakshatra.

It is a Summer Solstice Day (Dakshinayana) in Northern Hemisphere (UK, US, Canada, Russia, India, China, etc). Solstice is a time moment, today when it occurs in NH, the Sun is exactly overhead the Tropic of Cancer at 16.28 UTC. The NH of earth is most inclined towards the Sun, therefore, it is the longest day of the year, the day with most hours of Sunlight. It is a Winter Solstice Day (Uttarayana) for the Southern Hemisphere (Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, South America-Argentina, Chile, etc), the longest night of the year.

The Solstice is an astronomical event that happens twice, once in summer and once in winter, each year when the Sun reaches its highest position in the sky as seen from the North or South Pole. In the lead up to the summer solstice we gain minutes of daylight each day and directly after the solstice we begin losing seconds and then minutes of daylight until the winter solstice and the pattern reverses.

There are other two important astronomical time moments: Spring (Vernal) Equinox (20 March) and Fall (Autumnal) Equinox (22 September). On Equinox day, the day and night are equal as the plane of Earth's equator passes through the centre of the Sun. Vernal Equinox is the entry of Sun in Northern Hemisphere, marks the beginning of the Spring, occurs in March and is considered new year in many cultures. Autumnal Equinox occurs in September marks the beginning of Autumn in NH. In Southern Hemisphere, the Vernal Equinox occurs in September and the Autumn Equinox occurs in March. 

Do you know that all these four time moments: Vernal Equinox (22 March) , Summer Solstice (21 June) , Autumn Equinox (22 September) and Winter Solstice (21 December) are changing

and the seasons precess? We in India, celebrate Uttarayan on Makarsakranti day on 14 January, may be because the date of Sun transit to Zodiac sign Capricorn and the Winter solstice day was the same, some 1720 years ago. Now the day for Makarsakranti remained the same but the date of Winter solstice has precessed to 21 December. 

Earth is not an independent object in the sky. The Sun, Moon and other planets causes gradual shift of Earth's axis of rotation. In 1000 BC the Summer Solstice was on 2nd July, now on 21 June. The zodiac moves relative to the Sun by about one constellation every 2150 years (approximately 25800 years for a full rotation), at the rate of about 50.3 seconds of arc per year, or 1 degree every 71.6 years, due to the precession of Earth's axis. The tropical year, measuring the cycle of seasons (for example, the time from solstice to solstice, or equinox to equinox), is about 20 minutes shorter than the sidereal year. The zodiac has precessed relative to the seasons. 

The first day of the Year used to start with the Spring Equinox, with the entry of Sun in Northern Hemisphere. When the backdrop of the zodiac was Punarvasu Nakshatra in 6000 BC, it was called Aditi Era. In 5000 BC, the backdrop point was moved in Ardra, was called Ardra Era. In 4000 BC, it was moved in Mrigshirsha, therefore known as Orion Era. Most of our ancient literatures on religion and astronomy were written during Orion Era. Thereafter, it was Rohini Era in 3200 BC, you know the famous story of Moon; he married to 27 daughters (nakshatras) of Daksha Prajapati, but loved Rohini the most, Daksha Prajapati cursed, Chandra's prayer to Lord Shiva, and finally with the boon, he is waning and waxing in every fortnight. In 2800 BC, it was Kritika Era, you know the story of Murugan (Kartikeya), the son of Lord Shiva, living with Kritika, the 7 mothers (7 stars). In 1400 BC, it was Bharani Era; in 500 AD it was Ashwini Era and from 2000 AD it is Revati Era. The Equinox moment is changing.

It is believed that during the Sun's transit in Northern Hemisphere (Uttarayana), from Kritika to Vishakha (called Dev Nakshatras), people leaving this world go to Devloka/Heaven. Bhishma when moribund by Arjuna‘s arrows, and was on the verge of death, he waited till the advent of Uttarayana to shuffle his mortal body. And those leaving the world during Anuradha to Bharani (Pitru Nakshatras) (Dakshinayana) go to Pitruloka. Aryans worship Devas during Uttarayana (yagya, naivaidhya, pooja) and worship Pitrus during Dakshinayana (shradh karma). 

There are 27 nakshatras but adding Abhijit into them, they are 28; 14 fields of Devloka and 14 fields of Pitruloka. If count two nakshatras for one Loka (Bhuvan) there are 7 Lokas above us and 7 Lokas below us. You know the Hindu belief of 14 Lokas and their Lord, the Almighty. All religions of Aryans (Greek, Iranian, Indians) revolved around these astronomical events. Their beliefs, Jyotish, Ayurveda, Muhurtas, rituals, etc, are linked with astronomical events. It is possible that the word Aryan might have derived from the word Orion, as the most of their astronomical research and rituals were developed during the Orion Era. 

Hindus (Surya-Chandra Vanshi) have adjusted the 11 days of off (difference between Lunar Year and Solar Year) by adding one extra month (adhik mas) in their lunar calendar every third year. But Muslims (Chandra Vanshi) continued with their Hizri calendar of Lunar Months of 354-355 days, therefore, Ramadan comes 10-11 days early every year, and comes back to the same date in relation to solar month approximately every 33 Islamic years. German Aryans placed these 12 days around Winter Solstice as rebirth of Sun God and celebrate Christmas. Hindus celebrate Winter Solstice with the prayer of Sun, 12 names of Sun, 12 Surya Namaskars each with 12 steps. Christmas and new year celebrations all over the world are linked with Winter Solstice period.

All are "Believers" of God, believers of His power and His Universe. There are Kaifi (intoxicated, egoistic) but none is Kafir (non believer of God). Why then these fights?

We shall respect all religions and their rituals. The rituals may look superstitions for the non believers (believer of other religion) but are valuable for the believers as they are based on astronomical events. Present world is searching God through the quantum physics, but who knows, one day we may return to the ancient mythology of birth and rebirth theory of our past, present and future lives and our connections with the God's Field around us. Look for Him in the sky or feel his presence within heart is an individual choice. By the time we understand the secrets of nature, it may be another start of Orion Era around 22,000 AD!!! Lo

Who knows, in this illusive world, each creature on earth may be a representative of some power (deity) of the nature up in the sky, connected with Him, perform his/her role and return to the real home, the abode of God. 

Happy Summer Solstice Day to those living in Northern Hemisphere and Happy Winter Solstice Day to those living in Southern Hemisphere😊

Sun transits today in Ardra Nakshatra, the onset date of monsoon in Gujarat. વરસે આદ્ર્ા તો વરસ જાય પાધરા. Let us pray Rain God to shower his blessings during the Ardra period of 21 June to 5 July, so that the monsoon season go normal. 

Punamchand

21 June 2017

www.punamchand.com

NB: The sanctum sanctorum of Modhera Sun Temple (1026-27, Gujarat) is designed in a way that the first rays of rising sun lit up the image of Surya during solar Equinox days and on Summer Solstice day, the Sun shines directly above the temple at noon casting no shadow.

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Sardar Sarovar Dam of Gujarat completed

Sardar Sarovar Dam of Gujarat completed

Now Sardar Sarovar Narmada Dam can claim position as the biggest dam of the State technically. Ukai Dam (1972) is the biggest dam of Gujarat with a reservoir of 7414 MCM (active 6730 MCM) water storage capacity. Sardar Sarovar reservoir stores 5214 MCM water at present. The height of the Sardar Sarovar dam is 121.92 metre, and with the closure of the 30 gates (60x55 feet), it has reached to FRL (full reservoir level) of 138 metre with a total water storage capacity of 9500 MCM (active 5800 MCM). Therefore, in terms of total storage capacity, Sardar Sarovar Dam is the biggest dam of the State, and in terms of active storage, Ukai will continue with No.1 position in the State.

I still remember the day, 7 December 1979, I was in the last year of BCom and had put just 4 months service in Sachivalaya, the Narmada Water Dispute Tribunal (NWDT) (Justice V Ramswami) gave it's final award after 10 years. Late Charan Singh was the PM of India. The pioneer of speeding up the declaration of the award late Morarji Desai had resigned as PM on 28 July 1979. The present PM Shri Narendra Modi had constructed the most important part of the dam height of final 31.92 metres (from 90 to 121.92) and the canal network as the CM of Gujarat and allowed the installation of the gates in June 2014, on the 17th day of his swearing in as PM. The SSNNL has completed the tasks in just 3 years and with the permission of the SC, the gates are closed yesterday, declaring the project completed officially after 56 years of it's start with the foundation stone.

The dam height was raised upto 90 mtr in 2000. But March 2004 (PM Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee) was a turning point for the State when NCA allowed the height of 110 mtr. That has bring Narmada Water into the canals, opened the way for the GWSSB to build water distribution network of Narmada Water Supply Grid of 120000 kms, the major step towards drinking water security of the State, covering approximately 7900 villages and 116 towns. Dhanki, Hadala, Navda are the new "Water (Varun) Temples" of Gujarat. It has also opened a way for two prestigious schemes Sujalam Sufalam in North Gujarat and SAUNI (Saurastra Narmada Avataran Irrigation Yojana, using excess overflowing flood water) in Saurastra, to fill up dams and ponds with Narmada water. The project has increased the irrigation command area substantially. The Kharif crops area in Gujarat is approximately 9 million hectares and the Rabi crops area is approximately 4 million hectares, have changed the agriculture economy of the State, pulling out the state from the severe draughts and scarcity conditions. All the creatures (humans, animals and birds) have gained happiness through the Sardar Sarovar Project. 

River Narmada has many crocodiles, therefore, Ganga Snan and Narmada Darshan have been given importance in Hindu rituals. As each stone (Kankar) of the river is considered divine (Shankar), it becomes a "Life Line" of Gujarat. Now many rivers including Sabarmati and steams of MG, NG and Saurastra- Kutch carry Narmada water through inflow or outflow. 

It is to note that the project was initiated in 1946 for survey, the foundation stone of the project was laid at Gora in Gujarat on 5 April 1961 by the then PM late Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru of INC, but all the major decisions pushing the project ahead have come out during the tenure of other Governments. However many governments have contributed in building it's height step by step. The Khosla Committee Report of 1965 didn't resolve the height and water sharing disputes between Gujarat and MP. The NWDT was constituted in October 1969, gave it's final Report on 12 December 1979 (notification), allowed the formal start of the project. 

Many have been contributed in this journey of 71 years (1946-2017). Salutes to all of them🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏.

नमामि देवी नर्मदे ।

Punamchand

18 June 2017

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It was one good year of vibrancy in Urban Gujarat

Dear Colleagues and Friends,

It was a good one year working with you and delivering maximum possible output in urban development. Standing No.1 in the country in ODF and Swatchata Sarvekshan (22 cities of Gujarat in Top 100, 5 in Top 20) was our greatest achievement. Comprehensive GDCR with common procedure, finalising many DPs and TPs,  amendment in Sec. 49 of Town Planning act curbing corruption of shifting of plots from poor to rich, enforcement of RERA, were our big achievements. Completion of ongoing drainage projects with million of house connections, resurfacing of 5000 kms damaged roads, replacing 6 lakh Street lights with LED were our lead work in the area of civic facilities upgradation. Hundreds of Infrastructure works have been completed under SJMMSVY, Amrut and Smart Cities programmes. Capital Smart City Gandhinagar, Command & Control Centres at Surat, Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Rajkot as well as the Smart City Projects in Ahmedabad, Surat and Vadodara were our feathers in the cap.  We have maintained our no.1 position in grounding of the projects under PMAY. National Conference on Urban Mobility, Vibrant Gujarat workshop on Smart and Liveable Cities and preparing Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad with high standard of cleanliness and illumination to mark the glorious event of VG2017 were our noteworthy events. And the most important was the building of "Team Urban" with new culture of mobile governance, tied up all with whatsapp to achieve speediest communication, interacting responses, solving ground level problems and pushing morals with motivation to achieve common goal of improving the quality of life of the common people living in the cities. Many policy decisions were taken.

However, one can't claim that everything has been achieved. We have just started working on the segregation of solid waste and it's better management. There is lot many things to do because urban gujarat is not small. 42% of Gujarat population live in and 60% population stay in urban during the day time. Within human capacity and managing vacancies, we could deliver the best possible during the year.

Our achievements belong to you. I have played just a role of a stimulator. With your dedication to the duties and love to me, many of you have worked tirelessly, without looking at the watch and calendar. I thank you all for your love and support to me during the year.

It was a good one year of vibrancy in Urban Gujarat. Now I shall take care on my health, your health and the health of the health sector of Gujarat😊Lol.

Sayonara.

Yours truly,

Punamchand
16 June 2017

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Universe is a Yahya of the Almighty

Universe is a Yagya of the Almighty 

The Universe is full with energy: dark energy 68%, dark matter 27%, 5% the visible world we see from earth. Big Bang theory has been accepted as the beginning of the present universe. The universe is not only expanding, but getting faster as it inflates. All Stars and planets have gravitation but the Universe is expanding against the rule of gravitation instead of squeezing. The speed may sometimes vary, suggests the role of extra energy pushing the universe. Space scientists have found out that Space has energy, virtual particles and it is accelerating the expansion. It is called dark energy. However, after the Big Bang, the role of the core didn't end. The exploded centre might have continued pushing the universe further outer, like a yagya/homa performing by the Almighty 🔥 

NASA diagram on Universe reveals changes in the rate of expansion since the universe's birth 15 billion years ago. The more shallow the curve, the faster the rate of expansion. The curve changes noticeably about 7.5 billion years ago, when objects in the universe began flying apart as a faster rate. Astronomers theorize that the faster expansion rate is due to a mysterious, dark force that is pulling galaxies apart.

Have you seen the earthen fire pot used by Aryans (Greek, Iranian, Indian) for religious rituals and offerings to the deities? They have made the shape of the article similar to that of NASA's diagram of the universe. Have you seen the Atash Behram, the Holy fire the Parsi (Iranian Aryan) worship as the highest and purest symbol of the Divinity. It is physical representation of order, light, warmth and life in the universe. Look at the following image of Atash Behram and compare it with the NASA diagram of the Universe. 

The Universe is a fire temple of the Almighty. The Aryans imagine the shape of the Big Bang (अंड से ब्रह्मांड) creation and started worshipping the Almighty through the religious rituals using the fire pot similar to the shape of the Big Bang diagram. Iranian Aryan considers Atar (holy fire) as the visible presence of Ahura Mazda (the God, infinite one, who created the world) and perform rituals for purifying a fire. For, one "who sacrifices unto fire with fuel in his hand ..., is given happiness". Atar (fire) and Aban (water) are agents of ritual purity. Man is encouraged to lead an active, industrious, honest and above all, a happy and charitable life. Upon physical death, if found righteous, the soul will ascend to the abode of joy and light, whilst if wicked, it will descend into the depths of darkness and gloom. 

Indian Aryans have continued their rituals from life to death using holy fire. Their Yagya vedi of holy fire, calling deities to accept offerings is symbolic diagram of the universe. 24x7, the Yagya of Almighty is going on. It is the yagya of creation, maintenance and destruction.

ॐ स्वाहा I

Punamchand

14 June 2017

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Balusinh Thakor of Morvad

Shri Balusinh Thakor of Morvad

Every year in June, GoG sends Ministers and Bureaucrats to the villages to promote school enrolment drive and to check the quality of education in primary schools. The programme at the school is predefined, includes prayer, yoga, enrolment of children in Anganwadi and in primary school, felicitation of the students stood first in Std 3-7, to honour the donors and the oldest person of the village, etc, followed by test checking of quality of education. The drive has delivered many positive results.

Morvad Primary School was the first school I have visited on 8th June 2017. It was a full moon day of Jayeshtha Hindu month, therefore some married women came to the school to worship the banyan tree located in the school compound. It is a tradition in India from Mahabharata (Satyavan-Savitri story) period (2800 BC) to worship Banyan tree (it has longest life) by the married women for the long and healthy life of their spouses. Look at the wisdom of our ancestors, they promoted plantation of trees through religion at the onset time of monsoon.

Shri Balusinh Takor was honoured as the oldest person of the village. He is around 85 years old and has no children. He and his wife have passed their whole life in the services to the society. He can cure skin diseases, gangrene, wet piles, constipation and diabetes. Many people have been cured with his treatment. He doesn't charge for the treatment. He tried to teach one boy, but when the boy said that he will charge ₹100 from the patient, he didn't transfer his knowledge. Many people present in the programme have confirmed the success of his treatments to the patients. He succeeded in curing gangrene of one NRI of US, who presented him a cell phone which he carry as a necklace. He advises people to come to him for 15 days before going for any operation of wet piles or gangrene. 

I was curious, therefore second day, I carried my home vaidhya Lakshmi with me. She recognises many herbs easily. As I was moving in other villages, she went to Morvad to meet Shri Balusinh. He showed her some herbs he is using in the treatment. One of the most important herbs he is using in the skin diseases, is the herb very dear to Lord Shiva. Which plant, do you know? It's Dhanturo (ummetta, unmatta, dhatura). It is a poisonous plant has been named as devil's weed, hell's bells, thorn apple. Its dangerous poison leads to death due to it's anticholinergic substances. Indian Ayurveda has found medicinal value in Dhatura and allowed its use as medicine. 

There are two types of Dhatura available in Gandhinagar: white and black. Black is more poisonous but more powerful as medicine. It is a medicine for all the skin diseases: scabies, cuts, vitiligo; worms, head lice, mumps, mania, hands-legs sores, fever, ear discharge, impotency, vaginal infection, coughing, swelling, bronchitis, snake bite, scorpions bites, etc. It is used as a pain killer. All panchangs: leaves, roots, skin, flowers, fruits are used as medicine with varied doses and in combination with other herbs. It is used through smoking too.

Cow milk with sakar (sugar), caster roots, cotton seeds are used to control the side and poisonous effects of Dhatura. 

Balusinh makes the paste of Dhatura leaves in boiled water made from Babul (vacholia nilotica) skin, adds Karanja (pongamia pinnata, dithouri, pongum) oil into it to cure the skin diseases. If the paste is applied thrice in a day for 15 days, it will surely cure some of the incurable skin problems. 

You may use dhatura as medicine, but with extra care and understanding well about it's side effect as it is one of the most poisonous plants. However, it has capacity to cure incurable diseases. 

“ॐ नम: शिवाय” 

Punamchand
11 June 2017

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Rainfall 2017

Rainfall 2017

Under the fear of El Niño, IMD played safe predicting 96% (+_ 5%) of the LPA (long period average of 89 cm) this year. But Indian Nino, IOD (Indian Ocean Dipole) has come to our rescue in the initial months of the season. The warmer western ocean (Arabian Sea) will pull more rainfall to the western part-sea. Kerala, Karnataka, are likely to be safe this year as they receive most of their rainfall in the month of June and July. Monsoon onset over Kerala on 30 May and it is progressing well as per the forecasts of the IMD. With the start of pre monsoon showers, Gujarat is expecting onset of monsoon around 12-14 June over South Gujarat. However, the major part of the State (east, central, north Gujarat and Kutch) is dependent on the systems generated from the Bay of Bengal. If IOD makes the western ocean warmer and the eastern ocean cooler, it may be a worrysome condition for some parts of the country.

El Niño (heating up Pacific Ocean and reducing sea surface temperature of Indian Ocean, reverse the direction of monsoon winds) signals are uncertain, as La Niña ended in January 2017; Australia and India are praying for it's neutrality.

On 14 April 2017, on Vishu Day, I wrote about the relationship between flowering of cassia fistula and the date of onset of rainfall over Kerala.

"Humans are dependent on rainfall for food. It is the celebration of prayers to the almighty requesting him to blessed the season with good rain without any natural calamities. Vishnu God to preserve and protect the creatures. It is the end of Spring season and start of Summer. It is a flowering season of beautiful yellow flower tree, Cassia Fistula (Garmalo, Amaltas). It's Yellow flowers are used in the Pooja of the day. From today to the 45th of the day, i.e., 29 May 2017, the monsoon will onset on the coast of Kerala."

IMD predicted 1 June. Rain God has his own accord, arrived on 30 May.

Mars is not seen in the sky in nights these days, as it is moving ahead of Sun. The closeness of Mars-Sun (angarak yoga) has heated up the temperature. Let's pray that this Sun-Mars combo doesn't affect our monsoon, El Niño remains neutral and IOD support the Rain God to shower his blessings over us.

Punamchand
2 June 2017

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Star Gazing in Magical Universe

Star Gazing in magical Universe 

25th May 2017 was a no moon night. The International Space Station (ISS) made a transit at 7.47 PM and was visible for 8 minutes. Four of us: JP Gupta with his son, Mona with her daughter, Dhananjay, and I with spouse and son were present amongst the stars lovers Astronomy Club of Ahmedabad. It was a great fun. The ISS was transiting from the south west direction. When you are in a group and all the members of the group are gazing at a single object in the sky, then who spotted the object first is a moment to cheer up by all. To stimulate our curiosity, Mr. Das, the over enthusiastic scientist, spotted the ISS at wrong corner. All eyes were moved towards that directions and many were feeling upset with the weakness of their eye sights. And suddenly the ISS transited from the south west direction, very up from the sky spot directed by Mr. Das. A moving white dot reflecting sunlight over it, the ISS, made in man transited above us in the sky for 8 minutes. It maintains an orbit with the altitude of 330-435 kms and completes 15.54 orbits (27724 km/hour) in a day. It's a space environment research laboratory. It's a platform that provides exposure to space with zero/micro gravity. Everybody present enjoyed the transit of the ISS. My mind pendulum between ISS and ISIS created by humans, one is working for the research to bring better future for the mankind and another is working to destroy the humanity. What a strange combination of the man's mind!

But how could you fill up the heart of curiosity with just 8 minutes gazing up above in the sky? Dhananjay had arranged a telescope (5"), positioned towards the Jupiter, the brightest object available in the sky that night. The more curious lot joined the queue. We shall see the Jupiter like the size of moon, the mind started gauging. My turn came. I saw the Jupiter, like a spotless moon, but what are these four yellow light spots, look different in sizes? Wow! These are the four largest Galilean Moons of the Jupiter; Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. Galileo Galilee saw it in January 1610, and we saw it after 417 years after him. Galileo wishes to named these moons after the name of the ruler Cosimo, who was his student, but changed name to Medicea Sidera (honouring four medici brothers) as per the suggestion of Cosimo II de' Medici. But one more astronomer Simon Marius, who discovered the moons independently at the same time as Galileo, named them after the lovers of God Zeus (Greek deity equivalent of Jupiter, our Indra): Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto. These names prevailed. Ganymede is the largest moon of the solar system and it is bigger than Mercury. Europa becomes a hope of life as it may have water ocean beneath it and it's atmosphere composed primarily of oxygen. It was a long queue and everyone has to be given a chance, therefore I wished to hold my telescopic eye for long but had to conclude the gazing. 

Let us see the rings of Saturn, my wife became more curious. Professor JJ Raval was with us. His colleague immediately check the position of Saturn in the mobile app heavens above.comand found out that it will rise in the East at 9.30 PM and we can see it after 11.30 PM as it comes up to the height of gazing. It was very hot and humid weather and Dhananjay had arranged refreshments, therefore, we concluded the session. Professor JJ Raval and his colleague answered some of the questions those were orbiting in our minds. 

How big is the Universe?

The plate size looking Sun has diameter of 1.3914 million km and it is 149.6 million km away from the Earth. It is 1.3 million times bigger than earth and 83.2 million times bigger than our moon. But it is a small family member of mother Galaxy Mandakini (the Milky Way). Mandakini has 500 billion Stars like our Sun. The distance between two stars is 40,000 billion km. The diameter of our Galaxy Mandakini is 300,000 light years (light takes 300,000 years to travel from one end to other end). The Jay and Vijay (two guards of Lord Vishnu), called Alpha Centauri and Beta Centauri are so far away that it takes 425,000 years for the light to come to us. Whatever we see is the past. The Jay we see is the position of the star 425,000 years ago. Our Mausi (neighbour of Galaxy Mandakini),  Galaxy Devyani (Andromeda Galaxy) is 2.2 million light years away. It has 2000 billion stars. We see her in position at present, where it was 2.2 million years ago. And there are 100 billion Galaxies in the Universe, each with 50-1000-2000 billion stars. The diameter of the Universe is 28 billion light years. Light takes 28 billion years to travel from one end to other end. And imagine, there are many Universes in the God's abode. One may tired of imagining but the Creator won't stop. It's a play for Him and small life of just 70-75 years is a life for us!

We see all the objects because of light. Buy we can't see them in present because whatever we see is the past, as light takes time to travel. Nothing dies. If any individual wants to see his/her past life, he/she can see it, provided he/she can travel to the place where the light of his/her past has yet to reach. Light is carrying the pictures, events and stories of our past for millions of years. Therefore, Mahabharata War still exist in the Universe. Our life, whatever has been past still exists. Some of the events already occurred in the universe are yet to be seen or feel by us, as the light is in transit.

The Universe is full of magical things, the Lila, the Drama, the illusion. Whenever get a chance, don't miss gazing the sky. It carries all the light of your past and present. Dear Modern World, save electricity and keep some hours in night off with lights, so that you may watch the sky full of magics of the Creator. Reduce carbon emissions and extend the life line of the creatures on Earth.

Punamchand
1 June 2017

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