In western world, it is Christmas when most of the sale are on. People come out and buy things because it is festival season. In India, the heavy sale happens during festival days, but there are few days when people in India or especially in some of the states like Maharashtra, deliberately plan to purchase. These are the three and half auspicious days in a year, also called as ‘Sade teen shubh diwas’ in Maharashtra. Most of these days do come along one or other festival, still there is special importance of these days. Let us see what are the days and how much is contribution towards three and half

- Gudi Padva – First day of Chaitra month of Hindu Calendar – Complete day is considered auspicious

- Akshaya Tritiya – Third day of Vaishakha month of Hindu Calendar – Half day is considered auspiciaous

- Dashera/Dasara/Vijayadashami – Tenth day of Ashwin month Shukla Paksha – Complete day is considered auspicious

- Bali Pratipada/Padava – First day of Shukla Paksha or Kartik month) – Complete day is considered auspicious

Most of the people start new things, or buy important things during these days. House warming, Christaning ceremonies are held on these days. Just that marriages are not held on these days. Reason may be that people prefer to celebrate at home that getting into such a big ceremony.

]]> http://www.thegyan.com/2009/12/01/three-and-half-auspicious-days-or-sade-teen-shub-diwas.html/feed 0 http://www.thegyan.com/2009/11/30/diwali.html http://www.thegyan.com/2009/11/30/diwali.html#comments Tue, 01 Dec 2009 04:10:57 +0000 admin http://www.thegyan.com/?p=36 I think this word ‘Diwali’ is not knew to the world. It has crossed borders of India, and it is now a days celebrated all over world by Indians, by people of Indian origin and also by other religion people. Most of us know this festival for three things – lights, firecrackers and most importantly – delicious sweets. Let us see what is reason behind celebration of festival of diwali.

I think this word ‘Diwali’ is not knew to the world. It has crossed borders of India, and it is now a days celebrated all over world by Indians, by people of Indian origin and also by other religion people. Most of us know this festival for three things – lights, firecrackers and most importantly – delicious sweets. Let us see what is reason behind celebration of festival of diwali.

The important days which are celebrated in diwali festival are as below. Also let us find what is importance of each day.

- Vasu Baras: Barash means twelfth day. It is twelfth day of Hindu calendar month Ashwin in Krishna Paksha.This day is celebrated by worshiping cow and calf.

- Dhana Trayodashi or Dhan Teras: Again Teras is thirteenth day. This day is considered good/auspiciaous to bringh dhan (wealth) in house. Hence it is used as a shopping day. Precious items (like gold, silver) are purchased on this day.

- Narak Chaturdashi: This forteenth day of Ashwin month Krishna Paksha can be called as first day of diwali. It is celebrated on the occasion of killing of demon Narakasura by Krishna. This is celebrated as a win over bad. Firecrackers are used to signify burning and demolition of bad by good.

- Lakshmi Puja: On this day Lakshmi (the Godess of wealth) is worshiped. This is considered as a very important day by many business men in India. Wealth and Godess Lakshmi are worshiped on this day. Lighting lamps (called deep) in and around houses make celebration of this day unique.

- Bali Pratipada: Also called as Padawa, is considered as a very auspicous day to begin new things, which can be buying something new, starting new business, etc. This is also considered as Vahi Pujan day by some business people.

- BhaiDuj: This can be called as day representing love of brother and sister. On this day brothers and sisters meet and celebrate the day as a token of their love for each other.

It is not that all states in India celebrate all five days. There is slight variation in importance of these days as you go from one state to other. Also most of the people prepare good sweets on these days and share with their relatives and friends. They visit each other and greet each other by offering sweets. In some states, on BhaiDuj day, you can find non-veg food being cooked. Otherwise all other days are celebrated with vegeterian food.

Overall this is a festival of joy and enjoyment and you can experience it when you are in India during diwali season.

Lastly, now a days people wish each other Diwali by saying “Shub Dipawali!!!” or “Happy Diwali!!!”.

]]> http://www.thegyan.com/2009/11/30/diwali.html/feed 0 http://www.thegyan.com/2009/11/17/why-is-the-sky-blue.html http://www.thegyan.com/2009/11/17/why-is-the-sky-blue.html#comments Wed, 18 Nov 2009 03:35:20 +0000 admin http://www.thegyan.com/?p=33 Blue sky, something which we see every day, isn’t it? When it is not a cloudy day, then the sky appears blue. If it is clear sky immediately after rain then the color is stronger. Something which we are observing daily. It may be the case that we just notice difference in brightness of this blue color, but we do not go and dig deep to find out reason behind it. Let us try to find it out.

Again it is physics which is going to answer our question. There are a couple of physics principles which explain this. Rayleigh’s principle and Tyndall Effect justify the color. Here is the core of these principles. Blue color is result of scattering of light due to atmospheric gases. As the percentage of Nitrogen and Oxygen is more in atmosphere, you can attribute this effect to these to gases happily. These gases scatter shorter wavelength light more. Violet and blue are the light wavelengths getting more scattered. Our eyes differentiate these colors less, hence finally it boils down to blue only.

Next is why it appears more blue when the sky has cleared just now after rain? Here the dust and water molecules come in picture. After rain, there are less number of dust particles and so the water molecules to do the second scattering in our eye line. When there are more particles and molecules, then the blue light scattered by gases gets scattered again by these elements. It results in hazy blue color. Generally, the sky is less blue on horizon, this is because of same reason, that the dust and water particles are more in our eye line there.

It is 30 – 45 minutes brisk walk, after you get fresh in the morning, and you haven’t eaten anything for at least 1 hour, that is the rule of game. Let us see what are the benefits.

• It creates good cholesterol (high density lipoprotiens) which help to reduce chances of heat attack.
• It improves blood circulation and low fat diet along with it also helps to reduce possibility of heat attack.
• Reduces risk of coronary heart diseases.
• Reduces stress and subsequently trouble to heart.
• Helps in controlling blood sugar levels of diabetic patients.
• More oxygen in morning air helps to feel fresh.

So stop taking long lazy sleeps, get up and start your day with a good morning walk.

I am not a scientist who is working in this field. But what I can conclude based on the information I have read in so many books, and what I see around is this – Species evolve to survive against the attack of surrounding environment, i.e. resistance from surrounding environment. For each living thing, there is something which is always working against to stop that living thing from surviving. Though there is some change in that living thing due to positive effect of surrounding, there is more change or evolution in that life to survive against the cause that is stopping it from living further. This has caused us to change over ages and live current life.

You don’t believe? Then observe every living thing around, and first observe yourself, and see for which thing you react quickly? Is it good thing or the bad thing?

The answer is physics behind Rainbow. Rainbow is formed due to diffraction of light through (rain) water drops. It is combined effect of diffraction of light through so many rain drops. A set of rain drops together create different color bands for you in sequence. This forms rainbow for you. Now when you show this rainbow to someone else, then the set of rain drops that form rainbow for that person are always different than the one which contributed to form rainbow for you. There has to be at least one drop different, isn’t it? Hence the rainbow is always different.

In short, you never showed same rainbow to your friend, interesting isn’t it?

We hear only those sounds which have frequency approximately between 20 Hz and 20,000 Hz. We differentiate sound based on two parameters – frequency and amplitude. Frequency change means different sound. Flute has different frequency as compared to trumpet. Amplitude change means change in loudness of sound. Now let us go back to our experience. We do feel difference in loudness of the sound of vehicle, because it comes closer to us and again goes away. But the other parameter is also changing. Though the sound generated by vehicle is of same frequency throughout the journey, it is the movement of vehicle which causes the change in frequency. When the vehicle is coming from back side near to us, the waves originating from vehicle are generated closer to us every time. Which creates waves which are compressed with constant rate. Hence the frequency goes on increasing when the vehicle comes nearer to us from either side. But as it crosses us, the scenario is exactly opposite. As the vehicle goes away the frequency goes on decreasing. Hence in music terms, the pitch first goes on increasing initially and then goes on decreasing. So the sound difference is at every moment due to continuous change in frequency as well as amplitude, in music terms pitch and loudness. But it is minimal until the vehicle crosses us. As soon as it crosses us, the difference amount is large enough to differentiate by our ears.

In short, we can say that the sound we hear when a vehicle is moving near us is never the same, but it is continuously changing with respect to pitch and loudness both. This effect is Doppler effect in physics concepts.

Actually, the custom is sprinkling water around the plate and taking a couple of sips. The reason involves – which Nadi (Ayurveda term) is running when you are eating food. There are two Nadi – Surya Nadi (Sun Nadi) and Chandra Nadi (Moon Nadi). You can know which Nadi is active in your body by checking your nostrils. At one point of time, we have prominent breath in only one of the two nostrils. If it is right side nostril, then Surya Nadi is active. If it is left nostril that is having larger flow of breath, then it is Chandra Nadi which is active. As per Ayurveda, or the science that is followed in Himalayan Yogis (Yoga practitioners), we should eat only when the Surya Nadi is active, and we should drink water, when it is Chandra Nadi active situation.

These Nadi switch automatically approximately every 45 minutes. We can switch these forcefully by using two methods. First is a physical activity. Check which nostril is breathing actively. Stand Up, press opposite elbow in same side (elbow side) stomach, just below your ribs, and bend little bit on that side. This is as if you are pressing near your kidney. The force should be just more than gentle push. Do not push too hard to hurt stomach. This will switch the Nadi to opposite.

There is another easier way of starting the Surya Nadi. Take a couple of sips of water. Soon the Surya Nadi is started and we can have food then. Our body digests food very well when it is eaten when Surya Nadi is running. Don’t drink water immediately after food. Wait for around 45 minutes, when Chandra Nadi starts. (This is what current medical science suggests.)

The person who told me this, claimed that it has helped him to remain fit for years without any medicine. This is the reason why ancient Indians used to sprinkle water around plate and take a couple of sips in stomach after that. This would have been secret of their health and disease free life. This may be one of the secret of the Himalayan saints very long life span along with Yoga.

There may be other reasons behind sprinkling water, but having couple of sips of water before eating food should help in digesting food properly. Worth following.

All Saints’Day, also called as Solemnity of All Saints and All Hallows or Hallowmas, is celebrated on November 1st by western Christians. It is celebrated on first sunday after Pentecost by Estern Christians. Basically this day is celebrated to remember and honour all known and unknown Saints.

Both Church and common Christians celebrate this day to remember the deceased one’s. Churches usually remeber the Saints and the Church associates who are passed away. Mass is held in almost all Churches on this day. People remember their relatives by visiting graves and offering flowers or candles or both. The idea is to remeber them all with respect and love.

This day is connected to Halloween celebrated a night prior. Halloween celebration points towards Ghosts while this celebration can be said to be directed towards good souls, can be said in western Church context as the one’s who have attained heaven.

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