Who is Scared of Eclipses?

Aniket SuleHBCSE-TIFR, Mumbai

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Let us start with a question:

While growing up, did your elders tell you that eclipses are bad omens and

the eclipse time is ‘unholy’?

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Science of Eclipses

● Lunar Eclipse:– Types?– What causes the eclipse?– When does it happen?– Comparing it with lunar cycle of phases

● Solar Eclipse:– Types?– What causes the eclipse?– When does it happen?

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1. To View or Not To View

● People are discouraged from watching eclipses

● Which are prominent eclipses (seen from India) of the– Sun in last 40 years?– Moon in last 3 years?

● How many people watched those eclipses either live or on TV or on Internet?– What misfortune fell on them?

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2. Pregnancy and Eclipses

● Pregnant Women should not see eclipses– Baby will develope deformities

● Pregnant Women should not handle any sharp tools during the eclipses– Baby will have birthmarks / cuts

● There is no statistical study to show any such ill effects are caused by eclipses.

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3. Dangerous Rays

● Some dangerous rays travel towards us from Sun / Moon during the eclipse.

● Sun emits more UV / IR light during the solar eclipse.

● What is the mechanism by which this emission of UV / IR / other dangerous rays is switched on during the eclipse?

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3a. But Science too says so

● We do tell people, “Don’t watch solar eclipse by naked eye, your eyes may get damaged due to sun rays”.

● But, what we actually mean is,– The Sun is extremely bright source of light and

staring at it continuously on any day can damage your eyes.

– During eclipse, there is more excitement to watch the Sun and there is a danger of people trying to stare at the sun even when their eyes are hurting.

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4. Phase Cycle

● During lunar eclipses, what would happen in 28 days over a full lunar cycle is happening in a subtle way over the course of two to three hours of the eclipse. In terms of energy, the earth’s energy is mistaking this eclipse as a full cycle of the moon. - Jaggi Vasudev

● Do the two cycles look even remotely similar?

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5. Don’t Eat During the Eclipse

● When the moon is going through a whole cycle in 2-3 hours’ time, there is a little bit of confusion in all our mothers’ bodies. – This is also happening in a man’s body, because your mothers

are present in a certain way – not physiologically but in other ways.

● When the body is in a confused state, the best thing is to keep it as empty as possible, and as conscious as possible. One of the simplest ways to be conscious is to not eat. ..... – Your body becomes more transparent and you are able to notice

what is happening with your system much better. ● Jaggi Vasudev (again)

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6. Faster Bacterial Growth

● Bacteria in Food grow much faster during an eclipse.

● Some people tried proving this using a proper scientific experiment and ended up proving the opposite, i.e. there is no change in the growth rate during an eclipse.

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7. Tulsi Leaf in Food

● During an eclipse, if you want to prevent food from getting spoilt, put a Tulsi Leaf in the food. It will protect the food.

● The best part of Indian customs is that every ridiculous but scary problem has equally ridiculous but easy solution.– If someone actually believes the dangerous rays or

bacteria nonsense, what would a leaf do in such case?

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8. Holy dip

● Take holy bath, preferrably in a river, at the end of the eclipse.

● What is it that exactly changes during an eclipse?

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9. Giving Alms During Eclipse

● It was (or may be still is) common to see poor people asking for alms during eclipses.– People felt that the unholy period becomes holy

through such acts– दे दान सुटे गिराण (ग्रहण)

● If one likes to do charity, you don’t need an occasion.

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10. Rahu & Ketu

● Eclipses happen when either of two body parts (राह ूand केत)ू of the immortal demon स्वरभान ूswallow either the Sun or the Moon. But it releases them again, as he cannot control them.

● In calendrical astronomy, the Indian names for the nodes of the lunar orbit are राह ूand केत.ू

– For this reason, they also make appearance in Panchanga and hence in horoscopes.

– This confuses many people and they start believing that these two imaginary points are same as the demons Rahu and Ketu described in mythology.

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Eclipse is a spectacular natural phenomena. Don’t miss it due to some unfounded fears.

Don’t listen to self-proclaimed experts of religion and don’t fall prey to superstitions.