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Sankranti – Take the U-turn
- The time signifies a reversal in the
movement of the sun. For most of us, in the Northern Hemisphere of the earth,
it is (about) the time when the shortest day ends and, again, the day gets
longer.
- From our point of view, the sun takes a
U-turn as though. He starts going Northward, while for the last six months he
was going Southward.
- Sankranti means ‘reaching’ or ‘crossing’.
- Symbolically, for the spiritual seeker,
Sankranti means the U-turn in her thoughts. She turns inward.
- The Kathopanishad declares, "The senses are
normally turned outwards. A rare soul looks within, seeking to conquer death."
(2:1:1)
- The Geeta confirms: "One in a thousand
strives for spiritual perfection. One rare soul among them knows Me
correctly." (7:3)
- Pujya Gurudev remarks, "A man who has always
signed with his right hand finds it most difficult to write with his left
hand. So is it very difficult for people to turn inward, as they have all
along looked outside."
- It is a quantum leap when we change the very
area of our focus – from the outer world to the inner one.
- It is Sankranti when we drop selfishness and
get ready to serve.
- It is a great day when we give up our
thoughts about sense objects and think of God.
- It is a festival when we withdraw from our
likes and dislikes and watch the movement of the mind without bias.
- It is quiet celebration in the banquet hall
of our own heart, when we rise above all our judgments and experience pure
love for all.
Swami Chidananda
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