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Change Your Life With MahaDaan At Makar Sankaranti 14.01.2014

All religious festivals are intended to be celebrated in a spiritually correct way so as to derive spiritual benefits from them. However, over a period of time, the local customs influence the celebrations. According to the rule that ‘customs have more impact on people than the Scriptures;’ humans emulate others blindly and celebrate festivals in their own way. Thus Makar Sankranti is celebrated differently in different parts of Bharat (India).
In this article, we will explain the spiritual science underlying the celebration of Makar Sankranti, which we hope will motivate our readers to celebrate it in the spiritually correct way.



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Importance of Makar Sankranti

1. Worldly importance

In India, Makar Sankranti is celebrated to let go of our differences with each other and increase love in us. One way people come close together on this day, is by distributing sweets to each other. These sweets are typically made of sesame seeds.

2. Spiritual importance

a. On Makar Sankranti from sunrise to sunset, the environment is full of Chaitanya. Thus, a seeker doing sadhana (spiritual practice) can derive the maximum benefit of the increased Chaitanya. Due to the Chaitanya, tejtattva (Absolute Fire Principle) also increases in seekers.
b. The day of Makar Sankranti is very conducive for sadhana.

Spiritual significance of sweets made out of sesame seeds

a. Before distributing sweets made out of sesame seeds, they should be kept in front of an  idol or a picture of a Deity on one’s altar. This helps retain the Shakti (Divine Energy) and Chaitanya (Divine Consciousness) in the sweets.
b. When distributing sweets made of sesame seeds,  bhav (spiritual emotion) and Chaitanya is awakened in us.
c. All the members of the house derive the benefit of the increased Chaitanya in the environment.
d. The prembhav (love) in people increases and they are able to overcome negative thinking and replace it with positive thinking.
e. According to Ayurveda, eating sesame seeds in winter is beneficial for our health. Spiritually, sesame seeds and sesame oil have the ability to absorb and emit Sattva frequencies more than any other oil. Hence, during Makar Sankranti, sesame seeds are favorable for good sadhana (spiritual practice) to happen.
f. Importance of sesame seed sweets: Sesame seeds have the ability to absorb and emit high amounts of Sattva frequencies. By consuming sesame seed sweets, inner purification happens which helps improve one’s sadhana. By distributing these sweets to each other, there is an exchange of sattvikta, which helps increase everyone’s sattvikta.
Hindu festivals are great opportunities to imbibe the increased amount of positive energy and Deities’ principle in the environment. However this is possible only if one celebrates the festivals as per the guidance of Hindu Dharma. By adhering to Dharma we can derive the maximum benefit of each festival thereby purifying ourselves as well as the environment.

Makara Sankranti has an astrological significance, as the sun enters the Capricorn (Sanskrit: Makara) zodiac constellation on that day. This date remains almost constant with respect to the Gregorian calendar. However, precession of the earth’s axis (called ayanamsa) causes Makara Sankranti to slide further over the ages. A thousand years ago, Makara Sankranti was on 31 December and is now on 14 January. Five thousand years later, it shall be by the end of February, while in 9,000 years it shall come in June.
While the traditional Indian Calendar is based on lunar positions, Sankranti is a solar event. So while dates of all Hindu festivals keep changing as per the Gregorian calendar, the date of Makara Sankranti remains constant over a long term, 14 January. Makara Sankranti is celebrated in the Hindu Calendar month of Magha.
Makara Sankranti is a major harvest festival celebrated in various parts of India. Many Indians also conflate this festival with the Winter Solstice, and believe that the sun ends its southward journey (Sanskrit: Dakshinayana) at the Tropic of Capricorn, and starts moving northward (Sanskrit: Uttarayaana) towards the Tropic of Cancer, in the month of Pausha on this day in mid-January. There is no observance of Winter Solstice in the Hindu religion. Makara Sankranti commemorates the beginning of the harvest season and cessation of the northeast monsoon in South India. The movement of the Sun from one zodiac sign into another is called Sankranti and as the Sun moves into the Capricorn zodiac known as Makara in Sanskrit, this occasion is named as Makara Sankranti in the Indian context. It is one of the few Hindu Indian festivals which are celebrated on a fixed date i.e. 14 January every year (or may be sometimes on 15 January (leap year)).
Makara Sankranti, apart from a harvest festival is also regarded as the beginning of an auspicious phase in Indian culture. It is said as the ‘holy phase of transition’. It marks the end of an inauspicious phase which according to the Hindu calendar begins around mid-December. It is believed that any auspicious and sacred ritual can be sanctified in any Hindu family, this day onwards. Scientifically, this day marks the beginning of warmer and longer days compared to the nights. In other words, Sankranti marks the termination of winter season and beginning of a new harvest or spring season.
All over the country, Makara Sankranti is observed with great fanfare. However, it is celebrated with distinct names and rituals in different parts of the country. In the states of northern and western India, the festival is celebrated as the Sankranti day with special zeal and fervour. The importance of this day has been signified in the ancient epics like Mahabharata also. So, apart from socio-geographical importance, this day also holds a historical and religious significance. As it is the festival of Sun God and he is regarded as the symbol divinity and wisdom, the festival also holds an eternal meaning to it.


 Source: Wikipedia