Ever since humans started experiencing sight and vision, the Moon, our nearest heavenly body, has been influencing, inspiring, captivating, and bewitching us physically, mentally, and psychologically. Countless references exist. Numerous are the symbolic inferences, infinite are the languages of expression. Yet, it continues to titillate our imagination, becoming a recurring motif for expressing emotions, with its mysterious ways that fascinate mankind.

Shakespeare in Othello says, “It is the very error of the Moon. She comes nearer Earth than she was wont. And makes men mad,

Closer home, our national poet, Maithili Sharan Gupt ji, has said in his epic poem “Panchvati.”

“चारु चंद्र की चंचल किरणें, खेल रहीं हैं जल थल में,
स्वच्छ चाँदनी बिछी हुई है अवनि और अम्बरतल में।“

Expressing the seamless transition from illuminating, to beaming, to enveloping, to radiating, to universal enlightenment!!!

Moon, with its inherent, perpetual quality of fading and rising and fading yet again, exemplifies the very aspect of conservation in the cosmos.

Let’s examine …

Moon and Earth are tidally locked, which means that they are synchronously rotating and that the Moon rotates about its own axis at the same rate it revolves around the Earth.

These two aspects are both equal to 27.3 EARTH days, leading to US on Earth seeing the same face of the moon, called the near side, with the other hidden side called the far side, because it’s always hidden from us.

As the Moon revolves around the Earth while the Earth itself is revolving around the Sun, we arrive at a point twice in a month, when the Sun, the Earth and the Moon are all aligned in a straight line.

These two points are commonly referred to as AMAVASYA (new moon) and PURNIMA (full moon), and the alignment in astronomical terms is called a SYZYGY….

Obviously, when this alignment occurs in a specific, particular manner, eclipses both Solar and Lunar occur, but the monthly two-point alignment need not produce eclipses.

Amavasya has a very strong Vedic relevance and also impacts or influences the Mandala. The Vedic relevance has been seen to converge with modern Physics, especially with the increasing influence and understanding of Quantum Mechanics/Physics in modern thought.

During the Amavasya period, gravitational forces are maximum, owing to the combined effect of the Sun and Moon and therefore, high tides record higher levels and low tides record lower levels. The cosmos and the oceanic movement achieve synchronisation and thus harmony.

It is not a surprise that both modern Physics and Vedic thought agree on Earth’s water being influenced by the Moon and also the cyclic aspect of the Moon’s phases from the Amavasya to the Purnima. Moon stabilises the Earth’s axial tilt, because of which circadian rhythms are influenced. This is the aspect of living beings, going from a wake state to a sleep state once every twenty-four hours, with the gradual appearance of the moon every twenty-four hours. Life tends to go from labour to rest because physical influences do take place amongst living beings.

We all know that a Mandala has the basic property of symmetry, periodic behaviour and repetitive geometry. This aspect gets perfectly represented in the Moon’s phases as a geometric expression of cosmic realism, especially since a structure emerges through a repeated pattern.

While Vedas emphasise consciousness as an important dimension, physics is more inclined to and dependent on subjective material systems, which tends to place matter–energy before consciousness. Recent inroads in quantum thought and its increasing acceptance in modern Physics, owing to a steadily improved understanding by a gradually increasing number of people, consciousness is also becoming understood as a dimension – Simply put, outer mechanical state complementing inner meaning and energy resonance.

It is the resonance that brings forth the Mandala and the Mandala that brings emphasis to the resonance–All visible to the naked eye in the evening skies all over the world as the Moon climbs the heavens, gazes on the Earth, wandering alone among the stars, ever changing, with us mortals just being overawed by the suspense.

Regards

Appa

Appa

Tales, Taills and Trails

 

Ram Iyer is a retired Project Director from the Science & Technology Park, an initiative of the Department of Sci & Technology, Govt. of India. With a B.Tech. and an MBA from the University of Delhi. Getting India back to its roots through Vedic Science & Technologies is the mission he is on. Post-retirement, he actively supports Nisargshala’s mission, lending his scientific knowledge to nature-based education and stargazing initiatives.