Sankranti

Advice given by H.H.Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi:

"Today we are celebrating here a special day called Makar Sankrant. For the information of the foreign Sahaja Yogis, I will explain to you what it means. It means today is the day the sun crosses over from the Tropic of Capricorn to the Tropic of Cancer. It is a very big day for us because, now during the summer time we have the harvest, and we look forward to the rain and so many things that happen in every country. The sun falls at right angles in this country during the summer season and so we welcome the sun. We eat something that we must have eaten already what we call as til and Jaggery. It is to prepare your body and your mind to give it sufficiency to receive the sun. Because if you are living in the cool season, then all your body mind becomes lethargic and you become also sometimes very lazy about things in the sense that the day is so small that you cannot achieve many results. So the body has become cold as we call it. We take these things, which give us heat so body is prepared to receive the heat of the sun to welcome."
(Makar Sankranti Puja, Mumbai, 14/1/85)

"Today is the day where we celebrate the change of the axis of the Sun and that he moves towards the tropic of cancer. Tropic of cancer is the one which represents the motherhood, the motherhood of the earth.
This tropic of Cancer has passed through quite a big area of land while the tropic of Capricorn has not. And the area through which it has passed it has created different beautiful manifestation of the mother qualities on this earth. We celebrate this change because the sun has now moved into the new dimension so that all over the world there will be the warmth of the sun.
Warmth of the sun represents the warmth of God's love. This is the reason why we celebrate this festival by giving you some sort of a sweet made out of sesame seeds. Sesame seeds are given because they are also heat giving and now as we are coming from the cold we come to the hot season in a way hotter season so to prepare you with that warmth of the Sun.
These special things are made out of the seed of sesame to represent the oncoming warmth and the warmth of the sun. Though in India the heat is too much still people are waiting for this time to come in and they celebrate it with such a warm heart. At this time it is said that they give you this sesame seed and the sugar to eat but now you must speak in a sweet manner (gudd gudd gunaaa) means you must speak in the sweet manner."
(Sankranti Puja, 14/1/87)

"... a special type of a Puja that we are having today. This is the Puja done to the Sun and is called as Makar Sankranti. Makar is the tropic of Capricorn, Capricorn is Makar. So now, the Sun is moving from the tropic of Capricorn towards tropic of Cancer and is always a fixed date because it has something to do with the Sun. This is the only date it is fixed in Indian Calendar because they have to deal with the Sun. But this time, I don’t know why, what has happened, that they have put it on the 15th of this month. It’s always the 14th. ... (Surya Puja, Mumbai, 10/1/88)

In Maharashtra, Karnataka as well as parts of Andhra Pradesh, Makar Sankranti is a day of goodwill and friendship, and marks the commencement of the sun's journey to the Northern Hemisphere (Makara raasi), signifying the onset of Uttarayana Punyakalam, and is a day of celebration all over the country. The day begins with people taking holy dips in the waters and worshipping the Sun. Besides since the day marks the harbinger of good harvest it is also celebrated in various harvest festivals in India. Also celebrated with great fervor across India as a festival called Pongal (in south of India), Bihu (in the North eastern part of India) and Lohri (in Northern India) while rest of India enjoys the 'Til -Gur' day. Til- is Sesame seed in English while 'Gur' is termed as Jaggery in English. Jaggery is supposed to be a coarse, unrefined sugar made from the sap of certain palm trees. It is also available in form of a coarse, unrefined sugar that has been made from sugar cane juice (in which case the palm sugar will be called gur) and is popular throughout southern and Southeast Asia. Jaggery is most often available in cake form, and ranges from fairly crumbly to nearly rock-hard. (Rabi Ghosh)