Sunday, September 1, 2019

Why do they say not to watch the moon on the Ganesh Chaturthi day!



Ganesha Chaturthi is among the biggest festivals in India. It is celebrated with lots of enthusiasm, devotion, austerity and show. This day is considered special as Lord Ganesha was acknowledged by his father Lord Shiva as one of the most powerful and superior gods. Ancient wisdom holds a great significance in Indian culture and is believed to be useful if followed properly.

Lord Ganesha is a symbol of knowledge, fortune, prosperity and wisdom. In fact, we worship him before starting any major activity to ensure success and fruition.

When it comes to this festival of Ganesha Chaturthi, most of us don’t know that we are not supposed to look at the moon in the sky on this special day. There is an interesting story behind this reason.
Moon God (Chandra) was handsome and was always proud of his looks. Even humans compare a beautiful face with the glowing moon. One day, when Lord Ganesha was walking, Moon God (Chandra) tried to make fun of him by making sarcastic remarks. He commented upon the belly and the elephant head of Lord Ganesha. Though Lord Ganesha kept his cool, he realized that Moon should be punished in order to make him humble and polite. So, Ganesha looked at the arrogant moon and cursed him saying that nobody will look at him or praise him from that day. Due to that curse, if anyone looks at the Moon, they will face false allegations and suffer bad name even if you are innocent.

Moon God got shattered to face such a humiliating punishment. His arrogance and rudeness vanished in a moment. All other Gods around were worried and started worshiping Lord Ganesha to appease him again and apologize. At last, Ganesha was pleased and relieved Moon God from the curse but with a clause. Human beings can look at the moon on any day in the year but not on the day of “Bhadrapada Chaturthi” which is the day of Ganesha Chaturthi. If anyone sees Moon on that day, they may face false allegations and may lose peace.

Scientific reasons:
As per Hindu calendar, Vinayaka Chaturthi comes in Bhadrapada month (the sixth month from February/March) which is August/September timeframe. This is the 4th day of a lunar month and is celebrated on a Full moon day. It is also told that we should not see the moon on 3rd and 5th days too (A day before and after).

Ganesh Chaturthi occurs on the fourth day of the waxing moon period. On this day, the sun, the moon, and the earth are in such angles such that the moonlight which falls on earth is negatively charged, that is the reason why one should not see or get exposed to moonlight on this day!

But it's not easy those days to let people understand scientific reasons behind many traditions which is why nowadays people think they're myths or superstitions. However, certain things are said and done those days might have applied well then but may not suit well for today's world. We should take what's good and not comment on what we don't believe

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