Partial Lunar Eclipse 6th August 2009
On Thursday, 6th August 2009, a partial (penumbral) lunar eclipse of the Moon will be visible in South Africa. A lunar eclipse occurs whenever the Moon passes through some portion of the Earth's shadow. This can occur only when the Sun, Earth, and Moon are aligned exactly, or very closely so, with the Earth in the middle. Hence, there is always a full moon on the night of a lunar eclipse.
The penumbral eclipse will be between 01h01 – 04h17 (SOUTH ARICAN TIME).The above information was obtained from
http://www.saao.ac.za/public-info/sun-moon-stars/eclipse-index/lunar-eclipses-2004-2020/
The katha below on how the Eclipse started is narrated in the Srimad Bhagavatam 8th canto chapter 5-10. To read the full katha below please go onto this link from the Srimad Bhagavatam. http://www.srimadbhagavatam.org/canto8/c8-contents.html
The devas and the demons assembled on the shore of the milk ocean that lies in the celestial region of the cosmos. The devas and the demons devised a plan to churn the milk ocean to produce the nectar of immortality. They then agreed to share the nectar equally once it was produced.
For the task of churning the milk ocean, the Mandara Mountain was used as the churning rod, and Vasuki, the king of serpents, became the rope for churning. As the churning began, the Mandara Mountain began to sink deep into the ocean, at which time Lord Vishnu incarnated as a great tortoise called Lord Kurma and supported the mountain on His back. With the devas at Vasuki’s tail and the demons at his head, they churned the milk ocean for one thousand years.
The churning of the milk ocean first produced a deadly poison, which Lord Shiva drank without being affected. As Lord Shiva drank the poison, a few drops fell from his hands and were licked up by scorpions, snakes, and similar other deadly crea¬tures.
Next came the Apsaras, beautiful dancing girls, and a host of other wonderful things appeared from the milk ocean. At last the Lord came in a form called Dhanvantari appeared carrying the pot of immortal nectar in His hands. Seeing Lord Dhanvantari with the pot of nectar, both the devas and demons became anxious. The devas, being fearful of what would happen if the demons drank their share of the nectar of immortality, forcibly seized the pot.
Wherever the devas went with the pot of nectar, fierce fighting ensued. In an endeavor to keep the nectar from falling into the hands of the demons, the devas hid it in four places on the earth - Bharat (India), Prayag (Allahabad), Haridwar, Ujjain, and Nasik. At each of the hiding places, a drop of immortal nectar spilled from the pot and landed on the earth. These four places since then have acquired mystical powers.
Eventually, the demons overpowered the devas and took possession of the nectar of immortality. To rescue the devas from the hands of fate, Lord Vishnu incarnated as a beautiful woman, Mohini-murti, and approached the demons. When the demons saw the charming beauty of Mohini-murti, they lost all composure. Seeing Her slender hips, raised breasts, and pleasing smile, the demons completely forgot about drinking the nectar of immortality. While Her beauty thus bewildered the demons, Mohini-murti seized the nectar and returned it to the devas, who drank it immediately. But Rahu had disguised himself as a deva. The Sun (Suryadev) and the Moon (Chandradev) pointed this out to Mohini Devi who immediately slashed off the demon’s head. Since the nectar had by then already reached up to the neck, he did not die. Thus the head came to be known as Rahu and the body as Ketu. To avenge this betrayal, Rahu and Ketu periodically eclipse the sun and the moon.
Astronomically speaking, when the Sun, the Moon and the Earth are all in line, with the Moon or the Earth at the centre, a solar or lunar eclipse takes place respectively.
At the time of the eclipse, many people especially of Indian decent bathe in the sacred rivers like River Ganga. They perform charitable acts and donate daan like cows, grains, gold and so forth. The day after the eclipse they feed the poor, the Brahmins and the Sadhus. After the eclipse they clean their houses, vessels, etc., and take a bath before they start cooking.
One should not take food during the duration of the eclipse. When the eclipse begins the food should by then have been digested. One should take food only after seeing the sun or the moon free from the eclipse. When the clear sun or the moon is not seen before sunset or sunrise, in the case of the solar and lunar eclipse respectively, food can be taken only after the sun or the moon is seen the next day.
Pregnant women should not see the sun or the moon during the time of the eclipse. If they do the child born may have some kind of defect. The child may be born deaf, dumb or blind. Householders are forbidden from sexual intercourse on the day of the eclipse, for the same reason.
At this time one should take great care in avoiding bleeding, scorpion stings, etc. These have disastrous results. Even an earthworm has a poisonous effect when it bites one during an eclipse.
Those who perform Japa at the time of the eclipse derive great benefits. The effect of Japa and Sankirtana (the congregational chanting of mantras with other devotees of the Lord) during the eclipse contributes towards relieving the suffering of humanity and also of the planets. These people receive the blessings of all the devas and Shree Krsna Himself. They attain perfection quickly.
Now in these “so called modern times” we hear comments like “Oh this eclipse thing is so psychosomatic, its all myths and legends etc. Why do we have to follow it so strictly?” Well naturally to the primitive mind any sophisticated and advanced knowledge would be indistinguishable from the masses and be naturally scorned upon. Being confronted with these ideas someone inquired: “Can you prove that these things happen?” “Can anyone prove that they don’t”, was the reply. A compromise can be reached by the adage: “for one who believes, no proof is required; and for the one who does not believe, no proof exists”. From my experience I have seen that those who had this attitude really suffered later and esp. expecting mother didn’t want to strictly observe the eclipse and it ended disastrously for them. Remember that the little intellect cannot understand many things in this universe. Hence, have faith in the words of sastras and sages. Ignorance has eclipsed knowledge. However, this eclipse will disappear. You must learn to shine in life with knowledge. The more you study and learn the more humble it makes you because then you realize how little we know. This is the spiritual significance of the eclipse. Thank you for taking time to read this article. We are trying to reach out not only to Hindus but to others of other faiths as well. By compiling and publishing these articles we hope that others will understand what a beautiful and diversified way of life Hinduism (Sanathan Dharma) really is. Please alert your friends and family of this website. You may pass these articles to friends and family who do not have access to the Internet or even print them and keep them in a file. These articles are published so that it will be a reference to you and your family when you need clarification of certain topics. Jai Shree Krishna.