swami vivekananda's thought 3

words are secondary,

thoughts live,

they travel far.

easter

Easter is the oldest Christian festival in Christianity.

             Easter is the resurrection of the Lord. Easter is celebrated after fifty days of fasting and abstinence. It is the last day of the Lenten season.

  

Good Friday is a day of grief. Holy Saturday is a day of mourning and wailing. A total silence reins the church from morning to dusk.

  

But by ten at night the church is full to observe the Easter Vigil. Christians go for midnight service and participate in all the ceremonies. In the darkness which envelops the church, new fire is struck and blessed. A big candle is then consecrated and from it is lighted many candles indicating the resurrection. During the Mass the message of the risen Lord is announced. Bells peal, music fills the air and light floods the hall.

Hallelujah is the joyous word of Easter wish. All greet each other ‘Happy Easter.’ Easter Sunday is a quiet day and the celebrations are rather spiritual and inward rather than social and showy. There will be grand dinner at home.

good friday

Jesus Christ was crucified on a Friday. This Friday is observed in the holy week. The holy week is the last week of the Lenten season. Christians spend the lent in fasting and presence. Easter comes on Sunday after Good Friday. Although it is a sad day when Jesus was crucified, it is considered as Good Friday since Jesus sacrificed his life to save mankind.

  

This day is specially observed as a day of atonement. Christians fast, go to church and participate in the prayers and ceremonies. The services will be usually by three in the afternoon the time when Jesus died. The day is spent in prayer and meditation. Special processions are organized recalling the way of the cross or the journey of Jesus through streets of Jerusalem to the top of Calvary where he was crucified. 

This cannot be considered as a festival but a day of great importance for all Christians to repent, confess their sins and try to lead better lives. It is means to wash away the sins, and come nearer to God.

WISHING PEACE AND SOLICE ON THIS BLESSED GOOD FRIDAY

mahavir jayanti

As the name indicates, Mahavir Jayanti is the birthday of Lord Mahavir, the founder of Jainism. Queen of Trishala gave birth to Mahavir in 599 B.C. the boy was always in search of truth and knowledge. He was named Vardhmana.

 

After Vaardhamana became the enlightened one or Thirthankara, he preached about truth, knowledge and non violence. Jainism has no belief in creator God and they believe that their religion is eternal.  It is revealed in stages by a number of Thirthankaras.

Vardhamana Mahavira is consideres as the 24^th thirthankara. Jainism had split into two sets called Digambaras and Svetembaras. Charitable work, reverence for life and non violence are the highlights of this great religion established in India.

On Mahavir Jayanti, Jain temples are decorated with flags. In the morning the idol of Mahavira is given a ceremonial bath called the ‘abhishek’. It is then placed in a cradle and carried in procession around the neighbourhood. The devotees make offerings of milk, rice, fruit, incense, lamps and water to the people in procession. Some sections of the community even participate in a grand procession.

  

Jains listen to lectures and stories of life and preaching of thirthankaras and take oath to lead a selfness life as preached by founders of the religion. People meditate and offer prayers. Donations are collected to save cows from slaughter.

Pilgrims from all parts of the country visit the ancient Jain Temples at Girnar and Palitana in Gujarat on this day. 
Happy Mahavir Jayanti to all everythingaboutindia.info visitors.

Bhaskaracharya: Astronomer and mathematician

He was a great astronomer. He was born in 1114 A.D. at Bijapur in Mysore. Bhaskara represents the height of mathematical and astronomical knowledge in India during 12^th century. His understanding of mathematics was yast and far ahead of the rest of the world by several centuries.

His main works were ‘lilavati’ (arithmetic) and ‘Bijaganita’ (algebra).  His book ‘Siddhanta Shiromani’ was written in the year 115A.D. which consist two parts: Goladhyaya (Spheres) and and Grihganita (mathematics of the Planets).

He calculated Horoscope again and again, but the answer remained the same. The death of his future son in law was imminent. He would die soon after the marriage.

But wasn’t there a way out?

Yes!

The wedding should consummate at exact auspicious date and time, sumuhurtam (most favourable date and time) and no chances to be taken. Mechanical or digital clocks were not invented then. So he built a small sand clock, in which sand would flow from the top vessel into a bottom vessel through a small aperture. The level of sand in the bottom vessel indicated the time.

To comfort his bereaved daughter, he taught arithmetic to her. He named his book after her, as ‘Lilavati’ where arithmetic flowed as poetry.

‘Lilavati is divided into 13 chapters with 278 verses. It covers almost all the branches of the mathematics such as arithmetic, algebra, geometry and trigonometry. Tables, the number system, and its operation like addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, square, cube, square root, cube root, fractions, zero and interest all are dealt with thoroughly.

‘Bijaganita’ (algebra) contains 213 verses. It describes the rules to deal with calculations of zero and infinity, and the concept of positive and negative numbers.

‘’Siddhanta Shiromani’ shows his knowledge of infinitesimal calculus and mathematical analysis, trigonometry, differential calculus and integral calculus.

‘Goladhyaya’ deals with circles and spheres. It has chapters on spherical trigonometry, ellipse calculations cosmography geography and planet motion.

Bhaskaracharya also discuss solar and lunar eclipses, conjunctions of the planets with each other and with the fixed stars, mean and true longitudes and latitudes of the planets and moon’s crescent.

He served as the head of the astronomical observatory at Ujjain. It is now well known that Bhaskaracharya influenced mathematical developments in Europe and the Middle East.

Bhaskaracharya-I and Bhaskaracharya-II are the two satellites named after Bhaskarachary. There were built by the Indian space program that formed India’s first low orbit Earth Observation Satellite to collect the data on telemetry, oceanography and hydrology.