The lunar calendar can be confusing, or invigorating, depending on which side of the fence you are on.
If you are on the boring side, every year is the same, as far as dates are concerned. Your birthday always falls on the same day, so does New Year, and everything in between.
But if you are on the seeking side, well – you have to keep track!
It becomes invigorating – the calendar jumps to life as you navigate the tithi-based lunar calendar. Your birth tithi is your actual birthday based on the planetary alignments at the time of birth, and so can fall before or after the Gregorian date when you were born. So with everyone else’s birthday. Festivals fall on different days anyways, but the anniversary of your birth is also a festival in itself, isn’t it?
The same with New Year – instead of the cold drab 31st December, we have many New Years, depending on which part of India you are from. Most Indian New Year’s begin in Chaitra Masa, in March-April, or during the advent of spring.
Come to think of it, does a cold winter morning sound like a new beginning, or does a bright spring morning feel more like it?
Anyways, the next few days are eventful, beginning with my Karate master’s birthday tomorrow, followed by my Tithi birthday on 1st November, Diwali on 4th and Gujrati (and all traders) new year on the 5th.
My birthday always falls on Ekādashi (since I was born on Ekādashi) and so it will always be a day when I will be on a fast. Good way to start a new year of my own, with a purer body and hopefully saner mind.
Do you keep track of the lunar calendar? If not, visit https://www.drikpanchang.com (no, this is not a paid promotion) and enter the dynamic world of tithis and kālas, a far more effective and logical way of keeping track of days and times.
Tell me what you think!