Makar Sankranti is an ancient & auspicious festival which is celebrated all over the nation with different names across different states.
The time it takes for the Earth to complete its orbit around the Sun, is known as a “solar year,” the Earth completes its revolution on an elliptical path in the orbit. This path is called the “ecliptic.” The ecliptic is divided into 12 imaginary segments, each corresponding to a constellation in the sky. These segments are named after the shape of the constellations as they align in that segment, and these are: 1-Aries, 2-Taurus, 3-Gemini, 4-Cancer, 5-Leo, 6-Virgo, 7-Libra, 8-Scorpio, 9-Sagittarius, 10-Capricorn, 11-Aquarius, 12-Pisces. Each of these 12 segments is called a “zodiac sign.”
When the Earth transitions from one zodiac sign to another, it’s called “Sankranti” or a celestial shift. The transition from Capricorn to Aquarius marks Makar Sankranti. This transition affects the Sun’s path in the sky, leading to the phenomena of Uttarayana (northward movement, or the transition of the Sun into Capricorn) and Dakshinayana (southward movement, or the transition of the Sun into Cancer) over six months each.
Makar Sankranti this year did not align with the actual Uttarayana shift in practice due to the consistent backward movement of the equinox and solstice. This shift has taken around 1427 years to develop. Although we celebrated Makar Sankranti on 14th January`24, the Uttarayana for this year had already taken place on December 22, 2023, at 8:08 AM. Just as Suryadeva enters Uttarayana, the festival of Makar Sankranti teaches us to embark on the path of spiritual progress, known as Devayana.
The celebrations at Arya Samaj Mandir, GK-2 began with performing a Havan in the Yagyashala from 3:00 pm to 3:30 pm which was followed by a pravachan by Acharya Ganesh Dutt Tripathi jee on the importance of Makar Sankranti, from 3.30pm till 4.00pm. Thereafter there was a devotional Bhajan session from 4:15pm to 5:30 pm. The bhajans were rendered vibrantly by Sh. Kuldeep Arya from Meerut who mesmerized the audience of around 140 devotees. After the session, Mr. S. D. Nangia, President of Arya Samaj GK II, appreciated the excellent bhajans of Mr. Kuldeep Arya and also thanked the audience for coming and gracing the occasion in the severe cold. Refreshments and Prasad were served to all and the session ended with a Shanti paath led by Acharya Ganesh Dutt Tripathi jee.
