Solar Eclipse... God's eye flashing !!!

This Solar eclipse had special significance for all of us. It is said that a Solar Eclipse of such proportions would not be witnessed for around another 100 years......that means, at least for our generation, this would be the last of such a spectacle.

However, at Mumbai, it was completely an overcast sky & attempts to view the eclipse was met with a lot of disapointments. I was up in the morning at 4.30 am & after a quick wash & freshening up, I sat for meditation & chantings. It was so calm & pure....as if the nature was joining me in the prayers for the good of mankind. Guruji had asked us to do chantings, & like thousands across the world, I too meditated. It felt very nice & peaceful.

After the eclipse was over, I took a shower, & performed a Puja & then started with my day.

Curious as I was, I later on surfed the net & news to gather details of the eclipse across India.

I believe, at Varanasi(Benaras), thousands had thronged the ghats of Ganges to catch a glimpse of the eclipse. For more than 3 minutes, the pilgrims & other enthusiasts watched the eclipse. It was a sight to behold. The Sun was blocked by the Lunar disc, forming the classical diamond ring in the sky. This sight is often termed as the God's eye, & it looked like God's eye flashing over the sky......as if saying, "I am always watching you".

Up in the sky, a soft white halo formed around the black ball of the lunar disc. This was the Sun’s atmosphere, called corona (meaning a crown), that’s visible from Earth only during a total eclipse. The sight is often called God’s eye, and in Varanasi (Benaras) on Wednesday, it appeared just that – a giant eye in the sky with a black ‘eyeball’ and a white ‘cornea’. Spots of light, called Baily’s beads, appeared around the edges of the Moon’s disc and in photographs clicked by lensmen, rarely-seen solar prominences were clearly visible. These are huge masses of fiery matter that get spewed from the Sun’s surface and are pulled back in by its gravity. At the same, planets like Venus and Jupiter came back on, shining brightly in the sky under totality. Birds around the ghats flew in random circles, confused and dazed by the sudden darkness hours after dawn. It must have been really a wonderful moment, an amazing view, an event that people would cherish through their entire lifetime.