2009-year of eclipses

we had a lunar eclipse on 7th july followed by a solar eclipse yesterday and there will be another lunar eclipse on 6th august this year. three in a row. how should we view this natural and interesting phenomenon? one cannot ignore the fact that throughout history cataclysmic events have occured after such manifestations.

as per hindu mythology, during 'churning of the ocean'(smudra manthanam) episode in the puranas,the amritam that was stolen cunningly by the asuras was taken back by mohini(lord vishnu's form) by enticing and enamouring them by her beauty.not so easily undone, rahu an asura took the form of a deva and sat between chandra and surya when mohini started distributing the amrita to the devas. when mohini came near rahu,chandra and surya realised that the person next to them was an impostor.mohini cut the head of rahu which flew into the sky.rahu lived as as severed head and decided to avenge surya and chandra. thus from time to time rahus gobbles up the moon and sun (lunar eclipse and solar eclipse) who fight to free themselves.

this rare celestial phenomenon ,astrologers say could be a percursor of natural disasters.the mahabharatha yuddha, world war II and indira gandhi's assasination all these events followed solar eclipses.one explanation is that eclipses charge the atmosphere with negativity. hence to neutralise it poojas and yagnas are performed.yesterday's solar eclipse was the longest of this century,lasting 6 minutes and 39 seconds.it also coincides with the international year of astronomy.scientists dismiss the views expressed by the astrologers as myths based on superstitions and that it is just a plain and simple natural phenomenon. a solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between the sun and the earth.thus the sun is blocked and its rays do not reach the earth. that's it. period.

dk hari and hema hari who are founders of 'bharath gyan' have written a book entitled "will history repeat itself?". the first recorded eclipse took place in 3067 bce when the 18 day kurukshetra war took place. in 3031 bce,36 years later,the ancient city of dwaraka went under and between 1910 and 1945 during which a series of triple eclipses took place,according to the authors,world war I and II,hitler's holocaust and the the hiroshima bombings took place. six sets of triple eclipses will be taking place till 2020 following the current triple eclipses.the authors are not doomsday predictors but are raising questions based on actual events.the authors have used planetarium software which precisely dates the movements of various astral bodies for thousands of years in the past and also the future.they have juxtaposed the earliest observations of eclipses found in ancient texts with the actual events.they have tried to see the correlation between the events in the sky and happenings on earth.

the discussions and debates will go on.the astronomers and the astrologers will slug it out. there is no perfect explanation to this natural celestial occurence and the effects therof.one need not ridicule what the astrologers say. but view it with a scientific temper like what the 'hari' couple have done.