For six months the chariot of the Sun god moves on the path through the northern solstice and for the other six months through the southern solstice. A day of gods is equal to six months of humans and of the same duration is the night of gods. On the Uttarayana day, the gods’ day starts and they wake up. One of the reasons for celebrating the Uttarayana Day is to get the blessings of gods. It is said that on this day the gods descend on to the earth to partake of the oblations offered in sacrificial rites. Uttarayana, the six months period of the Sun being in the northern solstice, is considered to be the period of light. Virtuous men depart from the world through this path of light and go to heavens. This is considered an occasion of brightness & splendour. Bhishma Pitamah waited for Uttarayana lying on a bed of arrows and preferred to depart from this life only after the beginning of the six months’ period of Uttarayana. Bhishma Pitamah kept lying on the bed of arrows for 58 days on the strength of his will! No one else among the so called heroes and knights of the world has been capable of doing so even for 58 hours.
According to Shastras, it is of great religious merit to give charity, do japa and perform other austerities and religious observances on Uttarayana day. The charity given on this day comes back multiplied hundred times to the donor in the next life.
This is a festival of nature. It brings us in harmony with nature. The Tamil New Year begins on this day. This festival is known as ‘Thai Pongal’ in South India. Sindhis call it ‘Tirmouri’. In the Hindi heartland, it is called ‘Makar Sankranti’ and in Gujarat it is known as ‘Uttarayana’.
This is a day when great religious merits can be attained. It was about this time that Lord Shiva favoured several of the devotees & Rishis by blessing them with His beatific vision. One should meditate on Lord Surya (the Sun god) on the Uttarayana day and should pray to Him to free one from passions like desire, anger and worries and to help one attain the peace in Self and assimilate Guru’s grace. Japa of various names of Lord Surya, offering libation to Him and praying to Him with specific mantras destroys all evil influences and accords religious merits for the whole year.
‘› hram hrim sah suryaya namah Salutation should be offered to Lord Surya with this mantra; recall Him to your mind and pay obeisance to Him. Lord Surya will be pleased or appeased and He will save you from diseases and evil influences.
Japa of the following names of Lord Surya is immensely beneficial on Uttarayana day. › mitraya namah | › ravaye namah | › suryaya namah | › bhanave namah | › khagaya namah | › pusne namah | › hiranyagarbhaya namah | › maricaye namah | › adityaya namah | › savitre namah |› arkaya namah | › bhaskaraya namah | › savitrsuryanarayanaya namah |
Celibacy enhances intellectual capabilities. Those interested to remain celibate and observe self-restraint should meditate on and pray to Lord Surya so that they should be successful in their vow of celibacy and in enhancing their intellectual prowess.
Japa of these mantras is very useful. › suryaya namah… › sankaraya namah… › gan ganapataye namah… › hanumate namah… › bhismaya namah… › aryamaya namah…
The virtuous deeds performed on this day give great religious merits. On this day sesame seeds and rice are offered to Lord Shiva and libation of water mixed with sesame seeds and rice is also offered to Lord Shiva. Sesame seeds are believed to be very important on this festival. Unguent made of sesame seeds is applied on the body and sesame seeds are mixed in the bath water also. Water mixed with sesame seeds is used for drinking. Sesame seeds are also used in fire sacrifice, meals. They are also given in alms. Laddoos made of sesame seeds, gur or sugar are eaten and also given away. All these acts destroy sins. There is a great importance of eating & giving in alms/charity laddoos made of sesame seeds, jaggery & sugar. Eating sesame seeds laddoos nourishes one’s body and makes one sweet-mannered. Sesame seeds laddoos are always beneficial in winter.
This is the celebration of Uttarayana or Makar Sankranti from worldly point of view. But the spiritual meaning of Makar Sankranti is samyak (complete) kranti (transformation) in life. This is the day when one should resolve to bring about radical transformation in one’s life by way of withdrawing one’s mind from sense enjoyments and passions to set it on God, the Absolute Being, free from passions. Maker sankranti is the best day to take a resolve of ushering our life to Divine Consciousness, Divine Knowledge and God-Realization.
Man has always been yearning for happiness. If he does not get the real bliss, he goes for unreal transient pleasures and subjects himself to the cycle of 84 lakh births and deaths. Therefore one should make self-effort to attain the real bliss in life.

What is the real bliss or happiness? Self-Realization alone is real bliss. So Makar Sankranti is the day to gird up one’s loins to attain the bliss of Self-Realization. The pious day inspires us to bring radical transformation in our lives; to make our life full of love and freedom from fear. Giving sesame seeds and gur to one another is a mark of fostering mutual love.
There is a special importance of charity on Sankranti day. Give food to the poor as much as you can. You can give sesame seeds laddoos also. It may be an excellent idea to give spiritual books on this day. Even if you are not able to do any of these things don’t mind. You get the joy of divine name yourself and help others get the same. The best of all is God. Repeating His name, if you can make an offering of your ego at the feet of saints, of the Sadguru, you will get sheer benefit. There is no charity greater than the giving of ego. If you surrender your ego at the feet of saints or the Satguru, you will get emancipation from the cycle of birth and death forever.
The Sun moves to the north (uttar in Hindi which also means higher) on Makar Sankranti. You too should resolve on the day of Makar Sankranti to take your life higher, to make your thoughts higher. If you can do this, the Makar Sankranti day will be supremely propitious for you. In the days of yore, people used to resolve on the Makar Sankranti day to transform their lives from petty (wretched) to a great one.
O sadhaka! Resolve today on the Makar Sankranti day to bring radical transformation or Sankranti in your life; to get rid of petty evil habits and make your life divine; to elevate your life by following a daily routine of prayer, japa, meditation and study of spiritual books. And, I’ll not rest till my life becomes happy & great. Strong resolve & prayer, with humming of omkar with all the three contractions Mulbandha, Uddiyan-bandha & Jalandha-rbandha gives special results. I’ll happily dwell in god’s leela, who is the supreme well-wisher of all living-beings. Whatever I get honour or dishonour, pleasure or pain, I’ll behold god’s kind hand behind everything. By staying or remaining the same, unmoved by any circumstances, I’ll certainly put all my efforts to make my life radiant, energetic and divine.
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Extracted from Discourses of Asharam Bapu Ji , for more discourses like this visit:

http://www.rishiprasad.org , http://www.ashram.org