KATHAM️
Indeed, like all other practices of sanātana dharmā, the wonderful heritage of karavā cauth vrat (करवा चौथ व्रत) too has far more astronomical, astrological &, most importantly, life-enhancing experiential significance for everyone of us on the spiritual path of sādhanā, irrespective of the gender of the physical body that we’ve been temporarily endowed with.
To decipher the takeaways for sādhaks, let’s👁️re-cognise👀how the🌝lunisolar🌞calendar🗓️helps us schedule (date & time 🕰️) this event. It obviously doesn’t fall on the same Gregorian date every year, for the latter has negligible astronomical (or for that matter, even contemporary) significance… being based on dead ("hi")story. The lunisolar calendar on the other hand reverberates with life within & without too: infra-subatomic to ultra-supercosmic.
In this context, karavā cauth vrat is invariably on the waning fourth (kr̥ṣṇa pakṣa caturti) of the pūrṇānta kārtika māsā (the🌚amānta lunar🌑 month still being aśvayujā, a fortnight behind as always). Hence, karavā cauth vrat consistently occurs on the only annual coincidence of the monthly saṅ-kaṣṭa-hara caturti tithi with krittikā nakṣatrā (Pleiades🔯constellation).
Recollect that, as observed from the local🌏Earth-fixed reference frame, each day’s tithi marks the relative positions of the☀️Sun & the🌔Moon; while each day’s nakṣatrā locates the🌝Moon using the background map of🌌constellations. The☀️Sun conformally maps to our🕉️spiritual💠Self@ātmā@śivā🧜🏿♂️ & the🌔Moon to our💓emotional🥹mind@manas@śakti🧜🏿♀️.
Hence, the yearly concurrence of our soulful🔯creativity <krittikā> with our troubleshooting potential, via devotional🙇🏻♀️surrender of the BMI to ourSelf <saṅ-kaṣṭa-hara caturti> is karavā cauth.
Invaluable from a yōgik perspective too, karavā cauth brings together the life energy (kuṇḍalini) associated with the principles of saṅ-kaṣṭa-hara gaṇa-pati@mūlādhārā with kārtikkēyā🔯@svādhiṣṭhānā, both eulogised as the sons of our dark🕳️matter & dark⚡️energy <śiva-śakti>. Moreover, this year (2022), karavā cauth occurs on a Thursday <guru-vārā>, rendering it doubly significant from the viewpoint of our darkness-redeeming inner cave <gu-ru-guhā@kārtikkēyā🔯>.
That’s the deeper life-transforming relevance of karavā cauth as the primordial union of ourSelf into ourLife, dialectically represented as the masculine piṅgalā integrating into the feminine iḍā, all happening right now right here within our own individual body’s energy sheath <prāṇamaya kōśā>, in general, & its subtle spinal cord of ⚕️suśumnā, in particular.
Let’s leverage it all in the depth of meditation 🧘🏻♀️ <dhyānā> & equilibrated intellect <samā-dhi>, aided by the karavā cauth fast to easily reduce body-consciousness, or rather responsibly respond & effortlessly zero out the BMI’s🌝waning🌚perturbations, as the🌔moon rises at 8:40 PM tonight & is reflected in the mirror🪞of our own mind, reinforcing the fact that🎑moonlight isn’t its own either, but that of🌞ourSelf, burning🌦️🌥️🌤️bright through everyone of the so-called “troubles☁️,” sans any semblance of suffering now & hereafter. hēy śambho-śaṅkara umā-mahēśvara gauri-priya sadā śivā
