INDIA. Mumbai: The Chhath Pooja was performed with enthusiasm as part of a four-day festival across the country, including Mumbai, with devout Hindus offering prayer and arghya (libation of water) to the solar deity Surya on Sunday.
The festival, which began with the “Nahai Khai” ritual on Friday, concludes with the offering of Argha to the Sun God on Monday. The rituals at the water bodies took place on Sunday evening.
Mumbai
In Mumbai, the Pooja was offered at 81 water fronts, including Dadar Chowpatty (Central Mumbai), Juhu Beach (North West Mumbai), Madh Jetty (North Mumbai), and Bhandup (North East Mumbai).
Four to five lakh devotees congregated at Juhu Chowpatty alone. The Mumbai traffic police had cautioned motorists of slow-moving traffic and had advised them to avoid driving by the roads adjoining Juhu Beach.
Delhi
The Chhath Pooja was performed at 1,100 sites, including the ITO ghat along the Yamuna river in Delhi. As per the order of the National Green Tribunal, no immersion of offerings was allowed in the river Yamuna. All liquor shops were ordered to remain closed on Sunday by Delhi Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena.
Jharkhand
In Jharkhand, Chhathh Pooja was performed in Ranchi, Dhanbad and Jamshedpur, and other places.
The Chhath Pooja is a festival dedicated to the Sun God, celebrated mainly in Northern India, including Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. In the last few years, it is also being celebrated in Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Mumbai, Delhi, Nepal, and Mauritius.
The puja is performed to seek blessings from Surya to live longer, be healthy and prosper all through life. Hindu people believe that early sunlight helps to cure many diseases and is an excellent source of healing too.
Chhath literally means “Six” and the festival starts just after the “Govardhan Puja,” completing on the seventh day (Saptami) in the month of Kartik (falling between October and November).
As per yoga philosophy, the Chatth Puja process is divided into six stages of the Conscious Cosmic Solar Energy Infusion Technique: Fasting, which leads to detoxifying the mind, body, and soul. Standing in a river or a water body with half the body submerged helps the psychic energy (Prana) to flow up the psychic channel in the spine (Sushumna).
The cosmic solar energy goes into the devotee’s pituitary, pineal, and hypothalamus glands through optic nerves and the retina. In the 4 th stage, the activation process of the tri-glandular complex takes place.
Besides, a division in the spine transforms the body into a cosmic powerhouse and awakens the latent psychic energy often called no In the 6th stage, the body of a devotee becomes a channel that recycles, conducts, and transmits the energy in the whole universe.
It is believed that the Chhath Puja rituals pave the way for calmness in mind, and the negative responses like jealousy and anger are decreased.
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