I found the main door of Shakti Mandir closed. Only after going through the newspaper on return from the walk, I could understand the reason of the closure of the temple. The temple was closed, as it was a period of lunar eclipse that is considered inauspicious. Yamuna says, “When the god (Moon) is under trouble, how can we take any food? She had put ‘Tulsi’ leaves in all the cooked food items in refrigerator. In this era when we know why the lunar eclipse is caused, it is difficult to blindly agree about the age-old belief. I asked Yamuna jokingly, ‘did my prayer to God reach the right place or not? I am sure there were not sleeping or had gone out.’ And I keep on saying, India lives simultaneously in different ages starting from stone era to perhaps 22nd century.

It was interesting to read a story about Columbus and how a similar eclipse saved him.

An eclipse is credited with saving the life of Christopher Columbus and his crew in 1504 in a most amazing manner.

Stranded on the coast of Jamaica, the explorers were running out of food and faced with increasingly hostile local inhabitants who were refusing to provide them with any more supplies. Columbus, looking at an astronomical almanac compiled by a German mathematician, realized that a total eclipse of the Moon would occur on February 29, 1504.

He called the native leaders and warned them if they did not cooperate, he would make the Moon disappear from the sky the following night.

The warning, of course, came true, prompting the terrified people to beg Columbus to restore the Moon – which he did, in return for as much food as his men needed. He and the crew were rescued on June 29, 1504.

With ‘Chadrayan’ in preparation to take a flight to moon, should we still keep on worshipping Moon God? Perhaps, the answer may be in affirmative. Someone will plead that it will please the God and He will make the journey safe!