Mauni Amavas, additionally acknowledged as ‘Mauna Amavasya’ is an individual Hindu ritual commemorated on the ‘amavasya’ (no moon day) when the Hindu month of ‘Magha’ starts. It befalls through the month of January-February as per the Gregorian calendar. Mauni Amavasya is further related to ‘Maghi Amavasya’ as it is witnessed in the month of ‘Magha’. The word ‘mauni’ or ‘mauna’ purports silence, hence on this preferred day, the most considerable of the Hindus celebrate unbroken silence. There is a distinct meaningful ritual connected with this day known as ‘’Mauni Amavasya Snan’. This method of practicing a holy bath is very influential throughout the ‘Kumbh Mela’ and ‘Magha Mela’.
Mauni Amavasya is a day devoted to religious sadhna. This process is very traditional in different parts of the country, particularly in northern India. The glory of this festival is very important in Allahabad, in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Throughout the Kumbh Mela in Prayag (Allahabad), Mauni Amavasya is the most significant day for bathing in the holy Ganges and is commonly mentioned as the day of ‘Kumbh Parva’ or ‘Amrit Yoga’. In Andhra Pradesh, Mauni Amavasya is honored as ‘Chollangi Amavasya’ and it is also recognized as ‘Darsh Amavasya’ in other provinces of India. Mauni Amavasya is, consequently, a day to achieve knowledge, happiness and wealth.
Customs during Mauni Amavasya:
The enthusiasts get up starting on the day of Mauni Amavasya to take a spiritual dip in the Ganges at dawn. If a person cannot attend any pilgrimage purpose on this day, he/she need to affix little Ganga ‘jal’ to the bathing water. It is a comprehensive understanding that while exerting a bath, one must abide quietly. On this day adherents also worship Lord Brahma and interpret the ‘Gayatri mantra’.
After completing the bathing ceremony, devotees then sit down for contemplation. Meditation is a clientele that accommodate to concentrate and achieve inner peace. On the day of Mauni Amavasya any wrongdoing must be circumvented.
Some of the devotees witness whole ‘mauna’ or silence on the day of Mauni Amavasya. They refrain from talking all day long and only speculate to achieve the state of oneness with self. This application is known as ‘Mauna Vrat’. If a person cannot keep, mauna vrat, for the whole day, he/she must sustain silence until completing the puja rituals.
On the day of Mauni Amavasya, thousand of Hindu devotees onward with the ‘kalpavasis’ takes a holy immersion in ‘Sangam’ at Prayag and consume the rest of the day in meditation.
In the Hindu religion, the day of Mauni Amavasya is also suitable for removing pirtu dosh. People donate ‘tarpan’ to their ‘pitrs’ or ancestors to solicit forgiveness and achieve their blessings. On this day people contribute food to a dog, crow, cow, and kusht rogi.
Volunteering charity is added as an essential ritual for the day. ‘Magha’ is an outstanding month in the Hindu calendar. On this day people distribute food, clothes and other essentials to the poor and needy people. There is also a ceremony of donating sesame (til) oil to Shani Dev.
The consequence of Mauni Amavasya:
In the Hindu doctrine, exercising silence or ‘mauna’ composes an indispensable part of spiritual obedience. The word ‘mauni’ originates from another Hindi word ‘muni’ involving a ‘sanyasi’ (saint), who is a person exercising silence. Hence the expression ‘mauna’ aptly signifies achieving oneness with self. In the ancient times, distinguished Hindu guru Adi Shankaracharya himself declared ‘mauna’ to be one among the three principal characteristics of a saint. In contemporary times, Ramana Maharshi, a Hindu Guru disseminated the tradition of silence for spiritual accomplishment. For him, silence is more potent than thought or speech and it combines a self with its self. An individual must exercise Mauni Amavasya to soothe a restless mind.
The tradition of practicing a dip in the divine waters is also very important for Hindu followers. As per the Hindu scriptures, it is considered that on the promising day of Mauni Amavasya, the water in the holy river of Ganges becomes nectar. Accordingly, on this day believers from far and scattered take a bath in the holy Ganga River. Not only this, the whole of the month of ‘Magha’ right from ‘Paush Purnima’ to ‘Magha Purnima’ is excellent for the bathing observance, but the most meaningful is the day of Mauni Amavasya.
It is an experimental fact that continuation is a repercussion of energy. All fluctuations in human exposure translate into sound. Every pattern in the universe has a similar sound. This enigmatic amalgamation of sounds is what we are encountering as creation. The foundation of all sound is “nishabd”. “Maun” is an endeavor to transportation from being a portion of creation to the beginning of creation. This attribute-less, dimension-less and tremendous state of continuation and occurrence is the ambition of yoga: union. Nishabd would imply nothingness. The word “nothing” has a negative implication. You would apparently conjecture it, fitter, if you put a hyphen inserted no and thing; it is a no-thing.
An Opportunity to Transform
Mauni Amavasya is the next after the winter solstice or the one ere Mahashivratri. It is a commonly recognized fact indeed to uneducated peasants in our country that throughout the period of Amavasya or new moon, the sprouting of grains and plant growth reduces down. The sap in a plant surfaces an uphill task to transfer the tip and so it is in a human being who has an upright spine. Throughout these singular three months, from solstice to Mahashivratri, the state one of Uttarayan, in measures reaching from 0º to 33ºN, the influence of both full moon and the new moon is in an enhanced phase.
Yogic attitudes have several methods of performing use of this compensation that nature appears. One of these is to control silence from Mauni to Mahashivratri. During this period there is great importance superimposed all water bodies and water whirlpools. Not to overlook that our body is the most devoted water body that we know, it’s implying over 70% water.
Cycles of solar and lunar conventionality are the fundamental notion of time in human encounters. The selection of each performing the cycles of an era or to be apprehended in everlasting cycle of time is the alternative one has to make. This time and day endeavor great timeliness to transform.