Sani Pradosham, Sri Siva Jothi Mona Siddhar Ashram: Saturday, 26 November, 2016

The below photographs were taken during Karthikai Maatha Amavasai Sani Pradosham at Sri Siva Jothi Mona Siddhar’s Ashram on Saturday, 26 November, 2016. 

The two monthly Pradoshams are observed very grandly at Swami's Ashram and monthly increasingly large numbers of devotees attend the abhishekam Pradosham function in the Ashram's Temple.

Carrying the God on palanquin for circumambulation of the Shrine

Beautifully adorned Nandi after abhishekam and puja

Sri Siva Jothi Mona Siddhar

The Nature of Eternity

The below is taken from "Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man," by James Joyce. 

"You have often seen the sand on the seashore. How fine are its tiny grains! And how many of those tiny grains go to make up the small handful which a child grasps in its play. Now imagine a mountain of that sand, a million miles high, reaching from the earth to the farthest heavens, and a million miles broad, extending to remotest space, and a million miles in thickness, and imagine such an enormous mass of countless particles of sand multiplied as often as there are leaves in the forest, drops of water in the mighty ocean, feathers on birds, scales on fish, hairs on animals, atoms in the vast expanse of air. And imagine that at the end of every million years a little bird came to that mountain and carried away in its beak a tiny grain of that sand. How many millions upon millions of centuries would pass before that bird had carried away even a square foot of that mountain, how many eons upon eons of ages before it had carried away all. 

Yet at the end of that immense stretch time not even one instant of eternity could be said to have ended. At the end of all those billions and trillions of years eternity would have scarcely begun. And if that mountain rose again after it had been carried all away again grain by grain, and if it so rose and sank as many times as there are stars in the sky, atoms in the air, drops of water in the sea, leaves on the trees, feathers upon birds, scales upon fish, hairs upon animals – at the end of all those innumerable risings and sinkings of that immeasurably vast mountain not even one single instant of eternity could be said to have ended; even then, at the end of such a period, after that eon of time, the mere thought of which makes our very brain reel dizzily, eternity would have scarcely begun.” 

November 2016 Supermoon -- special Poornima

The largest, brightest full moon in nearly seven decades will be on display in the coming days, promising Earth-bound sky-watchers a celestial "supermoon" spectacle. 

The full moon will come nearer to Earth than at any time since 1948. At closest approach, the moon will pass within 216,486 miles (348,400 km) of Earth's surface, about 22,000 miles (35,400 km) closer than average. 

The moon's distance from Earth varies because it is in an elliptical (egg shape), not circular, orbit around the planet. 

A supermoon will seem even larger if viewed on the horizon

If skies are clear, the upcoming full moon will appear up to 14 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter than usual, making it what is called a supermoon. A supermoon occurs when the timing of a full moon overlaps with the point in the moon's 28-day orbit that is closest to Earth. About every 14th full moon is a supermoon. The next time a full moon comes as close to Earth will be in 2034. 

Moon spotters here in India are perhaps the best placed to catch the moon at its absolute largest, with full moon on November 14, 2016 and occurring at 7:22 p.m. 

To find out more about Supermoons, go to this link for 5 suprising facts about this phenomenon.