Mystic Mantra: Soar like a kite

Gur hum hain aur til aap,
mithai hum aur mithas aap
Saal ke pehle tyohar se,
ho rahi aaj shuruaat
Meethe gur mein mil gaye til, udi patang aur khil gaye dil
Har pal sukh aur shanti, aap sab ke liye laye Makar Sankranti

Makar Sankranti is the first festival of the year. It is the day when the Sun becomes uttarayan, symbolising the northward movement of the sun. This is also the day when the sun moves into Capricorn sign.

The story goes that on Makar Sankranti Surya (sun) the father enters the house of Shani (Saturn), who is the swami (master) of Makar (Capricorn) rashi, to make peace with his son, who is generally considered to bring inauspiciousness. Surya visits the house of Shani (who is not very likeable) to bring sweetness in his existence. He remains with Shani for a month or so and expects him to carry on with his legacy of good work, i.e. to make everyone’s life sweet. Even though Surya is the father, he forgets the wrongdoings of his son in order to spread the message of love, care and concern.

Makar Sankranti also focuses on the importance of relationships. It is celebrated to forget ill feelings of the past and make friends with everyone, including troublemakers and one’s enemies. On this day, laddoos made of gur and til are distributed among relatives and friends saying: “Tilgul ghya ani god god bola,” meaning take tilgul and talk sweet.

Makar Sankranti is also celebrated by flying kites as if to reach Gods and thank them for health, prosperity and peace.

Flying kites on Makar Sankranti also signifies several aspects of life. We are kites and our life force is in the hands of God. Till the time we surrender to God, he takes care of all our needs and guides us through our life’s journey.

Those egoistic people who do not surrender to God and always intend on remaining high in the sky would sometime get cut by other kites, meaning that their ego would be crushed and they will suffer irreparable damages. Just like innumerable variety of kites that can be seen in the sky, various people, religions and species in the world can co-exist.

We should not be eager to cut others’ kites as if it is a competition because life is not a competition. We should not feel jealous seeing other prosper. We should be content with our lives.

We could learn mutual co-existence. Great saints have said that if you want to run fast, run alone. But if you want to run long, run together.

Let us all forget past enmities and bitterness and start afresh this Makar Sankranti in building sweet relations and creating harmony.