Remember lazing around on a summer night on the terrace of the house and gazing into the sky, looking at all the twinkling stars. It seemed like they were all trying to tell a story. And each star flashed its own light and bright hue that looked splendid from where we were lying down.
The beauty of the moon added to the dark sky and provided a beautiful background to the whole picture thus created by nature.
Nature has many a wonders in store. We can never see the sun with our eyes. The brightness and the heat it emits can be enough to scare us into never even glancing at the star. Nature’s wonders cannot be described in just a few words. The tremendous bounty nature offers in its lap are hardly explored by man.
The beauty of the rain forests, the wonders of the deciduous and oak trees, sprawling flora and amazing fauna in the corners of the world, the vast ice spread over different regions of the north and the south poles, the magnificent waterfalls, rivers, seas and oceans all add up to the beauty and glamour of mother earth.
We cannot think of a day without sighting the sun first thing in the morning. It’s only the sunshine that causes a day to make inroads and with this sunshine, living beings prosper and make their lives fruitful and happy.
We are blessed with the ability to see things and come out of the dark because we have sunshine during the day. Sunshine allows us to see things, plants prepare food and we are able to survive on this food thus obtained from a process of photosynthesis and the long food chains existing in nature.
The Sun
Sun, by itself is a star. The star that is very close to earth compared to many other millions of stars gazing at the earth from much farther distances. Sun is a star, very bright and appearing very large because of its proximity to the earth. It is the sun that is at the center of the universe and all other planets revolve around the sun.
If we have to estimate the temperature at the center of the sun, it is about twenty million degree Celsius, a temperature that is difficult to even pen down on paper. Such a huge figure and that gives us the idea about the heat and energy emitted at the center of the earth.
We can hardly tolerate the rising heat during summer; the scorching heat often makes lands around us turn into dry and rugged zones, affecting agricultural produces. Animals run for cool shelters and water scarcity blooms large during the summers. Due to the heat, water from rivers escape into the sky forming water vapor and water crisis looms large during such seasons.
Nature of Stars
If we look at other stars, we can describe them in this way. Stars are bright, distant, cosmic creatures that are millions of distances away from us. They have helium and hydrogen gases reacting with each other causing disturbances in the form of endless nuclear reactions within them.
These reactions produce heat, light and the same light is what makes us see the stars from earth. Through scientific evidence, it has been found out that stars are available in plenty in nature. Their numbers account to millions. Their sizes vary from each other, numbers are millions in nature and their brightness varies from one star to another.
When the helium gas combines with hydrogen atoms to produce hot gases, the air present in these stars become highly volatile and combustible in nature.
Large spells of nuclear reactions take place inside stars by their own nature and that happens in a process where the hydrogen atoms convert themselves into helium atoms, thus introducing many chain reactions and the energy thus produced can be compared to millions of gallons of energy reserves.
Thus, at any time, we can compare these stars to hot electric gadgets that are so heated up that they can swallow up and burn anything within them in no time.
In Hindu Mythology
After getting to know the scientific nature of stars, let’s ponder upon their importance in Hindu mythological chapters. According to Hindu mythology, when a baby is born, he or she is assigned a star based on the planetary motions and the timing of the birth of the baby on that particular day.
It is believed that the motion of the stars in specific timing is going to spell good or bad to a person throughout his life. As soon as a baby is born, a horoscope of the baby is designed to get to know to which star the baby belongs to.
All persons belong to one of the twelve stars. Based on the movement of these stars within the constellation, the turn of good or bad events occurs in his or her life, as per the belief goes.
There are certain beliefs that are considered orthodox and there are millions of people who are against the age old belief systems that stars can spell influence on human lives.
But a vast majority of population, even to this day believes in this system and horoscopes of a girl and boy are tallied to see if they make a good combination together or not.
It is quite known that every star has compatibility with few stars and they don’t have compatibility with few others. All these are study based and age old belief systems have brought them into practice in our country.
Astrology
The study of the influence of stars on our destiny is often referred to astrology. Astrology is the study of stars, at specific timings, a detailed study involving the movements of the stars and their influence on the star of the person and whether they have good or bad effects for that person in that time frame.
A lot of astrological studies have been in practice in our country since times immemorial and it is part of the heritage of our civilization and culture. These days, this subject has been exploited and misused by many as a means of income generation by people who are turning the knowledge into a commercial activity.
In ancient days, it was one of the subjects taught at Gurukuls and the detailed learning was part of the subjects taught at the Gurukuls. Even to this day, universities teach this subject, but every colleges offer mainstream courses in this stream.
People opting for such courses have also reduced with time, as people have found an alternate way of practicing it through knowledge transfer means from one person to another, or could also be from one generation to another.
Other Occurrences Of Stars
On a lighter note, if we had to browse through the pages of English dictionaries, we would find interesting meanings of the word star. A celebrity or a popular person commonly associated with the film world or somebody with a cult image is also referred to as a star.
Anybody who has risen from a humble being to a big position overnight is also commonly referred to as a star. In this particular, usage, the word ‘star’ refers to the fact that they become famous or well known, they rose to fame and are shining with their achievement, and hence they are popularly called as a star.
Stars are popular with children as well. A mum usually feeds her infant by asking the baby to gaze at the night sky, bright with stars and the wonderful moon to add to the beauty.
Children learn beautiful rhymes, but the most common among them being the popular twinkle twinkle little star. Children may ponder about little stars, because all that they are aware of is the presence of stars that emit light and make them astounded with their beauty.
Not only children, even we have reasons to ponder and wonder about the nature of stars. The star closest to earth, known as Dhruv Tara in Hindu mythology finds many mentions in Hindu scriptures.
Not only that, every star has a special importance and mention in ancient historical scriptures and even the kings and queens believed on the influence of stars on their lives. When we look at the night in the sky, we keep wondering about their very existence.
In olden days, ships sailing through seas were guided by a particular star, which appeared brighter than the rest of the stars, probably because of their proximity from the earth. Thus, stars are an important part of the universe.
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