The amazing science of Pongal

But Pongal celebrates the presence of human life on this planet and shows gratitude to everything that supports humans to live in peace and happiness. This is not limited to only Tamilians in India or across the world, this is to be celebrated by the whole of humanity and is not based on any religion but based on the pure science of celebration.

First and foremost, this festival designed by Tamil scholars many thousand years ago is not just a festival but a science of celebration and successful living. To name it in a single word, it is called ‘Pongal’ or ‘Thai Pongal’. People in various regions call this by different names. In the neighbouring states, this day is celebrated as ‘Makar Sankranti’. The astronomical significance of this day is that the Sun enters the Capricorn or Makaram; it is called Makara Sankranti, but Tamilians call it as ‘Thai Thirunal’. Thai means a possibility to succeed and grow or possibility to make a great future a reality. For that reason, people say, “Thai piranthal vazhi pirakkum.”

The science behind this celebration is amazing. Every human is created with two aspects–no matter how much positive energy we receive, it is utilised and absorbed as positive energy only when we eliminate or eradicate the negativity. This is the reason the day before Pongal is celebrated as Bhogi, the last day of Margazhi month. Bhogi (a nomenclature derived from the Tamil word Pokki) is the removal of negativity. As we prepare for the next year, this culture has designed a system wherein you eliminate negativity. The concept is very simple. If a container is contaminated, how much ever pure water we pour into it, it will also get contaminated. So it is clearing out of the negativity, not only in the household articles but also from the heart, the vengeance we hold in a relationship, the fear about the future, the pain we carry from the past, etc. Everything is removed with the fire ritual early in the morning before dawn. It symbolises that no matter how big our problem can be, once it is thrown into fire, it all became ashes. The same with the mind, one receives the psychological strength to eliminate all the pain in the past.

To keep it short, ‘Pongal’ is not the name of a dish! Pongal means ever-flowing (not overflowing)–that is the reason it’s also known as ‘Pongum Mangala Thirunal’. The pot in which we keep the rice and enjoy the boiling of rice is called ‘Sarvodaya Panai’. We always appreciate people with referential reverence, for instance, we say God is like Lotus. In a similar way, we see this as a referential reverence of how our future is going to be overflowing and for that reason that very pot is also known as Sarvodaya Panai; Sarvodaya means richest, which is going to give us everything. After elimination of all negativities, the very second day is designed to experience that ever-flowing positivity in our life.  And above all, the very need of human existence is food, so on that day we also show all our gratitude and celebrate with nature, sun, seed and farmer. The ‘Surya Sidhantha’ which insists on this point that humans can survive without jnana (knowledge) but cannot survive without food. That’s the reason ‘Surya Sidhantha’ is the celebration of the first day of Pongal with great reverence from thousands of years ago.

The second day is celebrated with all the kith and kin of the family and neighbourhood irrespective of their religion, cast, creed, etc. It is designed in a way to give the highest respect to the cattle we have, not just the cow but every cattle we own and treat them as our family members, in fact with equal importance as our loved ones and family members. No other culture has got this beautiful structure of living. These are things we need to rejoice and feel proud and share it with our next generation. We must take pride of this great Indian culture and take this as one of the highest responsibilities of the present generation to pass it to the next generation.

The last day–Kanum Pongal–is a beautiful way of creating the future psychologically, which has scientifically been a proven factor in the present day. I would like to refer to a few medical terms here. There is something called cardiovascular disease and cerebrovascular disease. Medical science has arrived at a conclusion (after meticulous research) that the only treatment and prevention for both these diseases is happiness and security about the future. The insecurity about the future gets eradicated on this beautiful day of Kanum Pongal. As a family, together, we share a common vision for the future, giving confidence to each other saying that we are here to support you in your vision and growth and together, we can achieve anything and everything we want. This day insists that a life without any focus will be a mess; this is something the youngsters have to learn from our culture. We create a vision and promise ourselves within the family that we are going to focus on our vision and the rest is magical! We begin our year hoping that we are going to celebrate success and achieve whatever we want in life. That is the reason we decorate our homes, rejoice with new costumes not just for that one day or during the festival but promising ourselves that this is the way of life that we are going to live in the future. This is the absolute science behind Pongal.

I want to sum up the ultimate science behind Pongal in a very simple way. It is all about eliminating the negativity and giving space to new positivity which is the fundamental need for sustaining peace and prosperity. This is one festival which the entire humanity has to rejoice because this is not celebrated by any particular religion. One can be a Hindu, Muslim, Christian, or whosoever on this planet earth in human form, but this festival is the fundamental preparation to enjoy the future full of abundance and wellbeing and above all, unstoppable peace and happiness with the family.

Wishing you and your entire family a very Happy Pongal and unstoppable fortune for you and your entire generation from now and forever.