Hi All, I have been having this confusion for sometime now and wanted to get some clarity from the knowledgeable and wise folks here. I have been following the Amavasai date followed in India. But recently I came to know about this site for USA 2022 Amavasya Dates | New Moon Dates for Valencia, California, United States (this is not my city, for those concerned about exposing my location ) When I enter my city it shows 1 day ahead of India date for most of the festivals. So according to this calendar, 9/24 (today )is Amavasai for my city and for India it is 9/25. which one is correct? I checked general new moon date for my city (not religious site) and it shows 9/25 as new moon date starting 2:54 PM. So I am thinking we should follow the actual new moon timings and not the one in the religious right. is my understanding correct? which one should I follow. 2. Also I am particular because I want to do Mahalya Amavasai padayal and that is why I want to make sure I am performing it on the correct date. So what is the general norm. If tonight is new moon night should you do poojai the next day or the previous day? 3. Also would greatly appreciate to know about the significance of Amavasai and it's connection to ancestor's poojai. If not for this Amavasai atleast I would like to get things cleared for the next one. Thank you in advance
Yeah the tithi, vara, nakshatra biz is confusing once you move out of India. Since in the Sankalpam we are invoking what my kids call ‘global GPS’. What I and a lot of people I know do is to consult the panchangam of the nearest ( geographically nearest) major South Indian temple. The priests do all these calculations based on the local coordinates and publish their yearly version of the panchangam. So it’s safe and handy to just look up the days and dates and go from there. I don’t correct for distance between my house and local temple even if it is 50-100 miles away. As far as I’m concerned it’s close enough if it’s in the same state or neighbouring state. Of course this is a personal choice I have made not to correct for that. Your requirements may be different.
Thank you @1Sandhya for your response. Yes the struggle is real..I looked at the one I mentioned above and another south Indian temple calendar close to my place. They both are giving diff dates, one 24 and the other 25th hence the confusion. I am also not very particular about the distance between my exact location and the temple, not to that degree .. I am like fine to go with one based on my convenience, after all I know it is the intention that matters, but wondering if someone have some answers to this longstanding confusion.
Then I would go with the date provided by the local temple or their website. They usually assign priests to physically calculate the dates according to some internal calculations. Think of it this way. Even if you called a local priest to perform this or any ritual then he too would consult the same local temple panchangam and give the auspicious times accordingly. So go by the temple panchangam. Not by the internet date lookup for your city. Those are iffy and calculated by some free software which may or may not make the correct allowances for your time zone and location. Temple’s reputation rides on poojas being performed correctly on dates and muhurths so they will take care of those details. Of course make sure to pick a well known, established South Indian temple near your home.
We usually follow Drikpanchang or South Indian temple calendar and not Indian calendar. But as you told sometimes 2 different temples follow different Panchangams so in that case we go with the majority!
All such calculation is based on local sun rise time. This includes for correct computing rahukalam too. The general formula of rahu kalam based on sun rise at 6am.
@shravs3 The above link in my original post is drikpanchang. Do you know if it is belongs to a specific temple or just an online tool.
Thanks, Yes this is very logical and convincing for me. I will go with the local temple's suggested date and timings hereafter.