Opinion: Shivshakti Point - Is it okay to use Hindu names for Chandrayaan-3’s landing spot?

Recently, someone asked me, “Is it appropriate that any place on the Moon is named after a god or goddess from a particular culture,” referring to the Shivshakti Point where the Chandrayaan-3 lander touched down on the Moon.

I asked them, “Apollo, Luna, Saturn, Mercury, Neptune, Venus – what are all these? They are all Greek gods and goddesses. Does it mean the planetary system belongs to the Greeks?”

But why can't we be secular and call it AB? You can, if you want. Then someone else will ask, "Why the English language? Why can't we call it 'Ah - Aaah’ like in many Indian languages?” This is a silly argument. Human life cannot run just on factual truth. Human life needs aesthetics.

If it were just based on factual truth, I am asking, “Who the hell are you? What are you worth? What is the truth about you?” You are just a little life who pops up and pops out – that's the only truth about life. It is the aesthetic of the many things that you are – how you sit, how you feel, how you speak, and what you do – which matters.

The first thing you need to understand is that Shiva and Shakti are not the names of any god and goddess. We are talking about two fundamental forces: clockwise and anti-clockwise, masculine and feminine, sun and moon, Ida and Pingala.

All physical manifestations in this creation happen between two polarities. Bharat was the first civilisation to speak about it but it is not an idea that came from this civilisation. Today, modern science has established beyond any doubt that everything that is physical is in some kind of rotation or revolution of its own. They are all spinning. There are only two ways in which anything can spin – clockwise and counter-clockwise. We call these two Shiva and Shakti. It is fantastic that instead of calling Chandrayaan-3’s landing spot by people’s names, as they did in the past, we are calling it by terms that will matter to the whole universe.

Understanding and experiencing this Shiva-Shakti within ourselves is the fundamental aspect of yoga. It is significant that human understanding across the world, thanks to modern science, is recognizing these deeply entrenched civilisational aspects of this part of the world. Modern science is slowly, piece by piece, validating every aspect of the things that were spoken and well established here many millennia ago.

Nearly 2700 to 3000 years ago, when everyone else in the world was arguing whether the planet was flat or round, in this civilisation, the study of the planet was called "Bhoogol," which means "a round planet."

When the scriptures, religions, cultures, and the ignorance of the rest of the world was going on saying that the Earth was the centre of the universe, here, we clearly depicted Earth as a round ball going around the Sun on the back of a turtle. Why a turtle? Because a turtle is always moving at a steady pace. Similarly, the planet is not accelerating or decelerating. It is going at a steady pace. That is why our lives are reasonably balanced.

So, it is really wonderful that there is a spot on the moon called Shivshakti. The deeper your understanding of Shiva-Shakti and the more synchronised you are within the system of Ida-Pingala, the more balanced and equanimous you become and the more enhanced your perception is.

Another aspect is that the moon has a direct impact upon human life. The Moon and our birth are very connected because, in a way, that is the meeting of Shiva-Shakti. It is only because of the biological cycles that are happening in our mother's bodies that we are born.

The rotation of the Moon and human physiology go on at the same pace of 29.5 days. This is why Adiyogi said a long time ago, that human beings have reached the physiological peak of evolution. "From here on, they cannot evolve physically. They can only evolve consciously."

That means you will not grow horns or anything else because biological evolution has come to its peak on this planet. If you go and live on another planet, we don't know what will happen to this body. It may grow or diminish; anything may happen. But on this planet, it has reached its peak. In many ways, the Moon suggests that. This is why Adiyogi is Somashekara or Somnath.

In terms of perception and reaching the evolutionary peak, naming the point as Shivshakti is an important recognition. I think it is incredible that political leadership is rising to this level of awareness and wisdom.

(Ranked amongst the fifty most influential people in India, Sadhguru is a yogi, mystic, visionary and a New York Times bestselling author. Sadhguru has been conferred the Padma Vibhushan by the Government of India in 2017, the highest annual civilian award, accorded for exceptional and distinguished service. He is also the founder of the world's largest people's movement, Conscious Planet – Save Soil, which has touched over 4 billion people.)

(Views expressed in this opinion piece are that of the author.)