PUNE: Ayodhya is all set to enshrine Shri Ram’s deity in the newly built Shri Ram Temple. The installation will be done at the auspicious hour suggested by selected astrologers from India which includes Pune’s well-known astrologer and creator of the Deshpande Almanac, Gaurav Deshpande.
This is a proud moment for Punekars as Astrologer Gaurav Deshpande hails from Pune and is amongst the selected few reputed astrologers in India who with their traditional Hindu astral calculations have suggested the auspicious date as Monday 22nd January 2024.
Sharing information about this, Gaurav Deshpande said, “I was called upon by Swami Govind Dev Giri Maharaj, Treasurer of Sri Ram Janmabhoomi Tirtha Kshetra during his visit to Alandi in April 2023. I was honored when he expressed a desire for me to work on finding the auspicious time to enshrine the deity of Shri Ram in the newly built Shri Ram Temple in Ayodhya. The only condition was that the revered time had to be between 15th and 25th January 2024.”
“Based on the Hindu astrological calculations and the ‘Muhurta Shastra’ and ‘Dharma Shashtra’ and keeping in mind the latitudinal and longitudinal placement of Ayodhya, I suggested the auspicious date as Monday 22nd January 2024. I am beaming with joy to be a small part of this historical event as the date suggested by me concurred with the suggestion made by all the selected astrologists from India.” He added further.
Giving additional details, Gaurav Deshpande said, “Post 15th January 2024, the Sun is entering Capricorn marking the beginning of ‘Uttarayan’. It is believed that ‘Uttarayan’ is the most suitable time for deities to be enshrined. However, the holdup was that the Hindu month of ‘Paush’ is in existence till the 25th of January and there were doubts expressed if the same was a fortune time after all. I studied accordingly and based on the scriptures of ‘Brihadaivagya Ranjan’, ‘Vidya Madhaviya’, ‘Muhurta Ganapati’ ‘ and ‘Ganapati Daivagya’, ‘Paush’ was indeed an auspicious month for the holy installation of Shri Ram’s idol in Ayodhya as idol’s enshrined in this month assure growth and prosperity of that kingdom”
“Since Shri Ram is considered an incarnation of Lord Vishnu and hence his ‘Tithi’ is ‘Dwadashi’. Keeping this in mind and based on the texts mentioned in the ‘Muhurta Chintamani Granthth’, the installation time has been suggested as ‘Dwadashi’ Moreover, as per ‘Muhurta Chintamani Piyushadhara’, ‘Mriga Nakshatra’ was selected as this has been mentioned as the optimum ‘Nakshatra’ for all Gods. Thus, Monday 22nd January 2024 ‘Paush Shuddha Dwadashi’, in ‘Mrig Nakshatra’, considering the latitude and longitude of Ayodhya, was finalized at the most sacred time for enshrining Shri Rams Deity in Ayodhya.” He concluded.
Gaurav Deshpande is a software engineer by profession and runs his own software company. He has been passionate about astrology, astronomy, and theology since childhood. He has been revising the ancient Indian almanac system by the name of ‘DharmaShastra Sammat Deshpande Panchang’ for the last 13 years in Maharashtra.
Under the guidance of Pandit Ganeshwar Shastri Dravid guruji from Varanasi, Gaurav Deshpande has been decorated with the ‘Jyotisharatna’ and ‘Ganakpravar’ by Kashi Dharmasabha in honor of presiding over the special Dharmasabha held in Kashi regarding the Angulalp lunar eclipse in 2013.
