agnir jyotir ahah suklah
san-masa uttarayanam
tatra prayata gacchanti
brahma brahma-vido janah

During fire, light, daytime, the bright lunar fortnight of the waxing moon, and the six months of the northern solstice of the sun; the gods create a path, departing by which, yogis who know Brahman attain nirvana.

dhumo ratris tatha krishnah
san-masa daksinayanam
tatra candramasam jyotir
yogi prapya nivartate

During smoke, night, the dark lunar fortnight of the waning moon, and the six months of the southern solstice of the sun; the gods create a path, returning by which, the righteous person attains lunar light and reincarnates.

Bhagavat Gita, Chapter: Aksara Parabrahman, 24, 25 (The Yoga of The Imperishable Brahman)

On the shortest day of the year, I sat out in the open, watching the earth eclipse the moon. As the shadow of our planet enveloped its surface, the light from the sun made it glow like a red ball of fire. I wondered if this was a sign that some righteous man on our planet had attained lunar light and had reincarnated.

I remember reading a long time ago, that the Pueblo Indians had no words to differentiate the past from the present and the present from the future. In hindi the word for yesterday and tomorrow is the same, as is the word for the day-before-yesterday and the day-after-tomorrow. Looking up at the sky, and the stellar scintillation, and knowing that galaxies are being created and destroyed, and the stars and planets within them are being born or are being reincarnated into other celestial bodies ... I can see how time has a meaning that I cannot fathom beyond my known universe on this earth.

But, I know that this was the sky that my grandfather saw, as did his grandfather... and it hasn't changed as far as that it is glittering and wondrous as it always has been and will be! We asked the same questions about the vastness of this universe and the beauty of its design. Even when we knew nothing of the earth beyond the limits of our travels, and knew nothing of latitudes and longitudes, the geographical poles, and the earth's axis tilt, we saw solstices and eclipses and wondered about the transience of human life and the permanence of the universe.

Even when we know nothing of the universe, we know that we know nothing of the universe, but can count on its permanence.

For God said, Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth. (Gen 1:14-15).

May the stars look down on you and may you look up to the stars always with love and wonder! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.