Almost everything in this statement is wrong. It stretches science thin to the point of meaninglessness. By disjuncting "religion" from shivaratri, it ghosts the voice of culture itself. The narratives of festivals carry crucial markers of identity and continuity.
if making an "astronomical" claim, then need to keep within its confines. need to back up claim with actual solar cycles/insolation patterns, also explain how the whole "solar system" suddenly switches to energizing the planet on this day. Otherwise it ridicules science.
whats more deeply disturbing is the lack of apparent concern at claiming this has no "religious" aspects: there r multiple narratives connected to this day. We can try and construct what we think are rational cores of the stories and give our own spin on supposed symbolisms.
but each of those stories codify cultural views that Hindus have adored over millenia, involving ideals of divinity and manhood, whether be it the sacrifice and spirit behind Nilakantha, or intra-"gods" egoism, or Aparna's tapasya and marriage. They connect to sacred geography.
by junking the "religious" from shivaratri, we also disconnect the cultural message - which Hindus seek to renew connecting to every year this day, and that connection through those narratives that hold them - are important parts of our nationhood.
Its important to grasp, the encoded messages in our sacred stories, which includes time, astronomy, historical memory, as well as views on life and how to live it- but at all their multi-level and multi-aspect simultaneously, without selecting one and rejecting the others.
