I eat during eclipses, go out and watch them, do whatever I want to do, and don’t take a bath after all this celestial drama. My parents and even grand parents never followed these rituals suggested by your mother!

And nothing bad has happened to any of our family members because of this.

Coming out of that rut is the best thing to do. And science assures you, you will be alright despite disobeying your mother.

Q: If the Sun's rays are not bad why do you people advice us not to see Sun directly during eclipses? The same bad rays that damage our eyes also damage our food. I am right. Am I not?

Krishna: Exposing your eyes to the sun without proper eye protection during a solar eclipse can cause “eclipse blindness” or retinal burns, also known as solar retinopathy. This exposure to the light can cause damage or even destroy cells in the retina (the back of the eye) that transmit what you see to the brain.

This damage can be caused at any time, not only during eclipses. But during normal days you won't see at Sun because that hurts and you turn away your eyes before any harm happens. Sun simply outputs more power than our eye is designed to handle, and exposing our eye to that kind of power can damage the retina.

But solar eclipses are more dangerous. Why? You actually can safely look at a total solar eclipse while the sun is totally blocked by the moon (like in the picture above). It looks like the moon has a fiery white aura, and it is one of the more spectacular things. Because of the low intensity of Sun light during eclipse, you are able to see the sun out of curiosity and when the Sun come out from behind the moon and "surprise you" before you have a chance to look away. That can cause severe damage. And this is actually even worse than when you normally look away from the sun because during the total eclipse, it is dark out, and your pupil therefore dialates so that it can let in enough light to get a good picture. Then, when the sun reappears and starts flooding the area with really bright light, not only are you staring straight at it, but your eye is in a state where it is wide open, and actively trying to let in as much light as possible. This explains why it is easy to damage your eye when watching a total solar eclipse, and why you should either be sure to time it very carefully (and allow for a good margin of error), or just view the thing through one of those sets of dark glasses.

Krishna: The links you scared minds provided have cunning write-ups. The writer cleverly puts both views before you - the superstitious beliefs and the scientific one (journalists call this balancing things and reporting things in an unbiased way but this "false impartiality" of presenting the views of tiny and unqualified minorities as if they have the same weight as the scientific consensus based on facts is one of the biggest blunders of science journalism). But after telling all the superstitious beliefs in an elaborated way, he or she just added a small sentence at the end of the para that according to science there is ‘no evidence’. The short sentence at the end doesn’t impress people. Those who fear eclipses will read the entire para and think all that is true. Then their fear makes them blind to the last sentence.

The short last sentence is the fact! But the way the writer put it made it very insignificant! What a mess!

Then a big list of bad things that could happen was given... Like this...

Some of the common beliefs include:
Not to come out, eat or cook during eclipse. All these can develop deformities in the baby. 
Take bath only once the eclipse is over.
Avoid any household work during the eclipse and take rest.
Avoid using sharp objects like knife and scissor as it can cause cleft lip or birthmark on the baby.

According to Indian culture, lunar eclipse is considered as a bad omen which can be harmful for pregnant women, (and then added finally)  ''while many cultures don't agree with such a philosophy''.

There are people who still believe that during lunar eclipse, they might develop heart related diseases, breathing trouble, insomnia, stress, cough and cold, fear and mood swings. Hence, they avoid going outside. It is also believed that exposure to lunar eclipse might also lead to mental imbalance and lunacy.

'There is no medical evidence ' but people still believe that eclipse could affect their health and could also impact their mental health. They have this belief that the eclipse can impact people's behaviour, their health, wealth or even their luck may lead to cosmological influence on human life.However, it must be noted that there is no scientific backing to these claims. 

AVOIDING EATING OR COOKING DURING AN ECLIPSE: Sun rays are important for our health and are considered as one of the vital energies that ensure survival. These rays also protect us from harmful microbes and germs. But during an eclipse, as the sun gets blocked, it obstructs its rays too. Hence, there can be a drop in temperature which can lead to a buildup of germs, microbes and bacteria.

(The second link article)

Any critical thinker would ask these Qs after reading this:  Don't all the food grains in the field get exposed very badly to microbes if that is true? During night don't they get  a bad treatment from the germs then?

Doesn't the water in rivers and canals too get exposed to these condition too? 

If we are not supposed to Eat and Drink the left over food or water in our homes after the eclipses, are we supposed to fast for whole one year or forever till our death as we have to consume food and water which is out there in open in fields and in rivers?

Do we need to evaporate all the water on earth and then re-create it by some process by mixing hydrogen and oxygen and then grow food? Do we need to throw away food grown in the fields exposed to rays of sun and moon during eclipses?

Don't animals out in the open get exposed to 'eclipses'? Don't pregnant animals in the wild eat, sleep, drink (water), during eclipses? Are they following these superstitions? Despite that aren't they giving birth to healthy offspring? Why do we still fear eclipses and other natural phenomena?  What a mess the human mind has become? And we call ourselves the most evolved  animals and think we have a very advanced thought process! How wrong we are?

Do Westerners follow these rituals? No, they don't! Aren't they giving birth to healthy babies?

Has any journalist questioned in this way? 

What ridiculous ways these journalists spread fear and superstitions!

Very bad journalism!  Journalists following me,  please learn lessons from this.

You if speak facts, people with irrational beliefs might turn away from you and even attack you. I  am getting attacked and sometimes very severely. But when you are fighting a war against bad things in our  society, you shouldn't fear such things and try to 'compromise or balance things' like cowards. Do you give same {or sometimes more importance ( to bad things? )} to these things:  ignorance and knowledge, superstitions and rationality, misconceptions and facts? Doesn't the world stay where it is instead of progressing if you do that???

This journalist made a mistake of giving more importance to superstitious beliefs in his or her write up and in the process not only scared people very badly but made them stick to their irrational beliefs more closely. No wonder, we are going backwards. 

To the lady who wrote to me: My sister, when she was pregnant, never followed these superstitions during eclipses. In fact none of our family members followed them. But all the pregnant ladies in our family gave birth to normal babies. No harm has befallen our family inspite of going against 'unwanted suggestions and advises' of people around. 

Because we trust in what science says. And science has never let us down. It will never betray you too.

There is absolutely no scientific evidence to support what people believe irrationally and say. You have pregnant wild animals out in the open who are giving birth to healthy offspring after eclipses as evidence. We are eating eclipse-exposed food in the fields and drinking water from water bodies exposed to eclipses all these years without any bad consequences. Isn't that evidence enough? Trust that evidence. Think about that and what science says. 

Come follow me and the scientific way I tread on. Your fear will melt away. And you will become stress free. That will benefit the baby in your womb a lot.

Go out and watch this celestial thrill...

And then think about my art work which depicts your state of mind to have a change in it ...

Spacemen Vs Boxmen ( Art work by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa)

From http://www.kkartfromscience.com

In this space age, where new thoughts & actions of some people are taking the human kind towards development & progress, some people are refusing to come out of the boxes they live in even though the environment they are in is hindering the free, forward movement.

A poem based on this theme by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa

Q based on this: Can you please explain how eclipses occur?

Krishna: 

Every month, the Moon comes between the Sun and the Earth once during the new moon. Similarly, the earth comes between the sun and the moon during the full moon. But since the plane of revolution of the Moon around the Earth is slightly tilted with respect to the Earth’s revolution around the Sun, the three bodies do not fall on an exact straight line every time.

The Sun, Moon and the Earth fall on a straight line only when the Moon falls on the points of intersection between the Moon’s orbit plane and the earth’s plane of revolution during full moon and new moon — these points are known as the ascending and descending lunar nodes (Rahu and Ketu in Indian Astrology). The important thing to note is that when the eclipse occurs, the only physical effect that happens is that the sunlight becomes blocked by the body in the middle from reaching the other body. This is just a shadow effect. Beyond this, there is no difference in radiation, gravitation, reaction rates or anything else!

Q: Does the solar  radiation get enhanced during eclipses?

Krishna: NO! The rays are the usual ones you get all through the year. 

Q: Does magnetism and gravitation increase during eclipse?

Krishna: NO, again!  The magnetic field of moon is very weak when compared to that of Earth's and the long distance between Earth and Moon makes it more weak.

 The Sun is not a solid ball, but rather like a fluid. It exhibits differential rotation, meaning the surface moves at different speeds depending on latitude. This results in the magnetic field lines getting wound up. When the winding gets extreme, the magnetic field lines "snap," causing solar flares at those locations on the surface (1). The sun's magnetic influence extends well past the planets and into interstellar space. This region, called the heliosphere, acts as a magnetic shield against charged particles from deep space called cosmic rays. But when the magnetic waves reach Earth they will be too weak to effect us .

Q: Does our food get effected during eclipse?

Krishna: NO, NO, NO, and  a big NO! The food quality doesn't change in any way during eclipses. The Biochemical reactions occurring during eclipses don't know that there is an eclipse in progress. So also the biological processes occurring in living bodies don't know anything about eclipses. 

Q: Does earth's energy change during eclipse to effect us?

Krishna: NO, once more! 

Q: Do solar eclipses produce harmful rays that can cause blindness?

Krishna: During a total solar eclipse when the disk of the moon fully covers the sun, the brilliant corona emits only electromagnetic radiation, though sometimes with a greenish hue. Scientists have studied this radiation for centuries. Being a million times fainter than the light from the sun itself, there is nothing in the coronal light that could cross 150 million kilometers of space ,penetrate our dense atmosphere, and cause blindness. However, if you watched the sun before totality, you will catch a glimpse of the brilliant solar surface and this can cause retinal damage, though the typical human instinctual response is to quickly look away before any severe damage has actually occurred.

Q: Can pregnant women watch eclipses?

Krishna: Very much! This Q  is related to the false idea that harmful radiations are emitted during a total solar eclipse. Although the electromagnetic radiation from the corona, seen as light, is perfectly safe, there is another form of radiation that travels to Earth from the sun. Deep in the solar interior where nuclear fusion takes place to light the sun, particles called neutrinos are born, and zip unimpeded out of the sun and into space. They also pass through the solid body of the moon during the eclipse and a second or so later reach Earth and pass through it too! Every second, your body is pelted by trillions of these neutrinos no matter if the sun is above or below the horizon. The only consequence is that every few minutes a few atoms in your body are transmuted into a different isotope by absorbing a neutrino. This is an entirely harmless effect and would not harm you, or if you are pregnant, the developing fetus.

Q: Can eclipses poison any food that is prepared during the event.

Krishna: Related to the false idea of harmful solar rays is that during a total solar eclipse, some kind of radiation is produced that will harm your food. If that were the case, the same radiations would harm the food in your pantry, or crops in the field. The basic idea is that total solar eclipses are terrifying and their ghostly green coronae look frightening, so it is natural to want to make up fearful stories about them and look for coincidences among events around you. If someone is accidentally food-poisoned with potato salad during an eclipse, some might argue that the event was related to the eclipse itself even though hundreds of other people at the same location were not at all effected.

Q: what things should be kept in mind during a solar eclipse?

References:

1. https://www.space.com/22393-sun-magnetic-field-explained-infographi...

Q: What is the explanation of Rahu and Ketu in science?