energy

Curses or Blessings are energy

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Curses or blessings are an energy charged with intention. In case the intention is auspicious then it would be a blessing and obviously an intention linked to an unfavourable result would be a curse.

Curses शाप are possible in the current age. A curse is an imprecation, malediction, constraint, prohibition, restriction or a ban. An intention designed to cause negativity, suffering or harm to the recipient. And at low levels, this happens a lot. Eg your maid mentally curses you because you made her do extra work without pay, or you swear at that taxi driver who overcharged you. These low level curses are a part of the daily grind, at max they will make you feel bad briefly but will not cause much/ lasting harm.

Blessings ie Ashirwad आशीर्वाद are also possible. A very basic eg, you feel grateful to your spouse for something he does for you and this warmth in your heart is also a blessing, a positive energy which goes to him from you. Or your parents and elders give you blessings when you touch their feet, chunks of positive energy. These benedictions add to the generic shell of positive energy surrounding you.

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But then there are the high powered curses which do cause genuine harm. Here are a few examples,

Curses powered by mantra siddhi and hurt emotions – Someone who has been living a very Satvik life, doing daily pujas and Sadhana, following the directions of the Guru, a high level spiritual aspirant.

  • Such a yogi level person in rare circumstances can still lose his temper. If he lashes out and curses someone in a fit of rage, then what he has said will happen to that person. His spiritual merit / punya powers this curse and causes harm to the recipient. His own merit also gets reduced a bit by this outburst. 
  • Another possibility is that this aspirant can, in rare circumstances, feel deeply hurt by someone else’s behaviour. And though he consciously may not say or do anything, the pain gets transformed into a curse for the other. This energy causes great harm to the recipient and also drains the spiritual merit of the aspirant. eg. I know such a person who cursed her own daughter in a fit of intense emotional pain and she suffered for years. Obviously the aspirant too suffered. 
  • So it is essential that a genuine aspirant first learn to control his own mind, reduce his sense of personal self-ego, only then increase the intensity of his sadhana and his energy levels. 
  • And if you are a regular person, then make it a point to avoid needlessly angering or hurting such high level aspirants. If you cannot respect them, keep away from them.

Curses powered by mantra siddhi and desire for power – There are aspirants who perform anushthans ie targeted rituals with intention for mantra siddhi and eventually achieve it. But their objective is not self-realization, rather a desire for material power and fame by using the power of this mantra.

  • Generally these practitioners do pujas for others for them to achieve their goals. They charge their clients money. If these people intend maledictions, they consciously channelise the power of their mantra energy they have gained to amplify the negative intentions. These intentions may be unethical or immoral but this does not matter to this practitioner as he is chasing money. These pujas damage the client, the recipient and also the practitioner. 
  • Astrologers who give scary predictions on purpose to create repeat clients fall in this category. When an astrologer reads someone’s chart, he is using the power of his own 5th house and the client’s 9th house to do so, ie this is a function of the astrologer’s Mantrasiddhi and the client’s Purvapunya. But rather than reinforcing the client’s 9th house he is using the power of his 5th house to damage it. This causes suffering to the client and the practitioner both. 
  • Such type of practitioners often die bad deaths. 

Curses powered by rituals which involve killing birds/animals – The lowest level of practitioners are those kill living beings and use the energy released by their physical death to power intentions of causing harm. People approach these ‘tantriks’ and pay them to get this sort of work done. Unfortunately these examples are extremely common and cause damage to the recipient, the practitioner and the people who get this ritual done. (If you are a practising astrologer, never read charts of people who do these things.) In Sanatan Dharma, you cannot kill another being and use its death energy like this, it is the worst karma possible. The only Bali permissible in Dharma is breaking a coconut with intention. And people do this too! Power their curses by breaking coconuts with negative intentions. One tip is to never eat ‘prasadam’, especially broken coconut, offered to you by people whom you do not trust. 

(A curse from a Satguru. I have seen only one example of this in my life. Needless to say, this will be the most inauspicious thing possible, from which there will be no escape.)

Then are the curses from your past lives carried on this life, which can be seen in the horoscope, eg I wrote on the Sarpashapa. And the curses from your past lives connected to your negative karma, eg if you mistreat your mother now, its possible that you will get the combination for a Matrushapa in your next life’s birth chart.

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But even after someone creates a curse energy, it is not necessary that it will affect the target in the way he intends. Two houses, the 5th and 9th in the chart, protect in conscious and unconscious ways.

The 9th house is the house of Purvapunya. So curses will not affect much if,

  • If you have a strong 9th house at birth. Then this protection will be for a life time, there is a higher ability to passively resist negativity. Your own merits, punya from your past lives work as a shield around you all the time. But remember that with every attack you resist, this merit gets used up bit by bit.
  • You are undergoing a favourable dasha period or a significant transit of a strongly placed planet. Especially if this planet is connected to the 9th house, (ie owns it, in it, aspects it, or is conjunct the 9th owner or aspects him), then your ‘timely luck’ factor is active. Here, the overall time is favourable for you so even if the energy of the malediction touches you, it will not do much harm. At max it might manifest as some minor health issue like nausea or typical dreams etc. Or you will be given sufficient warning in time so that you can do something about it. And it is quite possible that the negativity recoils back to the person who sent it to you in the first place. 
  • If you have an extraordinarily strong D9 navamsha chart.

The 5th house is Mantrasiddhi. The conscious efforts you make to enhance your own energy. So, again the curses will have limited effect on you if, 

  • you are doing your own spiritual practice regularly and have generated significant reserves of power, ie you are reinforcing your own 5th house continually with your own actions. In this case you will simply absorb whatever it was, ie burn it by your energy, or briefly suffer something minor or send it back. Doing this also consumes your energy but as you do your regular practice you continue to replenish yourself.

The solution for all this cursing stuff is the same, increase the power of the 5th house by your own actions, ie do your mantra pujas. Or trigger the power of your own 9th house by doing ritualistic pujas, going to pilgrimages, doing tarpan for your ancestors and acting as per your Guru. Both these houses feed energy directly into the personality, the 1st house. This is the power of the Dharma trikon. You cannot be really harmed by someone with a energy level lower than yours. Or if you have more power than the stuff which was sent against you. This is the function of the Dharma trikon as a whole. 

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Next, the blessings, ie Ashirwad. Only someone who has significant energy reserves can give blessings. As in cursing, giving blessings also depletes the energy reserve. These are chunks of energy which move from you to the recipient. 

  • A real Satguru has enormous power, ie he is the Advaita itself. But he will never ever give ‘direct blessings’, ie he will never say specific things like, ‘you will get married soon’ etc. He will use generic words like Ashirwad, Kalyan, Shubh, Sukh, Shanti, Prasanna etc, that too rarely. These words give the recipient a chunk of auspicious energy. What is to be done with the energy is the decision of the recipient. He will never interfere in the disciple’s free will, his choice of actions. One extreme example with my Guru, someone was asking him for clear cut directions for changing his job. He finally said ‘do whatever you want but do not forget why you are doing it’, he did not give him a clear yes/ no answer that he was insisting on. 
  • Genuine Yogis may give specific blessings or give specific guidance etc, again in rare circumstances. But these words also drain them of their own merit/ punya. In all my interactions with such higher-level Sadhaks, I have never seen this happening. In fact some of the Yogis I met, would not let others even touch their feet. Genuine Yogis also use generic words for giving their rare blessings.
  • So be careful if someone claims to be a Guru or Yogi and gives you directions regarding your life ie the business, job, marriage etc part. Or gives specific blessings for material gains. To gauge the genuineness of this person always evaluate the type of ‘blessings’ that they give to their disciples. 

Again, not everyone can receive such blessings from Yogis or the Satguru. The thing is that when a Satguru uses a word like ‘Ashirwad’, the quantum of energy that he sends is extraordinarily high. The recipient needs to have an equally high capacity of absorbing and assimilating it. And the mental stability to use it in a sensible way. So again only if you have a strong 9th house and overall Dharma trikon will these sort of blessing energy be give to you. 

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So in life, do not feel scared of random people cursing you, most of them do not have that reserve of power to do so. And do not get swayed by random people blessing you, not many have the capacity to do so. Do your own regular spiritual practice, keep reinforcing your own energy, that is always the best option. 

 

Real nature of the Sun and the deities

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I had said that I would write on the real nature of the ‘deities’ and ‘gods’ of Sanatan Dharma. I have written about the 33-classes of the deities in an earlier post. That was a rather technical post, so will try to make this one very simple, like a story..

We, of the Sanatan Dharma, have several deities, the gram-devata, the stahl-devata, the jal-devata, every village has its own guardian god, every river has its own conscious energy and every Sun has its own conscious intelligence. We find a way to express our gratitude to every aspect of energy which surrounds us. Keeps us grounded, sort of.

Now imagine that our universe has an energy-government. Each solar system is a nation. The several Suns are rulers of the several nations. Each of these ruler-Suns have their own set of ministers, advisors, officers incharge of the departments, right down to the village level officers who look after the energy needs of every village, Gram-devata. In fact, family level officers, Kul-devata. Or personal level energy officers, Ishta-devata! These have been assigned responsibility to distribute energy to us at these different levels.

And then we are all good citizens so we all pay our taxes. These taxes are in terms of the prayers and oblations that we offer to each category of officers. The more higher up the officer the more tax he collects and in bigger quantum. The higher-ups work on bigger levels, give more powerful benefits, they require bigger payments if you want to gain their specific benefits. The officers on more personal levels require less intense taxes and the benefits they offer are of a different category. A family specific officer has less work-load compared to a solar system level officer but his nature of work is more specific, personal. We all gain energy from all these officers and thus are required to give it back too in fair exchange. These officers are our deities.

Sometimes it happens that we take extra benefits from some officer and promise to pay his department more tax.  But we die physically and in the next life we forget the pending amounts. In the meanwhile, we are also moving on the spiritual path so when we reach the final 100m all these officers pop up and demand their promised payments. So at the very last stages of existence we are required to generate enormous amount of energy to pay all these departments. Perhaps I owed the Devi’s department some amount, so I had to perform the Navavarana mantra jaap to pay her dues. Once we get the no-dues certificates from all these officers can we reach the top-boss, the Sun, the ruler of our solar system. If we want to gain access to the highest Advaita we have to generate so much energy that we can pay off the Sun’s dues. Once he gives his no-dues certificate our soul can move into the dimensions beyond him where the essential Nirvishesh Brahma exists.

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Ever wondered what the is Sun exactly? The Sun is the most powerful force in a horoscope. The highest luminary, linked to the Sahasrara chakra, the individual soul, the light which is the path from the individual soul to the Eternal. The self-illuminated Star so near us. Modern scientists can come up with whatever theories which suit them but the Sun and similar other Stars are very different from what they can even conceive. But you will see their real natures when you sit down in your regular spiritual practice.

Space/ Time of this manifested creation has 10 dimensions and the 11th is the Bindu. Quantum science has reached this much. (All break-through quantum scientists studied the Bhagwat Gita and the Ved-s). The easiest way to imagine space/ time is to visualise a very big bed-sheet, made of 10 dimensions. A rather complicated bed-sheet this! Not just length, breath and thickness, but there are 10 dimensions to this bed-sheet. We already know that the 10 dimensions are aware, intelligent, conscious and are represented as the Dasha-Maha-Vidya, the 10 utterly fierce primeval Devi-s, Mahakali (Kali), Tara, Tripursundari (Shodashi), Bhuvaneshvari, Bhairavi, Chhinnamasta, Dhoomavati, Bagalamukhi (Valagamukhi), Matangi, and Kamala.

Our 10 dimensional bed-sheet is made of these 10 energies, we know their names and their natures. Now imagine that there are two ’sides’ to this bed-sheet. And that the bed-sheet is cryptically wrapped around a central lamp. We cannot make out how it is wrapped but it quite effectively covers the lamp. This lamp is eternally switched on, and is quite conscious itself. (What is inside this lamp I don’t know as of now, but it emits a lovely light and a powerful energy.)

We live on this bed-sheet, on one ‘side’ of it, the outer side. All the planets and satellites, the non-self-luminous parts of the manifested creation are on this outer side of the bed-sheet. The dimension of the living – Martya-lok, the dimension of the spirits – Pitru-lok and all the other possible dimensions where souls exist are on this 10-dimensional bed-sheet’s ‘outer side’.

Now imagine that the bed-sheet has several pin-point ‘holes’ scattered all along it. The holes are the connection from one ‘side’ of this bed-sheet to the other. The lamp is switched on and so tiny pin-pricks of light are visible on the bed-sheet. These are the Stars and the Suns. They are not ‘self-illuminated’ but simply the pin-pricks of the light of the lamp. But we, living on the bed-sheet, think that they are self-illuminated. It is all about perspective. Change your position and reality changes for you. Your position is all important..

The inner side of the bed-sheet, now this is where the 11th dimension, the ‘Bindu’ resides. The center of the Universes, the source of all creation. OM, our eternally switched on lamp. As the Bindu is a conscious aware intelligence, so are the Suns. But the Sun’s do not have the complete Bindu’s awareness. Each Sun is one single ray of the Bindu. The Sun is a ‘hole’ in this 10-dimensional bed-sheet of space-time. This hole lets in the power of OM into our side of the bed-sheet. The bed-sheet itself is maintained by the power of the pin-pricks, ie the Suns who draw power from the central Bindu lamp. The Suns and the Stars are all very conscious and intelligent pin-pricks. Each Sun has his own energy government as described above. Thus the Sun is the highest deity for us, the link with the divine Eternal Bindu. Some of the pin-pricks are different in size/ shape and their energy quality is different, these are the other ‘radiant’ bodies of the manifested universe, the quasars, black-holes and stuff.

Now this was the macrocosm, the outer universes, the Brahma-anda.

Real nature of the Sun and the deities

There are two forms of experience. The external and the internal. When you see the Sun in the skies and fold your hands to it in gratitude, it is external worship. This is considered to be a lower energy version. You are focussing your 2 external eyes on the external object. When you see the ‘brightness’ of the internal Sun at your third eye and offer it your pran/ vital energies, this is internal worship of the ineffable Divine. You are focussing your internal third eye on the internal source of energy. This is the high energy way of ‘worship’.

We have a universe within ourself too, the microcosm, the Pinda-anda. As on the outside, so on the inside. Our body, our existence, is a similar bed-sheet made of the same 10 dimensions. It is wrapped around our internal intelligent Source in a similarly cryptic way. We are ordinarily aware of the outer side of the bed-sheet, we cannot look into the other ‘side’. That is why we do Dhyan, focus on Soham, so that we can gain the ability to look inside. Involution. The Sushumna is the channel which connects our awareness with the light of the internal Sun. The internal Sun shines at the Sahasrara chakra. We get his first inkling when our consciousnesses crosses the Ajnya chakra at the third eye. The internal Sun is the link from the internal Bindu to the individual soul which resides at the Ajnya chakra. This internal Bindu is the same Bindu which which powers the external Sun in the sky!

All this Dhyan, all this focus, is only to enter the Sushumna, navigate through that channel and reach the internal Sun. Only if this Sun approves, then our awareness will move onwards from the Sun to the Bindu.

What lies beyond the Bindu is the Advaita.

Spiritual stuff is quite mind-blowing! Actually so.

And, btw the Sun is ‘hollow’, as its interior lies outside in the 10-dimensions…

Real nature of the Sun and the deities

The sure-shot solution for prosperity

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I am getting several messages for readings. I have finished my karmic quota so will not do them anymore. If I were still doing readings, I wouldn’t have started writing this blog! I simply wouldn’t have the time to write. But if there is something which can help understand your horoscope better, I will write on it, in the spirit of explaining the thing.

But for those who have genuine problems the one perfect remedy for all your problems is Shri-Sukta. It is from the Rg- Ved. We think we are unique, but we are all the same, we all have very limited types of problems, health, wealth, relationships, litigations, profession, children, education. All these can be covered easily by this one all-round remedy. You have to do this yourself with the intention and the genuine desire to come out of the problem. Self-pity and expecting that someone else will pull you out of your problem never works. But luckily for us our ancient Rishis have given us so many tools from Jyotish to the Sukta.

This is the link to the perfect text of the Shri-Sukta, the verses/ shlok from 1 to 15 are the Shri Sukta. Verse 16 is the phala-shruti, ie it tells you what you will get if you recite this Sukta. (The remaining verses are Laxmi Sukta, that is a different sukta.) For those who can read and pronounce Sanskrit words, recite it. Will take 2 mins of your time. But most of us cannot read our own mother tongue, the Devbhasha Samskrutam, so here is the Shri sukta recited perfectly by the singer Uma Mohan. (Do buy this same track, here the pronunciation is perfect, there are no mistakes). She follows the Shri Sukta with the Mahalaxmi Gayatri. Very beautiful. You can listen to this if you cannot read. Will take 4 mins of your time.

When to recite or listen to it? Twice a day is ideal, once after you have your bath in the morning and once at evening twilight. If you feel like it you can listen to it on a loop throughout the day, it is an energy boost. Some of my businessmen clients play it on a loop in their shops as it is in itself Prosperity, Shri श्री.

Here you are invoking the power of the highest form of Prosperity श्री to come to you in every way possible. You are requesting Shri to enter your body, mind and soul. It is a very intense and deep intention and always works for your benefit. Highly auspicious in every way possible. ‘Shri’ means the goddess of wealth, Devi Laxmi, the active energy of the Satva-Gun, wealth, beauty, radiance, splendour, welfare, power, grace, shine, success, fortune, process, symbol, might, dignity, etc. All the meanings are extremely positive on all levels.

Shri- Sukta will work for all your problems, try it for 21days with full intention and see for yourself.

To activate the Navavarna mantra

Next, if you have typical problems, ie if you know what your exact problem is and what you want. Then you can recite one verse from the Ashta-Laxmi stotra to add specific direction to your Shri-sukta rendition. There are 8 verses in the Ashta-Laxmi stotra, one for each of the following aspects of Devi Laxmi. The Shri-Sukta works well on its own and quite powerfully too, this one verse would be an additional thing if you want to do it. Or you can listen to the entire Stotra. Here is a recitation by the singer Gayatri, do buy it if you like it. She has sung it beautifully, you can listen to the entire stotra on the way to your office if you feel like it, rather than movie songs which have no energy.

  • 1st verse is for Aadi Laxmi – for spiritual progress and moksh
  • 2nd verse is for Dhanya Laxmi – for health, removal of poverty, for getting house/properties, medical emergencies
  • 3rd verse is for Dhairya Laxmi – for courage for facing a particular situation, intelligence, calmness eg before an interview, that flash of inspiration when you are stuck in work, issues in profession,
  • 4th verse is for Gaja Laxmi – this gives sheer power, physical/ emotional/ mental
  • 5th verse is for Santaan Laxmi – for children, for help during conception, pregnancy, delivery and for anything to do with children
  • 6th verse is for Vijay Laxmi – all round successes, eg during litigations, court cases, disputes
  • 7th verse is for Vidya Laxmi – for successes in exams or in learning technical subjects, when you start learning a new topic, to make what you learn work for you
  • 8th verse is for Dhan Laxmi – for money and material assets, prosperity in marriage

This will work for everyone irrespective of anything. The Sukta and the Stotra are both in Sanskrit so have inherent power, they are essentially mantra. These will not cause harm in any way to anyone. But they will not give you what is not yours, ie cannot be used to cheat others or to steal what is rightfully other’s stuff. Do it only if you are convinced of your right and positive intention.

If you want to, in addition, you can keep a small silver moorti of Devi Laxmi in your puja. Or an image. Or if you are more into geometry, an image of the Shri Chakra. At least keep such images as your phone’s wallpaper, rather than something random. It is perfect prosperity. This will help channelise the energies faster into your own self into your own life, rebalancing it.

Tripur, Tripurari, Tripursundari

Tilak, applying it on the forehead

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A ‘Tilak’ is a mark that a Hindu/a follower of the Sanatan Dharma wears on the his/her body. A average householder wears a tilak on his forehead first thing after having a bath.

When we sleep at night, our consciousness is drawn away from the physical body, ie the anna-mai-kosh. This physical body sheath is given just the basic minimum pran required to run the basic life processes. The individual soul/ Jivatma withdraws to the subtle body, the sookshma sharir during the dream state and deep sleep states. When you wake up in the morning, the consciousness again reanimates the physical body, but the sleep/ dream states have interfered with the body’s nadi/ pran wiring, it is seen in the aura, it is somewhat ‘blotchy’. When we have a bath and the body is made wet, the aura is withdrawn into the body. Now when we dry ourselves, the aura fans out again, you feel it’s warmth. Now this new refreshed body /aura /mind /soul needs to be reminded of its divine connection. So you put a tilak on your forehead at your ajnya chakra. The Ajnya chakra is the seat of the individual soul, this chakra controls the intake of the pran from the Universe and also the allocation of pran for the activities of the body/mind. This is the place where you have to concentrate on when you do your spiritual practice. So when you put a red tilak here you are literally energising your entire self.

Listing out these several types of Tilak-s used commonly,

A red dot between the eyebrows at the point of the third eye, ajnya chakra.

This red powder is called Kumkum. It is generally made by mixing ground turmeric powder and slaked lime with a drop of lemon juice. But this mark is really made by rubbing a strand of saffron/kesar in a drop of water. ‘Kumkum’ is a Sanskrit word which means saffron, Crocus sativa. This is the most potent Tilak, if you can afford the saffron strands, you should wear this on your forehead.

This red tilak is used by any person who wishes to acknowledge his higher spiritual self within himself or herself. It is used by both men and women who do puja of Devi, the feminine force who animates this creation. Married women compulsorily wear this on their forehead to indicate prosperity, ‘Shri’. A married woman is the Gruh-Laxmi, the sign of prosperity of the household. She wears this red tilak in recognition of her own divinity. There is variation of the red dot, the red crescent, with or without a round dot. This now represents the crescent moon that the Devi wears on her forehead and increases self-confidence, strength and aggression too.

Then there is a form of this saffron tilak which starts at the third eye Ajnya chakra and continues into the hair, till the top of the head, Brahmarandhra. It is a red line from the center of the eyebrows to the top of the head. It connects the seat of the individual soul, the third eye to the seat of the Ultimate, the Brahmarandhra, it links the two. If you use Kesar/saffron charged with mantra to draw this tilak your spiritual progress speeds up.

(For women the 5 days of the monthly cycle will again pop up.You cannot do pujas or anything on these days, so the modern world has the short cut of the sticker bindi! You can also use the red turmeric mix on these 5days)

The tilak is made even more potent by putting a few grains of raw unbroken rice on it. These rice grains are placed before the deity you worship and they absorb the energy of your puja mantra etc. When you wear the rice grains also on your tilak the energy here becomes magnified exponentially.

The Tripundra. Three parallel lines of Vibhuti/ Bhasma/ sacred ash, horizontally across the forehead.

Vibhuti is the greyish ash which remains when you do a homam. A homam is a small version of a yadnya. All Hindus are supposed to do the Agnihotra Homa every sunrise and sunset so there is ample Vibhuti always available. (A simple Homam does not need much. A small inverted pyramidal copper homa-kund, desi Indian cow’s cowdung cakes and its milk’s Ghee. The cowdung cakes and ghee is burnt in the homa-kund with accompanying mantras. The energy of the mantra enters the ash, the Vibhuti. This Vibhuti can be used in several ways. Often the vibhuti is applied as a simple dot at the third eye chakra.)

  • The three fingers, middle, ring and little finger of the right hand are used to draw the tripundra in a sweeping motion across the forehead. Those who worship Shiv will wear the Tripundra. The tripundra is also drawn on the body, the neck, the biceps, forearms, chest, navel etc.
  • A Tripundra across the forehead with a red dot at the third eye chakra. The red dot is of Kesar/Saffron and the Tripundra drawn using the Vibhuti. This is worn by those who do pujas of the Ugra (dangerous and terrifying) forms of the Devi Shakti. And for those who do puja of Shiv and Shakti together. It’s other variation is the Tripundra with the red vertical line connecting the third eye chakra and the top of the head.

Wearing a Tripundra is a a level-up. You have invited a specific type of energy into yourself. Shiv is the potential energy of the Tama-gun and Devi Shakti is the kinetic active form of Tama-gun. When you put their marks on your forehead you are clearly intending that you desire Moksh. The three lines are the three Gun, Satva Raja and Tama, the building blocks of the creation and red dot represents the combined energy of creation. (A red line represents your real self or connection to your real self.) You are using Vibhuti, burnt ash as to draw the Tripundra. This indicates that you want to destroy the three building blocks of creation and progress onwards. You want to dissolve creation and the creator both and go beyond them to your own Reality. The red dot is made with saffron charged with mantras. It is a big commitment. If you wear these marks on your forehead, you should be aware of your own actions and your conscience at all times. 

The Urdhvapundra. This mark is made by three vertical lines on the forehead. These three lines meet at the third eye chakra. This mark is to be made with sandalwood paste. Sandalwood has the effect of calming down the mind, it is easier to concentrate. The movement of the pran in the nadis becomes less turbulent and you can work better with it. Worshippers of Vishnu draw this on their foreheads. It can be drawn with the fingers or using a stick of the Tulasi plant (Ocimum sanctum). These three lines represent the three main nadis, Ida, Pingala and Sushumna which are connected at the Ajnya chakra. Sometimes the central line of the Urdhvapundra is drawn with red powder or more correctly with saffron. If the Urdhvapundra design is too complicated, a sandalwood dot at the third eye chakra can be applied instead.

Vishnu is the conscious potential of the Satva-gun, it increases the inclination of the aspirant towards the Ultimate reality. The red color is representative of Agni/ pran. Same as the Tripundra, the Urdhvapundra indicates that the three building blocks Satva-Raja-Tama have to be channelised, balanced by the active use of pran/Agni and one they are balanced the central dot of your internal geometry can be accessed. (Everything ultimately comes down to Shrichakra!)

So if you wear either of these marks linked to Vishnu or Shiv the seriousness remains the same. Satva and Tama are by themselves incapable of movement, it is only Raja-gun which moves them so that you can use their potential to move onwards on your spiritual path. You are reminding yourself of your commitment when you wear these special tilak marks.

Now how to put a tilak? The right hand is used always,

Ring finger – The best option for putting a tilak on everyone. This finger is called Anamika and is ruled by the Sun. It represents the Prithvi mahabhoot (solidity). It increases prosperity confidence, creativity and brings you closer to your internal divinity.

Middle finger – This finger is called the Madhyama, ruled by Saturn, represents ether, Akash Mahabhoot (ether).  It increases endurance and the capacity to work. It is rarely used alone, generally will be used together with the ring finger to draw an elongated type of tilak.

Thumb – this is called Angushtha and is ruled by Venus and represents the Agni mahabhoot. A tilak applied with the thumb increases valour, courage and mental strength.

Forefinger – The index finger is called Tarjani and represents the Vayu mahabhoot (air), it is also linked to the planet Jupiter. It is never used to apply tilak-s to a living person. Is used to apply tilak-s to a dead body at the time of cremation. A dead body is the discarded vessel, the spirit is now in the body created by only Vayu and Akash mahabhoot. So you are really intending that the energies of the tilak reach the spirit’s body by using this finger.

Little finger – this is called kanishthika and is linked to Mercury and the Aap mahabhoot (fluid). This finger is never used to apply tilak-s. It is highly inauspicious as it increases mental turmoil. If you know how, you can make someone go insane just by putting a tilak with this finger on his third eye chakra.

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In all Indian festivals and pujas, people put tilaks on each other. eg in Raksha bhandhan the sister puts a tilak on her brother. On the new year day, the wife puts it on her husband. If my women relatives come to my house, I will put a tilak on them. If they are men relatives, my husband will put a tilak on them. If you go to a temple the priest will put a tilak on you. It is all very usual and necessary.

But the point of the third eye chakra is very sensitive, so here are a few things. Do not let random people put a tilak on you. Do not put random stuff on here, eg vibhuti from unknown places can be dangerous. Do not put a black colored tilak on your third eye chakra (unless you are very sure about the deity you worship). And avoid chemicals. Most red powders sold as ‘kumkum’ are dangerous dyes, they will not do anything for your spiritual growth and you might develop skin allergy. The turmeric-slaked limestone (a very small pinch of choona) mix is safer, if you cannot afford saffron. (Khadi gramudyog sells turmeric based kumkum powder.)

So do wear a tilak on your forehead. If you feel shy about wearing it throughout the day at least wear it for some time after you have your bath till you do your puja. It will energise you from the inside out.

Rahu Ketu analysis, if placed in the 5 /11 axis

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Rahu and Ketu are completely astral graha, They do not have any existence in the physical dimension. They have no material results on their own. They influence the material only through the other planets they are linked to. Their actual results are almost completely astral in nature, they are the ‘desire to experience’ and ‘apathy to experience’ and represent the flow of experience throughout your several lives. Any placement of Rahu and Ketu will be influenced by the nature of the sign he is in, the owner of this sign and his power to give results and the other planets who conjoin/aspect Rahu/Ketu. The lunar mansion/ Nakshatra occupied by them also gives valuable insights into their effects.

There are two ways of analysing Ketu. Of these, how he will manifest his energy in your life will depend on the other planets, signs and houses.

  • One is disconnection from the individual self, detachment from the sense of self. He just experiences without any judgement. eg no children
  • And the second is no limits. This Ketu energy can increase scope as it is unimpeded by barriers. eg lots of children and child-figures like students.

The 5th and 11th axis deals with your personal intelligence and interaction with the outside world. This is perhaps the most important axis when it comes to energy, an incredible amount of energy is generated and used in this axis. So if you want to be good you can be really be the best and if you takes a bad turn you can be the worst of the lot. The karmic axis of Rahu-Ketu in this 5th/ 11th axis can create the most excellent human beings at one end of the spectrum or the worst ones, nothing in between.

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Ketu in the 5th house

A strong Ketu here can confer a lot. Formal education may be in breaks or strangely disjointed with you taking random courses without a clear direction. Education is generally affected. If the 5th lord and the ascendant is well placed the education would be extensive but the use and awareness of what has been learnt formally would be limited.

This placement of Ketu drives the mind and its mental capacity inwards and you would be generally involved in esoteric stuff. Astrologers, spiritualists, occultists, tantriks are quite to be expected with this Ketu. Your intellect is enormous, Ketu is diffuse and separative, a paradoxial state. So the intellect can spread over and yet be incisive. But what exactly should you do with this intellect will be resolved only after midlife. Till then you might be considered to be a bit eccentric. You have very original and quite shocking ideas. These ideas will not materialise into reality unless Ketu is influenced by other planets.

The self-ego also is strangely fluid, you will be ego-less But at the same time know who you are exactly internally. May not express it though. Ketu in the 5th means that you have experienced these keywords of the 5th completely in your past lives and you have the deepest learnings associated with this house with you. But you will not be aware of it, if you can consciously focus it will be made available. But ‘consciously focussing’ and ‘headless Ketu’ together can get a bit difficult.

With love affairs two extreme things may happen depending on the other placements. No affairs, no relationships with humans and the search for a non-physical sort of a relationship with a deity or the higher self. Or no affairs but a formal marriage with limited physical contact. Or the other extreme, mindlessly into several relationships /marriages/affairs which are never satisfying. These relationships would be karmic in nature and you are quite passive about these.

Ketu in 5th makes you the shadow of your more outgoing husband/wife. The spouse if often from a different social/ cultural background. You don’t know how to have fun, most avenues of entertainment lose their attraction very fast. Your spouse can be a politician or someone very well-known in public, very passionate and visible. He is quite conscious about social position, recognition, gains, wealth etc. You on the other hand are not bothered about all this material stuff. You understand its importance, you move about in such environments but you are not moved by all these things. You might have to face losses because of your disinterest. You are your spouse’s shadow here, always present but never really seen. And you don’t mind it! 

Children will be few, pregnancy and childbirth (if female) will be especially difficult. The children will be highly intuitive themselves. The eldest child especially may show occult talents or may have special needs. However this is rarely a ‘disability’ as far as his behaviour in society is concerned. But you might sometimes feel discomfort caused by his behaviour. You rarely punish your children/students, you observe and think very differently, your parenting style is a bit eccentric but can be genius. However this can as easily turn to negligence.

If you choose to venture into the spiritual, you will have limited real students. However you are a good teacher and can teach students with special needs, handicapped children, or students of the esoteric.

You are not bothered with expressing your creativity. There is no pride or no ego related to your creative output. (Should never gamble.)

There is one observation here, the 5th house indicates the physical heart. So there may be some medical conditions if aspected by malefics. Take care of your upper back too in such a case. (This in rare cases if there is support from the rest of the horoscope can allow the Kundalini to rise.) But as Ketu is completely astral his main effect is to create a sense of sadness, grief perhaps. You are psychically detached from divine love or perhaps the word is self-love? but you never know that you yearn for this sort of love. The essence of love? A sense of undefinable loneliness prevails over the Ketu of the 5th house.

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Rahu in the 11th house

If Ketu is placed in the 5th house naturally Rahu would be in the opposite 11th house, 180degrees apart..

Rahu in the 11th house from the ascendant is a wish come true perhaps? Rahu in the 11th the house of gain, would have created ambitions in the initial life but Rahu comes to his maturity only after 48yrs of life. And the 11th is an upchaya  उपचय house, gives better results with age. The 11th is the house of gains, extended like-minded groups, markets, foreigners, luck, relationships with large groups, mostly impersonal type of relationships.

Rahu here desires social recognition, social mobility, often political power, a wide circle of friends, corporate networking, community participation, profits and gains, is very ambitious. Uses unconventional methods to rise but this rise can be sustained only if some benefic planet influences Rahu. Even if there are intermittent falls, Rahu uses them as opportunities and manages to rise again. He challenges the conventional always so in the 11th house he has infinite potential to showcase genius and also to manipulate. Rahu has the ability to merge in every group in a very fascinating manner. He accepts everyone into his circle, irrespective of class, creed or mind-sets.

But is important to remember that how-much-ever Rahu strives onwards the Ketu in the 5th house grants an unfocussed intelligence, an eccentric genius, there is detachment here. So if Ketu is more powerful than Rahu in your chart this factor can cause more falls in the material perspective than material gains. If your 5th house occupied by Ketu is not supported by other solidifying benefic aspects, you will not be able to make the most of Rahu’s capability. Rahu in the 11th makes one ruthless and grants a complete disregard for rules, conventions and regulations. Plus out-of-the-box thinking. You are actually a philosopher who also has the confidence and ruthlessness to act. You can strategise very well and also keep secrets. Can prosper in business, especially import/export related. Material earnings will be quite good in any case. There might be awards and prizes too.

If you try to gain using Rahu’s powers of illegality, breaking the rules, pretending, cheating and posing, your fortune will not last. So after a rather dissatisfied first half of life, the second half can fulfil desires. But what desires? The frustration of the first half of life and the maturation of all planets will have changed your mind-set. Spirituality would have set in and changed the type of desires which Rahu will then fulfil. This 5/11 Ketu-Rahu is considered exceptional for spiritual growth also. The personality tries to find its balance between the individual self-ego and the unlimited Consciousness. This combination can grant an outwardly simple ego-less plain personality, well-known in public life, a high social stature, is wealthy and also is involved in deep esoteric activities. (Something like a saint who is also a king, perhaps?)

The mother’s and father’s families are often a source of problems. Brothers and extended families are generally troublesome. Children display occult abilities or in rare cases can be specially abled. Spouse is a social climber, a politician or a successful businessman. Friends are also exotic, fascinating but not really life-time friends, they also are a bit odd, occultists and astrologer type, not really bff material! So there exists potential for invalidation from all relationships. ‘Validation’ is an important component of any relationship. This is always missing. Satisfaction is missing from every aspect of life, personal or the extended.

Sometimes complete destruction is necessary to rise again spectacularly. This placement sometimes reflects this as the first half of the life goes in a haze. The second half is more vivid and happy. Things will move after Rahu and Ketu attain maturity. You will see a marked change in your life during the age of 42-47yrs.

If you have Ketu placed 5th from the birth Moon and thus the Rahu 11th from Moon, the results will be as per the above except the context will be exclusively on the emotional planes.

Ketu Mahdasha and Rahu Mahadasha as per the Vimshottari system, will be quite happening periods. Especially Rahu-Ketu sub-period and Ketu-Rahu antardasha will be quite karmically heavy-duty. Their sub-periods in the other planet’s Mahadasha-s also will burn karma fast. Their transits are also quite slow with 1.5yrs in each sign, (right now they are in Capricorn /Cancer) so keep a look out here too. Periods heavy with Rahu/ Ketu energy will grant profits and gains but after their periods are complete these gains too may erode. 

Doing mantra -jaap of Rahu and Ketu on Tuesdays/Saturdays and especially during eclipses is very beneficial. In fact you should aggressively use every eclipse which occurs, not let even one single event pass by.

Rahu is the engine which drives your chart and Ketu is the last guard-cabin. The desire to experience and apathy to experience. In energy-terms these are the influences which push your perfect internal energy -geometry out of shape. Life is all about experience and energy, so analyse these two astral tendencies, Rahu-Ketu carefully in your chart, they reveal your deepest motivations.

 

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Have written about Rahu in the 5th and Ketu in the 11th house in this post.