guru

Siddhis occult powers and True Realization

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Perhaps I am writing more on spiritual topics these days. But the influence of the planets is on me too. Sagittarius has his own ruler Jupiter back in it with Ketu. Saturn has come back to his own Capricorn and at present his father, the Sun is also with him. Mystic influences everywhere!

There was a question on occult powers and true realisation. It became too long an answer so posting it as full post and in very simple language.

When you do your spiritual practices, you access your own sub-conscious mind. These influences ‘activate’ your astral body and the inner most causal body. So the extra senses associated with them also become active. So you can do things with your mind and intention. I have written about clairvoyance, bio-energy, aura and stuff earlier. These all are not ‘super-natural powers’. These are very much natural and a part of yourself.

  • Eg suppose someone was blind from birth and with modern medical procedures he was made to see, ie his eyes were activated and now he can use them to see the world. For him, this eye-sight would be very magical, he can see colors and shapes etc. But for us this is not magic or super-natural it is just a regular sensory thing of the physical body. Similarly occult powers, ie ‘siddhi’ are all a natural part of your bodies. They will come naturally as you progress.

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All spiritual aspirants eventually are able to do ’super-natural’ things. (I have written about this in my post on experiences in Dhyan.) And most of them get caught in the wonder of these things that they forget that there is more. This is a very real danger. As you do things with the power of your practice you may also use yourself up. If you act with intention, this can create new karmic knots for yourself ‘higher up’!

  • Eg, you break someone’s leg, this is on the purely physical levels, so the karmic balance will demand that your leg too gets broken. Ok, so it got broken, you went to a doctor who set it back. You wore a plaster and karma is done. Or you got a painful limp but the karma was done in one life.
  • Another example, you astrally attack someone and destroy his Anahata chakra. ie you extinguish the green light in the center of his heart chakra. This person will have heart problems and his ability to ‘give’ will suffer later in this life or the next. He will feel discomfort when he is asked to ‘give’ emotions, things etc. For the heart problems he will go to a doctor (if he has the means) but for the problems at the energy levels he won’t find a solution so easily, it will take a few lifetimes for him to recover. So when this karma comes knocking at your door, you too will face the same problems a few lives down the line. See, in this life you had access to the astral so you hit out, but it is possible that in that life you won’t be able to manipulate the astral. You won’t know what has happened or how to rectify it. This in itself, now can become a focal point for creation of several new karma!

So the ‘higher up’ you create karma, the worse is the entanglement. Spiritual aspirants should be very careful about acting with intention or with emotion as they progress higher. So all spiritual practices insist on taming the erratic mind first and foremost. The seeds of desire in the mind (Mano-vritta-asur) have to be faced by the mind/ individual soul (Indra) itself and annihilated. Else they will pop up in even higher levels in the spiritual route and take even more lives to rebalance.

There are some teachers who teach occult practices and how to develop siddhi. I would advise you to stay away from these teachers. These abilities are not a route to true realisation. They are the side-by, on the way type of things.

  • Eg you are on the way to a beautiful hill station (Moksh). On the route you see scenic views, lakes, etc (Siddhi) all very alluring. But do you abandon your goal of going to the hill-station and stop your journey at the lake? You might get a local guide who will try to entangle you in the beauty of the lake view, try to slow down or stop your journey but would you?

Siddhis occult powers and True Realization

I have written about Jupiter and Venus the Guru-s of the zodiac. Jupiter helps you gather your resources and expand them. Venus consumes these resources to power your jump towards your ‘desire’. This desire can be physical, intellectual/mental or spiritual, ie broadly three categories, depending on the soul’s personal evolution. Material desires require less resources and spiritual desires require the highest amount.

Just remember that the resources are limited by the power of your Jupiter. If you use all your resources to power your material desires, you may not have enough to power your intellectual etc higher desires. Or on the other hand if you hoard the resources till you get a huge amount, then you can use it all in one go to satisfy your higher ‘desires’.

  • Eg. Someone gets into physical affairs with several people. The satisfaction level naturally goes down with each successive encounter. He is using up all the resource in the material level itself. Such people cannot appreciate the higher intellectual/mental or the spiritual aspects of life.
  • Eg. Someone practices the piano the earliest years, rigorously. Denies himself rest or any other pursuits and dedicates himself solely to the piano, he becomes a Mozart! Creates great art!
  • Eg. Someone rejects the material life, becomes a Sanyasi. He hoards the resources to attain Moksh, he becomes a Jivan-mukt.

The ‘desire’ component is determined by Venus, where do you use the resources, how you use them and how far do you ‘jump’. This is the most deadly of the tests, as Venus presides over all sorts of one-one relationships from sexual partner, spouse, business, family, child, art, creative instinct, higher-Self etc. So many ‘desires’ then, which one do you choose? As always if you choose one category then you may not have resources for other categories.

  • Eg. someone is in a marriage and the spouse is unsuitable, perhaps the horoscopes do not match. But once married, esp. in traditional societies you cannot back out so easily. So he uses all his energy resource to sustain the marriage. The resources are used up maintaining the spouse. Nothing left over for other one-one relationships. This spills over into his business/ profession, into his relationships with his family/ friends and also affects his relationship with his children. He does not have the energy to appreciate the mental/ intellectual or spiritual facets of life. (Even if divorce is possible, pain does remain). Ultimately all this will result in self-castigation, regrets affecting his relationship with his own Self. Real tragedy.

So you need to choose the direction of your ‘desires’ very carefully. If you want the material, then do it with the intention that you are completely satisfied. Don’t mix things and expect higher satisfaction in a series of affairs. If you want to create great art, do so, focus, so that you are finally content with what you create. (Most superlative artists die early, as they are internally satisfied, the 2nd and 7th Marak houses show their effect). Great artists are ‘married to their art’, it is not just a phrase it is actually a marriage! If you desire to know your self spiritually do so with all your heart so that you can achieve it. Desires are meant to be satisfied, so go on satisfy your deepest desires.

But once you put yourself in a path, remember turning back or changing tracks may not be so easy. It all depends on the quantum of the resource/ Jupiter and the power of desire/ Venus and their axis in your chart.

And for the higher paths, the mental or spiritual path, you have to show your dedication by choosing that same again and again through several lives, only then do you get your desire very many lives later.

Siddhis occult powers and True Realization

I have written about Nija-Guru and Anya-Guru earlier.

Nija-guru is one single person or energy, you cannot have two or more Nija-guru. He is the Sat-Guru who directs you towards final Moksh in the most direct way possible. And Anya-Guru, who inspire and motivate you, help you gather your resources, but you know at your innermost levels that you cannot reach Moksh on their teachings, ie their teaching though may be very great, is not apt for you personally. So you are still in search for a Sat-Guru.

We should read stories of Guru-s from earlier times, it is instructive. A few examples, some of you might know these Guru-s,

  • Eg – Mata Anandmayi from Hardwar – Her Sat-guru was exclusively on the astral planes. She had no physically visible person as a Sat-Guru.
  • Eg – Shri Jnyaneshwar, author of the Jnyaneshwari a commentary on the Bhagwat Gita. He was a teenager when he wrote it. His younger sister was Mukta-devi, a small girl. One Chang-dev, a very high level siddha-yogi, challenged his authority. But it was Mukta-devi, who answered every question posed by Chang-dev, satisfied his soul. He fell at her feet and she accepted him as her disciple. He attained Moksh by her grace/ Guru-krupa.
  • Eg – Shri Raghunathpriya Maharaj was a high level siddha-yogi who would debate on spiritual matters (Shastra-arth) with others, the others would accept defeat. He challenged Shri Guruling-jangam Maharaj and lost. Then he accepted him as a Sat-guru and then by his Guru-krupa attained Moksh.
  • Eg – My own Sat-Guru was formally adopted at the age of 17yrs by the 25th pontiff of the Siddha-giri Math, Shri Virupaksh Kadsiddheshwar. He was taught all the highest and most secret levels of yog and sadhana and then made the 26th pontiff. But he did not achieve Moksh till the age of 29yrs, till he met his own Sat-guru Shri Siddharameshwar Maharaj. He too had gone to challenge his authority to speak on spiritual topics, but when he went there, he Saw and fell at his Sat-guru’s feet and achieved True realisation, Moksh at that very instant.

So meeting an Anya-Guru is one thing, he is like the Jupiter who will help you build your resources. Worthy of respect. But beyond, unless you get the spark (Venus) that a Sat-guru grants, you cannot attain Moksh. Some have been fortunate to have the most direct Sat-Guru at the very start itself and some have had to struggle to find that energy, eg above.

But the common theme is that your spiritual knowledge or siddhi, or yog, or sadhna or mantra-jaap etc are like firewood, stored and ready for use, the potential. To convert this stored potential into the infinite flames of true realization, you need the grace/guru-krupa of a Sat-Guru, the Nirvishesh Brahma itself.

 

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Sun in 4th or 10th, birth at midday or midnight

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I was going through some horoscopes from my collection and thought of writing on the Sun. I have not written many posts on the Sun exclusively because he is rather difficult to understand. Unless one has gone through several study charts and followed several people’s lives one cannot understand the true impact of the luminaries of the zodiac, the Sun and the Moon. These two need to be analysed on the inner levels not the outer material levels.

The following analysis will hold if the Sun is powerful, eg exalted-Aries, or in his own sign-Leo, or has very high Ashtakvarga score in the sign he is placed in, or very high shad-bala or has exchanged houses or has combusted other planets etc, ie in some way has gained significant power in the horoscope. If your Sun is not powerful then these results may not manifest in their full intensity, just bubble inside. Or may occur only in the relevant dasha/ transit periods. This is dependant on your own horoscope and its unique combinations.

The Sun is the individual soul. He is linked with the Sahasrara chakra at the very highest level where the individual soul has the opportunity to merge with the Infinite. The entire lower creation occurs outward from the Sahasrara to the Mooladhar, he is the spiritual center. Once you reach this spiritual centre he will guide you even deeper inside him/you till you attain Moksh. Also he is the physical center around which the entire solar system revolves.

The Sun owns only one sign, Leo, ie he is a whole singular being, no active/ passive type signs for him. His Mooltrikon is also in Leo. He energises the whole system, he is the support on which the other planets base their effects. He does not give anything as such, this ‘giving’ is a function of the lower 5 chakras ie 5 the tara-graha. He is the trigger for your inner qualities and he works differently from the 5 non-luminaries and the 2 astral graha. He grants the inner strength to face up to your own karmic bindings and gives clarity of purpose. You use the tools provided by the 5 tara-graha and the power of the Sun to attain your life purpose.

The Sun is aware that he is the singular focal point. If your personality is dominated by the Sun you are primarily self-centred (not selfish! unless the Sun is afflicted). The Sun does not give results directly, but through the houses/ signs/ planets he is connected with. So analyse any combust planets in depth. Also planets in mutual aspect with the Sun. Planets in the 5/9 axis from the Sun (trikon concept).

Mercury’s special case. He is always around the Sun, at max 28deg away. This is very significant. The Sun most commonly uses Mercury’s abilities to express his power (Budh-Aditya yog). Also Mercury gets combust more frequently, in about 25% horoscopes, so also he is the most usual channel for the Sun’s power. And significantly Mercury + Sun holds back the Sun’s maturity. The Sun, who should have matured at the age of 22yrs, will now give his most sensible expression after another decade, after 32yrs. This has drastic effects as the personality changes with the Sun’s maturity. Most people get married in their 20-s, so this Sun-Mercury thingie can have typical effects, especially for the married life later, it generally grants dissatisfaction as the illusions are often torn away.

If this Sun is in any of the kendra houses, 1st 4th 7th 10th his self-focus will be obviously expressed through one of the pillars of your life. These four houses are more concerned with the actual physical stuff of your life, ie the overall personality/environment, security/comforts, one-one relationships and work/social status are the basic minimum that one needs to survive. If the Sun occupies any of these houses, he gives rather unexpected effects. He is subjective conscious fire sitting in houses concerned with objective results. The Sun here will show you your internal divinity and adversely affect the satisfaction that you would expect from the kendra house’s material stuff.

Sun in 4th or 10th, birth at midday or midnight

Let’s analyse the Sun in the 4th house ie if you were born at midnight.

The 4th house is at the nadir, below your feet, anchoring you to this Earth. The deepest link between the current you and the sum of all your existences. The 4th house secures the foundations of this current life, binds you to this present existence, materialises. It is the solidification of your this current incarnation from the watery depths of Moksh trikon (do read about the Moksh trikon to understand this concept). The Mother, nutrition, nurture, residence, safety, traditions, early learning, comforts, needs. The natural 4th house is Cancer ruled by the Moon.

If a powerful Sun occupies the 4th house, he burns bright at the very depths of your personality. He energises the link between your current persona and your entire sum. You are constantly aware of your real link to the deepest Parabrahma. He does not allow the soul to feel comfortable in the incarnation. The desire to experience Reality is very intense and burns at the very core of the being. You are not bothered with the external show of the 4th house. The power of the impulse of materialisation is hijacked by the Sun. You desire renunciation from the material aspects of the 4th house and merger with the spiritual.

This in real life, creates a regal nature, radiant, solitary splendour types, outwardly emotionally detached, internally searching for real satisfaction. You feel genuine good will for all, but intensely love anyone very rarely. If by chance you love intensely then this is from the core of your soul and such deep feelings cannot be expressed outwardly. You feel deep personal loneliness as not many understand the extent of your good-will/ love. Your external behaviour is so out of reach, that others on lower maturity levels think you to be emotionless, over-smart, curt, rude, stand-off-ish and unbending. You are well off, have property, a good job etc, on the material front there are no complaints. You are confident about your intuition, intelligence and the deep link with your soul. You do not ‘need’ an outer emotional connect with others. This ‘need’ aspect of the 4th house is turned inwards. The mother is often estranged, father may not be available, interaction with family stilted. Typically married life is fails to satisfy, there are some very intense shocks. Emotional turmoil in social relationships. Material comforts become irrelevant. The desire for sensual satisfaction is not deep. Disillusionment with the world leads you inwards.

The core of the individual self is burnt and all the potential of all the lives is brought out in one go. The deepest power of the Parabrahma can also be unveiled if the rest of the horoscope allows. But till maturity sets in, life is a collection of emotionally-hitting tests. The unfinished karmic tests from the past lives are presented in quick succession. If you can pass these, you are slowly made aware of the illusionary nature of life itself. The Eternal shows itself slowly. As you grow older, you become more subjective in your approach, you are more selective about your actions, you detach from the material. You remain well mannered, polite but aloof from other people’s concerns. You are no longer an equal partner in any relationship as your personal identity has started dematerialising. You have entered your own depth which this Sun has illuminated.

Sun in 4th or 10th, birth at midday or midnight

If you were born at midday, your Sun at birth would be in the 10th house. The 10th house is at the zenith, directly above your head helping your consciousness to rise ever higher. The natural 10th is Capricorn ruled by Saturn. This sign is known for its excessive materialistic tendencies but in its heart, it is a mystic.

The 10th is the purpose of your current incarnation. The stuff you gain in this life by your own work. Social status, office promotions, self-earned money, social mobility and interactions, material successes. The limits on your work potential are defined by the planets and in the 10th you actively use your potential. You externalise your energy, create new karma. It is called the Karma-sthan. If it creates karma, it can also destroy the concept of karma. In the spiritual context, the 10th house represents your actions which can destroy karma and also destroy the very possibility of creating new karma, ie achieve Moksh. Here spiritual mobility, occult power, power born from the spiritual practices of the pervious incarnations is possible. You are aware that the purpose of your birth is to merge with the Infinite and that you will dissolve your individual soul in the process.

If you have a powerful Sun in the 10th house, then you shine in society, successful, intelligent, materially well off, famous by your actions/ karmic work and official power. This Sun is fiery and so are you, the clear direct radiance of the midday. Others consider you to be impersonal, unemotional, cruel, unkind, strict, callous, out-spoken, dominating, fiercely aggressive, especially in your early years. You are popular outside the house. Relationship with the birth father and/or mother may not grant satisfaction. Married life is unhappy, the spouse may separate or divorce, even the children do not give satisfaction. But on the personal side, creative opportunities of using your potential, ie the power of the 10th house is huge and the Sun uses it to the full. A business tycoon perhaps, personal greatness to the max. Whatever potential your chart has to offer, this Sun makes you use it to the max so that you are highly successful in your karmic work activities. Whatever level of awareness you exist on, there is a a constant radiance about you.

The 10th house initially looks outwards away from the self, material achievements beckon. After the Sun matures, he grants the vision and objectivity to look within, then you change.  You realise what a resource you have inside you. The outer world is nothing compared to the internal. A powerful Sun operating from the 10th house will destroy the material impulse and generate pure spirituality. Material, sensual activities, the achievements of the world can go meaningless.

(If Sun+Mercury then he will mature at the age of 32yrs. Some charts with this combination in my study sample got married before this age of maturity and the spiritual potential of this glorious Sun didn’t materialise. Then you can see issues created on the family front as both the spouse and the children can be sources of exceptional dissatisfaction. This can result in separation or divorce from the spouse. The children too can be overtly disrespectful, estranged or there may be legal cases with them. The trials of the personal life can then turn the personality to the spiritual or make it bitter depending on the rest of the horoscope.)

Cancer ascendant deserves special mention as exalted Sun in Aries occupies the 10th house. This ascendant is very typical (post here). The personality is passive, needs support, initiatives/ bold actions are avoided as you are internally wary of creating new karma. The 10th Sun can grant the rarest opportunity for Moksh. If the chart has the potential to offer, this Sun will burn it all and convert it to the highest spiritual gold. He will burn the concept of karma, dissolve the Jivatma in the Parabrahma. After this you externalise the highest possible, you become a Jivan-mukt, a channel for the Divine, you are no longer of the material world. A Sat-Guru.

So for both these types of people, who have a powerful Sun in the 4th or 10th house, you have the most direct connect to your deepest Self available. So choose your actions in life with care. One advise is to wait till the Sun matures before taking important life decisions. spiritual progress/ gaining Sadyo-mukti/  becoming a Sat-guru is the rarest achievement. Think deeply on your available options and on how you plan to lead your life. What do you really want? Listen to your internal conscience and act accordingly.

Sun in 4th or 10th, birth at midday or midnight

(In my/ my Dad’s collection there are several charts with such a Sun. My Sat-Guru’s was exalted in 10th. If you wish to study, do analyse horoscopes of enlightened Gurus, you will invariably find the Sun in a Kendra house or exalted or in his own sign. The rest of the horoscope has to support his placement, but in any case he grant very significant spiritual progress.)

Venus Jupiter in opposition or conjunction

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This is a rather thought-provoking and a lengthy post.

The two Guru-s of the zodiac, Devguru Bruhaspati and Daityaguru Shukracharya in opposition, mutual aspect, placed opposite each other ie in the 7/7 axis. This may seem like a nice placement but can be a subtly problematic element in the chart. Even for selecting a muhurt, ie auspicious timing for performing important works, Venus-Jupiter opposition in the skies is considered unfavourable.

Open your chart. Find out Venus’s degree position. Add 180deg to this. This is the exact opposite point. See if you have Jupiter placed within 15deg on either side of this point (This is a 7% probability). If you have a Venus-Jupiter mutual aspect in your birth chart then you are slightly different. The final results will depend on the signs/ houses involved and the rest of the horoscope but this causes typical deep issues related to the individual soul/ Jivatma. (If you have Venus-Jupiter conjunct, ie within 15deg of each other then too expect similar results, this is also a 7% probability.)

Venus and Jupiter in opposition

These two are permanent enemies and as they are placed in the 7/7 axis their immediate status for the chart also becomes inimical. So they become ‘greatest enemies’ for each other. Both are uncomfortable, sitting opposite each other, staring at each other. They are permanently and immediately inimical. eg I intensely dislike someone and he is sitting right in front of me, staring! makes the situation worse. Whatever they are supposed to give in that chart, they cannot do it properly. They are now deadly enemies, but their enmity is not your average swords drawn and baying for blood types, it is the sophisticated, refined upper class sort. Which, perhaps is worse. (Similarly for the conjunction)

The Venus-Jupiter mutual aspect or conjunction creates deep conflicts within the individual soul. Both these graha are Guru, so you desperately crave spiritual nourishment, but there is no clarity on which route to take. This causes internal anguish, a deep dissatisfaction with life. They do give all material stuff for the mind and the body, but the individual soul doesn’t find satisfaction in these and searches restlessly. You search for spiritual guidance, often going to one Guru then to another and you seem fickle in your protestations of religiosity/ spirituality.

On the outward levels, you love luxuries, are easy going, very motivated on what you really want to do, generous, affectionate, loyal, idealistic, intelligent, generally well off in life, in some suitable profession, inclined towards religious pursuits, etc. But on the inner levels there is a deep disconnect with the desires of the body/mind and the desire of the soul. The married life is generally problematic. The spouse has very different thought processes and expectations from life which in the long run causes serious differences. It can be unfair on the person you marry and generally ends up in a superficial marriage of convenience or a break. There are very real chances of not getting married at all, late marriage, separation, divorce, early death of the spouse etc depending on the entire chart. This combination does not promote marital happiness or companionship. As a parent you generally have limited children, the children can be gifted with occult abilities. Internally it can get quite messy, though superficially it all seems ok.

Venus and Jupiter in opposition

Let’s analyse. Both are spiritual teachers, one is the Guru of the Dev-s, the sons of Aditi, and the other is the Guru of the Daitya-s, the sons of Diti. They have an allegory/ history going back to when they were students at Rishi Angiras’s gurukul/ school. Venus was the brightest, the class-topper. And Jupiter, Angiras’s own son, was second. Campus interviews, the Dev-s wanted Angiras to suggest them a suitable guide, and he with a father’s selfishness wanted this cushy job for Jupiter. Venus justifiably felt very bad, so went and offered his guidance to the Daitya-s who disliked the Dev-s. They were grateful and welcomed him. The Dev and Danav factions constantly wage war with each other. As they fight it out on the gross levels, their Guru-s are also enemies but on the spiritual levels. In the story/ allegories they are called demi-gods and demons, but Dev represent your Rajasic-Satvic tendencies and the Daitya are your Rajasic-Tamasic tendencies. (Samkhya does pop up everywhere, but it is unavoidable, it is the prelude to Advaita.)

Jupiter is routinely considered to be the agent of benevolence, luck, divine blessings, the spiritual preceptor, protection, the help you receive from your peers/ patrons, your auspicious karmas from your past lives etc. His primary job is to connect you with the divine, to expand your consciousness. Jupiter prefers the external trappings of worship, pujas, going to temples, moorthi-puja, mantra and the rest of the showy stuff. He maintains order and tradition in spirituality too, he will not allow deviation. He generally does not allow esoteric, experimental stuff, and sticks to the standard path. And you cannot remain satisfied with indefinite external religion, you have to turn inwards to progress. And each one of us is different so a bit of experimentation and personal touch to the spiritual path is essential. Jupiter does not allow this to happen (hint: Jupiter’s mooltrikon is not Pisces but Sagittarius, why? work it out for yourself).

He is located at the Swadhishtan chakra. Bruhaspati means the ‘force which enters the expanded infinity and causes change’. One point to be always remembered with Jupiter is that he enhances and expands the results of the signs/ planets/ houses he touches rather than creating something on his own. He is responsible for regulating the satvic tendencies in you, a rather easy job, a routine SOP. He does not think out of the box, nor is adaptable or sociable, more like pompous, traditional and thinks himself to be higher than the rest. His students ie the Dev-s, are satvic-rajasic tendencies so he believes that if the material needs are satisfied, his students will naturally incline towards the spiritual, like there is no other option. A very hopeful teacher, but this is not very sensible expectation nor an effective approach especially in these modern times.

Jupiter cannot grant the deepest Illumination. He supports material+religious together. He can help you gather your material, mental, subtle etc forces.  He can grant you a solid foundation to make your attempt. He can sustain, strengthen, motivate you while you prepare for the jump from the ‘form’ to the ‘formless’. He will help you reach the springboard from which you will jump. He can stop you from falling. But Jupiter cannot make you jump towards your inner Self. This last is the exclusive speciality of Venus, the Shukracharya, only he knows how this final attempt is to be performed.

Venus and Jupiter in opposition

’Shukracharya’, means ‘the spiritual teacher who teaches the brightest brilliance’, a highly benefic planet capable of giving very auspicious results. Shukra operates from the Anahata chakra and your consciousness expands out from this chakra. Venus is ‘desire’, ‘kaam’. This ‘desire’ on the very gross levels is reflected in the desires of the body, sexual desires, physical relation with other humans, luxuries, money, wealth, sensual desires, passions, indulgence etc. But he is always sophistication not lust. He is an artist, a Kavi, he creates infinite beauty. One level up, he initiates intellectual desires, refinement, desires of the mind, ie creative art, poetry, classics, fine arts etc. And then deepest is the desire of the soul. For the rare few, if you pass his tests, he unveils to you your own deepest desire.

This is the real face of Venus, the Sat-Guru, who will make you aware of your deepest desire. The desire of the individual soul to experience its Reality. You are deeply attracted only to your own Reality and nothing else. The desires of the body and mind are illusions and ultimately irrelevant. This is the lesson that Venus is out to teach. He will give you the desires of the body/ mind but gradually make you aware of their illusory nature. He creates a subtle dissatisfaction with the physical/mental and waits to see if you realise the depth of your soul’s desire. If you don’t, you get a subtle kick from the material life. He will subtly rap your knuckles till you realise. His function is to regulate your tamasic qualities and ultimately bring your consciousness above these qualities. He refines your individual soul, removes the dross, till your pure Brilliance is unveiled to your own eyes.

The most difficult task has been assigned to the most competent Guru, the class-topper. Thus his teaching methods are practical, different, adaptable, creative and sure-shot successes. His students are the worst back-benchers, tamasic-rajasic, they will bunk classes if given half the chance. But he has accepted them as his students so he will do his job. He is pragmatic, he has seen the worst tendencies of the mind (he has seen his own Guru give preference to the second best student in a fit of paternal love). He has no illusions and no ego. Even when he offered his guidance to the Daitya-s, he knew the enormity of the task he was taking up but he is coolly capable and confident about his ability. So he does gives the material stuff but springs cryptic surprise tests on his students to ensure that they realise the illusory nature of it all. If they fail his tests, they have to repeat his lessons till they realise. He is a very thorough rigorous teacher who knows the secret of ‘Immortality’.

He has a job to do and he will do it perfectly, he will reveal to you your soul’s desire and also the perfect way to satisfy it. He is the supreme teacher of the most essential, high, secret, personal, esoteric face of spirituality. He is exalted in Pisces just for this reason. He has only one eye, ie his third eye is open. He allows the final merger of the individual soul into the infinite singularity. He is the ultimate desire to Unite and is Unity himself.

Venus and Jupiter in opposition

Thus there is an essential difference between Jupiter and Venus. Both Gurus, but both teaching very different types of disciples, with very different methods of teaching. One is brilliant, concentrated, practical. The other is expansive, hopeful, lucky?

As Jupiter and Venus fight it out face to face, their different natures become apparent. Jupiter expands Venus’s qualities and Venus appreciates Jupiter’s but both cannot come to a conclusion about what they want to do together. There is another very important story/ allegory of the Samudra manthan, where the Dev and Daitya factions stand opposite each other but in a rare spirit of cooperation churn the Ksheer-Samudra. This churning produces first a deadly poison but then final immortality is achieved. These two in mutual opposition in your chart is something like this. They churn the Three-gun, Satva-Raja-Tama relentlessly. The material life is subtly poisoned and only when all the planets mature, ie the late 40-s does the soul Realise what it desires.

The best solution for you is to do something on the spiritual front. Sometimes Jupiter will dominate, as per Dasha/transits, so you will do external pujas and stuff. In this stage you will gather your resources. And at other times Venus will dominate, so you will trash your pujas and do personal mediation, burning those resources to push your consciousness higher. This will be a cyclic pattern. Things start making sense in the 40-s. Now they cooperate, Jupiter provides the fuel for Venus to burn. And Venus will rocket you off to your own self. If the rest of the horoscope permits, you can achieve Moksh or at least high levels of spiritual progress in life. Choose your path well, this opposition is a very rare opportunity.

 

venus and jupiter in opposition

(Two charts from my own family have Jupiter-Venus exactly 180 deg opposite each other, to the degree. About 0.2% people have this rarest opportunity. In this complex inner torment, if Rahu-Ketu are involved, then the person goes through severe karmic events on the inner levels. Surprisingly both have Rahu/Ketu influencing the Venus/Jupiter. The rarest energies. And finally the third chart, my Sat-Guru, had an exact conjunction of Venus-Jupiter on the same degree and again they were heavily influenced by Rahu.)

 

 

 

Vigraha Moorti and idols

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In these ‘modern times’ we have forgotten what a vigraha/ moorti means or what a real temple/ Dev-alaya feels like. There are very few left, most of us haven’t seen even one of these real moorti-s/ vigraha-s in our entire life and neither been to a real Dev-alaya.

We Indians are known for creating massive temples and moorti-s of our deities. The invaders, both Muslims and Christians, destroyed our temples and the moorti-s. In these past 1000s years we have lost a lot, but we still have several functional temples and the ruins of the others are a silent testimony to their grandness. The ancient Indian temples are made of black stone. We do not know how old our temples really are. There are estimates of course, but these are more on the lines of educated guesses for the simple reason that stone cannot be dated.

Our temples have the main deity as a Moorti /Vigraha. It is not an idol, an idol does not have any consciousness, it is ’empty’. The Moorti/ Vigraha is a conscious entity, it is aware, with intelligence. If you know how, you can request it to power your intentions, which it will.

Vigraha Moorti and idols

Modern Hindus feel it is a fashion statement to gift idols of deities. These generally are made of plastic and are to be apparently kept as ‘show-pieces’! Modern ‘interpretations’ of the images of deities. These are also idols, ‘empty’. In modern Indian temples, especially in North India and abroad, there is a new trend of fashioning the idols of the deities using white marble stone or from marble dust bonded with resin. The temple too is made of white marble stone. This idol is expertly carved and dressed up beautifully, quite attractive to the eye but ‘empty’. The temple also feels ’empty’ to me. White marble has no energy-value, it is incapable of absorbing the energy and neither can it radiate it back to the worshipper. This idol is made-up to look outwardly like the shape of the deity but it lacks the power of the deity. A idol made of white marble in a temple of white marble is not conscious, and of no use for the genuine aspirant. It is not a vigraha.

But there are still a few temples where the vigraha are aware and conscious. If you are lucky enough to ever visit them and experience it for yourself, you will know what I mean.

A Vigraha cannot be made just like that. How to make it, where to make it, when to start and finish, what material, which mantras to use, what tools and who should make it etc is a secret science. The Vigraha can be made in the shape of the deity with a human face, hands etc or it can also be a yantra. The vigraha-s will be made of black stone, metal or wood or anything else. This material and the entire process will be decided by a Guru. All this depends on the intended use of this vigraha. The carved image is then made conscious, ‘pran-prathishtha’ is performed. The Guru uses his own energy, amplified by the mantras to ignite consciousness in this specifically made shape, which then becomes a vigraha. This vigraha is now freed from the limits of its outward shape, it expands, becomes aware and it becomes a true reflection of the deity it represents. The part is also the whole, thus this shape created becomes a Vigraha/ Moorti. This process is most powerful when performed by a Guru. So the few temples in India where the Vigraha-s have been set up by genuine Guru-s are very important.

One exception is the real Shiv-lingam temples. The real Shiv-lingam stones are actually meteorites which are found on the earth. They are not shaped by human hands. A Guru identifies these stones and the temple is built over it. A real Shiv-lingam is never installed in a temple, the temple is built over it! I have visited the Kailas temple in Ellora, Maharashtra a few times, every time it takes my breath away. The Shiv-lingam is huge, I think it is 6 feet tall, and the energy is massive! This temple is exceptional as it was sort of ‘laser-printed’, from the top to the bottom. I really wonder at the Guru who identified this Shiv-lingam located metres deep inside the hard basaltic rock and the technology used to ‘laser-print’ the temple in this rock. This temple cannot be dated as it is completely of stone. If you live in India, or ever visit here, do go to see this temple and the Shiv-lingam for yourself.

Moorti-s in our ancient temples were for all aspirants of both paths, ie the Yog and the Tantra. Especially if the temple and the vigraha is of black stone and it is over 1000yrs old, it is an extraordinary thing. If you ever visit such a temple know that the deity is aware and conscious. We go to temples, do namaskar, offer sweets flowers and pray. The pujari/ priest gives us some sweets and flowers as the prasadam, we take it and come home. But if you are a spiritual aspirant, this is not making full use of the temple and its vigraha’s energy. If you do visit an active temple try to do the following,

  • Recite any mantra 108 times, depending on your choice and the type of deity. Eg Gayatri mantra or Soham– Dhyan are suitable for every deity. Shri sukta for all Devi temples. Mahamrytyunjai mantra ‘Om tryambakam yajamahe sugandhiṃ pushṭi-vardhanam, urvarukamiva bandhanat mrutyor mukshiya mam amrutat’, for Shiv temples. ‘Om namo bhagwate vasudevaya’ for all Vishnu and his avtar temples. For this take a small asan with you (a 1mX1m piece of silk is best), sit anywhere around the temple and recite your mantra, absorb the energies.
  • Second option, if you have money and the temple sincerely offers this facility. Request a small puja to be done in your name, pay the amount and do the ‘sankalp’. The temple will perform the mantra puja for you and send the prasadam etc by post.
  • And the third option, this only if you have sufficient resources and time. Do your own puja. Most temples which are specifically made for doing such high-voltage pujas will have rooms or ashrams around them. If you can book the rooms. Now engage 8 brahmins from a reputed school, eg Hardwar, Kashi etc. These brahmins should be knowledgeable and personally skilled and living a strict life as prescribed for them. Genuine Brahmins are very very rare in this period, you need to find 8 of this type. Take them with you to the temple, they will perform the puja for you. This sort of puja can take upto 5-10 days. This is the most complete use of the moorti’s energies.

Vigraha Moorti and idols

The moorti-s for dedicated tantric practices are again very different. They are often not placed in the main temple sanctum. Common householder people do not have the ability to see such moortis with their eyes, they might go insane. So such vigraha are either placed in a secret sanctum if they are very highly powerful. Or they are hidden, under masks made of gold or silver. Or decorated so heavily with flowers or sandal-wood paste, silk, etc that the actual moorti is not visible at all.

Here are some examples from some temples I have been to recently. In one temple, the moorti of Devi Kali was very beautiful and powerful, but there was something even more terrible in that sanctum sanctorum. A Shri yantra carved in stone by Adi Shankaracharya himself. Everyone was looking at the Devi’s vigraha and praying but the Shri Yantra on the ground before her hidden by flowers was the source of infinite power! There is a town called ‘Shrinagar’ in Uttarakhand. It is called so because there is a Shriyantra installed within the river bed here. Those aspirants who know how, will go to the river and do their practice near the water to channelise the power of the Yantra.

Another very famous temple known for a very terrible Devi from the Dasha Mahavidyas. The Devi moorti on display is beautiful but it is not the real one made by the Guru. The real moorti of this Devi is in some inner room, not visible to anyone. But to those who desire to see her, she is quite visible in all her terrible intensity, if you close your eyes and request, you will see her in a very different way in your third eye. In one temple dedicated to Devi Dhoomavati of the Dasha Mahavidyas, married women do not visit her as she will give them instant misfortune, extremely fierce and Ugra. All aspects of the Devi are not benevolent, some are terrifying for other types of purposes. The moorti was made by a Guru, so is bursting with energy. Even the moorti of Ayyappa at Sabrimala, where women in the fertile age group should not visit, is a tantric vigraha and will grant misfortune to such women who do. Similarly for the Shani vigraha at Shingnapur, it is the same thing. These are not idols, they are conscious Vigraha.

So the next time you go to a temple with a Moorti, do know that it is not an idol you are seeing, it is aware focussed consciousness. Looking back at you very intensely, so ask what you desire the most, you might just get it. The more powerful Moortis are very intense. Standing before them, or even in or outside such temples is a typical experience. It feels like someone has poured ice cold but refreshing water on you, the pran is intense, from the top of your head till your toes it enters every naadi, every hair stands on end. When you close your eyes and do your mantra jaap, you see things at your third eye, you don’t feel like opening your eyes, they feel heavy. You energise yourself at such places from the inside out. The Vigraha Moorti is a reflection of the Ultimate reality.

Vigraha Moorti and idols

To observe Oneself is Moksh

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  • Sankhya tells us that the Prakruti is the manifested creation which is put in motion by the presence of the Purush. Purush is the Aware catalyst. Prakruti is the inert matter.
  • Advaita further tells us that the Purush-Prakruti is the fundamental duality which is Created from the Nirvishesh Brahma or Parabrahma, the Ultimate Reality.

Now onwards,

My Guru would also tell us to ‘observe the Self’. This is a fundamental concept of Sanatan Dharm. But what does ‘observing oneself’ really mean? Let’s use the Sankhya and further the Advaita to understand.

The Purush and Prakruti though outwardly differentiated are fundamentally the same. They both are created from the Para-Brahma, they both are its part. And the part is also the whole. Creation or the later manifestation process is more easily understood as a fractal geometry, it is not a linear progression.

Purush is aware but still. Prakruti is unaware but in motion. The Prakruti moves around the still, conscious pivot of the Purush. So when you as the Purush, observe you as the Prakruti, you observe yourself. This is the point where the illusion of duality finally breaks down. This is the stage of complete self-realization, the goal. Attainment of Nirvishesh Brahma, Sadyo Mukti.

But its a long road back so we have all this spiritual practice and stuff. All this practice so that you change your position, you change your reference point. You change your perception.

Saturn, the wrecking ball

A very simplistic example again. There is a sweet dish on the table. I see it and my son from the other room smells it. For each one of us, this sweet is a different ‘matter’. It is a visual for me and a smell for my son. Both of these perceptions are correct and and from the view of the person concerned, they are also real and complete. Now my son comes into the room, he sees it. When the experiencer changes his position his perception evolves. Visual has added to smell. The perception of ‘smell’ was complete in itself while he was in the other room. Now that he is in this room, the ‘visual’ adds to the experience, but it this not deny the ‘smell’ perception. Both are correct by themselves but taken together too they are correct. If you think deeply, it is actually a paradox. What is real or complete or illusion or incomplete cannot be defined with exactness ever. Now he eats the sweet. He has changed his point of view again, his perception now adds taste. His inner self  then experiences the intention with which I have cooked the food. His perception has moved from basic matter to energy. The perception has evolved from matter to subtle energy. Now if he can also experience the ‘conscious intelligence’ embedded in every particle of the food, it would be Moksh for him.

Every experience is transcended till the point where you reach Yourself.

The angle of perception, the point of reference is paramount. Change the position from where you observe. If you focus on your Ajnya chakra as you do your Dhyan you change your position, so your observation and experience changes too. As you do your spiritual practice, you will realise that you actually see, taste, hear, see etc sense directly from your Ajnya chakra. ie you can read a book even if you are blindfolded etc.

If you bring your awareness to the position of the ‘pivot of manifestation’, ie the Purush you will be able to see the Prakruti around you. She is of the form of the Shri Yantra, in infinite dimensions, whirling around you. You see the Shri-chakra in 2 dimensions, the Meru in 3-D, now can you imagine this perfect geometry around you in infinite dimensions? You remain still, this geometry is around you in all its magnificence. This is how the manifested creation looks like when you put yourself at the central Bindu. It is fascinating, you are observing yourself. And if at this point the last step, if you can with conscious awareness, realise that both the Purush and Prakruti is essentially the same, the whirl stops and you achieve Sadyo mukti.

Right now you are aware of the matter moving around you. You are immersed in the dance of Prakruti. You are located in this whirl, your reference point is from within the dance. You know yourself as the body, you are seated in your room and reading this on your laptop. All of this is pure matter, of the realm of the Prakruti. You are fully engaged in experiencing Prakruti and her creations. As you should, for all this is for your entertainment. So do enjoy it.

But then there comes a point when you want to stop all this play-acting and immerse yourself in the Reality. How long will you be engaged in ‘matter’? You are experiencing only one-half of the duality which was Created. There is the other aspect ‘the aware pivot’ which you have never consciously explored. You are not aware of the consciousness embedded in every dust mite, in every thought, in every emotion of this manifested. For how long can we be stuck in pure ‘matter’? We should try to experience pure intelligence also. Even modern quantum theories have grudgingly reached this conclusion that everything possesses a fundamental ‘intelligence’. They now call this quantum mechanics and try to develop theories of ’entanglement’.

India, Bharat, was, is and always will be a land of the Seers, Rishis. These Rishis went within, into the inner consciousness and achieved the goal of observing the self, experienced pure consciousness and beyond it. These are the examples who drive us, the spiritual seekers. This is why we adore our Rishi-Seers or the Guru. They are the Jivan-mukt, they show us that you can be the experience, the experiencer, the act of experiencing and more all at once! These are what we strive for, their example reassures us that we can also do this ourselves.

Eclipses in the horoscope, birth and transit analysis

There is a very cute story where Shiv and Shakti are playing a game of dice. As the game gets over, Shakti playfully covers Shiv’s two eyes with her hands. There is pitch darkness. But then his third eye opens and there is Illumination. This rather romantic story has very deep esoteric meanings. Purush and Prakruti are involved in the Game, Lila, manifested creation. Purush as the catalyst and Prakruti as the performer and the performance both. Prakruti at the end of the game, by her own actions, shuts the perceptions linked to her game. There is actually an instant of pitch blackness at a crucial point of your Dhyan. If you can cross this, the third eye does ‘open’ and there is the Illumination of the Self. This light brings to you the real nature of duality, you realise that both Purush and Prakruti are essentially the same. There is no duality at any level whatsoever.

This is the experience of Nirvishesh Brahma or Advaita or Para-brahma. You have achieved Sadyo Mukti and become a Jivan mukt yourself. You are now a Guru.