In the last post I explained how the Asus or Asuras sometimes possess your father's mind, I also told you about this verse from the Bhagwat Geeta:
27. prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā kartāham iti manyate
The bewildered spirit soul, under the influence of the three modes of material nature, thinks himself to be the doer of activities, which are in actuality carried out by nature
So I think it is fair enough I explain myself here.
Today is Tuesday (mangalvaar), a day said to be ruled by Mars. And the season Grishma or Summer is also governed by Mangal Graha. The word Graha in Sanskrit means 'Seizure' or 'to hold'. According to Vedic Astrology, Grahas are those which capture and influence the mind and body plus its activities like the decision making ability for example of all earthlings.
Mars is the closest Graha to earth after the moon and is said to be a malefic graha but as with all things, it has its importance as a signifactor of our physical energy levels. Without Mars we would not be able to move a muscle. The illeffects of an improperly placed mars in our birthchart usually ranges from dullness and ignorance on one extreme to anger and violence on the other (this is not to say that a person with an illplaced mars is doomed for life). The logic is that all the illeffects described here are a result of our body's inability to process energy effectively. Courage, Energy, Activity, Initiative, & Originality are also the result of a well placed Mars or in other words the positive effects of Martian forces on the body. The key to making best use of our energies is by cultivating awareness.
There is an interesting story in the Vedas on how Mars was formed.
Daksha, the king of entire earth once organized the greatest yagna and invited all gods, demigods, sages, and other famous personalities. He however did not invite Lord Shiva, his own son-in-law. When Sati, Lord Shiva's wife heard about this yagna she left to attend it inspite her husband's objections, but when she arrived there her father Daksha insulted Shiva. This was unbearable for Sati and she gave up her life.
On hearing the events that had taken place at Daksha's yagna, Lord Shiva's wrath reached its boiling point and in rage he pulled a hair from his matted locks and threw it on the Earth and it became a fiery being of unequal strength with many heads and eyes, and thousands arms and legs. His mare sight was enough to strike unparallel fear in strongest of hearts. Lord Shiva named him Virabhadra and commanded him to destroy Daksha and his yagna and anyone who tries to stop him.
Virabhadra with Shiva's army of spirits and goblins reached the venue of the yagna and seeing him and his army all started to run in different directions to save themselves. Virabhadra destroyed Daksha's sacrifice, and then killed Daksha. Virabhadra returned to Shiva who was extremely pleased with him, and granted him a permanent place in the heavens as a planet and named him Angaraka (Mars), the fiercest of planets. As Lord Shiva directly produced Mars or Angaraka's, he is naturally referred as son of Lord Shiva.
As all mythological stories, this one too comes with many symbols and metaphors which when understood, make the information coded within scientific knowledge. For the ignorant it is just a fairytale to please the senses.
Yagna is a kind of selfless sacrifice made for notable purposes. And Sati (in Pali; Sanskrit: smṛti) is formed of sat meaning truth and goodness and the suffix i is added to signify the feminine quality of awareness so sati means mindfulness or awareness of what is goodness and truthfulness, this mindfullness is a spiritual or psychological faculty of the senses. The story clearly states that Mars was created to destroy the forces that were the cause of destroying awareness in man. So Mars is malefic only for the ignorant.
As per legends, Shiva is also often referred to as the ultimate 'Purusha' or Soul while his second wife Parvati represents Prakriti viz., the primordial nature that becomes aware of itself in the presence of Purusha. While Purusha is described as the silent observer, Prakriti is often described as the one that wants to be many and is the reason for the existence of the material world. The former represents masculine energy while the latter describes feminine energy in us. Both energies are present in all hetrosexual beings with either one of them being more dominant than the other.
The Union of these two forces is the base of all creations in the Universe.
I allready mentioned earlier that Om Na-ma-ha Shivaya translates as I am none-other than Shivaya or I am nothing nobody but Shivaya. To understand this, realize that in Sanskrit, sound, even without the formation of recognisable words, carries meaning.
A lot has been said about the sound Om or Aum. It is believed to be the tanmatra of the sound AUM or OM that started creation. It represents awareness, when Prakriti becomes aware in the presence of Purusha, creation begins. This awareness is also what represents the Ahamkara Tatva, the feeling of 'I am' or the Sanskrit word 'Aham' (IAM = AUM = AHAM).
The syllables Shi and Va are energies of the Agni and Vayu Tatva while Ya is the energy of the Akash Tatva. Shi is the one that Shines, Va is the one that goes or blows and Ya is the one that causes dissolution of everything else.
So saying Om NaMaHa Shivaya is like saying 'I am none other than the one who knows or holds or joins Fire and Air', the three tatvas dominant during the summer season giving rise to Vata Dosha. Ether, Air, Fire are the first three elements in the five step creation process from which the other two elements manifest. The rest of the story should make perfect sense now.
By the way, the word Asura also has an interesting etymology. The common meaning associated with the word is someone with lots of energy or more precisely someone who has more energy than he knows what good to do with it. It can also mean a "power- seeking" and "power-hungry" beings that are never content.
The energetics of Mars have similar connotations. Jyotish Vidya often provides remedies and solutions for problems associated with Mangal graha like anger/hot headedness, etc which include fasting and chanting of mantras but when carried out without 'Shradha' or devotion, the knowledge eludes and they become nothing more than superstition. So, while I understand that these phenomenon are a reality, I also understand that they are not reasons good enough for your father to get away acting like a bull-head.
Heres how the Bhagwat Geeta 3.5-3.6 explains it:
na hi kaścit kṣaṇam api jātu tiṣṭhaty akarma-kṛt kāryate hy avaśaḥ karma
sarvaḥ prakṛti-jair guṇaiḥ
karmendriyāṇi saṁyamya ya āste manasā smaran indriyārthān vimūḍhātmā mithyācāraḥ sa ucyate
All men are forced to act helplessly according to the impulses born of the modes of material nature; therefore no one can refrain from doing something, not even for a moment."
One who restrains the senses of action but whose mind dwells on sense objects certainly deludes himself and is called a pretender.
Why do I bother stating this so elaborately? I am not trying to demean anyone. A lesson I learned very early on in life is that every obstacle in life can become an opportunity if only you are willing to learn from it and perfection is an illusion.
You learn from your own mistakes, you learn from what seems like the mistakes of others and at the end of the day, you accept that mistakes are essential for the opportunity to improve. The only way to stop making mistakes is to become what the Geeta calls mithyācāraḥ above or become situated in Akarmaņi (inaction) which is the opposite of what the Bhagwat Geeta says.
This learning keeps my mind fresh and helps me nurture love. Like the Bible also says:
1: John 4.16 - And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.
And that consciousness of 'Having God in us' is exactly the path to achieving what the Bhagwat Geeta calls Krishna consciousness.
The bewildered spirit soul, under the influence of the three modes of material nature, thinks himself to be the doer of activities, which are in actuality carried out by nature
So I think it is fair enough I explain myself here.
Today is Tuesday (mangalvaar), a day said to be ruled by Mars. And the season Grishma or Summer is also governed by Mangal Graha. The word Graha in Sanskrit means 'Seizure' or 'to hold'. According to Vedic Astrology, Grahas are those which capture and influence the mind and body plus its activities like the decision making ability for example of all earthlings.
Mars is the closest Graha to earth after the moon and is said to be a malefic graha but as with all things, it has its importance as a signifactor of our physical energy levels. Without Mars we would not be able to move a muscle. The illeffects of an improperly placed mars in our birthchart usually ranges from dullness and ignorance on one extreme to anger and violence on the other (this is not to say that a person with an illplaced mars is doomed for life). The logic is that all the illeffects described here are a result of our body's inability to process energy effectively. Courage, Energy, Activity, Initiative, & Originality are also the result of a well placed Mars or in other words the positive effects of Martian forces on the body. The key to making best use of our energies is by cultivating awareness.
There is an interesting story in the Vedas on how Mars was formed.
Daksha, the king of entire earth once organized the greatest yagna and invited all gods, demigods, sages, and other famous personalities. He however did not invite Lord Shiva, his own son-in-law. When Sati, Lord Shiva's wife heard about this yagna she left to attend it inspite her husband's objections, but when she arrived there her father Daksha insulted Shiva. This was unbearable for Sati and she gave up her life.
On hearing the events that had taken place at Daksha's yagna, Lord Shiva's wrath reached its boiling point and in rage he pulled a hair from his matted locks and threw it on the Earth and it became a fiery being of unequal strength with many heads and eyes, and thousands arms and legs. His mare sight was enough to strike unparallel fear in strongest of hearts. Lord Shiva named him Virabhadra and commanded him to destroy Daksha and his yagna and anyone who tries to stop him.
Virabhadra with Shiva's army of spirits and goblins reached the venue of the yagna and seeing him and his army all started to run in different directions to save themselves. Virabhadra destroyed Daksha's sacrifice, and then killed Daksha. Virabhadra returned to Shiva who was extremely pleased with him, and granted him a permanent place in the heavens as a planet and named him Angaraka (Mars), the fiercest of planets. As Lord Shiva directly produced Mars or Angaraka's, he is naturally referred as son of Lord Shiva.
As all mythological stories, this one too comes with many symbols and metaphors which when understood, make the information coded within scientific knowledge. For the ignorant it is just a fairytale to please the senses.
Yagna is a kind of selfless sacrifice made for notable purposes. And Sati (in Pali; Sanskrit: smṛti) is formed of sat meaning truth and goodness and the suffix i is added to signify the feminine quality of awareness so sati means mindfulness or awareness of what is goodness and truthfulness, this mindfullness is a spiritual or psychological faculty of the senses. The story clearly states that Mars was created to destroy the forces that were the cause of destroying awareness in man. So Mars is malefic only for the ignorant.
As per legends, Shiva is also often referred to as the ultimate 'Purusha' or Soul while his second wife Parvati represents Prakriti viz., the primordial nature that becomes aware of itself in the presence of Purusha. While Purusha is described as the silent observer, Prakriti is often described as the one that wants to be many and is the reason for the existence of the material world. The former represents masculine energy while the latter describes feminine energy in us. Both energies are present in all hetrosexual beings with either one of them being more dominant than the other.
The Union of these two forces is the base of all creations in the Universe.
I allready mentioned earlier that Om Na-ma-ha Shivaya translates as I am none-other than Shivaya or I am nothing nobody but Shivaya. To understand this, realize that in Sanskrit, sound, even without the formation of recognisable words, carries meaning.
A lot has been said about the sound Om or Aum. It is believed to be the tanmatra of the sound AUM or OM that started creation. It represents awareness, when Prakriti becomes aware in the presence of Purusha, creation begins. This awareness is also what represents the Ahamkara Tatva, the feeling of 'I am' or the Sanskrit word 'Aham' (IAM = AUM = AHAM).
The syllables Shi and Va are energies of the Agni and Vayu Tatva while Ya is the energy of the Akash Tatva. Shi is the one that Shines, Va is the one that goes or blows and Ya is the one that causes dissolution of everything else.
So saying Om NaMaHa Shivaya is like saying 'I am none other than the one who knows or holds or joins Fire and Air', the three tatvas dominant during the summer season giving rise to Vata Dosha. Ether, Air, Fire are the first three elements in the five step creation process from which the other two elements manifest. The rest of the story should make perfect sense now.
By the way, the word Asura also has an interesting etymology. The common meaning associated with the word is someone with lots of energy or more precisely someone who has more energy than he knows what good to do with it. It can also mean a "power- seeking" and "power-hungry" beings that are never content.
The energetics of Mars have similar connotations. Jyotish Vidya often provides remedies and solutions for problems associated with Mangal graha like anger/hot headedness, etc which include fasting and chanting of mantras but when carried out without 'Shradha' or devotion, the knowledge eludes and they become nothing more than superstition. So, while I understand that these phenomenon are a reality, I also understand that they are not reasons good enough for your father to get away acting like a bull-head.
Heres how the Bhagwat Geeta 3.5-3.6 explains it:
You learn from your own mistakes, you learn from what seems like the mistakes of others and at the end of the day, you accept that mistakes are essential for the opportunity to improve. The only way to stop making mistakes is to become what the Geeta calls mithyācāraḥ above or become situated in Akarmaņi (inaction) which is the opposite of what the Bhagwat Geeta says.
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