Symbols of Nature II

INTRODUCTION
The following paragraphs I shall delve into the associations of various planets to various aspects of human life. In Jyotish parlance, this is known as the karakatva of the planets. I shall try to explain why a heavenly body which doesn’t have apparently any relation to the happenings our planet, earth and in our lives, is associated with it. To understand and comprehend the deeper concepts of the associations, the time is personified into someone called the Kalapurusha, which literally mean time (kala), personified (purusha).

UNDERSTANDING THS SUN
***Sun, The natural Atma Karaka***
Atma means the soul. Sun represents the soul of the Kala-purusha of the time personified. Now what is soul? People try to describe in various ways and we have a whole Upadesha of Krishna to Arjuna about the journey of the soul from different births, its mission, its purpose and its destiny in the beautiful Bhagavat Gita. Thus Sun represent the knowledge of Gita too. Now when we talk about the soul its nature, then question comes to us, what is it made up of, what does it carry from one birth to another? When we wonder and think about it more and more the only answer which we get is it is the spark of the supreme divine, the source of all knowledge. Now even though it is a small spark it is no way less than the supreme divine, which is very well explained in the sloka from Ishavashyopanishad

Aum Purnamadah Purnamidam Purnat Purna mudachyate |
Purnasya Purnamadaya Purnameva Vashishyate ||

This means that if we take completeness (Infinity) out of completeness (Infinity), then also we rest with infinity nothing has decreased from it. Thus the Atma is the source of all knowledge. We don’t realise it as we are covered with various layers of ignorance. Sun being the karaka for Atma also represents the source of all knowledge. Now when we talk of knowledge, which aspect of divinity comes to our mind, who blesses us with knowledge? Now among the trinity Shiva gives us the knowledge and hence Shiva is signified by Sun as giver of all knowledge being the source of all knowledge, someone who is resplendent with brightness and glory.
Now what does the Atma carry with it from birth to birth? Does it carry the material things like money, name, fame etc? Everybody would say NO, we all leave these things in this material world when we die. Then what do we really carry as a soul? We only carry our dharma with us and that makes us take different births under different circumstances to fulfil the call of the soul. Now this is why Sun also becomes the significator of the dharma. The first person from whom we inherit the dharma from after our birth is the father. This is often told that the duty of a child is to fulfil the obligations of the father. If father has committed something and left the world without fulfilling it, then it becomes the son’s responsibility to fulfil it. Now Sun represent the father from whom we inherit the first dharma after birth. Now this is a good reason to believe that the father passes on the soul with the semen whereas mother gives the body to a child. This is a natural way of world to pass down the dharma to the child from the father and not the mother.

Being the karaka of the dharma, it also shows the places where the dharma is very strong, viz., the places of worship such as Temples or churches. Also being the source of all knowledge it is associated with Books which is meant to transfer knowledge. A person having Sun very strong in the horoscope and influencing the Lagna/ Lagna lord/ Navamsa Lagna likes to read a lot and have a strong desire to gather as much knowledge as possible.

***Sun the fierce one***
Sun is full of fire and energy. Why does Sun need so much fire and energy for? This can be well answered out of commonsense. If Sun didn’t had fire life didn’t exist on earth. Who gives energy to the plant? Who gives energy to the animals and all of us? It’s no surprise that we can associate Sun with the giver of health and vitality. The drive we have is given by the energy of Sun.

Now lets take a kingdom, whose king is very lose and of not much concern what is happening in the kingdom, what will happen to his kingdom? No doubt it will doom. We know that a king has to be righteous and firm to save his kingdom from any evil. Thus the protection or following of the duties of the king, or for that matter the duties followed by the father in a household requires a lot of Agni or fire. Thus the Agni tattva of Sun can be associated with protection of dharma. Later we see in one more article that the Agni tattva is associated with the dharma Trikona.

Fire is also a necessary ingredient of the creation process. The whole process of creation started because of the energy of the Sun (although in right proportion- More or less energy cannot beget life). This is why Sun is also known as the initiator. Now who initiates or rather what we call an initiator? Leader isn’t it! Yes, Sun is the natural leader and being the karaka for the atmakaraka, the king who guides the entire human race towards the final destination; it has to be the leader. For the same reasons while Sun initiates any yoga in a horoscope, other planets just follow him in giving results.

However, not everyone can withstand so much of fire, which burns too. Thus whenever a planet is near sun, it gets burnt, a phenomenon which is called combustion. Just think what a planet can do in front of the bright light of Sun. Whenever Such things happen, they become very weak in giving their own orders on the lives of we mortals but meekly listed to what Sun say, fulfilling the dicta of Sun.

Now this is the same fire which burns all the dark forces, which would have captured our planet if Sun would not have risen for a single day. It tirelessly rises everyday to give life to everyone on this earth without fail for a single moment. If somebody has a strong Sun in the horoscope, then it is unlikely that he will ever be possessed by a evil forces. The rhythmic movement of the Sun’s everyday rising from East and setting in West, without a minor deviation, associates rhythm with Sun.

***Sun the King***
We are witness to the fact that the Sun is happily moving on its own axis whereas the whole gamut of planets which we call the solar system is rotating around it as if following the orders of the king. Now if Sun becomes the King, the powerful one, which caste would suit him among the four castes, the Kshatriya or the fighter class. Even if a King is a Brahmin by birth the responsibilities demand him to protect his country through any measures and that’s the duty of the kshatriyas. Now what kind of temperament would one think of for the King? I guess most of us would think like me that a king should be of a fiery, mildly angry, honest, generous and intelligent; someone who cannot tolerate injustice and someone who know how much to reward or punishment to give for what activities. I guess you all are thinking like me; am I right in thinking that.

***Sun, the socialiser***
The nature associated with Sun is a kind of person who is very jolly and mixes around with people. It shows someone who has a keen desire to associate with others and discuss on various things. A person having strong influence of Sun can be found in parties, places of gathering, places of discussions and debates. They are a bit dominating in nature and always try to make their presence felt with their attitude and ideas.


UNDERSTANDING THE MOON
***Moon, the Natural Amatyakaraka***
Once the soul has taken birth in the material world, more responsibility is delegated to the Moon, the sustainer. Now Moon is also luminous like the Sun, however unlike the Sun who has his own light, Moon only reflects the light of the Sun. Thus Moon is not fierce like Sun and an epitome of compassion and love. The other half of father in a household is the Mother. On one hand father earns the livelihood and keeps the household from starving. However the other half, the mother is responsible to make the home a place to live. She does that by cooking food, taking care of the children and the husband, taking care of their day to day necessities etc. Thus what Sun is to creation, Moon is to sustenance.

Now all the food materials cereals which are used for cooking and feeding the world is associated with the natural sustainer, the Moon. Among animals, we are most dependent the cow for she gives us the milk which is responsible for our growth, development and vitality. For this reason, Cow is regarded as the Mother in the Hindu society and with respect is called "Gau Mata". However, the Milk, which gives us energy and vitality, is associated with Sun.

If the whole world is assumed to be a kingdom, with a king a queen, the associates of the king and the general public, then Moon can be associated with the queen. On the one hand, the Sun protects the kingdom from invasion from either enemies or the evil forces; the prime responsibility of a queen is to look after the public like her own children.

***Moon the Shakti***
Sun as the purusha signify the unchangeable absolute principle, from which everything is emanated with the play of Prakriti. Now this absolute shall always be there as something which is beyond time and which is not affected by any change and something which is infinite. However, the play of the nature is signified by the Shakti of the Purusha. Shakti literally means energy, the same energy with whose play the creation came into existence. The difference between the absolute purusha and the Prakriti is the dynamism and change. Something which changes cannot be absolute as everything which changes have to have an initiation and end and thus everything which changes are transient.

Now the same difference can be found in the characteristics of Sun and the Moon, the two luminaries responsible for our creation and sustenance. Sun is resplendent with its own light and is always the same whenever we try to it whereas the Moon changes it phase everyday and then after a complete cycle it comes back to its initial phase. The phases indicate different sides of human existence or the creative principle. Amavasya shows existence of nothing when the creative principle has started it work of creation from when the phases starts increasing in brightness until it reaches the Pournimasya or the full-moon phase, where after the creation starts getting destroyed until it reaches the stage of new moon or the complete destruction. Now all this happens when Moon moves with respect of the Sun. Thus Sun can be associated with the stable and unchangeable purusha, and Moon which moves in the Field of the Absolute creating the illusion of creation and destruction. Someone who has understood the true nature of the purusha and prakriti knows that whatever transient things he witnesses is only a Maya or illusion like the phases of Moon whereas the Truth is absolute and doesn’t undergo any change, neither it has a beginning and nor an end.

Thus is Sun is associated with Shiva, Moon is associated with his consort, the Shakti.

***Moon the Mind***
In the journey of the soul from one birth to another birth, besides the dharma one more thing which accompanies the soul is the Mana or the mind. Mind has given the power of memory. It retains with it all the experiences of our existence and carries it from birth to birth. This is only the mind which is cause of the ego and the feeling of "I" which makes us feel that, its we who do things in this world. The difference between a inanimate thing and any living being is the mind or consciousness, without which we don’t have any feeling of ourselves. The question is if the soul is made of the same thing and has the same quality in all of us which is divine, then why we feel, think and behave differently. This is because we have a different mind which is attached to the soul and makes us feel differently than others. The mind becomes very important once we have taken birth as it makes us experience various things and makes us do different things which become the passport to the next birth in particular circumstances. The tragedy is that even many of us know this, most of us are helpless and a slave in front of our mind, whereas our soul becomes a passive observer and follows the mind wherever it takes from birth to birth. This continues until the time when the Soul takes the rein of the mind into its own hand and makes the mind go towards the moksha, the ultimate goal for the soul. An uncontrolled mind, follows the horses of the senses and wants to dwell in pleasure, thus master, the soul must take control to direct the mind to desired objective and not stay away by the temptations of the senses.

As for the human birth the experiences of the mind holds the key to the liberation, it can be only be achieved by directing the mind to the right path. This knowledge was known to the mystics and saints of yore and they said, for a normal mortal, the senses can snatch away the mind from the right path to different divergent paths and said that to protect the mind, mantra or the syllables of mystical sound principles can be employed to put the mind on the desired path and make it do things as per the objective of the soul. Thus even if we admit that we are incapable in front of the might of the mind, we can make us able by taking the help of the mystical chanting called the mantras.

As the phases of Moon changes, the mind also changes from time to time and gets into different shades of emotions based on that. This can be verified with the fact that in lunatic asylums, it is difficult to control the emotions of the lunatics on the full moon and new moon day as. Thus different phases of the moon bring to us different emotions. Now, this can be known by seeing the phase of the moon on a given day, finding out who lords that particular phase of the lunar phase and then see where that planet owing the phase is placed in individual horoscopes. The lunar phase is known as tithi in Jyotish and the lord of the tithi shall show its natural influence on everyone’s mind on a given lunar day and the specific influences based on its position in the horoscope. Also the weakness of the mind drawn by the particular senses can be found by having more knowledge on the Kalachakra or the cycle of Mind, which shall be discussed on another article. For now we should remember that in Rahu’s tithi (Amavasya), the weaknesses of Mercury shall manifest, whereby the mind becomes very flickering and childlike whereas in the tithi of Saturn (Pournimasya), the weaknesses of Mind shall be shown by Mars, which shows tremendous agitation, anger and aggression. More can found by the placement of these planets in the individual horoscopes.


UNDESTANDING MARS:
***Mars the Fiery one***
When seen from Earth, Mars is seen as a Red planet, it shows the masculine side of the nature, aggressive, angry and assertive, the traits which describe the fighter class called the kshatriyas. If the planetary system is considered as a kingdom then Mars can be visualised as the Commander in chief, who can lead a large army of soldiers with his leadership and commanding abilities. However, unlike the Sun, whose fire is more predominant of Sattva guna, which takes us to the true path, the fire of Mars is more of Tamasik and is of destructive nature. Thus wars and revolutions are shown by Mars. However, when the same destructive fire is controlled by Jupiter, the Devaguru or Advisor, it is brought under control and it can give the highest level of knowledge. Maharishi verily described the highest quality of Mars can make a person very knowledgeable in Jyotish Shastra, which can be witnessed in Ruchaka Mahapurusha Yoga. When Mars is under the influence of Jupiter, it forms the fruitful Guru-Mangal Yoga. This yoga gives eternal quest to acquire more and more knowledge.

***Mars, the Law Enforcer***
The law is made by the King; however it is enforced by the Army of the king, which is represented by Mars. Thus in a state, who law implementation and enforcement agencies such as Army and Police is governed by Mars.

Mars, the Rational Thinker:
The faculty of rational thinking and analysis is represented by Mars. This involves breaking down a complex problem into logical smaller parts; finding the solution of each of these smaller problems and then synthesising the solution for the complex problem. This is why Mars shows education fields such as engineering etc.


UNDERSTANDING MERCURY
***Mercury, the Natural Gnatikaraka***
Gnati means someone who belongs to the same clan as the native, hence it represents the kiths and kins and the friends circle. Thus it is represents all the relatives around us.

Mercury the Child:
The mythology says, falling in lust, once Moon elopes with Guru’s wife Tara and falls in relationship with her. From this relationship Moon is born. However, Jupiter being the most broadminded one, accepted Mercury as his son. Because of this relationship, Mercury didn’t have a father’s name, until Jupiter gave his name to him. Thus Mercury regards Jupiter with his whole heart but hate his progenitor for the condition of illicit birth. Because of the change of Name from Moon’s to Jupiter’s, Mercury represents the change of name.

Because of the illicit birth condition and his later accepted by Devaguru Jupiter, Mercury represents two extremities and possesses dual nature. On one side, Mercury represents of highest level of Purity as shown by the sign Virgo, on the other hand, Mercury represents the dirties things such as prostitution as signified by the sign Virgo. Mercury being a learner, shows the potential to learn both good and bad things, however, what would he do is based on whose influence he is in. If Mercury is influenced by Moon, then Mercury’s dirties side shall find expression whereas when it is influenced by Jupiter, Mercury’s purest side shall find expression. Now this can be seen from who is placed in Kendra to Mercury in Navamsa, the chart of potentialities and skills.
As Mercury represents the child among us, it represents the learning abilities in us. At many places, this ability is misconstrued as intelligence. However, this is important to note that the intelligence in true sense is only represented by Jupiter, which can only discriminate between Truth and Untruth, the aspect which differentiate us from the rest of animal kingdom.

Mercury also represents the expression of thoughts and feelings through different mediums. One such medium is speech and thus Mercury becomes the significator of speech. Here, one must appreciate the fact that, the event of expression starts much before the thought or feeling is finally expressed through speech or gestures. We organise the thought in our mind in a logical way by putting the feelings into words and this quality is also represented by Mercury. Thus the articulation ability, which shows how we present our mind before others is represented by Mercury.

Having born from the illicit relationship, Mercury represents, Orphans, illicit relationship (when influenced by Moon) or illicit child birth.

UNDERSTANDING JUPITER
***Jupiter the Devaguru***
Being the preceptor of the Devas, the enlightened one, Jupiter is full of wisdom and he only can show the right part towards realisation. Among all faculties of human, Jupiter governs intelligence or the "Dhi" shakti. There are many kind of intelligence, which is important for sustenance in this material world and with the same reasoning; animals are also intelligent, as they also know, how to keep themselves alive. However, the only difference, between an animal and human being is the presence of "Dhi", or the intelligence to discriminate between the truth and untruth for self-development and realization. Who else can govern such intelligence than the Devaguru himself?

Being the advisor of the Devas, Jupiter represents all the whole class of consultants, advisors, Judges, lawyers and Jyotishas. They all can give us advice and take us to the right path.
Jupiter the Divine one

Jupiter represents the God in our life and verily called the Bhagavan himself being the realised one and the knower of the supreme Brahman. The concept of God, one has in his/ her mind can be seen from the planets conjoining Jupiter. If Jupiter is placed alone then the person shall believe in nirankar Brahman, the formless one or god in the form Guru.

If Jupiter is placed with Saturn, this causes Brahma yoga, and the natives possessing them shall take God as the supreme creator. He can understand the secrets behind creation and the creative forces as Saturn represents Brahma or the creator of the universe. If Jupiter is placed with Sun, the for him God is the most powerful force of the world and the supreme protector, like Shiva. With Moon, Jupiter shall give the feeling that God is the most compassionate one like the Mother. However, if Jupiter is placed with Rahu, it causes the Guru-Chandala yoga and the person doesn’t believe in God and doesn’t obey his elders/ preceptor.

***Jupiter the Jiva***
Jupiter represents the living force within us. This is the same force which gives us purpose to live and develop ourselves to achieve the ultimate goal of realisation. If Jupiter is weak or afflicted in the horoscope, this shall make the native wander around without any purpose and low morale. This is one of the reasons why Jupiter’s graha drsti brings refresh and life to the signs. To express this, it is said that Jupiter brings Amrit or Nectar to the house it aspects.

***Jupiter the giver of fruits***
Being the representation of Bhagavan in the horoscope, the result of any action can only be given by Jupiter. Otherwise what’s there in the hands of we normal mortals is work with full faith and efficiency. Hence, Jupiter represents the progeny, the fruit of marriage. Now, among all trees Jupiter represents the fruitful one and so does it rule fruits among all eating items. This is verily said that fruits fill us with refresh and life with all its nutrient and is a natural healer of all diseases.
Jupiter can also be considered as the giver or rewards. Wealth being one such thing which earns as a reward to his work, is also ruled by Jupiter. Thus Jupiter becomes the Dhana-karaka, the wealth giver.


UNDERSTANDING VENUS
***Venus the Asura Guru***
Being a Brahman and a Guru, he is very knowledgeable. However the knowledge differs that of Jupiter. On one hand Jupiter represents the Para vidya, the knowledge for enlightenment, Venus represents, the Apara vidya, the practical knowledge required for living in this world. This can be compared with different level of strategies in an organisation. Here, Jupiter would represent the knowledge required to take higher level strategies and long term visions, and Venus shall represent the operations level knowledge and fulfilling short terms goals and targets.

Hence where Jupiter promotes spiritualism, Venus promotes materialism and all those things which attract us to this world. No reason why Venus represents all the materials of beauty, pleasure and luxury. Venus also represents the attraction between opposite sexes and makes us fall into relationships, which is again another bondage to this material world. Thus marriage and all sexual relationships are represented by Venus.
It is a noteworthy fact that, the name given to Venus is Sukra in Sanskrit, the same term is also used for Semen, the carrier of the Soul from the father to fertilise the ovum in mother’s womb. It is a medical fact that millions of sperms compete with each other to fertilise the ovum, which shows the selfish desire to outwit someone else and to feel great. Thus the sense of selfishness and competition in us is represented by Venus only.

***Venus the Tapasvi***
Venus did very hard penance inside the stomach of lord Shiva to gain the mantra of Mrityunjaya, the Mantra which can raise a person even from the death bed. Thus Venus signify tough penance to achieve once objectives. When this passion of getting something is coupled with the Moksha-karaka Ketu and hard-worker Saturn, tapasvi yoga is formed, which can catapult one to a very high level of spiritual quest. We know that the three karakas for the 12th house of Meditation and giving is Venus, Saturn and Ketu and we see why the association of these planet in any form cause the tapasvi yoga to manifest.


UNDERSTANDING SATURN
***Saturn, the Proletariat***
Saturn is the most distant planet from the Sun and marks the boundary of solar system for Jyotish. It is the slowest one, something which makes us feel of old age or heavy work. Saturn represents the serving or the working class. Thus it represents hard work or working in difficult condition. Being a significator of Old age, it signifies fatigue, pain and aging.

It has great enmity with Sun and Jupiter, the givers of Vitality and now we understand why this is. `coz old age and fatigue can’t stay simultaneously with youth and liveliness. Because of this enmity, Saturn makes us forget things (opposite of karaka Jupiter). As a antithesis of Jupiter, it signifies lack of reward for the work one performs, sorrow and misery.

***Saturn the Dharmaraja***
One important aspect which is least identified with Saturn by many is the aspect of Dharma raja. Dharma raja means the king of Dharma. Being the son of Surya, the beholder of Dharma or righteousness, Saturn’s duty is to enforce it by punishment. Thus the positive side of Trials and tribulations shown by Saturn is that it cleans us from all the Sins we have done in past and which caused our birth in this planet of mortals.

***Saturn, the Ayuskaraka***
Saturn’s duty as the dharmaraja is to make us live in this world and suffer the miseries so that we shed all the covers of ignorance become pure. This is why Saturn is also the Karaka for Longevity. Even though well placed Saturn or its placement/ aspect on the 8th house, give good longevity, it can’t ensure a life without suffering, which can only be shown by Devaguru Jupiter.

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