Sahajshruti

There is a very interesting myth behind this Solar or the Lunar Eclipse in Indian context as far as the astrology is concerned. It has a link with the Ocean Churning (Samundra Manthan) myth.

The myth says that the Sun and the Moon had witnessed a demon called Rahu in god’s disguise consuming the ambrosia from Shri Vishnu who later becomes immortal. During the event of distributing the amrut (elixir of life extracted out of the sea churn) to the gods the ‘Moon god’ signals Shri Vishnu of this act and realizing the happening. His entire wrath falls upon the fleeing demon Rahu who by then was running fast to save his life. Rahu at last pays for the act as he is slew by Shri Vishnu into two parts from throat.

That’s why in India whenever there is an eclipse one is warned not to stare at that event as it symbolically signifies that Rahu is trying to swallow the Sun and the Moon+. That’s why it is termed as Purna Grahan (Total eclipse) or Ardha graham (partial eclipse) symbolizing complete or partial swallowing. How interesting the Indian fables for children are that keep off children staring at the phenomenon even without explaining the scientific reason.

Interestingly, in Indian astrology only seven planets were anciently identified before this act of Sea Churning’. Later they were named after seven days of the week: Sun (Surya), Mon (Chandra/ Moon), Tues (Mangal/Mars), Wed (Budh/Mercury), Thurs (Guru/Jupitar), Fri (Shukra/Venus), Satur (Shani/Saturn). While Rahu and Ketu got the boon to join the family of the seven planets to enlarge its domain to Nine Planets (Navagraha).

The Samudra Manthan (Ocean Churning) event brought out the Ambrosia (Amrut) along with many other gifts. The leela (divine play) that followed was like wonderful bed-time stories that take you to a beautiful world of fantasy. In fact it is said that Shri Vishnu had to take His two incarnations that manifested during the entire process when the Deities and the demons jointly undertook the task of churning the sea to get the Amrut (Ambrosia …elixir of life). One incarnation was that of the Tortoise to make the entire Mandrachal Mountain to act as pivotal over its body on the sea bed to act as a tool for churning the sea and the second was the Mohini (a beautiful damsel).

So the myth goes like this +.. Once a hermit called Durvasa Rishi became angry with the Gods and cursed them. This curse caused them to lose their celestial glow and powers. This led the asuras and daityas (Demons) to trouble them. The powerless gods went to Lord Indra and explained their problems in detail. Lord Indra advised them to take refuge at Shri Vishnu’s attention. Lord Indra accompanying the gods goes to Shri Vishnu and pleads, “Lord, kindly relieve us with a solution to this problem. If this problem continues, soon all the gods will be out of existence”.

Listening to all these pleas and the descriptions of the events that followed Lord Vishnu said to Indra “All of you that are gods, asuras and daityas must perform the churning of the ocean. The gems gained from the ocean can return the glow and the power you seek. For this, you must go to daityaraj Bali (king of demons). He is your brother as both of you had the same father, Kashyap. He will certainly remember this and assist you.”

Thus obeying Lord Vishnu’s words, Indra went to meet Bali, the king of daityas. Daityaraj promised to help Lord Indra in the churning of ocean. Indra said that he would equally share with daityaraj whatever they would receive from the ocean after the churning.

A joint venture thus ensued. It was decided that to churn the gifts from the ocean Mandrachal Mountain could be used as churner. The name of Nagraj (king of serpents) Vasuki (the serpent king on which Shri Vishnu rests) was proposed to be used as a substitute for the giant rope to wound around the mountain to initiate the churn.

It was then time for the gods and daityas to get down to the serious business of a joint venture in order to receive the ultimate gift that would make them immortal. So the representatives from gods and daityas tried to lift the Mandrachal Mountain and many in that process had to be sacrificed under its weight and pressure of the gigantic mountain while lifting it. Even being together their efforts gave way as they could not lift it. Thus Indra again approached Shri Vishnu seeking His help. Lord Vishnu thus rode on His vehicle Garuda (Eagle like bird) and helped to lift the entire weight of the Mountain in His right hand at one go and placed it in the middle of the ocean. But immediately the sea bed gave way to the heavy weight of the Mountain. Lord Vishnu seeing this immediately incarnated as a giant tortoise and went under the water and balanced the entire load of the mountain on its back sitting on the ocean floor preventing it from further sinking.

The serpent king Vasuki was wound around Mandrachal and thus began the Ocean churning (Samundra Manthan) story. The asuras and daityas pulled Vasuki from its head-ward side as they argued that it would be quite below their dignity to take the tail-wards side in their share in this joint venture like a tug-of- war. So the gods and devtas opted for the tail-ward end of Vasuki while the daityas preferred the head. So the first thing to get out of the churning was the phenomenon of the serpent’s poison emerging out called as Halahal’. Neither the gods nor the daityas dared opting for the dreadful poison. So, Lord Shiva came up for the rescue as He drank the Halahal and placed it in His throat to be called as Neelkantha’ (Blue throat) later.

Next that emerged from the churning was the celestial cow – Kamdhenu – that was gifted to the sages by Lord Vishnu. Then up came the Horse-Ucchashrava -that went to Daityaraj Bali. Next was the four tusked Elephant Airavat that was taken by Indra for his own use. The fifth was the Koustuvmani- the jewel-that was accepted by Lord Vishnu Himself. It was a divine tree with flowers called Parijat from kalpabriksha (a celestial tree), which later the Gods took to the heaven as the sixth gift. The seventh gift that came was a beautiful maiden named Rambha who herself desired to reside partly on Earth and partly in Heaven. Then Shri Lakshmi the Goddess of wealth emerged out of the churning, who chose to be with Shri Vishnu as the fight ensued between the two parties for who would accept the gift of Shri Lakshmi emerging out of the churning. Further, churning resulted in emergence of Varuni, an alcoholic drink. The demons (daityas and asuras) gladly accepted the drink.

At last the churning yielded the most coveted gift in form of Vaidya Dhanwantari (Doctor of doctors) who appeared holding a vessel full of ambrosia (Amrut) which had ability to transform one to immortality. An argument ensued as to who would get the share or the larger chunk of the share to enjoy the elixir of life as both the parties had worked very hard. At this point the daityas snatched the vessel of nectar from Dhanwantari and ran away. There was a bit of divine play (leela) from Lord Vishnu’s side. Shri Vishnu incarnated in form of a beautiful maiden named Mohini’. Everyone suddenly came under the bewitching spell of Her beauty. Mohini spoke in Her soft voice “Do not fight”. “You may give the nectar to me and I shall distribute it for each one of you here”. “You all must queue up in the line to wait for your turn of the sip while I distribute”. She continued with the leela, “it seems the nectar is watery at top while the concentrated portion seemed to have settled at the bottom of the pitcher. So I shall better start with the god who gets the diluted watery stuff++.”

The asuras, daityas and gods all agreed together as the beautiful Mohini convinced them. So, Mohini started distributing the ambrosia first to the gods sitting in the queue. A daitya named Rahu was watching all these leela and was intelligent to suspect some foul play in this distribution. He suddenly realized the trick that Mohini was playing with the demons. He immediately transformed himself into a figure of like-god and queued up in the line with gods before the gods could realize it. He sat in between two deities Surya Dev (Sun God) and Chandra Dev (Moon God) who was sitting at the end of the last row. Chandra dev immediately recognized him and signaled Mohini to avoid Rahu who was in disguise of god sitting next to him as Mohini was about to serve it to Rahu and coming for Chandra dev at the last. But it was too late before Mohini could realize. Rahu had already had his share and gulped it down his throat. Immediately Shri Vishnu reappeared in His original Form from emerging out of His Mohini incarnation. Serving the remaining portion of the ambrosia to Chandra Dev (Moon) he threw the pot on the Earth and sprang into action to catch up Rahu.

In order to save his own life Rahu tried to run away from the scene as fast as he could. But Shri Vishnu’s Sudarshan Chakra (the discus) was released to server his head from his body. Since Rahu had already drunk the ambrosia he did not die. Chandra dev witnessing all these events pleaded Lord Vishnu to spare him and said, “O, my Lord, please do not asunder his body into any more pieces, as each piece falling on ground would incarnate as daityas and they will multiply again to trouble the gods in turn”.

Hearing these pleadings of Moon, Lord Vishnu realized and thus spared him as He spoke to Rahu, “Since you have drunk the nectar sitting amongst the gods now you must leave your asura life style. You must now stay with Surya (Sun) and Chandra (Moon) and other seven planets forever to be now counted amongst nine planets (Navagraha)”. Thus the severed head of the daitya is called as Rahu while the body without the head is called as Ketu which plays a very important role in astronomical calculations. It is said that when Rahu comes to engulf Moon or between Sun and Moon it causes the eclipses.

A more interesting aspect is the Herbal Aurveda in India claims that Garlic’ that is called as “Rasoun (Lahsoun)” is said to be the fruit born out of the pot that was thrown on the earth. It is said it bears all the qualities of Amrut (Rasa) except one – that’s why it is called as “Rasoun” (prefix of this word) which has all great qualities to affect human body to attain elixir. The word oun’ spelt as one less than the whole number (like pronouncing 19, 29, 39, 49 etc.) in devnagari so it is Ras (meaning Amrut) and oun (meaning one less). It is said Garlic has a good effect on our left Swadhisthana, too. It is considered to be of a prime importance in herbal medicine for blood pressure and other physical ailment. One may try to consume garlic clove in the morning and see for one self the coolant working throughout the day although it is hot for itself but kills the heat generated inside the human system. Isn’t it interesting?

(Adapted from Indian Mythological folklores, fables and the bedtime stories)

PS: – So, do you see how Rahu and Ketu enter in disguise between the Sun and the Moon? It is our own ascent that we are stuck with and we need to identify them like the six enemies and avert giving them concession of having the nectar. The two are the channels within us. If we invite the demons like Rahu and Ketu, how it disturbs the two channels is the subtle knowledge I believe. In fact in India as they calculate the horoscope in the planetary position if Rahu or Ketu sits it does troubles us+What a mathematical calculation?!

Rabi and Ranjana from India

The painting depicts and marks the advent of Shri Adi Shakti on Earth and all the deities — Shri Brahmha, Shri Vishnu, Shri Shiva, Shri Ganesh, Shri Kartikeya and others — are in cosmic ecstatic dance surrounding the chariot throne of Shri Adi Shakti. Hence the name ANAND TANDAV.

“Mother explained once how the artist (unknown to date) came to know that Shri Adi Shakti would come to the planet. The joy of all the deities can be seen and even the nature, along with the animals, are dancing, so as to express jubilance over the arrival of Shri Adi Shakti. She said that this is a very important painting, very beautiful and full of vibrations.

This painting was also used as a stage backdrop for the Birthday Puja 2002 in Delhi.

Chakras are energy transformers. They conduct prana or life energy into the body from the outside environment if they are open and unimpeded. Since they are in the energy body, they provide a link between the body and the upper levels of beingness: the mental and spiritual bodies. Bodywork practitioners and therapists work with the energy body to assist in opening and relaxation of not only the chakras, but also the meridians and/or nadiis that connect them. Chakras also represent increasingly higher levels of consciousness and sensitivity/awareness as they ascend in the the body.

Trikona. This is the downward facing triangle which represents the divine One reaching down for us. It is also an expression of the feminine, so the focus here is one the maternal, loving care of the One who, it is said, deeply wishes to be united with us. In my experience this is true of Spirit who is constantly imploring, “Come to Me, Be Mine, Be Me, Be My Love.” The Trikona also stands for healing through surrender to this Love.

The other day i was browsing the net, i stumbled upon this article stating the top 10 trends of the 21st Century. It’s surprising how acurate they are.

1.The Energy revolution.

2. The new Millinieum religion.

3.New millinieum family

4. Whole health planning

5.World War of Weapons of Mass destruction.

6.Renaissance 2000

7.Virtual Education

8. Cold War II

9. The new Politics

10. The Home

Check out this link to read more about it.

http://adishakti.org/pdf_files/top_10_trends_(trendsresearch.com).pdf

The body depends on the liver top perform a lot of functions  such as cleansing the blood, regulating the supply of the body fuel, keeping the mind alert and body active, manufacturing many essential proteins, resisting infections, proucing bile to aid digestion, regulating the balance of hormones and body cholestrol.

In many people the second(swadhisthan)  and the third chakra(nabhi) are weak on the right hand side due to the unhealthy conditions within the liver.

Unhealthy conditions of the liver can lead to:  poor blood composition , difficulty to concentrate, difficulty to relax, less enjoyment of life, headaches or migranes, irritability, also, the heat rising from the liver contributes to asthama, and it can lead to diabetes or aggravate the diabetic conditions further.

A few simple treatments to soothe the liver:

1. Often put the left hand on the liver whilst meditating.

2. Cane sugar or white sugar intake is helpful for the liver.

3. White rice, yoghurt and ginger in various forms act as acoolant for the liver.

4. Fruits espcially grapes are really good for the nabhi.

5.Boiling radish leaves with sugar candy and having this beverage once daily.

6.  Chana  or chick peas in any form is also good for the liver.

7. Exercise regularly.

8. Putting ice pack on the liver.

AVOID:

1. Alcohol

2.Fried, fatty or oily foods.

3.heavy meat.

4. butter, creams, icecreams an chocolate.

5.very spicy food.

6. Fish.

7. Processed White Bread.

8. Non China teas and coffee.

9.Over planning.

10.Avoid wasting attention on mediocre or irrelevant things.

Not Advisable:

1.Cheese or most dairy products

2.Too much milk.

3. too much salt.

Although, Chicken is OK in small amounts.

Discretion is the one that lets you judge what is good and bad for you…what is benelovent and what is good for the collective and your ascent. Intelligence cannot give you discretion. Discretion of the Ida nadi is the intution… if you develop that discretion within you through your meditative powers you develop intuition… and intuition is nothing but the help of the ganas surrouning you… if you take their help you bacome intuitive. Sahajayoga is 50% based on intuition and for that you have to develop a proper sense of Shri Ganesha. 

On one side is Shri Krishna to give us discretion and on the other we have Shri Christ in between is placed the Hamsa Chakra. Shri Krishna looks after the conditioning side of it and Shri Christ looks after the ego part.

Hamsa is a very material thing and thus has to be cleared on the material level only, and this is where you get problems like colds, coughs an sinusitis. All this results from drying up of the nose.

Ways to balance the hamsa chakra:

1. Breathing: Slowly breathe in through one nostril, hold your breath and then breathe out through the other, now breathe through the same nostril hold your breath and exhale through the other. Repeat 3-4 times.

2.Gargling: For the thoat gargling with salt is a good thing, for sahajyogis it’s a must to gargle every morning as a treatment for the vishuddhi. Also, for the vishuddhi we can eat the butter or take it on hot water so that it lines the epithileal cells of the throat. Coughs can also be cured by gargling.

3. Nose: A drop of ghee in each nostril twice a day will help the bad hamsa, which can result from dryness at home or in the workplace.

      - excerpts from Shri Ma’s speeches.