Astro Articles

By Girish Menon
http://www.horamag.com

Astrology and Spirituality

During your visit to any astrologer the first thing he tells you is about your time or dasha.
Based on your natal chart he tells you whether you are going to a bad time or good time.
What is the concept of good time and bad time? Why has nature created us to undergo
bad time? To understand it first we must define bad time. Generally during bad time a
person undergoes obstacles. He is unable to fulfill his desires. His materialistic needs do
not get fulfilled. The most interesting observation I have made is that during the bad
period the individual ego gradually comes down. I know many cases of people proud of
there achievements and when they undergo a bad period they gradually gets subdued,
and lose confidence in themselves which is very unfortunate.

Man should not only fulfill his materialistic needs but also his spiritual needs. Modern
man has no interest to fulfill his spiritual needs. His understanding of spirituality is
restricted to visiting holy places. He should be able to strike a balance between both the
needs. The very basic qualification needed for spiritual growth is shedding your ego.
During your bad period nature has unknowingly shed your ego giving you the opportunity
to grow spiritually. This is the period where one should spend some time for spiritual
rituals like meditation, yoga etc.

In the olden days astrology was called jyotisham guiding people to the path of spirituality.
Astrologers used to guide people based on your chart to begin your spiritual journey. Our
ancient rishis introduced the science of astrology to guide people spiritually. Astrology
was only a tool for people to prepare well in advance towards the path of moksha.
Personal predictions were secondary. Depending on ones natal chart the ancient rishis
studied your nature and personality and based on that gave advises on how to lead ones
life both spiritually and materialistically.

Unfortunately the present generation of astrologers does not guide people to spirituality.
They cannot be blamed because their clients are mostly interested in solving their
personal problems. They guide their clients to temples asking them to perform certain
poojas. So a bad phase in life should be taken positively and as an opportunity to be in
tuned with nature.

By Girish Menon
 Sadesathi

We have a tendency of mixing spirituality with our materialistic needs. We have in fact
made a cocktail of both. To fulfill our materialistic desires we take the help of spiritual
techniques or masters and to fulfill our spiritual desires we spend money on donations
on spiritual organizations. Giving donations is not wrong but the motive behind it is
wrong. We should not mix both of these divine desires together. Both have their
importance and their respective methods to achieve.

Take for e.g. in astrology the 12th house is considered bad. It is totally from your view
point. If you analyze your chart the 12th house from materialistic point of view then the
12th house becomes inauspicious. The 12th house represents expenses, imprisonment
etc. But from spiritual aspect 12th house represents moksha. Strangely 12th house
represents physical bondage if we look from materialistic point of view but 12 th house
represents moksha (eternal freedom) if we look from spiritual aspect. For a person who
is more inclined towards materialistic desires his 12th house is considered bad. But for a
person who is more inclined towards spiritual desires the 12th house is good for him.

I know of a client who started a manufacturing industry after receiving blessings and nod
from a reputed spiritual master. He was so confident that he invested huge amounts but
today he is in the verge of closing down. This is one example of mixing spirituality with
business. It would have been better had he consulted a good astrologer or a consultant
before starting his business. He should have taken spiritual advice from his spiritual
master. We have the wrong notion that by spending money we can buy spirituality or by
donating to spiritual organizations we can automatically progress towards enlightment.
Helping the needy will reduce ones karma dosha which is important but will not give
enlightment. Satisfying materialistic desires is not in our control. We are controlled by
destiny and depending upon your planetary positions which will decide whether you will
become a king or pauper. We have heard of so many cases of king becoming pauper
and vice versa.

Though we cannot change our destiny nature has given us a free will with respect to
spiritual growth. I have already written an article regarding planets and spirituality
(astrospirituality). Sadesathi is considered as an inauspicious period of seven and half
years. It means for a person in his life cycle during the transit of Saturn 21 years of his
life span will undergoe Sadesathi. Swami Vivekananda has in his horoscope Saturn and
Moon in the 10th house the house of profession. Now sadesathi by astro definition
means Saturn transiting your moon at 12, 1 and 2nd house from the position of your
moon in your rashi chart. Now Saturn and spirituality have a deep connection. The
karaka for the 12th house is Saturn Sadesathi is an opportunity given by the divine for us
to grow spiritually. Saturn represents a loss of awareness, or ignorance. This loss of
awareness can also mean the diminishing awareness of the material world of
manifestation. Here Saturn indicates the ascetic, rich with inner spirituality, and lost to
this material plane of existence.
 On September 9th 2009 Saturn will be transiting from Leo to Virgo rashi. So if your
janma Nakshatra (placement of moon in your chart) is Leo, Virgo or Libra then you
come under Sadesathi. Nature has given you a golden opportunity to evolve spiritually.
This is the precious time where you must devote some time in chanting, prayers,
meditation, yoga etc. Your bio magnetic field will enhance your spiritual level because of
Saturn transit. The above techniques will be more effective for people coming under
Sadesathi. If you totally focus on your materialistic desires you will be disappointed
because your mind is already tuned towards spirituality and going against your mind’s
nature will lead you to discomforts. That is the reason we generally hear that people
undergoing Sadesathi are facing problem. They perform prayers and pooja out of fear.
Any activity especially divine activities performed under fear will not yield results. There
are people who tell with pride that they are God fearing. Don’t fear god, love god. By
fearing God you are in fact insulting his divinity. Love is a divine emotion which links
directly to him. Love is the most powerful technique to attain enlightment. If you are
unable to love the creator at least love his creation.

So take the Sadesathi phase as a positive one and do not panic. Devote some time
everyday for the above techniques. Remember the most important technique is to LOVE
GOD. With this motive performing the above techniques will enhance your spiritual
growth.

By Girish Menon

Importance of Planets
Have you ever wondered how planets far away can influence our lives? How can planets
in the solar system orbiting in there own axis around the sun can decide our future,
profession, health, relationship etc? How a planet can for e.g. Jupiter can be good for
someone and bad for others just because of the placement in the natal chart. That means if
a planet is wrongly placed in ones chart the planet makes sure that the person is going to
face difficulties and vice versa. Lets take example of a person whose planet let say Jupiter
is badly afflicted in his chart. So during the maha dasha of Jupiter this person will
undergo a bad time. He takes wrong decision in his work place or show lack of interest in
his work leading to financial difficulties. So in other words our thoughts are influenced
by these gigantic lifeless planets far away from us. I have personally studied cases of
children failing continuously in exams during there bad dasha. With the change of good
dasha the child suddenly excel in studies. Same with business entrepreneurs. How can
planets influence out thoughts?

To understand the connection first we must understand our solar system the macrocosm
and our human aura the microcosm. Have you ever wondered why these planets revolve
around the sun? What will happen let say planet mercury disappear from the solar
system? What difference does it make in our lives? We are aware that everything created
in the universe has a purpose. Only that the purpose is a mystery to mankind. For
creation we know the importance of sun and moon. Without there existence life would
cease to exist. The other planets also have an important role in creation. It is believed that
in the first month the child who is in a semisolid stage is controlled by Venus. The second
month the solid state is governed by the planet Mars. The third month of growth is
controlled by Jupiter. The formation of bones in the fourth month is governed by Sun.
The formation of Skin in the sixth month is controlled by Moon. The formation of organs
in the seventh month is controlled by Saturn. In the eighth month the life to the child or
chetna is controlled by Jupiter. Apart from that planets play a crucial role in balancing
nature.

I have already discussed the importance of bad dasha with respect to spirituality in my
section “Astrospirituality”. There is one another important reason for nature in creating
bad time for man. If you observe the world population at least 85% of people go through
bad time when compared to the 15% people going through good time. The people with
good time are generally the cream of the society that includes industrialist, celebrities,
politicians etc. For the balancing of nature this ratio is correct otherwise if it was other
way round our society will be in a total chaos. Take for example if you want to build your
own house. For that you require manual labors Plumbers etc. Now if every body has got
good time there will be nobody to build your house. From food to clothing to staying
which is our basic necessity becomes difficult to attain. The problem is with people
misusing there good time for there selfish needs in terms of power, corruption etc
creating an unbalance in the society. Your servant who cleans your house should be
respected. Without them your life will be miserable. You must understand that the
difference between you and your servant is time. Other wise it could have been the other
way round.

Now we have to understand the connection between planet and humans. Apart from the
physical body there is one more field known as the aura or the Bio magnetic field which
is located in the front of the body. The other end of the field is the location of an energy
concentration or the soul. The area between the soul and the physical body constitutes our
biomagnetic field and the chakra layers. The physical body consisting of eight layers is a
common misinterpretation. The truth is that the soul has eight layers, with our physical
body being the eighth layer. In fact our body is only a layer (gross) form of the soul. The
first layer of the soul is ajna, second is vishuddha, third anahata, fourth is manipura, fifth
swadhishthana, sixth is sahasrara, seventh is mooladhara (Biomagnetic field) and the
eighth is the physical body.

Our biomagnetic field is controlled by Mooladhara chakra. The clockwise and the
anticlockwise spin of mooladhara causes a double spin of the subatomic particles, one
vertical and one horizontal, creating a biomagnetic field. Magnetic field has a single spin
whereas biomagnetic field has a double spin.

An atom with a double spin is called life

An atom with single spin is called matter.
A group of atom with double spin is called the cell
When a child is born depending on the time of birth the planetary positions at that
moment have an influence on the child’s destiny. Imagine nine runners running a race. All
the nine are in there different respective positions. If you click a photo at that moment the
photo you get at that given moment remains fixed. Similarly when a child is born, the
different positions of the planets at that moment become fixed. The picture taken at that
moment is called the natal chart which is used by astrologers for predictions.

Planets though far away from the earth have an influence on the child’s wellbeing. The
scientists believe that all spherical planets and stars are huge space lenses that send
powerful beams which go through the human body just like nuclear radiation penetrating
through metals. These penetrating kind of radiation are extremely powerful and create a
huge cloud of space that can neither be found by optical or radio telescopes. When the
earth rotating around the orbit crosses one of these flows, all biological objects in this
effective area receive a dose of this radiation.

The seven chakras of the child works as an antenna to these planets. We can call chakras
as mini planets. Once the child is exposed to the earth, the radiations emitted by these
planets, depending on that particular time, will be recorded and stored by these chakras.
We must understand that the planets emitting radiation is in fact an intelligent thought
wave formation. These thought waves influence our thoughts and our actions are guided
accordingly. Any action we perform begins with a desire. From desire comes action. For
e.g. desire to play cricket created our own Sachin Tendulkar. Added with the desire
favorable planetary positions made him world famous. These desires are not created by
us but are influenced by the gigantic planets. Our ancient Vedas speak about
desirelessness. A person like a highly evolved person who reaches a state of
desirelessness cannot be controlled by the influence of planets. He controls his own
destiny. In fact they leave their body on their own will (Samadhi). This wonderful gift
nature has given only to human beings.

Astro Consciousness

We live constantly in 3 mental states or consciousness. One is the past conscious state,
the present conscious state and the future conscious state. Past conscious state consist
of our past memories and experiences, future conscious state consists of goals and
desires and present conscious state is the blend between the past and the future. Take a
simple example. Let us say that you have a desire to eat sweets. For that you go to a
sweet shop buy the sweet and eat it. This simple action has involved all your three
states of consciousness. Your past memories from your past conscious state has made
you aware in the present state about the taste of the sweet, the shop from where to buy
from and the desire to eat which has come from the future state to the present state. The
present state of consciousness has blended both the past and future thoughts prompting
you to take action.

Man in his whole span of life time lives constantly in these three stages of
consciousness. It is important to blend both the past and future states of consciousness
before performing any action. Take an example of a convict who committed a murder. In
the present conscious state he has taken his memories from the past conscious state
i.e. may be revenge to kill his victim. Had he taken his future conscious state in his
present he would have realized the consequence of his action i.e. imprisonment and
would have probably refrained himself from this heinous act. Similarly if you act without
thinking and perform an action without using your past experience there are chances
that you might end up losing. Hitler attacked Russia in winter causing his downfall. He
failed to study the past experience of Napoleon’s Waterloo who attacked Russia in
winter.

These three stages of consciousness are not only time bound but also space bound.
Time is not infinite but has a beginning. Take an example of a mango seed. You keep the
seed in your cupboard for a year nothing happens. But the moment you plant it, the seed
starts to sprout and within few years the seed becomes a big mango tree. Time starts
from that moment you planted it. So time has a beginning and end like life and death.
Now suppose you plant few seeds in different location like a forest or in a centre of a
busy street, obviously the seed planted in the street will not survive. Here the seeds are
you and I planted on this earth by the divine nature. Our ancient Rishis realized the
importance of time and place and based on this information introduced the science of
astrology.

The three states of consciousness are also space bound. A bud becomes a flower and
then a fruit. The past present and future is a space where the bud is pushed to the next
space the flower. The memory of the flower pushes the fruit to the next space i.e. fruit. If
the fruit that is the future consciousness does not allow or create an environment for the
flower to change itself, the fruit will cease to exist. It’s like as if there is a wall in front of
you, one cannot move forward, because there is no space for you to move. All these
three space of consciousness plays an important role in our lives. Planets have an
influence in these three spaces of consciousness. Take for ex. a person just completing
his Saturn dasha and entering in to the next Mercury dasha. The Saturn influenced his
past space of consciousness and Mercury will influence his future space of
consciousness. This person’s behavior, interests and his future activities will be a blend
of the influence of Saturn and Mercury. If both the planets are well placed in his
horoscope he will lead a successful life.

By Girish Menon

Birth Time
Many urban Indian women nowadays turn to doctors to time their delivery at a propitious
hour. Thanks to the advice of astrologers and priests, these women and their families
believe that being born under a favorable star would bring wealth and health to the child.
Requests for delivery at an auspicious hour usually come from educated, rich families.
Take an example of a child to be born at 10.30 pm. The ascendant at that time could be
Leo. That becomes the first house. Counting from there the sixth house i.e. Capricorn
has benefic planets like Jupiter, Venus, and Mercury. Now as per the chart predictions
benefic planets in sixth house is not good. Now let us suppose the mother decides to
undergo caesarean at around 9.30 pm. The ascendant at that time will be in Cancer
sign. Counting from there the benefic planets will now be in fifth house. Benefic planets
in fifth house is good because fifth is a trikona. Now the question is did the mother take
the right decision? Can she change the destiny of her child with this simple
manipulation? Can we manipulate nature?

I had a similar case study of a woman who underwent caesarean for the same reason
15 years ago. In spite of that her child who was to undergoing good time in fact had a
miserable educational career. It is important for an astrologer to know before predicting
whether the child’s delivery is normal or not. If it is caesarean then calculation should not
be taken from the time given. By manipulating the operation parents are in the wrong
notion that they can change the destiny of the child. In fact the child’s birth time as per
my above example should be calculated at 10.30 pm and not 9.30 pm. In our ancient
astrological test no reference was mentioned about caesarean operations. Calculations
were based on normal delivery only.

One should understand that birth and death is decided by nature and nobody can
manipulate both these events. If a child is destined to born at a particular time, nature
has its own mysterious reasons for that. It is foolish on the part of man to think that he
can manipulate nature. Today conducting caesarean operation for astrological reasons is
in big demand as confirmed by some gynecologist.

Sarpa Dosha

Sarpa Dosha a much feared Dosha has its importance in astrology. People have the
misconception that it has something to do with snakes. Either you or your forefathers
must have harmed some snake leading to Sarpa Dosha. In fact Sarpa Dosha has
nothing to do with snakes. In countries like china snakes are eaten as delicacies. So all
of them must have Sarpa Dosha which is not true. Sarpa Dosha is a Biomagnetic
genetic disorder.

A genetic disorder is an illness caused by abnormalities in genes or chromosomes. If

you observe the shape of DNA it resembles like two snakes coiled together. In olden
days our Rishis visualized it through their intusion, called it Sarpa and any disorder in the
DNA was termed as Sarpa Dosha.

Apart from our physical body we also have our Bio magnetic field. Our Biomagnetic
field is a subtle replica of our physical body. So Sarpa Dosha is a disorder in our
Biomagnetic field. It is believed that if all the planets fall in between Rahu and Ketu in
your birth chart then you are the victim of Sarpa Dosha which is not true. Take example
of Sachin Tendulkar. As per his chart he has Sarpa Dosha due to the above reasons. But
you look at his career. He is world famous and broken all major records. He achieved
success at the age of sixteen and still going strong. Apart from him there are many
famous personalities like Jawaharlal Nehru whose chart claims to be affected by Sarpa
Dosha. Sarpa Dosha which is a Biomagnetic distortion has a direct influence on our
chakras.

Chakra is a Sanskrit word that translates as wheel or disc. Chakras are wheel-like
vortices which exist in the surface of the bio magnetic field of man. The Chakras are said
to be "force centers" or whorls of energy permeating, from a point on the physical body,
the layers of the subtle bodies in an ever-increasing fan-shaped formation. Rotating
vortices of subtle matter, they are considered the focal points for the reception and
transmission of energies. There are seven major chakras or energy centers (also
understood as wheels of light) located within the subtle body. Hindu and New Age
tradition believe the chakras interact with the body's ductless endocrine glands and
lymphatic system by feeding in good bio-energies and disposing of unwanted bio-
energies. Chakras spin clockwise and anticlockwise. A proper and healthy spin is
required to energize our Biomagnetic field. The distortions of Sarpa Dosha affect the
spin of the chakras. A weak spin causes depletion in the Biomagnetic field. A weak field
in turns can cause imbalance in our hormones causing disharmony in the physical and
mental level. Decisions taken during this period goes haywire causing mental agony.

By Girish Menon
http://www.horamag.com