Please accept my humble obeisances,
all glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Dear readers!
I would like to present you some interesting astrological thoughts that have inspired me during many years. In fact I would like to show you no less than Srila Prabhupada and His mission manifesting "in the stars". I have studied both Vedic and Western Astrology, but here I will speak mainly about the Western Astrology. I hope my posts will not create fights here about which kind of Astrology is better. I personally am happy with both types of Astrology and I am not interested about arquing. I am interested about the cooperation between different Astrological schools, not about the fighting. All the internet is full of such fights by different astrology schools and there is no need to start one such thread more. But if anyone here is offended by the Western Astrology then please just ignore my posts.
Also, I would like to say that I am not a native English speaker, so writing in English is not easy for me and it may take time to reply. So, please excuse my poor English and let's start.
In order to arrive at the conclusion I have to start from the very beginning and guide you through the philosophy of Astrology.
How do we know by which planets or signs different areas of life are ruled?
First of all there are some ancient texts about the subject. But most interesting thing is that planets themselves tell us what they are ruling in the horoscopes! Astrology is, as its name says, a kind of logic - the logic of the stars. And basic tool of logic is analogy. In this way we can look at the physical characteristics of the planets and find analogies to them in astrology. This, of course, is not easy for the beginner. I will try to give some examples.
Venus is moving in very harmonious orbit, which is almost perfect circle. Others planets orbits are much more elliptical. This speaks us that Venus is dealing with harmony, beauty, balance, fidelity, etc in the horoscopes. Venus is also rotating amazingly slowly, once every 243 days. It orbits the sun every 225 days, so it takes longer to spin once on its axis than it does to go completely around the sun! In this way, day on Venus is longer than year! That's why Venus is ruling Taurus, who is considered most flegmatic or "slow" person.
Mercury is the fastest planet in the Solar System. Therefore it rules traffic on the street or uncontrollable mind and nerves in medical astrology.
Jupiter is the biggest and heaviest planet. Therefore it rules abundance, everything big and expanding. Also in sanskrit Jupiter is called Guru and as you all probably know Guru means heavy.
There are many such examples.
Another way to know planets meanings is to look at the mythology. Planets have got their names from Roman mythology and by studying their stories we can understand their meanings.
Mercury for example was believed to be a god of trade, profit, commerce, games, thievery and story telling and messenger of the gods. Therefore it rules the same things in astrology. Mercury also wore winged shoes and a winged hat, so he was moving very quickly because with wings he could practically fly. As you remember planet Mercury is also moving very quickly.
Mars was a war god. Therefore planet Mars is connected to the wars and everything aggressive in astrology.
Venus is a Roman goddess principally associated with love and beauty.
Jupiter was believed to be the most powerful of the gods or the main god. Therefore planet Jupiter speaks about the God and religion and philosophy in horoscopes.
In mythology Saturn was eating his children and no wonder - people born with Saturn in the house of childrens are often having problems getting childrens.
Mythology books are revealing a lot more on the subject than I intend to present here. I wanted to give just a few examples. Hopefully you see the similarities and got the point.
There is also a third method to see what planet means, but this applies only to the newly discovered planets. We have simply to look at the world events at the time when new planet is discovered. As ancient axiom states "As above, so below" - if something principially new happens in the world, it will manifest in the skies also.
When Uranus was discovered, revolutions happened in the world. Also science was developing rapidly. Therefore Uranus is connected to new technology, revolutions, freedom and untraditional thinking.
When Neptune was discovered, advances were made in photography and psychology started to develop. Also pure cocaine was extracted from cocoa beans. Also medicine made big steps forward. Therefore Neptune is ruling drugs, illusions, psychology etc.
And at the time when Pluto was discovered, scientists were studing atom. Mafia became very prominent and lot of violence was happening in the world. Similarly in astrology Pluto is connected to nuclear weapons, criminals, mass killings and so on.
I have heard a lot of interesting examples about those discoveries, but my poor English doesn't allow me to write everything down. So I hope that those few examples were sufficient.
And last method to know about the planets meanings is to look at its symbol. Symbols are not incidental, they speak a lot. All planets symbols are made from three basic symbols - circle, cross and half circle (crescent). And those three are symbolizing the spirit, matter and soul respectively. So, different combinations of those three in the planets symbols mean different relations between spirit, soul and matter.
OK, That's enough for the first part. I hope once again that you see the points I tried to make here, because it's essential for arriving at the conclusion later.
PART TWO
Now that we know how planet's astrological meanings are derived, let's see what follows.
In November, 1977 — exactly on the month when Srila Prabhupada completed His mission on this planet, a very unusual celestial body was discovered. It was even further away than Saturn! Although thousands of asteroids were discovered before that date, all they were moving between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, and no one suspected that minor bodies could be so far away. So, this find was sensation for both astronomers and astrologers. But this wasn't the only surprise. This body was so different from anything else ever found that a whole new category had to be invented for it. This body was difficult to classify, because in one sense it was like an asteroid but it also manifested some comet like activity! So, until today it is the only body that is included in both asteroids and comets catalogues.
Because of such a dual nature it was given a name of a Centaur — Chiron — from Greek mythology. Centaurs were also dual in nature — half humans, half horses. But Chiron was very special Centaur. Centaurs were notorious for being overly indulgent drinkers and carousers, given to violence when intoxicated, and generally uncultured, bestial and brutal. Chiron, by contrast, was intelligent, civilized and kind and had an extensive knowledge of the healing arts. Chiron was also immortal. In the art Chiron is depicted in the "human-centaur" form (that is, he was a man from head to toe, but with the center and hindparts of a horse attached to his buttocks). This form was of course used to differentiate Chiron from all other centaurs, who were mostly represented as men only from the head to the waist, and therefore more animal-like. Centaurs are symbolizing jiva's progress from lover life forms to the human form. Because Sagittarius in the Zodiac is also a Centaur, Chiron is connected to Sagittarius sign and its ruler Jupiter or Guru. In this way besides Jupiter also Chiron is supposed to rule philosophy, religion and guruship in astrology. Most astrologers who are studying new celestial bodies agree also that Chiron rules medicine and healing.
And most important thing we can learn about Chiron from Greek mythology is the fact that he was a Guru. He had been the tutor of, among others, Heracles, Asclepius, Theseus, and Achilles. He had the gift of guiding his pupils to uncovering their highest potential and discovering their destiny. Chiron also had an extensive knowledge of the healing arts. So, here we have a lot of similarities with Srila Prabhupada who was also "intelligent, civilized and kind" unlike many other so called Gurus and who was a Guru who guided his pupils to "uncovering their highest potential and discovering their destiny". He was also acting in a medicine field while He was a householder. But that's not all! Soon after Chiron's discovery, it's symbol was proposed and it is DANDA! What a coincidence! To be precise — it is danda, standing on a little circle and therefore it also resembles an old-fashioned key. So, Chiron's connection to guruship and Srila Prabhupada is becoming more obvious.
Have a look at it's symbols here:
http://www.zanestein.com/chiron_glyph.htm
Now things are going really interesting. As we have already seen, planet's symbol and its physical characteristics, including details of its orbit speak a lot about planet's astrological meanings. Chiron, whose symbol looks like a key is furter away than Saturn which is symbolizing gates between material and spiritual worlds. Key to the gate is at another side — in the spiritual world! Doesn't this mean symbolically that no one from material world can open those gates? Or in other words that this gate can be opened only from the other side? Perhaps by the person who has a danda?
Even more connections to Srila Prabhupada can be seen by the very interesting fact that Chiron was actually discovered twice! Guess when it was discovered first! It was on the year 1896 when Srila Prabhupada was born. Strange body was seen back then by one astronomer in the night sky but unfortunately it was lost again. Now, when Chiron's orbit was precisely determined after second discovery in 1977 and its position could be calculated back and forth in time, it become clear that Chiron is the same body that was lost after discovery in 1896! Isn't this very symbolical? Srila Prabhupada appeared in this world and Chiron was discovered. Because He was just a child, world had to wait for His mission to manifest. And when Srila Prabhupada completed His mission, Chiron was discovered again to symbolize that the key to the spiritual self realization has been given to the mankind! After Chiron's discovery persons carring danda can be seen even in the western world. This wasn't the case before its discovery.
There are also interesting connections between Centaurs deaths and the end of Yadu dynasty.
The following is from wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiron
This had taken place during the visit of Heracles to the cave of Pholus on Mount Pelion in Thessaly when he visited his friend during his fourth labour in defeating the Erymanthian Boar. While they were at supper, Heracles asked for some wine to accompany his meal. Pholus, who ate his food raw, was taken aback. He had been given a vessel of sacred wine by Dionysus sometime earlier, to be kept in trust for the rest of the centaurs until the right time for its opening. At Heracles's prompting, Pholus was forced to produce the vessel of sacred wine. The hero, gasping for wine, grabbed it from him and forced it open. Thereupon the vapours of the sacred wine wafted out of the cave and intoxicated the wild centaurs, led by Nessus, who had gathered outside. They attacked the cave with stones, rocks and fir trees. Hercules was forced to shoot many arrows (poisoned, of course, with the blood of the Hydra) to drive them back. During this assault, Chiron was hit in the thigh by one of the poisoned arrows. After the centaurs had fled, Pholus emerged from the cave to observe the destruction. Being of a philosophical frame of mind, he pulled one of the arrows from the body of a dead centaur and wondered how could such a little thing as an arrow have caused so much death and destruction? In that instant, he let slip the arrow from his hand and it dropped and hit him in the foot, killing him instantly.
Next part is from Srimad Bhagavatam:
The Lord and His eternal associates appeared on earth to help the administrative demigods in eradicating the burden of the world. He therefore called for some of the confidential demigods to appear in the Yadu family and serve Him in His great mission. After the mission was fulfilled, the demigods, by the will of the Lord, relinquished their corporeal bodies by fighting amongst themselves in the madness of intoxication.
>>> Ref. VedaBase => SB 1.15.34
Both Centaurs and Yadus became extinct after becoming intoxicated.
There are also interesting connections between Chiron's death and Krishna's disappearance.
Lord Sri Krishna, manifesting His four-armed form, sat down under a pippala tree, placing His left foot, the heel of which was colored red like the red koka-nada lotus, upon His right thigh. A hunter named Jara, watching from the shore of the ocean at Prabhasa, mistook the Lord’s red-colored foot to be the face of a deer and shot his arrow at it.
>>> Ref. VedaBase => SB 11.6.35
Chiron was immortal but he gave up his immortality in order to escape the pain by dying after he has been shot in the thigh by poisoned arrow.
So, both Krishna and Chiron were actually immortal, yet they left this world after little injury.
Similarly Srila Prabhupada was liberated soul but in order to save us He gave up His immortality and came into this material world where He had to "die" after having completed His mission.
After discovering all those analogies I naturally became curios about how was Chiron placed in the sky on the day when Srila Prabhupada officially founded ISKCON. And sure enough — Saturn and Chiron were in conjunction! As you remember Saturn is the Gate and Chiron is the Key. So, Key was in a keyhole!!! Besides that Saturn was in the last tropical degree of Pisces. Pisces is the last sign of the zodiac and last degree of that sign is the last degree of whole zodiac therefore. That's why this degree is symbolizing the end of material existence. Isn't ISKCON founded exactly for that purpose?
After seeing all this I can only conclude that ancient principle — as above, so below — really works. Stars and planets are actually describing everything that happens on the earth. I can only wish to understand their language more and more. And Srila Prabhupada was so special person that a new planet had to appear in the sky to describe His activities. And please notice that all this written here is not just my wishful thinking but it is according to the principles of western astrology. We have seen how Chiron's mythology, events aroud its discovery, its symbol and its physical characteristics, especially its orbit, all speak about one thing — The Guru.
OK, that's all I wanted to speak about and I hope that my poor english didn't obstruct you to enjoy this view to Srila Prabhupada and His mission. If you have any questions I will try to answer. But here, at the end I leave you one interesting find from the internet:
On the page http://www.zanestein.com/chiron_a.htm it is stated
"There is a Native American prophecy which states that when the planet of 'healing' is discovered in the sky, this is when the sacred warrior teachings will return to earth."
Your servant,
Abhirama das
