Guest guest Posted January 26, 2001 Report Share Posted January 26, 2001 Dasanudas, Very interesting indeed, I also would like to know the answer to your question.Don"t feel bad about not getting an answer it happens to me also.This is good though so I think someone will comment. Gobind Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 26, 2001 Report Share Posted January 26, 2001 Hi All, Since my last post was received with a thunderous round of silence, I resolved to keep my posts more on-topic. The other day I was visiting with a dear friend who is a Spiritual Master of many disciples in South America. He was bringing a Deity of Radharani with him to install in a temple in Argentina (the Krsna Deity is already installed). This Deity is made by a member of a family of marble carvers who has been supplying Deities to the Gaudiya Math for three generations, and to other Vaisnava societies for many generations before that. These Deity carvers follow Shilpa Shastra (the Vedic instructions for temple building and Deity carving) very closely. Now, the interesting thing about this particular Deity, besides Her wonderful and sweet beauty, is that the carver decorated Her eyes with the symbol for Ketu. Radharani never sees anyone but Krsna. In fact, Srimad Bhagavatam describes that in Gokula She was born blind, and Her parents gave up all hope of Her seeing anything, until one day baby Krsna came to visit. As soon as Krsna leaned over Radha's crib, She opened Her eyes and saw Him. So the very first and only object of Radha's vision is Krsna. Therefore if we look in Radha's eyes we see only Krsna reflected there. We looked up pictures of the matching Krsna Deity, and sure enough His eyes were decorated with little Rahu symbols. I was struck by this, and also by many other correspondences. I am just a beginner in Jyotish, but even I know that Rahu is a wild and crazy fellow, and Ketu takes away material opulence and success. It is well known and accepted in India that when we worship Radha-Krsna we gradually lose all interest in material life and become spiritual madmen. It is also known even to children on the street in India that Radha-Krsna bhaktas attain liberation from material existence. Also Sri Chaitanya was born on a lunar eclipse, when Rahu obscures the Moon, and sure enough His mind was always full of Divine madness in love of Radha-Krsna. Radha-Krsna are one, but have separated Themselves eternally for the purpose of enjoying pastimes of Divine Love. Similarly, Rahu and Ketu never conjoin. Raghu, any thoughts on this? Best to all, Dasanudas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 26, 2001 Report Share Posted January 26, 2001 Bhaktisiddhartha Dasanudas wrote: > Hi All, > > Since my last post was received with a thunderous round of silence, I > resolved to keep my posts more on-topic. At present I have displeased Dasji - I think it was a misunderstanding of what I wrote - but feel that I should write to you, so that the applause is not conspicuous by absence! May I please correct you? "Deity" means "Divine Being" and refers to the Spirit. You are referring to a statue, sculpture, icon - OF the deity. In Christian thinking a holy statue is "icon", in India "vigraha". A representation of the real deity, whose presence is concentrated in the "idol" but is transcendental. > We looked up pictures of the matching Krsna Deity, and sure enough His eyes > were decorated with little Rahu symbols. I was struck by this, and also by > many other correspondences. I am just a beginner in Jyotish, but even I know > that Rahu is a wild and crazy fellow, and Ketu takes away material opulence > and success. It is well known and accepted in India that when we worship > Radha-Krsna we gradually lose all interest in material life and become > spiritual madmen. It is also known even to children on the street in India > that Radha-Krsna bhaktas attain liberation from material existence. This is not quite true, the Krishna conciousness is not "widespread" in India: millions believe in this, but the population is 1000 millions. By and large the "spiritual" aspirations and beliefs of Indians is not much better than in the west! They celebrate festivals- but hardly ever think of what they are celebrating. Durga´s triumpph over a demon... Where is the symbolism? Is it a hisorical event that is over and done with? Is not Durga combatting evil all the time? ARE WE HELPING HER? It is all fun, presents, flaunting of wealth .... Like Christmas. People fire loud crackers. Is that good for a new born babe? Presents, presents, presents, each vying to show to his buying power.. Who thinks of the "presents" that God/Christ gave us? The children on the streets of India.. hmmm ... what do they know of bhakthi? At best they take a banana or coconut to a Ganesha Temple and beg for his help: in picking pockets or begging from foreigners. ... I get worked up when "bhakthi" makes people blind to reality! IT IS NOT THAT THE CREATOR MADE THE WORLD PERFECT, BUT THAT HE EXPECTS US TO SEE THE DISORDER AND HELP HIM TO CLEAR UP THE MESS! The total trust of "bhakthi" is an insistence on remaining a child! I have very good grounds for seeing this so: I have an autistic son living with me. At the age of 31 he remains a child of 12! He "loves" me, expects me to solve all his problems. I "love" him, but wish he would learn to deal wit his problems! And as Krishna said, "I love you as a father his son" I think God wants us to go beyond "bhakthi" and ACT in His sense! The Rahu aspect of Krishna is interesting: Krishna was dark ... unfathomable! He taught a philosophy that was unorthodox, stopped the sacrifices to the vedic Gods. He taught the Pandavas to cheat and win a war. The Rasa Krida has been interpreted by many as a sex orgy. What did Krishna teach? As a boy of 12 the rasa Krida had no sexual meaning, BUT THE IDEA OF TOTAL LOVE! The stopping of offerings to Indra only meant: COME TO ME, DO NOT SEEK BACK DOORS THROUGH MY SERVANTS! The tricks to win the war: to show that our values are covered by Maya, for God there is no truth or untruth in absolute sense, tatwa is is only what IS, not what one tries to derive from it: it is like the north pole, every direction away is "south"! Rahu, Saturn, Mars .... malefics!? Agents of a terrible devil? All are "lenses" to teach us, some are severe, others milder. But as Simone de Beauvoir said, "The poison is often not in the bitter pill, but in the sugar coating!" regards Mani Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 26, 2001 Report Share Posted January 26, 2001 Mani wrote: | At present I have displeased Dasji - I think it was a misunderstanding of what I | wrote - but feel that I should write to you, so that the applause is not | conspicuous by absence! Who is 'Dasji' and why are you writing to him? I don't follow this. | May I please correct you? "Deity" means "Divine Being" and | refers to the Spirit. You are referring to a statue, sculpture, icon - OF the deity. | In Christian thinking a holy statue is "icon", in India "vigraha". A | representation of the real deity, whose presence is concentrated in the "idol" but is | transcendental. If God is transcendental, He is present everywhere, in the Deity form as well as in everyone's heart. So why can He not accept service through the Deity form in the temple? There are so many quotes in Shastra about the potency of the Deity (vigraha) form. I can dig them up if you insist. Why are you speculating about God from a materialistic point of view? Also, the fact that God is transcendental means that God's form, name, abode, words, teachings, service and everything connected with Him are spiritual and divine. In material existence, the symbol is different from the thing symbolized. But in spiritual existence, everything is of the same quality. This is why God's Holy Name is such an effective vehicle for self-realization. When the Deity is properly installed and served, He is a powerful expansion of the Divine presence. But because so many so-called Brahmins in India are just impure, greedy cheating rascals, the Divine presence has withdrawn from most of the temples. It has become just an ordinary business. People are going there with selfish material desires. What kind of loving service is this? And then when God remains silent they become bitter and atheistic. This is very unfortunate. I feel your bitterness and sympathize with it to a certain extent. But you should know that the real thing, the spiritual reality is still there underneath. You can only access it through a bona fide guru. Since most of the so-called gurus in India are bogus, this is rare. But if anyone has faith, many hidden things are revealed to him. The simple faith of the Indian village people is strong, because they are suffering so much. I have encountered many simple people with great faith in India. It is only the sophisticated city folks who have become jaded, influenced by Western materialism and Shankarite impersonalism, which is really materialism in the disguise of a spiritual philosophy. They have become caught up in bitterness and fault-finding with no positive outcome. What a shame. Anyway, the original topic was how Rahu-Ketu might be expressions of the spiritual principles of Radha-Krsna in Vedic astrology. Does anyone have any constructive comments on this? Best to All, Dasanudas http://www.harinam-arts.org Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 26, 2001 Report Share Posted January 26, 2001 gjlist, "Bhaktisiddhartha Dasanudas" <dasanudas@m...> wrote: Now, the interesting thing about this particular Deity, besides Her > wonderful and sweet beauty, is that the carver decorated Her eyes with the > symbol for Ketu. Radharani never sees anyone but Krsna...... > > We looked up pictures of the matching Krsna Deity, and sure enough His eyes > were decorated with little Rahu symbols. ~~~~~~~~ Namah Sivaya!!!that's pretty amazing Dasanudas!!!Radha-Krsna as Rahu/Ketu!!!what a thought!! i always thought that Rahu was a demon...not a deva...although they all have their parts to play in the Grand Leela....but to indentify Lord Krsna with Rahu!!!! the wildness and madness of the Divine love associated with Him does seem somewhat to point in that direction...and the idea of Sri Chaitanya being born on an eclipse is yet more "evidence" it seems...yet as far as i understand it, Mercury is the Planet associated with Lord Vishnu and thus Lord Krsna...at least that's what it says in my texts.... But to have those symbols carved on to Lord Krsna and Srimati Radharani.......ohh that's something to ponder and consider.....it just might put those two rascals (Rahu and Ketu i mean) into an entirely different light if we were to see them that way!!! But i thought it was Lord Visnu Who had deprived Rahu of his body with that Sudarshana Chakra, when Rahu was trying to steal some of the Amrita.......hmmmmm.... In the Divine Mother's Love, and in Her Service, as ever, Your Own Self, visvanathan Om Amrtesvaryai Namah! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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