Shad darshan

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OM GURAVE NAMAHDear Jyotisha,

 

As usual there is confusion and speculation when the principles for the

differentiation are not understood.

The word used is shad-darshana. Shad means six and darshana means to see or

sight and refers to the body of knowledge that illumines the mind. Look at the

basics: What is the source of all light and life? It is the Sun God and the sun

alone is the source of all original light that is adequate enough to cause

vision in the physical sence of the word and illumination in the spiritual

sence of the term. Thus, the SUN is the governor of all the darshana and shall

illumine different paths to the same God.

 

Now, the Jyotish aspect: There are nine planets or nava-graha. Of these, the

nodes are indicative of eclipses or darkness and lack of illumination. They

tend to obstruct the path to knowledge in some manner or the other. Hence, in

principle, they cannot rule any of the 'darshana' nor do they work for the Sun

in this noble cause. Excluding the nodes, we have seven planets remaining of

which the overall GOVERNOR for DARSHANA is the Sun. The Sun indicates the

completeness of the knowledge or the perfection related to any body of

knowledge. That is why Jaimini teaches " panchame surya gitagya" where the gita

is the crux of all the different systems of knowledge to know Him. Having

confirmed that the Sun is the final objective or the 'real' darshana, let us

examine the remaining six planets from Moon to Saturn.

 

Shad-Darshana

The shad-darshana are the six streams of philosophy that a person (of some

intelligence) adopts in his spiritual path. In fact darshana refers to the

knowledge or peculiar mode of thinking as well that shall illumine his path to

God. The path to God is referred to as the DEVI or SHAKTI or the mother. In

mantra-nyasa, this is SHAKTI nyasa is doe on the feet so that the path is not

changed and this is the real meaning of the word Durga as derived from

"Durgati-nashinyai" or the one Who removes us from the wrong path and takes us

to the right path towards God realisation. For example, the aspirants of

Krishna worship Radha as the mother and when Krishna takes the vesha of

Jagannatha, then She is Gundicha or Vimala. Every mantra must have a shakti and

the nyasa of the shakti at the feet is important for the 'gati' or movement

towards God realisation.

Moon - Sankhya shastra

Mars - Nyaya shastra

Mercury - Mimamsa shastra

Jupiter - Veda shastra

Venus - Vaiseshika shastra

Saturn - Yoga shastra

 

For the sake of good record, the five crucial nyasa are:

1) RISHI at the head,

2) CHANNDA/metre or vibration in the mouth (Gayatri/Matrika),

3) DEVATA or deity (form or formless God as described by the mantra) in the heart,

4) BIJA or the seed syllable that causes creation in the Linga (Brahma (worship

prohibited and hence Shiva Linga) and,

5) SHAKTI (Devi/Durgati-nashinyai/Mother/Prakriti) at the feet

The shad-darshana are meaningless if (a) your head cannot reason clearly being

enraged by rajas or depressed by tamas thoughts, (b) your mouth does not have

the sweetness of the beautiful channda like the Gayatri, © your heart has no

place for the few souls in this planet - what to speak of the omni-present

Bhagavan Vishnu, (d) if your linga cannot create anything worthwhile for this

samsara (world) and (e) your feet do not take you to the right people at the

right place and at the right time for the right yoga.

 

Test yourself: List out the nyasa for the following mantra:

Q1. (a) the maha-mantra kirtana: Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare

Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare; (b) Vasudeva dwadasakshari

mantra: Om namo bhagavate vasudevaaya; © Isana Panchakshari: namah Shivaya

(d) Mrityunjaya Mantra, and (d) Gayatri mantra. I have given simple and well

known mantra and this should be easy.

Q2. There are five parts of the mantra for which nyasa is performed as indicated

above and these are five tatwas. Match one tatwa to each of the mantra

parts/nyasa.

Q3. There are five main deities in Hinduism. These are the panca-devata: Surya,

Ganesha, Vishnu, Siva and Shakti. Link each of the devata to one Tatwa, and

then the tatwa to one of the nyasa. Why is the worship of the pancha devata

considered essential in Hinduism?

 

Coming back to shad-darshana, let us take an example. Can Jyotish be considered

a shad-darshana, and if so, which darshana does it signify and how? Extracts

from Vedic remedies in Astrology by this scribe: " Some people have expressed

the opinion that Jyotish is not a vedanga and that the word “ Vedic” is a

misnomer. The six important parts of the Vedas are personified as its feet,

face, hands, eyes, nose and ears. Chandas, vyakarana, kalpa, jyotish, siksha

and nirukta represent these respectively. In the next stanza, prasna marga adds

that since jyotish (Astrology) is the eye of the Vedas it is given the highest

pedestal. Thus, there is no further doubt that jyotish is a vedanga." Thus,

Jyotish is a part of the Veda and the largest part as Sankaracharya has

referred to it as the ocean of knowledge. As per the list above, this should be

ruled by Jupiter. Jupiter also rules the 'Akash Tatwa'. It is for this reason

that Harihara advises that Jupiter should be placed in Lagna at the muhurta

when a person begins the study of Jyotish. Thus, if a person is seeking a

muhurta to start studying sankhya shastra, then the Moon should be strong, or

preferably in Lagna. A person should have Mars strong in Lagna at the time of

commencing studies in Law or at the time of going to war, else the effort shall

fail.

 

Yoga

As a darshana, it refers to Hatha yoga and to Ayurveda which are related to

longevity increase and good health (ruled by positive Saturn). In fact Saturn

in the negative shows diseases and poor personal care for the body. However,

the Yoga discussed as a subject matter of Vedanta in the Gita is different.

Here, the knowledge of the Bhagavat Gita is ruled by the Sun as indicated by

Jaimini and also in the words of Sri Krishna. Here again, the Sun becomes the

Governor and decides as to whether the Yoga shall begin at all and if so, when.

The Moon is the sustainer of the Yoga as it shows the bonding between two. This

has been explicitly stated by Kalyana Verma (Saravali).

 

I shall leave it here and let the discussion continue on Yoga continue.

 

At the feet of Guru Pandita Kasinatha,

I remain,Sanjay RathMail: 71 Vasant Apartments, Mayur Vihar Phase-1, New Delhi

110091, IndiaTel: +91-11-2713201; SJC Web pages: http://.org;

Personal Web: http://srath.com

 

vedic astrology, Gauranga Das <gauranga@b...> wrote:>

JAYA JAGANNATHA!> > Dear Narasimha and members,> > Namaste.> > Some years ago

we had a discussion on Varahamihira list on mapping the> Sad0darshana to

planets.> > As far as I remember, also recollecting from the present posts, the

list was> as follows:> > Sun-> Moon- Saamkhya> Mars- Nyaaya> Mercury-Mimamsa>

Jupiter - Vedanta> Venus - Vaisesika> Saturn - Yoga> Rahu&Ketu - Tamasik,

Tantrik and unorthodox philosophy> > So the Sun in tha bove mapping is left

out. Whats should we think about it?> > Karma-yoga Saturn, Mars> Jnana-yoga

Jupiter, Sun> Bhakti-yoga Moon and Venus (I would put Moon for Krishna-bhakti

and Venus> for Devata-upasana)> > What may be the specific differences between

Saturn and Mars in karma, or> Jupiter and Sun in Jnaana?> My idea is that

there's two aspects of Karma, i.e. the drive to do it, the> activity (Mars) and

the renuncation of it or its fruits (Saturn). Also in> Jnaana, there's two basic

conclusions: the monistic (Sun) and the dualistic> (Jupiter). so the Jnaani

either gets to the conclusion that he is one with> God (Sun) or that he is the

eternal servant of God (Jupiter the Jeeva which> is exalted in Cancer

indicating Krishna). On the other hand Moon is exalted> in Taurus which

indicates the nature of relationship-bhakti. We might remark> that Bhagavan Sri

Krishna had Taurus Lagna with an exalted Moon in it, while> Venus in the 4th

which is Sri Caitanya's Lagna is Leo with the Moon and Ketu> in it. On the

other hand Bhagavan Sri Rama's Lagna is Cancer with Moon and> Jupiter in it. So

all of this maps well together.> > Comments please.> > Yours,> > Gauranga Das

Vedic Astrologer> gauranga@b...> Jyotish Remedies:>

WWW.BRIHASPATI.NET> Phone:+36-309-140-839> > ->

"Narasimha P.V.R. Rao" <pvr@c...>> <vedic astrology>>

Saturday, January 11, 2003 4:34 AM> [vedic astrology] Re:

Spiritual paths from D-20 (To Siva)> > > > Dear Siva,> >> > > Vyam Vyasa-devaya

Namah.> > >> > > Dear PVRji,> > > That was a very informative post.> > > The

following is my extrapolation from your post coupled with my own> > > general

understandings. Please verify/correct and add more comments> > > as

appropritate.> > >> > > Guru, Sukra and Budh stand for philosophical approach,

while> > > representing different paths - but the methodology is philosophical>

> > or gnana yoga. Isnt mercury a significator for> > >

meditation/contemplation?> > >> > > Saturn stands for Raja yoga or tapas

(Patanjali yoga sutras and/or> > > tapas/sanyas).> > >> > > Rahu - may be nyaya

or no fully immersed in materialism.> >> > Mars stands for Nyaya. Rahu shows

tamasik forms, ranging from materialism> to> > several schools of tantra.> >> >

> Ketu - mystic experiences? (under special conditions grantor of> > > moksha?)>

>> > Rahu and Ketu are always together in D-20.> >> > > Mars - shows some

aggression in the path. Depending on influence of> > > other grahas mentioned

above - E.g, Mars + Saturn - severe penance,> > > etc.> >> > Right. Mars also

shows rationalism, along with Mercury.> >> > Mars shows nyaya style rationalism

(draw quick conclusions) and Mercury> > shows mimamsa style rationalism

(extremely profound, but very few> > conclusions).> >> > > Moon - Bhakti

marg???? or yoga???> >> > Moon shows Sankhya sastra as taught by Kapil and

Krishna too. He also> shows> > bhakti yoga.> >> > > What role does lagna,

lagnadhipathi, AL play in D-20?> >> > The normal role they have in all charts.

Lagna shows self. If you want to> > know family deity, village deity etc or see

one's teachers etc, use lagna> as> > the references. Paka lagna (rasi containing

lagna lord) shows the> spiritual> > aspect of the intellect (consciousness). AK

shows the soul (which operates> > above the mind and the intellect). AL shows

the image one has in world> (for> > spiritual activities).> >> > Take Swami

Jayendra Saraswati for example. In D-20, he had lagna in Vi,> paka> > lagna in

Ar with Mars and Mercury and AL in Sc with Saturn. Paka lagna in> > Aries with

Mars-Mercury combo shows that he had an extremely sharp and> smart> >

intelliect when it comes to spirituality. AL in Scorpio shows a> Brahminical> >

image. Saturn in AL shows the austere image of a renunciate. AL is all> about> >

image. Paka Lagna is all about intellect. Under the image of that monk lay> > an

intellect that was very sharp, quick and thirsty for more knowledge.> >> > >

What about Karma yoga? - should that be determined by Saturn also> > > (as

saturn stands for karma).> >> > Yes.> >> > Karma yoga is shown mainly by Saturn

and Mars. Gnyaana yoga is shown> mainly> > by Jupiter and Sun. Bhakti yoga is

shown mainly by Moon and Venus.> >> > Of course, Mercury is versatile and can

fit in all! :-)> >> > In addition, Mimamsa approach is shown by Mercury,

Vedanta approach is> shown> > by Jupiter, Vaiseshika approach is shown by

Venus, Sankhya approach is> shown> > by Moon, Nyaya approach is shown by Mars,

Yoga approach is shown by Saturn> > and many tamasik approaches including dark

Tantras etc are shown by nodes.> >> > > Thank you,> > > -Siva.> >> > May

Jupiter's light shine on us,> > Narasimha> >> >> >> >> > Archives:

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