[Jagannath] Sankhya sastra & Planets; Mars vs Mercury

[Guest guest]

Namaste Gauranga,

 

I will give my views below.

 

> The Saamkhya philosophy of Lord Kapila (see Bhagavat Purana)

> explains this a bit differently.

>

> The sublte body (sookshma-sharira)of the living entity is

> compiled of fuor elements: Citta (consciousness), Ahamkara

> (false ego), Buddhi (intelligence) and Manas (mind).

>

> The functions of mind are thinking, feeling and willing, and

> stroind the impressions of memories. The functions of

> intelligence are doubting, comparing things (may be called

> logic as well) and understanding th true nature of things.

> Intelligence however alwas works on tha basis of a certain

> group of axioms which the soul accepts as his understanding of

> the world. These axioms may come either from the soul

> (jeevaatma) or from the mind.

> On the other side, brain is a prat of the gross body

> (shtoola-sharira) and is complied of earth, water, fire, air

> and ether. So the brain is not thinking or deciding anything.

> It's just transmittnig the operations of the subtle body to the

> senses. Therefore we have the five planets for the

> pancha-mahabhootas. But I was asking the planets for the four

> subtle elements form Sanjay as well, and there we could decide

> which planet rules Buddhi, which rules Manas, which rules

> Ahamkara and which one rulas Chitta.

>

> Yours, Gauranga das

 

You put the gist of Sankshya sastra in words excellently.

Brilliant!

 

For those who did not clearly understand, I will elaborate.

 

Our body - including the physical brain which controls nerves and

body parts - are made of matter (fire, water, earth, air and

ether). However, it is logical to think that there are some parts

of us - like mind, soul, intelligence etc - that are not made of

matter. Mind and thoughts are not made of matter (fire, earth

etc). These non-matter parts and parts made of physical matter

together form our existence.

 

Kapila Maharshi tried to list all the things that are responsible

for the existence of this universe. He listed about 24 (I think)

elements that are responsible for the existence of universe. Five

of them are pancha bhutas - fire, earth, water, air and ether,

that are responsible for all physical matter. In addition, he

listed 4 elements - chitta (consciousness), ahamkara (ego),

buddhi (intelligence) and manas (mind) - as parts of a " subtle

body " (non-matter body!!).

 

Gauranga explained these 4 elements very well. The more you

think, the more you will appreciate the wisdom of Kapila in

dividing the elements that are behind our existence into material

and subtle elements like this!

 

BTW, Narayan was using the word " brain " in the contemporary

sense. He didn't mean the mere physical part of the body - he

meant the matter of brain and the related elements of " subtle

body " .

 

* * *

 

Now, Gauranga, let me answer your question. The following are the

planetary associations that *I* would make:

 

Chitta (consciousness): Jupiter

Ahamkara (ego): Sun

Buddhi (intelligence): Mercury

Manas (mind): Moon & Venus

 

Moon controls feeling and experiencing. Venus controls the

organization of impressions. Jupiter gives awareness of reality

and our axioms that come from Jeevatma. Mercury controls logical

analysis and doubting and comparing impressions. Jupiter forms an

input to the Mercurian process of logical analysis, along with

Venus (see what Gauranga wrote above regarding inputs into buddhi

and note the correspondence).

 

These are just my views.

 

* * *

 

Going back to Mercury vs Mars ruling logic, I am totally

unconvinced that Mars should get logic. Tarka sastra (logic) is

clearly ruled by Mercury. Just because nyaya among shad-darsanas

is given to Mars and mimamsa is given to Mercury, it doesn't mean

Mars rules logic. Nyaya is just *one* application of logic.

Please re-consider my example of " engineering : mathematics ::

nyaya : tarka (logic) " . Just as engineering is an application of

mathematics, nyaya is an application of logic. Mercury rules

logic. Depending on the influences on Mercury, one's logical

faculties will be good or bad.

 

Also I don't agree that Mars necessarily implies bad logic. Mars

is a fiery and aggressive planet and Martian influence on Mercury

denotes an ability to conduct logical analysis very quickly. If

Mars and Mercury are favorable, it can denote one with sharp

intellect. Bad Mars afflicting Mercury denotes rash and poor

logic, as in Sanjay's example " a cat has 4 legs and a dog has 4

legs. Therefore cat=dog " . Mars doesn't *always* denote such

logic.

 

* * *

 

I am quoting the examples I recently gave of Naiyayika and

Mimamsaka (Martian and Mercurian) persons.

-------------------

People were recently discussing the issue: " Should Jyotish be

kept pure " ? If you

pose this question to a naiyaayika (nyaya expert) and a mimamsaka

(mimamsa

expert), you will probably get the following answers:

 

(1) Naiyayika:

 

Because we cannot prove either way, we will make the following

hypothesis -

" Parasara found his theories via practical research " . Thus what

he taught is not

the final truth. If our practical research finds better

principles, we should

certainly refine his teachings. It will benefit Jyotish.

 

OR

 

Because we cannot prove either way, we will make the following

hypothesis -

" Parasara taught revealed knowledge " . Because it is revealed

knowledge, it

cannot be improved upon. So we should not mess with it.

 

(2) Mimamsaka:

 

We don't know if Parasara found his theories via practical

research or whether

it was revealed knowledge. If he was a scientist doing practical

research, we

should certainly try to refine his teachings. But it is possible

that he was a

great maharshi who could interact with gods. What if it was

knowledge revealed

by gods to him, as suggested in his book? In that case, we should

not mess with

it.

 

As a matter of fact, even if it was revealed knowledge, there is

a chance that

what is in texts available today is not exactly what was revealed

to him. There

may be a lot of corruption. So we should try to refine it.

 

It is also possible that experts in some branches of Vedic

knowledge went to

West during Parasara's time and kept it alive there, while those

branches got

lost in India. So some Western astrological principles not found

in Vedic

astrology of today could in fact be taught by Parasara. We should

not dismiss

them without consideration. However, by accepting everything, we

will only

corrupt Jyotish. So we have to be careful.

-------------------

 

May Jupiter's light shine on us,

Narasimha