My questions -- Faith & Belief

[Guest guest]

Namaste Sanjay and all Jyotishis,

 

Hari Om

 

As per Sanjay's request, I am posting my essay " Faith and

Belief, the Heart and the Head " on Varahamihira. I read it at a

conference on Language, Thought, Reality -- East-West Perspectives.

(This is an edited version, newer than the one Sanjay saw.)

 

My questions refer to the Jyotisha understanding of the chariot

metaphor found in the Katha Upanisad (please see essay: 2nd avenue,

pp. 6-7).

 

I get two different sets of graha correspondences and I do not

know how to understand this.

 

[1] soul (identity, soulic awareness, faith), " the

heart " Sun

& Moon (and ?)

[2] intellect, consciousness (buddhi & dhi),

" the head " Saturn & Jupiter

[3] surface mind (feelings, desires)

Venus

[4] senses

Mars

[5] body, surface memory

Mercury

[6] personal history, past &

future

?

 

[1] owner/passenger

Sun

& Moon (and ?)

[2] driver

Mars (fire) and Saturn (air)?

[3] reins

Venus (water)? or Saturn (air)?

[4] horses

Mars (fire)? or Venus (water)?

[5] chariot

Mercury (earth)

[6] landscape

Jupiter (akasa)

 

As you can see, my two lists are different, even though

according to the metaphor they should be matching. (Maybe both are

wrong.)

 

Here is [1] in more detail:

? sense of

identity (sat)

Sun soulic awareness,

core intransitive consciousness (cit)

Moon faith and state of

peacefulness (ananda)

 

And at a more surface level:

Mars purusa

represents the Sun

Venus

stri represents the

Moon

 

Re. [2] if I divide the grahas into solar and lunar as well as

according to two basic functions (covering or expanding vs piercing)

I get the following distribution:

 

dhi solar covering

or expanding Jupiter

solar piercing

Ketu

 

buddhi lunar piercing

Saturn

lunar covering or

expanding Rahu

 

 

How to understand all this?

 

Beatrice