The Lotus Effect

In the vast Sanskrit literature one finds this maxim " utpala-shata-patra-vyatibhéda-vat" which translates to " "Like the simultaneous piercing of a bundle of hundred lotus-leaves." Lotus leaves are very soft. Hence a stack of hundred such leaves can be pierced with a sharp needle in no time, almost instantaneously, and yet the actual process is linear or one leaf at a time.

A complete description as to why or how the maxim came into existence requires an inordinate amount of time, so much so that Kaala Bhairava, the embodiment of time, alone can determine and grant. For all practical purposes it means less than a "truti" which could be anywhere from a millionth to a billionth of a second.

Shlokavārtika says, "You say the example of lamp and light as an instance of simultaneity of cause and effect, but still there is a finite little time, just like piercing hundred lotus leaves." So we can surmise there was knowledge that light has a finite speed, just as it was known that sunlight takes about 8 minutes to reach the Earth.

For comparison sake in modern computers, including smart phones, the smallest time unit is called the "clock speed" which measures the number of cycles the Central Processing Unit (CPU) executes per second, measured in GHz (gigahertz) which translates to a billionth of a second.

If you thought science beat the rishis, what if the rishi tells us the stack of leaves can be of any size? Then the smallest time to pierce is based on the method used, which ranges from a needle to a laser beam. Applying quantum tunneling, this simple thought experiment becomes intractable or mind boggling.

On the macro scale, buddhists thought completely swapping two stacks of rings around two poles, using a third pole, by transferring one ring per day means the end of time. Our rishis went beyond with larger scales of time comprising yuga, mahayuga, kalpa, brahma kaala, etc.

What about the physics lesson time is relative? The physicists subscribing to the relativity theory inspired a hollywood movie called Interstellar where they used the axiom that clocks slow down near massive objects such as black holes due to gravity. Some physicists took atomic clocks atop the tallest building then, Burg Khalifa, and concluded that clocks slowed down. Did our rishis miss this fundamental aspect? Not really. Because they were talking about time whereas the physicists are talking about clocks, both biological and physics, that are subject to quantum effects.

Of much interest to everyone: "How long will I live?" or "When will XYZ pass away?". The rishis wrestled with these never-wracking questions and incorporated them in treatises that comprised siddhanta, jyotish and samhita. Most people think the aayush calculated by vedic astrologers, say using Parasara Sutras, variously called Pinda, Amsa, Nisarga, etc. is the answer to the perplexing questions where sampurna aayush means a 120 year long life span. For illustration, the oldest human, a French woman called Jeanne Louise Calment, lived to be 122 years. So Sage Parasara who made his Sutras 5000 years ago remains credible.

A more common time related question in democracies is "How long before the ruling party collapses prematurely?" For this there are Tarot Readers, Oracles, Palmists, etc. as jyotish pertained to Kingdoms where the ruling party was an individual that could be the king, queen, prince, etc. So bobbing heads on TVs during elections claiming to be jyotish are, in a sense, doing a disservice to their audience.

Therefore, the rishis like Parasara, Jaimini and Aryabhatta based their predictions on calculations made out of observation. Did they use telescopes? One vedic scholar found evidence in a Hampi temple built before Kepler (circa 1500 AD) in the form of stone carvings showing rishis peering through "tubular" objects. Many a time our rishis predicting that there are other Suns associated with various lokas and earth has a third degree of motion, besides rotation and revolution, in the form of axis tilt, had a darshan of the terrestrial and celestial worlds in tapas. Hence they are collectively called "drashtas" in vedas.

I find no need to mock the frailty of astronomy in predicting anything credibly, even with the help of the powerful Jame Webb Telescope orbiting the earth because they dish out excellent photographs of what's happening in the universe via NASA website. There are also the "influencers" in various social media platforms who monetize such fodder, not to mention the main-stream-media tooting their horns.

In all humility, as I see scientists are trying very hard to disprove vedas which have only 7-12 extant branches left on the last count, down from 1132 during Sage Vyasa's time, possibly because of invasions on Bharat,, and many more branches that missed the Sage's edits. In sum, during Bharat's indentured period the invaders usurped the vedic knowledge and claimed it as their own by touting the observe-theorize-predict-experiment paradigm without due credit to vedas that did all the work.

Regards

Geometry of AI

When we look at Sree Chakra, without its religious symbolism, our initial impression is "rich!" which is the meaning of Sree. Within it there are triangles or two-dimensional projections of pyramids, such as the wonders of the world that are believed to be gateways to the nether world for the rich who can afford. The Chakra in Sanskrit means a "wheel" that connotes circular motion or cyclical nature of the world.

Economists, meteorologists, astrologers, statisticians et al. predict many future events based on the cycles of market indexes, weather conditions, planetary orbits, and so on. A favorable planetary transit, for instance in Hora Astrology, is indicated by a sine curve with increasing amplitude on the positive side of the horizontal axis. Whereas the same sine curve trending below the horizontal axis is considered as misfortune. The famous bell curve that segregates highly intelligent people from the rest in any given environment is a snapshot of a much larger cyclical pattern.

The geometric shapes of hindu temples have been depicted in the agama sastra. Applied to domestic conditions the same is vaastu. The idea of concentric circles has been around for ages in all cultures but recursion is its relatively new vintage that is demonstrated in the Mandelbrot fractal geometry that leads one to believe god exists in symmetry such as Artha-naareswara in a macroscale and pairs of opposite charges or spin in the subatomic scale. The endless universes traversed in Leelopakhyana of Vasishta Yoga in Ramayana could be the symmetry associated with Russian dolls or the familiar paper weights made of glass depicting snow fall on a house with a similar paper weight that could be an endless recursion. Come to that the snow flake itself is made of repetitive hexagonal patterns.

How about the current buzz in the town AI? First off, the perspicuous market watchers announced the AI companies are trading in a circular fashion feeding into each other from investment into production and back to investment. This is unlike the last century's brilliant tax incentive given to American companies that invest into their own R&D so that the time it takes to train competent people who can earn patents be compensated adequately. AI is anything but. Websites and authors clinging on to copyrights are held up high and dry by the heartless web crawlers and scrapers. The expected digital dividend never came through. In his book Metamagical Themas the author Hofstadter showed a picture of snakes swallowing tails in endless fashion which is AI as of now.

To understand this, one has to explore human nature called lobha. It is one of the arishadvargas which are: kama, krodha, mada, matsara, lobha and moha. As children we have seen adults play a game called "bracket" with their hard-earned money in the hope that a phone message from the "headquarters" would pick them to avail themselves of loans in preference over others. A member requiring an immediate surgery would be overlooked if his neighbor trying to add an extra room to his house was picked. It later morphed into "chit funds" which were regulated by the government much like banks.

In the American context extreme lobha was demonstrated by Bernie Madoff's ponzi scheme. The dedicated wiki page defines the Ponzi schemes as: "fraudulent investment operations that pay out returns to investors from money paid in by subsequent investors rather than from any actual profit earned from the operation of a business". Pyramid schemes are a variation where "a business structure that pays more for recruiting new members or distributors than it does for selling actual product. Each of these new members usually pay an entrance fee, which is used to pay the people above them." A prominent example with many NRI's involved is Amway.

The list goes on with more sophisticated hawala, money laundering, insider trading, etc. We humans have perfected these so much so that it will be a miracle if AI can figure out the symmetry, specifically geometry in them. So far AI is at best hierarchical like a tree. The chain of reasoning is transferred down all the way from one's terminal to the datacenter and the response is moved up to the top. Chances are if you ask an AI what its geometrical shape is, it wouldn't know.

So to all those calling AI a bubble, one has to say they are like fish unaware of bait and switch. Once humanity is sufficiently addicted to AI, there will be hue and cry about "cartels" dispersing modicums at a speed and rate the internet allows while NIMBY people put up with data centers in their backyards.

Thus, what goes around, comes around is not only just a fancy toy but also a slap on the AI's cheek for not learning or understanding the geometric patterns given down to us from the cosmos starting with Om, Hindu Swastika, Sree Chakra, Chinmudra, Abhayahasta, Devanagari....

Regards

The tattva of Lord Siva as seen through my occult eyes

If you have to defend a lawyer married to a law firm, better start with a resignation. If it sounds silly, so is the soap opera about the Vice President (VP) of the USA who has been subject to a range of accusations from flirting with a widow in public to proselytizing the Second Lady whose roots happen to be from the same town I live in. I don't see nosy reporters or neighbors but have a feeling that as a spouse, mother and a lawyer she knows her rights better than any Juris Doctorate.

I however want to mention a few things from our scripture as seen through my occult glasses. It's quite simple if you can answer: Did Sati Devi marry Lord Siva for his good looks or tattva? It is well known that Lord Siva's tattva in few words is: "not to leave the last child behind". When Bharat was inundated with Vedic chants around the blazing fires of yagnas, who had time for the sanyasis, sadhus, digambaras, and handlers of crematoriums? Yagnas employed various priests, viz. rutvik, adhvaryu, udgata, brahma, hota, etc. Each of them had several assistants to sing, pour ghee into the holy fire, keep the fire from spreading outside the yagna platform, etc. There were others like somayaji where soma means the elixir extracted from a soma plant for the edification of gods led by Indra who was called a Subrahmanya because originally Subrahmanya meant the protector of holy vedas.

The Yagna-Economy flourished with the top of the varna system enjoying the benefits from their holy actions resulting in timely rains, bountiful harvest and overall prosperity. Then came the nagging feeling that all is not as rosy and peachy with those unemployed because vedas were not their cup of tea. A ganapaati might be a great title to possess with thousands of hours of practice reciting vedas, but it won't suit those who want to explore nature, swim in the oceans, gaze at the stars, and so on. Then there are social misfits who steal, pillage, plunder, etc. under intoxication and don't want to do an honest day's work. Some of them could actually be spreading the loot among the deserving poor.

Thus, the vedic period under the leadership of Prajapati had all of the key facets of modern agrarian economy and the concomitant problems. Therefore, it was Lord Siva who provided the last resort for the non-vedics who need someone to take them under the bosom when their atma leaves the mortal realm. There were at least two ways Lord Siva could rescue their souls: one way is to make them join his ganas or security force that protects the righteous and weak; the other way is to make them renounce everything and meditate on the Brahman. The latter are the aforementioned sanyasis, sadhus, digambaras, etc.

Coming back to the previous question, it is obvious to me that Sati Devi understood the tattva behind Lord Siva and considered him on par with or may be more than any vedic god whom her father Daksha Prajapati disapproved of. So in the swayamvaram, even though Lord Siva was not invited by Daksha, she showed her true love by laying the garland on Lord Siva's statue.

I surmise the VP has a similar tattva which is called MAGA or whatever the latest sound-byte is. He wants to change the course of the US loaded with a huge external debt, unregulated border crossings, and unbridled substance abuse to mention a few. His marriage to a telugu brahmin and the resulting progeny, though not exactly MAGA's cover page, provide the guiding star about the multi-polar world we are entering into. The discourse on the Second Lady in social media and elsewhere using epithets like "jeet" (that originated from the slang expression "Did you eat?") could do better.

A couple of closing remarks on "jeet" which means "to win" in Hindi. We have names like "Satrujeet" (conqueror of enemies), "Abhijeet", etc. So why does a Dravidian cohort think "jeet" is offensive? I think it is all posturing, a big-brotherly protective embrace, and the inherent disdain for the Indian national language.

Regards

Is it fair to ask which one of your parents you love most?

Yoga Vasihtyam of Ramayana is a paraphrasing by Maharshi Valmiki of Sage Vasishtya's wisdom. It weaves deep philosophies of the yore with stories and biographies of the Sage's acquaintances. While the stories are mostly about people like Janaka (not Sita's father), Prahlada et al., interestingly there is an exception when the Sage narrates his meeting with Bhushundi who is neither a human nor an animal we know. So the biography of Bhushundi stands out as a metaphor to us just as Vishnu Sarma's Panchatantra allegories.

Bhushundi is born of a crow called Chanda who is a vahana (vehicle) for a goddess in the servitude of Lord Siva called Alambusha. There is no need to confuse with the phrase Chanda-Sasana which means a draconian law or rule passed by Chanda. Nor kusala-chanda and damma-chanda in Budhism which apply to the desire to act. Bushundi's mother is a swan which is a vahana of Goddess Saraswati. Needless to say Bhushund's birth was meant to make history as there was none like him in the netherworld. In the American context, one can loosely translate to offspring from an inter-racial marriage.

Most of all Bhushundi could talk like a human and handle enormous information stored in his memory. Sage Vasishtya meets him atop Vindya mountain in a secluded area under a tree with golden leaves. Bhushundi tells the Sage how he managed to survive devolutions of the worlds at the end of dozens of Kalpas withstanding the powerful elements like fire, wind, etc. He says not just Lord Brahma, even Lords Vishnu and Siva also created the universe in various kalpas. The significance of this needs to be elaborated in the modern context.

When we boot our computers or smartphones there is what is called an operating system (OS) between us and the hardware. It is called by various names like Windows, Android, IOS, etc. It is both real and unreal because it has no physical existence except when its makers want to tweak it and give a newer version supposedly for better man-machine interface. These are what are called software updates that get installed on our machines and phones using internet or wireless connections in the background unbeknownst. The creator, similarly, creates a new Kalpa by tweaking the earlier one presumptuously to make the jivas' lives more happier than sorrowful. If we are lucky enough, our prior karma gets wiped out just as those of Lords Vishnu, Siva and Brahma.

Coming to Bhushundi, he was a master yogi who could do Pranayama (breathing exercises by modulating Pana or inhalation and Apana or exhalation with Rechaka, Kumbhaka, etc.). So the Sage diligently passes on the information to us for longevity and healthfulness. Bushunda, essentially lonely and hopeless without a mate or offspring, thinks the creator gave him a unique birth to serve a higher purpose and wants to fulfill it.

A surprising twist to the story is Bhushundi claims that he met the Sage several times before in each prior Kalpas sharing his story to be told in the Valmiki's Ramayana. He also enlightens the Sage that Lord Rama descended on earth several times in his long life. In other words, like the saying history repeats, some aspects of creation just repeat for no apparent reason presumably for the sake of beings like Bhushundi who were sidelined and serve as mascots of the creator's greatness in tweaking only the minor aspects of the creation keeping the prejudices or biases the same. Call it an old wine in a new bottle or an OS with the same bells and whistles with nuanced colors.

A deeper message is that a highly revered swan or called "hamsa" in Sanskrit, a la the modern day Sage Ramakrishna Parama Hamsa, and an ordinary crow feeding on refuge can generate offspring who are not just participants in making new history but witnesses of the world and most dear to the creator. For how else can the creator meld and weld the genetic codes that seem to come from a random mixing of species in a rave party (that's where Bushunda's parents got intoxicated as narrated by the Sage) and Darwin's theories of survival of the fittest just scratch the surface? As Frost said "Miles to Go" before the societies like America, divided along racial and color lines, have the forbearance to read and analyze the story of Bhushundi.

Regards

Wendy Doniger Rig Veda on Death - V

Table Of Contents

CREATION
CREATION - II
Death
Death - 2
Death - 3
Death - 4

సృష్టి
సృష్టి -- II
మృత్యువు
మృత్యువు -2
మృత్యువు -3
మృత్యువు -4

10.154   Funeral Hymn

10.154   చరమ గీతము

The hymn begins with a distinction between levels of spiritual attainment and then asks that the dead man be sent to live among those who are distinguished in one way or another.

ఈ ఋక్కు ఆధ్యాత్మిక పథములో ఉన్నవారాలలోని తారతమ్యాల గురించి వివరిస్తుంది. మృతుని ఉత్తమ పురుషుల వద్దకు పంపమని ప్రార్థిస్తుంది.

1 For some, the Soma is purified; others sit down for butter.¹ Those for whom honey flows² – let the dead man go away straight to them.

1. కొంత మందికి సోమ రసము శుద్ధి చేయబడుతుంది. మరికొందరికై నెయ్య ¹ చేయబడుతుంది. ఇంకొందరికి తేనె ప్రవాహము ² కలుగజేయబడుతుంది. అట్టి వారల వద్దకు మృతుని పంపమని ప్రార్థిస్తున్నాము.

2 Those who became invincible through sacred heat,³ who went to the sun through sacred heat, who made sacred heat their glory – let him go away straight to them.

3. ఎవరైతే తీవ్రమైన ఉష్ణోగ్రతను ³ అధిగమించేరో, సూర్యుని తీవ్రతని సహించేరో, తీవ్రమైన వేడి తమ పరమావధిగా భావించేరో, అట్టి వారల వద్దకు మృతుని పంపమని ప్రార్థిస్తున్నాము.

3 Those who fight in battles as heroes, who sacrifice their bodies, or those who give thousands to the priests – let him go away straight to them.

3. ఎవరైతే వీరోచితంగా యుద్ధాలలో పోరాడేరో, తమ శరీరాలను ఆహుతి చేసుకొన్నారో, లేదా పురోహితులకు సమృద్ధిగా దక్షిణలు ఇచ్చేరో, మృతుని వారి వద్దకు పంపమని ప్రార్థిస్తున్నాము.

4 Those who first nursed Order, who had Order and made Order grow great, the fathers full of sacred heat, O Yama – let him go away straight to them.

4.యమ ధర్మరాజా, ఎవరైతే క్రమ పద్దతిని సంరక్షించేరో, తమలో క్రమాన్ని పాటించేరో, క్రమాన్ని ఉన్నతమైనదిగా చేసేరో, అట్టి పవిత్రమైన తాపము గల పితృదేవతల వద్దకు మృతుని చేర్చు.

5 Those inspired poets who know a thousand ways, who protect the sun, the seers full of sacred heat, O Yama -let him go away to those who are reborn through sacred heat.

5. ఉత్సాహవంతులు, వివిధములైన పద్దతులు తెలిసిని కవులు, సూర్యుని సంరక్షించేవారు, పవిత్రమైన దేహోష్ణము గలిగి, తద్వారా పునర్జన్మ పొందేవారల వద్దకు మృతుని పంపమని ప్రార్థిస్తున్నాము.

NOTES

వివరణ

1. A distinction between the foods of the gods and the dead fathers. Cf. 10.14.3. and 10.135.1. Though both groups eat both foods, Soma is ambrosia for the gods, while butter is human food for the semi-divine fathers.

1.దేవతలు ఆరగించే ఆహారము, మరణించిన పితరులు గ్రహించే ఆహారము మధ్య తేడా సూచింపబడినది (10.14.3, 10.135.1). ఇరువురూ రెండు రకాల ఆహారము భుజించిననూ, సోమ రసము దేవతలకు, నెయ్య మొదట మానవులు, అటు పిదప పితృదేవతలైన వారలకై సూచింపబడినది.

2. As honey (Soma) is better than butter, the dead man hopes to go to the gods.

2. తేనె (సోమ రసము) నెయ్యకన్నా ఉత్తమమైనది కావున మృతుడు దేవతల వద్దకు చేరవలెనని ఆశిస్తాడు.

3. Tapas, the heat generated by religious activity. Cf. 10.190.

3. తపస్సు అనగా తాపము కలిగించే క్రియ సూచింపబడినది. (10.190).

Atheism in Yoga Vasishtyam?

Sage Vasishta in Book 5, Chapter 13, Verse 9-10:

They who place their reliance upon faith in gods and depend upon them to fulfill their desires and future rewards are perverted in their understanding and cannot be heirs to immortality.

He is saved from misery in this ocean of the world by reliance on his own reasoning and resignation, and by his spiritual vision of the Supreme Spirit.

The above verses clearly are advocating atheism. Assuming these are translations from Sanskrit, we can blame it on the author. The larger point most people miss is Sanskrit is prone to serious misunderstandings with its complex grammar. I am not a scholar, but let's say in the last century when messages called telegrams were sent with Morse code, we received a message "Sita vets Rama". On the first glance it is clear to us the verb "vet" doesn't apply here as neither of them is a veteran nor a veterinarian. How about "wet"? Plausible but there is no need for urgency in communicating an ordinary occurrence. So we think "weds" is the proper meaning of the message with some degree of probability.

Applied to our scripture, many Sanskrit verses are like Morse code messages. The founder of an online Applied Vedic Sciences university claimed millions of interpretations for a single vedic verse. Even befuddled Sanskrit scholars while reading vedas, use a guide-book called Niruktam written by Sayana Maharshi, for arriving at proper interpretation. So a case can be made that there is no atheism in Yoga Vasishtyam in particular. So what is the correct interpretation?

Lord Krishna said in Bhagavad Gita many times that he is not a demi-god but won't condemn demi-god worship (verses at the end) or vedic rituals. Notice the difference between Lord Rama, to whom Sage Vasishta was teaching in the above verses eons ago, and Krishna who was addressing Arjuna in MahaBharata. It is possible that there were no demi-gods like Indra, Varuna, etc. in Treta yuga when Ramayana took place millions of years ago. Nor even vedas that are as young as 5000 years (though smriti could be much older) and came into existence with Sage Vyasa's compilation.

Now a few words about the economy of gods. Lord Krishna basically said "You worship any demi-god you want but I am the one granting you the karma phala". Let's say you spend a hundred rupees to travel to Tirupati mainly as a pleasure trip and to visit Lord Venkateswara's temple in Tirumala. On the way you visit Kanipakam Vighneswara, Kalahasti Isvara, etc. If you think each of the deities grants you hundred rupees, then an economist would say "Since you increased the velocity of money you deserve a larger return, but can't tell you how much". Lord Krishna, on the other hand, might have contracts with each of the deities thereby granting you a pre-destined result that is net positive in your account.

All this temple business makes an atheist leap up and say "See I told you this is a racket and exists only to make money by the temple trustees, purohits and management". I think Sage Vasishta would agree and Lord Krishna would claim even an atheist following "swadharma" comes under his patronage.

(Srimad Bhagavad-gita: 10.2) “I alone am the origin of all those celestial beings (demigods) and sages.”

(Srimad Bhagavad-gita: 3.10-11) “In the beginning (of creation), (by My arrangement) Lord Brahma manifested the progeny of the world, along with sacrifices. He instructed them thus: ‘Take shelter of this religious principle of sacrifice (yajna); prosper and flourish. May such sacrifice be the granter of all the things you desire. Satisfy the demigods by sacrifices, and may they satisfy you by bestowing upon you your desired ends. In this way, by mutually satisfying one another, you will be the gainers of great auspiciousness.’”

(Srimad Bhagavad-gita: 3.12-13) “Satisfied by sacrifices, the demigods (My worldly representatives, the limbs of My universal form) will bestow upon you the ends you desire to enjoy. One who (selfishly) enjoys what is granted by the demigods without making (corresponding) offerings to them, is a thief. Virtuous persons are liberated from all sins arising from exploitation of other living entities by subsisting (solely) upon the remnants of sacrifices (that they make to the demigods). Yet those who prepare food (partake of the fruits of their actions) for their own selfish pleasure (alone) partake only of sin.”

(Srimad Bhagavad-gita: 7.21) “I (as the Supersoul dwelling within their heart) make firm the faith of any devotee who desires to faithfully worship any of the demigods (as all demigods are forms of Myself).”

(Srimad Bhagavad-gita: 7.22) “Being endowed with firm faith (by My grace), such devotees worship the demigods (of their choice) and obtain all their desired ends (from those demigods) by My arrangement (as I am also situated as the Supersoul within the hearts of the demigods).”

(Srimad Bhagavad-gita: 7.23) “Those who devote themselves to the demigods have only meagre intelligence and obtain (only) fruits that are temporary (invariably subject to destruction). The worshippers of the demigods go the (abode of) the demigods, but My devotees come to Me (My supra-mundane abode).”

(Srimad Bhagavad-gita: 7.20) “Persons whose conscience (jnanah) is stolen away (hrita) by material desires (kama) worship various demigods (gods other than Myself) and follow the particular rules and regulations (niyamas) of worship which correspond to the ends they desire, being governed by their own (conditioned) natures (prakriti).”

(Srimad Bhagavad-gita: 4.12) “In the human world, persons who desire the fruits of their actions worship the various demigods (by making sacrifices unto them). (This is because) within the human world fruits produced by actions (such as enjoyment, entrance into heaven and so forth) materialize very quickly.”

(Srimad Bhagavad-gita: 9.25) “The worshipers of the demigods go to (the planet of) the demigods, the worshipers of the ancestors go to (the planet of) the ancestors, the worshipers of ghosts go to (the plane of) the ghosts and those who worship Me come to Me (My supra-mundane abode)”

(Srimad Bhagavad-gita: 9.20) “Persons who perform sacrifices described in the three Vedas (the Rig, Sama and Yajur Vedas) worship Me (in My forms as the various demigods). They drink soma after completing their sacrifices, become purified of sin and pray to ascend to the heavenly planets (the abodes of the demigods—svarga-loka). As a result of their piety, they reach the abode of Indra and the other demigods (surendra-loka) and enjoy all the wonderful pleasures of the demigods in heaven (divya deva-bhoga).”

(Srimad Bhagavad-gita: 9.21) “After enjoying the vast heavenly plane (svarga-loka), upon the exhaustion of their pious merits (punya) they return to the human plane (the mortal world—martya-loka) In this way, persons desiring material enjoyment who follow the Vedic rituals for demigod worship (simply) come and go—they achieve nothing more than continuing to revolve through the cycle of birth and death in this material world”

Regards

Did Sage Parasara discover celestial patterns or command celestials to follow his sutras?

Did Sage Parasara discover celestial patterns or command celestials to follow his sutras?

Astrology is a vast subject that requires no introduction. Marriages, thread ceremonies (upanayana), projects, etc. are carried out by the believers based on astrology. Though astrology applies to all castes, cultures and races, jyotish is mainly for hindus in particular and Indians in general, where some believe it has vedic origins. That is like limiting the origin of jyotish to the time period of vedas. But creation is older than that. Hence, stars and planets could already be in existence when Sage Parasara codified jyotish, since he was the father of Veda Vyasa whose birth took place 5000 years ago.

On the other hand, Sage Parasara was the earliest human to command the respect of celestials who fell into his expectations to deliver karma phala (fruit of karma) to humans. Before him, the celestials could have just existed as dhooma (dust cloud) which eventually coalesced into the stars and planets as we have come to know.

We can for now set aside the seed first or tree first question and proceed to understanding jyotish. After Sage Parasara came Sage Jaimini (0-250 BCE). He gave to mankind Jaimini Sutras or Upadesa Sutras consisting of 936 sutras or concise expressions, divided into four chapters. The guruparampara can be traced to modern times. Luminaries like Santhanam, Raman, et al. brought us in print and discourse the various sutras collated over centuries.

An important aspect of jyotish is karma phala. According to Brihat Parasara, celestials exist to disperse karma phala. For example, a soul is born into a royal family when the jyotish of the King, Queen and the native (the soul in question) match as per the sutras of Sage Parasara. This raises the question, how do celestials determine the exact time of birth among other things like latitude, longitude, etc. The Brihat Parasara says it is based on the coitus muhurt which we think is random. However, the birth is not always a random event as our puranas testify. Aditya (Sun) was delivered much after the trimester by the will of parents. The modern day caesarean deliveries at the precise time and location are well known.

All births are not the same. A blind child is born to perfectly fit parents because of the karma of the child and the family it is born into. A child could die prematurely contributing to infant mortality (which Brihat Parasara delineates at length). A vaccinated child could also acquire the illness and perish if the celestials decide that the soul had exhausted its karma and could move on to the next stage of evolution on the karmic ladder. For example, it could ascend to heaven, while the bereaved parents remain on earth to experience prarabda karma.

Are the celestials only capable of granting karma phala? Many of our stotras say a goddess such as Lalita Devi is "karma phala dayinee" or the disperser of karma phala. How could that happen? Imagine a devotee of Lalita Devi offering astute prayers by waking up early, making ablutions and performing pooja every day. Over a period of time his karma phala vis-a-vis Lalita devi accrues and being a generous goddess she wants the devotee to gain a rupee. A planet like Sani might feel that is excessive, and take away 50 paise. Others like Venus might want to contribute 25 paise and so on. Eventually the devotee may get just 10% which is still a credit on the positive side for the effort he put in. If he had performed sahasra namas (1000 names) set to raga with complete understanding of chandas then he could be offered Rs.10 by the goddess. And 10% of it is bigger than 10 paise. It is to be noted that the planets while contributing or debiting the amount still follow Sage Parasara's sutras. That is, planet Ketu remains neutral if the Kundli or natal horoscope does not show a Ketu dasa or aspect at the time the devotee was rewarded by the goddess while Sani and Venus aspect or carry out the dasa at the time of goddesse's benevolence.

No discussion on jyotish is complete without remedies. A graha santi is the ritual to appease the planets to either accentuate the reward or mitigate the punishment. Some jyotish's recommend donating wealth or wearing gem stones of certain color both of which come as sharing one's wealth with the less fortunate (a gem stone could be mined in Africa, polished in Gujarat and set into jewelry in Andhra Pradesh, thus benefiting the whole supply chain).

Now coming to the seed or tree question, we all know Newton's laws provided the first known laws of nature including the celestials. Does it mean Newton created a law that celestials didn't follow? Hardly, as he was credited for discovering the laws of motion and gravitational effects. This is important for the scientists among us to know. Whereas, Sage Parasara set the celestials to motion in fixed orbits so that they can dispense good or bad to the humans under their influence based on their deeds in previous birth and current birth. One can say the ambit of Sage Parasara goes from macroscopic to microscopic by even influencing the ganas of Lord Siva who are believed to cause happiness and misery. So nothing is outside the ken of the Sage! Of course, the celestials follow his sutras diligently and those deities with free-will do so based on their own preferences.

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