Shravana

Shravana is the nakshatra which is ruled by Lord Vishnu, one of the three Supreme
Gods ruling the universe and accordingly Shravana becomes a very important
nakshatra as it is considered to be under the direct influence of Lord Vishnu. Out of 27
nakshatras, only three nakshatras are ruled by Tridevas starting with Rohini ruled by
Lord Brahma, Ardra ruled by Lord Shiva in his Rudra form and finally Shravana
ruled by Lord Vishnu and accordingly these three nakshatras have their own special
significances in Vedic astrology. Shravana is taken as the twenty second nakshatra
among the 27 nakshatras which are considered important in Vedic astrology for
making calculations from horoscopes. The literal translation of the word Shravana is
the Power to Hear or simply Hearing whereas an alternate meaning is also associated
with this word which translates into The Limping One and according to Vedic
astrology, both of these meanings have a lot to do in deciding the nature of this
nakshatra. Different Vedic astrologers relate this nakshatra with different symbols and
all of these symbols influence the working and nature of this nakshatra on some level.
Some Vedic astrologers take the main symbol of this nakshatra as a Sequence of three
uneven footsteps which according to these astrologers are the three steps taken by Lord
Vishnu or Narayana during one of his incarnations known as Vaaman Avatar and in
order to understand the influence of this symbol on Shravana we will need to go
through the story associated with the formation of these three uneven steps which were
taken by Lord Vishnu himself during his incarnation on earth as Vaaman Avatar.
In ancient times, there used to be a powerful demon king known
as Bali who had conquered the three lokas known as Prithvi, Swarg and Paatal lok,
with his power. Indra the ruler of heavens or Swarg lok went to Lord Vishnu along
with other gods and prayed to him to put Balis misdeeds to an end and get the Swarg
lok back to the gods. On request of the gods, Lord Vishnu incarnated on earth as a
Vaaman which in literal translation means a Dwarf and accordingly this Avatar of
Lord Vishnu is known as Vaaman Avatar in Indian mythology. Lord Vishnu took the
form of a short statured Brahmin and went to the place where demon king Bali was
performing a Yagya. Bali was known as a person true to his word and Lord Vishnu
decided to take advantage of this good quality of Bali. One of the rituals of the Yagyas
said that Bali should present offerings and donations to all the Brahmins attending the
Yagya and as the Yagya completed and Bali started asking the Brahmins about what
they wanted as donation, the Vaaman rose up and said that he also wanted something
for himself. Bali, amused at the fact that what can this short statured Brahmin possibly
want from him, asked him to go ahead with his wish and upon this the Vaaman said he
wanted all the land that he could measure with his three steps. Bali was astonished on
hearing this demand as he thought that the Vaaman cannot measure much land with
his three steps and accordingly he will not gain anything significant and so he asked
the Vaaman to reconsider his wish and ask for something else that suited the status of
Bali as a powerful king and which at the same time offered something of significant
value to the Vaaman. But when Vaaman refused to take anything else but the land
which he could measure with his three steps, king Bali gave his consent to fulfill the
seemingly strange wish of Vaaman.
Shukracharya, the preceptor of king Bali saw through the Maya or
trick of Lord Vishnu by virtue of his immense powers and he immediately warned king
Bali that he should not grant the wish of this Vaaman as granting his wish will mean
the end of the rule of Bali. Upon hearing this, king Bali told Shukracharya that even
though he may lose his kingdom and power by granting the wish of the Vaaman, but he
will still grant this wish as he had given his word to the Vaaman and he cannot back
out of his promise. After this he asked the Vaaman to measure the land with his three
footsteps. Hearing this, the Vaaman started growing in size and very soon he grew so
big that his head vanished in the skies and then he took his first step and measured
Earth as well as Paatal lok and in his second step he measured the Swarg lok or
heavens. After measuring all the three lokas, the Vaman said to king Bali that he has
already measured all the three lokas and everything that king Bali possessed, in his two
steps, so where should he put his third footstep. King Bali, who by now knew the trick
behind Vaamans demand, bowed himself humbly and said that it is a great honour for
him that Lord Vishnu has himself come to him and has asked for something and that he
should put his third footstep on his head as this was the only thing left in his possession.
The Vaaman put his third footstep on king Balis head and sent him down to the some
lower loka but at the same time Lord Vishnu was very happy with the devotion of Bali
towards his word and due to the fact that he was the one who donated three lokas to
the Lord who only knows to give and not to take. Therefore he granted Bali with a
special status and with his blessings and told him that he will always be closer to Lord
Vishnu and that he can call him anytime he is in need of something.
Through this story we can get an idea of cleverness of this
nakshatra by considering how Lord Vishnu disguised himself as someone who seemed to
be completely incapable of causing any kind of harm to anyone while in reality he
made king Bali lose all of his kingdom and power by means of a trick, though the whole
trick was played for a universal benefit. This cleverness and tricky nature of Lord
Vishnu is relayed through this nakshatra and accordingly the natives under the strong
influence of this nakshatra can be the cleverest among all the nakshatra types and
whether they will use their cleverness and the ability to trick others for a good or bad
purpose will depend upon the overall tone of the horoscope. Getting back to the topic,
some Vedic astrologers associate the symbol of an Ear with this nakshatra and this
symbol of Ear renders many characteristics to this nakshatra. An Ear represents the
power of hearing and accordingly the power of learning and preserving. It should be
noted that in ancient times, the knowledge was transferred by means of Oral teaching,
listening to it carefully and then preserving it in the mind. Therefore Shravana is
directly related to the ability to learn and preserve whatever it has learnt. Vedic
astrology assigns Lord Vishnu as the ruling deity of this nakshatra and much has
already been mentioned about the kind of influence Lord Vishnu imparts on this
nakshatra. The qualities of Lord Vishnu like cleverness, the ability to organize things in
a good manner, the ability to wait patiently for the right time to do something and the
ability to take right step at the right time are exhibited through this nakshatra which
make this nakshatra, one of the cleverest and best organized nakshatras. Vedic
astrology also assigns Goddess Saraswati as the ruling deity of this nakshatra and the
influence of Goddess Saraswati brings qualities like the ability to gain knowledge, great
listening power, great speech power and a good sense of music and other arts, to this
nakshatra.
Vedic astrology assigns Moon as the planetary ruler of this
nakshatra and the influence of Moon brings qualities like gentleness, receptiveness and
the ability to connect to masses and influence them, to this nakshatra. All four parts of
this nakshatra fall in the sign of Capricorn ruled by Saturn and the influence of Saturn
and Capricorn brings qualities like great organizational skills, connecting to masses
and influencing them, the ability to wait patiently to achieve the objectives and the
ability to put long, hard and sustained effort to achieve the objective, to this nakshatra
and accordingly the natives under the strong influence of this nakshatra are very good
at organizational skills and accordingly they can be seen practicing in fields which
require organizational skills. The natives under the influence of this nakshatra are
usually wise and clever and they use their wisdom for achieving success in their lives.
Shravana natives are usually very patient and persevering and they can keep on
working towards their goals until they achieve them but it should be kept in mind here
that Shravana natives are most of times wise enough to separate realistic goals from
unrealistic goals or hopes as is the case with Poorvashada natives. However it should
be noted that the natives under the strong negative influence of Shravana are likely to
use their cleverness and wisdom for selfish means instead of working for some universal
cause. Shravana is a very persevering nakshatra and the natives under the strong
influence of this nakshatra try their level best to reach their goals and objectives and
therefore such natives become very hard to handle, selfish and sometimes even
dangerous when their goals are selfish and immoral or illegal which happens due to
strong negative influence of this nakshatra in their horoscopes. Since Shravana natives
are masters of disguise like the Vaaman, it becomes very difficult to deal with them
when they choose to become criminals as most of the criminals under the influence of
this nakshatra are white collared and very shrewd criminals and they have the ability
to successfully run their illegal businesses for many years without getting caught or
without even getting recognized as criminals by the law of the country.
In a positive sense, the natives under the strong influence of this
nakshatra are very good at learning and gaining knowledge and then applying that
knowledge for the welfare of the people around them. Shravana natives are generally
very social in nature and they have good networking of friends who can be used in
various organizational activities by these natives in order to achieve bigger goals.
Shravana natives are very good at influencing and charming people and then using
them to get some kind of benefit from them. Vedic astrology assigns many kinds of
professional fields to this nakshatra and accordingly the natives under the influence of
this nakshatra can be seen practicing as teachers, preachers, students and other similar
kind of people dealing with some kind of education, people working in jobs which
require good organizational and management skills, actors, comedians, stage artists,
radio artists, TV artists and other people dealing in similar kind of fields, doctors,
counselors, psychiatrists, psychologists, advisors and other people dealing in similar
kinds of fields, singers, musicians, artists and many other kinds of people dealing in
many other kinds of professional fields. Natives under the strong negative influence of
this nakshatra can be seen practicing as smugglers, mafia people, drug paddlers and
other people dealing in drug business, money launderers and many other kinds of
people engaging in many other kinds of criminal activities.
Talking about some other facts associated with this nakshatra which
are considered important for making certain calculations like gun Milan for the
purpose of horoscope matching for marriage, Vedic astrology considers Shravana as a
male nakshatra and many vedic astrologers explain this gender classification of
Shravana on the basis of association of this nakshatra with Lord Vishnu who is
considered as a Male god in Indian Mythology. Shravana is considered as fixed in
nature and balanced in functioning and both of these classifications can be easily
understood from the functioning of this nakshatra. Vedic Jyotish assigns Shudra Varna
to this nakshatra and there is no convincing explanation available so far, for this
Varna classification of Shravana. Vedic astrology considers Shravana as Dev in Gan
and Rajasic in Gun. The Gan classification of Shravana is explained on the basis of the
fact that Lord Vishnu is the presiding god of this nakshatra and the Gun classification
is explained on the basis that the functioning of this nakshtra has a lot to do with
materialistic and worldly affairs. Jyotish assigns the element of air to this nakshatra.