47272020 ‘Opening Lecture - Veda Wasa Center
Opening Lecture Some / RAVINE cote / Gnd ERNE
Opening Lecture by Sanjay Rath
Pening by Saniay Find us on Facebook
The Sri Jagannath Center (SIC) is a traditional school of Vedic —=———
astrology that meets informally for the study of Vedic philosophy and
Jyotish. The Vyasa SIC is a collection of California SJC students.
The recordings of past classes are now available on the Veda Vyasa
Center site.
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Veda Wasa Center does
The opening lecture of Vyasa SIC California was taught by Paramguru Upcoming ever
Pandit Sanjay Rath of Puri Orissa. Listen or download the audio
recordings or read the transcription of the opening class here.
1 Intro to the Lineage
02 Hare Rama Krsna
03 Guna Introduction
04 Creation according to.
Parashara
05 Bhu Loka, Atma
06 Avatars
07 Matsya
08 Sukara, Brith,
Pranapada
09 Vamana
10 Parasurama
11 Ramakrsna
12 Kurma
13 Narasimha, Veda
Murtis
14 Buddha, Kalki
15 Four Paramatmamsa Avatars
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20 Dynamic Gunas
21 Guna and Varnada Lagna
22 Upaya
23 Mantra Shastra
Recorded and Edited by Eric Rosenbush
Transcription by Kathy Hansen (#01-13), and Sue Ann McKean (#16-22)
01 Introduction to the Lineage
So we come to the first Vyasa SIC class of the west coast. This was a
dream that one day we would start this class. | knew that if SIC has to
take off in the US in a proper way it has to be over here. Normally in
the SJCs around the world we name it after a Rishi. So the person who.
is to normally assure that the classes go on, one of my students, he is
given the choice of choosing the name of a Rishi that he likes very
much, and Freedom wanted that we started this Vyasa SIC.
The important thing about these classes, number one:
First, | will give a brief synopsis of what we are doing and why we are
doing it. And then we will discuss about why and how we should do it
before we go into the actual first class.
So, first, the classes are free, right Freedom? We will keep it that way.
Good. Let's be very clear on it. The classes are free. Nobody has to pay
anybody anything for coming to these classes. These classes basically
are meant to share knowledge. OK? Guru is anybody who is saying
something, shishya is anybody who is listening to the knowledge.
Some people do not like people walking in a row. Some people are
ahead of others, that's all. Guru is not God. Guru is not a diksha guru.
That means he is not somebody who is taking you toward spirituality.
He is not a spiritual master. Let’s be very clear on that. He has no right
to be a spiritual master. The Jyotish guru has no right to be a spiritual
master. | am very, very clear on that. It's free because if it is not free
the teacher will be very restricted in his teaching. That is the reason
why it used to be free in the tradition. It was always free. So that | can
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free that freedom will not be there. You lose out on the freedom. A
restriction comes up. That is the reason why the teaching try the
tradition was always kept free.
Now the reciprocation was in the form of dakshina so that the
students were then sure that the teacher never went without food. He
always had his basic needs fulfilled. There were some who were richer
and some who were poorer, they would give based on their means.
But in the modern world that doesn't happen. So, if we are going to
have a course in the future as we have planned, it is natural that some
students who will expect to take the course and who will take a
degree from the course or things like, Willa is working on that, will
probably pay for the course, right? But we will try to keep it as,
reasonable as possible. But that is a different area from these classes.
Just because you are coming for the classes it doesn't mean you have
to take the course. We have to be really clear on that also, it's purely
optional. | am hoping that this group can grow into a very nice
friendship circle on Jyotish. itis all about friendship, nobody is
anybody's superior, OK?
Now the tradition. The tradition traces itself back in Orissa to
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. It is said that the tradition lineage had some
hardships and things have gone down very much in Orissa after all
kinds of invasions and wars and all that we had. So Chaitanya
Mahaprabhu revived it. Now that is the first important statement: that
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has revived the tradition. Now when we say
that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has revived the tradition the question is
who gave him the authority to revive the tradition? Who is he who can
revive the tradition? For this the authority we get is from Brihat
Parasara Hora Shastra, the chapter on avatars which we will be doing
today.
And why did he revive it? How did he revive it? How did he go about it
is one issue. Anyway it came down through a disciple of his called
Achyuta. And this person's father, this person
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at the time of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu caste was not hard and fast. It
all depended upon what you were working, whatiyou were doingsSo
we will go into caste today also a little bit because we have to
understand gunas.
Guna is very important so today’s discussion is going to be about
unas also. These are the foundation of Jyotish. The tradition then
went on. Went on from student, teacher, and the tradition was
completely centered around the Konark Temple. Not the Jagannath
Temple. The main temple around which our tradition is centered is the
Konark Temple, the Sun Temple. Astrologers through ages have been
Sun worshippers. Whether it was the great Varahamira or it was the Ra
worshippers of Egypt, over centuries they have been the Sun
worshippers, all astrologers. And if you see the Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra
there also you get to know that if you wish to know the movement of
the planets and to know about the future of mankind you have to
meditate on the Sun. So undoubtedly they used to worship the Sun.
God Surya and from there they got the knowledge. So the tradition
was revolving around the temple.
Naturally the biggest blow to the tradition came when the Muslim
invasion came and they completely bombarded and broke the temple.
So naturally they completely devastated the temple. And then they
were going towards Puri to break the Puri temple but the astrologers
of the king's court of Puri were far smarter than the Mughal king. They
were far too intelligent, must have been my forefathers. He said it is
stupid to fight these bums; they are coming with cannons, you can't
fight them. You need brains to fight them; these people don't have
brains, you can be sure of it. So what they did was put lime on top of
the temple and when the Muslim invaders came, instead of running
with guns and swords toward them, the people welcomed them with
flowers, saying come in come in. They were shocked so they
they are giving up without a fight. So they said we want to break the
temple. They said “Why? It is made of lime, it will fall down anyway.”
They looked at it and went and poked it and things like that. They said
it is made of lime; they are fools to build this thing of lime. What kind
of fools are they? They left and went away. The temple stands today.
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So | had the pleasure this time, you know | used ta pray that de not
wish to die on this planet without seeing the Sun God. I wanted to see
him with my own eyes, to behold him with my own eyes, the statue
that must have been worshipped by my gurus, and gurus and the
whole tradition. And this time I was so fortunate that on my way while
in London we went to the British Museum and very beautifully the
entire statue of the Sun God is there in all its glory, well-maintained,
put in a glass cage.
Q. “Is it the original one?”
Sanjay: “Yes.”
When I looked at it, there were two conditions | told Sarbani. I will
look at it and I will know it will be from there. It will be black stone,
shining, so well-polished that some of the best machines today can't
‘so well polish it. And he will be wearing boots. The Sun God wore
boots, that means there was at that point of time a culture in which
people wore shoes in that country. And not only that the navagrahas
which were worshipped are also there beautifully kept in the British
Museum but not in the main room, it's in the upper room, they have
been kept in a separate thing, hidden away. If you can find it then go
and see; it is exquisite.
So replicas of that are now kept near Konark and the prayers and the
pujas continue in Orissa. What would the astrologers do? Someone
took it away. You can't do anything. You have to make your own little
duplicates and continue with that. So the tradition continues. The
thing is nobody could steal your knowledge. That is what | am going
to say. They broke the temple, they took home the statues, and carted
all kinds of collections. Almost you can't imagine what kind of statues.
In one temple in which almost every statue is there in the British
Museum. The first day | went there it was like a shock for me. And the
second day | went in there and then a thought came to me. Oh, God
has been kind, If it was not preserved by the British who knows which
Maharaja would have stolen it away, because today the maharajas
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knowledge cannot be stolen. That was the essence of what | was
trying to tell you of. Nobody can steal your knowledge. Nobody, |tais
Up to you to give it to whom you wish to give it. If the person who is
taking the knowledge, if his heart is not open for the knowledge, he
will not keep the knowledge, even if you wish to give it. So it is very
important to come for the learning with an open heart. The mind will
get energized by itself if your heart is open to the knowledge. That is.
why the entire effort of the tradition was to meditate on the heart
chakra. The meditation is on the heart chakra not on the mind chakra.
The real meditation is always on the heart chakra, because if the heart
is not open to something nothing is absorbed. So the question is how
to change your heart.
02 Hare Rama Krishna
Now we will start with a small mantra of the tradition. The tradition
always starts with a prayer to Vishnu, always with a prayer to Vishnu,
Suryanarayan Vishnu. Why Vishnu? We will come to that also into this
class. This is the dhyana of the Vishnu Sahasranam. Dhyana means
meditation. The dhyana or the meditation of Vishnu Sahasranam
which is supposed to bring sattva guna within us. What is sattva
guna? We will study that also today. OK, will you repeat this after me.
om Santakararh bhujagaSayanath pedmanabhath suresarh
-vigvidhararh gaganasadrSarh meghavarnarh Subbaiigam |
Jaksmikintarh kamalanayanath yogibhirdhyanagamyati
vande visnuri bhavabhayaharath sarvalokaikandtham ||
AUM shoantaakaaraM bhujagashayanaM padmanaabhaM sureshaM
vishvaadhaaraM gaganasadR “ishaM meghavarNaM shubhaaN*gam.h
lakshmiikaantaM kamalanayanaM yogibhirdhyaanagamyaM
vande vishhNuM bhavabhayaharaM sarvalokaikanaatham.h
And then three times you have to say Vishnu, Vishnu, Vishnu Like this.
Firstly on your book, on any book whose knowledge you want. Say
Vishnu. On your head where the guru sits. Vishnu. And then on the
heart chakra. Vishnu. This is very important. Any book. These three
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knowledge and then the guru and then the heart where the
knowledge must stay. The knowledge must ultimagely conteytqyour
soul. If it does not come to the soul level the knowledge is not yours.
It will go away after sometime. After ten years if you don't practice
you will forget it. Who knows the next birth you will not remember a
single word. If you want the knowledge to stay with you birth after
birth only one thing can insure that it is never destroyed and that is
sattva guna. And sattva guna comes from the name of Vishnu. So
that's the object from where you want the knowledge. That is your
guru pitha, that is the head where the guru sits. And then your heart
where your atma sits. Vishnu, Vishnu, Vishnu. The knowledge is yours.
This is an important part of the tradition.
OK? Now there is a mantra which we all do in the morning as soon as
we wake up. Many of you have started practicing it. This mantra is,
supposed to remove hatred from within you. Hatred is the biggest
stumbling block to learning. Hatred or aversion towards anything is
the biggest stumbling block. You can never learn anything so long as
you have anger and hatred within you. You must let go of this hatred,
you must forgive the anger, you must let is pass, so that your mind is
not dwelling all the time on other things which are wasting your life.
The mantra is a simple shadakshari or six akshara mantra. Six akshara
mantras are mantras which remove your own evils. Any six akshara
mantra, any six syllable mantra, will remove your own weaknesses,
will remove evils within you. They are meant to cleanse the sixth
house, which is your own shadripus, your own weaknesses. The
mantra is Hare Rama Krishna. Hare Rama Krishna. Now you can
understand the meaning of the mantra from the three words. Hare,
Rama and Krishna. Why Hare Rama Krishna? What is the meaning of
Hare? As the sound Hara refers to Shiva. That means it is auspicious.
Hara refers to the Self. That is me. The Self in its highest
manifestation is Shiva. We will come to that part one day when we
study Atmakaraka, because you are none other than Shiva himself.
Shivoham: | am Shiva. So Hara is me or Shiva at its highest
manifestation.
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your own mind. There are multiple teachers you have to learn from.
There are hundreds of teachers you have to Learnis@ many-things:
from. When you were kids you learned to go to the toilet because of
your mother. She's your first teacher. Do not disrespect her because
you would be disrespecting your teacher. Similarly when as a little
baby you take your first spiritual step it is the mother who is going to
guide you and it is that mother, the Divine Mother, just as in this
physical world you learn to use the toilet because of your mother, so
also will you learn to take your first step in the spiritual world through
your Divine Mother. That is called Hara.
And then Rama the guru. So guru can come in many ways. Some nice
sources to read about the guru is the Avadhuta Gita, the Srimad
Bhagavatam where Krishna explains the different types of gurus
When he was talking about the Avadhuta Brahmana. There are 24
kinds of gurus that he talks about. And then we talk of God. God is He
who attracts you. That's all. Akarshana. The word is akarshana or he to
whom you are attracted. If you are not attracted to Him or if you are
repelled by Him or Her or whatever object or anybody with knowledge
then that is not God for you. God is He who is protecting you. If He
cannot protect you then he is not God. So God can come in multiple
forms. He can be without form. It all depends upon his function. Based
upon his function we are trying to define Him. We say God is Shiva
Why? Because He is the strongest. He is the omnipotent, the strongest
one. God is Vishnu. Why? Because he is feeding you all the time. And
He's everywhere. He's in the tree, He's your God, He's my God, He's
everybody's God. Omnipresent. Omnipresence means Vishnu. The word
Vishnu means sarvavyapakeshwara. It is not a name it’s a word. It has
become a name when you label it on somebody. Any word becomes a
name when you label somebody with that name. So the word Vishnu
simply means sarvavyapakeswara. He who is everywhere. It simply
means that. It simply means God who is everywhere. Similarly Shiva
means auspicious. He who is auspicious is strong, so He is
omnipotent.
The word Brahma means he who has created everything. He who has
created everything knows everything about his creation. Let's say you
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about you. That is Brahma the all-knowing, omniscient. So Brahma is
not a God, it is a name of God, one of the namesjef God. We
differentiate God on the basis of our ignorance, our rajas, otherwise
they are different names. You call me Gurudey, somebody calls me
Guruji, somebody calls me Sanjay, somebody calls meKamu, somebody
calls me so many names. | am one and the same person. Similarly
there are so many names for God, and there are many different
manifestations of that which we like. Akarshana, that aspect of God
which we like. What | am only telling you is to broaden your minds. Do
not become narrow-minded. If you are narrow-minded you cannot
learn Jyotish. To learn Jyotish you must realize that people will be
born throughout this world in various different parts, with various
different languages, with various different cultures. If it is a science, if
it is a Vedic science, it must be universally applicable. It cannot only
apply to one group of people and not apply to another group of
people. It cannot be so. If Jyotish is a Vedic science, and we say it is a
Vedic science, it has to be universally applicable. Limited applicability
is not acceptable. So definitely we have to understand what is
attracting whom.
And hence the name Krishna. The name Krishna has come
from akarshana the power to attract. And what is attracting you is.
Krishna because he is attracting you. The way in which God attracts
you, you will feel so protected by Him. You will take shelter in Him.
That taking shelter, ashraya, taking shelter, is what we define as God.
And that definition of God is very personal. It is very different from
‘one human being to another. Even in an organization. In an
organization, let's say, like ISKON, somebody will say “I like Krishna”
and another person will say “! like Krishna.” Their definition of Krishna
even within the organization will be totally different because they are
different human beings. It all depends on what you are expecting from
Him. You see that? That's what they say in Vishnusahasranam. Vishnu
has a thousand names. Why? Because for a thousand people Vishnu is
in a thousand different names. That is the meaning of it. It is just that
what is attracting you. And this is what you need to find out. And how
do you find out? By saying Hare Rama Krishna. By saying Hare you get
to know about yourself. By saying Rama you get to know and
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purpose for which you came. If there is a purpose you will know the
purpose through Hare Rama Krishna. So with Hareiyou witl\haye sett
realization. Through Rama you will have knowledge from the guru.
And with Krishna you will know what is it that you came for, what is it
that attracts you. So Hare Rama Krishna will always guide you. It
removes hatred because from knowledge hatred will always go away.
When you have knowledge there is no place for hatred, Hatred and
knowledge cannot exist simultaneously. You hate something because
you do not know about it. The day you know about it then there is no
hatred left.
(To a student) You have spent a long time with Ammachi, right? You
see how much love she has got for everybody, how much affection she
has got. How much energy is required to even shake hands with
people, forget hugging thousands and thousands. Right? So unless
somebody has knowledge how can someone expel all hatred from
their heart? To love so, this is the greatest attribute of us. Do you see
that? So the knowledge has to be at that level, and when knowledge
is at such a high level then only can you call on Kali the remover of
ignorance, the giver of knowledge. Do you see my point?
So like that we have to understand what attracts us. And we have to
go toward what attracts us and then we will get the knowledge from
that. So the mantra is Hare Rama Krishna and we are required to
recite this mantra in the morning after waking up. By doing that, every
morning, day by day, over a period of time, we will evolve and change
and we become more calm. We lose hatred for everybody. We find time
to do good things for others. The world will become nice to us
because we are nice to the world. Or in other words, allowing the
world to be nice to us. We don't allow the world to be nice to us. So
Hare Rama Krishna is very important. You must recite it. Whether you
need a diksha for this mantra? No, you do not need any diksha for this
mantra, This is a prasiddha mantra, Prasiddha mantras are those
mantras for which you do not need a diksha. The mantra will fructify
at any time, by anybody who speaks it. The other prasiddha mantras
Om Vishnave Namah.” These are
are like “Om Namah Shivaya,
prasiddha; you do not need anybody to give you this mantra; of course
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is for your good. Nothing, none of the things I'm telling you are
mandatory. If you do it, it is very good for you. Otherwise youyilltake
more time. That is all; it is not that you will not learn. You will take
more time to learn because you will not open up the heart. If you do
not open up the heart to the knowledge, how will the knowledge
come into you? That is why some people are struggling for the
knowledge and some people like Mr. Freedom and Mr. Visti, what's his
age now? 23? Something like that. In three years, four years, he is
teaching Jyotish to almost half the astrologers in the world. How long
has Zoran been with me? Some of the best astrologers in America
cannot stand in front of him. Imagine so. What is the magic that
happened? Did | do some magic that all that knowledge came into his
head? What is it that made these people learn so quickly, in such a
short while, two years? How long have you been with me Sarbani for
Jyotish? Three years, right? And people want her to lecture and see
her knowledge of Jyotish. All| am telling you is open your heart. If you
don't open your heart year after year will pass by and you will be
struggling with those small little concepts because it is you who is
obstructing the knowledge. The obstruction is not from outside. Am |
being understood very clearly? Do not obstruct this learning. Why are
you stopping the learning? OK. So say Hare Rama Krishna. Hare Rama
Krishna. Thank you.
03 Guna Introduction
OK, so now we can take the next step. The Brihataranyaka Upanishad
that Upanishad is the best Upanishad to understand rebirth and
karma. OK? Brihataranyaka Upanishad. Aranyaka means the jungles.
When you sit in complete isolation and meditate upon why this rebirth
takes place, what is the purpose of the creation, you will understand
karma. So we all have our bond because of karmas even that with
karmas. We all take birth again because of the karmas that could not
be forgiven. That is daridra karma, Daridra karma is karma that is
sticking which does not leave your body, even after punishment. The
soul is not being forgiven for certain things and because of some of
your own desires also.
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for us to find out what are the karmas that cause birth. If you cannot
find that from a horoscope you do not know JyatisheThe day yourere
able to clearly tell why, for what karmas, a person has taken birth you
know something about Jyotish. So we are setting our first target. Our
first target is to learn why a person has taken birth. Then to find out
what experiences this soul must have in this birth. So that from those
experiences the anubhava shall cause knowledge.
There are different ways of learning. What are the ways to learn? You
must find out what are the ways to learn, OK? How do you find out
what are the ways to learn? Please read Nyaya Shastra. Nyaya tells us
how a person learns, how learning is done. Through experience,
through instruction. OK? So there are different ways to learn. So
please find out what are the ways that a soul can learn. And unless
you know the ways in which a person can learn, how can you make a
prediction about what experiences he's going to have? What is
marriage, what is relationship, what is going to school? This is
nothing but experience. Anubhava, ways of learning, So, you are
having all this because these are different schools that you are going
to. When you go to these different schools you are going to learn. The
soul is going to learn, from anubhava. And when the soul learns then
really he is forgiven his sin.
What is sin? Sin is that which is caused out of ignorance. Sin is that
which is caused out of desire. There are two kinds of sins. All sins can
be broken up into two groups. One that is caused out of ignorance and
one that is caused out of wrong desires. That which is caused out of
wrong desires is called rajo guna, as coming from rajo guna, rajas. And
that which is caused out of ignorance is from tamas. Sattva guna
cannot cause sin. Itis a sinless state. OK? So there are three gunas
The three gunas are, guna means attribute. The word guna, it means
attribute. So the soul has three attributes and these three attributes
are sattva, rajas and tamas. The soul must learn to transcend these
three gunas. This transcending the three gunas, is
called gunatita, Gunatita means transcending the three gunas. When
the soul transcends all the three gunas then will the soul get moksha.
Otherwise it does not get moksha. You have to be in the state that is
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gunas or three attributes of the soul. One is sattva, the sinless state.
So simply because you do not have any sin left that-does satinean
you will get moksha. You can tell God, look here is my sin balance.
Like my bank balance, my sin balance. Right? No debits left. My thing
is over, so | should get moksha. No, simply because you still have
sattva guna you will come back. You'll go to a higher plane of
consciousness because of sattva guna but you will come back to this
planet when you catch other gunas in that stage. Because so long as.
you exist you cannot escape karma Action is something you cannot
escape from. You're trapped in karma. So you are doing karma all the
time. You're constantly doing karma. There is karma happening around
you, even when you breathe that is karma. OK? So, you have to
transcend it. So study more about these things so that you understand
these things more clearly. But today we are here to discuss the three
gunas, sattva, rajas and tamas. For that we need to understand
creation in the first place, in very brief, very brief. There are different
concepts of creation. We are studying the creation as seen in the eyes
of Parashara.
04 Creation According to Parashara
So when we talk of our vision or our view of karma it is through the
gunas and when we talk of the gunas the entire creation is being seen
from Narayana, The entire body of God, if there is a body. We do not
know; at least | do not know. Who knows who will tell you, but | do
not know Him, or in whatever form God is. | do not know. So when we
talk of our vision or our view of karma, I'm being very honest with you
today, because | do not know. When | know perhaps then maybe | can
tell you. | do not know if Ill have words to tell you.
Whatever Narayana is, one-fourth (or a quarter) of the Narayana is
supposed to be the evolver. That which is evolving. What is evolving,
changing? That which is changing constantly. Only a quarter of It is
changing. The other three quarters of God, in whatever form God
exists, is not in the physical world. That three-quarters is of pure
amrita, or pure nectar. Amrita is that which cannot die, which cannot
be destroyed, which is indestructible. Amrita, he who does not die,
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very low creatures. It’s a very sad thing, What is taught to us is that we
are mentally very high creatures.
OK, when we talk of Narayana, the three-quarters of the 3 gunas, the
three-quarters which are pure amrita of which does not manifest is
the pure gunas, sattva, rajas and tamas and in these three gunas the
Lord differentiates Himself. His own Self, as three parts of His own
being. It’s like an atma, Take that this is an atma. Let us say, this flower
is an atma. It has got an inner portion and a petal portion and a green
portion, So there are three different portions of the same flower. This
is Narayana. If this flower | say is Narayana then this one-third of it is
sattva which | say is Vishnu, just a name. One third is you, or let us
say, Shiva and one-third is Brahma, rajas. So these three are one and
the same, there is no differentiation. At that level there is no
differentiation. The differentiation has to be done for us for our little
minds.
OK, and then the remaining one-fourth we then break into two parts.
The remaining one-fourth is evolving and we call that remaining one-
fourth Jagannath. Jagannath the Lord of the universe and what is the
universe? A universe is a manifestation of that evolution. The universe
is a manifestation of that entire evolution hence it is Jagannath. The
word is Jagannatha. You go to Banares and ask what is Shiva’s highest
name and they will say Jagannath. Shiva is Shiva. Shiva to Shiva
Jagannatham. The real name of Shiva is Jagannath, The real name of
Vishnu is Jagannath. The real name of Krishna is Jagannath. You see,
Jagannath, the Lord of the universe. He is the principle evolver
because the entire physical creation is coming from that and when the
time cycle changes it will again be destroyed. Again it will be created;
again it will be destroyed. So two things are happening: one is the
destruction of the physical world and one is the creation of the
physical world. So the physical world is like there is a vacuum over
here, let us say, and inside this vacuum the whole universe is coming,
‘expanding into it and then like a time clock it is going inside. Again
the day comes it comes out; again the night comes and the whole
universe is getting destroyed. So there are two parts to it. One part
which is only having sattva guna and raja guna. Right? In which there
vvedavyasacanlerorgteacher
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man knows, or even that portion that men doesn't know, the whole
physical creation is only one-eighth part of th boyd: Thatimeans tno
matter how much of science we develop, no matter how much of
knowledge man will have as a man, so Long as his intelligence is.
limited to that of a man he cannot know more than one-eighth of the
Lord. The maximum he will know is only one-eighth.
Prakriti and Purusha are all parts of the remaining one-eighth of the
physically manifested universe. The physically manifested universe,
how has it manifested? When we say there are two aspects to it. One
is the uncreated aspect and one is the created aspect. That means the
uncreated aspect is a portion and the created aspect is a portion . Let
us first come to what is the created aspect. Before we go into how it
was created. Right? When | say there is a world, OK, you say there is a
world there is a universe, but unless | divide it into parts how can |
study it? I can't study anything unless | divide it into parts. | need to
logically study it so how do | do it? This entire manifested world,
entire manifested universe, | divide into three parts called Bhu,
Bhuvah, and Swarga, Bhu means the earth or the earth plane.
Everything that is there on planet earth. Every knowledge you need
about planet earth is called bhu. Then there is the entire solar system
of which the earth is a part. And this earth is a part of the solar
system which is a part of the Milky Way. That knowledge of that
system is called the bhuva (oka or the bhuvah. And then there are
those galaxies which are even beyond the solar system, far, far away.
That is called swarga loka. So there are three parts of the physically
manifested universe from the human perspective. The most important
place is bhu loka where we stay, bhuva loka where we will go after
death and swargaloka where we will go when we have higher
achievements, depending upon how much freedom we have got. Am |
being understood? So there the physically manifested universe is in
three lokas, Bhu,Bhuvah, swaha. That is why the one-eighth part of
Jagannath is called Vasudeva. And Vasudeva, that is the physically
evolved one, is bhu, bhuvah and swaha. Am I being understood? Then
there are parts which are not visible to us, which are not accessible to
human beings. They are the other lokas. They are said to be maha loka,
tapa loka, jana loka and satya loka, There are four parts in the
vvedavyasacanler orgiteachersireedor-colelopeninglectre! 1618547272020 ‘Opening Lecture - Veda Wyasa Center
came down to the lower lokas. So they say someone has come from
Satya Loka he has come from beyond the physical,lane of thre\created
universe. Right? Am I being understood now?
So these lokas are very important because they are the seven worlds
which are evolving all the time. The one-eighth part of Narayana is
evolving, it is changing, So the seven lokas or the seven worlds are in
this one-eighth part which is changing all the time, There is a day and
there is a night and things are changing all the time. The remaining
three-eighths there is no day there is no night. Nothing. There is no
change. Because there is no need for change. Change is taking place
only in this one-fourth and in this one-fourth there are four spiritual,
lokas and three material lokas. The four spiritual lokas are having
sattva guna and rajas guna. There is no tamas. There is no tamas in
the four spiritual lokas. Which are the four spiritual lokas? Maha, jana,
tapa and satyam. Four, maha, jana, tapa and satyam.
Now we will do one mantra to remember these seven lokas. This
mantra is given in the Mahanarayana Upanishad. It is a part of the
Gayatri mantra and this was given to the sannyasis for learning and
understanding. A sannyasi is he who intends to transcend all the
seven lokas. You see? When we know that the evolution is taking
place in the seven lokas to get moksha you have to get out of the
seven lokas and then only will you reach a state where there is no
more evolution. Do you get my point? Even if you do great tapas and
you go to tapa loka you will still come back. You spoke the truth, you
never lied throughout your life, you live a perfectly righteous life, you
go to satya loka and again come back. There is no escape. To get out
of it you have to go beyond these worlds and then you will go into
one of those higher planes where there is no more evolution and
where there is no more evolution it means your are not coming back.
‘Am | being understood now very clearly? OK.
So the mantra is like this, it is:
‘Aum bhuh,
‘Aum bhuvah,
vvedavyasacanlerorgteacher 1618547272020 ‘Opening Lecture - Veda Wyasa Center
‘Aum satyam
Tat savitur vareniyam
Bhargo devasya dhimahi
Dhiyo yonah pracodayat
‘Aum apo jyoti raso amrtam
Brahma bhur bhuvas suvar om
OK? This is the mantra for transcending the seven lokas. You see the
power of the Gayatri mantra, You see the Gayatri mantra which is done
by the highest Brahmanas who wish to transcend all the seven lokas,
who do not wish to come back in the seven lokas. They ask the
strength from Aum. Why Aum? Aum is supposed to be the tarabija. The
seed of tara, It is the tarabija. When you learn mantra shastras you will
realize the meaning of the word tara. It is far too deep for me to say
anything now. Learn the bija of Tara. The word tara is short
for taraka. The word taraka means to cross, to transcend, to go beyond.
So when you say Aum bhuh, you are going beyond bhuh loka. You are
crossing bhuh loka, Aum bhuvah, you go beyond bhuvah loka. Aum
swahah, you go beyond swarga loka. Like that. With each Aum you are
actually able to cross over one of these. God is helping you to cross
with Aum. Aum helps you to cross. Why does Aum help you to cross?
How does Aum help us to cross? Aum is composed of three aksharas:
‘A, ‘U, ‘M’ Three sounds. These three little sounds ‘A, 'U; ‘M, when they
come together they form Aum. Aum. These three sounds were known
‘or what we say, were heard by the Maharishis when they meditated on
Brahma, Vishnu and Maheshwara Shiva. The three great rishis who got
these three sounds are Gautama, who meditated on Brahma and got
the akshara ‘Atri, have you heard of Atri? Those who do yoga and
ayurveda should know Atri. Atri meditated on ‘U: He got ‘U’ from
Vishnu, And Bharadhvaja, the third rishi got ‘M’ from Maheshwara or
Shiva. So Aum has Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva in it. Aum helps us to
cross over raja guna Brahma, satttva guna Vishnu, and tamo guna
Shiva. With the strength of Shiva we come out of tamas. With the
blessings of Brahma we give up greed and rise above rajas. And with
the blessings of Vishnu we even go beyond sattva, These deities are
nothing but forms of the same one God whose helping us to transcend
these gunas. The translations you find in normal jyotish books Shiva is
vvedavyasacanlerorgiteachersireedor-colelopeninglectre! 1718647272020 ‘Opening Lecture - Veda Vyasa Center
Shiva is helping us to transcend tamo guna. He is supposed to be the
nila shakti. Because of the nila shakti or the blue lotus hethetps Us to
cross over the tamo guna of ignorance. Without Shiva you will be
dwelling in ignorance all the time. You cannot even cross bhu loka,
how will you go to other lokas. OK? You will be stuck in this planet,
some other creature. You want to take one step out of this creation
you need Shiva’s help. Without Shiva it is impossible. Without Him you
can never cross over tamo guna.
Same way, without Brahma you can never cross over rajas guna. Your
greed will always overcome you. All the time your greed will be the
main cause of your problems. And in Kali Yuga even worship of
Brahma is prohibited. You cannot worship Brahma directly. And there
are reasons you will learn later. So we worship Ganesha instead. And
some say we need to worship Surya. So Surya and Ganesha put
together gives us Brahma, OK? So you realize the value of Aum? Do
you realize that Aum is not one word? It is one sound all right, but it is
composed of three tiny bits of sound, A, U, and M. And these tiny bits
of sound have rajas, sattva and tamas. And to transcend them there
are three deities or three forms of God which are helping us to
transcend. So with Aum we are crossing over these three gunas. Aum
is helping us to transcend these three gunas, to cross over the three
gunas. So long as you are living in the gunas you will come back to
this planet. The word guna means attribute, that is all. So we have
learnt now the sapta lokas and we have learned about Narayana and
the four parts of Narayana.
05 Bhu Loka, Atma
How does physical creation work? What is physical creation? OK, now
we come to another part of creation. See, we are coming down; first
we talked of God, then we came to the evolver, that which is
changing, one-fourth of it is changing. Then we found out that
portion, which is the physical part of that which is changing. There is
a nonphysical part, a spiritual part, and there is a physical part. Now
from the physical part we have now come to the bhu loka, of this
world. We have found three worlds. What are the three worlds? One is
vvedavyasacanlerorgteacher
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now we bring our focus down. We are using a microscope each time to
increase our focus. We come down even furthesite/the earthy pene, All
this creation in this world can be divided into two parts: one which we
call the material creation, and one which we call the animate beings,
the living beings. So there is a living world and there is a non-living
world. It’s a very simple differentiation. When you were in school you
learned about this. That there is a whole living world and there is a
non-living world, And in the living world there is a plant kingdom and
there is an animal kingdom. We have learned that, is it not, exactly
the same thing as taught in the Bhagavad Gita
The Bhagavad Gita teaches that in this world there are two creations.
One is jadatma; jada, atma. Jada means that which is stuck, which
cannot move on its own, cannot procreate on its own. Jadatma, it is
stuck, it cannot procreate, it cannot continue. A stone cannot
procreate. Have you ever seen baby stones? The only way it can
procreate is to break it into pieces. And that is actually not procreation
because a new stone has not come, it is just parts of the original
stone.
The living beings are called jivatma. Jiva plus atma. The word atma
means self, it simply means self. Atma means me, myself. The other
meanings we will go into later. So we have jivatmas and we have
jadatmas. So we can have horoscopes or we can have a star position, a
chart of the skies, based upon the starting moment, the moment of
the creation of either a jadatma or a jivatma. Imagine if you were born
as a tree, imagine living the life of a tree. The tree is a jivatma, itis a
living being. It has feeling, it has senses, just like you and anybody
else, It responds to music, it has been established now. So imagine if
you were born as a tree or a plant. You cannot move anywhere; you
are stuck in that little piece of land that has been allotted to you. And
you have to live for God knows how many years, especially seeing the
redwoods over here, very karmic thousand year life, and you are stuck
in that. You are observing the world come and go, you are seeing man
come, fighting with themselves. What karma, you are seeing centuries
and centuries of karma.
vvedavyasacanlerorgteacher 1918547272020 ‘Opening Lecture - Veda Wyasa Center
that, that it depends on what exercises you are doing and what food
you are eating, that is all bogus. The gene codecaiready has,the tate
of your death written in it. So Let's be clear about one thing. That
means if | can draw a map of the heavens and I have the means to
calculate, | can calculate the moment of death, if | can decipher the
gene code from the chart.
So this differentiation of jivatmas and jadatmas is called the primary
differentiation. And the difference between jivatma and jadatma is
that the jadatma, or the non-living world cannot procreate. This is a
very, very important differentiation which we will use later when we
study atmakaraka, because for the non-living world we cannot have
putrakaraka. There can be no sole significator for children so they
must have seven charakarakas, whereas for jivatmas, which are
procreating, we must have eight charakarakas.
When we study all these incarnations, we look at the world as a circle,
and it is stable the way we look at it because in space everything is
relative, depending on the viewpoint of the observer. Since for us
planet earth is the most important place in the world, so earth is kept
stable at the center and everything else moves around it. That is
called the geocentric viewpoint and that viewpoint is what is used in
Jyotish because you have bhu loka, or the earth as the center, around
it is bhuvah loka, and around that much further away is the svarga
loka with the galaxies and the stars. And this earth plane is supposed
to be dominated by the jivatmas or the living beings. It is a fact, who
is the boss of this earth? The living beings are the boss of the earth
and among living beings, man is the boss. Who is dominating the
planet earth? The living beings are dominating, the non-living are not.
The jivatmas. Everything in astrology there is something called
symbology, every thing is decided by symbols. So the symbol of the
living is Mars, eneray. Mars is dominating over this loka called planet
earth. That is why Mars is called Bhumiputra, or the child of the earth.
The one who dominates over earth is Mars and the rules of this planet
Mars will dominate over bhu loka. Whoever shall have the highest
physical strength shall rule; whoever shall have the highest fighting
force shall be the ruler, that is the law of this loka. And one of the
vvedavyasacanler orgiteachersireedr-colaopeninglectre! 2018647272020 ‘Opening Lecture - Veda Wyasa Center
mean that Mars has become the policeman. Mars is in the sky, it is a
planet in the sky. The energy that it is representing|is symbolizerby
the policeman. It's all symbolic, that is very important for you to
understand. It is all reflection.
So when we have the jivatma and jadatma, naturally jivatma
represents anything which is living. And God, what is God? God in one
definition is Paramatma, the ultimate. That atma which is beyond the
three gunas and is also in the three gunas. That means the soul which
can manifest with three gunas and yet stays in an unmanifested state,
beyond the gunas. That means that he who is aware of the gunas is
free of the gunas but is still staying beyond the gunas. That is called
Paramatma. Because of Paramatma must be gunatita, beyond the
gunas. If someone is not beyond the gunas, and is affected by the
unas all the time, how can we say he is Paramatma? What is the
difference between Paramatma and jivatma? The difference is a
jivatma always has three gunas but is never beyond them. The
Paramatma also has the three gunas but is beyond them, He is not
under the control of the gunas, the gunas do not dominate him, do not
determine what the atma must do. He can go beyond the gunas. Then
only we say he is Paramatma. Otherwise he is a jiva
Now, all creatures, be it a human being, be it this plant, be it this
animal, they all have to manifest through grahas. The word graha
means to eclipse. It is from grahana, to eclipse. The process of birth is
what we call the process of eclipse, birth is but an eclipse, shocking
but true, You have to be caught hold of by some graha and physically
brought down to this planet as punishment. Because this bhu loka is
ruled by mars, police, The real significator of this bhu loka is that of
jails, exactly the way jails are used. Think of a jail, what are the rules
that apply in a jail? Exactly in the same way you will live on this
planet earth. This planet earth is a jail, there is no escape from it, like
Alcatraz, there is just no escape. Be clear about it. You will come back
and back and back to this jail, you have to keep coming back, you are
a criminal, Your crime you will commit you will come back to this jail.
This is a jail, Mars rules this loka. Who's the boss of the jail? The police
officer. Similarly of bhu loka, whoever has the maximum physical
vvedavyasacanler orgiteachersireedr-colaopeninglectre! 2118547272020 ‘Opening Lecture - Veda Wyasa Center
planes and guns, who is going to listen to that? Why is India
dominating like that over the entire subcontinent?) Because
guns
and the military. Simple rule, whoever has the guns will have
greatness. Alexander is great because he spent 32 years of his life
Killing and fighting wars. He did not spend 32 years meditating. All
the great ones, name the great names in history. What do you read in
your history books? Pick up your history books and read all the great
names in it. They've all been killers and murderers. History does not
remember people who have meditated a lot. Why? Because they are
not the rules of this Loka. This loka, the rules are different. But we are
jyotishis; we are supposed to go above. Try to go above and see
everything from a birds eye view.
OK, so now the jivatmas and the Paramatma. Are you able to
understand the difference? What is the single most important factor
differentiating Paramatma from jivatma? The Paramatma is beyond
the gunas, gunatita. That is the single most important factor. So the
grahas and the process of birth, Let us understand the process of birth.
How does birth take place. Grahana is the eclipse. How does an
eclipse occur? The sun and the moon come together. Have you seen
an eclipse? The sun and the moon come together and Rahu gets
control over them. And that is the moment of grahana or eclipse. That
is exactly the moment of conception. The conception is an exactly
similar process. The atma gets a mana (mind) and this atma and mana
are put together in a glue, like things getting stuck, the atma and the
mana are stuck together. And that glue is called Rahu. You are so
badly stuck that you cannot get unstuck. The atma is told “you are
now going to be a dog.” It says “OK, I'm a dog” So this atma and this
mana get stuck in the womb of its mother. Before that the atma did
not have a mana so he did not know who he was. He did not have
ahamkara, without mana there is no ahamkara, you do not know who
you are, because you do not have an identity of your own. What is
ahamkara? Ahamkara means identity. In simple English it means
identity, the first simple translation. He says OK, and then goes into
the womb of the mother and that body he will get is called yoni. Yoni
means female sexual organ because he will come out from the female
sexual organ. His physical evolution onto this planet will be from the
vvedavyasacanler orgiteachersireedem-colalopeninglectre! 2218847272020 ‘Opening Lecture - Veda Wyasa Center
the opposite. See the triangle, it is like this, flat on top and has a point
downwards. It means coming down to this planetythat is thereto
come into this planet. When you turn it up it becomes a symbol of the
male, purusha. So the triangle pointing upwards is the door for going
out from this planet. The triangle facing down is called Kali, the
primary Mother, prakriti. Now look at the evolution. In the evolution |
said the spirit being has only two gunas, sattva guna and rajas guna,
Sattva guna is shri shakti, Shri or Lakshmi, Raja guna is bhu shakti or
Saraswati. The bija is hrim. There are three primary syllables: shrim,
hrim and krim to understand. So sattva guna is shrim, raja guna is
hrim, and tama guna transcendence is krim. Remember these three
sounds: shrim, hrim, krim. Shrim is sattva, hrim is rajas and krim is
tamas, the three shaktis.
What is om? A, U, M. A is rajas, U is Vishnu that is sattva, and M is
Shiva, that is transcending tamas. Now in the same order put the three
shaktis. First will be hrim, Bhudevi who is the spouse of Brahma,
Saraswati is the spouse of Brahma. Then shrim then krim. Hare, Rama,
Krishna. We were spirit beings, each one of us was a spirit being. We
had only two gunas. In the worst case when we were spirit beings we
had only two gunas. We were either shrim or hrim, one of the two. But
to come into the world we needed tamo guna also. Without tamo guna
you cannot manifest physically. For physical manifestation you must
have tamas.
So who is the mother who is causing you to take birth on planet
earth? Kali, That is why she is the earth goddess; that is why she is
the primary goddess of earth. Shrim and hrim you are already having,
in whatever plane you were in spirit form. When you come to this
planet you must have all the three gunas. So after birth you have
shrim, hrim and krim. So earlier you had shrim and hrim and now you
have shrim, hrim and krim. What is the extra that you got? You got
krim. Because of krim you have been able to take birth in this planet.
‘And your entire protection on this planet earth has been assigned to
krim. Without krim there is no protection, this moment you will die
Do you understand the importance of krim or Kali? Do you understand
her importance, what she is doing every moment? Every moment she
vvedavyasacanler orgiteachersireedr-colaopeninglectre! 2218847272020 ‘Opening Lecture - Veda Wyasa Center
So, these are the gunas. And Shiva, who is Mahakala, or time and Kali,
the protective mother, are helping us transcend,and-understand
tamas, which we must. So the worst experiences we have in this life
are those experiences which are related to tamas guna. The good
experiences which you will have will be related to sattva guna but
that is not something worth learning, that thing you have learned. But
you still have to learn something very important. That when you have
those good experiences you must not become happy, you have to
transcend it. You have to transcend the guna. When you have won a
prize it should not have any effect on you, that means you have
transcended sattva guna. When you get a large amount of money you
should not be delighted and throw a party. If you do so, you are in
rajas. It does not make any difference whether you receive money or
give money; you have transcended rajas. Similarly power, position,
authority, domination over others, status, all the power games that are
played in this world, when you transcend that, you have crossed
tamas. So our life, the true spiritual learning is transcending sattva,
rajas, and tamas. Become gunatita,
06 Avatars
Now we talk of avatars which is the second chapter of Brihat Parasara
Hora Shastra. In this chapter we are taught that there are ten avatars.
What is the meaning of the word avatar? It is a very common English
word now. Incarnation means avatar. Reincarnation applies to a person
who is coming back again and again. The same person is
reincarnating. So when we say avatar it just means incarnation not a
reincarnation, Avatar, there are many avatars, You are an avatar, |am
an avatar. We are all avatars. What is the difference between an avatar
of God and an avatar of whatever? The definition of an avatar of God
must be one that must transcend the gunas. If the avatar cannot
transcend the gunas and is going to dwell in the unas or is going to
be overtaken by the gunas, then he is no avatar at all.
Since birth must take place through grahana, through an eclipse
mode, there in jyotish we have navagraha or nine modes of eclipse,
nine kinds of eclipses, nine different kinds of grasping that will get,
vvedavyasacanlerorgteacher
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brought to this planet. And as soon as you come to this planet you say
“| am Sanjay, | am the guru of SIC.” How foolish yourare. Were you
Sanjay, guru of SIC, in your last birth? No; will you be so in your next
birth? No, definitely not. Then how can you say you are? It is just an
eclipse of your mind that makes you believe you are that. So it is this
mind that is eclipsing the soul. Who is eclipsing your soul? It is your
own mind. Nobody else is doing it, It is your own mind telling you that
you are somebody which you are not. So the eclipse is between your
own mind and your own soul, no third party. That is grahana.
So the relationship between the Sun and the Moon, symbolizing the
soul and the mind is called tithi, and that is the grahana. That is the
eclipse which causes you to be born, So these grahas, the navagrahas,
the nine kinds of eclipses under which beings take birth. All beings,
even the Paramatma. If God is incarnating on planet earth he cannot
break this rule. He has to come through a graha, he has to, There are
ways to calculate which graha is causing the birth to take place. There
is something called janma vighaatika graha. You will learn about it. So
that janma vighaatika graha gives us an idea of who grasped you,
what was the kind of eclipse that caused your birth. And that will
decide whether you will take birth as a man or as a woman. Your sex,
man, woman, the sex you are, will all be decided by that one planet. It
is more important than your lagna lord, more important than
everything. Itis called janma vighaatika graha. Janma means birth,
vigatika is a time measure, graha, the eclipse that is taking place at
that point, Can | use the word planet and you will not misunderstand?
OK, | will use the word graha. So the graha will decide what is
happening.
These avatars, or the manifestations of God, are said to be the highest
incarnations of the grahas. Or in other words, when they take birth,
they have to follow the rules of Mars. They have to. Our exercise today
will be to find out why these incarnations are supposed to be those of
God. What attributes did they have, in what way did they manifest that
they were able to show an attribute of God? How did it happen?
07 Matsya
vvedavyasacanler orgiteachersireedr-colaopeninglectre! 2518547272020 ‘Opening Lecture - Veda Wyasa Center
the fish. See what the fish king would do? He fed the fish. So feeding
fishes is a good thing. These stories that are thigré/ih the PudriaS Gre
also telling us what we should do to overcome negativities attributed
to our graha. The fish incarnation is a attributed to the planet Ketu.
What does Ketu indicate? Ketu is the last among the grahas. He is of
tamas guna. Tamas means destruction, so Ketu is indicating some kind
of a terrible destruction, a very sudden deluge, and that is what
happened. You see when the king fed the fish the fish became bigger
and it became so big it filled the entire aquarium. So they took the fish
out and put him in a pond. The king said make a pond, They fed the
fish more and the fish became even bigger. The king said, whoa, what
kind of a fish is this that we got from the sea? It's become bigger and
bigger. He probably hadn't seen whales. He should have come to
California, Then the fish became so big in the pond he didn't know
what to do. So then the fish told him “Oh king, | have become too big
for this pond. It is for your good that you should put me in the sea. So
they all carried the fish and they put him in the sea, and then the fish
went away in the sea. And then one day there was rain and the rain
went on and on and there was no stopping of the rain, and everything
started drowning in the rain. The whole world started drowning in the
rain,
It is symbolic of our own lives. When terrible rains come in our lives
and everything gets destroyed around. Everything starts drowning, our
whole world is drowning around us. It is symbolic, the planet Ketu, the
graha Ketu, is indicating such a state in our lives where everything
around us is getting destroyed.
At that point in time the seven sages came to the king and said “listen,
the time has come for the whole world to be destroyed. The blessed
lord has already incarnated near you and it is you who have been
good in feeding that fish which is an incarnation of the Lord.”
The king said, “how can you say that this fish is an incarnation of the
Lord?”
vvedavyasacanler orgiteachersireedr-colaopeninglectre! 2618547272020 ‘Opening Lecture - Veda Wyasa Center
will put you in a safe place. And from there again there shall be
creation.”
So the king sat on a boat with the seven rishis and they kept the Vedas
with them, And they pushed the boat into the sea without any oars.
See the symbol ‘without oars’ Do not try to steer your own life. When
there is destruction all around you know that your own brain is
clouded. You have to go off your own thinking; surrender to one of the
Rishis. There are seven Rishis; learn to surrender to the Rishis and to
the Vedas. There are no oars. When there are no oars you are not
going to guide your life. If you try it you will drown. You have to let go
of those oars; sit down in the boat quietly. Pray to the Rishis because
those Rishis are the ones whose energy will call God. And the Rishis
sat down and prayed *Om namo bhagavate mahamatysaya” The mantra
was “Om namo bhagavate mahamatsaya” Bhagavate means an
incarnation of God. Maha: great, matsya: fish. Matsyaya means
fish. Om namo bhagavate mahamatsaya. There is a remaining mantra
given in the Bhagavatam but this is a simple small mantra. And the
fish incarnation came. And they threw a string on him and tied the
boat. The seas became rough and terrible and whole cities were
getting destroyed. The fish incarnation pulled the boat with the seven
Rishis and the king in it and the four Vedas through the whole
destruction period. Then after some time the rain stopped and they
found land and that is where he left them. And that is how the new
life started.
It is symbolic of stages of somebody's life. So the fish incarnation
symbolizes Paramatma. Why does it symbolize Paramatma? Because it
helped you to cross over, to transcend this destruction. Everything was
destroyed, just like Noah's ark. When you read about Noah's ark you
will understand. There is total destruction around you and you have to
let go. That is the eclipse, the grahana coming into your life, so Let go.
Take shelter in the Rishis seriously and do your mantras properly. And
then he will come and guide you out through this terrible storm. So
the symbol of God is he who can help you to transcend. That is the
Paramatma. Even at the stage of complete destruction they were not
shouting, they were not crying, they were not running to save their
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The fish incarnation is symbolic of death in our tives. What will help
you to transcend are the seven Rishis who sit as the guides of the
seven lokas. And they will help you to transcend the Lokas through
Vidya, Vedas. And it is the fish incarnation who will pull you through
you all this. A tremendous pull it has. It will give you moksha and take
you to this little land from where you will not come back again. And
give you a new existence where you will not have to be born anymore.
That is why Ketu is mokshakaraka. The seven Rishis are the Sapta
Rishis up in the sky, you can see them. They are symbolic of the
number seven which is ruled by Ketu also. So when you do Vedic
numerology from the fish incarnation story, the Matsya avatar story we
know that the number seven has to do with Ketu, the graha Ketu. So
people who are born on the seventh day of a month, know that Ketu is
very strong in your chart. Seven, sixteen, or people who are born on
twenty-five, these are the three dates where you know that Ketu must
be a strong influence in your chart. So now, we have understood the
fish incarnation.
Why does the fish have to do with Ketu? Because he is mokshakaraka
because it was the fish who pulled you out. But why is Ketu in the first
place associated with the fish? He is headless, that is the attribute.
You are not supposed to use your head. Remember | told you that. The
king was told throw away the oars, don't use your head. When you will
steer with the strength of your hand? Will you row? Forget it; the sea
is so terrible that you will drown and the whole ship will go, with your
boat you will go in the water. Forget it, don't try, also surrender the
ars. We will pray and Matsya avatar will come and take us. This head
of yours is your worst enemy. Your own mind is your enemy. You want
moksha? Your own mind is your enemy. There are no enemies outside.
That is the important message. That is why Ketu is headless, it is a
tail. You have to let go of the oars. Keep that in mind. Don't try
steering your own ship, it will not work. Just surrender to the Rishis,
sit down quietly over there. Do the mantra. Don't try to understand
what the mantra is going to do; you cannot understand it. Do it and
you will see the difference. That is the lesson here. The more you try
to reason it does not work because it is the reason that is eclipsing
vvedavyasacanler orgiteachersireedr-colaopeninglectre! 2018547272020 ‘Opening Lecture - Veda Wyasa Center
tormented one is your own soul. The real you is tormented by your
‘own mind. That is the entire lesson of the Matsya\avatar. Thatisjwhy
Ketu indicates the great escape where you lose your head, where you
let go of your mind. That is why they said Ketu is the one who eclipses
the mind and causes the soul to come out. That is why when in
anyone's horoscope you find the sun to be terribly afflicted you give a
cat's eye. Cat's eye is the gemstone for Ketu. Ketu will break everything
and take the soul out, save the soul.
The important thing you must understand about Ketu is we are asked
to throw away our oars. So who is the oar? The fish. Who is going to
steer us? Somebody has to steer and propel us, right? Somebody has
to steer and pull the boat. The fish is going to do that. And how does
the fish do it? It does it with a tail. Your entire direction, all the
propulsion, is coming from the tail of the fish. The entire vibration of
the tail is causing the fish to move. The propulsion is with the tail. The
submarines follow this propulsion of the fishes. There is a rudder in
the back as well as a fan, a turbine which is actually propelling the
sub. That intuitive flow with the currents. A huge wave is about to
come. How to cut and go. Even before the wave comes you must know
about the wave and cut and go. Intuitive flow comes from Ketu. Then
you should not wait for the wave to come and see what follows, now
what will | do. The moment you apply your mind you are gone. You
have to use your intuition. That is Ketu; so Ketu rules intuition. Fishes
have great intuition. Observe the fishes, study the fishes and you will
understand all about Ketu. That is the important teaching. You must
study the fish to understand Ketu. So, if you want that the graha Ketu
should be favorable that after you die you will get a direction,
someone to steer you through, at least symbolically. Do not kill fish,
Do not harm the fish, instead feed the fish. When you are in great
danger and Ketu is creating havoc in your life give some food to the
fishes and you will come out of its eclipse. That is the important
message for us.
(Q Is there a problem with keeping fish in aquariums?
vvedavyasacanler orgiteachersireedr-colaopeninglectre! 2018547272020 ‘Opening Lecture - Veda Wyasa Center
become big you are supposed to release them. You are not supposed
to wait for them to die or give them to your cat to,gat it.
That is the reason why, at least after listening to this story, and when
you think more and more, you will start Loving the fish, you'll start
respecting the fish. And you'll see that fishes are a symbol of God. So
they are very much part of nature; we can't destroy fishes. So naturally
you can't eat fishes, So the important thing about this lesson of this
avatar it tells you if you really feel for the fishes, somewhere, some
energy is being released from you, some connection is being made
somewhere by which you will be saved when your time of destruction
comes. The deluge is a symbol of complete destruction or death.
Death or almost death like situation. When you die or when you are
passing through such a stage in your life which is like death then it is
your intuition that will save you. It is the Rishis that will protect you
and it is the Vedas that will carry you through. The knowledge alone
stays with you, nothing else comes with you after death. That is the
important message of the Matsya avatar.
08 Varaha Avatar, Birth, Pranapada
The next avatar is the Sri Varaha Avatar. Varaha Avatar is the other
extreme. We talked of death now? We talk of birth right
now. Varaha means boar, or the boar incarnation. Parasara has used
the word sukara, right? The mantra for this avatar is om namo
bhagavate sukaraya. Sukara, the breathing sound is called su. When
you breathe hard it makes a sound su. And su is auspicious. Why?
Because you are breathing. Youre not dead; when you stop breathing
you die, so breathing is an auspicious thing. Think very calmly.
Breathing is good or bad? Try holding your breath for one hour and
you will find out whether it is good or bad. So the breathing is an
important facet of your life. And when did you start breathing? As
soon as you are born, That means the Varaha Avatar is a very
important story for the astrologers. It is defining birth. Just as we were
talking of Matsya Avatar as the definition of death and the seven
Rishis as the seven lokas and the four Vedas as the basis by which you
can transcend these seven Lokas. Similarly we shall talk of rebirth
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(Q Does that mean that the moment of the first breath is the point
that you take on the.
(S) Right. The name that Parasara uses is such a beautiful
name, sukara, it is a name of a pig. Sukara means pig. That word, that
name, sukara, is he who makes that sound because his breathing is
like a grunt and his breathing is very heavy; heavy breath. Sukara
means pig. See the breathing is called sukar. The word sukara is ‘su’
‘kara’ not ‘shukara’ It is su, sa, dantya, So he is breathing heavily. He is
auspicious, he is causing you to breathe. He brings you back to life.
You have died and come back to life because of Rahu. So great he is,
right? He has caused you to incarnate again and again and again and
again. There are endless incarnations. These endless incarnations are
because of the breath, An incarnation means when you start
breathing, So birth is defined as the first breath. Prathama prana, or
the first breath, That is why breath is seen from pranapada. A thing
called pranapada where the calculation, a mathematical form called
pranapada, We see breathing from there. Have you heard of
pranapada? Right down this word: pranapada. Pada means feet. From
where you start breathing, Each breath is a foot, is one step, and the
number of breaths that you are going to take in this world is fixed. So
pranapada is how you breathe. If somebody has pranapada in Aquarius
he is a gentleman. He breathes very slowly. He says “good eeevening
Sanjaaay.” He is a gentleman. See he breathes slowly; the breath is
coming out so slowly. “How are youu?" See how slowly the breath
came out. See he is a cultured gentleman. So if pranapada is in
Aquarius the breath is slow because Saturn is slow.
If pranapada, or the breath, is in Leo the breathing is like that of a
lion. You see? The breath is strong, well grounded, there is no fear.
Even in front of fear he is cool while everybody else is shaking. The
breathing does not falter in front of fear because the Sun does not
falter. Have you ever seen the sun go fast or slow? Have you ever in
astrology, many people have been learning astrology, have you seen
the Sun go very fast or very slow? No, he's steady in his motion, very
steady, perfect yogic breathing is pranapada in Leo. That is what we
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Moon is a very fast planet so you breathe very fast, so you will die
early. Pranapada in Cancer is not good. Like thatthe: pranapadayin
different signs will tell us what kind of breath you are having.
Pranapada is called a lagna, it is called the lagna of breathing. And
planets are studied in the horoscope from this lagna to see what is
stopping your breath. Those of you who have studied medical
astrology will find this very important information. In Ayurveda, this is
very important, the breath. The pranapada will decide how you are
breathing. Is your breath getting obstructed. When will you die. What
is death? When the breath stops.
So now, who means the coming of breath? Ketu means the going of
breath. So, the Varaha Avatar. The Varaha Avatar story is different.
There was some demon, what is his name? Does anyone remember his
name? I'm not really good with demon names. OK, there was a demon
who was creating a lot of havoc, running around trying to take over
these worlds. So God decided to incarnate. He took the Earth and he
threw it into the water. Earth was thrown in water. What is Earth?
Earth is the world, so your world, you are in the world, is in water.
When is your world in water? Have you ever seen a world in water. You
have, you will remember it now. When you were in the stomach of
your mother. The demon threw your world in water. Who was the
demon who eclipsed you? Your atma was put in a cage and the mana
was put on top of it. And the demon Rahu eclipsed it. Demon, see
that? Rakshasa. And then he threw that world in the stomach of the
mother. So it was in water. The world was in water. And at that point,
of time all the ghosts started crying “what will happen, protect the
world.” So what happened then? Brahma started meditating, the
creator started meditating. And from his breath - see the breath,
again the breath ~ a little boar came out from his nose with the
breath. And the boar was making grunting sounds, and the boar
started becoming big, big, big. Similarly, what happens to the little
seed that is planted in the mother’s stomach? It becomes big, big, big
ata very fast rate. A tiny little seed has become so big a baby in nine
months. See the speed at which it has grown. Like that the little boar
which has come out of a Little piece of hair from the nose of Brahma
became a big boar. And it was making grunting sounds. It was
vvedavyasacanler orgiteachersireedr-colaopeninglectre! 3218647272020 ‘Opening Lecture - Veda Vyasa Center
Then the head came out and this came out. It is-1ike creation, jt jssall
about that creation. So at that point of time the boar heard that the
world has fallen and he shook his head. And in his teeth he had big
tusks, so that means the teeth had come out. And then he jumped into
the water and he picked up the world and took it out of the water, and
then put the world in the air and held it up. What does that mean?
That means from the water in your mother’s stomach you were
exposed to this world of air, and you started breathing. The world
came out in the air and you started breathing. Your whole world which
was your mother’s stomach suddenly has become this whole world
around you. That is the process of birth. The entire Varaha Avatar story
is the world as seen from the eyes of the created being. What was the
soul doing in the stomach of the mother? What important lesson does
it tell us? That is, a mother who is carrying a child, or who is pregnant,
if she worships the Varaha Avatar with the mantra om namo bhagavate
sukaraya, the name used is sukara, not varaha, om namo bhagavate
sukaraya. Then her child will breathe. That means the child has to be
born and will breathe. It is such an important mantra. It is a mantra by
which you as an astrologer, even if you do it for somebody else, can
help that mother.
How do we see God in this Varaha Avatar? How do we see God in this?
What role did God play? How do we see the hand of God? We see the
hand of God only at the moment of birth. The world was falling in
water, all those things were happening, was taking place, conception
was taking place. At the time the world was about to be destroyed, in
the last month, at that time, the Varaha Avatar jumps in and takes the
world out of the womb and brings the baby into this. That moment of
birth when he takes it out of the water and puts it into the air is a
moment worth praising a million times because you have saved more
life. See the Varaha Avatar saved life. Yet at that moment of pain,
when the whole world is being destroyed, when the world is sinking
in the water, and as it is sinking it is fully destroyed by this
tremendous suffering, The exact word used has been explained in the
Madhusudana Stotra.
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