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Posts: 403 · Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2005 8:52 am

JYOTISH LESSONS

Part 2.

Creation and the Avataras

"Lord Vishnu, Who is one undescribeable, Who has no beginning nor end, Who is the Lord of all matters, Who has undefiled spirit, Who is the Lord of the creation, Who is endowed with three Gunas, although He transcends the grip of the Gunas, Who is the creator of the universe, Who has glory, Who is the cause and Who is endowed with valor, creates the universe and administers it playfully with a quarter of His power. The other three feet (three quarters) of Him filled with nectar are knowable only to the seers of the truth, who know it through PramÂ§Â£a (valid evidence). The Principal Evolver, Who is both perceptible and imperceptible is Lord Vasudeva. The imperceptible part of Lord Vishnu is endowed with dual powers, while the perceptible with triple powers." (BPHS 1.9-12.1/2.)

These shlokas in the BPHS introduce the process of creation, by which the whole material universe and the inherent activities of the living entities manifest. Because Jyotish describes the karmic processes going on within the universe, it is necessary to know how the universe is manifested and monitored by the Supreme Lord Vishnu.

The whole existing world consists of two parts: the Paravyoma, or the spiritual sky, which comprises the three quarters of the Lordâ€™s inconceivable potency, and Jagat, or the material universes, which comprise only one quarter of His potency. The Supreme Lord resides in the spiritual sky in His form as Vaasudeva, or Sri Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. From Him expand all the Vishnu-avataras like Karanodakasayi, Garbhodakasayi and Ksirodakasayi Vishnu, who have their functions in manifesting and maintainig the material world.

The shloka says that Vasudeva associates with dual powers in the imperceptible, or unmanifest (avyakta) spiritual sky. It is called avyakta because no one can perceive of it with his material senses, only those slef-realised souls who have attained divine vision. The two powers are the Cit-sakti (potency of transcendental knowledge) and the Anandamaya (potency of spiritual bliss). The third aspect is Sat or Sandhini-sakti, or the potency of existence. However it is eternally present both in the material world in the form of Lord Vishnu and the spirit souls, and in the spiritual world in an all-pervasive form, threfore it is not mentioned separately here.

In the material plane Lord Vishnu associates with three Saktis, or potencies: Sri Sakti (Lakshmi Devi), Bhu Sakti (Mother Earth) and Nila Sakti (energy of destruction). When Vasudeva associates with these three willing potencies, He becomes Aniruddha, Pradymna and Sankarshana. As a result the three Gunas, or modes of nature are created, namely Sattva (goodness), Rajas (passion) and Tamas (ignorance). From them the three levels of control are born as follows: Brahma (Deity of Ahamkara or false ego), Ahamkara and Mahat-tattva. The following table gives an easy reference to these relations:

Vishnuâ€™s Form
Potency
Guna
Creation
Devata

Aniruddha
Sri Devi
Sattva (Goodness)
Devata (Brahma)
Vishnu (maintenance)

Pradyumna
Bhu Devi
Rajas (Passion)
Ahamkara (false ego)
Brahma (creation)

Sankarsana
Nila Devi
Tamas (Ignorance)
Mahat-tattva (Aggregate elements)
Siva (destruction)

Thus the first phase of creation is when the Vishnu-avatars associating with their respective potencies create the three Gunas.

The second phase is the creation of the three levels of control, i.e. the demigods, the false designations and the aggregate of material elements.

The Creation of the Senses and Elements

In the third phase the Ahamkara or false ego gets into contact with the three Gunas, and from the Sattvika Ahamkara the demigods are born, from the Rajasika the ten sensory organs are born, and from Tamasika the ten material elements are born.

This is illustrated in the following table:

Vishnu-form
Dominated element
Form of Ahamkara Created by it

Vasudeva
Citta (Consciousness)

Aniruddha
Manas (Mind)
Sattvika
Devatas (demigods)

Pradyumna
Buddhi (Intelligence)
Rajasika
Indriyas (senses)

Sankarsana
Ahamkara (False Ego)
Tamasika
Mahabhutas and Tanmatras (gross and subtle elements)

Now there are ten senses (five knowledge-acquiring senses like hearing, sight, tactile sense, smelling and tasting, and five working senses like speech, hands, feet, genitals and rectum) and also ten elements (five subtle elements like sound, form, light, taste and smell, and five gross elements like earth, water, fire, air and ether). In the following table you see the relationship between the Jnanendriyas, Karmendriyas, gross and subtle elements, the Deities controlling these Tattwas, the planets and Mahapurusha yogas linked to them.

Knowledge Acquiring Senses
Working Senses
Subtle

Elements (Tanmatras)
Gross Elements (Mahabhutas)
Deities

of

Tattwa
Ruling

Planet
Maha-

Purusa

Yoga

Hearing
Speech
Sound
Ether
Vishnu
Jupiter
Hamsa

Touch
Hands
Form
Air
Shiva
Saturn
Sasa

Sight
Feet
Light
Fire
Surya
Mars
Rucaka

Taste
Genitals
Taste
Water
Shakti
Venus
Malavya

Smell
Rectum
Fragrance
Earth
Ganesha
Mercury
Bhadra

Apart form this, the four internal senses (consciousness, mind, intelligence and false ego) are controlled respectively by Vishnu (the maintainer), Chandra (Moon), Brahma (the secondary creator) and Siva (the destructor).

Jeevatma and Paramatma

Parashara also describes that every living entity in the universe has jeevatma (individual soul) and Paramatma (Supersoul) in his heart. This is because not only the material elements originate from Lord Vishnu, but the soul proper, or the conscious living entity himself is eternal part and parcel of the Supreme. These individual souls are called Jeevatmas. But the Lord, in order to control and accompany the individual souls, also manifests in His localised aspect as Paramatma. Both of them are called amsas or fragments, because they are parts and parcels of the Supreme. The difference only is that the Jeevatma is subordinate to the Supreme Lord, although coming into the material world he forgets about it and gets covered buy false designations, however the Paramatma is non-different from Lord Vishnu Himself, and has the same potencies.

Those living entities, who are direct incarnations of the Lord or His partial expansions, will be predominated by Paramatmamsa. There are four classes in this category: the Avataras (Rama, Krishna, Nrsimha, etc.), the Saktis (Sri, Bhu, Nila etc.), the Guna-avataras (Brahma, Vishnu and Siva) and the Grahas (Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn). The rest of the living entities belong to the Jeevatmamsa category.

The Avataras of the Lord

"There are many incarnations of the unborn Supreme Lord. Lord Janardana (Vishnu) has incarnated as the Navagrahas (nine planets) to bestow on the living beings the results of their karma (actions). He assumed the auspicious form of Grahas to destroy the strength of the demons, to sustain the strength of the devas (demigods) and to establish dharma (religious principles)." ( BPHS. 2.3-4.)

The planets are representatives of the Lordâ€™s Avataras, or incarnations. Thus the planets are controlled on three levels: There is one personality in control of the planet itself, there is one Devata (demigod) above him, and there is one Avatar of Vishnu above all of them. The following table shows these relations:

Planet
Controller
Demigod
Avatara

Sun Surya (Sungod) Agni (Firegod) Rama
Moon Soma (Moongod) Varuna (God of water) Krishna
Mars Kuja (God of Mars) Katikkeya (God of war) Narasimha (Lion headed)
Mercury Budha (God of Mercury) Vishnu (The Maintainer) Buddha (the Enlightened)
Jupiter Brihaspati (Guru of Demigods) Indra (King of Demigods) Vamana (Dwarf)
Venus Sukracarya (Guru of Demons) Saci (Indraâ€™s wife) Parasurama (Rama with the Chopper)
Saturn Sani (Brother of Yama) Brahma (God of creation) Kurma (Tortoise)
Rahu Head of a demon Durga (Material energy) Varaha (Boar)
Ketu Body of a demon Ganesa (God of Vedas) Matsya (Fish)
Ascendant Bhumi Devi (Mother Earth) Kalki

Other authors, like Jaimini and Harihara give slightly different sets of Deities for the 9 planets. The following table indicates the Deities assigned by Jaimini, and those that may be assigned by followers of other religions like Sikhism or Christianity:

Planet
Deity by Jaimini
Sikh Gurus
Christianity

Sun
Shiva
Nanak Dev
Holy Ghost

Moon
Gauri
Gobind Dev
Virgin Mary

Mars
Skanda
Gobind Singh
Crusaders

Mercury
Vishnu
Har Krishan
Apostles

Jupiter
Samba Siva
Arjun Dev
Jesus Christ

Venus
Lakshmi
Tegh Bahadur
Angels

Saturn
Narayana
Amar Das
Holy Father

Rahu
Durga
Angad Dev
Mystics

Ketu
Ganapati
Har Rai
Saints

Lagna
Ram Das

These significations will be widely used later on, when we will take lessons about the Ishta Devata (worship able Deity) and spirituality in the chart. Interestingly, Parashara says, speaking about the Avataras, that Rama, Krishna, Narasimha and Varaha are fully endowed with Paramatmamsa, while the rest have Jeevatmamsa in them also. This can be explained astrologically as follows: The Sun and the Moon are the two main planets, and all the rest of the planets receive their rays from them. Thus they are considered to be divine planets. Narasimha is also considered as a higher form of Divinity, and He represents the energy and determination needed to attain a goal. Narasimhadeva and Varahadeva killed two brother demons: Hiranyakasipu and Hiranyaksa. They represented the bad qualities of pride and greed. Rahu is the worst planet, and it represents this degraded age of Kali. However if Rahu is the Atmakaraka, then the native may become purifiead of all contaminations and reach God, similarly as Varaha lifted out the Earth from the depth of the Garbha ocean. The grahas are supposed to represent the different powers exhibited by the respective Avataras even at the times, when these Avataras are un-manifest. Parashara concludes the 2nd chapter as follows:

"At the time of the great destruction the Grahas merge into Lord Vishnu. One who knows of all these will become well versed in the knowledge of the past, present and future. No one can know these things without the knowledge of astrology. Hence everyone must study this science, and particularly the Brahmins. One who, devoid of the knowledge of this science, blames it, will go to the hell called Raurava, and will be reborn blind."

COURTESY-brihaspati