Two Eclipses Most Foul
BY: PATITA PAVANA DAS ADHIKARY
Oct 24, 2012 — BLAGOEVGRAD, BULGARIA (SUN) — Feature story in 'The Astrological Newsletter', 26 Oct. 2012 (#32).
Two Evil Eclipses on the Horizon
We have discussed the fundamental methods of prognistication vis a vis eclipses in past newsletters including May 2011 and July 2011. Please refer to those issues for more on this fascinating subject. –Ed.
13 Nov: Full Solar Eclipse in Libra
Debilitated Sun conjoins his exalted enemy Saturn while being eclipsed by debilitated Rahu in Scorpio. The lord of the eclipsed sign Venus is also debilitated in Virgo. Jupiter goes retrograde and comets are coming our way. Before us are some very inauspicious omens.
According to the NASA eclipse website there will be two eclipses in November 2012. The first one is a total solar eclipse on 13 Nov, Kartika Amavashya, which begins at 20:35 UTC (GMT). The second and final in the series follows a fortnight later as a partial lunar eclipse on Kartika Purnima. This unwelcome twosome does not present a pretty picture. There will certainly be war, or rather present wars will continue. But the question is how far will the violence spread?
What is unique about this event is that Rahu, the eclipser of the Sun, is in the rashi following the Sun's position. That means that the Sun will be in the final degrees of Libra (at 27° 51'), while Rahu will be 4° ahead of the Sun, next door at 02° 06' Scorpio. This is a total eclipse that occurs while both the Sun and Rahu are in debility. It therefore assumes a grimace that is all the more destructive. To add to this mix, Sun is conjoined his bitter enemy Saturn, who is exalted in Libra. And Venus, the ruler of Libra where the eclipse takes place, is also debilitated in Virgo. Not only that, but comets, the work of Rahu's other half or Ketu, have been spotted according to this recent article. For the devotees of the Lord, the days ahead call for caution and circumspection. But before we consider those immediate factors, let us examine—from the vantage of the Puranas as well as the jyotish shastras—the implications of the enmity between Sun and Saturn.
Bitter Enmity Between Sun and Saturn
How is it that the demigod of the Sun and Saturn became sworn enemies? According to the scriptures of jyotish, the answer lies in their inherent natures. Saturn is the planet of the masses, the shudra working force. Sun represents the proud and elite kshatriyas, the royal few. Sun is hot, fiery and "near" insofar as the government is the omnipresent and regulating force whose laws we cannot avoid. Saturn is cold and distant, the planetary ruler of winter. Just as a king keeps shudras outside the darbar hall, so Saturn is the most distant from the Sun (of all the planets of Vedic astrology).
But there is a more profound reason for their mutual enmity which is found in the Puranic history of the birth of Shanideva. This is narrated in the Matsya and Vishnu Puranas as well as in the Mahabharata. Long, long ago Aditi and Kashyapa Muni gave birth to Surya who would become the demi-god of the Sun planet. Eventually Surya married Samjna, the lovely daughter of the universal architect Viswakarma. The couple became the parents of Vaivaswata Manu ("son of Vivaswan") and of a set of twins, Yami and Yama.
Unfortunately, Samjna was unable to bear the intense heat of her husband. Surya had become angry with Samjna and had cursed her that her son would be the lord of the dead and her daughter would be fickle and unpredictable. Hence her daughter became Yami, or the Yamuna River, while her son grew to become the stern Lord Yamaraja, king of Naraka. Their elder son, Vaivaswata Manu, had many sons including King Ishvaku. In his line would appear King Bhagirath, who brought the Ganga from Swarga, as well as the Personality of Godhead Lord Ramachandra. In Bhagavad Gita As It Is (4.1) we find Shrila Prabhupada's reference to the line of Vaivaswata Manu with this quote from Mahabharata's Shanti-parva (348.51-52):
"In the beginning of the Treta-yuga this science of the relationship with the Supreme was delivered by Vivaswan to Manu. Manu, being the father of mankind, gave it to his son Maharaja Ishvaku, the King of this earth planet and forefather of the Raghu dynasty in which Lord Ramacandra appeared. Therefore, Bhagavad-gita existed in the human society from the time of Maharaja Ishvaku."
Yamuna and Yamaraja
The sibling relationship between Yamuna and Yama is celebrated in Vraja during the festival of Bhratru Dwitiya, known locally as Bhai Dooj. On this day sisters prepare sumptuous meals for their brothers. Once Yama paid a visit to his sister Yami. The river goddess served her brother so nicely that he declared that any sister who well serves her brother on this day will not have to visit his abode. The festival of Bhratru Dvitiya is celebrated each year on Kartika shukla dvitiya (the second day of the waxing fortnight of Kartika) on the day following Govardhana Puja. During this celebration—which occurs this year on 15 November—pilgrims throng to Vishrama Ghat in Mathura. There they pay homage to the holy river that more than any other sacred stream is sanctified by the many pastimes of Lord Shri Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
And, incidentally, since Goddess Yamuna is the daughter of Lord Surya Narayana, her place of origin in the Himalayas, known as Yamunottari ("where the Yamuna runs North") has many sulphuric hot springs.
The Shadow Wife
Returning now to our narration, Samjna felt that she could not stay with Surya due to his intense temperature. She took leave of the household one day, but not before leaving her shadow Chhaya Devi behind as her mystical representation. She ordered her shadow to serve her husband faithfully and to look after her children. Chhaya immediately took up her duties for her unsuspecting husband. As time went by Chhaya was pleased to bear Surya two sons and a daughter. These are Shani, Savarni Manu and Tapti devi, the goddess of a holy river that rises in central India and meets the Indian Ocean in the Surat district of Gujarat. They produced one other daughter, Vishti, who is mentioned in the Matsya but not the other Puranas. Eventually Savarni Manu would repair to Mount Sumeru to perform tapasya as he is destined to take up the post as a future Manu. Tapti devi married King Samvarana. With the birth of their son Kuru sprang the Kuru dynasty, a dynasty that was destined to all but end at the dawn of Kali Yuga, ironically on the field of Tapti's son, Kurukshetra.
Chhaya was partial to her own offspring. Eventually, Yama began to suspect that Chhaya was not his actual mother because of the way she doted upon her own children. One day Yama felt neglected and, becoming angry, he kicked her. Chhaya retaliated by cursing him that his foot would become infected. Young Yama, being the future King of Dharma, went to his father and righteously confessed his act. "Even if I did something wrong to Mother," he reasoned, "How could a mother ever curse her own child? She therefore is not my mother."
To mitigate the effects of Chhaya's curse, Surya gave Yama a bird that would devour the worms of the infection. Afterwards Yama repaired to Gokarna Tirtha to pray to Lord Shiva. Thousands of years passed before Lord Shiva became pleased and granted Yama a boon that he would become the Dharmaraja who judges sinners and metes out justice to them with suitable punishments. When the Sun god confronted Chhaya with young Yama's irrefutable logic, she confessed to the ruse and to her part in the plot to fool him. Chhaya was sent away and Surya became determined to locate his wife Samjna.
It is ironic that the Sun demi-god, who is responsible for creating shadows, was himself bewildered by the shadow of his wife. This incident serves an example of the strength of this world's shadow energy, Maya, to bewilder even the very great and powerful.
Surya went to the domain of his father-in-law Vishwakarma. The great architect explained that his daughter had earlier returned to his house, but he had refused to allow her entrance due to her abandoning her husband. With the help of Vishwakarma, Surya discovered his love Samjna hiding in the desert in the form of a mare. Desiring his spouse's company, Surya took the form of a powerful steed. In time Samjna gave birth to twin sons through her nostrils. These twin sons are the Ashvinikumaras, Dashra and Nasatya, the horse-headed physicians of the devatas. Dashra and Nasatya are also the presiding deities of the zodiac's first nakshatra, the Ketu-ruled Asvini star (Alpha Arietis or Hamal) in Aries or Mesha rashi.
To solve Surya's household difficulties, Vishwakarma applied his engineering skills to the problem of his excessive heat, and reduced his fire by 25%. According to some accounts, this energy was converted into celestial weapons: the chakra of Lord Vishnu, the trishula of Shiva and the vajra of Indra. According to another account, that energy became the other planets, with Shani becoming the most remote of the lot. Enmity between the Sun and the son of the Sun has sprung from the fact that Shani was given the most remote position among the nava-grahas, and from the fact that his mother was chased away by his father.
Regarding the Sun as the source of the other planets, we may defer to our spiritual master's explanation in Bhagavad Gita As It Is (4.1): "In this millenium, the Sun-god is known as Vivaswan the king of the Sun, which is the origin of all planets within this solar system." His Divine Grace quotes the exalted head of our sampradaya, Lord Brahma: "Let me worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Govinda, who is the original person and under whose order the Sun, who is the king of all planets, is assuming immense power and heat. The Sun represents the eye of the Lord and traverses its orbit in obedience to His order."
It is noteworthy that these two brothers, Shani and Yama, grew to assume similar duties. Shani's job is to punish sinners for their misdeeds while they are yet in this body. And Yama's job as Dharmaraja is to punish sinners after they die. Yet for the devotee, Shani is not really a feared malefic, or papa-graha, as he is generally labeled. For bhaktas, in Shani lies the iron-like strength of tapasya, philosophical understanding and character. And neither is Yamaraja fearful to devotees for he is the keeper of religious principles and one of the twelve mahajanas. As Lord Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has stated—quoting King Yudhisthira—they who are wise accept the path that is advocated by the mahajanas (CC Madhya 17.186).
Astrological Results of Saturn / Sun Combination
The physical planets are ultimately controlled by demi-gods each of whom are devotees and who represent Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This means that they are persons who have preferences like anyone else. Therefore, much like ourselves, these planetary deities form friendships and enmities with one another. But among all planets, there is no enmity equal to that which exists between Saturn and his father Surya. And when the Sun is debilitated and Saturn is exalted, and there is an eclipse, it is wise for us to be very, very circumspect.
There exists such bitterness between Sun and Saturn that even under normal circumstances their conjunction in any house of a birth chart can cause a sudden dissolution of the affairs of that house. If, for example this contentious father-son conjunction occurs in the 7th house of partnerships, then the person's marriage may fall apart with great enmity. If Shani and Surya combine in the house of career, the 10th or karmastan, then the person may suffer a steep fall from a high position. If the pair meets in the 12th house of loss, the vyayastan, the person may suffer devastating losses or even ongoing poverty. If they conjoin in the 2nd house, it can cause debts, blindness or facial injuries. Of course the degree of affliction depends upon the rashi they meet in and of course the lagna at the time of birth. However, these results are magnified still more if Sun and Saturn are close together. That is if Saturn is combust (asta) or within 15° degrees or less of the Sun.
Payback Time
Therefore what can be the results of a debilitated Sun conjoining exalted Saturn during an eclipse caused by a debilitated Rahu? And while the house dispositor Venus is debilitated and Brihaspati is retrograde? One thought comes to mind … and that is "payback time" for the demonic hordes now overrunning planet Bhumi. These Kali Yugans, the current denizens of the earth, are so sinful and dishonest that their future picture looks grim indeed. We live in degraded times when fast food chains can boast about how many billions of cows they have slaughtered. Sense gratification for the dead body reigns supreme and the existence of the immortal soul is considered a myth by the so-called educated. Most places of worship are merely abodes of ignorance meant for corrupt political rallies and social gatherings. Horrible social diseases plague the earth. Aggressive nations swearing alegiance to a one world totalitarian order drop bombs on cities. The qualification to hold political office is the ability to lie to voters so that they can be cheated out of their accumulated savings.
However, there are two somewhat mitigating factors for the full solar eclipse of 13 November. The first is that Saturn is not combust (or burnt) by the Sun. Rather the two old enemies are separated by a full 17°, which is 2° beyond combustion. And it is no small thing that the benign and cooling rays of Jupiter from his position in Taurus aspects Rahu as well as the dispositor of Libra, or debilitated Venus. True, Jupiter in Taurus is in his enemy Venus's sign, since the guru of the demigods finds himself in the house of the guru of the asuras. And Jupiter will also be retrograde (as if running in trepidation) during the eclipse, indicating a sense of retreat. However, the aspect of Jupiter to Venus serves to cancel Venus' debility (since Jupiter rules the sign wherein Venus becomes exalted). And this nicha-bhanga raja yoga (lit. "breaking of Venus' fallen state") in turn serves to fortify the house wherein the eclipse takes place. This is the signal for divine intervention. And that is where you, the devotee, comes in.
Therefore the final verdict is that all the NATO sabre rattling over Iran, with warmongers from both the Republican and Democratic party supporting an anhilating nuclear attack on that country, will certainly draw near. But it isn't likely to happen. Not yet, anway. Jupiter's aspect to Venus indiates that higher intelligence and a call of dharma will prevail. As Shrila Bhaktivinoda Thakura says, "But then a voice, how deep and soft within ourselves is felt …" Jupiter represents that inner voice of conscience.
Then the next big question is, "Will this eclipse—and the lunar event that follows it two weeks later—be the precursor of World War Three and a figurative end of the world? The answer again is No. However, devotees should still prepare for hard times ahead and should plan their lives to be outside of harm's way. It is not possible to survive in a fools' paradise for long. We must take very seriously Shrila Prabhupada's order to create more devotee-run communal farms based upon self-sufficiency and loving service to Shri Shri Radha-Krishna. Shrila Prabhupada used to say that that just as the soul cannot be separated from this body at least in the conditioned state, similarly it is impossible for the disciple to separate himself from the order of the spiritual master. We have discussed many times in The Astrological Newsletter the prophecies of His Divine Grace regarding the collapse of paper currency and of the cities that are, like unsupported money, propped up artificially. When the electricity is turned off and chaos reigns in the streets below, which fool will long for a fifty million dollar penthouse on the 75th floor of an exclusive building? Each ounce of fertile soil in a devotional and self-sufficient community will be worth its weight in gold.
Jupiter's involvement in the eclipse also means that you, the devotees of Krishna and brahmanas of the Earth, are indeed performing your duties by purifying the atmosphere through calling out to the Lord through the medium of His Holy Name. This is true, even though eclipses are unkind towards the priestly class and cause devotees to feel the need for withdrawing or even for a full retreat. Sankirtan and japa are the only world-saving yagnas and those who chant the Divine Names of the Lord to repel the dark clouds of Maya are most fortunate. When the Holy Names are being chanted all over the globe, then doublessly there will be the desired effect and the impending war loomimg overhead will be delayed. At least this is how we read the stars at the time of this eclipse. Danger comes, but danger passes by—at least for now. Still, the wise amogst us should take these celestial portents seriously and prepare themselves for hard times ahead by digging in. As niti-shast¬ra advises, "As the lion prepares to spring forward by moving backward upon its hind legs, so a wise man withdraws to secure himself and thus prepares for future progress."
Common sense tells us that places where the eclipse will be visible will be more subject to its inauspicious rays. And this eclipse is visible mostly in the Pacific Ocean. Landfall is on northern Australia. But it is a mistake, as some allege, that the eclipse affects only those places where it is visible. No way. Those who are born under Tula rashi (Moon in Libra) or even Tula lagna must be expecially cautious. Industries and countries that come under Libra, like the airlines industry, may also encounter problems. We will see many problems in the very air we breathe like air pollution, eruption of volcanoes, and the spread of viruses. We can expect to see dark clouds gathering, heavy rains and explosions (including chemical factories and airplane malfunctions). We will witness some anomalies coming from Antarctica this time since it is ruled by Libra. Libra is also the general sign of the Orient which must brace for myriad problems including floods, food poisonings, scandals, heightened radioactive activity, storms, etc. The lunar eclipse in Taurus will put emphasis on the regions of the earth ruled by Taurus. Those are the eastern parts of the United States and Canada. The combined effects of the two signs (Taurus and Scorpio) hit the regions on northern Africa and the Middle East most strongly, although parts of Southern Australia and New Zealand will also be affected. Earthquakes in the Mediterranean area all the way to India cannot be ruled out.
28 Nov: Partial Lunar Eclipse on Kartik Purnima
On the full Moon night of Damodar, Kartika Purnima,
the exalted Moon will be partially eclipsed by debilitated Rahu
The second eclipse of November will be a lunar event in Taurus, Rohini nakshatra. It will take place on 28 November and will begin at 12:15 GMT. It is noteworthy that when it comes to lunar eclipses, the bruised nakshatra is given much consideration. Auspicious activities such as beginning journeys should not be undertaken during the influence of Rohini for at least six months. Persons born in Taurus, especially under Rohini, must be cautious for some time to come.
The EFI or Eclipse Field of Influence extends for several weeks before and after the event because an eclipse signals an affliction to the entire lunar cycle (and even beyond). Hence during these tense days ahead and into December there will be increased violence, warfare, incidences of food poisoning, epidemics and various sorts of disasters including earthquakes, volcanoes, poisonous gas clouds, etc. The pre-planned war by NATO on select nations in the Middle East with the intent of de-stabilizing the region will continue. This is explained by US 4-star General and past US Presidential candidate Welsey Clark in the following film where he reveals a US master plan for war in the Middle East.
The abyss between two eclipses, that is from 13 Nov. till 28 Nov., promises to be particularly bleak. However, No, the world is not coming to an end on 21 December. And Yes, the Terra Firma will still be here on 22 December, and for billions of years after that.
HOW WILL THE ECLIPSE AFFECT YOU: If you are interested in knowing the effects of these eclipses on your chart, we will analyze your chart for Euros 20. Please send your time / date / place of birth (write out the month) and any questions and details we should know, along with your kind and much appreciated Euros 20 dakshina via PayPal to yaminidasi@yahoo.com.
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