Planetary Principles in Terms of Consciousness

The planets stand for certain principles of human life. Every human being manifests these principles one way or the other depending upon the plane his free-will identifies itself with. These principles are supposed to be the external expression of the Manasaputras of Brahma and may be taken as His representatives for the solar system to which we belong. There is only one Supreme Consciousness in the entire world, but this Consciousness gets divided into the 7 principles of the 7 planets when functioning on the lower planes of the solar system, just as a ray of light gets divided into its constituent seven colours in passing through a prism.

Jupiter stands for the principles of growth, development and harmoniously balanced expansion on the materialistic as well as on the spiritualistic side of man’s evolution. He uplifts a human being by way of increase in his possessions—material as well as spiritual, giving bliss to all who expand under his influence. This growth takes place-by way of evolution of the various bodies of man—physical, astral, mental and causal, through which he projects an aura surrounding him and this aura functions in terms of the various Tattvas corresponding to the four elements of Nature – earth, water, fire and air. Thus, Jupiter represents the vegetative consciousness just like the seed of a plant which grows into a tree only to be useful to the animal and human kingdoms but not useful to itself.

Jupiter is considered next only to the Sun as he signifies the first step down into limitation from the all pervading life of the Sun. He has the power to receive that life from the Sun and the ability to merge back again into the Sun. He acts as a messenger bringing the higher life downwards and as a vehicle raising the lower consciousness upwards. Thus he becomes the Guru or the agent between God and man.

Jupiter signifies the power of reconciliation and harmonization corresponding to the Guna Sattwa. Through Pisces he signifies expansion of feelings and realization through feelings of the reality of life and through Sagittarius, he signifies expansion of thoughts and ideas inspired by the Higher Self. All the higher powers and instincts of die soul are stored in a man’s aura governed by Jupiter.

The person born under a well-aspected and dignified Jupiter is humane, benevolent,philanthropic, sympathetic, honourable, sincere, devout, social, popular and respected. Such a person seeks to cultivate the good opinion of society and as such he will not easily over-step the limits of good behaviour. Jupiter governs health as physical harmony, law as social harmony and religion as spiritual harmony. Jupiter signifies the power of judgment giving the man his views, opinions, biases and prejudices. At lower levels of evolution, Jupiter, being highly conventional, does not allow the power of reasoning to get manifested and has therefore come to signify the priest as the persecutor of the prophet. The extreme evil of Jupiter shows up as deceit and hypocrisy.

Mars represents the desire consciousness in man. Under his influence, each desire attracted to the astral plane becomes energy prompting man into action for its gratification. For this purpose Mars gives enterprise, endeavor, strength to battle with adverse fortune, courage, spirit of adventure and heroism. He is the center of all emotional and passional impulses. Thus he is said to represent the animal soul of man.

Mars is capable of absorbing almost the whole of the life and energy distributed by the Sun. The force given by Mars should never be despised but channelised suitably. It is only when the force of Mars is perverted and abused that he spoils one’s fortunes. The whole fate of an incarnation depends on whether the Antahkarana represented by Saturn will be able to restrain the Kama Manas represented by Mars and whether the force of Mars is transmuted into that of Venus.

Takes Offense Easily

The mind is coarsened and made tricky and cunning as long as the senses represented by Mars dominate the mind. The Martian dislikes restraint and limitation, takes offence over trivial reasons and sees personal slights. Ail uncontrolled and blind force of Mars makes a man a criminal and slave to cruel tendencies. Mars signifies a state in which boldness, defiance, temerity and even fool-hardiness will be the main expression of life. Mars gives selfish love, jealousy, aggressiveness, partiality and a tendency to lean on others through attachment out of which arise tragedies associated with personal loves and hates. In the lower man, Mars expresses himself as turbulent, ill-regulated passions and desires, anger, lust, cruelty, antagonism, warfare and murder.

An above average Marian has grit, power to direct, govern and superintend, courage and confidence in his ability to accomplish his goals. In the present times, the influence of Mars is mostly seen in self-assertion and a struggle to maintain self-interests. The highest influence of Mars is one of devotion, mental strength, a desire for self-moralisation, love of purity and truth and a fearless determination to accomplish right for right’s sake only.

The Moon symbolizes the soul of man which is the intermediary between the spirit above and. body below. It is the representative of the personal soul with its varying moods which can rise upto and become one with Spiritual Consciousness above and can descend and be bound to the body below. In fact, this is the inner meaning of the Moon’s dual phases of light and dark, waxing and waning.

The main functions of the Moon to the horoscope is that of the collector, conveyor and distributor of all the influences connected with the planets and the Zodiac. In fact it synthesizes the whole of the Zodiac and in particular, the fiery triplicity as the crown of the personality. The Sun, the Moon and Ascendant form a trinity of three main centres inter-connected with one another. When the soul manifests positive magnetism, a current of energy passes from the Moon to the Ascendant promoting fertility and growth of all kinds and when the soul manifests negative magnestism, a return current of energy passes from the Ascendant to the Moon which is apparently deprivative, disintegrative and vampirising in its action.

The Moon signifies the super-sensous etheric mould which is a model of the physical body that is to be. It is given by the Lords of Karma and it is attracted to the womb of the mother at the pre-natal epoch. Through the etheric body, the physical organs receive their life and vitality from the Sun. It contains all the fatalistic tendencies as the bad aspirations and impressions of past birth have been worked into it by the Divine Being. It also contains the possibilities of the future unfolding of the personality.

The Moon is the symbol of illusion for nothing under her influence remains constant but is constantly changing and dissolving. The Moon and the Sun act as time-measurers and universal Karmic agents without whose consent no event on earth can come to fruition. The Moon’s influence upon the body is physiological, modifying the various bodily processes. The Moon represents the psychic intellectual man. The Moon, therefore, stands for psycho-physiological consciousness of the animal man.

Due to the plasticity of forms that the Moon governs, every form becomes susceptible to the influence that the Moon transmits to it. The Moon is sensitive, receptive, plastic, changeful, imaginative, instinctive and mediumistic.

Saturn represents the critical stage between the human consciousness above and the animal consciousness below, that is, the half-human and the half-animal consciousness. Saturn guards the narrow pathway leading upward and downward between these two states of consciousness. Saturn also represents the consciousness of egoism – egoistic and selfish tendencies.

Saturn is the god of Justice making one more and more moral and ethical through the sense of justice and weighing every human being in the balance of Libra in which he is exalted. Saturn is also the god of Fate and destiny as he makes each man absolutely his own law-giver. This is clearly proved by the working out in each horoscope through Saturn, the limitations and bondages forged in a past birth, through the action of the desire-nature. Saturn demands every man to lead a life of continence.

The main aspect of Saturn is Dharma or duty. Saturn imposes a hard fate upon those who neglect their duty through ignorance or selfishness. In terms of the Yogas mentioned in the Srimad Bhagawad Gita, Saturn represents Karma Yoga as he is the lord over duty and the path of action without seeking its fruit.

Saturn represents the thoughts that get crystallized by their repetition and as such forms the habits of man. This process of crystallization has to be broken up if at all the personality hopes to be saved. Saturn has come to be known as a malefic because of his restraining, restricting, limiting, binding and materializing influence. Saturn delays, retards, hinders and denies for no other purpose than that perfection shall be reached by all men through his chasieaiBg, purifying and refining irifluence. Saturn has the power to separate mind from feeling nod through analysis of the feelings, extract die virtue latent in each vice of the animal nature.

Saturn is the tester and sifter of the spiritual from die material experiences. In every crisis and n all critical stages of man’s evolution, the influence of Saturn decides the issue. Saturn balances the emotions and finally purifies them, not as punishment for wrong-doing, but as a result of clinging to form. Saturn’s virtues are true humility, endurance, sacrifice, serenity, modesty, mental perfection, precesion, self-discipline, coolness, self-control, patience, sobriety and meditation.

Venus represents the human consciousness that is free from the limitations of the personal self. Consciousness at this stage would be perfectly balanced between the thought and feeling as neither would overpower the other. Actions become duties, love bestowed unselfishy and the soul ready to unite with others in perfect co-operation. Of course this implies that Saturn’s stage of evolution has been previously very active in its moralizing influence.

Venus represents the synthesis of all the affections and the best attractions in the past birth and brings the fruition in the present life, of all the strivings put forth in the past towards their fulfillment. Hence Venus is known as the Grace of God. All trine aspects in a horoscope indicate that some part of the environment of the owner of the horoscope will be harmonious and pleasant and as such represent the Grace of God.

As Venus represents the pure abstract mind, the Venus-stage of evolution ensures self-consciousness on the intellectual plane under the influence of which the soul gets transformed from the superior animal to the definitely human. Venus denotes the principle of creative power as can be seen in the various arts, music, dancing, literature, sculpture, architecture etc. But its highest creative power is in the field of occultism and is called as Kriyashakti which is defined as the mysterious power of thought which enables it to produce external, perceptible phenomenol results by its own inherent energy. Venus is therefore called the quintessence of the cardinal cross of signs.

Venus brings order opt of disorder through its faculties of refined behaviour, reconciliation and compromise. It represents harmlessness and true innocence. The exaltation of Venus in Pisces represents the end of the cycle of births and deaths, the universal solvent.

Venus governs all things that are sweet pleasant, lovely, ideal, excellent, complete, symmetrical, harmonious, graceful and beautiful. Love, marriage and friendship are pre-eminently under its influence. The extreme evil of Venus is pleasure through promiscuous company and the tendency to take life very easy.

Mercury symbolizes spiritual human consciousness one step above that of Venus. The soul at this stage of evolution would have gained vast experience, knowledge and intuition. It will have the power to mirror the thoughts and feelings of others and respond sympathetically to their appeals. An intuitive soul has the power to know directly without any laborious experiment, trial and error as it would have risen above these stages. It will have the power of immediate answer, fully and completely, to the outward presentation of any fact in such a way that the outer appeal and inner reply will be identical resulting in perfect sympathy, absolute harmony and infallible wisdom.

Mercury is the god of knowledge. He represents the spirally moving creative energy called the Kundalini. He is the adept of wisdom who can mentally adapt himself to all environments and to every kind of existence. Mercury is the expressor and mirror of all the planets. When freed from all materialistic contact with other planets, Mercury gives the power to think in abstract terms, to know and to understand the laws of Nature by reasoning out and by discriminating between the real and the un-real. By thought, speech and action, Mercury has a special mission to perform. He transforms the essence of all thoughts into memory. Mercury is said to be convertible in the sense that he is capable of absorbing the characteristics of other planets without losing his own.

In its rulership over Gemini, Mercury denotes clear insight, clear vision, discrimination, mental compassion which embraces all men as brothers and the whole of humanity as relatives and a large tolerance with quiet pragmatism. In his rulership over Virgo, Mercury denotes virginity, a pure mind, self-critical, wise and discriminative with a perfect mental response. Mercury in his association with mutable signs, represents the Guna Sattwa, temperance and balance of the cardinal and fixed characteristics and the power to know and experience the unity and harmony between the pairs of opposites.

In the present times, there are very few who have reached the stage of evolution represented by Mercury.