Vedic/ Puranic stories of Planets : Mn: from Behari

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Dear All

 

Moon: Summarised Entirely from "Myths & Symbols of Vedic Astrology"- Bipin

Behari:

1. Names: (pati/ nath= lord): a) Soma= nectar, Aushad (medicines) pati,

Kumud (lotus, lives on muddy earth, but is nourished to bloom as a

beautiful lily) pati, Nakshatra (asterisms) nath, Shweta (white) jaji=

drawn by white horses. Ref stories below for explanations of these.

2. Parentage: Son of: a) Atri & Anusuya. Atri= 1 of 7 sages on whom

Universe rests (like Atlas). Anusuya= chastity. b) Dharma (righteousness).

c) Prabhakar= Sn/ Fire/ Ocean/ Lord Shiva.

3. Churning of Oceans: Churning of oceans around Mt Meru by the Gods &

Demons, using the Naga (snake) Vasukhi for the churning. This produced

amrit (nectar), poison, Lakshmi (Goddess of prosperity) & the Mn. The Mn

was given a home in the forehead of Lord Shiva. From there, Mn drops amrit,

which nourishes the world.

4. Marriage: Nakshatras (naks): Mn had the 27 naks as his wives. These

were all among Daksha Prajapati's (one of the original Prajapatis=

creators) 60 daughters. Mn visited each a different night. But, was more

fond of Rohini (note there doesn't seem to be any astro-symbolism that I

could figure out!, tho' Roh is a creative nak). Enraged Daksha cursed Mn to

suffer from childlessness (passivity of its creative potential, need for

active male principle) & consumption & die. On his daughters' requests,

this was modified to constant waning & waxing, thru visiting ALL his

daughters impartially. Derives power from visiting ALL 27.

5. EMA: Tara's seduction: Tara, wife of Jp (religious rituals), wanted to

learn higher wisdom (Mn can reveal secrets, which mere rituals can't),

which Jp could not satisfy (so, they had no children), & eloped with Mn for

the same. Tara was pregnant, & didn't want to return to Jp, which resulted

in a war where the Gods sided with Jp, & the Asuras (incl their guru= Ve)

with Mn. Shiva cut the Mn in 2, but the war continued. Bramha intervened &

made the Mn return Tara to Jp (Shiva= force cant sway a mother's

determination, as creative= Bramha can). Tara had conceived Budh (Mc) out

of the Mn & Jp initially did not accept him as his child. But finally

adopted (Mc= adoption) him, as Mc was charming.

6. Mn's son= Budh (Mc), lineage followed by Lunar dynasty (LD)= Puruvas,

Kurus, etc. LD= courageous & learned, but subject to material vices &

internal conflicts (vs Solar= righteous).

7. Male/ female: The receptacle (F) for the creator of the solar system

(Sn). BUT also the active principle (M) for the Earth particularly. Pushes

towards immersion in materiality. Is the desire for material experience, as

Sn= desire for creation= initial manifestation= spiritual push.

8. Symbol: Sits on chariot of 3 wheels (3 gunas), drawn by 10 white

horses (5 on left, 5 on right,= 5 senses, & 5 action-organs, ie hands,

etc.). All need to be coordinated, unlike for Sn.

9. What I learnt from these readings, which I did not understand before:

Actually, having each of my parents having 13 siblings (YES), my childhood

is full of story-listening. And of course, just being in India. So many of

all these planet-stories are there somewhere in my mind. And when I started

learning astrology, some of these came back unconsciously. So I am

specifically drawing attention to what I specifically drew out of THIS

reading:

a) Why a key maraka: Notice that much of maraka rules incl

longevity-spans, do with the Mn too, which used to baffle me earlier. Well,

Sn= life-giver, St= longevity, Jp= protector, why the over-whelming

importance of Mn above all this except the lord of lagna= physical body. Mn

nourishes, as the head of the Earth-household (male), but it is the

receptacle (passive mother) for the Sn's creation of the solar system. Now,

it CONCRETISES the spiritual energy of the Sn, to enable the manifestation

to occur in the 1st place. Creates the 1st base for materialisation to

occur. Is the Dead planet! So as it gives nectar, it simultaneously gives

poison (also used for medicines, so aushadpati, so Carlos Castaneda & his

hunting for herbs on full Mn days). A waning/ afflicted Mn is one of the

worst marakas.

b) Male/ female both?: answered above.

c) Ekaputra (Eka= 1, putra= son, Bahu= many): Sn/ Jp/ Ra= Bahuputra, Mn=

Ekaputra, St/ Jp's ntl enemies ie Ve, Mc (some: & Ma) = Anapathya (barren).

But I don't understand while the nodes limit the no. of children, why Ra is

bahuputra.

 

Best wishes

 

Nandan

 

PS:

1. After I finish all 9 stories, I intend to do 1 article on the common

significations of various numbers, eg 3= the 3 gunas, 5= the 5 senses, etc.

May help me/ others understand various symbolic pictures better. But that

will need more time, as it is scattered all over the place.

 

2. Solai Guru: I wonder when you wish to do the basic lesson of astrology,

ie the planets in the various signs. That is when these relationships b/w

all planets will actually stand out, ie in friend/ exaltation's signs, etc,

& what each mean therefore.