THE REAL SCIENCE BEHIND ASTROLOGICAL REMEDIES (UPAAY) AND MYTHOLOGICAL STORIES- ASTROLOGY DECODED VI

Is Saturn bothering you? Donate or put mustard/sesame oil on the idol of Saturn and do not wear black clothes. Rahu bothering? Donate liquor or put it in flowing water or donate iron weapons. The world of astrology is full of such remedies and in fact such practices have caught up the attention of the world in the recent times and are becoming famous through social media and TV programs. But history is replete with examples where absence of logic has been corrupting the real significance of practices. This blog will explain you the science behind some of these practices to understand the real significance behind the act, and how absence of logic corrupted these practices rendering them useless and rather counterproductive.

**** Before we begin I suggest that you go through the previous blogs of the Astrology decoded series especially those, which explain that how Astrology is an outcome of Ayurveda and how planets of astrology represent different levels of Ayurvedic doshas in the body called as Vata Pitta and Kapha. Also do watch Videos of THE ROOT CAUSE series on YouTube to understand basic principles of Ayurveda.

Here we go…

DONATING/OFFERING OF MUSTARD/SESAME OIL TO SATURN IDOLS

Saturn represents Vata dosha of Ayurveda (paucity of blood relative to kapha) and when Vata goes high in the body (could be during onset of Saturn period/dasha), it leads to poor blood circulation in the peripherals leading to issues like pain in the muscles/dry skin etc. Now since skin is the biggest organ of our body and it also absorbs things it comes in contact with, such a person (with high vata) needs massage of those oils which would increase blood circulation and feed the body with nutrients. Sesame oil and Mustard oil both are warm, mildly bitter, sweet and mildly astringent oils (with mustard being pungent too) so when they are fed to the skin, they expand blood vessels on the skin and feed them with nutrition from the oil as well as the as from the blood which was not reaching the skin properly due to narrowed blood vessels. This is the reason that massages with these two oils are considered very healthy for Vata people who are also called as Saturn dominated (Shani Pradhan) people. But due to absence of understanding of this logic, the world began to apply these oils on Saturn’s idol instead of applying it on their vata ridden (or saturn dominated) body, thus rather than healing themselves with the help of these remedies (which an ayurvedic physician does), people started putting these oils on idols. Their wise consumption too helps in pacifying Vata e.g. if body has excess of cold vata, then mustard oil should be used in food preparation instead of ghee, sesame and coconut.

***This post is an extract from the book THE ROOT CAUSE- Ayurveda, Astrology and beyond for a blissful life”. To pick up a copy of the book, please click the link/s mentioned at the end of this post ⇓⇓⇓⇓⇓

DONATING/OFFERING LIQUOR TO RAHU IDOL

Rahu represents that energy in one’s life that excites (high vata and pitta) the mind of the person and pushes him/her towards materialism, however too much of excitement could also reach to a level of destruction. And therefore when Rahu is disturbing a person (or likely to), then such people should totally stay from those foods/drinks which would further increase their Rahu. Alcohol is one such food that increases vata towards mind (by reducing blood from there). And therefore it was a practice during ancient times that a person with uncontrolled Rahu should stay away from liquor and instead donate it in a temple or throw it in flowing water. So, donation did not refer to buying liquor and then donating it, which is what is happening today unfortunately. It meant not to consume those things, which increase Rahu. Sadly the malpractice is that we keep consuming it but in parallel buy it from the market and donate and that’s why Rahu never settles.

**** Remember even foods like onion, garlic, tea, coffee and even chocolates increase vata towards brain and increase one’s Rahu and therefore onion and garlic were associated with Rahu-Ketu by the Vedic sciences causing rajasic and tamasic minds and are also considered as one of the causes of today’s chaotic minds.

DONATING IRON WHEN RAHU OR SATURN ARE BAD

Since a person with hyper-excited mind (due to ill effect of Rahu or Saturn as both are vata planets) can even kill a person in a fit of rage, it was suggested to donate all iron (which were weapons) during this time to avoid any kind of violence.

DONATING BLACK AND DARK BLUE CLOTHES WHEN RAHU OR SATURN ARE BAD

It’s a scientific fact that black bodies absorb more heat vis a vis their lighter counterparts and this is the reason that during summers, one feels comfortable in light clothes rather than the dark ones. Exactly, this is the reason that black and dark blue clothes should not be worn by those having bad Saturn or Rahu (Vata is like a thin wire and if high current i.e. pitta or heat passes through it, the wire and it’s insulation is bound to burn leading to loss of health as well as peace of mind). And therefore a person going through such a period should donate such colored belongings. 

OFFERING WATER/MILK/BAEL TO LORD SHIVA’S IDOL

Many of you would know that Lord Shiva, the supreme God is incomplete without Goddess Parvati’s name. Why so? Because Parvati whose other name is Prakriti (nature), emerged when nothing or absoluteness (which is Shiva only) decided to shake itself out of slumber. Thus Parvati in a way is the active form of Shiva only. Like any other planet, both of these energies too, reside inside our body and mind. So when we sleep or meditate, we reduce the  ongoing processes in our mind and body to very low levels thus reaching near Shiva and when we are fully active, we invoke Parvati. Items like water, bael fruit and milk are cooling in nature and therefore should be offered to our body (especially mind) whenever Parvati (nature) is agitated and is too far away from Shiva. However again the malpractice began when instead of offering it ourselves, we began offering it to Shivalinga, which again led to superstition amongst people.

Thus we must question our minds which have got conditioned right from the childhood due to traditions being practiced without understanding their significance.

*** The ritual of recommending stones for different people basis which planet will be beneficial for their life as per birth chart was extremely scientific e.g. Pearl being white in color not only instills peace in the mind but is also made up of CaCO3 which after entering into the blood stream through our skin reduces acidity in the body thereby calming pitta down. Similarly red stone invokes mars (on ground too red color invokes passionate feelings).

UNDERSTANDING THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE SATURN (SHANI) FAMILY

Mythology says Saturn’s father was Sun, Mother was Chhaya (meaning shade) step mother was Sun’s first wife- Sangya (meaning Noun) and Step brother was Yama (god of death). So here was the significance of this story. Sun means pitta meaning ego and since ego is bound to create the feeling of “I”, Sangya has been shown to be the wife of Sun (It is ego that creates NOUN). So, when Sun was not shining bright meaning not high on ego, it created shade (i.e. Chhaya) which gave birth to Saturn- a cold and astringent personality low on ego/pride and slow on movement due to low pitta resulting in long life. On the other hand Yama (born out of Sun- Sangya conjunction) is the result of ego/pride  and pride/pitta/ego is the one that ultimately leads to invite decline and death.

Next blog on – ASTROLOGY AND AYURVEDA-THE GIFTS BY THE HIGHER REALMS TO CARRY OUT SWOT ANALYSIS FOR A BLISSFUL LIFE- ASTRO DECODED- PART VII

Also recommended to read “Science behind Prayer and Meditation”.

PS:- This article is not against visiting temples and idol worship. Temples were the places where the learned ones (the real Brahmins) used to guide the needy and the lost ones with their pearls of wisdom. These were the places whose quietness used to assist the visitors to sub-consciously meditate and get answers to their problems as quietness helps to connect with your higher self. As such this quietness used to multiply due to collective conscience of all the people visiting there with total feeling of surrender. Not to say that this virtue has totally disappeared today but definitely diminished.