UNDERSTANDING HUMAN PHYSIOLOGY THROUGH THE STORY OF JALANDHAR- A PART OF LORD SHIVA’S ENERGY

Every mythological story found in Puranas (the ancient scriptures of Vedic times), has a deep seated meaning. This blog will explain the significance of the story of Jalandhar- an Asura born from the ferocious energy of Lord Shiva. But before that it’s important to understand about Asuras, Devas and other energies. The word Asura should not be confused with Rakshasa (demons). Asuras represent those beings whose conscience dominates in the “three lowermost chakras of our body that are meant for food, sex and physical strength” whereas Devas represent the higher chakras i.e. Brain, heart, throat etc whose task is to govern the physiology of the entire body. It is logical that all the chakras are equally important for progression and sustenance of the body and the entire Universe too.

This is the reason that ultimately every being’s aim should be to learn to follow the middle path with equal focus on all the chakras and their aspects. However, this cannot be achieved in one life and hence the soul has to incarnate in many lives with focus in different chakras to finally learn the middle path. At universal level, the cosmic Leela created by the higher world helps different souls to experience lives in different chakras basis the level of evolution of the soul. This is the reason that both Devas and Asuras are said to be equally dear to Lord Shiva as they help in maintaining a balance in the body and the Universe at the larger level.

The problem comes when the conscience of certain people is governed primarily by Asuric chakras i.e. food, sex and enjoyment during which they forget about the aspects of the higher chakras and fall prey for obsessions to sex, food and/or strength etc and ultimately diseases. On the other hand, excess focus on upper chakras without focus on lower would mean lack of interest towards food, procreation (furtherance of progeny and thus world) and lack of strength leading to death or death like situation which again would mean hindrance towards progression of the world. Thus equal focus on all chakras is essential even though no one (soul) can achieve this in one just life and has to incarnate for many lives as mentioned above to achieve balance. Hence it will be wrong to judge any soul/person. Also to remove any confusion, Rakshasas are those who rob others of their possessions and peace. Please note that Asuras and Rakshasa too can be highly intelligent like King Bali and Ravana) were Asura and Rakshasa respectively. This is because mooladhara chakra (root chakra) carries the deepest memories including that of past lives too. Hence those souls which have lived several lives in higher life forms and have decided to still focus on lower chakras due to their un-satiated desires would have gathered lot of knowledge just like Ravana.

*** This process of learning to harmonize between different chakras is called as self administration. However, true self administration will be achieved when every soul not only creates harmony between all her chakras but also with the chakras of other beings (not just humans). In kalyuga the world is passing through extreme disharmony within and with each other which is the cause of all the diseases, chaos and intolerance. And the only way to undo this disharmony is by adopting the eight principle of Ashtang Yoga, which are based on Ayurveda and other Vedic wisdom.

And now, it’s time to know about Jalandhar.

To begin with, the story goes that when Indra ridden by inflated ego, attacked Lord Shiva (when Lord Shiva was disguised as Sage to test the patience and maturity of Indra), then Lord Shiva out of anger opened his third eye. On request from Jupiter (the Guru of Indra and Devas) to spare Indra’s life, Shiva deflected the hot energy of his third eye towards the ocean and gave rise to an Asura by the name of Jalandhar (whose literal meaning is “inside water”). Jalandhar right from the childhood was very strong and therefore Indra tried to kill him to safeguard his throne however while trying to do so, Indra killed “Matsykanya”, (a mermaid) who had raised Jalandhar like his own mother. This angered Jalandhar and he decided to avenge his mother’s death. He accepted Shukracharya’s (Venus- the Guru of Asuras) offer to be trained under him. Subsequently, he became very strong and defeated all Devlok as well as Bhuloka. Now here is the deep seated meaning in this story.

When our mind goes high on ego (which happens due to excess heat in the body which is referred as Pitta in Ayurvedic terms) then it forgets about the inner self (Shiva) or say disrespects it. This high Pitta (excess heat) subsequently overheats our Pineal gland (our third eye) which expands and triggers a very strong high voltage and high ampere current (electricity/pitta) in the brain (which can be visualized as passion/aggression/loudness etc). However, the fat of our brain (which is Kapha in Ayurvedic terms and Jupiter in Astrological terms) protects it and our senses (Indra) from this high Pitta/electricity which then gets deflected and travels via hypothalamus and pituitary glands to the farthest chakra in the body i.e. the 8^th chakra and stimulates it (i.e. the testicles in males) to create testosterone.

Those who know the basics of biology know that testosterone is instrumental in giving rise to muscles accompanied by aggression and leadership qualities (level of aggression differs from person to person and may vary from controlled to uncontrolled). It also heals wounds because it deflects more blood and thus nutrition towards the peripherals. The ocean represents the reproductive fluids which are dominating in testicles even though they are present in the entire body (we discussed that Venus/shukra is present in the entire body). Thus, Jalandhar in each one of us represents the Pitta of the lowermost chakra of our body which provides us muscular strength and the ability to command. Even though the level of testosterone varies from person to person, in general we all can understand that it is this Pitta that provides physical/sexual maturity and strength to all of us especially during our teens.

*** Please note that a small amount of testosterone is produced in our adrenal glands too (which are placed above our kidneys) which is again triggered by pineal and then hypothalamus and pituitary. This happens in case our Pitta is not too high which then increases peripheral circulation and thus muscles to some extent but not as much as testosterone does. In females, it is produced in small quantities in ovaries and adrenal which is why they are less on muscles and ego/pitta- a trait which has been created by the nature to keep balance between males and females.

Also to note that the entire body has testosterone receptors including brain. Hence when testosterone goes high, it affects all the organs of the body thereby increasing Pitta and muscles in the entire body and thus ruling all the three lokas. This story goes alongside another story when Parvati out of her desire asks Shiva to get flowers from all the six seasons for which Shiva has to separate himself from Parvati. This is the time when Indra becomes high on ego or say Pitta because it is Pitta only that creates desires in Parvati. As time distances Parvati from Shiva due to desire, she forgets about Shiva and thus her real self (the true nature) and gets affected due to Maya created by Jalandhar (testosterone). However when she is guided by Shiva disguised as a Guru with the help of Ashtang Yoga, then she gets rid of Maya created by Jalandhar and finally terminates it to merge back with Shiva.

The clear message is that when our soul incarnates to satiate her desire/s and separates herself away from Shiva (the bliss) i.e. the higher world, then she forgets about her true self and this subsequently gives rise to might (i.e. testosterone) and associated traits taking one deep into the world of maya. This is exactly what is happening with all of us. We the souls have forgotten our true nature and that is why we are experiencing chaos and sufferings (typical traits of Kalyuga). Of course there are souls who are enjoying this chaos because they are not feeling its affect due to the inertia of their minds, however sooner or later they will. That is why Ashtang Yoga is so essential in Kalyuga to pull us out of this chaos and merge with the higher world (Shiva).

*** For those who understand the basics of Astrology, testosterone is primarily produced in 8^th house of men and to a small extent in adrenal (5^th-6^th house) and ovaries of females (6-7^th house). Astrologically first and eighth zodiacs are of Mars. Here while first zodiac represents inner strength, the eighth zodiac represents peripheral muscles which gives physical strength to the native whereas first zodiac gives strength more to the core organs. Now, we know that from Kaalpurush kundli (to learn about Kalpurush kundli please click here) viewpoint, first house is owned by first zodiac and eighth by 8^th zodiac. Hence, morphologically the hormones of first and second house (called as HGH i.e. Human growth hormone) represent growth of inner layers and organs whereas that of 8^th (i.e. testosterone) represents outer growth which is why people begin to develop muscles at the age of 20-25.

It’s quite logical that external strength is bound to weaken internal and vice versa which is why one must follow the middle path. This is the reason that activation of eighth house brings difficulties for those having first zodiac in lagna (ascendant) as 8^th house in such a case has 8^th zodiac. Even vice versa is also true i.e. activation of sixth house is difficult for those having 8^th zodiac in first (here sixth house will have 1^st zodiac). This is despite the fact that both the houses are owned by Mars however one activates inner strength and another activates outer. Quite similar is the story with Venus where 2^nd zodiac represents inner vibrance whereas 7^th zodiac represents external vibrance.