Eclipse Mythology of India

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At the time of the Ksirodaka-lila (churning the cosmic “ocean of milk”) there was not yet any being named Rahu or Ketu. There was however an asura (“demon”) named Svarbhanu. When the amrita (“nectar of immortality”) was finally produced from the ocean, the devas (“gods”) managed to get it from the asuras by trickery via Mohini Avatar (an incarnation of the Supreme Godhead). Svarbhanu, however, was the most intelligent among the asuras, and was not convinced that things would be fair. Therefore he assumed the appearance of a deva and sat accross from Surya and Candra (gods of the Sun and Moon) as Mohini was distributing the amrta. Svarbhanu thought that if all the demigods drank they would overpower him, even if he too drank, so he wanted to drink first and kill everyone or steal all their nectar. But Surya and Candra saw his body language in moving to lift the cup of amrita in time that they could call out to Mohini and she could decapitate Svarbhanu with her discus before he could swallow the nectar.

However two conditions arose: 1) the amrita of immortality touched the lips of Svarbhanu, 2) the purifying discus of Vishnu touched his body as well. Therefore neither the head of Svarbhanu nor the decapitated trunk was able or fit to be killed and done away with. Therefore Mohini had them cast to opposite ends of the sky – as far as possible apart from one another and never able to move closer. We came to call the head Rahu and the trunk Ketu. Both of them were entrusted with demigod-like positions by Mohini / Vishnu: invested with power to be among the planetary gods – who now with their addition came to number nine.

Svarbhanu, however, at least apparently seems to retain his hatred of Surya (the Sun) and Candra (the Moon), thus the two opposite locations in the sky that his head (Rahu) and body (Ketu) occupy affect our astronomical reality as the point in the ecliptic path where solar and lunar eclipses take place. It is as if Rahu and Ketu have their revenge during an eclipse.

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- Vic Dicara

http://www.vicdicara.com

The accounts are told in several very old Indian books called Puran, including the Bhagavata Purana

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“Don’t Look at the Eclipse!”

The word on the street in India is that eclipses are very “inauspicious” (read: bad luck) and you shouldn’t look at them at all. Obviously you shouldn’t stare at a solar eclipse or you will go blind. But that is not what we are talking about here. We are talking about the idea that the light during an eclipse is bad luck and should be avoided at all costs.

Is that true? Yes. Indian culture (at least the major part of it, the “karma-kanda” part) thinks of eclipses in this way.

Is it superstitious? Yes.

Does that make it silly? No. Superstitious things also have reality and purpose.

Now lets talk about why India thinks eclipses are inauspicious…

First note to make in this regard is that auspicious and inauspicious are concepts that are part and parcel of karma-kanda varieties of religion. Bhakti (devotion) is elevated above and beyond karma-kanda by two huge steps (one step to Jnana, the next to Bhakti). So, bhaktas (devotionalists) needen’t worry much about what is “auspicious” and what is “inauspicious” in the normal sense of the words. For devotional spiritualists (“bhaktas”) auspicious means “whatever reminds me of my object of devotion (Hari)” and inauspicious means “whatever inclines me to forget my object of devotion (Hari).” Personally, I try to be a bhakta. I love to observe solar and lunar eclipses because it brings me all sorts of thoughts of God, his universal form, etc. So in my case such observance of eclipses are quite auspicious, even by Indian standards (though Indians without an education in the bhakti-marga school of their culture might disagree).

Rahu gets his hands on the Sun and Moon!

Next to the question of why observing an eclipse is inauspicious as far as the karma-kanda (normal, mundane religious) evaluation of things goes… The reason is that the Sun and Moon are the lights of the sky. Everything revolves around them and depends on them and without them we would be dead, frozen solid and sent adrift into space. An eclipse represents a clear THREAT to the Sun and Moon, therefore it is inauspicious.

When there is an eclipse, the asura (“demon”) Svarbhanu (who is now Rahu and Ketu in the heavens) takes the opportunity to extract revenge upon the Sun and Moon for cheating his people of the nectar of immortality. He swallows and terrifies the Sun and Moon during the eclipse. The light that comes from the Sun and Moon during an eclipse is filtered through the shadowy, smoky, occluding paranormal “body” of Rahu/Ketu. Since Rahu/Ketu are asura (“demons”) the light is therefore “inauspicious” by normal standards.

This is why indian people, even including Vrajavasis, don’t let that light fall on anything important, and they take a sacred bath during or after the eclipse light, and during the affair they take shelter of the all-auspicious names of Hari.

- Vic DiCara

www.vicdicara.com

The Eclipse at the End of The World

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OK, off the bat I am going to be super straightforward and let you all know that I have not studied “mundane” astrology to the extent that I would like to, and to the extent that I would really be qualified to provide you with very good analysis of things like eclipses, etc. “Mundane” astrology, by the way, means the astrology of things that don’t have “souls” – you know – astrology for political events, wars, etc. And, another “by the way” - the reason why I haven’t studied this branch of astrology much in comparison to what I have devoted to other branches of astrology is largely because it bothers me.

Why?

Take this eclipse, for example… no wait… stop. Is anyone going to stop to remember first of all that prior to this there have been dozens of announcements, articles, videos, and other blogger-breaking-news reports about the end of the world pertaining to “3 eclipses in a year”, or “Your Venus in my Uranus” or whatever and everything else? I mean really, please, lets not forget how many cans of powdered milk we stockpiled for “Y2K” and this and that.

So take this eclipse for example, it is sort of like, “Hallelujah, Jesus is gonna come.” OK, lovely. Guess what. He is about one thousand nine hundred and… eighty years late. But we still cheer him on. And even those of us without crucifixes around our necks find some way to channel that  indomitable human lack of realism. We may talk about galactic centers or Lord Shivas, or eclipses and stonehenges… but really we are all Jesus Freaks waiting for “the rapture” and just using different names for it.

OK, when am I going to get to talking about this eclipse???

OH wow, 2012. 12/21/2012…. look at all those TWELVES, right?

Wrong. The modern calendar is a complete farce and has no astrological merit whatsoever, no connection to nature. Any “numerological” assessment based on meaningless numbers (like our raw modern calendar dates not translated to sidereal time) is going to be as meaningless as the numbers it is based on. OK, but it is still fun because since the alignment of 1984 didnt work, and since Y2K didnt work, and while we are waiting to be disappointed about the aliens and huge asteroids that don’t come to destroy/reinvent/sweep us off our feet… hey, lets play with some numbers and eclipses.

OK, so there is an eclipse that coincides with the winter solstice. Yippie.

Folks… do you first of all realize that eclipses are regular events? They happen at least twice a year, every year, forever. You know that right? So every time some astrologer tries to get hits to his or her blog by talking about the impact of an eclipse, you realize the impact is nothing more or less, in all likelihood, than whatever it was you already forgot about happening 6 months ago when the last eclipse happened?

Now, if an eclipse is happening in conjunction with something in your individual birth chart, maybe that is a different story. I will concede that. But that is why I like to study and practice natal astrology. What we are talking about right now is mundane astrology and the effect of eclipses on world affairs.

Folks… do you ever ask any questions to your “teachers”? You really must. A student is not a student without asking intelligent questions.

When someone tells you that this winter solstice eclipse means yada yada yada… dont you at least want to know when the last one happened? Wouldn’t that be scientific and reasonable and, well, intelligent. Do you know that a winter solstice eclipse happened a few hundred years ago? And do you remember that the world did not end or radically change at that time, at least not in the way people are flowering on and on about what is going to happen…

Yo, seriously, how much can you mix and match flavors before you get a stomach ache? Mayan Calendars, Western astronomy, Vedic lunar mansions – and you like it when the whole thing is called “Vedic astrology”???? And people say “Vedic astrology says this eclipse is more important than 2012″…. please doesnt any one among you have a voice to protest and ask a question? For example, “What? There is a statement in the Veda about the end of the mayan calendar coinciding (we think) with 12/21/2012??? Please can you tell me the reference and perhaps give the Sanskrit?”

Seriously, all this stuff is crazy… you guys are even forgetting the vedas in your rush to welcome jesus, or the age of aquarius, or the planet niberuians or whatever it is the pyramids are supposed to represent this week. The Vedas (Vishnu Purana and all puranas) say that the current epoch of the world, KALI YUGA, lasts for 432,000 years of which only about 5,000 have passed! I know it is fun to hear people try to unify world cultures, but ladies and gentlemen, please hear my (apparently) one singular voice telling you that it is not “Vedic” to say that Kali Yuga ends with the end of the mayan calandar, nor that they Kali Yuga is finished – I don’t care what relatively modern “yogi” gave you the joy-ticket to believe otherwise.

K, back to this eclipse. So, guess what. It is an eclipse. That happens twice a year, at least. Once a year the Earth’s shadow falls on the moon, and once a year the Moon blocks the sunlight. Those are the two eclipses. Todays eclipse is the earths shadow falling on the moon.

Eclipses are big deals because the lights in the sky are going out. Remember when NYC had a blackout? That was pretty terrifying. That is what eclipses are. “Evil” forces are destroying the “power grid” and the light of the sun / moon (as the case may be) fails. It is serious business, to be sure. Symbolically it means that authority and order is being challenged.

It does not mean the end of the world.

Just so you all know, I do believe that the world is undergoing major changes. I do believe that we are witnessing the fall of America. I do believe that this eclipse, the mayan calendar, etc etc have to do with the ending of America’s prominence in the world. And I don’t believe anything catastrophic is about to happen.

Funny thing is this… maybe I am wrong. You know what, I don’t mind, because like I said, it isn’t really my focus of study or practice at least not right now. But you know what is odd? Maybe I should be like what seems like every other astrologer, and predict dire effects every dime a crow flies across the moon. You guys will forget about it when I am wrong, but when I finally get one right, I will become famous.

Nah!

Anyway,  sorry for venting. Hope you enjoyed and can relate to the Saturnian Capricornian realism in what I am saying here.

- Vic DiCara

www.vicdicara.com

Myths of Astrology vs. Facts of Science

Question

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Do you believe that the idea that eclipses occur because Rahu‘s immortal head is swallowing the sun is a metaphor, or that there is actually a being named Rahu who is actually swallowing the sun when an eclipse occurs?

My Answer

First it would be good to admit that the culture who came up with that crazy sounding myth is the same culture which was predicting the time and place of eclipses with near modern accuracy. So maybe we shouldn’t be too quick to write off the whole thing as crazy?

My understanding is that eclipses occur where the path of the Moon intersects the path of the Sun (“ecliptic”) only at times and from places where the two bodies, Sun and Moon, are simultaneously present at the intersecting locations. This is how Vedic astrological/astronomical literature defines and accurately calculates the invisible position of “Rahu” and “Ketu” and thus accurately predicts the occurance of eclipses.

Image via Wikipedia

Vedic literature also says that at the two locations where the Moon’s path crosses the Sun’s, there is a demigod/demon (force of nature) positioned. And that this powerful force (“Rahu” on one end, “Ketu” on the other) takes advantage of this location to exact revenge upon the Sun and Moon by swallowing them.

The level of reality upon which demigods and demons exist as discrete localized personalities is not the level of reality in which human beings in the current epoch of development, exist, except in very rare cases of persons with stuff usually called “ESP” or persons who have intentionally cultivated higher tunings of their sensory faculties (by yoga disciplines, for example). On our level of reality, there is no demon swallowing the sun or moon when there is an eclipse. All we see on our level of reality is their “shadow” or effect – we see an intersection of lunar and solar ecliptics causing the Sun and Moon to baffle one another and their light to be temporarily extinguished.

So, on our level of reality, no there is no Rahu… also there are no demigods living “on the Moon”, No angels in the “clouds”, etc.

Our level of reality is not the only level of reality. This is what I am getting at in general by agreeing that empiric evidence is extremely relevant and useful for our practical world, but disagreeing that it is reliable as the sole or final authority for determining the totality of reality. This is the point of my Boy and His Ruler, story. (You can CLICK THIS to read the very short story)

- Vic DiCara

www.vicdicara.com