by Vic DiCara
When tīkṣna or ugra nakṣatras rise, and/or when Saturn, Mars, Sun, or the Nodes occupy Revatī we expect an excessive or unfulfilled need for parental affection and guidance, which in turn obstructs the native’s ability to fully experience the joy of nurturing and loving others. This makes parenting and caring for others seem overly draining and demanding.
When Revatī is well-configured, on the other hand, it indicates a person who received ample nourishment and affection as a child, and is therefore well suited to experience the joy of caring for others as an adult.
Life Lesson
This sūtra first points out that calves grow up to become cows - so whatever we give to the calves will be what they can easily give to their own calves later on. Thus, the child who is given affection and care grows to become a successful, wealthy, opulent person who is an asset to their family and society because they can give happiness to others. The child who is not sufficiently loved and cared for, however, grows up to be impoverished and unsuccessful, a liability to their families and society because they continue to need so much care and affection and are not capable to contribute much of the same on their own. Instead of giving to the world they inhabit, they will take from it, drain it, in the attempt to get what they did not get in their formative years.
Is it possible to break the cycle in which an undernourished child becomes a dysfunctional parent?
In a sense, it is not, because it is not possible to give something we do not posses. I cannot give you five dollars, for example, unless I myself have at least five dollars.
However, it is possible to acquire something we have not yet been given. I may not have five dollars, but I can try to earn it! So, it is possible to be a great parent, even if you had lousy parents - but it will take a lot of effort. It is easier, however, the more you have the fortune of getting genuine sources of affection later in life.
The nourishment a mouthful of grass gives a baby calf requires a whole field of grass for a full grown cow. So nourish your dependents now, when they are young! Everyone will prosper as a result.
Supplication
Revatī proceeds on the path established by Puṣa.
Similarly prosperity is a result of nourishment.
The master-nourisher, the animal-helper strengthens us all.
May our offerings delight him.
He shows the path forward, to successfully complete our efforts.
Revatī nakṣatra protects children and animals.
Puṣan protects our cows and horses.
Food is secure and plentiful.
The endeavorer gets the required resources.
Aśvinī -
Twin Horsemen
अश्विनोरश्वयुजौ
ग्रामः परस्तात्सेनावस्तात्
aśvinor aśvayujau
grāmaḥ parastāt senāvastāt
Twin horsemen use twin horses
to get soldiers from the city.
aśvinoḥ:
of the twin horsemen
aśvayujau:
using twin horses
grāmaḥ:
a city
senā:
soldiers
Aśvin
Aśva means “horse.” Aśvin is one who has horses. It is in dual case (aśvinoḥ) because the gods of this nakṣatra are twins.
“Having horses” is symbolic for having “horsepower”: energy, strength, resources, and power. The twin gods named Aśvinī bestow that horsepower to humanity: giving benedictions of wealth and health that allow people to enjoy life more fully.
Horses are beautiful, healthy, strong creatures. This is important for understanding the symbolism of Aśvinī.
Aśvayuja
In older times, people referred to Aśviṇī nakṣatra as Aśvayuja. The word refers to horses that are saddled, coupled, yoked to a chariot, and ready to be employed.
This shows that the nature of Aśvinī nakṣatra is quite swift and ready for action.
Grāma
The word grāma refers to an inhabited place, like a village, town, or city. The horsemen need to ride to such places to collect resources.
Senā
This word sena refers to one who takes orders, typically a soldier. Here it is plural, “soldiers.” The main resource of an urban area (grāma) is the population concentrated there. Hence the main thing the Aśvin seek to get from the “city” is “manpower.”
Summary
The twin horsemen ride their horses into cities to collect followers, who become soldiers in their army.
The mention of “horses” shows that this nakṣatra is beautiful, healthy, and swift. The mention of “horse-owners” (aśvin) shows that it is involved with amassing wealth and power. The mention of “using horses” (aśvayuja) shows that it likes to utilize those assets and display those opulences. To do so, it requires an audience - which it finds in populated areas (grāma). It’s motive in doing so is to amass even more wealth and power by attracting admirers and followers (senā).
Interpretive
Aśvinī is a nakṣatra of wealth, health, beauty, power, fame, and prestige. Healthy, beautiful and powerful planets tend to bring this out when they occupy Aśvīnī. It is difficult, however, to find an exact match for this description. Venus, for example, is healthy, beautiful, and bright - but not exactly “powerful” in the masculine and military flavor the sūtra evokes. Mercury and the moon are very similar, and Jupiter also fits in here. The Sun, Mars and Rāhu face this dynamic too, though in an opposite way: all three are powerful, but only the Sun is particularly healthy, and none of them are especially beautiful. Each of these planets gives the blessings that it matches most with: Venus and Moon give beauty and wealth; Mercury, commercial skills; Jupiter, health and reproductive vitality; the Sun, leadership; Mars, courage; and Rāhu, fame.
Aśvinī is a materially oriented nakṣatra, which means that Saturn and Ketu here tend to indicate a problem of materialism and spirituality clashing.
Problematic Aśvinī also indicates undue fear of (or desire for) being in the spotlight and attracting attention.
Life Lesson
Aśvinī’s sūtra teaches us an important lesson about how to become wealthy, popular and influential. It is very similar to the lesson we learned from Dhaniṣṭhā’s sūtra. The horsemen in the sūtra possess some intrinsic wealth (their horses), which they use to gain more. Without this intrinsic wealth, they would not be able to gain followers and resources from the cities.
This follows the basic principle that the child contains traits inherited from the parents. Chickens give birth to chickens, not spiders or humans. Similarly, wealth gives rise to more wealth, and to other types of it.
We often feel impoverished and wealthless, but the fact is that everyone and everything is a manifestation of divinity. So, doubtlessly, every one of us has some inherent asset (aśvin). We simply need the positivity to recognize it, and the courage to use it.
To make our inherent wealth multiply and attract other opulences, the sūtra says that we have to use it (aśvayuj). The most effective way is to do so “in the city” (grāma). This means actually showing our assets and talents. Those who are too nervous or shy to show their talents or use their assets when the spotlight falls on them might as well not have any talents or assets in the first place. One who is not willing to be a leader when the time comes cannot expect to attract followers, no more than a horse-rider afraid to ride can expect to lead a charge.
The result of showing your assets and talents is that you attract others to you - you attract “soldiers” to your “army” (senā). As the planets in Aśvinī show - and as the fact that the Aśvinī and their horses are twins, not solitary beings reinforces - no single individual possess all assets at once.47 Therefore attracting others to join your “army” is very important, for they bring with them their own assets to compliment your own.
Supplication
The Aśvini com
e to Aśvayuja
with auspicious horses.
They worship their own nakṣatra,
sprinkling honey on the offerings as they chant.
These two divinities carry cures
They protect immortality, for the benefit of everyone.
They come to their star with love and felicity.
Defer to the two Āśvini.
Bharaṇī -
The Regulator
यमस्यापभरणीः
अपकर्षन्तः परस्तादपवहन्तोऽवस्तात्
yamasy-āpabharaṇī
apakarṣantaḥ parastād apavahanto ‘vastāt
The restraint of the regulator
needs to bear down, to arrest.
yamasya:
of Yama
(regulation)
apabharaṇī:
the restrainer
apakarṣantaḥ:
bearing down, restraint
apavahantaḥ:
delivering, to arrest
Yama
The god Yama is the punisher of evil deeds (and rewarder of good deeds). The word yama literally indicates restraint, discipline, responsibility, law, and morality. Bharaṇī nakṣatra is concerned with keeping things within these bounds.
Apabharaṇa
Bharaṇa means to bear and support weight and responsibility. This shows that Bharaṇī involves discipline and self-control, duty and responsibility.
Bharaṇī is often depicted as a vulva, and the word itself has a definite implication of a woman bearing a child. The serious nature of bearing a child, and the responsibilities it brings, very aptly depicts the nature of this nakṣatra.
Adding the prefix apa- brings a sense of going downward. Thus, apabharaṇa indicates holding things down, curbing, disciplining and restricting them.
Apakarṣana
Karṣana means to drag, pull, or hold. Adding apa- alters the meaning to indicate “holding down, curbing, regulating, restricting.” Thus, Bharaṇī needs to be heavy and strong, so it can suppress and curb unrighteous things.
In keeping with the nakṣatra’s motif of a pregnant woman, apakarṣana means “bearing down” - exactly what a woman must do during labor.
Apavahana
Vahaṇa indicates “delivery.” The prefix apa- (“downward”) gives the sense of delivering things to a lower place: sending evil back “from whence it came,” “delivering sinners to hell.” This shows that Bharaṇī wants to curb, repel and turn away all evil and misconduct. Apavahana also means “restricting (apa-) movement (vahana)” i.e. arresting.48
“Downward delivery” also keeps the pregnancy theme. The nature of delivering a child shows that Bharaṇī does not really intend to work hard for its own independent aims, but wants to work hard for others, as a mother would do for her child.
Summary
Pregnancy context: The disciplined woman carrying a child (apabharaṇī) must become serious and responsible (yama). She must restrain herself and bear down in labor (apakarṣanta) so that she can deliver the child (apavahana).
Law-enforcement context: For the enforcers (yama) to enforce (apabharanī) they must put pressure on criminals (apakarṣana) to arrest them and stop their activities (apavahana).
Broadest context: Serious people (yama) who want to protect and preserve important principles and things (apabharaṇī) must curb all irresponsibility in themselves and others ( apakarṣana) so that the important principles and things can be delivered into the world and become real (apavahana).
Interpretive
Bharaṇī is good where the solemn power of discipline, sobriety, and restraint is welcome. It does not function well where forgiveness, empathy, leniency, and recreation are called for.
When Bharaṇī functions poorly, it indicates feeling heavy, burdened, and restricted by responsibilities; and being overly serious, negative, discouraging and controlling of oneself and others. Planets like Moon, Mercury, or Venus tend to bring out this side of Bharani. The Moon particularly impacts mother-child relationships; Mercury, friendships; and Venus, romance.
Rāhu also tends to bring out this difficult side of Bharaṇī, because it does not like to abide by restriction. This will manifest mostly as clashes with authority and cultural norms.
When Bharaṇī functions well, it indicates the power to be serious, disciplined, and hard-working; and to repel and repress all evil, both within oneself and in the world. It shows the capacity to deliver better things into the world as a result of curbing and restricting the bad things. Planets like Saturn, Mars and the Sun particularly bring this out. Jupiter also does well, brining a serious morality, but has some likelihood of being overbearing. We can also hope for Ketu to do well here because its basic nature is to bear down and hold in, but there may be some similarity to Rāhu, indicating clashes with authorities and norms.
Life Lesson
Bharaṇī’s sutra teaches us about the value and purpose of punishment and discipline. Especially in the modern world, we wish we could do without punishment and discipline. The reality, however, is that the hearts of modern people are far too polluted by selfishness for there to be any peace in a relationship, family, community, nation, or in the world without a strong dose of “imposition” from yama - rules, and the fear of punishment for transgressing them.
Anarchy, the idea that society should be without limits and rules, is unrealistic in modern times. Without rules and limits we will devour ourselves, self-destruct and harm a lot of people close to us in that destructive implosion.
However, the way Bharanī malfunctions - being unnecessarily negative and restrictive - shows that we should not love rules and restrictions in and of themselves. We should love the entities they are meant to protect - as a mother prepares to restrict and discipline her life for the sake of her beloved child. As a lioness is ready to kill any threat that approaches her children. When rules are motivated by such love they work well, and forgiveness and leniency has a healthy and productive role.
Supplication
May Bharaṇī hold off our misdeeds.
For the royal lord sees and notes them.
He is the lord of everyone,
great among the greats.
He makes us unafraid to follow his path.
Yama is the lord of this nakṣatra,
the gods coronate him here.
We worship him with splendid offerings.
May Bharaṇī hold off our misdeeds.
The True Story of the
Nakṣatra Gods
What follows is my compendium and telling of the tales of the Gods who own the Nakṣatras. These tales are pulled together from scattered places through the Vedas, Purānas, and Mahābhārata.
By knowing these tales, you will have a rich and deep way to more fully, contextually, and intuitively understand the true nature of the nakṣatras they own. Each detail of each story is extremely important. To really understand the nakṣatras, please read and re-read these tales many times, visualizing them deeply.
Usurper of Paradise
The All-Seer (Śatabhiṣaj & Varuṇa)
The tale of the gods of the Vedic sky does not begin where you expect.
It does not begin with Viṣṇu, Śiva, or Brahmā. It does not begin with Indra, the king of the heavens. It begins with one whose true tale is hardly known and seldom told. It begins with the All-Seer, the mighty and just ruler and judge of gods and men alike.
It begins with Varuṇa.
Varuṇa was not always just a god of the seas. He was heaven’s first king.
The name “Varuṇa” literally denotes the descriptor (-ṇa) of space itself (vara). He is the god of space, inheriting this position from his mother Aditi, because she considered him to be the most capable and worthy of her primary 8 sons. She gave him responsibility for the foundations of the sky - at the base of the underworld; the midnight sky, in which the sun is forever dark and hidden. From the foundat
ions of the sky, he held the world together with his encompassing power.
To be the god of space is an immensely powerful position, for space is the container of all tangible reality. Everything exists within it, and it exists in everything. As the god of space, Varuṇa was everywhere and saw everything from every angle, without partiality or imbalance. He was “Śatabhiṣaj,” the one with hundreds (śata) of watchful eyes (bhiṣaj), making him powerful, but neutral, balanced and fair - the ideal ruler and judge of the deeds of all beings.
From his base in the underworld and the nadir of the sky, mortals were brought to him for judgement between lifetimes, and the gods too were brought to his court for judgement of their deeds. He carried a lasso, not to kill but to catch and punish those who lied, cheated, and did wrong. To all, irrespective of power or position, he administered the just rewards of their deeds.
He was known as an āsura (if not the āsura) long before the term became used to refer to those who are inimical to the gods; when it simply had its original meaning, “exceedingly powerful.” All the divinities, sura and āsura alike, were united and dwelt together in celestial paradise (svarga) with Varuṇa as their king and commander.
Mischief of the Dragon (Vṛtra)
But Varuṇa’s kingdom did not endure for long.
His downfall was triggered by another āsura, and exploited by his own brother.
That āsura was Vṛtra, the original dragon, the original nāga. The trouble began when Vṛtra became enamored with the beautiful goddess of flowing water, Āpas. She showed no interest in him, which he was unable to tolerate. True to his name, “the seizer,” he took hold of all the water in the world, and locked it away in far, far-off frozen clouds that could not rain.