June | 2014 | Search for The Soul

Artist: Pieter Weltevrede Credit: sanatansociety.com

Jupiter, Brihaspati has an exalted place among the planets. There are references to him even in the Rig Veda, the earliest known Hindu scripture.. In Puranic legends he is the Acharya or spiritual mentor of the demigods, the one to whom all turn for advice in a crisis. Thus he is known as Devguru, Guru of the gods. In the Hindu calendar Thursday is dedicated to him and is therefore called Guruvar, day of the Guru. It is a day on which all activities associated with Gurus are undertaken . The spiritualism he represents is doctrinaire and ritualistic Brahmanism. He is a philosopher par excellance, representing all sacred scriptures and is the epitome of wisdom. He is therefore regarded as the most benefic and auspicious of planets. His ‘vision’ is like nectar wherever it falls in a horoscope, being inherently benefic. Where the Sun represents the Atma or soul, Jupiter represents the Jiva, the soul incarnated.

He is significator of religiosity, faith and spiritual devotion, morality, behavior, charity, respect for elders, compassion, benevolence and a dispassionate outlook. He is also significator of fortune and fame, wealth and progeny. He also represents a mild and adaptable nature inclined towards reason, adherence to law, honesty, sincerity, common sense and lack of prejudice. This would include clerical, intellectual, academic, judicial and legal establishments and vocations. The part of the body under his influence are the thighs.

A positive presence in the horoscope would indicate that the subject has accumulated favourable Karmas in preceding lives, which are likely to manifest in the present one through fortuitous events and unexpected gains.

Jupiter is visualized as being heavy bodied, stout chested and fair-complexioned. He has a peaceful disposition and modest demeanour and is forgiving by nature. His vehicle is the elephant. He is friendly to the Sun, Moon and Mars, neutral to Saturn and inimical to Mercury ( foster son) and Venus, his counterpart among the Titans ( Asuras) who it will be remembered was supportive of the Moon’s elopement with his wife Tara.

However, being the most benefic of planets does not mean that he will not be responsible for any adverse events in the life of the subject whose horoscope is under consideration. Like all planets, Jupiter too can be well placed or adverse for a chart and when adverse can create major turbulence. Like other planets he too can become a ‘killer’ or Marak. But this does not mean that he has any inherent evil .Planets are mere tools in the divine programme to help one reap the rewards and punishments of ones Karma and the punishments or adversity is not so much judgemental as reformative, facilitating the cleansing of the soul for its evolution from one lifetime experience to another. Thus an adverse Jupiter may be merely a means of teaching lessons through adversity for the subject’s good and be no more than corrective in nature. Like-wise a favourable Jupiter would enhance ones capability in certain areas to enable one to deliver ones full potential in a field, again enabling further progress and evolution of the soul.

Jupiter’s stone is the yellow Sapphire worn in a ring to offset his adverse effects or enhance his favourable presence in a horoscope.

Lord Brihaspati

Artist : Peiter Weltevrede
Credit : sanatansociety.org

Mercury, product of the Moon’s illicit liaison with Jupiter’s wife, whom he abducted, created turbulence in the celestial realms of the demigods. He is portrayed as one who is somewhat dark of countenance, an attractive but delicate physique and extraordinary beauty. But ambiguity is part of his nature. He is called the ‘heir apparent’ of the planets and a prince among them. He likes to joke, speaks with multiple meanings in parables and riddles and is very adaptable and flexible. According to some descriptions he is neutral and therefore adaptable in nature, others go to the extent of describing him as a neuter, asexual, even a eunuch. But there are also legends that say something more. They add that he is even capable of changing his sex depending on his current inclinations and that in doing so he has begot offspring both as a female and a male. It is therefore not surprising that he is lord of the sign Gemini, Mithun, which denotes twins, a male and a female, a dual nature and therefore free and detached. It’s the kind of dualism one may find in a hermaphrodite. The dualism of the Sign Gemini is also indicative of active and passive principles, good and evil, a union of opposites. He is therefore also fickle minded. His flexible nature also means that he imbibes the qualities and characteristics of other planets he gets associated with in the natal chart. There he mimics them and acquires their attributes. He is like a mirror, truly mercurial.

If the Moon is the impressionable innocent mind, his son Mercury is its discriminating intellect. He is the inspiration of intellectuals, artists, writers, academics and astrologers. He is full of humour and wit and loves the company of the learned and the artistic. He is also associated with traders and businessmen. His influence is particularly suitable for diplomacy, given his capacity to adjust to diverse situations and environments.

He is significator of intelligence, scholarship,education, oratory, communication abilities, verbal and technological, music, mathematics, science and fine arts. He denotes a restless if dynamic nature and is the epitome of logic and analysis. He governs the arms, the auditory organs and the nervous system.

Such is the curious depiction of the planet Mercury, Budh, synonymous with intelligence and Astrology. For students and scholars he is their ultimate mentor, the one who will decide their academic fate.

He is also the intellect that discriminates. Being neutral he acts as a benefic when associated with benefic planets, mirroring their natures and malefic when otherwise. He is exalted in Virgo and debilitated in Pisces. He is inimical to his father the Moon, friendly to the Sun, whose company he is always in, in the Zodiac and Venus, who was supportive of his father’s elopement with his mother, in the uproar which the event created in the heavens. He is neutral to Mars, his foster-father Jupiter and Saturn. He too spends a month in each Sign of the Zodiac, closely pursuing or just preceding the Sun. His gem is the emerald, his metal, all manner of alloys, true to his mixed inclinations, His day is Wednesday. His ‘vehicle’ is a hybrid lion with an elephant’s trunk, again denoting his adaptability and ambiguous nature.

Quite often those keen to gain admission to an educational institution of repute, or interested in pursuit of scholarship and higher education, finding a weak Mercury in their charts will take recourse to acquiring a ‘Budh’ Yantra, an amulet and seek the planets blessings by chanting to him on Wednesdays.