Astrology provides us great insights to understand human life. There are nine planets in Astrology which may be broadly arranged into 3 different planes, comprising 3 planets each, as follows:
1. Causal plane comprising of Moon, Sun, and Saturn:
2. Plane of energy comprising Jupiter, Mars, and Venus; and
3. Mental plane comprising Mercury, Rahu, and Ketu.
These planets represent different forces of nature. So far as my understanding goes, the causal plane is the plane of old samskaras and operates at a quantum level. The forces of nature operating at this plane may be best compared to the atom. Saturn is like the nucleus of the atom, which is the storehouse of our past samskaras. Moon is like the electrons that orbit around the nucleus. Sun is like the photons that give energy to the electrons to move around the orbits.
Similarly, these 3 forces of nature operate at an unconscious level. While living life, we come into contact with many people and pass through different circumstances. For example, somebody may pass through difficult situations wherein he faces a threat to his job. This situation may activate any of the three forces represented by the Moon, Sun, or Saturn. Such a person may develop a fear of losing the job and therefore may develop a greater fixation on the job. This may be represented by Saturn. On the other hand, such a person may develop an inclination to enhance his skills by undertaking skill enhancement programs to change the job. This will be represented by the Sun. Further, he may also develop an inclination to work on the interpersonal relationships within the organization for smoother functioning. This is represented by the Moon.
Thus the three forces of nature give us different drives at the unconscious level. While Saturn makes us fixated on a particular state of being, the Sun makes us make efforts to move away from the present state to a desired state and the Moon tries to bring harmony. The same incident may result in the activation of different forces depending upon which Dasha is going on at a particular point in time. The Dasha, Antardasha, and Pratyantardasha rulers are most active during their time. The rest of the planets are not so active unless they are under the impact of these rulers.
The three planets that act in the plane of energy are Jupiter, Mars, and Venus. While Jupiter signifies cosmic energy, Mars signifies physical energy and Venus signifies quantum energy. Jupiter represents the energy of the expansion. That is why the energy of Jupiter is called the planet of wisdom. It makes a person inclined toward the study of the universe and nature. Mars provides physical energy to this world. Venus provides quantum energy to this world. It provides energy to understand the finer details and execute. It makes a person inclined toward fine arts, sculpture, painting, dance, management, and any other task that requires detailing.
The three planets of the mental plane are Mercury, Rahu, and Ketu. These planets operate in the domain of mind. Mercury represents Buddhi or intellect. When the electrons (represented by the Moon) come into contact with Jupiter (cosmic energy), they start moving freely and that free movement of the electrons in the mind represents Mercury. Thus, our intellect is the result of the interaction of cosmic forces represented by the Moon and Jupiter. That is in fact the mythological story of the birth of Mercury. Moon comes to Jupiter as a disciple and falls in love with the wife of Jupiter. Moon has a son with the wife of Jupiter named Mercury. Our intellect therefore has a natural urge to expand and understand the cosmos.
The other planet acting in the mental plane is Rahu. Rahu represents Mana. Mana is the active part of the emotional mind. It is full of energy and restlessness. It is always ready to move from the present to the future. It gets the causal energy from the Sun and the physical energy from Mars. Mana is said to be very fickle. Due to the causal impressions of changes (stored in the Sun) and physical energy (Mars), it is almost impossible for the Mana to be at rest.
The last planet in the mental plane is Ketu. Ketu represents Chitta. It is the passive part of the emotional mind. When the causal impressions stored in Saturn come in contact with the energy of Venus, Chita gets activated. Chitta is the storehouse of past memories of the mind. It keeps giving direction to our lives silently. In fact, it lays the foundation of most of our decisions in life.
The planets operating in the causal plane operate at an unconscious level and we are hardly aware of their functioning. Our understanding of our own life seems to be very shallow. At any point in time, if any of us is asked a simple question as to why we made different decisions during the day, probably, most of us will not have clear answers for most of the decisions. That is because most of these decisions are impacted by an interplay of all the nine forces. We are mostly aware of the intellect (Mercury) while remaining unaware of most of the other forces. If we try to observe ourselves, we can at best become aware of a part of our emotional mind where the forces of Rahu and Ketu operate. However, it is almost impossible to become aware of the functioning of the forces of nature (Moon, Sun, and Saturn) at an unconscious level.
However, what we experience and face in the domain of our mind (Buddhi, Mana, and Chitta) is actually just a manifestation of the forces of nature functioning at the unconscious level (Moon, Sun, and Saturn) and their interplay with the forces of energy (Jupiter, Mars, and Venus). Whatever observation and analysis we carry out at the level of Buddhi, Mana, and Chitta, it will be quite an impossibility to observe the interplay. The interplay at the unconscious level is amplified manifold at the mental level.
Probably that's the reason why there is so much emphasis on the observation of sensations in Vipassana. While the functioning of different forces of nature at the unconscious level (Moon, Sun, and Saturn) can not be observed by the mind, their interplay gets reflected in our body in the form of different body sensations. If we can observe that interplay without reacting to these sensations, the past impressions stored in the Moon, Sun, and Saturn, slowly lose their strength and die down leaving an empty space for the Divine to enter that empty space so as to give an altogether new direction to our life in accordance with its cosmic plans.
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