Vaishnavites consider 9 Avatars originated from 9 Planets; Surya vamshi Sri Rama from Sun, Chandravanshi Sri Krishna from Moon, Narasimha (half man half lion) from Mars (Tue), Sri Buddha from Mercury (Wed), Vamana from Jupiter (Thu), Parashurama from Venus (Fri), Kurma (Tortoise) from Saturn (Saturday), Varaha (Boar) from Rahu Friday and Matsya (Fish) from Ketu Saturday.
श्रद्धया हेलया नाम रटन्ति मम जन्तवः ।
तेषां नाम सदा पार्थ वर्त्तते हृदये मम ।।
O Partha, those who say My Name have their names printed in My heart, no matter whether they say It devoutly or disdainfully. In Bhagvad Gita, Sri Krishna teaches Arjuna ; In any work that we perform there should not be any room for arrogance or complaints.
When we do every work with gratitude towards nature then Shani Dev helps. Shani Dev embodies highest spirituality and makes people realise that one should act like a karma-yogi i.e., perform prescribed duties without attachment to its results.
Shani Dev is not particular about which mantra to chant. He is observing how we work, how much ethics, good intention and best efforts we put into our work. He is watchful of our selflessness towards other people.
Responsible for actions: if the results of our actions are not good even if it was performed with greatest intention and best of efforts then also we must learn to accept our fault. We tried to make a project successful but we failed and we take the responsibility of our actions.
Conscious of our actions: choice of actions, trying to choose most righteous actions, giving priority to ethics, using “Viveka”/wisdom to discriminate between ethical and unethical actions in times of dilemma, planning the actions with clarity, thinking about pros and cons of the action during planning.
Attitude of gratitude: Gratitude is a skill to practice. Being grateful that God has given us this opportunity to perform this action so we must learn to submit all our present actions and fruits of actions to God out of gratitude. When we do something for somebody whether it is a foe or a friend, that action is also directed towards God so we must learn to be grateful for the opportunity.
Noble intention: any work regular or special all should be performed with an intention that is beneficial or noble for people we serve. Our selfish motive should not interfere in the noble intention. That kind of selflessness is what ShaniDev is pleased to notice.
The first three thing that Shani Dev wants us to learn through actions is gratitude, unattachment and patience. After learning gratitude, unattachment, patience, Shani Dev takes candidate to next level of forbearance, willpower and faith.
Forbearance: like there are times when we cannot control the situation and cannot even control the damage, sometimes we have to behave like a witness. That is art one must master, how sometimes we have to just witness our pains, unfavourable situations using will power.
Will power: there are two types. One is to sustain challenging situations, to change ourselves, improve our tendencies of reactions to other’s actions. Another type is keep giving effort to change the world, improve our surroundings. In both the cases, continuous effort is required.
Faith: faith comes from the observation that nothing lasts, everything is temporary and the bad phase would not last either. Faith comes from past challenges that we could go through and come out of it. Establishing faith in the self is what Shani Dev wants. ShaniDev is always giving us such situations which makes us self-sufficient. Having faith is also possible when one has patience. Without faith in the self, nothing is possible. Swami Vivekananda also said all power lies within you.
Mantra chanting is for us, for our own help. Regular chanting vibration converts sleeping potential energy within our body system to kinetic energy. This kinetic energy becomes ready to be used in a positive manner, if we use this energy to serve others with noble intentions. The flow of energy within the body will be perfect.
This will effect our mind, our thoughts and our actions positively. Navagraha mantra chanting will raise your energy to work, to serve others, to be selfless, to have patience, will also remove laziness and tendency of procrastination. But all these will not just happen in one day, it will happen over the years. Only chanting will not help, along with it, through life’s various events, ShaniDev teaches us principles, values and ideals, which have to be implemented in our actions.
Sruti (what is heard), and Smriti (what is perceived) as corpus conforms the Avatars of Devi-Shakti, whose worship in Tantra is referred to as Vidya. Whereas Shaktavites consider Nava Durgas; Shailaputri - Sun, Chandragansha- Moon, Skandamata - Mars (Tue), Mahagauri - Mercury (Wed), Kushmanda - Jupiter (Thu), Katyayani - Venus ( Fri), Brahmacharini - Saturn (Sat), Kalaratri - Rahu (Fri) and Siddhidhatri - Ketu (Thu).
There is another option of Dasa Mahavidya that has deity for Ascendant also. Her ten avatars (incarnations, or manifestations are called the Dasha Mahavidya, one among the hundreds of tantrik practices. She covers the whole range of feminine divinity.
1. Matangi signifying Transcendent (Spiritual and Metaphysical) know huledge;
2. Bhuvaneshvari (infinite space);
3. Bagalamukhi (Paralize Enemies);
4. Maha Tripura Sundari (or Shodasi-Sri Vidya of ultimate power);
5. Tara (Positioned Sun, created plants);
6. Kamala (Fortunes) as Lakshmi,
7. Kāli (Feminine for Time of Doomsday);
8. Chinnamasta (with glorified head),
9. Dhoomavathi (the Haze incarnation) Incites quarrels and Nothing else can exist during 'pralaya'.
10. Bhairavi (Supreme Terror to evil people).
Mantras are given by Gurus to disciple. Navagraha Stotra (Hymn on the Nine Planets) composed by Vyasadeva millenniums ago before the astronomers could know about them using the High Definition Space Telescopes. This hymn tells about the planets in a coded script, one has to decode them to understand and experience the immense depth of it.
The first verse is dedicated to Surya, the Sun God. In this verse Sun is compared to Hibiscus (Japa Kusuma) with magnificence (Mahaa-dyutim). He is the descendent of Sage Kashyapa (Kashyapeeyam). Destroyer of darkness and sins (Tamorim sarva paapaghnam), He is the day-maker (Divakaram) too.
The second hymn is on Chandra, the Moon. His colour is of Yogurt, Shell and Snow (Dadhi Shanka Tushara). He is born out of Milky Ocean at the time of Samudra Mathana (Ksheeror daarnava sambhavam) and bears the rabbit (Shashi) in Him. He is the head ornament of Shambhu (Shambhur mukuta bhushanam).
The third hymn is on Mangala, the Mars. He is Youth (Kumaram) Romans too consider Mars to be valiant youth. Born out of Earth (Dharani Garbha sambhutam) He is bright as lightening (Vidyut Kanti samaprabham).
The fourth hymn is on Budha, the Mercury. Like the bud of Priyangu that is Kadamba in Sanskrit (Aglaia Elaeagnoidea) He is Shyama (cloud colour) astronomers have observed Mercury to be grey. Roopene apratimam (matchless beauty).
The fifth hymn is on Guru, the Jupiter. Resembling Gold (Kanchana sannibham) he is the preceptor of Deva and Rishis (Devanam cha Rishinam cha). He is embodiment of Intellect (Buddhi bhutam) and Lord of three worlds (Trilokesham).
The sixth hymn is on Sukra, the Venus. With the advantage of looking like the fibre of snow jasmine (Hima Kunda mirnalaabham), He is the teacher for Demons (Daityanam Paramam Gurum). He is the preacher of all science (Sarva shastra pravaktaaram).
The seventh hymn is on Shani, the Saturn. There is a mention of the Rings of Saturn (Neelanjana Samabhaasam) Neela is blue, Anjana is embellishment and Samabhaasam is resemble. The mention of blue rings that are made to appear. He is (Raviputra) Son of Sun and Elder brother to Yama (Yamagrajam). He is son of Surya and Chayadevi (Chayamarthanda Sambootam) Marthanda is Sun.
The eighth hymn is on Rahu, the north lunar node. He has half body but he is brave (Ardhakayam mahaveeram), He is the destroyer of Sun and moon (Chandraditya vimardanam) that is, while eclipse he destroys them. He is the son of Simhika, sister of Prahalada (Simhikagarbha sambootam).
The ninth hymn is on Ketu, the south lunar node. He is red as Butea flower (Palasha Pushpa samkaasha). He is the head of all stars and planets (Tarakagriha mastakam). He is fierce and terrifying (Raudram Raudratmakam).
Apart from these nine grahas, in Mahabharata Vyasadeva has mentioned about Uranus, Neptune and Pluto as Shweta, Syama and Teekshana as distant planets.
The planet Shweta in the Citta Nakshatra (constellation) is Greenish White and it has now been discovered to be the colour of Uranus; the Bluish White of the planet Syama is found to be the colour of Neptune. Scholars also believe that which Vyasadeva has referred to as Teekshana ‘troubling’ the Krittika constellation is Pluto discovered in 1930.
In the universe all the creatures are related to Adhivyadhi, which indicates mental agony or bodily pain. Acharyas of Ayurveda like Charaka, Sushruta and Kashyap have classified diseases into various categories like Agantuja, Sharirika, Manasika, Swabhavika, etc. Charaka classified diseases based on the prognosis like Sadhya, Asadhya, Mrudu and Daruna. Ayurveda also suggested Daiva Vyapashraya Chikitsa which includes of Manidharana and chanting Mantras.
Today we all are very fast to comment / offence, fast to come up with a conclusion, fast to end relationship, we are in a hurry to judge people and make remarks on people, we are ready to give our opinions as quick as possible without even knowing the intentions. Nowadays people insulting awareness of Sanatan Dharma; Pulling down nature is impatience. ShaniDev is not in favour of such qualities.
Authored by Anadi Sahoo
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