BPHS Ch.94 — Jyeshtha Gandanta Shanti (Indra Idol), Graduated Cow Donations & Karma Transfer Philosophy

BPHS Chapter 94 — Jyeshtha Gandanta Shanti

Effect of birth in Jyeshtha Gandanta

• Pituḥ svasya cha nāśakaḥ: one born in Jyeshtha Gandanta brings destruction to the father and to himself.

The procedure

"Mūla-śānti-samaṁ sarvam" — everything, the mandapa and the rest, is done as in the Mula Shanti of the previous chapter. The differences:

The Indra idol:

• Of gold, according to one's capability
• Holding the vajra and the ankusha (the goad a mahout uses to control an elephant)
• Seated on Gajaraja — Airavata, the white elephant

The puja:

• Make a pile of white rice (śāli-taṇḍula) and set the kumbha on it. Coins can be put in the kalasha.
• Place the Indra idol on top of it or in front of it. Invoke Indra in the kalasha and in the idol.
• Worship with the mantras of one's own gṛhya tradition, with gandha, pushpa, akshata.
• Abhishekam, homam, and brāhmaṇa-bhojanam.
• Japa of the Indra Sukta with devotion, and of the Mrityunjaya mantra.
• Pray to Indra with those mantras. Then the person gets relief.

The teacher says plainly that he does not know which hymn the Indra Sukta is:

"Unfortunately, I don't know what that Indra suktam is. I only know a few mantras of Indra."

• Some set of the Vedic mantras of Indra must have gone by that name in Parashara's time. If you do not know it, read some Indra mantras.

Minimum remedy

"For most of these remedies, Mrityunjaya mantra is a standard remedy."

• If the person cannot do any of this, at least tell him to do the Mrityunjaya mantra every day, 11 or 21 times. That itself is a great remedy.

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Cow Donations by Gandanta Severity

If the ritual is beyond one's ability

• Athavā śakty-abhāve tu kuryād godānam eva hi: if the person lacks the ability — no priest, no gold, no money — at least give a cow.
• Godana is held greater even than giving a lot of land.

How many cows

"You should not take this literally and say, okay, now I have to give only 2. What this means is it is less inauspicious."

• The Revati–Ashwini border is less inauspicious. The Cancer–Leo and Scorpio–Sagittarius borders are much more so.
• The verse speaks of nakshatra, so it is the Moon. The teacher: take both lagna and Moon.

Other planets in Gandanta (the teacher's suggestion)

• Parashara gives no guideline. Extend the guidelines for lagna and Moon to the other planets.
• For lagna and Moon the shanti is done at birth. Jupiter in deep Gandanta with Jupiter dasha starting at 45: a similar Gandanta Shanti can be done in the 44th or 45th year.
• If the planet is important — lagna lord, or the lagna lord's dispositor — do it at birth itself.
• At the time of the class Saturn was in Gandanta and Ketu in a sandhi. By the formula: 3 cows for Saturn, 1 for Ketu. Saturn in Gandanta is no less than the Moon in Gandanta.
• Choose a recipient who is like the planet. Saturn: a hard-working Brahmin, or a dark one, patient and persevering. Venus: a Brahmin lady, or a Brahmin who is a little rajasic.

"This is just my suggestion."

Scale it to the giver

• For a king with billions, one or two cows is nothing. "Get 1000 Brahmins, give each of them 100 cows, then maybe you will really get the relief."
• For a poor Brahmin, donating even a picture of a cow may give the result.
• A student puts it as: the gift must pinch the giver. The teacher agrees — it should be a stretch, some suffering for you, otherwise there is no point. How much pinch depends on which Gandanta it is.

The price of a cow

• Gor abhāve tu viprāya dadyāt tan-mūlyam eva hi: if there is no cow, give the price of a cow to the Brahmin. The goal is that he can get a cow with it.
• If he buys whiskey with it, the remedy does not work fully. That is apātra-dāna, giving to the unworthy. Giving the money does not finish your job.
• If the receiver sells the cow and somebody eats it, some of that karma comes to you. If he abuses the cow, a small part of that comes to you too.
• The same with money earned from a company that holds equity in a slaughterhouse. So many karmas land on the shoulder every moment that only Chitragupta or a great yogi can keep track.

"It is like you are putting money in bank and interest is coming to you. Can be positive interest or negative interest, you do not know."

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Birth Nakshatras That Endanger the Spouse’s Family

Jyeshtha and Vishakha — the husband's brothers

• A girl born in Jyeshtha "kills" — brings great trouble to — the elder brother of her husband.
• A girl born in the last pada of Vishakha is devara-ghātinī: danger to the younger brother of her husband (devara).
• For Jyeshtha the text does not say which pada. The teacher reads it as the Gandanta, the last pada, not the whole nakshatra.
• Vishakha's last pada appears here for the first time. It is not a Gandanta, only a rashi sandhi, but it is in the same Scorpio. The higher end of Scorpio is for the elder brother-in-law, the lower end for the younger.
• Remedy: godana at the time of pradāna — kanyadana, the marriage.

Ashlesha and Mula — the parents-in-law

• A daughter born in the last three padas of Ashlesha: danger to the mother-in-law.
• A son born in the first three padas of Mula: danger to the father-in-law.
• Remedy: shanti at the time of marriage, according to one's means.

No such relative, no dosha

• The verse names only the husband's elder brother, but the rest are implied. If the elder brother, younger brother, father-in-law or mother-in-law does not exist, there is no dosha and no remedy is needed.
• Example: the bride is born in Vishakha 4th pada and the husband has no younger brother. Nothing to do.

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Karma Transfer in Remedies

Where the karma goes

A student asks: is the evil of these doshas simply being transferred to somebody else?

• When a cow is donated to a Brahmin, some of the karma is burnt in the process itself — in the loss of the cow. Some is transferred to the receiver, because he accepts something freely.
• It is not that all the karma moves. A sadhu saying "give me your karma" and you giving it is one thing. In this ritual the abhishekam washes away some karma and the homam burns some; a part still goes to the receiver.
• The karmic implications are there, but they are not easy to evaluate.

The receiver must know

• A student: so we should tell the Brahmin what the gift is for.

"They should know, yeah. You should not just bring the person and say, okay, you take this."

• Story: a priest prescribed a gift of black shoes for a Saturn problem. The man chosen to receive them knew what it meant and did not want them, but could not refuse the priest. The shoes were not found at the appointed time and he escaped. Later the donor himself needed shoes one day and ended up wearing them.
• One who wants to avoid it can always avoid it. Say no. Or, so as not to hurt anyone, pray to your Ishtadevata and you will escape.
• Some take it willingly: one more set of karmas to burn.

Why "give it to a Brahmin"

"They were the ones who were doing karma, doing rituals. So they knew they were taking so many karmas from people, they could take them, they could withstand them. That is why Brahmanas are recommended here."

"By Brahmana here we do not mean somebody who is born to Brahmana parents and then doing Shudra karma."

• These texts turned into privileges. Brahmins received cows and land whatever their stature and accumulated things. The resentment this provoked — the Dravidian movement in Tamil Nadu, for example — is partly correct. The tradition was misused.
• The goal was never accumulation. The goal is to take other people's karmas and suffer for them.
• The receiver must be of much higher caliber than you and your child. Handing the karma to somebody who cannot withstand it is not right; you might withstand it better yourself.

Burning it yourself

• The teacher has Sankranti dosha (Sun at about 29°56′) and meant to have the shanti done on a trip to India. Then he thought: why ask somebody else to take it?

"I will burn it myself. If you have the ability to do that, that is the best thing to do."

• Rishis took others' karmas and burnt them. Ramakrishna Paramahamsa did it for Girish. He told him: from today whatever you do, I will suffer for it — give me a power of attorney. Girish laughed, agreed, and went on drinking and womanising. Ramakrishna suffered for it and in the end got cancer. When Girish understood this, he was transformed and stopped.
• First exhaust most of your own karmas. Only one who is already light can take others' karmas and burn them quickly. Otherwise you sink.
• Nobody knows exactly which act burns which karma, or which karmas sit on his shoulders. What burns karma: material suffering, or spiritual sadhana. More sadhana — homam, abhisheka, japa — burns more.
• If you do nothing and suffer all your karmas yourself, that is the safest.

Knowing and unknowing

• A student: at least do not generate new karma knowingly. The teacher: that is the first step.
• But karma is karma. The word means action. Push something and the reaction is on the hand whether you meant it or not. Hitting an animal on the road incurs karma even with no intent.
• Thumb rules fail. Speaking well of a false saint may send a thousand people to be cheated. Right and wrong are relative; only She has the full picture.
• Only for one who has fully surrendered the ego to the Ishtadevata and never feels "I did it" is there no karma.

"When there is no you, there is no karma for you. As long as there is a you, there is a karma for you."

• The best remedy: realise this more and more. With that, ten minutes of prayer is more fruitful than ten hours.

"True surrender is the only way."

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Closing Q&A — When a Dosha Needs No Remedy; Amavasya Dosha

A dosha whose result is not felt

• Question: the text gives poverty as the result of a dosha, but the person is not poor and wants nothing more. Should he still do the shanti?
• No. Then do nothing. Perhaps in that case the dosha is not giving that result.
• These are gross rules on gross principles. Sadhana done by the person or an ancestor, or karmas shown in other divisional charts, or finer principles the classics do not explain, may modify them.
• If a person is not troubled by a dosha, do not press him. If he is suffering — the teacher knows several people with Sankranti dosha who feel their whole life is stunted, with obstacles in whatever they do — then do the remedy.

Amavasya dosha when parents and child live apart

• A student born with Amavasya dosha says his parents lost property when he was born. He lives abroad and his parents are in India.
• Do it on a visit to India. Or the parents can have the puja done there, naming themselves and the child in the sankalpa, and take the abhisheka themselves; the water can be kept for the child to use later.
• Or have it done where the child lives, naming father, mother and self, and take the abhisheka. One side has to compromise. That is better than not doing it.
• Amavasya dosha is well known; most priests know the shanti. Find a good priest.

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