Spirituality vs Religion — House Significations (9H=Dharma, 8H=Sadhana, 12H=Moksha), Four Yoga Paths & Tapasya Yoga (Saturn+Venus+Ketu)

Tapasya Yoga — Saturn, Venus, Ketu Conjunction

The recording opens in the middle of a question about children born while Saturn, Venus and Ketu are together.

What counts as Tapasya Yoga

• Saturn, Venus and Ketu merely being together is not Tapasya yoga.
• Together in lagna or a trine it is auspicious. In the 8th or 12th (moksha trikona) the teacher also takes it as very auspicious.
• The yoga does not by itself mean spirituality. It means a passionate, disciplined pursuit of something. The native can be a researcher as easily as a spiritualist.
• To know which, read Navamsa, Vimsamsa, Dasamsa and the other divisional charts.

"It only means somebody who is passionate about some kind of disciplined pursuit of something. So it could be a researcher, it could be a spiritualist, it could be anybody."

The conjunction of 13 October 2007

• The class is held about a month before. On the afternoon of 13 October 2007 Ketu is at 10°33' Leo, Venus at 10°39', Saturn at 10°53'.
• All three sit inside 20 arc-minutes, one third of a degree. A three-planet conjunction is uncommon; one this tight is extremely rare, and it is of the three planets that give Tapasya yoga.

For the world: not a good combination. Venus is the planet of harmony, peace and plenty. Saturn depletes and Ketu explodes. Whatever planet they join, they destroy what that planet shows. Some bad mundane events are possible.

In an individual chart: good only for tapasya, not for material success.

For sadhana: a great day. It falls in Navratra, which suits sadhana of the Divine Mother, and on a weekend. The day itself is the peak; one day either side also counts.

"Sadhana done on particular days is basically more potent than some other days. It can result in something faster than other days."

A child born with the conjunction (student's question)

A student describes a child with Scorpio lagna and Moon in Virgo. No birth data is read out; the chart is deferred.

• From Scorpio lagna the three planets are in the 10th. They are the 4th lord (Saturn), the 7th lord (Venus) and the lagna lord (Ketu). That is no special Raja yoga, and the 10th house is not one of the Tapasya yoga houses.
• Saturn and Ketu in the 10th still show spiritual karmas: big homas, big pujas, organising large religious events.
• From the Moon in Virgo the three are closely conjoined in the 12th. That does show somebody very spiritual.
• The teacher's reading: he will be spiritual and will do big karmas relating to spirituality. Material benefit is a separate matter.
• Jupiter is in lagna: the 5th lord of purva punya, a natural and functional benefic, karaka of intelligence. It protects the native against going to extremes.

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Spirituality vs. Religion

A student asks for the difference between religiousness and spirituality, because readings often say "religious" from the 9th lord. The teacher says this is a general question, not an astrological one, and answers it first.

Definition of Spirituality

Spirit = Ātmā, the soul within; the Brahman that pervades all.

Spiritual person = one who seeks the true self. He need not have realised Brahman; he realises that there is something to be realised.

"Even if you are not an ātma-jñāni, you are searching for ātma-jñāna, the knowledge of self, then I will say you are a spiritual person."

The highest state: complete identification with Brahman. There is no "I", "you", "he" or "she". Such a being would not even speak of his past lives or of debts fulfilled.

It is reached in stages:

1. Identification with the body — "I am beautiful, I am smart".
2. Less identification with the body; recognition of a soul inside.
3. Further on, recall of a previous life and of the ṛṇas owed; working off the karmas that pull one down.
4. No identification with anything in the universe except Brahman. Until then the evolution is still going on.

Spirituality is strictly the destination. In ordinary speech "spiritual" means someone pursuing it.

Definition of Religion

Religion is a tool for the journey. It is rule-based: yamas and niyamas laid down by spiritually advanced people, so that continued practice takes the follower to the goal. Rising at a fixed time, a daily homa or ten malas of Gayatri, a chapter of the Quran every morning, church every Sunday.

• The failure: the rules go dry. People follow them blindly without the intent behind them. Such a person does his duty sincerely, is religious, and gets no closer to his true self.
• Still: a majority of those who follow a religion blindly for long enough reach some level of spirituality.
• Spiritual without religion: some people follow no religion, know by instinct that there is a God, and come close to Him through thought and action. That is harder. It is better to follow some religion.
• Ramana Maharshi is the example. One day he asked what happens at death, lay like a log as if dying, and that experience set him off. He left home, sat in a remote place for years and ate very little. He followed no religion. He may have done sadhana and followed a religion in a previous life.
• Self-knowledge can also come in a split second, as the fruit of many lives.

Astrological Correspondences

• For a spiritually elevated being, lagna, the 8th and the 12th matter far more than the 9th.
• The goal of spirituality is moksha, not dharma. A strong 9th does not give moksha.
• The 12th with Ketu and other auspicious influences qualifies a person to progress towards moksha.

"12th house shows moksha, not even 8th house. 8th house only shows sadhana, but 12th house is the house of moksha. 9th house being strong doesn't mean you will get moksha."

D-20 (Vimsamsa) is the 8th-house based chart: the effort put in, the chart of spiritual evolution. For most people that evolution begins with following a religion.

Religious or Irreligious Is Neither Good Nor Bad

• 9th lord in the 8th, or dharma trikonas under attack, makes a person less religious. That is not a fault for spirituality. It can be good or bad. Judge by the moksha trikonas, the 8th and the 12th.
• Ramakrishna Paramahamsa: everything the senses show is māyā, of two kinds — vidyā māyā (learned, sattvic) and avidyā māyā (ignorant, tamasic). Wanting to teach astrology and wanting to kill an enemy are both māyā. All three gunas, sattva included, are clothes to be shed. Rise above avidyā māyā first. So being religious is not a bad idea.
• A realised person may or may not be religious. Vasishtha and Vishvamitra kept the rules knowing they are superficial. Clean clothes at a Vedic ceremony are symbolic; what pleases Shiva is the purity of consciousness. The rules enforce outer purity because only that can be seen with physical eyes.
• After realisation a person goes on like a fan still turning after the current is cut, moved by his pūrva vāsanās. One fights a war like Arjuna. One runs a kingdom and hands out punishments, as Vasishtha did. One shares food with a dog beside a gutter. One performs yajnas. One spreads astrology.

"Being religious or being irreligious is neither a necessary nor a sufficient condition as far as being spiritual or being self-realized is concerned."

Four Paths of Yoga (Tattva Correspondences)

Taught while reading Swami Sivananda's chart (Part 4). All four are taught by Sri Krishna in the Gita and all are valid.

• Ākāśa has no path of its own. Yoga itself, union with the highest, is ākāśa.
• Risk of Jnana yoga: it suits a soul already almost purified. If many karmas still pull you down, analysis alone will not reach the truth.
• Risk of Raja yoga: Ramakrishna taught it to a few disciples and told them not to pass it on. Vivekananda once lost consciousness practising it. In Kali yuga the air itself is impure, just as an idol carries the impurities of its maker and its muhurta.
• Homam: Swami Vimalananda held that homam is the best approach in Kali yuga, and the teacher agrees. Every other element can be corrupted; fire cannot. Fire is pure and purifies. Spend time near fire and the fire within grows stronger.

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