Human Values and Astrology
Value: Truth; Sub-value: Discrimination
Planet (graha) Saturn (Sani)
Oh Lord Saturn! The mysterious one,
Thy mother is the shadow and thy father is the Sun,
You are considered, only malefic, by some,
Others know you as the benevolent one.
God gave you the task to purify each one
Through all types of experiences under the Sun.
Bless us and remove our shackles, one by one.
The Planet Saturn is dispositor of limits, control (and when we try to push past that control, frustration); and completion. We should never be trying to push back the barriers that limit us without using our discrimination.
Human Values
Our values are our principles, our guides to action. Values are our codes of internal conduct, the principles upon which we run our lives and make our decisions. Our values are first given to us by our parents, and these are developed, expanded, tested in experience. Other people impress values upon us, such as those values given to us by our peers, our teachers, the wider community. Our moral values are often sourced from our faith systems. It is from these that we select the principles which guide our lives and our behaviours.
Our values often include universal principles such as truthfulness, peace, love, right conduct and non-violence. These principles are often essential for our personal and social survival. Putting things back to front, we can often work out what values are present in a situation or an event or a reaction (our own)(someone else's) when we analyse either ourselves or others, for behaviour reveals choices, and choices are based on our values.
In Vedic Astrology, Saturn is the giver of discrimination. Saturn gives time for reflection, for detachment, for witnessing our own behaviours and responses, for evaluation of ourselves. We might reflect on ourselves in the light of what our faith-system offers to us, or other guiding principles we have elected to live by.
Faith-systems are often a set of guides and signposts to the AFTERLIFE - a place we are all going to. As such, religions offer codes and principles to practice and live by which (ought to) get you to the Afterlife; take that path, up this mountain.
It is up to ourselves to look at our own experience - that is, everyday experience and evaluate what works for ourselves. Knowledge and spiritual teachings only have value if they enrich you and open your heart to turn towards God. It is not enough to know. It is necessary to practice and draw conclusions from daily life.
Saturn and Truth (Sathya)
If we consider the composition of truth, it is found that truthfulness, creativity, honesty, determination, fairness, trust and reflection are all components of this human value.
In every value, and in every component (or sub value), we find that there is a limit. The idea of limit is based on discipline, for in everything in creation, there are limits which we should not go beyond. Vedic Astrology is vedanga, a limb of the Vedas. The Vedas teach us that there is no benefit without adherence to proper discipline.
The body is the best example for this. If the body temperature crosses the limit of 98.4 degrees, fever sets in. 120/80 is the perfect blood pressure, crossing which will subject the body to ill-health. Even the eyes can only see up to a particular level of intensity, beyond which damage occurs.
When we transcend respect, we may be allowing another to use us, or we may be surrendering our common sense. When we exceed the bunds of responsibility, we may be attached to outcomes, or investing our ego in the activity. When we go beyond self-control, we may be hurting others or damaging ourselves. There are limits to a value, and this is part of our discrimination whenever we are engaging activity.
The Stage of Truth
It is taught that the Universe rests on Truth - Sathyam moolam jagat. Truth is the basis of Dharma, right conduct. When Saturn inflicts delays, reversals, poverty, containment – internal and external – and frustration in achievement of wants and desires, then we need to look within to what it is the Divine is offering us through the actions of its embodiment as Saturn, Lord Sani Bhagavan. Grace demands effort. Discrimination never comes when we react to an event.
Sorrow affects you because you feel you deserved joy and did not acquire it; but, there is one impartial distributor of joy and sorrow, who gives you what you need, rather than what you desire. You may need the tonic of tragedy to set you on the road to recovery. The Compassionate One, the Eternal All-knowing God, He knows best. Welcome the tragedy and fight your way through with the armour of Memory Divine. All the rivers hurry to the sea; let all your imaginings wend their way to God. The Play is His; the role is His Gift; the lines are written by Him; He directs, He decides the dress and the decoration, the gesture and the tone, the entrance and the exit. You have to act well the part and receive His approbation, when the curain falls. Earn by your efficiency and enthusiasm the right to play higher and higher roles—that is the meaning and purpose of life. Voice of the Avatar, Vol II, page 63
As we drive down the highway called life, the end of the journey is reached with balance. We start early, drive carefully, and arrive safely. There are four tyres on the car taking us to the goal of life; these are the four purusarthas, the four great goals of life: Right Action (righteousness) (sometimes called Dharma), Gains and Wealth (sometimes called Artha, Wealth), our needs and basic necessities, desires appropriate to our station in life (sometimes called Kama) and very Heaven itself, the vision of God -- beatific vision -- or liberation from the cycle of birth, death and birth again (sometimes called Moksha). The air in the tyres have to be set to the proper limit, and not much more. If the air -- read investment of our energies, our direction, our emphasis, our time, talents and resources -- is too much into one tyre, the tyre will burst and cause accident. Enter Saturn, for we must pause, delay our journey and evaluation our actions, our choices and our guides to behaviour.
Earlier we examined the composition of truth. It was found that truthfulness, creativity, honesty, determination, fairness, trust and reflection are all components of this human value. We need to ask ourselves a series of questions in order to see what our values are in action. Consider the image below:
The Planet Saturn is dispositor of limits, control (and when we try to push past that control, frustration); and completion. We should never be trying to push back the barriers that limit us without using our discrimination.
If we are going to discover truth in our lives and use discrimination to arrive at peace, then we will welcome the delays, the path obstructed, the reversals in our achievements, the frustrations in achieving a desired goal. One does not acquire wisdom, peace and serenity -- along with true humanness -- through hurry, worry and curry. Lord Sani Bhagavan - the Planet Saturn is amsa (part) of the Kalapurusha, along with all other planets. Through distribution and combination of the seven rays, the Planet Saturn acts as the Divine and gives pause and time. Grace (divine blessing for one's efforts) actually demands effort.
We said earlier, "Saturn gives time for reflection, for detachment, for witnessing our own behaviours and responses, for evaluation of ourselves." So you may understand that the deprivations occasioned by Saturn in your chart are opportunities for self-reflection, self discipline, leading to self control and self respect. True humanness - that which marks people from those who simply act without thinking, or do what they know to be the wrong thing, true humanness is obtained via the Truth, which is lived and known when we use our discrimination.
