Om kṣayavṛddhisamanvitāya namaha, Salutations to the One who possessed of waxing and waning, in perpetuity.
glossary
kṣaya destruction Adi 17.182, Adi 17.266, Madhya 15.107, Madhya 22.51, Antya 3.61
kṣaya diminished. Adi 10.51
strong>kṣaya, kṣi last col.), loss, waste, wane, diminution, destruction, decay wasting or wearing away; fall (as of prices, opposed to vṛddhi, e. g. kṣayo vṛddhiś ca paṇyānām, the fall and rise in the price of commodities); removal; end, termination (e. g. nidrā-kṣaya, the end of sleep; dina-kṣaye, at the end of day; jīvita- kṣaye, at the end of life; kṣayaṃ yā or gam, to become less, be diminished, go to destruction, come to an end, perish); consumption, pthisis pulmonalis; sickness in general; the destruction of the universe; (in algebra) a negative quality, a minus.
vṛddhi increasing SB 9.24.56
samanvita – Sam-anvita, as, ā, am, connected or associated with; completely possessed of, fully endowed with, possessing, full of, affected by; [cf. anv-ita.]
samanvitā—full of SB 3.22.29-30
samanvitaḥ—accompanied. SB 4.25.52, SB 4.25.53, SB 4.25.55
samanvitaḥ—qualified in that way Bg 18.26
samanvitaḥ—followed SB 4.6.8
Waxing and waning, increase and diminution, these are the monthly cycles of the moon. The Moon is possessed of these cycles, and they affect all aspects of our lives: from the tides of the oceans, to the planting cycles, to the animals that roam the lands during the full moon. Lunacy comes from luna, which is thought to be exacerbated during the Full Moon.
We say the Moon is possessed of this for the Moon can do little else, it follows dharma, it follows its own path of raising us up or pulling us down as our prarabhda karma indicates is needful for our current lifetime. The Moon is not just a disc in the sky that grows larger and then smaller until there is no moon, amavasya. The mind is depleted of energy at times of amavasya. Vedanga (a limb of the Vedas) indicates the Moon is one of the Royal Planets and a deity by name Chandra. Deity can be propitiated with prayer, offerings, puja, penance and community service.
Propitiating the Moon can bring benefits to the individual, the jiva with chitta: individual consciousness. As the mind becomes unsteady, out of control, ever clutching and grasping at straws in the wind (this world is light and nothing else) we must needs offer up our supplications to the God Chandra, ever cool, ever serene, ever the presiding deity of the Mind.
Afflictions to the mind can be somewhat alleviated: we now recognise many afflictions coming from diet and drink. Early onset dementia is frequently put down to drinking pop soda (think Coca Cola) in youth. The Parmaeshwar told that talking too much causes senility and dementia. Many a spiritual seeker and guide has told that keeping silent is beneficial to the mind and beneficial to the health.
Undifferentiated deep communion, transcendental absorption gives full knowledge of Brahman, and that, in turn, results in Moksha or Liberation from birth and death. The mind must be attuned to the contemplation of Brahman; one must strive to tread the path of Brahman and live in Brahman, with Brahman. Awareness of the Atma (soul) can be won only by the triple path of ‘giving up Vasanas’ (tendencies or desires), ‘uprooting the mind’ and ‘the analysis of experience, to grasp the reality’. Without these three, the knowledge of the Atma will not dawn. The tendencies, desires or instincts and impulses prod the mind on towards the sensory world and bind the individual to joy and misery. So these desires must be put down. This can be achieved by means of discrimination (viveka), meditation on the Atma, self-inquiry, control of the senses, control of desires, renunciation and such disciplines.
The mind is a bundle of thoughts and desires; verily, the mind is the world itself; it is all the world for the individual. While in deep sleep the mind does not function, and so the world is practically non-existent for the individual. The world is born, or ‘enters the consciousness’ and dies or ‘disappears from the consciousness’, according to the cognitive power of the mind. When therefore the mind is destroyed, the world too is destroyed and one is free, one is liberated; one attains Moksha.
Whoever succeeds in controlling the individual consciousness can have a vision of the Atma. The Individual Consciousness is the grown-up tree; the seed is the “ego”, the feeling of “I”. When the seed “I” is cast aside, all the activities of the consciousness also vanish automatically.
The spiritual seeker, who is earnest for these results, has to be ever vigilant. The senses might, any moment, regain their lost mastery and enslave the individual. He might lose much of the ground already gained. That is the reason why spiritual seekers are warned off from the attachments of the world.
Be ever and always immersed in the search for Truth; do not waste time in the multiplication and satisfaction of wants and desires. One source of pleasure craves as a corollary to another source. Thus the mind seeks again and again to acquire the objects it has given up; so do not yield to the vagaries of the mind. Turn back, even forcibly, from sensory attachment. Why, even prayer cannot be done, according to the mind’s vagaries. One has to stick to the same place and time! The Atma itself will sustain such spiritual seekers and give them strength and steadiness.
Download 108 Names of Chandra – The Moon
