The Challenges of Rahu Part II



The Challenges of Rahu Part II

Om nakadwajaaya vidmahe padma hastaaya dheemahi tanno rahu prachodayat


Rahu presents many challenges to us as it is the repository of energies and stored desires within. We may easily be driven by the ego and its wants, our desires and felt needs to be included, valued, wanted and needed in the station in life that we feel we belong. These are subtle energies within driven by the pull of energies allocated to Rahu to manage and expend in our daily lives.

There are many challenges presented by Rahu, which, when met face on, can bring us to a higher knowing and understanding of the purposes of our lives, and how we might best live as human beings with dignity, self respect and self-control. The desires presented by the action of Rahu are met by the practice of ceiling on desires.

Vedic Astrology allocates Rahu co-lordship of Aquarius (Kumbh) with Saturn. With respect to present life karma, it is said that the location of Rahu from Aquarius in the birth chart will indicate the challenges to be developed or faced, this lifetime.

Rahu is eternally in a state of separation from himself; he is forever seeking union with his other half, Ketu. The goal of separation is union, for the end of separation from duality is to return to the source, the Creative Source of All Creation. Rahu must seek a spiritual end in order to be reunited with his body, known as Ketu.

Rahu and Ketu are said to be the celestial army (BHPS). Rahu opens new frontiers as Army scouts are want to do for the main forces. Rahu must do this in order to create a state of balance for Ketu and the home forces; an Army achieves nothing if it is disconnected from what is happening in its environment; the role of an Army is to provide the welfare of a group by providing protection. Ketu is well versed in protecting the status quo and its own boundaries. However, atrophy and ennui are not the task of taking birth as human. The Hue+man (the being that is filled with the Hue of the Light of the Source of All Creation) ever seeks its return home to its source, from which it is separated.

It is also taught in depth psychology that man is a union of contrasting opposites (Carl. G. Jung). When taken to extremes, opposites are the same. Hence we can understand the teaching of Parashara in BHPS, "Ketu is akin to Rahu". Where Ketu has unclear or unrealistic ideas (and weak social boundaries), then the human is unable to live in accordance with preconceived ideas. This suggests the intrusion of mobile phones and texting into peoples lives places them out of touch with what it means to be human; for human beings progress when there is interaction and they receive feedback about themselves - face to face.

Rahu and Ketu go about their task of igniting the seeking of eternal return and Oneness with Source by creating compulsive behaviour, discomfort and discontent with the way things are, along with radical and uncontrollable changes within and without. This ignition created by the joint action of Rahu and Ketu produces a turn towards spiritualiy, and a destruction or collapse of the non-spiritual within.

Rahu forces radical changes where one is required to rely on the unfamiliar, the uncontrolled, the unknown. This is a significant challenge for those who like to have purpose, meaning and order in their lives. The changes forced by Rahu require that situations be examined from a higher perspective, or a multifacted perspective. This forces a breakthrough in understanding. Horizons are widened, the ego is sacrificed on the altar of seeing life through new eyes. Sacrifice takes one to new levels of existence, like a snake shedding its skin, there are new ways to see life and participate in life and move towards the goal.

Sacrifice brings about big changes with respect to the self-seeking deceiver attitude to life that Rahu normally signifies. Forever dissatisfied, Rahu seeks those things which make it feel powerful and part of a superior peer group, a control group. This illegitimate behaviour of Rahu where the station in life is improperly obtained - cannot be sustained. There has to be change, and one of the catalytic functions of Rahu is to instigate that change. We may be in possession of behaviours and wants from our past lives or our childhood which we have relied upon in order to feel that we belong, that we have a place here. Do we really need these ego-driven compulsions?

When ego driven acquisitions and compulsions are brought into the light of day, we may feel self disgust, having a brutal condemnation of our own selves. When long suppressed memories are released into consciousness, we see the motivations for our behaviour - or seductions, mental confusions and discontents and how these have driven us. Rahu as driver of self-seeking action has this role in our lives: to release stored, unfinished desires within us. It is often desire for power over our environment, our love lives, or just plain magical desire: wave a wand and the housework is done!

Doing the housework is like taking birth as a human; we have a soul-blueprint, and there is work to be done. Growing up in a family, going to school, making friends and exploring the boundaries of our live with them. We are here because we wanted to be here; we had a desire inventory which we have selected to spend in our human body. When we take birth as human, we take with us the karma written on our brow for consumption, to finish, this time around.

So how do we respond to these challenges of Rahu? Rahu (along with Ketu) has a task to move us out of our comfort zone and our zone of preconceived ambition that we may not be legitimately entitled to. What we are entitled to is to pursue the four goals of life - wealth, our needs, rightful action and liberation, release from the cycle of birth and rebirth. In order to do this, we need to recognise our desires for what they are, just that: compulsions, envy, jealousy, possessiveness. We need to recognise how the outward-moving ego - that wants all that it sees - (if you doubt this, watch a very young child when it sees another child's toys and possessions) - and develop the habit of placing a ceiling on our desires. This is how we may meet the challenges of Rahu.

We can meet the challenges of Rahu by practising ceiling on desires which can be applied to our Time, our Money, the Food we consume (and the food we waste) and our personal Energy. These are everyday areas of our lives driven by ego, want, unthinking desires and unconscious needs to feel validated, to feel like we belong, and where we do things to reassure ourselves. There may be areas where the ego is saying I, I want, I want More!

Human life is time. Time, often thought to be linear, is cyclic and encompassing, it passes us by and waits for no one. We may while away time with our inner creations, our imaginations, our fantasies and our memories. The field of the human body is not the field of idleness; it is the field of action, as Krishna taught in the Bhagavad Gita. Time waste is life waste; once the moment is passed, it can never be recalled. While there are many ways in which we can waste time we can also organise our time. Our day may be best spent in a balance of work, spiritual activity, exercise and relaxation. This is profitable use of time which both spends our energy and recharges our physical, mental and spiritual energies. To relax all day long every day is a waste of our time our lives.

Money is energy that we exchange for goods and services, food and lodging, clothing and food. Money is like blood, it must move around or a clot occurs and poor health ensues. Hoarding money is very unhealthy; most millionaires worry about their money and their assets. They can be very driven people, protecting their precious wealth. Money spent on fashions and needless clothing is not only waste but also a form of imitation. While it is true that society judges you by the clothes you wear, you may have clothing appropriate to the occasion (school, sport, work and for wearing about the home), having too many clothes serves nobody any good. Having clothes just to feel like you belong, you are "cool", "hip" or whatever is the fashionable flavour of the moment is a form of weakness. You do not develop strength and purpose weakly imitating others. Money must be used for your welfare, some must be put aside for hard times (which come in cycles in everyone's life) and some money must be spent on the welfare of others in need. This is the proper use of money.

Food is energy. It is just the same as the energy - or fuel - that we place in our motor vehicles; that is liquid energy converted to fire energy in the engine and the sparks drive the pistons up and down and the car moves forward as we burn the fuel. Our bodies burn the fuel of food that we place into them. Food must be appetising, nutritious, and give us energy for our daily needs. Excess food labours bodies and its energy systems, as food is converted into the sugar energy and stored in fat cells and the nutrients finally arrive in our bloodstream and are carried to various parts of the body. We should not be wasting money on excess food, we ought to be eating three times a day and not snacking between meals. Snacks are meals and overload the body's energy system with the bulk of snack foods energy stored as fat, further overloading the body's systems. At present, in white Anglo-Celtic nations, there is an epidemic of obesity among young people. Fast food - which is simply empty calories lacking nutrition - is ultimately injurious to our health. It burns needful body energy for consumption. We should be eating the right food, the right amount of food, at the right times: morning, lunch and evening meals. All else is waste of food.

The human body has many energy systems; there is physical energy, there is mental energy, there is spiritual energy and there is subtle energy which animates the heart and lungs, supplies fire to the stomach to consume food, and light to the eyes to see. There is electrical energy within the human body within. Our energies can be active, slothful and peaceful. Balance of energy is brought about by balance in our activities during the day. Worrying is a waste of mental energy. Regret is a waste of emotional energy. Anger, jealousy, envy and rage waste our spiritual energy. We may consume three months of spiritual energy in one moment's outburst of anger and rage. When we exercise self control and self discipline, we manage our internal energies within. We do not waste energy.

We may meet the challenges of Rahu, when we break through the bunds of self-seduction, mental confusion and discontent by the practice of ceiling on our desires, for Rahu releases stored, unused desires within. Managing our time, our money, our food, and our energy ;ets us channel the release of stored energy and the stored desires of Rahu in a sensible, fruitful manner which leads to true humanness. In this wise do we meet the challenges of Rahu.

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