Navaratri – Mercury

mercury

Today is the fourth day of the Navaratri celebrations which are held for nine nights. All festivals are meant to remind mankind that they should cultivate noble qualities by engaging themselves in activities beneficial to one’s own self and society. Sai Baba has told that Navaratri, the nine nights, represents the Nine Planets.

In Hindu mythology, Navratri celebrates the victory of Goddess Durga over Mahishasura, the buffalo-headed demon. She fought for nine days and nine nights before emerging victorious on the tenth day. Goddess Shakti in the nine forms is worshipped during the period for knowledge, wealth, prosperity and auspiciousness. Knowingly or unknowingly during this period we also recognize the primordial source of energy (Shakti), which manifests in all living and nonliving.

Sai Baba went on to say that each planet has its own significance. However, these planets are not outside, they are within. So we take the opportunity to examine the energies of the planets within, and examine how the Divine Mother is related to these energies. The 4th day of Navratri we will look to the planet Mercury, and examine Lalitha Panchami and its astrological relevance. The colour for the 4th day of Navaratri is ROYAL BLUE, so we scribe in ROYAL BLUE for this 4th day observance of Navaratri.

Mercury is known in Vedic Astrology as Lord Budha, the awakened discriminating intellect – the part of us that knows. Mercury owns two signs, Gemini and Virgo. He is exalted in Virgo at 15 degrees, and in his fall in the opposite sign of Pisces. Where the Moon is the innocent mind, Mercury is the intellect that discriminates between benefic and malefic ideas, or good and evil. Mercury is adept at dealing with duality.

Mercury does not have a distinctive personality of its own; it takes on features of the planets which are associated with it. Mercury, planet of communication, articulates and expresses whatever influence it receives from other planets. For this reason, brilliance of expression, adjustment and flexibility are common traits of Mercury. Mercury traditionally has the function of Messenger of the Gods; it functions to take messages from Gods to Man and from Man to the Gods.

Mercury develops intellect. Taking duality, it enables the subjectivity of an idea to be objectified, and helps to understand the inner reality of external phenomenon. A favourable disposition of Mercury renders perceptive, clever persons who are good debaters, who can argue either side of a question and thus, we can often find that Mercury is strong in the chart of lawyers. Mercury is intellectual and careful with details.

We have clues to the important role and function Mercury has with regard to the mind, the intellect and duality. Shakti is the prime force behind all dualities and Shakti can be found linking subject and object, in the activity of Lord Budha, Planet Mercury. The mind is an energy field of Shakti with neuronal impulses and connections, creating an elaborate web of knowledge and self interest (referring to the autonomic nervous system and instinctive responses of the body.) The mind is a bundle of thoughts bound together by the shakti of memory. Thnking is guided by the intellect, Buddhi, in Sanskrit. The buddhi is nearest the Soul and derives over 90% of its illumination from the Soul.

Chetana Shakti is the shakti of feeling. Feeling is the underlying mood, colour or tone of the mind in which thought occurs. Feeling is more enduring than thought, which changes every second. Feeling is often used for decision making when we bring our perception and experience to the totality of decision making. This Shakti is reflected in Mercury’s capacity to grasp the inner meaning, response, and thoughts about an outer phenomena.

The power of memory is a shakti within which reflects the strength of awareness and attention. Mercury is intellectual in a precise manner and careful with details. Mercury is also an aide-memoire for spiritual practices, for it is both the Shakti of Memory and the fleet activity of Mercury which brings mantras, slokas, prayers, kirtans (chants) and devotional songs to mind in sacred activities and personal spiritual activity.

Sri Lalitha Tripura Sundari is the popular form of Shakti upasana in recent times. She is the main deity who occupies the “Meru” of the Sri Chakra and worshipped as Para Devata, ParaShakti. It is believed that the Sri Vidya is the best among the Shakthi spiritual activities and there is no further sadhana required after attaining siddhi in this method. That’s why it is called as Para Vidya. Mother Lalitha is the principal deity of this sacred tradition.

Astrologically the worship of Mother Lalitha by chanting/listening to Lalitha Sahasra Nama or Devi Khadgamala, will ward off the consequences of weak planetary disposition regarding marital matters, financial problems, children, and importantly, the phenomena of infatuatoin related to young women and girls in teenage (distracted minds, attraction towards love and romance etc.). It is also taught that people with Mars-Moon afflictions should do sacred activities towards Moter Lalitha. Anyone who has problems with their spouse, suffering delayed marriage, disturbances in the mind in teenage years, there can be relief of these problems with prayer to Mother Lalitha.

Mercury is the nearest planet to our Sun. It is the first planet to reflect the seven cosmic rays of the Sun to the Earth, and it is also the first planet to reflect the light that commenced flowing to the Earth at the Summer Solstice of 2012, when the energies of the 4th and 5th Dimensions began to flow.

Mercury

Mercury, the nearest planet to the Sun

What is the role of the Mercury in the Fourth Dimension? The Earth is at present adjusting to the new energy that it is coming into alignment with. This energy is flowing through the stargates – through which this energy is gathered and distributed in quantities which may be absorbed without overloading the body-mind-spirit complex. It is as if the new energies are being “downloaded” into us with a speed choke applied so that we may safely integrate this influx.

Planet Mercury is a graha – and the meaning of graha is to seize, to grasp. What is seized, grasped is largely due to where the mind is allowed to go: this is critical. There can be influences upon the mind which do not originate from within, but are rather, negative energies floating around in the etheric. There is also a tapestry of energy wrapped around the Earth which carries the sum of all human feelings and thoughts. When feeling and thought – functions of Shakti and Mercury – get beyond conscious awareness and control, then these free-floating negative energies take over the person and often, terrible results ensue. Mercury in these days of the inbreaking of the 4th and 5th Dimensions – in this world of duality – has a role to grasp and deliver new energy to the intellect for clarity of thinking, clarity of perception and empower the individual to see things more clearly, in their proper context.

Loading

CC BY-NC 4.0