Why only Sarpa Dosha ? Why not Elephant, Tiger and Lion Dosha?
Have you ever wondered why in the horoscope we find only Sarpa Dosha and not doshas connected to other animals like Lion, Tiger, Leopard, Bull, Bear and so on? What does Sarpa Dosha (Blemish due to Snake) really mean? Is the Sarpa dosha just the hissing Sssssnakes? Or is it much more? Read this article and spread the word around before we make things worse for the poor snakes. In Vedic Astrology language a Dosha means a blemish found in one's horoscope. Actually a Dosha is related to a major sin committed in our past life (lives). The most famous or notorious Dosha in Vedic Astrology is Sarpa Dosha. If the sin was related to only snakes then human beings have killed many other animals and they should also be found in our horoscope for example Elephant Dosha, Lion Dosha, Tiger Dosha and all other animals. This title was chosen because we are having countless species of animals on our planet and yet only the snakes found their way into our horoscope. Sarpa Dosha is related to Rahu and Ketu in the horoscope. Most people think that this Dosha is related to only snakes. To disprove this theory, I have chosen this confusing title.
Sage Bhrigu in Bhrigu Sutra says if Rahu or Ketu occupy the 5th then Sarpa-Shapaath Sutha-Ksyayaha which means due to the curse of a Snake there will be loss of children. Do you really think that a Snake can curse anyone. Is it that intelligent. The objective of this article is to demystify all such notions and to reveal the truth about any Sarpa Shapa (The curse of a snake).
We have to first recall Newtons 3rd law of motion - to every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. The key word here is opposite. If you give you will get and if you grab you will have to give it back. So if you hurt others sooner or later you will get hurt. There is no curse in Newton's law. The only being in the world that can curse is the human being. However the punishment does not happen due to a curse. Even without a curse the punishment will happen. Sarpa dosha is a sum total of all the sins committed by us in some previous lives where we did a lot of forbidden things by cheating, by using poison, using unfair methods etc.
Sarpa Dosha is a blemish in a horoscope that is indicated by the position of Rahu and Ketu only if they occupy certain houses or in a certain way influence important grahas (planets) in the horoscope. There are many varieties of Sarpa Dosha and it is the most often used term in Indian Astrology whenever doshas are discussed. Every problem in life is wrongly attributed to some form of Sarpa Dosha so much that it looks like most people are suffering from it. Both the quacks and experts use it liberally. Even those who have not understood the basics of Vedic Astrology speak about Sarpa Dosha, Kal Sarpa Dosha and Rahu Dosha. In this article I wish to focus on Rahu and Ketu from a right angle. (pun intended).
Is the Sarpa (Snake) Dosha that is indicated by RAHU really that bad? In order to answer this question we must first understand what Rahu really is and what message Rahu conveys to us through the horoscope. I am not going to tell you what is already written about Rahu in 100s of websites because I am sure you must have by now read quite a few of them. Let me try to tell you something that you may probably not be aware of unless you have read this article earlier. The Snake represents anger by its hissing and striking and biting action. It also represents poison and hence either great pain or eventual death. All this applies if the Snake is poisonous. To those seeing a snake things are very different. In tamil language there is saying which when translated is the following statement - “even an army will shiver or scatter at the sight of a snake”. Of course today people have special methods to finish off a snake in no time. Despite all this a snake continues to represent the highest fear.
Rahu relates to the forbidden (fruit). The Forbidden Fruit as a metaphor. The term “Forbidden” refers to any indulgence or pleasure seeking that is considered illegal or immoral and potentially dangerous or harmful, particularly relating to human sexuality or insatiable desires. Rahu primarily represents the forbidden activities. In Ancient Indian philosophy we often find the mentioning of 2 birds perched on a branch of the tree. One bird sits quietly and the other one is eating the fruit. The bird that eats the fruit gets into the karma trap. In the Bible we have read the story of the Adam and Eve versus the forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge. Not surprisingly a snake is seen close to Adam and Eve.
God told them not to touch the fruit.However, Adam and Eve grab the fruit and eat it as though that was their first assignment. When something is forbidden the first thought that comes to the human mind is to consume or snatch it. According to Christians it is said that from that day onwards the trouble in life had started for all human beings. So the Christians believe that because Adam and Eve committed the sin of disobeying God their descendants automatically become sinners. The snake in the picture depicts the temptation – working against God. So Rahu is related to the forbidden, usually drugs, intoxication, adultery, evil thoughts, jealousy and all the bad habits that are believed to lead man into a world of misery and pain. Rahu is actually a demon – opposite the Gods while all other planets are godly by nature. The snake represents all the temptations and the disobedience.
Rahu the snake is more active in Kali Yuga.
This is the story of Parikshith Maharaj. A story that every philosopher must read, every Astrologer must know if he wishes to know more about what Rahu - The Sarpa really means.
Parikshit is the son of Abhimanyu and Uttara, and grandson of Arjuna of the Mahabharata age. Once while hunting, Parikshith Maharaj encountered Kali Purush who asked him for a new shelter other than his places of gambling, prostitution, vice and immoral relationship. Parikshith Maharaj allowed him to reside in gold. Though he asked him to reside in illicitly obtained gold, the crown of King happened to be of illicitly obtained gold (the crown originally belonged to Jarasandha, was taken by Bhima after killing him and wasn't returned to Jarasandha's successors), eventually Kali Purush entered King's mind. While hunting in the forest, Parikshith Maharaj saw the Sage Shamika meditating and asked him the whereabouts of a deer which he was chasing. But the Sage did not respond as he was in deep meditation. Angry at this, Parikshith Maharaj tossed a dead snake around the sage's neck due to the ill effects of Kali Yuga Purush in his mind. The son of this Sage, Shringi, who heard this incident became furious as he didn't know the deceit played by Kali Purush. He cursed Parikshit to die of a snakebite in seven days, for disrespecting his father, Rishi Shamika. Eventually Parikshith Maharaj dies due to the curse. Google the full story and try to understand what really is a curse of a snake. In this story the curse is not by the snake because the snake is already dead when Parikshith Maharaj picks it up with his bow. The curse is by the son of the Sage who was insulted by the King. The King represents the Super Ego in all of us. When you are King you don't care about what you are doing. When you get angry you go out of control. Then you commit the sins and eventually the sins will punish you later on.
It is like a mother curses the rapist for raping and eventually killing her daughter. Then the police track down the rapist and arrest him. The judge sentences the rapists to death. We might think that the curse of the mother was the reason for the death of the rapist. Even if the mother never cursed the rapist, the rapist will anyway be punished. The curse is redundant.
When you see a snake what are your feelings?
Fear is the first thing. We may imagine (mostly wrong) that the snake in front of us is always poisonous. So we do not want to take a chance. 9 out of 10 times the snake in front of us is most likely to be a non poisonous snake. The snake may be actually non poisonous because 90% of the snakes are non-poisonous unless you are really in a bad place at the wrong time. You need to have good knowledge of snakes. So it means you are ignorant (opposite of true knowledge). You will imagine and hallucinate. You will be confused. You will suspect. You will doubt. Even if the snake is poisonous the chances of being bitten by the snake is less until you are very close to it or you have trampled upon the resting snake. Once fear comes to your mind you cannot think straight. If the snake bites you, you may run due of fear thinking you are going to die. If you know about snake bites you can easily save yourself with a little bit of knowledge. The snake is the embodiment of our anger, hate, fear, poison, the maya or the hallucinations, the confusion, the ignorance, the wrong, the suspicion, the revenge, the guilt that makes us see the ghost, the addiction and wrong thoughts and wrong habits. The ancient seers of Astrology gave a common name for all these negative traits – they referred to it as Rahu the Snake. If I tell you that anger, hate, revenge, doubts, fear, drugs, suspicion. ignorance and all these negative traits causes many problems in our life then as a scientific minded or logical person that is acceptable to you. But if I tell you that Rahu indicates all these you tend to dismiss it off as a superstition. What’s in a word. A rose by any other name would smell as sweet as much as fear and ignorance by any other name should be as harmful. The ancient seers of India just called it by another name – RAHU.
RAHU is just that shadow we carry from past lives to the current life. The doubt, fear, confusion, the rebellious spirit in us. You may have already observed that bad habits cling on to us for days together in the current life, so why not from previous lives as well. If Rahu is the head of this SNAKE then Ketu is the headless snake. KETU is the snake without a head. The head (RAHU) is the most dangerous part of the snake is it not? When the head of the snake is gone the fear is gone, the fear and hallucination is gone leaving behind KETU the planet that indicates Spirituality. So Ketu is called the gnanakaraka – the giver of true knowledge. When the SUN (Soul) and the Moon (Mind) enters the zone of RAHU and KETU simultaneously, something dramatic happens in the sky. That is called the eclipse. Today most people in the world know what causes the eclipse and the eclipse makes headlines, make the head turn to the sky, from the scientist to the astrologers, from the wise to the unaware. In ancient times the seers who knew how to exactly calculate the position of this shadow grahas (Rahu and Ketu) told the layman that there is a snake in the zodiac belt that swallows up the Sun and the Moon. Philosophically speaking when the light of SUN and the MOON enter the SHADOW region of RAHU and KETU, we get caught in MAYA the illusion – we sink in darkness, in doubts and in fear something similar to the eclipse. Everything about Snakes is misunderstood.
Can Snakes hear?
Not at all or at least not in the way other animals hear sound. Have you seen snake charmers charming the snakes? When the snakes cannot hear the music then what is the snake charmer and the snake doing. They claim that they play the music so well that the snakes dance to their tunes.