Vedic philosophy mentions the existence of three bodies for each living being. These are called the Causal body (Karan Sharira) astral body (Sooksham Sharira), and our flesh and bone body called Sthool Sharira. At the very core, there is the Causal body which is enveloped by the Astral body which in turn is enveloped by our physical body.

Causal or ideational body is the blueprint of the human body in the thought form. It is made up of five electricities and is the dream idea of the creation that surrounds us. Each of the five electricities pertains to one of the five senses and is different in nature from others. It is because of the different nature of these electricities that our brain is not confused by the impulses coming from different senses. When we eat a mango the inputs of smell, taste, texture, and color are registered as distinct sensations. There is no confusion in the brain about any of them. If each sense was sending the same electric impulse, our brain will have a hard time deciphering this information. At present, our technology can sense and measure only electrons so we know only one type of electricity which is the flow of electrons through a conducting medium like a copper wire. Four more electric currents already exist but our technology is unable to sense and measure these. This is similar to the discovery of the bacteria and viruses which have always existed but were unknown before the invention of the electron microscope. According to Vedic philosophy, the subtle differentiation of these electricities will be discovered in the near future.

Sooksham Sharira (Astral body) is electromagnetic in nature and is composed of fifteen segments or attributes. It also has the mind and intelligence. Five of these segments are related to five organs of senses, five more are related to the five organs of actions and the last five to the five objects of the senses. The thought or dream form of the causal body assumes a more distinct form at this intermediate stage.

These attributes of organs of senses are known as Gyanindriyas and pertain to the sense of sight, smell, touch, hearing, and taste. They help us to have knowledge of our ecosystem. There are also five Karmindriyas which pertain to the organs of action like mouth, hands, feet, organs of reproduction and excretions. Finally, there are Tanmatras which are the objects which Gyanindriyas perceive and Karmendriyas act upon.

If someone hands me a fruit, the Gyanindriyas tell me that I am holding a mango or a banana or some other fruit. They tell me that it is okay to consume it. My mouth which is a Karmindriya eats and sends it for digestion. The fruit that I have eaten is called Tanmatra.

Gyanindriyas Karmendriyas and Tanmatra make the skeletal system around which the three dimensional world takes shape. This is as true of the earth as that of the most distant galaxy.

Our physical body envelopes the astral body, which in turn surrounds the causal body. Our soul which is a tiny part of Param Bramha resides at the center of the causal body. There are thus three casings or layers of causal, astral and physical body on the soul. As a matter of fact the soul is imprisoned there and the whole concept of Moksha and emancipation revolves around the freedom of spirit or soul from first astral and then the Causal body.

This scheme of things can be explained by the following example. Lets us say that I want to build the house of my dreams and I have unlimited money at my disposal to do so. Now, I know exactly what I want. I want five bedrooms, a large living room, five bathrooms, a big kitchen, a swimming pool, a porch, a large garden and so on. I picture the house in my mind and when I have visualized every detail I go to an architect to put my dream house on paper. He constructs everything – on paper. The building, the wiring, the plumbing is all there. Every detail is worked out. Everything I wanted in my house now exists but on paper as a blueprint. I am now ready to build. At this stage, I take the blueprint to the builder and ask him to convert it to reality. The builder takes sixteen months and a large sum of my money. At long last, my dream house becomes a reality.

The house took shape in three distinct stages. In the first stage, it existed only as a thought pattern. An electrical impulse in the brain is all it was. The consciousness of the house existed but it could not be felt by the five senses. This was the Causal body stage of my home.

In the second stage, my house consciousness took a more visible shape. Everything I wanted was constructed on a sheet of paper. The house existed but not in the physical form. It was in an intermediate stage. This was the astral body stage of my house.

Finally, in the third stage, the builder converted the blueprint to reality and I had a home that I could see, touch and feel. This was the physical body stage of my home.

This whole creation is a dream of universal intelligence. There is nothing real about it. What appears to be tangible to our senses is, in reality, a frozen form of energy which is held in place by the will of universal intelligence. Scientists have a problem with this conception as their intellect can only operate within the three-dimensional world and can not accept the existence of anything which can not be measured and reproduced. It is only now in the post-Einstein, and the quantum physics era that the modern scientist is dimly grasping the existence of a divine intelligence.

The physical world is essentially inert matter. The life force and movement that we see all around us comes from the astral world. This is as true of the dancing electrons as of a singing bird. The subtle forces of the astral world which animate our world themselves draw energy from the still finer forces of the causal or ideational world. These fine and subtle forces are the vibratory thought emanating from the consciousness of Param Bramha. We know it more popularly as Aum.

The whole of the creation is totally dependent upon the life forces emanating from the causal and astral bodies. The physical body is created and sustained by the astral body which supplies the life current called Prana to the fertilized egg. It nourishes it and makes it grow into an embryo and eventually into a human being. Without the nourishing energy coming from the astral body and without the intelligence of the causal body telling the cells when to subdivide and how the living creatures will not sustain life.

At the time of death only the gross body which is a heavy overcoat of flesh and bones dies. The soul-causal body-astral body combination is indestructible and goes to an astral world only to be born again and again.

This combination is like a computer hard disk drive and records every thought and deed performed by us in this life. Our brain acts like a computer chip and sends a continuous stream of data pertaining to our actions to this hard disk of our astral body. This record is not destroyed at death because its electromagnetic in nature. This sum total of our record becomes the script for our next incarnation and plays out as we take a new birth and grow.

Put very simply it is like a movie recorded on to a DVD. The beginning, the middle and the end are all present in the DVD but become active only when its placed in a player. The three dimensional world is similar to a DVD player which simply plays what we wrote for ourselves in our past lives.

Astrology is a science which reads this script and is, therefore, able to predict future.

In a DVD the future of a story can be known by fast forwarding it. Astrology also fast-forwards using precise tools and lets us know what is going to happen to us. The Dasha system and transit are two of these important tools.

Since our future is based on our past actions, it can be modified by our present actions and this gives rise to very interesting possibilities. By adopting certain measures we can lessen the impact of our negative action in the past. In computer terms, we can overwrite some parts of our Karmic script. These measures work principally by generating a vibratory energy through the repetitious chanting of a mantra. The energy thus radiated erases the script at the point where its likely to cause trouble. A major accident can be reduced to a small one. A huge financial loss can be limited to the loss of a few hundred Rupees. The vibratory structure of the creation is modified by deliberately producing healing vibrations. The ancient sages have left a treasure trove of mantras to achieve every goal that a person can think of.

Thus not only Vedic astrology predicts what is in store for us, it also shows us a way out of our problems. There is no other predictive science in the world that comes even close to it.

As mentioned earlier, the script for this life is largely predetermined and is based on our Karma in the past lives. We call it Sanchit or stored Karma. Sanchit Karma is huge and cannot be expended in one lifetime. Only a small portion of this is therefore allocated to one incarnation. This portion is known as Prarabdh Karma. Whether our life is of high or low quality is completely dependent on this.

None of us perform only positive Karma. Ego, greed, jealousy, anger, and sexual desires make us generate a lot of bad Karma as well. If Prarabdh Karma has more of positive Karma we are going to be happy otherwise unhappiness will overcome us.

Once an infant is born, the DVD of life begins to play, and the Karmic story begins to unfold. The energy of the nine planets, Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, Rahu and Ketu aligned at the time of birth gives a pointer towards how will the story unfold. Planets in themselves do not cause good or bad results. Their role is mainly indicatory, just as the hands of a clock do not create time but only indicate it.

The trick, therefore, is simple. Modulate the energy of planets and enhance or reduce the good and bad effects. This process is similar to the volume, contrast, and color controls on our TV remote.

Thousands of year ago, the ancient sages in their deep meditative state attained total knowledge of the functioning of the Universe. They found the Theory of everything which is now being billed as something revolutionary by the west.

They realized and understood the close correlation of the energy patterns of various planets to metals, minerals, plants and sounds generated by humans. From this, they devised Mantras to control the planetary energy and use it constructively.

Some minerals became gemstones which when worn with the representative metal of a particular planet helped to increase its energy to a great extent. (Ayurved evolved from the relationship between planets and plants)

Today, the astrological remedies mainly revolve around mantras and gemstones. Planetary placement in a chart determines which planet is beneficial or inimical, then by choosing the right mantra and gemstone we can increase the good results and suppress the bad ones.

There is no magic to this, it’s a very scientific and precisely laid down procedure. All it needs is knowledge and experience.

When applied properly, remedial measures work very well because they control the planets, who act as a player, playing out the story of our life. If our pronunciation of the mantra is inaccurate and the mind wanders during Sadhana, satisfactory results will not be obtained.

Similarly, a badly chosen or impure gemstone will not be able to give desired results.

Rajiv Sethi

OM TAT SAT

Written:  Sunday, July 08, 2018

Faridabad Haryana

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