The Signs by Their Sanskrit Names

Every sign carries a small crowd of Sanskrit names, and Bepin Behari begins his sign essays with a piece of advice: find out the synonyms and other meanings of the sign, because the familiar name is often the least informative one. Mesha means a ram, but the synonyms are more connotative. Kanya is a maiden, but the maiden is carrying fire and grain. This essay follows his method through the signs where the synonyms change the reading most.

Mesha: Aja, the Unborn

Mesha's synonyms are Aja, the unborn; Vishwa, the whole or the universe; Kriya, motion and activity; Tambura, a musical instrument; and Adya, the first primeval cause of the manifest universe. Aja does not mean nonexistent. It refers to what Behari calls the unborn-but-existing-in-eternity. Mesha symbolizes unmanifest potential chafing to externalize itself: subjective-objective unity, the world-to-be rather than the world-as-it-is. Hence its attributes: ambition, aspiration, dream-like consciousness, the desire to multiply and expand, and in every influence a quality of newness, the bud ready to burst into flower but not yet a flower. There is a fire burning within, and in all the effort some form of restriction on the bubbling potential, which is why an Aries influence can produce a dictator whose heart remains clean, ready to forgive the guilty.

Vrishabha: the storehouse

Vrishabha, the bull, has held a respected place in most world religions as a symbol of all that is auspicious. The word itself means any male animal, anything best or eminent in its class. Where Aries is potential, Taurus is the creative urge that makes objective manifestation possible, a storehouse of procreative energy. Behari's Taurus works unceasingly at an activity, even a repetitive one, until the result is achieved, and wants, like an oak tree, to belong permanently to its landscape. No planet is debilitated here, because the creative cannot let any force remain negative.

Mithuna: the pair that is a trinity

Mithuna means a pair, twins, sexual union, a junction. Though named the twins, Behari points out, it is in fact a trinity: Father, Mother and Holy Ghost; the three gunas themselves. Emblematically a male and a female are seated in a boat, a journey through the creative process. Gemini stands for Mind, the Mahat principle that creates duality and polarization, and its predictive quality is quicksilver: brilliant, intuitive, elusive, susceptible to wide fluctuation, with conflict and instability as its important characteristics.

Karka: the Great Deep of consciousness

Cancer is given the widest register of any sign in the essays. The sages relate it to the four aspects of Parabrahman, gross, subtle, causal and the Silent Watcher, and to the four states of consciousness: waking, dream, deep sleep and samadhi. Esoterically it is the Hiranyagarbha, the golden womb, formless water that is also the sustaining energy of all life. Its grip is invincible; no one extricates himself from it without shedding some blood.

Simha: the protector of its followers

Simha, the lion, is Divine Nature objectified, the stage where the Cosmic Man darts his creative thread of Primordial Light into chaotic matter. Etymologically, Behari notes, simha means the protector of its followers, and those who align with the sign have much natural force at their command. No planet is exalted or debilitated here: no force that furthers evolution by procreating, protecting and leading can ever experience restriction on its capacity.

Kanya: the maiden with fire and grain

Let no one suppose Kanya is weak, the essay begins, because it is feminine, earthy and a common sign. Virgo is consciousness-in-bondage that understands the shackles can be cast away: the Divine discontent that impels the aspirant onto the path of discipleship, where mass is converted into energy and matter subjugated to Spirit. It is the only sign symbolized by a single human figure, a maiden, not a married woman, linked in the scriptures with Prithivi, the Earth, and Aditi, celestial space. Yavanacharya described Virgo as holding fire in one hand, and the image completes itself in the full symbol: the maiden seated in a boat, a chaff of grain in one hand and fire in the other. Fire, because there is not a particle in the universe without latent fire, and Virgo holds the power by which everything grows. Grain, because she provides food and sustenance for her children, suffering for the growth of what she tends, as a mother suffers for her child. For the attainment of siddhis, Behari concludes, there is no sign that can be so helpful.

Tula: the critical balance

Libra is the stage where Spirit is completely immersed in matter, and the soul is ready for a change. There is a seeming quietude at the surface, but inwardly dissatisfaction: fullness of materiality is not enjoyed, because an inner quest for the life Divine has already begun. The two forces are of almost equal intensity, and the aspect of life the sign touches stands at a critical balance, materialization complete, spiritualization now possible.