Saturday, April 21, 2012

Saturn




I write this from a very personal angle. A subject that is touched upon because of my sceptical demeanour. And I cannot for the love of God accept the matter per se as it doesn’t fit into any inference that I can reach based on thought and reason. I cannot yield to the lure of the mysterious and the unknown and content as inviolable fact. Or for that matter the promise of paradise in after life. For, I do not want a blank and postdated cheque. And I say this without offense and wish people who disagree on the points here in do not take this as a brusque.

I have been having a torrid time since the past two odd years. Though not personally, professionally it has been an abysmal free fall into a grotesque black hole, with ramifications on ones psyche and personal fortunes. One can call it design, destiny, miscalculations or sheer bad luck. 

When the subject must be attributed to design and or destiny, the responsibility of the protagonist is absolved. For, then, when matters of life on earth are designed, dispensed by someone what could a victim do other than be victimised? Then, one is just a marionette. If it is to be attributed to one’s personal incompetence , error coupled or by sudden twist in events  different from planned - call it vicissitudes, then the blame can be put at the door of the person or be apportioned between the hands that destine and the unfortunate victim.

So when things are going wrong, the earthlings seek the assistance of a learned person who calculates the positions and movements of the members of the stellar system, what and where the planetary cast was when one was born. This is said to determine the reasons for why it was, why it is and what now and after.

I got a phone call from my cousin sister yesterday and she called me after an appointment with a quite old and revered distant relative who has much expertise in astrology. He read and studied my horoscope and explained to her his findings and the panacea to alleviate the effect of the ills set forth by the stellar conjunctions. She was wary of my reaction though she reeled out the findings, reasons and advice. The gentleman told her I’m eclipsed by the influence of Saturn and there may be slight remissions from the following month. Though the celestial object will not let me off the vice grip till 2016. He attributed the past disasters to the eclipse by Saturn which has its portentous shadow over me. The advices and suggestions were, to be restrained in spending and have much care in physical health (which he alleged, I do not care now). He threw a window open when he said there are possibilities of lost fortunes being retrieved. And finally, a limited redressal can be brought about by propitiating one among the holy trinity.
I just leaned back after the telecom and reflected upon the information what she passed on to me. I thought of Saturn, the splendid planet which is almost a hundred times massive than the earth, with sixty moons and nine fabulous ring of ice; Saturn, a distant stellar occupant some 1.67 billion kilometers away; a planet of gas and ice geysers and with density that is so low that the gravity is only about 90 percent of the earth. And, that gives me a room for comfort. Certainly the gravitational exertion Saturn can have on my fate, destiny or even  at the time I was born must be infinitesimally small as it has to travel 1.67 billion kilometers. Perhaps my mother or even the obstetrician’s gravity may have had more influence on me!
I could not reason to agree with the important findings conveyed over phone. As for the advice of practicing thrift, I have not been flamboyant or extravagant literally speaking; the indifference to health is a wrong notion, though I have been as always indulging in the pleasures of alcohol, an occasional smoke or a fabulous meal. And, there is no guarantee that nemesis may not stay away if life is insipidly puritanical. When one is agnostic since the age of seventeen and still unable to see anything remotely satisfying the existence or otherwise of an anthropomorphic big brother it is difficult to heed the last advice too. To accept the existence of a sapient super natural figure to whom I can fall upon and for him to show mercy, seems quite ludicrous. Because, what would make me the chosen one? To even think distantly so will be grossly impudent.
 I cannot see any reason to accept the fondness of human beings to evaluate reality exclusively in terms of human values. If the spectacular planet Saturn is playing dice upon my life and destiny, it certainly will have to be doing so, on the lives of many other living things, beasts as well.


12 comments:

Rama Ananth said...

Of course, Saturn's influence is felt on everyone, nobody can escape his rule for some times:2 and half years/ 7and half years and so on. According to Hindua even Gods cannot escape this great plant's visit to his/ her house and his stay for a long time.
He is basically a God whose responsibility is to teach each of us some lessons in our lives, put us through some very tough times, and test our ability to overcome them in a positive manner. He is the son of Sun God and tha half brother of Yama the lord of death, and he was born to Sun and Chaya the wife of Sun God. He is slightly lame, that is why he moves very slowly, and is there for a long time in everybody's life.
However, he is good lord, who is very happy when he sees his students take the misfortunes/ troubles etc., that he puts them
through, in a positive manner, only when he sees that, the student instead of learning something from his troubles, goes on being the same person that he is very upset and sends them more and more trouble till they realize their mistakes and choose the right path.
And when he is happy by the right steps taken by his students, he is absolutely happy and showers them with lot of good. One must understand that his relation with us is just like that of a strict teacher and a wayward student.
For you to understand this philosophy may be difficult because you have not been brought up with this mindset.
Even I am going through one of the worst period of Sani dasha, and i still have at least 5 more years of his rule.
However, i must tell you,I am okay,probably because I make it a point to learn from my mistakes and correct my behavior / attitude immediately, and I still have no clue as to what the next 5 years hold for , but taking one day at a time really helps.
There are many interesting stories about all the planets and you can go and know everything through the internet, just for knowledge sake.
Maybe they are all just man made stories to bring about an awareness within us to change ourselves for our own good, whatever it might be, it is not propagating anything bad.
Sorry for the long comment.

Meera Sundararajan said...

Anil this is a very interesting post! You know in Indian astrology Shani is a powerful planet. There is even a temple for him in a place called "Thirunallar"-when I happened to visit it my mother went berserk because she felt that if one does not have "Shani dosham" one should not visit because then ( to quote her) "Saturn will sit on your shoulder and come home with you!" My God.. and imagine I thought i was a mere mortal! But jokes apart- I hope your troubles get over. I believe that there is a balance to this universe-things get bad and they revert back to normal. All the best

Kappu said...

//So when things are going wrong, the earthlings seek the assistance of a learned person who calculates the positions and movements of the members of the stellar system, what and where the planetary cast was when one was born. This is said to determine the reasons for why it was, why it is and what now and after.//

That is a complete account into which 7 in 10 Indians might have encountered. Just bumped into your blog today and thanks for the nice read Anil!

Kappu

Insignia said...

That was a statistical justification of why Saturn cant influence you :D

We try to find a reason and justify for things that goes wrong; we seldom do it when everything goes fine. Planetary positions affecting us? I am not convinced yet.

Insignia said...

And yeah! My mom few days ago told me what my birth number was. She said people with this number have everything in their life but there is always one thing missing. She pointed me being childless and said I have visit few temples. I still have no clue :)

anilkurup59 said...

@ Rana,
I read your elaborate and earnest reply twice over. I appreciate your time and effort and the frankness you stated your convictions. Though my surmise is based on matters I deducted.
I'm afraid that if I reply in detail , we may have to initiate a discussion which may run on and on.

But though I acknowledge that there sometimes seem to be some closeness in astrological predictions and inferences to real life happenings, by far it is far without reasonable evidence to stake one's life to it.
More because what has to be true to Man must be true to all things that breathe. This, religion and astrology negates. Which is a great error.


@ Meera Sundarajan,

Ya Meera , the poor Shani is seen as the BĂȘte noire.

It is just a dreary cold planet and not a person is another matter.
Ha ha thanks for the wishes.


@ Kappu,

Thanks . Hope you come again and engage in the discussions.

@ Insignia,

B, regarding the second comment you touched, I hope that a woman like you will not stake your luck on the wired ideas people reel out.
You see corruption and bribe s begins at the temples for Gods.
Just ignore those comments you hear
and move on.

As for the conviction in astrological prediction, I see no proof and reason. Just a statement will not help. There is only one thing that is inviolable and that is physical laws designed by Nature.

ousu said...

Anil - I agree with you about saturn having the least of forces on you.. astrology actually surprises me, but then so does the belief in an unseen god..and all of us believe in one such..

And then I guess I am the least equipped to give you a good riddance from the shani :(

Balachandran V said...

Reading you, I wandered off in a tangent. I wonder why Saturn or other planets shouldn't affect us. After all the planets, you and I are all part of the cosmic dust.

My attitude is not to believe in Astrology or Divine interventions. I don't BELIEVE - in anything. But I can understand the reasons why people resort to Astrology or Gods - and I do not belittle them or say that they are wrong. Because, what is Known is just infinitesimal of the Unknown. you believe in Astrology, fine. You don't? That's fine too.

Who knows? One day Astrology might be proved to the last scientific evidence.

In times of desperation, Gods and the planets - and cigarettes and scotch - serve as painkillers. What else do we need?

anilkurup59 said...

@ Ousu,

I'm not repudiating astrology per se. But to hitch your wagon to a subject which is just a theory with no validation or proof is rather whimsical. Many years ago, it was alleged that tobacco intake ( cigars) causes oral and lung cancer. But then it was proved that it does . But if planetary movements and positions can dictate our fate it has to be shown how. Light can be bend , it is not a theory or a statement but proved. I do not see anything else other than physical laws of Nature that acts as God.

Now , why only these few stellar objects alone should influence our fate? Why not the billions and billions of stars that pulsates and sends strong radio waves must not. If that is so we must be totally helpless freaks.
At the moment I love Shani, because as Confucius said, "if you cannot avoid rape, lie back and enjoy it."


@ Balan,

In times of desperation , I would rather have a couple on the rocks. And if it is Glenlivet , then it cannot be Shani for sure.

But I do not see how and why I must accept the story of Shani. I guess one's fate is influenced more by ones , effort and acumen, besides the people around you, be it friends , relatives or even strangers. For after the physical laws of Nature it is they who can
be builders in aid or spoilers.

Happy Kitten said...

Since I do not know much about Astrology, I am in no position to say if Saturn has influnze or not.. but I do really hope your bad luck goes away.. as it is said, you shall never be tested beyond your capability..so the present one is not beyond you.. bear it with a grin and your fav companions.

Shilpa Garg said...

Very interesting narration!
Well, when things go right, we never bother about such things, but when things dont go right, we resort to all the help/guidance to ward off the ill effects!

anilkurup59 said...

@ Happy Kitten,

Good that you do not know musch about this subject and so it cannot influence you , your conscious or subconscious.

@ Shilpa Garg,

Precisely so. When the going is good no questions are asked.