Look Past Your Thoughts

Welcome to the dark side of the year.

The Sun is on the threshold of the house of Cancer. He reverses his movement from here onward. Changing his journey from his zenith, to his nadir.

From public standing towards retreating into the home.

Complex Cancer

Before we go any further, we will have to address the name, Cancer.

Cancer means a Crab. Greek: karkinos. Latin: cancer.

It is said that Hippocrates named malignant tumors this way because the swollen, hard growths with protruding, web-like veins closely resembled a crab clinging tightly to the body with its legs.

If you look at the word 'cancer' or 'karkinos', you will find that both words have their root in the Sanskrit word: 'kar', that means hard. In Sanskrit, 'kar-kata', is a crab, because it has a hard shell.

Then you will perhaps see that Shushrutha named tumors 'kar-kata' because of their shape. And he did it a couple of centuries before Hippocrates was even born.

Shushrutha, was a highly skilled surgeon as well. But Hippocrates is considered the 'Father of Western Medicine', because he shifted the understanding from superstitions toward empirical, rational understanding.

No one Ever Said, Life Was Fair

Cancer can teach us a thing or two. Here I mean, astrologically.

People who tend to think Cancer is a soft sign, because it is the most feminine sign of the zodiac, are rudely awakened when they deal with the sub-terrain of Cancer.

This is the house that opens the Moksha Trikona, the Trine of Liberation. It is here that complexity is introduced. An identity was taken up in Aries, values were tried on in Taurus, in Gemini one walked into society, and now in Cancer comes the first U-turn of sorts.

A Retreat From Desire

After the exercising of will, effort and courage in Gemini, Cancer is the resting place.

The Home. The place of sukha. Happiness, pleasure and ease.

It rules the relationship with the Mother. Or mother figures such as grandmothers, aunts, nannies, teachers and caregivers.

It also rules individuation from the Mother.

Cancer, is where we have figured out our roots and routes.

We solidify our identity with our family and relatives. And we expand it to our homeland, as citizens.

It's where we have distilled our familiar rhythms and routines.

It's the house that shows us our emotional security.

Also, it defines the walls and boundaries for our protection.

At the same time, Cancer rules the graves and burial sites. It is the sign of resting places, after all.

It rules lands, our properties, vehicles, farms, cattle and our gardens.

It also rules the Rasatala Loka. One of the 14 dimensions of the Universe. A Loka/realm of the Asuras, and certain Nagas/Snakes. Opening up the underworld, sub conscious currents of our psyche.

At the core, Cancer rules our Emotions. Our Inner Weather. Moving. Stirring.

Energy in motion

Did you know that there is no scientific consensus on the definition of emotion?

"The word "emotion" was coined in the early 1800s by Thomas Brown and it is around the 1830s that the modern concept of emotion first emerged for the English language.No one felt emotions before about 1830. Instead they felt other things – 'passions', 'accidents of the soul', 'moral sentiments' – and explained them very differently from how we understand emotions today."

Strange, isn't it. Considering how much of our modern lives revolve around our emotions!

And strange to think of the Western World as such an insipid, dreary place to be. What were they thinking of if it wasn't their emotions? Even the word 'passions' is not really exciting. It largely meant suffering at the time.

Life was reduced to suffering, the soul and moral duties.

And this kind of thinking happened just 200 years back...

Now For Nuance

In India, emotions are called 'bhaavas'. Bhaava means 'being or becoming'.

It means 'a state'. For instance in the Kundali/Natal Chart, the 12 houses are called 12 Bhaavas. Because they each represent a state of being. Governing different aspects of a person's life.

Similarly emotions are classified, categorized, studied in depth to understand how they affect a person.

Medical practitioners such as Agnivesha, Shushrutha and Caraka studied the physiological effects of emotions. They also related emotional states to mental states. They categorized emotions such as anger, fear and sorrow as mano-vikaras. Afflictions of the mind. And asked people to reduce these kinds of emotions.

Spiritual practitioners like Buddha and Patanjali spoke of the transient nature of these emotions. They called them weather modifications, or waves on the sea of consciousness. They spoke of emotions arising from attachment to pleasures, and those arising from avoidance of pain. They also spoke of the root causes/kleshas. And suggested we try better emotions instead.

In fact, coming to think of it, looks like Buddha lifted all of his philosophy from the Yoga Sutras. The Yoga Sutras advocate Maitri, Karuna, Mudita and Upeksha. Buddha brought it to us common folk, in Pali as: Metta, Karuna, Mudita and Upekka. Friendliness. Compassion. Joy in another's joy. And Equanimity.

Logic Schools, quite like the rationalists of today, the logic school thinkers reduced emotions to their triggers. They claimed that each thought could be linked to a corresponding emotion. And placed importance on thought.

Religious Schools quite like the dry western thinkers, replaced all emotions with only a single emotion: love for God.

The Odd Man Out

And then there's a strange figure on the Indian landscape.

Bharata Muni.

He has written a fascinating study of human emotion.

It's written in his treatise the Natyashastra. The Book Of Dramaturgy.

Of How A Play Is Constructed. How A Story Is Told.

Bharata specifies Nine Main Emotions. Sthayi Bhavas.

And he lists around 33 Vyabhichari Bhavas. Supporting emotions.

The Sthayi Bhava is compared to The King. The Vyabhichari Bhavas as the retinue who serve the King.

The Sthayi Bhavas are dominant emotions. They cannot be easily interrupted or destroyed by competing emotions.

Vyabhichari Bhavas are transient. Cross-currents of feelings that arise in a situation.They do not last long on their own. Instead they feed and color the main Sthayi Bhava.

What are these 8/9 Original Emotions?

Rati: pleasure, romantic attraction, passion

Hasa: mirth, laughter

Shoka: sorrow, grief, deep sadness

Krodha: anger

Utsaha: enthusiasm, vigor, zest

Bhaya: fear, terror, dread

Jugupsa: disgust, aversion

Vismaya: wonder, astonishment, amazement

Shama : tranquility, serenity

An Example Of Sthayi And Vyabhichari Bhavas

A heroine is waiting for her lover who is late.

The Sthayi Bhava, Steady Emotion is Rati. Romantic Attraction.

The Fleeting Emotions she may feel are: Shanka (Doubt), Asuya (Jealousy), Chinta (Worry), Nirveda (Despair),.....and hopefully for her sake....Harsha (excitement) at hearing his footsteps approaching....finally...

Life Is A Stage

And we are all actors.

The next thing Bharata Muni says is simply wonderful.

He says you can't leave things at raw stages. He calls us to engage in a process of refinement. An alchemy. He asks us to cook these emotions until we produce a juice, a nectar. A Rasa.

A recipe, where we add somethings, taste, add something else, change, make a recipe....to try again....

Art and artistes have been long condemned by society. But it is in the practice of arts, whether we do it professionally, or we open ourselves to the Art of Life, that we begin to learn this alchemy.

And Bharata Muni tells us what to expect when we transform our raw emotions to juicy savorings.

Rati becomes Sringara. Beauty.Love

Hasa becomes Hasya. Laughter. Humor.

Shoka becomes Karuna. Compassion.

Krodha becomes Raudra. Rage.

Utsaha becomes Veera. Heroism. Courage.

Bhaya becomes Bhayanaka. Terrifying.

Jugupsa becomes Bhibhatsya. Repulsive.

Vismaya becomes Adbhuta. Marvellous. Wonderful. Awe-Inspiring.

Shama becomes Shanta. Peace.

Wholesome Embrace

In the soft sign of Cancer, we come across the dark, underworld of Rasatala.

We cannot ignore the dark side of life.

Or of ourselves.

We cannot choose one kind of emotion, over the other. Each emotion has its place in our understanding of the world. Of other people as well.

What are we doing to ourselves when we choose not to have any emotions at all?

It's easy to figure out that emotions have a evolutionary purpose. Your anger helps you draw boundaries. Your disgust helps you avoid situations.

Beauty. Love. Inspiration. Humor. What kind of life would it be without them?

Bhaava comes from 'bhu', the root word for 'bhumi', our Earth. Emotions are our expressions from this connection we have to the Earth.

As Ian Mc Gilchrist says, "Emotion is inseparable from the body in which it is felt, and emotion is also the basis for our engagement with the world." He says emotions are not a messy distraction from logical thought. But the place from which clear thinking grows.

He calls emotions the very ground of our experience of life itself.

We spend far too little of our attention on understanding the emotional nature of our being. If we listened to what David Hume says, we may just look at things differently.

"Reason is, and ought only to be the slave of the emotions, and can never pretend to any other office than to serve and obey them."

The Week Ahead

Jupiter is combust and directly facing Pluto for the first half of the week. He moves ahead on Monday, 19th. This is a transit that's been in place since last Monday. You may have made some progress. It may not be obvious. Or it may not be something that happened in a very pleasing way. Someone said something to you. It didn't sound so nice. But perhaps it will give you a chance to change something from here onward.

Mercury, Neptune and Pluto are all retrograde. These are times of self examination. Not so much for wishful thinking.

On Tuesday, the protests in India, take on more intensity. There are around 20 people who have been on a hunger strike for close to around 20 days now. They are wasting away, while the Government chooses to ignore them. A very unwise move. Considering Guru and the Sun in Cancer, the House of the citizens. With Pluto the planet of destruction in the House of the Government.

It is better to get off one's high horse at times like this. And feel with the common man.

For we are headed towards times of greater intensity.

How difficult would it have been to send one representative to have a conversation, right at the beginning of the protest? Is it very difficult to have a dialogue, these days?

What do you think will happen when Shani goes vakri? Saturn will turn retrograde and move towards Aquarius at the end of the month. What do you think Saturn and Aquarius stand for?

We can learn at least. It's not a time to flash your ego. It's a time to plant your feet on the earth.

Express what you've suppressed. And be receptive to what comes your way.

As Verse 23 of the Tao Te Ching says:

“Express yourself completely. Then keep quiet. Be like the forces of nature; When it blows, there is only wind; When it rains, there is only rain; When the clouds pass, the sun shines through.”

See you next week, when we explore Cancer, and the Moon a little further. Until then take care...