APPENDIX

Astrology confirms that the phenomenal universe and living beings are made of the same stuff. It believes that every part of the universe is interconnected, interdependent and influences each other. Microcosm is the replica of Macrocosm. In the ecosystem, the essence of all life is the same - to exist, to procreate and to flourish.

Big Bang that created our solar system also created the celestial clock by putting the planets into motion. This celestial clock symbolises the eternal Wheel of Time and Change in space. It has created the archetypal patterns of revolving years, seasons, months, days and nights, mornings and evenings, middays and midnights, tides and ebbs. Solar system has also given the concept of directions - east and west or rising and setting sun, north and south or nadir and zenith. Our terrestrial clock and compass are only finely tuned extensions of the solar system.

Astrology believes that in addition to our will there is a Divine Order that controls and shapes our lives. An individual's will functions within the Divine Will.

Thoughts about life

Karma - the base of destiny and luck
Karma means action, work or deed. Our universe came into existence by Big Bang. That was the first Karma. Karma is the outcome of an intention. Our Karmas expose us. Karmas cause conflicts. Karmas cause sufferings. Karmas give happiness and bliss.

Karmas make destiny and luck. Karma is the theory of cause and effect. 'As you sow, so shall you reap`. Karma is the concept of Poetic Justice in life.

The Karmas of our last life decide the destiny, fortune and luck of this life. The Karmas of this life will decide the destiny, fortune and luck of the next life. Karma is our free will to do what we like and face the results of our doings.

The Will of God and the Grace of God are above the concept of Karma. Only God can cancel bad Karma.

Duality and Unity
Our universe and existence in it is a complex, symbolic and symbiotic alloy or synthesis of archetypal opposing and complementary forces. Philosophers have given this alloy many names - yang/yin, male/female, individual/social, body/soul, material/spiritual, manifest/unmanifest, visible/invisible, illusion/reality, changeable/eternal, good/evil and so on. Dualism is the very essence of existence.

God - the Immaterial World
The belief that behind, beyond and above the visible phenomena of Maya there is an abstract, ideal, invisible, ruling, directing, controlling, caring, creating, living and divine force called God. Some say, God and His universe are identical. Others say, God is immanent in all things but also transcendent.

God is described as infinite, eternal, First Cause, King, Father, Creator or Architect of the universe, Bridegroom, Love and Universal Self.

He is omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient, immanent, immutable, compassionate, eternal and absolute reality or Truth. God can only be realised and not held, can only be obeyed and worshipped not ordered.

God as the Soul or Spirit of the Universe is called Parm Atma. This Universal Soul is within and without us. A spark of this Soul called Atma is in every living being. We are dead without it. Thus the soul is the connecting link between Man and God, between man and man, between man and Nature. By knowing yourself, you can know God and others; and this is the reason that enlightenment comes from inside as the kingdom of God is within you.

All personal gods are just the different facets of One God.

Maya - the Material World
Maya means the phenomenal reality, the Nature, the visible material world and all that it can offer and all that can be perceived, experienced and enjoyed or suffered by our senses.

Maya is the creative power of God called Shakti. God manifests Himself through Maya. Maya is God incarnated. Maya is the Cosmic Dance engendered by God. Maya is the matter and God is the spirit. Both exist for each other. Maya's material nature is transitory; therefore it is called unreal. Since Maya is the veil of God it is called illusion. God is the spiritual and eternal Beauty called Truth, Reality and Substance. Maya is the material, short-lived and betraying beauty called Shadow. All life in Maya is also the synthesis of matter and spirit, body and soul, illusion and reality. It has transitory and archetypal elements.

Maya is also symbolised in Laxsmani - the goddess of wealth, riches, beauty and good luck. Laxsmani is also the mother of Kama - the god of love, desire and procreation. Maya is tempting and charming. Maya is the mirage and power of wealth that rules, moves and mesmerises the world. People measure success in terms of Maya - sex, status and wealth, either having too much of it or denying it all.

Evil
Scarcity of or the greed for the material assets create evil and disharmony in the world.

Evil is the product of disharmony between moral values and personal desires. In the absence of Dharma (the moral code of life) the forces of evil conspire and bring chaos in the world. Life focused only on Artha and Kama creates great vices of Kam (lust), Krodh (aggression and war), Lobh (greed and selfishness), Moh (infatuation and delusion), Ahankar (pride), egoism and jealousy in human beings. Temptation of money, sex and status is very powerful, alluring, charming and irresistible. Behind the global problems of hunger, scarcity, misery, suffering, war, destruction of mankind and Nature is human greed and selfishness. Uncontrolled desires for wealth, sex and status are the root cause of all evil. The panacea to cure evil, misery and sufferings is to revive and enkindle Dharma. The knowledge leading to edification and enlightenment is required. A man of Dharma is a man of integrity.

Suffering and Pain
Be thou Shiva, be thou Parvati,
Be thou Vishnu, be thou Laxmani,
Be thou Rama, be thou Krishna,
Be thou Budha, be thou Christ,
Be thou Prophet, be thou Virgin Mary, 
Be thou Guru, be thou disciple,
Thou shall not escape pain, suffering and slander.

Be thou so powerful that you rule the world,
Be thou so rich that you own the World Bank,
Be thou Dhanvantri - the doctor of the gods, 
Be thou Vishvakarma - the architect of the world,
Be thou Venus - the goddess of beauty and arts,
Be thou the hero who stuns the world,
Thou shall not escape pain, suffering and slander.

Be that you have ideal parents,
Be that you have promising children,
Be that you are married to Helen of Troy,
Be that you are the wife of Cupid,
Be that people canonise and worship you,
Be that you own the Lamp with Genie that serves every wish,
Thou shall not escape pain, suffering and slander.

Suffering and pain is an eternal phenomenon. Every one has to cross this inferno. This is the price we have to pay in order to exist. From the vedic point of view, we suffer in this life because of our Bad Karma - bad luck. We have to repay the debt of bad deeds we have done in our previous life

How to diminish pain and suffering of being alive?
Our forefathers have left plenty of recipes and Mantras telling us how to escape pain and suffering. Do they work? Of course yes, but every recipe or Mantra does not suit everybody. One has to find one that suits one best.

Human mind is the beginning and end of all feeling, thinking and awareness. It is the mind, yes it is the mind, we have to take care of. We can calm it by understanding, by worship, by meditation and by physical work. An empty brain is a devil's workshop. Fill it and channelise your energies. To avoid misery, find some creative hobby and follow it with reckless abandon.

Our body is also self-regulating like our mind and has a wonderful mechanism of self-defence and self-cure. Often we have to activate this mechanism. Challenge the pain and the pain will loose its grip. To endure is to defy pain.

Suffering and pain have positive sides as well. They shake our self-complacency, teach us, purge our soul, make us humble and compassionate, develop our third dimensional insight, bring depth in our life and lead us to reality and enlightenment. There is a dormant Inner Light in every human being. Often we need some traumatic shock to enkindle it.

Change
Fortune turns like a wheel. Change is the unchangeable law of nature. Everything is in a cyclic motion and renewing itself. As is the Nature so is our inner nature, both are self-regulating. We change, renew and readjust our selves according to the new circumstances. Unwanted change is shocking and painful. Every event in life has some meaning. Try to see that meaning. Since "There's a divinity that shapes our ends", let the wheel of Karma move on. Changes are illuminating and a blessing in disguise.

Inner evolution
Self-realisation is an inner evolution. It can be devoloped through knowledge, physical and mental exercises (Tantra, Mantra and Yantra Yogas), spirutal devotion and worship.

It is beyond and above any religious system or ceremony. To be religious means that you have taken an oath to live by the rules, rituals and taboos of a religious system without questioning them. Religions hinder enlightenment though they may be a good start. Religions make people orthodox and an orthodox believer is not open to change and enlightenment. In order to love and worship God there is no need of rituals, temples, mediators, saviours, gurus, priests, holy places, pilgrimages, offerings, sacrifices and commandments. These are all manmade rules and rituals more for commerce, social, religious and political power rather than to love and worship God. Those saviours who could not save themselves, how can they possibly save you?

For en enlightened man - Kam (lust) turns into pure love ; Krodh (anger) turns into compassion and pity; Lobh (greed) turns into charity; Moh (delusion) turns into enlightenment, renunciation and asceticism; Ahankar (pride) turns into humility and service of mankind and jealousy turns into contentment.

God
The word God has multiple meanings. It is up to an individual how he sees life, life's values, Nature, forces of nature and God.

God is an ideal picture of all morality, ethics, happiness and perfection. God is also the eternal truth which the scientists or philosophers struggle to discover in Nature, natural processes and all life. It is not God who has created misery and poverty on this earth but we human beings.

• Belief in God gives strength, courage, security, hope and meaning to life. Without God, life is absurd and the world is an existential nightmare: a world less to enjoy and live in than to endure.
  
  

• Without belief in God
  "Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
  That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
  And then is heard no more: it is a tale
  Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
  Signifying nothing".			
  	Macbeth/Shakespeare