Namaste my beloved friends.
Today I want to tell something very fundamental, very ancient and very misunderstood.
We speak about destiny every day. We speak about planets, charts, yogas, dashas and transits. But very few people ask a more dangerous question. From where does destiny arise? Is destiny imposed on us from the outside or is destiny born from within us?
Bhagavan Raman Maharshi was absolutely clear on this. He said the mind alone is the cause of bondage and liberation. No planets, no god, no fate. The mind.
The mind is responsible for all that you are going through in this life.
The moon is not emotion.
Remember this. In astrology we say the moon represents mind. But most people think of mind as emotion, mood, psychology. That is a very superficial understanding. The moon represents sanskaras, deep mental patterns carried from past births, fear that has no logical reason, attraction that cannot be explained, pain that repeats with different faces, success that slips away again and again.
These are not accidents. These are mental memories.
And Bhagavan Raman Maharishi said, “Thoughts arise because there is the thinker.” The thinker arises because there is ego. The ego arises because the self is forgotten.
When the self is forgotten, ego arises. When ego arises, thought arises. When thought arises, desire arises. When desire arises, action follows. When action follows, karma is created. And when karma accumulates, destiny appears.
This entire chain does not begin in the chart. It begins in the mind.
Remember this, the moon chart is the cause. It is not an activator.
Many people say the moon chart activates the lagna chart. This is not fully correct. There is nothing to activate. The moon chart signifies the mental conditioning that has already produced the lagna chart, that is the ascendant chart.
The lagna chart or the ascendant chart is the visible crystallization of invisible mental patterns. The moon is the seed. The lagna chart is the tree.
That is why Vimshottari Mahadasha comes from the moon’s nakshatra, because destiny is not first lived on the body. Destiny is first lived in the mind.
Two people may face the same event. One is destroyed, the other is transformed. Why? Because destiny is not the event. Destiny is how the mind meets the event.
And so D1 is not fate. D1 meaning ascendant chart. It is a consequence.
This is where most people misunderstand astrology. They look at the ascendant chart or the lagna chart and say this is my destiny. No, this is what your mind has already produced.
Bhagavan Raman Maharishi says the world is illusory. Brahma alone is real. Brahma is the world. Meaning the world is not separate from the mind that perceives it.
Your profession shows what you desired. Your relationships show what you clung to. Your fears show what you resisted. Your suffering shows what you refused to release.
This is not punishment. This is education.
Now let us understand why changing events never changes destiny.
People want destiny to change. They want a new job, a new partner, a new city, a new country. But Bhagavan Ramanar Maharishi would say trying to arrange the world is like trying to smooth the surface of water. You may change the situation but if the mind remains the same, the pattern will repeat and repeat and repeat. Same pain, different faces, same karma, different addresses.
That is why Saturn never attacks events. Saturn attacks mental habits.
Now I want to reveal how destiny can truly change and I want to state something very clearly without compromise.
If destiny has to change, the work must begin with the mind. Not by changing circumstances, not by escaping situations, but by purifying the mind from past life bad sanskaras.
And this is very important. The mind cannot be purified by logic alone. The mind cannot be purified by analysis alone. The mind cannot be purified by willpower alone because sanskaras are not logical impressions. They are vibrational residues and vibrations dissolve only through a higher vibration.
This is why in the Indian tradition mantra is not sound. Mantra is medicine. And the mantra works only when it comes from the guru, not from books, not from the internet, not from curiosity, but from surrender.
And my fellows, that reminds me of a very beautiful, insightful story. Let me share one of the most powerful stories of India.
The oldest book on the life of Rama, Lord Rama, was written by Balmiki. But Balmiki was not born as a saint. He was a robber, a thief, a murderer. Everything that you can conceive of, all the negative things, he had done. That was his profession. Uneducated but tremendously powerful. He would wait on the highway with his sword. Anyone who was caught had to give everything, otherwise they were finished. His family lived in luxury. Every day he brought wealth through violence.
One day a beautiful saint, Narada, was passing by singing and playing on his ektara, a simple one-stringed instrument. Balmiki caught him. Yet Narada continued singing.
Balmiki shouted, “Are you mad? Can’t you see me? Can’t you see my sword? Give me everything you have.”
Narada smiled and said, “You have got a bag. I have nothing except this ektara. If you want my life, I can give that too. But before I give you anything, I want to ask one question.”
Balmiki said, “What question?”
Narada said, “You go home and ask your wife, your parents, your children. You have been robbing and killing people for them. Ask them if they are willing to share the responsibility of your actions.”
Balmiki had never thought of this. He said confidently, “They must share it. I’m doing it for them.”
Narada said, “I will wait here. You can even tie me to a tree.”
Balmiki tied him to the tree and rushed home.
He asked his wife and she said, “It is your responsibility to feed me. How you do it is none of my concern. I will not share your karma.”
He asked his parents. They said the same. Not a single person in his family was ready to share responsibility.
Balmiki was shattered.
He returned, untied Narada, fell at his feet and said, “My whole life I have lived wrongly. Is there any way to get rid of what I have done?”
Narada said, “There is no problem. First stop doing what you are doing. Second, I will give you my song. My song is simple.”
Narada said, “I repeat the name of Ram. No education is needed. Sit under this tree and repeat Ram. Ram Ram Ram Ram Ram.”
Because Narada said your innermost core is always pure. Only the layers of sanskaras need to fall.
Balmiki sat under the tree. Months and years passed. When Narada returned, he was astonished. Balmiki was still sitting there surrounded by an aura of light. Just going near him, one felt deep silence, great joy and tremendous peace.
So what really happened to Balmiki?
Balmiki did not analyze his past. He did not justify his actions. He did not try to manipulate destiny. He surrendered to the guru and immersed himself in the mantra.
The mantra burned past life sanskaras.
This is the only way destiny changes, not by fighting the chart but by purifying the moon. When the moon changes, the lagna expression changes automatically.
And this is a real thing.
Bhagavan Raman Maharishi said there is neither creation nor destruction, neither destiny nor free will. There is only the self.
Astrology exists only as long as the mind exists.
When the mind dissolves, there is no moon, no lagna, no destiny.
Until then astrology is sacred. After that astrology is silent.
I remember long, long back a great spiritual master once said that now there are no stars and planets. Everybody has gone. And that is the essence of this.
When there is no mind, how can there be any destiny? When the mind dissolves, when you come to the state of no mind, you come to the state of Buddha and then there are no planets and no stars and nothing.
And that is what that great spiritual master said, that now all the planets and stars have gone to their home.
That time I wasn’t able to understand. I was very young. Today I can relate.
So remember, destiny does not change by changing events. Destiny changes by purifying the mind. And the deepest purification comes only through the guru and the mantra.
And so today if you are facing difficulties in life, if you think that your destiny or your chart is not good, you can change it. And the way to do so begins from the mind.
Start working on this mind by doing consistent mantra chanting.
And when you do it, do it in the state of surrender. Do not expect any results. Just do it in the state of surrender.
Jai Shree Ganesha. Jai Guru.
