Navagrahas

Vishwakarma was searching for a suitable groom for his daughter Sandhya, and approached Surya. Surya, the God of the Sun, is the leader of the Navagrahas. He is the son of sage Kashyapa and Aditi. Surya accepts and the marriage is solemnised. Surya and Sandhya had three children – Vaivasvata, one of the Manus; Yama (also known as Dharmaraja or Yamaraja); and Yamuna, who is associated with the sacred river, Yamuna.

Sandhya, unable to bear the intense heat emitted by Surya’s golden aura, created a clone of herself named Chhaya from her own shadow, and retires to a forest to perform tapasya without informing Surya about the truth behind Chhaya. Chhaya took Sandhya’s place. Surya and Chhaya had two sons – Savarni Manu and Shani and two daughters – Dhabadhi and Viyati.

Shani had a dark complexion. Because of Shani’s dark complexion, Surya had doubts about him being his biological son. Later, Surya learnt the truth from Lord Shiva, and they came closer to each other.

Chandra, the God of the Moon, is the son of Atri, one of the Saptarishis, and Anusuya. Once Chandra decided to perform Rajasuya Yagna, he requested Brihaspati to preside as the main priest to perform the yagna. As the yagna progressed, Chandra began to attain a divine and beautiful form. His beauty was so mesmerising that all the Apsaras (Angels), and Devalok women, including Tara began to fall for Chandra’s beauty. And Tara decided to stay with Chandra.

In ancient times, a man could neither perform a ritual without his wife nor receive fruits of the ritual without his wife by his side. Hence, Brihaspati’s wife Tara added value to his life, and he needed her by his side. So, he asked for Indra’s intervention. But Chandra reminded Indra of his own liaison with Sage Gautam’s wife Ahalya, except that in this case, Tara had come to him voluntarily. Later, Tara on Indra’s request returns back home. Brihaspati finds Tara has conceived. He was infuriated and cursed the child that he will be an androgynous being – neither male nor female.

In the meanwhile, Chandra was married to the 27 daughters of Prajapati Daksha, son of Lord Brahma. These twenty-seven daughters are the twenty-seven Nakshatras. Chandra gave a promise to Prajapati Daksha that he would forever treat all the twenty-seven wives with equal love and care.

When Tara gave birth to a son Budh, Brihaspati asks her to return the baby back to Chandra. Of the twenty-seven wives, only two of his wives – Krithika and Rohini took care for the baby. And Chandra became fond of Rohini and spend most of his time with her.

Other 26 wives were unhappy, and they companied to their father. Prajapati Daksha cursed Chandra and all his powers decline with each passing day. However, Lord Shiva blessed Chandra with a boon which balance the effect of the curse. This established the waxing and waning of the moon – the moon increases in brightness (waxing moon) for 15 days in Shukla Pakha and decreases in brightness (waning moon) for 15 days in Krishna Pakha. Chandra was disappointed with the waxing and wining. His crescent shape was a constant reminder of the curse and his reduced strength. But Shiva consoled him by saying that the crescent indicates that he will still retain some of his powers. Shiva also wears the crescent moon on his head to show his devotees that they are dear to him even in their lowest moments.

Mangala, the God of the Mars, is the son of Varaha (3rd Avtar of Lord Vishnu) and Bhudevi, the Goddess of the Earth. He was nurtured by the Sage Bharadwaja, one of the Saptarishis, in his hermitage near the Narmada.

Vaivasvata Manu, the son of Surya and Sandhya was married to Shraddha. They perform a yajna for a child with the help of the sage Vashishtha. Pleased by their devotion, Mitra–Varuna blessed them with a baby girl named Ila. However, Vaivasvata wanted a son who could be his successor. He bowed to sage Vashishtha and requested him to change his daughter’s gender. Vashishtha obliged, using his divine powers to alter the girl, Ila, into the boy, Sudyumna.

One day while hunting, Sudyumna followed a deer, accidentally entering the Sukumara forest, the sacred grove of Shiva and Parvati. In order to maintain their privacy, Shiva had enchanted the grove, transforming any man trespassing into a woman. Thus, Sudyumna was transformed.

She approached Vashishtha to reverse the transformation who, in turn, approached Shiva himself. Shiva altered the effect with a new boon – Ila shall be able to alter her gender every month, and her memories from life as one gender shall be erased when she switches to live as the opposite gender.

Once, Ila was roaming from one forest to another in search for sage Vashishtha, she met Budha, the son of Chandra and Tara. They two fell in love and got married. Budha accepted Ila as his wife and Sudyumna as his disciple. Budha and Ila were blessed with a son, Pururava.

Brihaspati, the son of Saptarishi Angiras and Surupa, grew up learning all the four vedas. Indra sought a guru who possessed profound knowledge and wisdom to guide the Devas. Narad Muni proposed about Brihaspati. And, Indra reach out to Saptarishi Angiras and Surupa to appoint Brihaspati as Dev Guru. They asked for the opinion of Brihaspati. Brihaspati put a condition before Indra – he wanted to run an independent ashram. And, Indra agreed.

Now, Saptarishi Angiras and Surupa asked Indra for his advice on choosing the wife for Brihaspati. Indra reached out to Brahma. Brahma informed, a woman named Tara is in tapasya would be his wife. Later, Brahma went to Tara and infomed her that a man named Brihaspati would be her husband.

Thereafter, Tara was in search of Brihaspati. One day, she was taking bath in a river near to the ashram of Brihaspati. Brihaspati, while walking around the river saw her. He was so mesmerising by her beauty, he slipped into the river, and reached her. As Tara turned around, she saw Brihaspati. And, she enquired him about Brihaspati. Brihaspati revealed his identity. And, and the marriage is solemnised.

Shukra, the son of Sage Bhrigu and Kavyamata, is the guru of the Asuras. Once Devas defeated the Asuras, Shukra performed intense austerities to please Shiva. Indra was worried and asked his daughter Jayanti to somehow break it. But, she did not like her father’s intention. When Jayanti reached Mount Kailash, she became the attendant of Shukra.

Lord Shiva finally appeared in front of Shukra and granted him the boons of Sanjeevani Mantra. After that, Jayanti requested Shukra to let her be his wife for ten years. Shukra agreed and gave her a boon that during those ten years, they would both be invisible to the world.

A woman may ask men a common question – “You have only one option and whom will you save – Mother or Wife?”

The common question arises for the following spiritual history!

Shani was born to God Surya and Chhaya, the shadow of Goddess Sandhya. The health of Chhaya began deteriorating when Goddess Sandhya was about to return to the Surya Lok. God Surya was unaware of her poor health. Thus, when Shani asked God Surya to take proper care of his wife, God Surya tried but failed. Thus, Shani decided to perform hard penance and seek Lord Shiva’s blessings.

God Indra tried to fail Shani and finally appointed Agni to sacrifice whoever try to cross the fire. When Shani tried to cross the fire, Kakol (the companion of Shani) took Shani on his back and helped Shani cross the fire. And, Kakol sacrificed his life.

When Shani meet Lord Shiva, he asked Lord Shiva to back Kakol’s life and cure his mother. Lord Shiva asked Shani to choose any one. Shani realised Kakol’s sacrifice was unconditional – out of love for his master while his penance was conditional – out of love for his mother. Shani choose Kakol over his mother.

However, Shani took another penance before Lord Shiva where he promised to always pass judgements without emotions for any sides. Thus, he was awarded as Karmaphal Daata. And, received cure for his mother.

On this context, Woman asks Man the common question. Before answering the common question ask yourself – (1) Does a woman consider her man as her master? (2) Does Kakol ever asked his master such insensitive question?

We all know the answers! But, mostly unable to answer the common question because we don’t know this story of Karmaphal Daata Shani.