Metaphor of Pushya Nakshatra and Various Interpretations

In a recent class, we had a long discussion on Pushya Nakshatra and various interpretations of mythological story connected with Pushya Nakshatra. As I see, that discussion will be helpful to everyone. Hence, I am posting important portions of that discussion as an article here. Hope people find it helpful.

Basics of Pushya Nakshatra - Pushya Nakshatra falls within 3.20 degree of Cancer to 16.40 degree of Cancer. So, Pushya Nakshatra falls completely within Cancer sign. We will see it further that how it helps the nature of Pushya and Cancer both. Pushya is origin of the word Poshan which means To Nourish or To Care. Other meanings are also similar like Nourisher or Nurturer. The main representation of this nakshatra is "Milk Yielding Cow's Udder". Through its milk, Cow nourishes not only its Calf but others too.

Mythological Story – This one is interesting. Brihaspati was great Guru of Gods. He had a wife named Tara. Tara was most beautiful celestial lady of her time but Brihaspati was always busy with his religious/spiritual pursuits and never gave any attention to Tara. Moon is best friend of Jupiter and used to visit his home. With time, Moon spell his magic over Tara and she ran away with Moon. Brihaspati felt cheated and went to all Gods to request & convince Tara to come back to him. God requested Tara and said that this act of infidelity is not good for her. Tara agreed to come back but by that time, she was already pregnant with Moon's child. The child born was Mercury. Now, although Mercury was not Brihaspati's own child but still Brihaspati accepted him as his son and took care of him & nourished him. Brihaspati was of the view that child has nothing to do with this all and if at all it is a mistake, then it is a mistake of all 3 of us. So, child should not suffer. This is the nature of Pushya. Taking care of others unselfishly.

This story is also the reason behind friendship/enmity of Mercury-Moon and Mercury-Jupiter as Mercury felt that because of mistake of Moon and Jupiter both I got this life of ridicule as everyone treats me as an illegitimate child.

Various Interpretations of Story – As we can see, it looks like an unusual or controversial story and as such, there are many different interpretations or viewpoints possible for this story. Rather than going through all possible interpretations, let’s try to understand this story through Gunas of Nature.

As I always say that everything in this existence can be split in 3 parts; i.e. 3 Gunas of Nature. These are Satva, Rajas and Tamas. We can interpret this story too in Satvic way, Rajasic way or Tamasic way. Through this article, I will try to do the same.

This is also something we need to keep in mind that all these mythological or spiritual stories have lots of different meanings. All these different meanings can be at different levels and by interpreting or understanding these stories at a specific level, we exhibit at which level I am functioning.

It means that if I feel aligned with Satvic interpretation of story then it means I am at Satvic level and likewise for all other levels. Osho says that most of mythological stories and parables from ancient times have many parallel meanings and your interpretation of that story only shows at which level you can think right now. Obviously, the possibility of evolution and improvement is always there.

So, let’s see 3 different interpretations of this story as per my understanding of 3 Gunas of life –

Sattvic Interpretation – We can have following interpretations of this story in a Satvic way (at Soul level) –

1. As I see, the highest message this story conveys to us is that we should take care and nourish people without any selfish interest. This story also tells us as to why Jupiter is the most benefic planet among all. Understand that Jupiter is not adopting any random kid on street. He is adopting a kid born out of a relationship between his wife and his best friend. Still under those circumstances, he thought about well-being of Child and moreover, Moon remained his best friend. This is what I meant by saying that the highest message this story conveys to us is that we should take care and nourish people without any selfish interest. Normally, we say that parents’ love towards their child is selfless. But we all know that largely every parent love their child because it is their own child. If same child had been someone else’s child then same parents won’t have cared for the same child.

So, I think we should put it like this that whosoever loves any child selflessly, that person is eligible to be parent or guardian of that child. So, nourishing selflessly here would mean that nourish others beyond the attachment of I/Me/Mine.

2. We can also interpret this story in a poetic way as follows -

In Mythology, Mercury is Moon's child and adopted by Jupiter (Pushya Nakshatra story).

Moon is Human Mind.

Tara is Star. Human Mind is always attracted towards Stars. Likewise, Human Desires are like Stars as they attract Human Mind.

Mercury is Thought. Thought connects Human Mind to its Desires.

Jupiter is knowledge and wisdom.

In story, Jupiter adopts Mercury. It means that our thoughts should be adopted by knowledge and wisdom.

Understand that thoughts are prelude to an action. I have a thought and then I start paying attention and energy to that thought. This energy pushes me to take actions. This is how a thought transforms into actions. This is how manifestation works too.

So, this story also tells us that if our thoughts (Mercury) from inception stage are under the guidance of knowledge and wisdom (Jupiter) then nothing can go wrong in life.

Rajasic Interpretation – We can have following interpretation of this story in a Rajasic way (at Mind level) –

Osho says that Human Mind is like Pendulum of Wall Clock. It is always moving from one extreme to another extreme. When we attain one desire then mind makes us attracted towards another desire and it goes on till we don’t become aware of functioning of mind. This video may help in understanding this - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IG-bFJj_wNw .

Whatever we achieve in life, it loses its value and whatever is far from reach becomes attractive.

In this story, all 3 main characters are behaving like this.

Jupiter – For major part of story, Jupiter had no time for Tara but as soon as Tara ran away with Moon, suddenly he got all the time for visiting Gods/Goddesses to help him get back Tara.

So far, Jupiter was taking Tara for granted and thinking where she can go. The moment he lost her as she ran away, Tara became attractive for her.

This is very much how our mind works. We care least for what we have in life and we run after those things which we don’t have.

This is why so much emphasis and importance is given to Gratitude in Spirituality that we should learn to be grateful to existence for everything it has already provided rather than complaining about those things which we don’t have. If we value what we have, existence provides more. If we complain about what we don’t have, we may even lose what we have as existence feels you don’t deserve it.

In this light, we can understand Matthew 13:12 – “Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them”.

Tara – As per my experience of dealing with 1000s of people in last 10 years, it never happened that someone attracted a partner whom they didn’t want to. Either consciously or unconsciously, we have looked for same partner which we eventually got. But as soon as we get that desired partner, Mind again goes on to the trip of next desire. This is what happened with Tara here.

Tara might have looked for a Wise and Spiritual person for Husband. Now, when she got one, priorities changed. Now, her mind doesn’t care much about this Spiritual Guy as she got him and it looks for a romantic person now.

One of the basic principles on which existence functions is demand and supply. You get what you look for. When Tara looked for Spiritual Guy, she got him. Then when Tara looked for Romantic Guy, she got him too.

Moon – Moon is the actual representation of Human Mind. In mythology, Moon has 27 wives. This is ideal case of what I am trying to convey here – “the belly of the mind is never full”. This guy has 27 wives but he is not shy from having another relationship.

This is how Human Mind functions in an unconscious state. You provide anything to mind and it searches for whatever is not provided.

So, if we see the behavior of all 3 main characters in this story then common theme is that they all were not grateful about what they had and they all were looking for what they didn’t have.

So, Rajasic message behind this story is to develop gratitude in mind for what you have in life.

Tamasic Interpretation – We can have following interpretation of this story in a Tamasic way (at Mind level) –

Now, if we are only concerned with literal story, as many people are concerned, then following discussion can take place –

Whose Mistake? – People love to go into this discussion as who is at mistake in this story?

As I see, it is mistake of all 3 and in order of their presence in this story.

First of all, it was marriage between Jupiter and Tara. It was their marriage. Hence, 1st responsibility was on them to keep their marriage safe and secure.

Even there, Jupiter is masculine figure and Tara is feminine. So, Jupiter was supposed to be more assertive and active in this marriage. Once Jupiter has gone into inactive mode through his spiritual practices, it led to situations where Tara was forced to look out for love. Hence, the 1st mistake was made by Jupiter.

Then the 2nd mistake was by Tara who couldn’t be conscious enough to redirect her energy in Sattvic pursuits as her base desires were not fulfilled. In a way, we can say that Tara was a love starved person and in that state of mind, it is useless to even expect from her that she can think of anything of Satvic level.

Normally, we talk so much in a negative tone for Tamasic life that we forget that it is the base level of existence. Tamas is body level. First of all, our body should be happy and healthy, then only we can achieve something higher in life. A person with an empty belly cannot be expected to sit in meditation.

Then the 3rd mistake was of Moon that Moon allowed all this to happen.

So, all 3 are at mistake in order of their presence and roles in story.

Betrayal – People also like to talk about who betrayed whom in this story? Let’s check it out –

If you go through this article - https://www.astrosaxena.com/articles/CheatingorBetrayalinRelationship-MyOpinion then you may realize that in my opinion, the betrayal happens in mind. The moment I start thinking and planning about being with another person then I already betrayed with my partner because at least I know that I am not honest with my partner.

Many people insist that it should be Physical/Sexual relationship between the two then only it can be termed as betrayal. This insistence only shows our extreme identification with our body and we have no idea that life exists beyond this circumference of body.

So, if at all there was a betrayal from Tara to Jupiter then it happened the moment Tara thought and planned for relationship with Moon.

But another thing is that was there any betrayal at all from Tara to Jupiter?

As I understand, we cannot be in love with 2 people simultaneously. So, if Moon could enter Tara’s heart so easily by making a few visits at her home then may be Tara’s heart was already vacant. Jupiter had already lost his position in Tara’s heart. One thing was certain that Tara was not in love with Jupiter when she fell for Moon.

Then where is the betrayal?

As per me, if at all there is anything wrong done by Tara and Moon in story then it was “running away”. This running away and hiding shows that they thought there was something wrong in their actions.

If I had been in place of Moon then only one change would have happened that I would have advised Tara to stay back at her home only and as and when Jupiter comes out of his spiritual pursuits then inform him about latest developments which had taken place when he was in trance mode.

Also, if at all there is any betrayal in this story then it is by Tara towards Moon. Understand it like this, as I said that Tara was a love starved woman. Moon provided that much desired love to Tara. Tara ran away with Moon and conceived child of Moon. It means that she loved Moon and wanted to be with Moon. But then she went back to Jupiter due to social pressure (Gods and Goddesses). So, it is actual betrayal towards Moon.

Basically, Tara is a person who is caught between mind and heart. Eventually, she took the decision in the matter of Heart through her Mind.

This story also gives us a message that we can’t have everything in one life. So, make your priorities in life wisely.

Finally, during consultations or teaching sessions, people ask that if X person has Pushya Nakshatra prominent in chart then whether that person’s partner would betray?

Well, it depends on whether that X person is committing the same mistake as Jupiter committed by not giving love/care, attention and importance to Tara. If X person does the same mistake then there is every possibility of remainder of story manifesting in his life.

So, we can take a final lesson from this story that it also tells us not to take our partner for granted.

So, all these different interpretations are possible from my side. Now, please feel free to stretch your imagination and bring new meanings to the same story.

Gratitude!!!