Why do care to where moon is during his transit through the constellations? Bear with me as I explain in a roundabout way, why the observation of phenomena within our solar system is important.

The second sloka in Pantanjali's Yoga Sutras is Yoga chitta vritti nirodaha. It says yoga is integration and quieting of excess movement within the mind. Specifically, chitta is the unfiltered reservoir of all our soul's experience.from lives before as well this one. Vrittis are the rising emotion as our chitta is disturbed. Nirodaha is the regulation and coordination taken as a result of chitta being stirred via vritti.

The soul carries chitta, the reservoir of all past action forward into each new body. We call this karma. Each act, intentional or not, generates karmashya, karmic residue in accord with either dharma or adharma. This residue has samskaras, repetitive traces that produce two results:

The first is vasana - memory as a form of residue. The second is klesa - affliction and suffering.

I think of memory as an after-burn, the ashes of the past once burned. A metaphor for this after effect is burning a well-seasoned log. It gives off great warmth and light with a minimum amount of smoke thereby reducing those afflictions associated with smoke. A damp, unprepared log will burn the eyes, cause choking and leave soot on everything not to mention the very low quality of light released.

How we interpret current experience will generate a memory. This memory serves us in the future as the ground of enlightenment freeing us or of bondage choking us. Our capacity to interpret is the fire. How well we interpret has to do with the strength and light of mind. Remember that the mind is the Moon in Jyotisha. How much light-fire the mind has is reflective of the phases of the moon. Obviously, having more light gives greater understanding thereby reducing affliction creating joy and happiness. This is why we want to tract the movement of the moon through his transits.In addition, in Ayurveda, a strong physical digestion is important. The physical capacity to metabolize food and eliminate the waste, is the same as the Mind digesting emotional-spiritual experience into beneficial memory free of attachment. Memory of the past and past lives will attach more firmly to our former blunders if we are not able to digest and properly understand our current experiences.

Karmic vocabulary:

Karmashya is karmic residue.
Samskaras are deep-seated conditioning and motivations.
Vasana is residual impressions and memory storage.
Klesa is affliction and suffering.
Jiva - Individual soul
Jati - Kind of life form received for incarnation.
Bhoga- Pleasure and pain
Vipaka - Maturating karmas, the ripening fruit.
Ahamkara - Individual ego
Sanchita- Sum of all past action known and unknown appearing within our casual body (individual soul).
Prarabdha - Karma ready to be experienced now, the ripened fruit.
Kriyamana- Karma in current production.
Agami- Karma produced through projection (envisioning/dreaming) of future action.


submitted byPREMAJYOTI
MELANIE FARMER vedic astrologer The Saraswati Center www.westseattleyoga.com