Surya - Ravi

Suraj - Assur - Savita - Aaditya - Arkah - Vivasvat - Ambaramani - Mihira, Meher, Mithra, Prabhakara, Martanda, Bhaskara, Bhanu, Chitrabhanu, Divakara, Abhisumat 

Nyima (Tib.)

Details of Tonatiuh, the fifth sun god in the center of the Aztec Calendar Stone

http://www.eastern.edu/publications/emme/2004fall/art_reviews.html

Earth's Local Sun

Human Connections to the Divine: Self, Ego & Soul

 

"Brahma once recounted to the sages the 108 sacred names of Surya. The Brahma Purana lists these names and we reproduce them in nine groups of twelve names each. (1) Surya, Archana, Bhagavana, Tvashta, Pusha, Arka, Savita, Ravi, Gabhastimana, Aja, Kala, Mrityu. (2) Dhata, Prabhakara, Prithivi, Jala, Teja, Akasha, Vayu, Parayana, Soma, Brihaspati, Shukra, Budha. (3) Angaraka, Indra, Vivasvana, Diptamshu, Shuchi, Shouri,Shanaishvara, Brahma, Vishu, Rudra, Skanda, Vaishravana. (4) Yama, Vaidyuta, Jathara, Agni, Aindhana, Tejohapti, Dharmadhvaja, Vedakarta, Vedanga, Vedavahana, Krita, Treta. (5) Dvapara, Kali, Sarvasurashraya, Kala, Kashtha, Muhurta, Kshapa, Yama, Kshana, Samvatsara, Ashvattha, Kalachakra. (6) Vibhavasu, Shashvata, Purusha, Yogi, Vyaktavyakta, Sanatana, Kaladhyaksha, Prajadhyaksha, Vishvakarma, Tamonuda, Varuna, Sagara. (7) Amsha, Jimuta, Jivana, Ariha, Bhutashraya, Bhutapati, Sarvalokanamaskrita, Shrashta, Samvartaka, Vahni, Sarvadi, Alolupa. (8) Anata, Kapila, Bhanu, Kamada, Sarvotamukha, Jaya, Vishala, Varada, Sarvabhutasevita, Mana, Suparna, Bhutadi. (9) Shighraga, Pranadharana, Dhanvantari, Dhumaketu, Adideva, Aditinandana, Dvadashatma, Ravi, Daksha, Pita, Mata, Pitamaha." -- http://www.dharmakshetra.com/holy%20land/The%20sun%20god.htm

Ambition, authority, bile problems, boldness, chest and head, consciousness, courage, determination, energy, eyesight, weak faith, fame, father, hot, inflexible, king, impact of ones personality, influence, nobility, optimism, personality, political power, reliance on self, soul, vitality (from Das)

"The Sun's eyes are honey-colored. He has a square body. He is of clean habits, bilious, intelligent, and has limited hair on (his head).  "

~~ BPHS Ch. 3 [Planetary Characters and Description], Shloka 23

"The one who knows the secret of my words does not criticize not praise anybody, but moves in the world free from any prejudice or partiality, just like the sun."

~~ Bhagavata Purana 11.28.8

"The bliss of the Self is always with you and you will find it for yourself if you seek it earnestly."

~~ Shri Ramana Maharshi

The Sun is the soul of Kalapurusha;  the Moon, his mind;  Mars, his strength;  Mercury, his speech;  Jupiter, his knowledge and happiness;  Venus, his sexual love;  and Saturn, his misery.  The Sun and the Moon are known as kings;  Mars is the commander-in-chief;  Mercury is the heir-apparent;  Jupiter and Venus are the ministers and Saturn is the servant. ~~ Jataka Desha Marga, Ch. 1, Sloka 44

Personality characteristics of Surya run along a continuum from self-confident to self-righteous.  

Drishti

• If Surya receives drishti of His enemies Shukra and Shani, 

• then, Surya's capacity for genuine self-confidence - that is, belief that one's soul is fully connected to the divine - is reduced by interference of either material pleasures (Shukra) or material pains (Shani).

• If Surya receives drishti of His friends Chandra, Kuja & Vrihaspati, 

• then, that natural feeling of well-being & adequacy in the eyes of the Divine is enhanced.  The soul prospers.

• (Surya 'sees' Budha as a neutral party, neither friend nor enemy.)

Surya's Rashi

• When Surya is uchcha (in Mesha) or swakshetra (in Simha), genuine confidence is strong at birth.  

  • Surya well-disposed in Simha elevates royal entitlement and intelligent use of ethical principle. 

  • Surya in Mesha emphasizes warriorship, nobility, individual empowerment and self-determination through rational choice.

• When Surya is neechcha (in Thula) or in a enemy rashi's of Vrishabha, Makara, or Kumbha, the confidence is low and the native seeks material substitutes for true faith. 

  • Surya's power to channel divine intelligence through individual reasoning is weakened in Thula (partnership) or Kumbha (large assemblies). 

  • Mahadasha of neechcha Surya or effect of drishti from weakened Ravi may be characterized by low morality, incomplete reasoning, or falling sway to dominant others. 

• Domains owned by Budha (Mithuna, Kanya):

  • Surya is neither helped nor harmed in the natural or temporal houses of Budha.  

  • Surya is welcomed there by Budha, who considers Surya to be His friend. 

  • (Surya however sees Budha as a neutral landlord.)

Navamsha rashi & other varga rashi

Surya always occupies two rashi's: 

1. His rashi in radix

2. His rashi in navamsha.  

Surya's rashi in other vargas must be known to evaluate the areas controlled by those vargas.

For Surya, Chandra, and Budha, navamsha characteristics must be assessed immediately, particularly if Budha or the luminaries are lord of the current Vimshottari dasha.  

Surya's Bhava

• In general, Surya flourishes in houses 1, 4, 5,  9, & 10.  

• However, Surya will not flourish in domains temporally owned by Shani & Shukra.

Special case of Surya in karma bhava:

• In domain-10, in any rashi, Surya makes an independent actor & leader.  

• However, if Surya receives drishti of Shani or Ravi occupies a rashi of Shani, expect heavy conformist restrictions on the mode & style of  Ravi's leadership. The confidence is reduced, and the native's path to social self-determination is  frustrated. Not destroyed - but frustrated!

Combined effects

• Most nativities feature some combination of rashi, bhava, & drishti effects upon Surya, which maintain the ego & belief systems in reasonably good balance.  

• A strong & confident Ravi usually receives some restraining aspect

• Surya in an unfavorable rashi usually receives a supportive aspect from a friendly planet.

Angular Relationships to other graha (see Jataka Desha Marga, Ch. 1, Sloka 44 - above):

• angle between Ravi & Chandra shows the emotional mind - do emotions flow confidently & easily as a result of positive thoughts & expression?

• angle between Surya & Kuja shows the rhythm of the native's physical, muscular activity - is the physical body responsive & free in movement as a result of positive ego-thought?

• angle between Surya & Budha shows acuity of speech - does speech flow clearly as a result of clean mental habits & positive self-image?

• angle between Ravi & Guru shows wisdom & potential for lasting happiness -  is the worldview balanced & inclusive due to compassion toward the Self?

• angle between Surya & Shukra shows sexual & romantic love - are love relationships validating & pleasurable due to self-confirmation in the eyes of the Divine?

• angle between Ravi & Shani shows how the individual executes his social duty - is the professional contribution to social welfare valued & rewarded by others due to positive self-worth in the belief system?

 Personal & Social Morality

In addition to house-9, Ravi Graha is a central indicator of personal morality in radix & navamsha.

House-9 tells us more about religious fellowship, sacred vows, & the moral philosophy of one's guru or priesthood. House-9 shows the moral teachings of the father, specifically how we are to treat those who are not members of our family - those in the greater society who are different from us.  Thus house-9 contains the native's social morality, his social behavior principles and - if Budha is strong - his articulation and justification of those social morality principles.

Surya by contrast is personal morality.  Just as a monarch serves as an icon of social culture to his or her people by personally demonstrating social morality, so Surya in radix & navamsha shows the individual acting out their moral principles.  Surya shows what (if anything) the native believes to be morally correct.  Surya is the ethical center of the personality.

When Surya occupies His exalted sign of Mesha or His swakshetra/mulatrikona sign of Simha, the personality exhibits a highly developed ethical sensibility.

This does not mean that the native with a vigorous Surya position is morally correct in the eyes of others!  As the case of Adolph Hitler (who has a super-powerful Surya) demonstrates, a person may be profoundly convinced of the righteousness of their ethical principles and from this unshakable conviction release the greatest possible Evil.  

Neither the Righteous nor the Self-Righteous are shy or confused!  The absolutely believe in themselves!

Surya is inherently concerned with social morality. The Surya-driven native is rarely uncertain.  They suffer little ambiguity or or fear.  They may be absolutely wrong, like Hitler, but they firmly believe in themselves, their choices, and their results.  They are purists.  They strive to promote - or, with Kuja, enforce - rational principles in full expectation that principled action will create a better world.

Compare Hitler to another strong Surya radix - Shri Aurobindo, who also had strong personal opinions about political life and social morality.  Note how self-righteousness has evolved into concern for One Self: 

The one aim of [my] yoga is an inner self-development by which each one who follows it can in time discover the One Self in all and evolve a higher consciousness than the mental, a spiritual and supramental consciousness which will transform and divinize human nature. ~~ Shri Aurobindo

Intellectual Power, Rational Conviction

Ravi is literally "the light of day".  Soma is the "light of night".

Soma represents the gentle, subtle light of intuitive perception. Surya exhibits the vigorous, flamboyant light of rational argument.  

Although Mercury and the Third House represent communication style and effectiveness, cultural fluency, facility of gesture, etc., it is Surya who controls intellectual power. 

A powerful Surya gives original thought, celebrity, true genius.  However, unless Budha assists Surya with the verbal articulation of this brilliant awareness,   genius might never find a useful verbal or literary expression.  Budha should escape the range of combustion (moudhya) and Budha should be helpfully disposed in order for the genius to promulgate one's most original, divinely inspired ideas. However sheer conceptual power, the capacity to think in cosmic and universal terms, remains the province of Lord Ravi.

Noting the effect of Suraj on the ages of human civilization, Sri Yukteswara writes:

Self-Confidence, Self-Righteousness, Flamboyance

When Surya is strong a person "thinks well of himself", regardless of public opinion.  He has good reasons for his behavior and he is convinced he is right (whether he actually is, or not!)  Strong, positive role for Surya suggests that the native feels deeply enfranchised to be "who they are" regardless of external confirmation of that right!

In fact, we might say that Surya's strength per se and His angle to Soma provide a "flamboyance index" which predict how aggressively rational a person might be.  *Not* how "correct" their reasoning is or how clearly they articulate their personal logic (which is more a function of Mercury).  And *not* whether their methods or conclusions are logically valid or culturally approved (which is more a function of house-3 and house-10).  But rather, how self-confident and theatrically staged are the native's arguments.  

Poorly informed & emotionally handicapped natives with a strong Sun will be aggressively dogmatic, promoting a small number of rational arguments very confidently.  The local politician substituting loudly repeated slogans for a reasoned argument probably has a strong Sun.  The beer-sotted neighbor holding forth on better ways to run his national government probably also has a strong Sun!  So are totalitarian dictators like Adolph Hitler & Joseph Stalin.

Well-educated & emotionally developed natives with a strong Sun will be calmly and comprehensively reasonable, capable of understanding & appreciating alternative views, and still completely confident that their own well-planned position is correct.  Such as the great theological minds of history, and the Enlightenment philosophers and working politicians like Thomas Jefferson who carried forth great rational principles of government.  What they all have in common is their unshakable conviction - evidence notwithstanding - that they are right.

Charisma

Surya's vitality is an essential component in celebrity level "charisma", the magnetic attractiveness which draws interest & attention to one's performance, ideas, and style.  

Highly charismatic people will exhibit, in addition to auspiciously houses & well-aspected Ravi, an auspicious Shukra or Rahu (usually conjunct Ravi) for physical magnetism, a positive Budha (close to Surya but not combust) and nice lagnesha (again, ideally, yuti Ravi).

Soul, Life Force, or Eternal Consciousness  

Public Role - Career

Surya (along with karmaa-bhava) is a primary karaka for career. 

Empowered Ravi = the central component in the "Alpha male" personality, but Kujas & Brihaspati should also be strong for the total "lead wolf" behavior.

Father

Surya = pitru-karaka  the primary significator of the Father. In the Jyotisha narrative, Ravi's character provides information about the physical father, as well as spiritual fathers. Ravi's agency includes men (and under special circumstances certain extraordinary women) who play the role of guru, preceptor, mentor, philosophy professor, preacher, and moral guide.

Conscious individuals will notice that the six-year Vimshottari mahadasha of Surya is a period of personal reconnection with the psychic, rational, and social aspects of the Father. Periods of Surya cause awakening to the internalized role of the Father within oneself. (This experience  may be pleasant or painful or both, depending on the Jyotisha characteristics of natal Ravi). 

It is wise to "strike while the iron is hot" (an apt metaphor for the hottest graha!) and use this essential self-knowledge to fullest capacity during the six-year mahadasha.

General patterns of Surya period include: 

• attracting into one's environment persons who resemble the Father and the all-knowing Guru on many levels

• understanding the role that the Father played in the child's personality formation

• depending on Surya's character, assignment to leadership roles and need to negotiate moral conflict situations, or make conscious ethical choices

• strong rationalization of the personality: organization of thought, social role, relationships, and inner consciousness (soul) 

In the nativity, look to Surya as the primary indicator of Father; and Chandra as primary indicator of Mother. 

Domain-9 also indicates Father, but domain-9 should be used as a complementary and secondary indicator. (Similarly, Soma is the strongest karaka for Mother, but domain-4 is complementary and secondary. Use both to build the parental profile)

Consider Surya - in Radix, Navamsha, and Dwadashamsha - to show the core characteristics of the Father. 

Stepfather

Usually the step-father or next-father is also the mother's second husband, but there can be other arrangements.  The "next" father - however this man gained that position - is indicated by several profile elements, including:

• 8th-from-Surya. Check this lord's role in both radix and navamsha.  

• 8th-from-9th, domain-4

• Mother's divorce and mother's second marriage = 2nd-from-Chandra

• lord of 8th-from-Surya in Dwadashamsha will give confirmation of stepfather relationship in the native's life

If 8th-from-Surya = strong or receiving strong drishti, the step-father will have a strong personality. Maybe too strong, involvement of Kuja or a dusthamsha lord can be overbearing or combative.

If 8th-from-Surya = a dusthamsha, the stepfather will be a problematic agent for the native. 

Even if 8th-from-Surya = a dusthamsha, benefics in 8th-from-Surya may =  benefits coming to native through agency of the stepfather

External Life: Sun as lagna

External effects of the soul such as public service and gains in the marketplace must be ascertained not only from 10th and 11th from lagna, but also most importantly by seeing 10th & 11th from leader-activist Surya.  

Dharma

Along with cold Saturn, hot Mars, and dark Rahu, the blazing heat of Surya is considered malefic.  Like other malefics, Surya is  inherently capable of destruction in the life matters which it affects by house, sign, and aspect.

Unlike other malefics, however, Surya is a significator of Dharma.  Although by the rule of bhavat bhavam, Sun in dharma bhava is fortunate neither for the father nor for an easy relationship with religion, nevertheless the Sun gives consciousness and therefore He is never too serious of a malefic.  Consciousness whether obtained in an easy or a difficult way is still the ultimate objective of the incarnational game.  

Surya favors recognition, rationality and objective awareness.  However Surya's subjective instinct is selfish and dominating.  Therefore Surya is good for professional matters but not so good for diplomacy in personal relationships.

Surya in its natural house putra bhava often prevents children (and always limits their numbers) but may give creativity and fame in performance arts, where publicity is key to success. [George Harrison = a good example of Surya in Putra bhava.]

Surya in the Marriage House

Surya in yuvati signifies that the native is socially identified with counseling, advising, negotiations, contracts, deals,  legal profession, and balancing-harmonizing diplomatic relationships. The native is morally skilled at achieving cooperation and building alliances.

Surya provides objective intelligence about relationships. However, subjective intelligence = intuition about relationships =  compromised when Surya occupies kalatra bhava. Intuitive balancing skill may be replaced by Surya's characteristic perfectionism in the behavior of the spouse. Idealistic perfectionism can be quite destructive in a marriage relationship. 

When Surya has strength in an ego-expanding rashi, Ravi-7 becomes a karaka for divorce due to perfectionistic idealism on the part of the native or the spouse. Most commonly,  the agent of criticism and disagreement due to imposing impossible ideals upon a marriage is one's spouse. 

However it should be understood that the spouse is simply articulating and dramatizing one's own inner self-critical perfectionism and constant internal narrative of idealistic perfection that disturbs one's own inner balance.

Surya and Shukra are bitter enemies. In yuvati bhava, the natural house of Shukra, Surya produces a self-righteous, ego-identified spouse, who has a need to express one's individuality in the marriage. Marriage becomes a stage upon which the spouse performs for attention and applause. Naturally this self-focus harms Shukra's purpose of balancing and accommodating give-and-take in marriage.  

A debilitated yuvati Sun provides a passive-aggressive spouse who manipulates one's partner in order to gain the leadership position. The problem is that this person, represented by the morally challenged neechcha Surya, is not capable of leading. Thus, the marriage founders.

Dignified Ravi poses a direct moral challenge to the native, from the spouse. The spouse needs to be Right. If the native is of an accommodating nature, perhaps such a union is possible to sustain. 

Any rashi containing Surya in domain-7 is inharmonious for marriage, but a dignified Surya honors the public 'face' of the marriage by allowing the spouse to perform with intelligence in public roles.

It is somewhat easier, in a traditional marriage, for the woman to have Surya in domain-7. Should Surya have strength, the husband will be self-important, independent and wandering. However since the male is socially expected to run higher levels of solar energy, the natural balance and social acceptability of such a marriage may be only slightly frustrating for a traditional female.

For a man to have empowered Ravi in domain-7, may be a quite difficult experience. The self-righteousness of the wife may be extreme. She is independent to a fault, often having been raised to believe that one's own ideals are superior to others and that one's own experience is more authentic than others. 

Examples of Strong Surya/7:

• Barack Obama:  strong Karkata-Surya in domain-7. Indicates a highly professionalized, socially dignified, self-righteous spouse, convinced of the superiority of one's own ideals and the rationalized interpretation of one's own personal experience. This spouse is clearly the leader in the marriage. Highly favorable auspice from Surya's lord Chandra = uchcha in domain-5 = politics.

• Adolph Hitler: uchcha Surya + Kuja + moudhya Budha + Shukra. Indicates an extremely physical and adversarial spouse, beautiful but potentially violent. Hitler had a series of unions with prostitutes and young relatives before his marriage to Eva Braun, sanctified only moments before the supreme violence of their joint suicide. Behari says, "The urge to overcome an enemy, begin a new way of life, and start a fresh course of action will motivate you. Marriage or sexual partnership centers less on the sharing of emotions and intellectual aspirations than on the release of physical tension."

• USA Sen John McCain,  Simha-Ravi in domain-7. McCain's first marriage was publicized during his 2008 Republican presidential campaign. It was revealed that his wife, once a great beauty, independently operated her home and raised three children while McCain was in military service and then trapped as a prisoner of war. While McCain was imprisoned, his wife was damaged in a car wreck. McCain then divorced his crippled wife in order to marry a young heiress. The wife lived in pain with multiple surgeries and never remarried. She remained in a dignified, regal silence, never speaking ill of her husband's immoral actions. Behari says,"... Under the impact [of Simha Sun in seventh] you become domineering and possess a regal demeanor. You are very selective about sexual partners. Your energy is used up by intense involvement in administrative responsibilities"

Examples of Weak Surya/7:

• Sarah Palin, briefly the governor of Alaska and even more briefly a USA vice presidential candidate (Sept-Nov 2008): very weak Ravi in Makara, with lord of yuvati Shani in occupation of domain-8. L-2 Surya + L-1 Chandra + L-3/L-12 Budha in yuvati bhava. The husband has a weak character morally (ethical Surya much oppressed in Makara rashi) and L-12 in yuvati signifies extramarital affairs, with Budha making the extramarital partners typically Kumari = quite young. 

• Songwriter-musician Kurt Cobain, Surya weak in Kumbha/7 + Budha. The spouse is most famous for her drug addictions and partying.

Male Energy, Sun's Enemy Rahu

Surya is a source of energetic outgoing hot Male Energy; Moon is the opposite, incoming cool Female Energy.  (Not to be confused with anatomical male bodies, which run a combination of Male and Female energies.)  

Rahu the Darkener who causes eclipse of Surya is the greatest enemy of the Sun.  Rahu symbolizes destruction of Dharma.   

(In traditional India Surya signifies a woman's husband;  Rahu brings widowhood.)

Eyes

The Eyes of the Physical Body form windows into the Soul.  Surya, Brightest Light onto the Earth, represents the eyes of the human physical body.  

As well, His Light shines into the astral, mental, and spiritual bodies, giving them each Sight according to the subtlety of their particular vibration.  A strong position for Ravi in the rashi/navamsha charts signifies bright eyes and rational intelligence as well as spiritual light in one's life during periods of Aaditya's lordship. 

Inauspicious transits to Surya or periods of planets who damage Surya's rays may indicate damage to or struggles with the eyes.  Healing practices such as yogic candle-light gazing, palming, and Ayurvedic treatments to heal the eyes will be effective during any possible inauspicious such periods.

Persons with a strong position of the Sun will always be able to improve their eyesight through intelligent therapies especially yogic practices.

"The strongest force used in the destiny of man is the Sun first, then the closer planets to the earth, or those that are coming to ascension at the time of the birth of the individual, but let it be understood here, no action of any planet or the phases of the Sun, the Moon or any of the heavenly bodies surpass the rule of man's will power, the power given by the Creator of man, in the beginning, when he became a living soul, with the power of choosing for himself."

~~ Edgar Cayce Reading #3744-4

"The spiritual journey is individual, highly personal. It can’t be organized or regulated. 

It isn’t true that everybody should follow one path. Listen to your own truth."

~~ Ram Dass

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