Indra Aditya covers the degrees of the Zodiac that align with Tropical Cancer. For more on how to calculate Adityas, see my post, Calculating Adityas & Their Correspondence to Tropical Signs
In the Rig Veda, Indra is the ultimate absolute aspect of God. Manvantara is an Age of Man. There are 14 Manvantaras and in each one a soul takes on the role of Indra.
Indra means to conquer. Indra tests us at the most important times of our lives to evaluate our spiritual progress. Indra, along with Varuna, is the King of the Adityas.
Indra has the capacity to manifest. He possesses sheer will and does not stop. If starved planets are here, Indra does not know when to stop. A person with Indra prominent possesses the skill to make things happen the way they want. If afflicted, the person will do selfish things.
Indra is the Thunder god and his weapon is a lightning bolt. He is Fire in the Sky. Agni is fire in the Earth. Surya is fire in the Sun. All 3 fires considered to be intelligent energy. Great deal of creative intelligence exists in this Aditya.
Indra’s battle is connected to the forces of nature. He brings the rain but he is not the rain. The rain is Parjanya Aditya. A person is dried-up, depressed, they are not connected so they need something that makes them feel connected and water connects. That something is meditation or some type of spiritual practice. The lightning bolt, the weapon of Indra, is a metaphor for the spine, and signifies moving energy. Doing breathwork and meditation is using the weapon to quench the dryness. Rainfall is Indra defeating the dark cloud represented by our fears, insecurities, depression and anxiety. To release rain (nurturance, tears) that the dark cloud was holding onto after which the tears will cleanse.
Fulfilling responsibility is more important than honor. When Indra has afflicted planets, those who must do difficult tasks that reflect poorly on their egos and self-image will find a way to get someone else to do it or be blamed for it.
Indra is the person in charge but if someone else proves better, they are happy to give over the reins. If Indra is healthy, they will have no problem losing. If afflicted, they will do anything to avoid losing and have a deep need to win. They will constantly strive to prove themselves worthy. Indra does not mind losing except when afflicted, the person cannot lose.
Due to the myth of Indra assuming the form of Gautama and having sex with his wife, then being cursed, he has depictions of being covered with 1000 eyes or 1000 vaginas. This myth re-emphasizes that Indra has the power to get whatever he wants, but that does not mean there will not be repercussions. Those with Indra prominent will be seen as what they want and the actions they take to get there. It’s not possible to hide these things with this Aditya. Everyone will see what a person is really doing.
Having power to do something and the power to get away with it are completely different things. This Aditya has no power to get away with something. It manifests as a more a blatant use of will than a manipulative use of will when afflictions are here.
If Jupiter is in Indra, he will give a tremendous amount of blessings but any weaknesses will be revealed.
This Aditya is Self-Love. “I love myself enough to do healthy things”. Love is useful. If you love yourself, you will do what is useful to you. If we love ourselves and lose a competition, we will not complain about it. The primary theme of this Aditya is Self-Love. If afflicted, we need others to validate us, see us as a winner. There is a great amount of willpower to get on the wrong track. When we are trying to prove ourselves, we will not be nourished nor get what we need.
Angiras Rishi
Angiras means “Sap of Body” or “Essence of Body”. It is the vital component. Can also means the breath or prana. Everything has an essence and the essence cannot be taken away.
Angiras was the father of Brihaspati, another name for Jupiter, and the Guru of Venus. Venus starves Jupiter in the planetary states (lajjitaadi avasthas). When this happens, we think the best part of ourselves is out there and we can find it. The best parts of our life is something that comes from within. Jupiter represents the goodness and creativity within us.
To get the most from the outside, like the best relationship or the most wealth, etc., is to live and express the best parts of ourselves. Express the beauty within you. Jupiter advises, “This is what you need to do for you, for your highest good.” Venus instructs, “Here is how you get what you need from others in a healthy way without causing harm to others.” Angiras can do both.
If afflicted, the person is doing what they think is best for them, but that is causing trouble with others and the outside world. Or they are doing what is best for others and they are deteriorating inwardly because they are not doing what is best for them. Even if we have everything, if we are not living our essence, we are dried up inside. Our essence is spiritual wisdom (Jupiter) and worldly wisdom (Venus).
If afflicted, the person is in the habit of not following their essence.
With a lot of power, the person has decided to go against their essence. It is very slow to change. Living out our essence is the easiest habit there is. To go against that takes such a strong will. The bad habits we see in this Aditya are the most difficult to change. He is a slow Rishi to change.
Angiras gives the greatest radiance. He has a high capacity for spirituality. Can make the person full of life and fire. Starved planets like Saturn can repress the fire.
Angiras received the rod of Dharma. This Rishi keeps us anchored to our Dharma. Angiras was the first human to have a rod of Dharma. Examine this Aditya to see a person’s ability to stick to their Dharma.
Varya Rakshasa
Varya means “the Best”. What is best depends on the circumstances and timing. The best varies. Kingdoms go to hell when someone is trying to run the kingdom who is not the best person for the job.
The best that is chosen because it is the most worthy. The purpose of Varya Rakshasa is to push the chariot from behind as Indra builds our kingdom. Our kingdom is the place where we are the best leader. If someone else comes along that is better in leading the kingdom, then this Rakshasa hands over the kingdom saying, “You are better prepared.” The idea is that we should be in the driver seat as long as we are the best person for that role.
Indra’s form of selfishness believes that, even though we are not the best person to lead, we should still lead. We will be tested to see if we are the most suited to lead. Chapters of our life are coming to an end and new chapters are beginning. If we are the most worthy, we fit the roles. It is not a competition or about proving anything. It is simply the best person for the job. It is not about appearing powerful or being right.
Varya Rakshasa fights for YOUR TERRITORY based on who you really are. If you are a fish, it’s a lake, if you are a deer, it is a forested mountain. Why would we want to be anywhere else.
It makes no sense but sometimes people want to be in places where they don’t fit, where they are starving. We feel the need to prove ourselves worthy because of psychological wounds. The ruler of who we are is measured against the ruler of where we fit and those rulers are the same length. This concept is not understood by a lot of people. We continue to measure ourselves against something that is not us. What matters is that we fit somewhere in the cosmic cycle.
If we do not acknowledge that we will be frustrated and get sick, we will be drained and our fire will be wasted. The beautiful things our self-expression can cause and do will be wasted.
To use Indra correctly, we must let go of chasing hierarchal positions that are against out true nature. All we can do is be what we are and see where we end up. If we have starved or shamed planets here, we will pull that ruler out and measure ourselves.
“I’m worthy because I fit here”. The fit comes together naturally. Varya is not the Earth element so he doesn’t care about material things, he is not air so doesn’t care about interpersonal communication and exchanges, nor is he water, so doesn’t care about connection. He cares about fire which is living as himself. Fire Rasis is where you start, where your entrance into the world starts. Our lives grow out of fire, out of molten heat like the Earth grew out of molten mass.
Anytime a Fire Sign is afflicted, there is an element of measuring oneself against others. This Rakshasa throws the ruler away.
Varya does not have weapon. He uses the Solar Force as a weapon, he uses it as a shield. Solar Force is the Self Force. If we arm ourselves with who we are, no one can defeat us. If we are solid in that defense, no one can harm us. The attack and defense are the same, a solar fire.
Varya Rakshasa is the conqueror, the one who will win. Not using this Rakshasa correctly simply gets us stuck in a situation where we do not fit. We get stuck by wanting to prove ourselves or take into account others’ approval. Anchor in the Self that allows the rest of life conform to who we are.
Elapattra Naga
Elapattra means Cardamon Leaf. Cardamon is considered one of the four great treasures. It balances the doshas, stimulates the life force and is a mild aphrodisiac. It is a health building herb that gives clarity.
Elapattra Naga is the force of PURITY within us to free up the Chariot. It is an innate purification force. Everything connected to Indra is innate. Love of Self is the beginning and means knowing the Self. How do we know if we love something? By getting to know it. We cannot really love something we don’t know.
As we get to know our True Self, we love it more and more. When we think the Self is the Ego which are those self-important, self-pitying parts of ourselves, it is difficult to love but the Ego is not the True Self. When we begin acting out of and embodying our True Self, we have more energy, we sleep less.
A well-disposed Elapattra shows a purity. When afflicted, the force is not working to purify. The person needs to make an effort to purify themselves. As the Sun moves through the sky, it is purifying our chakras inwardly. Afflicted, the person needs to develop purity. They are holding onto detrimental, false and stultifying ideas and concepts about themselves.
It is important to educate oneself on the Truth of what a person is, beyond body and feelings. A person is Sarva Atman (all-pervading Self, Whole Being).
We project what is impure onto others. The 7th house is what we project onto others as well. Ultimately, we must accept and integrate our 7th house which usually does not happen until later in life. With any pathology, there is often a lack of awareness. What is often projected is shown through planetary opposition and the 7th house in our Birth Chart. Sun starving Saturn opposition is the biggest projection. Planets in the 7th house are also projected. To discover how a person feels about themselves, then projects onto others, analyze oppositions and planets in the 7th house.
Emotions turn dark when they are repressed. A ‘bad’ emotion does not exist. Emotions DO NOT cause pathology. Pathology is caused by toxins and Elapattra is the purity that frees us from the toxins. Two types of toxins exist: 1) Toxic thoughts and concepts in our own mind. 2) From the outside coming in, when organs get strained from managing this toxic load, we have unhappy feelings and that includes toxic media.
Emotional repression causes another layer of toxicity. To purify, allow ourselves to have the emotion. We don’t need to act on it or verbally attack someone because of the emotion. We must allow ourselves to feel the emotion fully and that’s it. No need to judge or change them, just have them. A toxic emotion does not exist because it is a reaction to something else, a thought or concept. It is the thoughts or concepts that are wrong and toxic.
Mental constructs exist in the parental mind, aka the authoritarian mind, which is ruled by the Sun. The purification process is innate in the Sun. Every time the Sun moves through the Chakras as it does in the Sky, they become more purified. If Elapattra is afflicted, there is an attachment to ideas that are lies. Purifying the chakras is purifying the mind and body at the same time.
Shrota Yaksha
The Yakshas are Nature Spirits that harness the chariot to the horses which represent power.
Shrota means “the ears”, “The One who Hears”. Shrota Yaksha is listening to the people in his kingdom and his advisors. He’s listening to every detail and every bit of information that he encounters. That listening involves paying attention to omens and letting oneself be guided. A good King understands he needs to be guided. He listens to the people and he listens to the universe.
A healthy King allows himself to be guided. An unhealthy King believes his Kingdom is there for him only. Running the kingdom has nothing to do with getting what we want or desire. Saturn rules the 7th house of desire from Indra. The 7th from Indra is Pushan which is an Aditya of needing very little. Desire comes out of wounds; it’s the wounds that want.
If Shrota/Indra is healthy, we hear good things about ourselves because we have self-love. We can hear criticisms as well but use those to help ourselves progress. If afflicted, you can tell a person about all the things you love about them except for one thing, and they will hear that you don’t love them. All they will hear is that one horrible criticism.
Do we hear the criticism and say, “yeah, I need to work on that” or do we feel like shit and become despondent. If we can decide to work on being better, then we are on the side of health.
Those who have afflictions here cannot be healed in a few sessions because this is what the person has believed over years and years of time. With a fixed Sign, we cannot fix it by itself, we must fix the moveable Signs that aspect it. They must keep at it with all-encompassing love with the previous Aditya of Varuna, to love and accept every part of oneself.
Vishvavasu Gandharva
The Gandharva is a demi-god that is a warrior and musician who sings as he walks in front of the chariot.
Vishva means Everything. Vasu means Beneficent. Everything beneficent. He is the premier Gandharva.
Vishvavasu can see everything through his own eyes. Gandharvas often have curses they must work through but it sets them up to be closer to the Source. The Gandharva force gives us that strength, that force to keep going. They got themselves into tough situations for 1000s of years but in the end, it was worth it.
Vishvavasu Gandharva protects people during their spiritual practice. He is extremely beneficent to women. No matter how great he is, he is always responsible for the women. Any pathology we might have will affect our sexual nature. When a ruler believes everyone is there for them, that will usually manifest on a sexual level. If afflicted, leaders will believe people are there for them, if it is a man, he will believe that women are there for them sexually.
Vishvavasu shows the male force in its purest form as a protector, leader, caretaker, the one who is truly beneficent to everyone. He does not selfishly see other people to be there for him but to be beneficent for everyone. He is a true leader, he is really there for the cause, for the people.
Pramloca Apsara
The Apsaras as a species are the mothers and grandmothers of gods, of great people, of lineages. They dance in front of the chariot to create a mood, an enticement for the chariot to move forward.
Pramloca’s child was born out of trees. Trees symbolize the slow, steady growth of the True Self, slow steady growth that is solid and firm. Indra/ Pramloca is connected to forests. Slow, steady growth of the Self means that what it achieves, it does not lose.
She does not have a connection to her daughters because she was born of trees. She is a progenitor of the human race. Developing the human species means developing the human species to greater consciousness.
Pramloca means “she who loosens, dissolves, causes something to slip away.” She dissolves those things that keep as stuck, that prevents us from growing like a tree.
She represents what we need to get away from, what we need to let go of within ourselves. Our True Self is 100% there, we don’t need to go get it, there is nowhere to go. The True Self is covered in falsities that have accumulated over our lives. Pramloca dissolves those lies.
We have blocks in our psyche, she causes those things to fall away, we have parts of ourselves that have been hardened, where we are stuck. People get hardnesses in their bodies, an emotion that has been crystallized and rigid to be dissolved.
She has leadership qualities that can lead us astray or lead us to quality. For example: there is something you believe you must do but Pramloca appears and begins to dissolve that harness. Whatever it is, it becomes less and less important.
These Apsaras and Gandharvas come with such a force, especially if they come in the form of the opposite gender. It’s really our ability to respond to this energy. If unhealthy, we don’t have this ability. She’s not capable of dissolving and we get stuck.
This is a critical Aditya for being healthy as ourselves. We think everything that comes out of the pathology is us, we believe it. We don’t want to let go of pathologies because it feels like we are letting go of us.
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