When the Mind Turns Dark Around Amavasya and Purnima — an Afflicted Chandra, and More Japa

The speaker says this talk is for anyone listening in whose mind one thought keeps arriving, especially the thought that it would be better to kill oneself because one's life is going to waste. To such a person he puts one question. Whatever the cause, whatever the matter that has troubled you and by which you are urging yourself towards this, or towards which the mind keeps wandering, look at that matter itself: does it, at the present time, hold any meaning for you at all? And if it does hold some, then how much? He adds that this is not only for suicide. If you are being heavily gripped by depression mentally, then know what its biggest causes can be; the rest of the talk lists them and their remedy. He closes on the same point. He hopes the listener, having understood these subjects, will take the right decision and go forward; that they will never become unhappy by arriving at a state of depression, but will instead search out its cause, destroy that cause from the root itself, and advance well.

Before anything else, the speaker says, if you are in this state, look at where you stand in the month. Is this the time of Poornima? Is Purnima nearby, or has it just passed? Is this the time of Amavasya? Has an Amavasya just gone by? Is this the time of a Grahan: is a Surya grahan or a Chandra grahan about to fall, a Chandra grahan especially? If it is around this kaal that such a state comes over you again and again, if you weep a great deal, feel yourself entirely alone, and feel that you should stay alone, then show your janma kundali to a good astrologer. Generally, he says, one thing is certain to be heard back: that Chandra is afflicted in the chart.

Whenever Chandra becomes afflicted, the speaker says, whether in gochar or in your lagna kundali, then at every Amavasya, Purnima and grahan kaal your state will swing somewhat up and down. You will become gripped by depression. In such a state you become altogether weak at taking decisions. If two decisions are placed in front of you, you will not be able to take even one, because the mind at that time remains considerably shaken. He gives the reason with the waves of the ocean. The strength that is in Chandra, by which it brings the tide into the sea around Poornima and Amavasya: in just that way, the surging swells of that same tide come inside you too during this kaal. And if Chandra is afflicted, then it will begin to give you depression.

Asked what should be done to come out of this state, and what the remedy can be, the speaker answers from the karakatva of Chandra. In the manner that Chandra is the karaka of the mind, in that same manner Chandra is also the karaka of mantra. So if we perform Mantra Japa in greater and greater quantity, Chandra receives strength from it. And if Chandra receives strength, then your mind too receives strength. Mananat iti mantrah, he says: in this way mantra and mind have become complements of one another. He points to the common saying: study with the mind applied, do japa with the mind applied, do puja with the mind applied. Why is it said "with the mind applied"? Because only if you do it with the mind applied will that mantra receive strength; and when the mantra receives strength, your mind too will develop a great deal. This is why it is said that to become ekagrachitta the training of the mind is very necessary. The mind will only be trained when your Chandra becomes concentrated somewhere. And Chandra will only attain the state of one-pointedness when you do japa of a mantra in greater and greater quantity, in the correct manner.

Nothing new is prescribed, the speaker says. Take any mantra that you have been doing japa of in quantity before today, whether you do some ChalisaA devotional hymn of forty verses addressed to a deity, recited as a daily or vowed path. path, or some StutiA passage of praise offered to the deity, shorter and less formal than a stotra., StotraA hymn of praise to a deity, recitable without initiation, as distinct from a mantra which is not. and so on, and it is of those same that you should do path and japa in greater quantity while in this state. And especially so at Amavasya, at Poornima, and in Grahan kaal.

It is said, the speaker notes, that at any other time you may perform some large AnushthanaAn extended ritual observance — such as 108 recitations of a scripture — carrying its own strict rules. or you may not; but when the monthly Purnima falls, when your Amavasya falls, at that time you should do a special anushthan, path and so on. Why is this said? The reason behind it, he explains, is that in the charts of most people there is Grahan DoshaAn astrological affliction occurring when Rahu or Ketu is conjunct with the Sun or Moon in the same house of a birth chart — an aspectual relationship also creates the Dosha, but same-house conjunction is far more potent. and there is Pitru Dosha. And when this is so, trouble will certainly come to the person at that time. That is why it has been said to do more and more mantra japa and path at this time, and make a habit of it. If there is some tirtha kshetra near you, go there. If there is some old temple, go there on that day and register your presence there. Take refuge there. Make one rule, he says: that on every Amavasya we will go to the temple of Bhagavati Kali, or, whoever your Ishta Devata and aradhya is, to their temple on Amavasya and Purnima. From this you will receive a great deal of strength.

Along with this, the speaker says, keep the company of good people. Those who demoralise you: leave them. Such people will do it at the other times as well, but at the time of Amavasya and Purnima, if they demoralise you, you will begin to break further. That is why, he says, make distance from such people. Take your own decision yourself. Be hard. Be firm for your own sake. If you walk with firmness, he says, you will certainly come out of all these things.