The Story of the Moon

Birth of Chandra- Mythology & Astrology:

The birth of Chandra has an interesting story associated with it and is directly related to the creation of the universe by Lord Brahma.  First, we must understand one very simple thing about creation – when everything is stagnant, still, stuck, fixated, tied, and bounded – no form of creation of any type is possible. Creation starts with some movement, a desire, a motion, a movement, a restlessness but in a good way. Typically, people in creative fields such as writing, music, arts, etc., are known to be a little eccentric and like to work with immense freedom and inspiration. This is the very nature or essence of the process of creation. This is the soul of creation.  Please pause for a few moments and feel this soul – feel how it moves inside you, how it dances and how it sings, how it flies with freedom and how it arises unlimited joy inside you. It is a feeling where you want to laugh and cry at the same time. Feel how you would like to hold it but it disappears when you try to hold it, and it stays when you leave it free. This is what a creator feels before the creation – due to his source of inspiration. This is also what the creator feels during the creation – this is his motivation to continue the process of creation. This is also what the creator feels at the end of creation – this is his reward for working through the creative process.  When Lord Shiv says that he is ‘Shav’ (corpse) without Shakti, he again hints towards this same feeling, this same energy of creation.  This feeling is the exact place from which Chandra is born – and hence these are the qualities that are found in Chandra (predictive techniques are also derived from here).  While creating the universe, Brahma Dev was filled with this same creative energy. He was thoroughly enjoying his creation. During this process, a desire arose within Brahma dev – the desire was to have a consort, or a ‘partner’. When he is the one who has to create the universe, he will only have to be the one who creates his partner as well – and hence he created Maa Saraswati, who was immensely beautiful, divine, and bright. Seeing her, he was filled with love and attraction. Understanding that he is being overcome by this feeling of desire or lust, he extracted his feeling of lust and gave it to Rishi Atri. Rishi Atri, overcome by this immensely strong lust, gave the feeling to his wife Devi Anasuya, who then gave it back to him. After this, Rishi Atri manifested the feeling in a physical form from the tear of his eye – and thus was born the immensely beautiful Chandra. Why did Brahma Dev give this feeling only to Rishi Atri – this also has a story that has to be understood and is relevant here.  There was a lady (Shilavati – the one like a stone) who was immensely devoted to her husband (Ugrashravas – the one famous for vigour/anger), took care of him, and fulfilled every wish of his. However, the husband did not care even a little for her and instead mistreated her. One night, this lady was carrying her husband on her shoulders – to the place of a prostitute, in order to fulfil the desire of the husband. Seeing this cruelty of the husband, Mandavya Muni gave him a curse that he would die before sunrise. Devastated by this, the wife used her punya and said that the sun should not rise on the following day, and her curse came true. The world suffered due to this and the 3 gods Brahma Dev, Sri Vishnu, and Shiv appeared, requesting the wife to lift her curse, and Devi Anasuya helped them convince her. Upon succeeding in this, the gods blessed Devi Anasuya with a boon and she requested each of them to take birth as her sons. Thus, she gave birth to Guru Dattatreya (Sri Vishnu), Rishi Durvasa (Shivji) and Chandra (Brahma Dev).

Some stories associated with Chandra – Chandra and Ganesh Ji:

Ganeshji was once invited to a feast organized by Kuber. The intention of Kuber in this feast was to display his “infinite” wealth to everybody and establish his dominance in this regard. Ganeshji, however, ate and ate, and kept eating until all the food and wealth of Kuber was finished, and then Ganeshji demanded more food which Kuber could not provide. He asked to be forgiven for his arrogance and said that all he had left to satisfy Ganeshji was his pure devotion – only after hearing this Ganeshji blessed him and declared that his hunger had been satisfied. While returning, his stomach was full beyond comfort and this caused grave discomfort to Ganeshji. There was a serpent which appeared, causing Ganeshji to fall, which made his stomach open and the food fall out. He then quickly put the food in and tied his stomach with the serpent. At this time, Ganeshji heard laughter – he looked around and finally looked up to see that Chandra had been watching him and laughing at his situation. Ganeshji understood the immense pride Chandra had in his beauty and cursed him saying that he would one day lose all of his beauty and become invisible.   It is said that even if we do karma in complete isolation and invisibility, there are still 3 witnesses of that karma – Surya, Chandra, and Vayu.   What this story means is that Ganeshji was having difficulty all by himself – the food falling out of the stomach is symbolic of secrets being revealed – and Chandra, a witness of everything, decided to laugh at the situation instead of feeling compassion. 

Chandra and his 27 wives- Mythology connection with Astrology of Moon:

Chandra married the 27 daughters of Prajapati Daksh – which are the 27 nakshatras of the zodiac. Chandra promised to give equal affection to each of them. However, he was partial towards Rohini – who was his favourite wife – and he spent the maximum time with her. The other wives became jealous due to this and took their trouble to their father Prajapati Daksh, who became angry and cursed Chandra for getting troubled by disease and disappearing forever. Ganehsji’s curse had manifested in this way.  This is exactly how any bad karma (or good karma) manifests in our lives – one incident links with another incident, and then another incident and so on – this is what creates the story of life. This is how planets also deliver results with the help of each other and how any yoga (good or bad) gives results.  Chandra then prayed to Shivji to save his life and performed a Mahamrityunjay sadhana (at the location of Somnath Jyotirling – this is the Jyotirling for Moon and Taurus), and Shivji placed Chandra on his forehead – and blessed him by modifying the curse and saying that Chandra would not disappear forever, rather he would wax and wane (increase and decrease in visibility and beauty) with each day and completely disappear for one day in a month (Amavasya), and also shine in his entire beauty for one day in a month (Purnima).  This is why it has to be understood that the waning Moon is said to be malefic – Chandra is losing what he loves most, what he is proud of the most, and what is actually the source of his creation – his beauty. The opposite is true for waxing the Moon.  However, both are necessary because the Purnima moon helps experience the bliss of having a relationship with god (god, self, and the relationship between the 2)  and the Amavasya Moon gives us the bliss of union with god (god and only god, after dissolving the self in god).

Chandra and Svarbhanu – Stories from Puran:

After the samudra-manthan, Amrit appeared, and Devas earned the right to drink it. However, the illusionist Svarbhanu took the form of a deva and tried to drink the Amrit. It was only Surya and Chandra who recognised his true form as an Asura and told this to Sri Vishnu (Mohini) who used his Sudarshan Chakra to kill the demon, but the demon had already consumed some Amrit, so his body split into the head (Rahu) and rest of the body (Ketu). This is when Rahu and Ketu vowed to remain enemies of the Sun and Moon and even eclipse them (swallow them) at every opportunity. 

Chandra and Tara – Use of Mythological Story in Astrology:

Tara, the wife of Brihaspati, was attracted to Chandra due to his immense beauty – and the 2 had a relationship for some time. When Brihaspati demanded his wife back, Chandra refused saying that Tara came at her own wish and could leave with her own wish, and he would not ask her to leave. Tara refused to leave Chandra. Brihaspati waited but without a result. Eventually, a war-like situation developed in which Shukracharya decided to help Chandra in the war. Brahma Dev had to intervene and stop the war, and he also asked Chandra to return Tara. However, Tara was already pregnant with a child of Chandra at this time, and she gave birth to an extremely beautiful and handsome boy who was named Budha.

Chandra’s daughters – Use of Mythological Story in Astrology:

Chandra had a daughter who was named Bhadra, who was extremely beautiful and wise. Many devas wanted to marry her but she wanted to marry a rishi named Utathya, and she also did tough penance to fulfil this wish of hers. Varun Dev had a deep desire to marry her, and after her marriage to Utathya, he forcefully carried her away with him. Rishi Utathya warned Varun Dev to return his wife, but Varun Dev did not agree. Enraged by this, the rishi started drinking the water of all the oceans and water bodies to dry them up. When almost all the water vanished from the earth, Varun Dev feared for his life and decided to return Bhadara to Rishi Utathya and also apologise for his mistake.  Chandra had another daughter Jyotsnakali, who was also. She was confused about whom to marry between Indra and Pushkar, the son of Varun Dev – and she finally chose Pushkar. 

Some Predictive Techniques of Powerful Moon Decoding from the above Stories and Observed during the time of Astrology Consultation:

1. Moon was born from a tear – wherever Moon is placed in the chart, the native has to cry for that signification to manifest. 
2. There is a very impermanent and wavering desire or lust related to the place where the Moon is placed – this is the cause of fluctuations in that house as well. 
3. The native is creative about the significance of this house.
4. The native searches for deep peace and satisfaction in this house, or from the good results of this house.
5. This house is also one of the deepest desires of the natives. 
6. This house must experience back-and-forth or confusion quite frequently. 
7. Almost every story surrounding Chandra involves lust – the house where Moon is placed will also have similar stories. 
8. Desires are able to manifest themselves when the Moon is visible (Shukla Saptami to Krishna Shashti) – hence this is beneficial. When desires are not able to manifest themselves, they create havoc inside the native unless the energy is applied to the spiritual path (Krishna Saptami to Shukla Shashti). 
9. Native has good intuition about the house having a moon. 
10. The person does not take aggressive steps to get this but will use indirect or “hook or crook” ways to get this signification without bothering about any consequences.
11. The native keeps changing their mindset, and personality frequently. Due to the waxing and waning nature of Chandra, there is a lot of instability in the house where it is placed. 
12. Further, there is attraction towards multiple things where Chandra is placed and having a single signification is not sufficient. 
13. A sign of a weak moon or afflicted moon is that the native laughs at the wrong place and time, or laughs at the troubles of other people. 
14. Wherever Moon is placed – the native has a natural intuition about that place and very easily recognises things even before they go wrong, or catches lies easily. 
15. Strong Chandra makes the native charming and graceful, with cleanliness.  
16. Prominent Chandra will also show some incidents regarding multiple affairs or children outside the family coming the family, or children of the family going out of the family – if it is in a good placement then it manifests in a good way, else it manifests difficulty. 
17. Emotions play an extremely prominent role over here – and logic does not work and the native does not listen to warnings – these emotions can sometimes lead to very good or very bad consequences. 
18. It can also give a sense of superiority at times and invite jealousy from others. 
19. This house will always have something hidden. Even if many things are revealed one after another, more hidden things remain. 

Karakattwas of Moon as per Vedic Astrology:

Peace, lust, desire, happiness/satisfaction, mother, silver, pearls, bull, deer or reindeer or antelope, food, ocean or seas, place of comfort, house, eyes, childhood or upbringing, rice, creativity, comforts, water, emotions, wavering nature, heart or man, calf, milk, white colour, radiance, grace, instability, cleanliness, beauty, healing, medicines, mind/mentality/psychology, agriculture of all types, fertility (land and physical), kapha, round shape, kala or qualities, many auspicious friends.

Appearance of the Moon according to Mythology and Vedic Astrology:

The Moon has a very loving brightness, but it is also royal at the same time. Surya cannot be looked at, but Chandra cannot be looked away from. Chandra has a very bright yet gentle and cool appearance. He is extremely beautiful, gentle, graceful, and motherly. He has very kind and soft eyes – they are beautiful and sweet and they are deer-like. His face has a radiant smile – as if the bliss was the raw material with which this world was created, and he speaks very lovingly with a pleasant voice. Looking at Chandra makes you feel like all worries in the world are over and only happiness exists. His body is shaped beautifully – it is not muscular, it is graceful and youthful. He has a good height and he has a fair complexion. He has a very pleasant fragrance. His appearance is that of a person who is free to fly, liberated, and compassionate. He is dressed in pure white clothes, new clothes which are light and soft but royal, and also wears ornaments made of silver, with round silver earrings. His crown is also made of silver. He also wears a garland of pearls around his neck – the pearls are beautiful, shining, and pleasant. He has beautiful wavy hair as well. In his hands, he holds a gada (mace), a lotus, a pot of Soma (Amrit or medicine), and Abhaya mudra. At times, he may be seen with 2 hands holding a lotus in each hand. With this beautiful appearance, Chandra is seated on his elegant chariot that is pulled by deer. He loves to move around and cannot be tied to one place, also is unpredictable. 

Some other Names of Chandra mentioned in the Puranas:

Soma (medicine), Chandrama, Nishkar (cause of night), Shashi, Indu (bright), Atrisuta, Nakshatrapati, Aushadhipati (lord of medicines), Kumudapati (lord of lotuses), Sudha.  

Stotras Related to Moon that can be given as a Remedy of Moon at the time of Astrology Consultation:

There is a very simple mantra given by Maa Lakshmi herself in Lakshmi tantra – describing its power in detail. The mantra is “Om Chandrayai Namaha”.   This simple mantra is powerful and capable of resolving problems associated with both Venus and the Moon in the chart. The connection between Chandra and Maa Lakshmi is deep as Maa Lakshmi is also known as “Chandra sahodari” or the sister of Chandra – because she came out of the Samudra Manthan after Chandra.  Mahamrityunjay mantra is effective in healing the Moon in a birth chart, and so is Chandrashekhar Ashtakam.  Chandra Ashtottarashatanaamavali (108 names) Sri Chandra stotra  Chandra gayatri mantra Chandra Astavimshati naam stotram (28 names) Chandra kavacham