Mars few thoughts

Mars is the first planet when we travel  away from Earth towards the outer planets in the solar system. It is also called Mangal (well being), Kuja, Bhauma or Bhoomiputra (child of the Earth). It is a fiery red planet. It's colour as well as names suggest it's nature.

It is a fiery planet and represents will power and drive to attain the chosen goals. It is the passion to excel, to win, to conquer, to achieve, to overcome any and all the obstacles. A person dominated by Mars is always active, busy, restless, trying to achieve his goals all the time. He is hyper competitive. He hates to lose. He loves physically vigorous activities - going to the gym, working out, playing high contact sports like rugby, football, wrestling, boxing, martial arts etc. They are extremely high energy people. It is because of this attitude of always trying to compete and win, that Mars is called the commander among the planets.

If you look at the days of the week, it's day comes just after Sun-day and Moon-day (Monday is Moon's day!!). Why is it so? The ancient Rishis determined the sequence of the week days because of some reason. That reason reveals itself upon deep contemplation of the nature of these planets of Vedic Astrology. Sun is the soul, while Moon is the mind. Sun is also called the King of the zodiac while Moon is called the Queen. Mars is the Commander-In-Chief. Earth lies between the Moon and Mars, if we look at the distance of all these heavenly bodies (counting Earth also as a heavenly body as it too hangs in space in the solar system!!) from the Sun. Earth signifies our body as our body is made up of food that grows on Earth. Though Earth is not given a place in the horoscope as we are on Earth itself and the horoscope is caste from an Earth-centric perspective, it is represented by the ascendant or the lagna sign of the horoscope.

The native is the soul (Sun) incarnated in a body (Earth or the ascendant) with a mind (Moon) that is unique to himself. This native cannot make any progress in his awareness as a soul-mind (Sun-Moon, a particular manifestation of the Shiva-Shakti principle) unless he is able to meet, grapple with and transcend the life challenges that he is going to face in this life time. This function of helping the soul grow by facing and meeting all these challenges is what belongs to Mars or will power. That is why the day of the Mars follows those ruled by Sun and Moon. Without Mars, both Sun and Moon will be incapable of working out the karma that has been allotted to them in this lifetime.

But being trapped in a physical body, the soul-mind has to experience the forces of downward pull of gravity (in this mental-emotional domain which astrology deals with, this downward pull is represented by the baser or animal like passions and physical limitations), as well as the forces of entropy or ultimate death and destruction. Mars is very aware (subconsciously) of these downward dynamics of embodied life and hence always struggles against them. That explains it's hyper-competitive and aggressive nature. It is very aware that in this earthly life of gross scarcity, not winning = losing. So, it tries to win at all costs even if it has to shed blood, his own and of his opponents!!

Mars rules two signs, Aries and Scorpio. In the Kaalpurush horoscope, these are the first and the eighth houses. The first house signifies birth and the eighth house indicates death. This suggests that a soul needs to incarnate only because of Mars (the unsublimated base passions or karmic tende

ncies that still need to be worked out or relinquished by that soul). You can now understand how important it is to understand this planet.

Mars rules blood and bone marrow, the hands, as well as one's reflexes. Affliction to Mars can cause diseases related to these areas. Skin diseases are very common with an afflicted Mars. People with a strong Mars are good athletes and are blessed with a vigorous body as well as will power to achieve their goals. In terms of career, Mars rules technology. So, these people do well in all kinds of mechanical and technical careers. Mars also rules symbolic logic which is so useful in Mathematics, Engineering, Science etc. So, a strong Mars makes one very strong in these kinds of subjects. Mars gives one an explosive energy that can work in short bursts. But it also gets frustrated very quickly if not able to achieve it's desires quickly. It is more of a sprinter than a marathon runner. The marathon belongs to Saturn where perseverance, persistence and endurance are required.

People with strong Mars can do well in every career where tremendous will power, logic, physical strength and goal orientation is required, especially when dealing with competition or opposition. So, areas like competitive sports, martial arts, armed forces, engineering, science and technology, mathematics, surgery, police etc. are good for these people. Of course, being the Bhoomiputra or child of the Earth, it loves land - to buy land, accumulate property etc. So, strong Mars associated with 4th house, 4th house lord etc. can do very well in the real estate business.

To sum it up, without Mars or willpower, nothing substantial can be achieved by anyone in their life. Even spiritual development requires the will to transform oneself, and that will is supplied by this very important planet, which is justly called Bhoomiputra, the son of the soil or Mother Earth. Without help from this strong son, Mother Earth (Moon or the mind trapped inside the body) cannot reach the spiritual heaven (awakening of the glorious inner Sun or the soul) or attain the heights of worldly success.

The most important deities that are connected with this planet are Hanuman and Ganapati. Worshipping any of them on Tuesdays can help alleviate problems related to afflictions to this planet in the horoscope.

Now, if you look at the mythologies associated with both these Gods, you will notice one thing that is common to both of them. Both of them were ordinary before they were blessed by God in the form of Rama and Shiva respectively. Without God's grace they were ordinary, but after God's blessings, they themselves became Gods. This suggests two things to us. One, that a person with afflicted Mars needs to love, and have reverence for God. The egoic will (Mars) needs to surrender to the Divine Will in order to be happy. Both these Gods teach us this ultimate lesson and solve our Mars (egoic will) related problems. An aggressive Mars creates adverse karma which can only be healed by the grace of God. And two, by God's grace, the willpower that one has, can be utilized constructively to make huge spiritual progress in life. Mars or willpower represents our potential for enlightenment. It also suggests that without making the effort using our will (Mars) to pray, God's blessings cannot be earned. Only if we choose God like Hanuman did with extreme love, faith, courage and strength, can the Divine Grace be earned by a soul-mind.