Tibet, India and the Chinese and the Calendars that Join them

[Originally published in The Chakra, 21 February 2011]

‘…What is to emerge? In what way will the soul of Tibet manifest? What will be the new religious-spiritual experience after the ordeal of the “labour pains” is over? Of this we cannot as yet be certain. But it is sure that the soul of Tibet awaits a higher manifestation, a field wherein it can express the higher triad of planets and the quarter of Unity [last quarter] of the zodiac. It could no longer survive under the yoke of Scorpio, imprisoned in the area of the Asteroid belt, so to speak – thrust to and fro between Mars and Jupiter, carrying one over to the other and trying to impose this on today’s birth; menaced on the other hand by violence and aggression and on the other limited by dogmas of a religion and philosophy which must now give way to a new experience of the soul, a true awakening of the Spirit in accordance with the times.
‘And when that time arrives there is nothing that can hold the process back; just as there was no power that could hold the Chinese back, for even with the highest Tantric knowledge and understanding of the manifestation of occult forces that the Lamas of Tibet possess, there was no stopping the fall of the nation into the hands of the enemy, nor was there any assistance received from outside…’ (The Gnostic Circle, Chapter 14, page 179, Aeon Books, 1975).

These paragraphs bring to a close the chapter, ‘Tibet: its destiny in the Gnostic Circle’ of my book, The Gnostic Circle. I wrote pointedly ‘…. for even with the highest Tantric knowledge of occult forces that the Lamas of Tibet possess, there was no stopping the fall of the nation into the hands of the enemy, nor was there any assistance received from outside…’

When I wrote these lines I was unaware of the real root of Tibet’s inability to protect herself from the Chinese invasion and occupation. For the fact is that the practice of Tantric occultism and other ancient practices of the same order require – nay, demand – the allegiance of Mahakala, the Great God of Time. In Tibet’s case, as well as in India’s, this allegiance was frittered away over the centuries. Such having been the case, both civilisations have suffered the humiliation of foreign rule. Both have witnessed their land overtaken by forces of the opposite end of the spectrum – spirit/matter.

The signal that Time’s allegiance was lost in Tibet and India goes back to the 12^th Century when a disarrangement of the calendars in both nations began. Over the centuries this mismanagement of calendrical matters has assumed alarming proportions. Unfortunately Tibet for the most part follows India’s lead in these matters, having opened its arms many centuries ago to embrace Buddhism, born on Indian soil in approximately 500 BCE. From there Buddhism dug deep roots into Tibet as well as farther east. This adoption of a spiritual path that emphasises the unreality of material existence in favour of the Nirvanic experience of the Void was an underminer of all things rooted in time and space. It was entirely predictable that before long the correct computation of Time for rituals and horoscopy would move away from the true temporal system and that essential connection would be lost.
The results in both cases have been devastating. Tibet lost the power to protect herself, as did India. Given the isolation of Tibet, the effect of the loss was more definitive. There were no attenuating influences which do exist in India’s case, given her traditional openness. Therefore, the signs of the loss in India’s case lie primarily in Kashmir: Partition brought Pakistan Occupied Kashmir and Aksai Chin into existence – glaring wounds in the Mother’s Body to remind us constantly that all is not well in the subcontinent. There is much work to be done as yet for the true experience of unity and integration.
In India there was the sobering influence of Science which, while being responsible for the decimation of the Hindu Calendar by imposing the Nirayana system rooted in the constellations rather than reposing on the four Cardinal Poles with their Equinoxes and Solstices – i.e., the solar calendar of the Tropical Zodiac. Thus, on the one hand science meddled in matters beyond its purview to create a complete disconnect with Mahakala, on the other it obliged rationalists of the day to adopt the universal calendar for official purposes which is indeed rooted in the Tropical Zodiac.
India continues to carry the burden of this split between matters material and those of the spirit. While this split continues the Mother’s Body will remain as it is with the many arms of the Goddess severed from her torso, leaving her at the mercy of forces that have no such conflict of interests. China is a prime example.
On the other hand, Tibet was totally insulated from outside influences, trapped in the medieval structure of her temporal-spiritual life without being open to outside influences that could have weakened the hold of those retrograde forces that had disrupted her allegiance with Time. Indeed, similar to what I have written in my latest piece Caste, Calendar and Cosmos, Time was in fact used against itself. One of the calendars Tibetans used is called the Kalachakra – the Wheel of Time. Surely Tibet adopted its time prescriptions from India when she imported Buddhism with its legendary disregard for all things caught in the web of time and space. In both nations the adoption of the ‘more scientific’ Nirayana method was the death knell of their occultism. Time in disarray meant that its power – most essential in all occult practices of worth – was not only withheld but actually used against the very thing it was meant to further. Tibet’s isolation, while saving her from the split in her energy fabric such as we find in India, facilitated the Chinese conquest because there was no attenuating power to contend with. It was simple, predictable – and devastating. It is also predictable that as long as both nations are subject to this calamitous calendrical disease, so long will the energies required to cast out the invaders be suffocated (Tibet) and remain hopelessly divided (India) and inoperative.
And yet the solution is so simple; but perhaps it is this very simplicity that has made it so impossible to see.

***

Caste, Calendar and Cosmos - Part III

It is possible to demonstrate graphically the effect of the lost wisdom on the civilisation of the subcontinent, as I have done in Parts I and II. Graphics often speak louder than words; this presentation may well prove the point.
Cosmic harmonies are largely grounded in geometry. This is because one starts computations and analyses with a whole in which parts are set in place and joined together creating a web, a system formed of interrelated lines. The process is an ancient one, inherited from the Vedic and Sangam periods. It forms the basis for a key feature of that wisdom to function as an applicable formula. This is referred to as a system of correspondences. Unlike other ancient schools, the Indian premise has always been one of Equivalencies. This stands for that because in their essential being they are equal. Therefore the Sage uses that essence which may be equated with a seed, and the compact or minute therein reveals the larger of which it is connected as a web to its centre that holds it in place.
However, this ancient method can function only within the overall framework of the Circle. If that does not exist (in consciousness or perception), we have linear forms that cannot provide the wisdom of Correspondences. The degeneration witnessed in caste is a case in point and can reveal, geometrically, how what once was an enlightened structure lost its superior cosmic qualities when the vision of spherical perceptive capacity of the Ancients was lost. Linearity replaced the circular. Then the Cosmic Man does not fit into the circle as the zodiac laid out in the diagram in Part II reveals; the image is restricted to the upright progression, always valid indeed, but an incomplete perception subject therefore to unavoidable decay. The pyramidal diagram below describes caste as we know it today given our lost spherical perceptive capacity which has been replaced by the linear.

CASTE in contemporary society

Caste remains in spite of the lost spherical capacity, for indeed its cosmic roots make it indestructible, but the circle has vanished. The four segments are perceived as stacked one upon the other as in a pyramid. The base is of course the largest, the first caste, Shudra: the entire pyramid rests on this first foundation/mass. Therefore, rumblings, agitations, disturbances (Maoists?) cannot be allowed at that level of the structure or else the entire edifice would be threatened. Thus are born machinations to exploit or else to keep the lower in check, come what may – often by unholy means. It is simply a question of self-protection, given the loss of spherical perception. In a true cosmic-based society, what we may call planetary, these problems do not arise.
The next segment is Vaishya followed by Kshatriya, and finally the Brahmin. If we assume that the apex of the triangle is the position that connects the sections to the heavenly, or to the Supreme, then the position of the Brahmin is secure in a linear society because all approach to the highest must be done through that loftiest segment. The individual in such a society is stationed somewhere in one of the lower portions and cannot connect to the Supreme Reality directly; he or she is obliged to approach the Highest through representatives – in this case the Brahmin, or the priest as in orthodox religions of the West, all of which took shape during the very period when the Vedic vision began to decline. The Brahmin or priest is therefore rendered indispensible and he too must put in place certain protective devices, one of which is to establish ownership over rituals and scriptures, thereby eliminating the threat of intruders from other segments of the pyramid. This becomes the sole preserve of the Brahmin or the officiating priest by which the populace can be led to the portals of the Highest.
But there have been rumblings in the lower ranks, and the security once enjoyed has been disrupted, sometimes ruthlessly. This is the fate of linear perception. It must implode when top-heaviness occurs by the weight of its contradictions; or else when the base becomes unable to continue lending support to a system that has exceeded its utility.
The real cosmic foundation is not pyramidal but spherical, as indicated in the image below. This is appreciated when we turn to the One Circle where these contradictions are resolved. Above all, as noted in this graphic, it offers equal access to the Centre, to God, or the highest ideal of the civilisation, requiring no intermediaries. This is truly equality and respect for all segments of society. There is an upper hemisphere and a lower – but this does not refer to superior or inferior, lesser or more privileged. This distinction, which is one of the foundations of astrological principles, applies to function, above all. It is similar to the seasons: each one compliments the other. There is neither good nor bad, best nor worse. In the true cosmic harmony, caste is not the prerogative or the bane of birth. The horoscope, in the hands of a true astrologer, provides the means to discover one’s caste. Or the part one plays in society as part of the system.

Caste in the spherical perception
of the Cosmic Harmonies

There are two keywords to describe the new cosmic-based order: Unity and Integrality. The former is of the nature of the circle; the latter is the linear that extends from the centre or the connecting lines to the central Point. Without integrality there is no web to position the lines drawn by Time. We may have circles within circles, but lacking the definition that lines within the circle describe, half the equation is missing. This is again a demonstration of each thing in its place.
We can visually appreciate the condition if we imagine a spider’s web without its linear components that extend from the circle’s centre to provide the solidity a web requires for it to serve as the spider’s habitat. The spider and web is a wonderful metaphor for the creative act of the Divine Maya to give form to the Transcendent Absolute. The Absolute BECOMES the universe (the web) through the medium of the Divine Mother (the spider), she who is one with the Transcendent and gives shape to all created things. He becomes the universe because of her power, without which the Transcendent cannot manifest.

This analysis and its visual images reveal that the two, circle and line, must join in a harmonious design to provide the cosmic plan for evolution to inhabit and within which it may evolve by the aid of Time to a higher status on the ladder. Unity cannot be the lived experience of a creation in matter without the Integral. Both have their origin in the centre, the Point, and must inevitably find their just and harmonious place within a contained cosmic manifestation such as our universal system. The two together describe the complete nature of the reality of our material world. Up there, in some heavenly extra-cosmic dimension, if it exists and can be reached, circles may suffice. Here below, in matter, the Line is required to create a vehicle on which evolution may travel to fulfil its purpose.
The current pyramidal structure of caste is all lines, no circle. Therefore it cannot survive in a world that has overcome the obstacles encountered during the evolution of human consciousness to become equipped with a consciousness of a higher level that alone is able to integrate the final fourth quarter.
Here we have the four planes of consciousness placed within the circle, and their Vedic designations on the outside. The fourth section is the issue because this plane – Swar – is the void as far as material creation on this Earth is concerned. All spirituality, eastern and western, considers this fourth to be extra-cosmic. Heaven, it is called, and in our minds this evokes a static, unchanging, indeed eternal world or plane or dimension, beyond Time, beyond Space.

However, the geometry of the circle, as also the zodiac it contains, does not imply otherworldliness at all. In fact, the fourth quarter is the most materially earthly of all the quadrants. The lived experience of the fourth segment – that is, when it becomes an integrated part of the evolving consciousness – is when the true role of the Earth in the cosmic harmony is revealed. Until now glimpses of that integrality and Earth-centredness have been perceived. The travails of society today are precisely efforts to move deeper into the Point, the centre of the centre itself, as in the centre of the spider’s web out of which creation emerges, the Centre where all created things are held together and from where lines extend to draw the whole into the experience of Oneness. Indeed, the innermost central point is the One, the Divine Child of almost all traditions, the anticipated saviour – not for the few elect souls who have followed the dogmas faithfully, but for the Earth herself.
At our current level, with the weapons of mass destruction that exist, with the desecration of the physical Earth, with the decimation of her living creatures, it is clear that an integral all-encompassing Power has to be unveiled that can save our planet from the devastation brought to her by the present limited human species which to all appearances possesses the ability to destroy in toto the web of its own habitat. That habitat, the metaphorical spider’s web, is constructed by Time, by the lines Time draws in the evolutionary matrix. Just as disorder is brought into the cosmic order by using the circle and its properties against itself, so too can we experience Time as destroyer of its own creation; or time as the motor of evolution to bring humanity on this third planet to a new order of which Time itself holds the key.
This is the sense implied in the Maya ‘end time’ predictions for 21 December 2012. True or false, a correct reading of the Maya calendar and its pictographs or not, we have reached the ‘end of Time’. But a qualification is required. It is the old time that is dissolved, and all the forms it has given rise to, those crumbling structures of the old world that are imploding. It was a world created by a severely hampered human consciousness. Its incompleteness is the signal that it must, as time moves on, evolve into the wholeness contained in the innermost Point itself, it must shed the old forms similar to a serpent that sloughs off its lifeless and purposeless old skin.
We are living the collapse of the old – but we are also part of the new that is concurrently arising to replace the old. Cosmos, caste and calendar play fundamental roles in this transition to wholeness, particularly in India, the nation that has never severed those connections. The cosmic harmonies formed the foundation in ancient times for the subcontinental civilisation to carry the burden of the evolution through darkness into an age when the Vishnu Avatar re-appears to lay the guidelines of a new creation of Light. The limitations of the physical, mental, and emotional structure of the human being are being exceeded, the boundaries of the old structure are being dissolved, leaving before the human species an entirely new world to discover along with the processes that will transform the Earth into the paradise we have been led to believe can only exist beyond time and cosmos; when it is actually Time itself that brings the new things divine onto our planetary home.
This new Light can hardly be called ‘spiritual’ any longer because the old world appropriated the term and it is therefore no longer adequate to describe the nature of that Light. The fourth (Swar) is the home of that superior experience of Reality and the secret of our new age is that the time for the unveiling of its Earth-centredness has come.

To conclude, the very first step to bring Hinduism back to wholeness so that the things promised can be fulfilled is to rid itself of the Ayanamsha Chaos. If that simple first step is not taken, caste and all that was once real and true cannot re-make itself and India cannot guide the world to the new Order. For how long are we to continue denying the self-evident fact that the Vedic Calendar, with all that finds a legitimate place in its four-fold eternal structure, must be restored. We lament the degeneration of caste, but we need to realise that the whole of Indian society and not just caste is in a state of decay because 80% of the population’s energies stand hopelessly divided. This is due not to caste but to the lack of the unifying element the subcontinent had always known and for which reason it was able to survive the ravages of time and circumstance. Continuing to accede to the pressure of vested interests that impede this transformation, which would re-make society by releasing and unifying energies that are now being wasted in futile attempts to reform the periphery, while the centre of the circle itself stands veiled and, for all practical purposes, ineffective and inoperable, is not the way to make ‘all things new’. Nothing is in its place, indeed. But foremost is the centre-point itself.
Like Guha, Shiva’s mighty warrior Son, the need of the hour is to unveil the Centre that holds. And indeed this requires the courage of the Warrior.

***

Caste, Calendar and Cosmos - Part II

[Link to Part I]

The fourfold One Circle is the Chaturvarna of caste. Its roots lie in the cosmic harmony like everything else the civilisation of the subcontinent has to offer of eternal value. But when that One Circle is dismissed in favour of the subjective relativism of science, and the Ayanamsha Chaos becomes the determining factor of our expression of the Sanatana Dharma, then of course caste must also degenerate since it too owes its being to that same geometric form.

Here is the very same diagram presented in Part I, page 5, but with each of the four castes entered in the positions they occupy in the Circle divided in four. In so doing we learn how indeed all can be one – but one within the correct perception of the cosmic harmony which the calendar regulates for collective purposes. Caste is one such means to regulate society.
This formulation can be found not only in India as inherited from ancient times but throughout the world, when we consider that globally the very same four-fold division exists. Here are the broad categories; they can be embellished further to include the full gamut of each quadrant: 1) labour, service, crafts; 2) finances/banks, industries, commodities; 3) government, military, judiciary. And finally the fourth and highest – equivalent to Uttarayana in the Hindu Calendar – which in contemporary society including the Indian has been usurped by elements that bear no credentials for the fourth position – in ancient times occupied by Rishis and Seers. Today intellectuals, philosophers, scientists are likely to occupy this important position; their writs often stand uncontested and any consideration of higher principles goes ignored or even ridiculed. The wiseman’s voice is lost in the din of political and social activism and the intellectualisms of think-tanks, bearing little or no relation to the duties of the fourth quadrant. This is the most interesting aspect of our transitional phase on the road to a new world order: the necessary call of the hour is the integration of the fourth quarter and to identify its role in the new global society. This integration of the fourth is essentially the all-encompassing subject of my treatment.
The point to bear in mind is that the Chaturvarna is a cosmic fact which has structured civilisations across the globe throughout history, disregarding cultural and ethnic differences. Indeed, this is the value of a cosmic-based vision: it influences the entire human species irrespective of caste or creed or political ideology. How much more valuable and effective is such a structure in a civilisation like the Vedic which, from its inception, followed superior cosmic laws?
When the Vedic prescription of One Circle is understood, we realise that this single geometric form can knit together all the diverse elements it contains in an experience of oneness which might otherwise appear disconnected when taken singly or linearly. The value of Oneness is irrefutable, but because it is a delicate balance when attained, if that One Circle is disturbed or erased from the collective consciousness, the element that unifies and integrates society is turned against itself. It is then that lesser formulations come to usurp the place of higher principles that might otherwise impact society. (In minor ways we see this happening when aspects of the democratic system such as freedom of speech, human rights, and so forth, are used against itself to bring down the system.) .
Consider the role of nationalism. It can be an energising sentiment in the population, with the ability to focus the collective consciousness on a single noble goal; but it can also degenerate into its shadow – Nazism, for example. As well, there are certain political ideologies that tend to disturb the fourfold balance by emphasis on one quadrant of the wheel. Communism is one example. There we find an overpowering of just one quarter, the first (Shudra, labour). While the ideal underlying such ideologies may be noble, due to a congenital imbalance the unregenerate human condition can carry the emphasis beyond tolerable limits. In so doing, this may lead to totalitarian means to reach a desired end, thereby extinguishing the very foundational premise of the new universalism: freedom.
Today, after the demise of Communism as a potential for global unification which its international ideology proposes, another section of the Circle has taken over the attempt to unify humanity by seeking to replace the Communist failed effort by imposing its values on the whole. The factors constituting the second quadrant (Vaishya – economics, financial powers, banks, industries, etc.) have come into prominence of late. The entire globe is sought to be brought under the umbrella of an economic system the opposite of Communism, but also holding as it does an international agenda. In both cases the universal character of the cosmic influence is sought to be given expression in one form or another because we cannot escape the pressure to cast aside dividing barriers, given that the Cosmic Dial has moved into the Age of Aquarius, the zodiacal sign bearing the most affinity with the cosmic harmony.
Thus, globalisation, liberalisation of economies, free market, and so forth, pretend to encourage in humanity the experience of oneness based on a projected economic well being. The inescapable result of this overpowering of one quadrant over the others is ultimately collapse under the weight of its own incompleteness and resultant contradictions, just as Communism collapsed for a similar reason. Witness the travails of the European Union, founded solely on elements of the second quarter which, standing alone, lacks true binding power.
The lack of freedom Communism demands brought about its downfall, insofar as freedom is one of the pillars of the new Aquarian ideal. In the Communist model the vital breath that a society requires to course through free and open spaces as a necessary ingredient for growth is suffocated. On the other hand, in open societies and their model of economy, freedom proves to be excessive, often degenerating into abuses such as greed and debauched excesses of various types, often aided by the trade of illegal substances that plagues societies across the globe; again, the openness of the society is used against itself. Clearly the two stand in apparent opposition to each other; but in fact they are simply sides of a single coin. The rise of one forces the emergence of the other. This has been the story of our entire 20th-century world affairs
We are still in the throes of an unprecedented economic upheaval, without really understanding the reasons why; whereas, the truth be told, it was brought about by the overpowering rise of the second quadrant as a reaction to the imbalance involving the first. This is the destiny of incomplete systems: they constantly seek to balance themselves out, but not being aware of the complete and integral ‘circle’, these attempts are never successful. Certainly through this latest collapse we have learned one lesson: the universalism of Aquarius has also been felt in the current crisis which has indeed affected economies across the globe. Interestingly, the least affected have been the Asian economies – perhaps indicating a sign of things to come.
The electronic media, which plays such a prominent role in our entire 21st-century civilisation, in politics, economics and culture, is another sign of the Aquarian times, perhaps more so than anything else. This is an especially interesting topic which may be left for another time, since space does not permit me to do it justice.

The fourth quarter of the circle is the great void. The origins of this vacuum lie in the innards of the quarter itself. That is where we must locate the root of the problem and study dispassionately all its ramifications. In the course of this treatment those roots will be uncovered, along with the means to heal the ills caused by the existent void. In a sense the fourth quarter is the cause of incompleteness and an inadequate expression of the other three quarters. Thus the blame for the failure to resolve societal issues harmoniously can be laid at the feet of the spirituality of escapism that had monopolised the higher reaches of human consciousness over the past two thousand years, leaving the lower regions to their own resources to seek some means to fill the resultant void.
We note that displacement is another key word. Regarding the final quarter, for example, the wisemen of old have in large measure been replaced by the judiciary. While the role of law and the courts plays an admirable role in contemporary democracies, it too has been displaced from its true position in the third quadrant of the Cosmic Order. The result is usurpation of powers, with the judiciary having to play the role the executive may often fail to do. As a consequence we see the new phenomenon of judicial activism on the rise, particularly in countries such as India. It not only sets a dangerous precedent but also overburdens the courts. This usurpation may not be desired by judges; rather, it can often be an instinctive reaction so as to fill a void for the good of society that had been left by the executive branch.
In all these cases we learn that the Cosmic Order has suffered because of a common factor: nothing is in its place. When that occurs naturally certain segments overstep, usurp and finally become overpowering by having taken on a burden which is legitimately another’s to carry. The same assessment can be carried out regarding all four quadrants of caste. But the fundamental issue remains: emphasis on any one over the others creates imbalance that finally leads to collapse.

The question may be asked, What is it that actually experiences collapse? In this treatment the nature of the elements in a state of collapse will be analysed. At this point we must focus on the subcontinent and its struggles to remake itself in a modern image, without entirely desiring or being able to discard the forms of old. One such is caste.
The first mention of the Chaturvarna is found in the world’s oldest scripture, the Rig Veda. In X, 90, 11-12, known as the Purush Shukta, it is stated,

11. When they divided up the Man
into how many parts did they divide him?
What did his mouth become? What his arms?
What are his legs called? What his feet?

12. His mouth became the brahmin; his arms
Became the warrior-prince [Kshatriya], his legs
The common man who plies his trade [Vaishya].
The lowly serf was born from his feet [Shudra].

(Translation, Raimundo Panikkar)

This imaginative description of the origin of caste could be dismissed as the mystical fantasies of a Rishi in ancient times, bearing little or no connection to our contemporary society. However, it is the calendar that once again makes caste eternal and for which reason it just refuses to die. Again, as long as the cosmos exists, which provides the structure for the real Vedic calendar, and insofar as caste arises from within that same structure, it will live on in spite of concerted efforts to extirpate it from society. Certainly attempts to eliminate caste have been relentless in independent India. But what if we approach the matter differently? What if we embrace caste as it is in its original highest cosmic sense and in the process try to discover just why and when that noble Order began to degenerate to what we now have in its place?
It may not be immediately apparent how the above Rig Veda verses can be equated with the calendar. To clarify the issue, another element of the ancient lore has to be added if that connection is to be understood. This is the zodiac.
The Vedic praises sing of caste as emerging from different portions of the body of the Cosmic Purush. All astrologers, east and west, know that the human body is ruled by different signs of the zodiac. In the Medieval design presented here, the animal and human figures connected to the signs have been placed on the body over the portions that they are said to rule and also in the circumscribing oval with its further details. This composition provides the first step to understand the correlation by the placement of the signs on the body and also in the surrounding oval; it helps to visualise the cosmic harmony as internal as well as external – or the oneness of inner and outer.

The Cosmic Person and the Zodiac

Next would be to visualise the same Man in a circular position, with his head located at the position of Aries (Mahavishuva – March Equinox, the beginning of the zodiacal year) on the wheel, his neck at Taurus, arms at Gemini, and so on through the circle until we reach Pisces and the feet. The knees, ankles and feet, upholding the upright human body, its distinguishing feature, are located in the final quadrant of the circle, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces respectively.
The Cosmic Purush in a circle would be similar to the ancient Ouroboros, the serpent biting its tail, representing precisely the ceaselessness of cyclic time. Its head and tail join at the location in the zodiac of the Zero Point or ayanamsha where the first sign Aries meets the last, Pisces. In this figure, as in the variations on the same circle presented in this treatment, the outstanding characteristic is that these months/signs ‘effortlessly move one into the another’, as the Rig Veda pointedly states to drive home the fact of a unified progression, a perception that is lost on most contemporary astrologers, especially in India. We are dealing with a continuous uninterrupted flow (of time) which Ouroboros depicts so clearly. As demonstrated in the course of this treatment, there are many symbols that have been handed down to us from ancient times, each one presenting the same vision of unity in one form or another.

OUROBOROS – and the six orbs of the old system

I must stress once again that if hostile powers seek to disrupt Hindu society, the simplest strategy is to disturb the calendrical connection to the cosmos, which has also been the binding power of a unified diversity in the societal order, i.e., caste. This is effectively done first and foremost by losing the correct ayanamsha or point of entry into the wheel – the Serpent’s head and tail juncture. In that wheel the zodiac provides the sense and purpose of evolution; it is our inheritance from the Ancients as a gnostic guide for our individual and collective journey through the months/signs of the year. This has been the secret doctrine of all Mystery Schools across the globe and across the ages.
Without that enlightened script there is no ‘soul of knowledge’ involved, let this be clear. We may even be in possession of the correct Zero Point as in the calendar employed in the West, but lacking the eternal wisdom the zodiac contains of the 12-month journey across the ecliptic plane, it is a lifeless and meaningless science, not dissimilar to our contemporary science which offers neither purpose nor goal but simply the mechanical and vacant directionless churning of a machine. With the addition of the zodiacal script, the ‘soul of knowledge’ finds a means of expression in society, a structure by which that cosmic essence can materialise on Earth through the human instrument. Failing which, a slow and steady disintegration sets in which caste and all things cosmic are experiencing on the subcontinent. But having an eternal foundation (the zodiac/cosmos), things once true and real just do not collapse and disappear: they degenerate and linger on as bodies in a state of decomposition. They persist as part of the culture, but in name only.
This has been a most ingenious strategy to set into disarray the only enduring civilisation with cosmic roots and an unbroken link to the Vedic and Sangam eras: structures are not sought to be eliminated; they are just distorted. Thus, though calling it Vedic, there is actually nothing left of that original oneness and authentic sense of unity of old.
However, and this is most important to note, if the things valid and true are to be restored, all we need to do is to retrace our steps and correct the ayanamsha that can in itself connect us to that cosmic harmony again.

(Link to Part III)