Book Presentation

"The Science of Symbolism"

by Dr. Ekkirala Krishnamacharya

 

Among the creative sciences, Symbolism stands foremost.It is also the simplest and easiest of all the creative sciences. The Science of Symbolism enables the readers to understand the World Scriptures in their true light, which is different from the religious approach. The booklet, though small, covers a vast area and a deep volume of the scriptures with a unique way of revealing the synthesis of the Ancient Wisdom.

The World Teacher Trust, Visakhapatnam, India 2009-2

 

 

 

 

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Sample:

Astrological Symbols

A few points have to be touched about the astrological symbols. Now we have a brief survey in a self-sufficient method. Since astrology is the most natural approach to the phenomena of creation that ever received by man, the astrological symbols form the main key to the wisdom of cosmogenesis and anthropogenesis. Since these two branches form the main content of the World Scriptures, the astrological key is the Master key to understand the World Scriptures in their proper light. Each of the astrological symbols carries the history of thought evolution through centuries.

There are two sets of symbols in astrology. 1. The Zodiacal signs and 2. the planets. The Zodiac is in fact the seed of Wisdom from which the planets, germinate the annual fruits in all their detail. The 12 signs of the Zodiac contain the totality of what man has to know and the planets begin to reveal to each individual as much as he is able to comprehend according to the position of planets at the time of his birth.

Zodiacal Signs

1. ARIES

This is symbolised by the head of a Ram. It indicates the progress of the year-god into time. A beginning on the background of the eternity which is ever repeated in cycles is represented by the head of a ram. When the pastoral human beings observed the ram, giving a straight dash with its head, they could equate it with the beginning of a new year which begins to unfold into the splendours of the seasons and the fauna and flora of this earth. This sign represents the two diverging horns of a ram. This represents the split of the cycle of the year by the equinox into the past and the future as is created by man’s mind. It also represents the blade of grass with two diverging leaves, from the middle of which the next generation of the node of tender grass leaf emerges.

This emerging is the symbol of the new year ever recurring. When two circles, touch each other at the circumference there is the birth of the symbol of Aries. The circle formed by the earth going round the sun and the circle formed by the apparent path of the sun around, the earth touch each other, when the Sun crosses the equator; and man has received this symbol from above as the symbol of' Aries representing the beginning of the year. The Purana narrates that the head of the Prajapathi (God of rounds) is cut by the Lord beyond time. Then all the Devas conducted prayers, brought the head of a ram and got it attached to the body of the Prajapathi and then conducted the ritual of the whole year in its usual splendour. This is the story about the annual Sun cutting the equator to form the vernal equinox.

2. TAURUS

This symbol is formed by the semi-circle standing on a circle. This represents the two converging horns of a bull. The Sun passing through this sign is compared with the bull showering down his summer rays which prepare the earth for the fertilisation. Summer is really the cause of the formation of the clouds which will rain to fertilise the earth. Through ages this sign is associated with Aldebaran, the Star of the Bull, the rays of which cause rains to this earth. This sign is also associated with agriculture, hence the association of bull with agriculture is a constant one till today. The Fertilisation of the Cow by the Bull causes the beings which till the earth and also which supply milk to mankind. For this reason Taurus is symbolised as the sign of food, taste and eating. The semi-circle representing the horns also indicates the Moon who is situated above the circle. Moon is found to be in his exaltation in Taurus. The Bull is allegorised as the vehicle of the Lord Siva. This means that the creation of food is the cause of the Lord descending into the bodies and living in the form of the many beings.

3. GEMINI

This marks the birth of objectivity after which man stands amidst the two pillars (subjectivity and objectivity) as a two-legged being before he enters the Temple of Wisdom. The two vertical lines in the symbol represent the vertical position of man on this earth standing. The horizontal line below represents the earth under his feet and the one above represents his view of the Heaven above.

Upon this symbol God has, engraved Wisdom and man preserved it to read again and again. It is said that the physical frame of man, in all its detail, has all the Wisdom he has to inherit. The Biblical tradition says that the Emperor Seth erected two pillars and engraved the Wisdom he has known across them, so that it may stand and survive the flood on this earth caused by the wrath of God from time to time.

The creation always stands second to the Background which we call Eternity. Hence the birth of the creation is always the birth of the twins. Lord Siva is represented in this sign as Ardhanari (Hermaphrodite, the Divine). This means that the creation is always a co-existence of mind and spirit descending as matter and mind.

4. CANCER

The side-wise motion and hiding itself of the crab in a chasm is a fascination to the human observation. When the earth begins to tilt back from the highest point of the summer solstice, the Sun appears to travel side-wise from North to South. Hence he is described as a crab while passing through this sign. A branch of symbolism represents him as the beetle which can resurrect a worm into a butterfly. This marks the transformation of matter into mind, the passage to spirit. During the rainy season through the help of the Moon beams, the dry cells of the seed of every living being are stimulated by moisture to germinate into their fullest frames. This marks the spirit resurrecting matter from its inorganic state to the organic awakening. Cancer marks all these stages. This symbol also represents the reversible reactions between organic and inorganic state of matter that are tackled during the rainy season in the tropical regions.

5. LEO

The lion is feared by all and admired by the human beings from the beginning. The very figure, gesture and posture of this animal stimulates nobility and fearlessness in man who worships it as an emblem of the heart-force of creation. Pure love is compared with the lion in man and the image of love which we call the object of romance in its true sense is also represented by this sign. The symbol is framed by the raised tail of lion when roused. It also represents the pit of stomach under the ribs wherein lies diaphragm, the demarcation among the vital, emotional and the affectionate worlds of man.

6. VIRGO

Purity is a thing which is always to be protected against temptation. This concept gave man the symbol of the Virgin. The original nature of man before he is touched by intellect and impression is called the Virgin nature. This nature gives birth to God experience and hence the mother of God. The transformation of the generative tissues through age and the transformation of emotion and intellect into the innocence of submission and sacrifice are both represented by this sign. Every year when the Sun enters into the sign of Capricorn during the midnight of the Winter Solstice, he stands in the fifth house from Virgo, and hence he is called the Son of the Virgin. Since the entrance of the Sun in Capricorn marks the beginning of life-giving rays to the earth in his northward journey he is called the image of the Saviour who sacrifices his blood (rays of the rising Sun) to the beings of this earth.

7. LIBRA

The invention of the balance with the scale pans marks the birth of the sense of justice with which the man measured his mutuality with others. The balance measures what you give and what you get. When the Sun crosses the equator again from North to South, the point divides the whole year into two equal parts. Hence the autumn equinox is marked as the first point of Libra. The sign is understood as equal distribution and justice where Saturn is in his exaltation. It is noted for the birth of judges from the time of the scriptures.

8. SCORPIO

A shade-loving and self-hiding, venomous creature is taken as a symbol of secrecy either for good or for bad. The instinctive attempt to hide enabled man to find a correspondence between the sign Scorpio and the generative mechanism of the physical body.

9. SAGGITARIUS

Horse is the symbol of vital force which galvanises the physical body in the Vedic Lore. The emblem of half-horse and half-man represents the vital body of the human being which enables him to march upwards as a unit of consciousness through comparatively finer planes up to the very solar centre in himself which is the target of his aim; hence the representation of the arrow being shot through the bow.

10 CAPRICORN

A mythological creature with the face of a goat and the hind of a crocodile. The Indian tradition describes it with the face of a deer, with a body of the crocodile. Both the emblems represent a tender face exposed with a gripping body submerged in water. The whole figure represents tenacity and executive ability hidden under the appearance of tenderness and civilised gentlemanly behaviour.

11. AQUARIUS

The picture of the man with a pot has its origin in Vaivaswatha Manu of the Indian Scriptures. This Manu could capture the fish incarnation of the Lord in his little pot. This represents the ending of an old order and the inauguration of a new order for humanity. The realisation of Wisdom as a blend of science and religion is marked by this sign as the ultimate solution for each round of humanity.

12. PISCES

The pair of fishes running in opposite directions represent the nature of time relative to an individual. The ending of one thing is the beginning of another and this is the formula of the rounding up of the solar year with the sign Pisces. It also represents the water of the oceans distilled into the form of clouds which begins the new generation on the earth through rain. The ending of the finite consciousness of the minerals, plants, animals, humans and Devas into the music of the Gandharvas (Supra-cosmic devas) is also represented by the water of the celestial oceans in which the pair of fishes swim as the two eyes of the mother Goddess, the Virgin.