Transcript:
0:00
Hi, everyone, this is Acyuta-bhava from Nightlight Astrology. And today I'm doing the 10th and final episode of a series that I've called 10 things that I've learned in 10 years and 10,000 charts. So as you guys know, who've been watching the series, this past July of 2020, I realised that I've been doing astrology for 10 years, full time. And it, it kind of took me off guard, honestly, I hadn't been, you know, thinking about it. And then suddenly, I was like, wow, this is kind of a milestone. And so I decided to sit down and calculate how many charts I've done. I've done a lot of different kinds of readings, all different kinds of readings with all different kinds of clients over 10 years. And I realised that I had been somewhere over 10,000 charts that I've done in, in this past 10 years. And so I decided to sit down and try to write and reflect upon some of the lessons and insights that I've learned. And this series came about as a result of that. And the purpose of the series is basically to offer some of the same insights that have been really pivotal for me. And in the hopes that they may be insights that other people have had. I find that sometimes when I hear other people articulate things, about astrology, or about yoga, that it gives words to things that have been stirring inside of me that, you know, that I hadn't yet been able to articulate. So hopefully, this does that for some people out there, who also really love astrology and spend a lot of their time, you know, thinking about astrology, or paying attention to astrological content. On the other side of things. I also wanted to do this because, for me, you know, it was it was a chance to sort of say, Okay, what have I learned, I still have a lot more to learn, I hope that in 10 more years, I'll be able to have lots of more insights, and perhaps we'll, you know, have more to say or add to these. But it was important for me to be able to just kind of take stock of where I'd been. And also feel gratitude for the cool things that I've I have been able to learn because of this beautiful craft. So that being said, every episode that I've done, I have generally done based on a particular insight that I've given as sort of like the title for the talk. So in this 10th and final episode, the phrase that I've used for today's episode is this. If love isn't at the centre, then there is no center.
2:25
So that's, that's what I want to talk about today as my my final episode of this series. If love isn't at the center, then there isn't a center. So I have a bunch of points that I'd like to make along these lines. And I hope that you enjoy them. So people generally ask me two types of questions in readings. And this is something that I've talked about in previous episodes, but I just want to recap it because it really does break down into almost always two different types of questions that people have. One, when I'm sitting down to someone sitting down with someone for a reading, someone will ask, what is my destiny? As in what am I here to do? Or what mission? Am I here to fulfil? What is my calling? Who should I serve? And astrology readings can have a way of addressing that very specifically, what are your aptitudes? What are your gifts? What type of career are you likely to have? What kind of skills do you have? And honestly, what kinds of traits or qualities do you bring to the table as an individual that are completely unique, and that will bring you happiness if you work to embody these qualities in a way that is virtuous and in service to the others into the world. So astrology readings can address that. And that's something that I address every day. The other question that people have is, how do I improve my karma or heal some particular dimension of my life? Where I'm not getting the results that I want to or the results have been very painful? So it's generally those two categories? How do I? What is my destiny? What am I here to do? Or how do I heal or fix something that's broken?
4:05
And again, astrology can a certain astrology reading can answer both of those questions we can talk about we can see the broken parts, we can see the the elements of the birth chart that point to suffering or pain or hardship. And we can point to the parts of our chart that suggest, you know, some of what we're here to do in terms of the narrative trajectory of our life, what lessons will we learn, what kind of stories are we going to live out? What are our skills? And all of that is, is great, but one thing that I've learned is that regardless of how well an astrology reading can address any of those questions, if love isn't at the center for the reader, like myself as a reader, if love isn't at the center of why I'm doing this, and of the responses that I give her the way that I read, and if love isn't at the center of any individual's life who's receiving a reading or who's going to an astrology chart, or an astrologer for insight that if love isn't at the center, then there will be no center and without a center things will not hold together.
5:19
So, the answer to those questions on one level in a chart reading will always take on the specifics. Like I said, there might be specific things that you'll do, or gifts or skills that you have or weaknesses that you have, there will be certain areas of suffering that we can, in a reading you can talk about, and the astrology chart has a way of pointing to all of that. But the way that we really deeply address those questions, most fundamentally, is to put love at the center of our lives. So your destiny in the most fundamental sense, is made by putting love in the centre of your life every single day. Starting with love of source, so if you if we think about who are we, and where do we come from, we come from a divine source. Sometimes people call that source God or the universe, or some people just refer to it as spirit or source. But there is a divine presence and divine being I would even say, that lives within each of us. And if we prioritise communion with that source, the soul of our own soul that lives in our heart, if we prioritise daily communion with that source, then we will be successful. Or we will we will find our destiny, whether we are successful or not in any worldly sense of the word, whether we fix anything that's been broken in any literal sense of the word fix, we will be successful. And that's because love is our destiny and love is the only thing that heals. So, one of the things that I've learned over 10 years is that astrology without a prioritising prioritisation of love of God, love of source, love of the universe, love of spirit, love of soul, and taking real time for that every day. If I don't emphasise that to my clients, I'm not helping them find their destiny because that's the destiny we're all walking toward. If I don't help bring that awareness, even in small ways into a reading, then, even if we address what's broken, or what needs fixing, it won't ever really be addressed. It won't ever really be healed or fixed, because love is the only thing that actually heals. If we prioritise love of God, love of source, love of soul, then we naturally find the best way to serve, we naturally find the path to walk, we naturally find the mending or healing to our wounds and hurts. And that's that's the truth, and astrology can only ever assist us in that path. The path itself is love.
8:36
I want to read you guys something. This comes from the final chapter of the Bhagavad Gita. And it is the concluding remarks made by Krishna, who is an incarnation or avatar incarnation of God. And he's talking to Arjuna, who he's been on a battlefield with and it's the battlefield, by the way is the the battlefield of Dharma of duty, what is my purpose? Why am I here? And he's got this big battle in front of him. And before he goes to battle, he's asking a lot of questions about what is my destiny? This is a difficult situation. There's a lot of pain here, what do I do? And Krishna tells him all about the nature of the soul of reality, the nature of the field that he's on, the karma that he's you know, that that he will engage in, the actions that he will take. Finally, though, he concludes the whole treatise with these remarks. This comes from the 18th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita text 55-66.
9:45
"One can understand the Supreme Personality as he is only by devotional service and one in when one is in full consciousness of the Supreme Lord by such devotion, he can enter into the kingdom of God. Though engaged in all kinds of actions, my devotee under my protection reaches the internal, eternal and imperishable abode by my grace. In all activities just depend on me and work under my protection, in such devotion be fully conscious of me. If you become conscious of me, you will pass over all the obstacles of conditional life by my grace. If, however, you don't work in such consciousness, but act through false ego, not hearing me, you will be lost. If you do not act according to my direction, and do not fight, then you will be falsely directed by your nature you will have engaged in warfare. Under illusion you are now declined to act according to my direction, but compelled by your own nature, you'll act all the same Oh Son of Kunti. The Supreme Lord is situated in everyone's heart, oh Arjuna, and is directing the wanderings of all living entities, who are seated as on a machine made of material energy. Scion of Bharata, surrender unto him utterly. by His grace, you will attain transcendental peace, and the supreme eternal abode. As I have explained to you the most confidential of all knowledge, deliberate on this fully, and then do what you wish. Because you are my very dear friend, I'm speaking to the most confidential part of knowledge here, this for me for it is for your benefit. Always think of me, become My devotee, worship Me and offer your homage to Me, thus you will come to me without fail. I promise you this, because you are my very dear friend, abandon all varieties of religion, and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reactions, do not fear."
11:55
Those are the concluding verses of the Gita and the one that I think is really important here. There's a few really important passages. But one of the things that he says is that, look, you're going to have to act in this world, one way or another. He's on the battlefield, he's got a battle in front of him, he's saying, you can either engage in this battle with God consciousness, universal consciousness, source consciousness, Krishna consciousness, we call it in bhakti, you can either engage in your Dharma in your destiny with love of God at the centre of your heart, or you can go and do it on your own directed by false ego. There are two different results, you know, one has a centre that holds you together and makes meaningful the results no matter what they are, if you approach with love in your heart, your destiny will be made perfect will be made complete, and there will be healing there, there will be healing in that. There will be grace, there will be mercy there will be protection. Whereas if you try to do it on your own, and you go off without source consciousness in your heart, you're going to get lost. And, but because I love you, and I respect you, it's your choice. I'm not going to make you do anything. And, um, but at the same time, you should know that I live in your heart. And I'm always there working with you. The Supreme Lord is situated in everyone's heart and is directing the wanderings of all living entities, who are seated as on a machine made of the material energy. So we're moving through these bodies lifetime after lifetime, and they're temporary, beautiful houses for the soul. And God is there within the heart, directing us guiding us. And he gives these simple instructions, he said, just surrender to God in your heart, just surrender to the essence of who you really are, which is love and commune with that for all of your days, and you will find that though you have a destiny path to walk in this world, though there are all sorts of conflicts and challenges and questions and suffering and healing and so many things in this world. If you put love at the centre, then the outcome will be love.
14:29
And in this way, Krishna is saying, if love of God isn't at the center, if love of your own soul isn't at the center, then there will be no center there will be nothing to hold it together. And that's the most important thing that I've learned in the past 10 years of doing astrology. We look at so many things in the chart. The chart is so beautiful and how it can describe accurately the inner workings of our behaviour, the different kinds of themes and patterns that we meet in this karmic garden, what plants and flowers blossom at what times. But, again, if we aren't as a reader, this practice has gradually helped me understand that love has to be at the centre communion with the soul with source has to be at the center for me and for my clients. I gauge how successful and astrology reading is by whether or not a person has felt a little closer to the reality of their soul, within the midst of the different dramas, unfolding. The dramas are inevitable, but the soul is the reality that redeems all of it, no matter what it is, no matter what the birth chart says, no matter what the symbols are pointing to love is the only thing that redeems all of it. And in that sense, it is our only destiny. It's our only healing.
16:04
It's hard to bring this into our lives without some form of daily practice, prayer and communion with source with the indwelling Spirit soul, we have to start and end each day. And we also have to find ways of bringing that communion in between the beginning and the end of each day. If we can weave that communion, and string together as my guru likes to say, a couple of victories string together a couple of W's you know, string to string together some wins in spiritual life. Today, I started my day with communion. And I will end my day with communion and then I did that two or three days in a row. Every day we do that and we string together a day lived with source at the center, with soul at the center. Those are days where we are going to gradually start to feel that we are actually walking our destiny that we're actually feeling the presence of that healing that we're looking for. And we have a deepening sense of trust in all of our experiences. And this takes time. It takes time and consistency over a long period of time to start feeling that In which case, interestingly, the byproduct also of doing that every day is that it improves our karma. It literally improves circumstances around us so that the world we inhabit, the people the information, the kinds of things that we associate with, they start to glow and share in the same spirit of communion. That process improves our karma, improves the choices we make and the outcomes we receive because it starts to elevate us into a space of goodness. Now there's still going to be suffering and there's still going to be hardship, but those hardships are they start to be held and seen as holy and as a part of the path of love. Also, just practically speaking, if we want to improve our karma, the Bhagavad Gita also tells us and I hear this every day from people how do I improve my karma and put love at the center? That's the simplest answer. But let's say that you're having a hard time conceptualising or, or taking up a spiritual practice what that means, what it looks like how to make it real. Just being the best version of yourself, cultivating the highest virtues.
18:55
The highest virtues that you can possibly cultivate: patience, peace, tolerance, forgiveness, compassion, charity, generosity, selfless service to others, cultivate those things without any expectation of return. And gradually, the presence of love in the heart will start to appear and the devotional communion will start to appear as well. And so even if you just keep trying to do the best that you can do, to be a good person in the world without any expectation of return. Slowly that feeling of of love the indwelling Spirit-soul, the Paramatma, the Supersoul that lives within the heart that communes with our own soul, which are depicted throughout the Vedic literature in terms of two birds that sit on the same branch together the soul and the soul of the soul, Supersoul of God. If we become the best version of ourselves without expectation of return, after a while we start realising that who and what we are are devoted to is the soul of our soul, is our is the very essence of our being and the being of all beings. And then the devotion starts to appear. So even just being the best version of yourself, can take you in the right direction. But consider this, because so frequently we get wrapped up in the things that are happening in the world. And what what Krishna is ultimately saying in this book, this classic scripture, the Bhagavad Gita is that, look, the world is filled with action and activities, it always has been, it always will be, in fact, it's described as this material realm, dimension, which is only one of many dimensions of consciousness and experience is described as anadi, which means it really has no beginning and it has no end. The soul can evolve in a sense and grow awareness of more than just this material energy, this material reality. Which is not to condemn it's just to say that there's also more, as long as we are wrapped up in this without love of God, none of the things that we get involved with have any lasting centre. This is why in both Buddhism and in Yoga, we say that, in a sense, there's this illusory quality to the world. Impermanence fluctuation change, are the only constants. And so for any of the turning wheels of karma and material nature to have any real meaning, love has to be put at the centre because it's the only centre that there is, it's the only thing holding everything together, we're either aware of that, and living in touch with that, or we're not. When we're not we experience a kind of illusory shadow world. Our politics without love of source at the centre have no lasting or enduring meaning or value, our relationships, our families, the way that we spend our time. If love of the Divine isn't at the centre, we're not participating in anything that adds to the life of the soul and that aids in the journey of the soul walking to towards love, walking home. If love of source isn't behind how we do astrology, then the symbols don't have any fixed meaning. The symbols the birth chart, any chart that we use any statement that we make any way that we interpret the symbols, they're only given fixed meaning or relevance to the soul, when they are related to through the prioritisation of love.
22:57
In fact, your birth chart has no fixed meaning. Symbols themselves in astrology have no fixed meaning. They only are ever given anything of eternal or enduring value when they are read and related to through the reality of love, which binds and holds everything together. Otherwise, the way that we use them the way that we approach them the way that we interpret them, and the way that we think that they're adding value to our lives is illusory. It's temporary. It's a fleeting shadow. Think about it, for example, people sometimes think No, no, it's it's a hard wired thing. But no, birth charts in all different places in the world, different moments of divination have been used, for example, birth charts have been cast for the moment of conception. Birth charts have been cast for the moment of birth using a wide variety of different times that are that constitute birth.
23:57
Also, sometimes birth charts have been cast to great effect without actual times or dates, or with confused times or incorrect times. In the first chapter of William Lily's horary textbook, he casts horary charts for the moment that a person enters his office without a birth time, he'll just cast a chart for them right then in there when they first say hello to him and say I have no birth time. Okay, well, here's your birth time right now. Why is how is it that this is possible? And people miss this profound truth about astrology all the time. It's possible because actually, the symbols have no fixed meaning. They only have meaning in relationship to the ritualization that we make around birth. And how is it that reality can do that? Can form and shape and mould to certain rituals like the moment of birth or like conception or and then the symbols can speak accurately to things. Because we live in a very relative world, the material world is a relative world. But the only thing that fix and gives it enduring, absolute meaning no matter what kind of form of divination we use, what kind of Tarot spread, what kind of birth chart what kind of technique, what moment of birth, we consider to be the one. The only thing that gives it an eternal enduring value, real meaning for the soul is whether or not love is at the center. Love is the absolute that gives absolute meaning to all things, including the symbols of a birth chart. And without it, the birth chart is nothing more than this kind of magical mirror. It offers us material platitudes, reinforcement of our fears or anxieties or our delusions of grandeur or it reinforces our prejudice or bias, it keeps us caught up in endless anxiety about outcomes and results in the turning wheel of material nature.We can get accurate results doing that through a wide variety of different approaches and techniques. The only thing that differentiates all of that from something of real truth is the consciousness of love. I'm not someone who says any technique will work just as long as you're a loving person. That's not what I mean. But what I'm saying is that even if you use techniques and come up with the most accurate predictions, descriptions, forecasts and reports, what do they mean for the soul? The only way that the soul gets anything out of them is if the soul by means of exploring these symbols with the astrologer comes to the realisation of their inherent nature, and the nature of all beings and the nature of reality itself. And that nature is love.
27:15
We say that God is love, and love is what holds all the opposites together, gives all conflicts between all kinds of opposites, their meaning and relevance. Love is love because it loves all things, without beginning or end unconditionally. Love is not just something that you do. Love is who you are. And love is at the centre of all things that gives all things their actual substance and ontology in their their beingness. If astrology is in service to the cultivation of love, then it has enduring value. If astrology readings and charts help us recognise our souls, it has eternal value, and will be a part of walking us home. Walking us home, Homeward Bound to love.
28:14
So these are a few things to remember because it's also it's not an easy path to walk. It's a daily commitment we make to put the love of God, the love of source and the love of soul at the center. It's a daily struggle to do these things. But remember, that if you take to the path of love sincerely, even once, even once, if your heart says, I know that love is at the center of everything. You'll be brought home eventually, lifetime by lifetime you can have absolute trust that in every setback, sojourn and detour along the way, love is guiding you home. All it takes is the sincere recognition that I am made of love, that God is love. That all things are held together in love, that love is my destiny, that love is my healing, that love is my path and that love is my way. And if and if we recognise that even once, even if it's just in our minds, we will be brought home one step at a time. It's game over at that point, as my guru likes to say, Krishna will drag us along, you know, and that's the truth because love is so open and so giving and so graceful and merciful and tolerant and patient and kind, that if we only acknowledge the reality of this being in the center of our hearts, then that's it. It's game over. It might not happen right away. There might be lots of struggling and suffering and challenges along the way, but we're on the way home. And that's it.
30:05
To love we have to be willing to suffer. Because suffering is part of how love becomes complete and total. Love is not just love for the good things. Love is not just love for the pleasant things. Love is love for everything. And so part of loving is suffering. Because for love to become complete and total, we have to be willing to love everything. And that's the hard part. But again, once we start the process, the process will consume us in time, love will envelop us, because it's actually who we are. There's no avoiding it, there's no going around it. That is our only destiny. To love we have to set aside our judgments, our self righteousness, our will and our way and imagine that real freedom, real self respect, real self esteem is found in the measure of our love. Do we commune every day with the soul of our soul and say thank you, I love you. I'm here for you. Let me serve you, let me be an instrument of your love in the world, is that our daily prayer and practice? Do we work to be more loving, more selfless, more humble, and in service to others because we see the same indwelling Spirit-soul in them. That's how we measure our self worth or self respect, our sovereignty, our agency, all of the things that the modern world tells us we really need to be special, be strong, be successful, be sovereign, be strong, you know, all of these kinds of things. But really, the measure of those things is based on how much we love. And the reason for that is that when we love, we are inhabiting our true essence. And our true freedom because love is the only thing that is free love can't be bound by the opposites because love holds them together.
32:05
So when we step into our true nature, then and only then are we free, then and only then do we have something that's worth respecting, because love gives all respects to everything and asks for none in return. And that's the thing about love that makes it so worth serving. It doesn't place my own needs for respect and greatness first. It places the need to recognise and honour and revere the beauty and others the beauty in the world, the beauty in God, the beauty and creation. And because it does that it feels its own worth because we are only worth while to the extent that we are loved because that's who we are.
32:56
Along the way, every day, the blessing of astrology is that we can look up at the heavens, and behold these eternal shapes and thoughts of love. If we have love at the center of our lives, then every transit every planet, every aspect of these beautiful heavenly patterns become like a chorus of angelic voices, singing out the glory of love, and of God and of the soul of all beings everywhere. And that's all the events that we laugh, pray joke suffer through. They all become a moving meditation upon the divine and love just pours out, it pours out from the heavens down to the earth and from the earth mirrored back in the heavens. each day's reflection upon the stars becomes communion. And that's when that's when astrology is at its best, in my opinion, that's real astrology. And that's the standard we should be shooting for. So, um, I, you know, it's hard to encapsulate, you know, everything that I've that I've learned in 10 years of doing astrology and so many charts. But this is it. If I had to summarise it all to in today's talk this, this would be it.
34:25
So, it's a real honour, of course, to share this series with all of you. I hope it's been encouraging. I hope it's been uplifting. I hope that it has affirmed things that you know, in your own heart. Along the way, I've really been fortunate to read a lot of your own comments and your own sharing and your own insights, which are so beautiful. So thank you for all of them along the way. If you have any insights that come up as you're listening to this last episode, I'd love to hear them as well.
35:00
At the end of every calendar year, for the last 40 days of the year, I do kind of a miniature version of what I just did with this series. The last 40 days of every calendar year, I enter into a period of reflection and contemplation, looking back at the year, the astrology of the year, what I've learned as a person, you know, as a dad as a spouse as an astrologer. And I start to privately shape, what I'm going to do or what I want to focus on or how I want to change and grow in the year ahead. During that time, I, as many of you know, who have followed me for a while this is the seventh year I've done this, during those last 40 days, I also fundraise and I do I do a Kickstarter campaign. And ask people to pitch in if you're able to, if you enjoy this series, if you enjoy the work that I do if it if it's in any way helpful for you, throughout the year, a lot of love and a lot of passion goes into the creation of this content every day, average about 300 days of the year that I make content. And I follow a pretty a really committed schedule of how I make and create all of this content as well. So if you feel led to contribute, check it out. And there's a variety of rewards that you can pick, I try to give things in return that are value, including, you know, readings and like exclusive lectures and also discounted tuition to some of my online courses. So if you'd like pitching in I really appreciate it it's the Kickstarter link is in the comment section. And yeah, I look forward to I mean, God willing, if I'm doing this for 10 more years, I will be a consider myself very blessed. astrology is one of my favourite things in the world. I feel so fortunate to have this in my life and to share this with kindred spirits like all of you. And I look forward to another year of content creation ahead. And I'd also love to hear your reflections on this series as a whole. What did you think of it? And yeah, I look forward to talking to you guys more next week. All right. Take it easy, everyone.
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