Today I have the next installment in my series on the Tao Te Ching for astrologers, looking at the ninth and tenth verses.
Transcript:
Hi everyone this is Acyuta-bhava from Nightlight Astrology and today we are going to take a look at two more verses from the Tao Te Ching as a part of my ongoing series on the Tao Te Ching for astrologers. If you're not familiar with this series yet, you can certainly watch this video without missing anything. Any of these can be watched as standalone videos. If you want to learn more about the history of the Tao Te Ching, and why I'm doing this series, you can also go back to the first video in the series and watch them in order. The gist of it is that this is one of the spiritual texts that I studied quite regularly and informs a lot of the talks that I create and as well as the I ching. So that being said, I usually read two verses per episode. I'll read them through and then the second read through I go through each verse individually and offer some reflections and try to show how the wisdom of the text correlates with why we're doing astrology. So that being said, let's dive in.
Today we are looking at the ninth and 10th verses. Verse nine, and I use the Tarcher Cornerstone edition. I mentioned this every episode, but this is the doubt a Ching Jonathan Star translation, you can find it on Amazon pretty cheaply. So I recommend getting it and having a copy of this around. It's a great book to have at hand anyway. Verse nine. Grabbing and stuffing there is no end to it. Sharpen a blade too much and its edge will soon be lost. fill the house with gold and jade and no one can protect it. Puff yourself with honour and pride and no one can save you from a fall. Complete the task at hand. Be selfless in your actions. This is the Way of Heaven. This is the way to heaven.
Verse 10. Hold fast to the power of the one it will unify the body and merge it with the Spirit. It will cleanse the vision and reveal the world as flawless. It will focus the life force and make one supple as a newborn. As you love the people and rule the state can you be free of self interest? As the gates of heaven open and close, can you remain steadfast as a mother bird who sits with her nest? As your wisdom reaches the four corners of the world can you keep the innocence of a beginner? No this primal power that guides without forcing that serves without seeking that brings forth and sustains life it does not own or possess it. One who holds this power brings tao to this very earth he can triumph over a raging fire or the freeze of winter weather that when it comes to rule the world it's with the gentleness of a feather. Let's go back over these grabbing and stuffing there is no end to it. Sharpen a blade too much and its edge will soon be lost. Fill a house with gold and Jade and no one can protect it. Puff yourself with honour and pride and no one can save you from a fall. Complete the task at hand be selfless in your actions. This is the Way of Heaven. This is the way to heaven.
A few thoughts on this right away. Of course the planets are called gras has, which means grabbers in Indian astrology, and one of the things that one of the reasons that I think that that image of grabbing is so important is because when we're living a life that is not in touch with what's just call it the divinity or eternity or in this case, the DAO when we think that whatever we're experiencing directly in front of us on a material level is all there is. There's the way we live life is very much about grabbing and stuffing. Either that or it's about fear and aversion, desire or aversion either way, but here's the start of this verse just says, look, there's no end to trying to get things to trying to grab things or own things or possess things. Once you try doing that as a way of trying to satisfy yourself, there's no end to it. And that's because nothing that we could grab in this world will ever satisfy us. It's impermanent by nature. This is exactly the realm that the planets point to in terms of what they govern and what we experienced by virtue of they're coming and going and they're aspecting one another every day. They're giving us a picture of the different kinds of events swirling around the wheel of fortune. And it's so good to be aware of those events specifically because if we're not we tend to grab and stuff without end.
Sharpen a blade too much In its edge will soon be lost fill a house with gold and Jade and no one can protect it. Puff yourself with honour and pride and no one can save you from a fall. This verse is essentially giving us now the wisdom as to why there is no end to grabbing and stuffing, anything that you do too much of you start getting the opposite result. If you sharpen a blade too much the edge will be lost. If you go for too much wealth, you'll lose it, no one could protect that much. If you puff yourself up, and you'll fall down. So the the wisdom obviously being that we should be very careful about consumption in general, complete the task at hand, be selfless in your actions, this is the Way of Heaven, this is the way to heaven. I like that there's this advice at the end, which is essentially do whatever is in front of you to do with a sense of sacred duty and selflessness. This is the way heaven works. And this is the way to heaven, in terms of there being a progression in let's say, our consciousness or where the soul goes after, after this lifetime.
Again, what's the connection with the planets? Ancient astrologers talked about the planets in almost identical terms. The planets are the governors of the unfolding of the karmic world. We study them so that we can reflect on and remember the nature of the world that we're in. That helps us to complete the task at hand to do our duty, selflessly, and to be in flow with something in a flow state or alignment with something that's greater than ourselves.
Verse 10. Hold fast to the power of the one it will unify the body and merge it with the Spirit. It will cleanse the vision and reveal the world is flawless. It will focus the life force and make one supple as a newborn. As you love the people and rule the state, can you be free of self interest? As the gates of heaven open and close? Can you remain steadfast as a mother bird who sits with her nest? As your wisdom reaches the four corners of the world? Can you keep the innocence of a beginner? Know this primal power that guides without forcing serves without seeking that brings forth and sustains life it does not own or possess it. When who holds this power brings tao to this very earth, he can triumph over a raging fire or the freeze of winter weather yet when it comes to rule the world it's with the gentleness of a feather.
Talking about the one here you could also say the tao, we're talking about that which gives us that which brings a sense of unity to all things. And that when we live in touch with this higher truth or this higher reality, it brings things together. And there's a way in which nothing is out of place and everything is understood and experienced with a kind of perfection. And this is advice for rulers about anyone who's in a position of leadership, maybe political rulers back in ancient China. But as you love the people and rule the state, can you be free of self interest? As the gates of heaven open and close? Can you remain steadfast as a mother bird who sits with her nest? As your wisdom reaches the four corners of the world? Can you keep the innocence of a beginner? So here's some very basic advice for leaders says you know that we should be free of self interest if we're in a position of leadership, and that we should remain steadfast even as great power comes and goes in the world. And even if we're very wise can we remain like a beginner? And then there's advice for what the primal power looks like, which is something that any buddy who's working in a position of power should understand. Know this primal power it guides without forcing serves without seeking, brings forth and sustains life but doesn't own or possess it.
The opening chapter of the Astronomica by moneyless an ancient Roman astrologer says that more important than understanding the astrology and all the rules of the astrology is to know the heart, the divine heart of the sky itself and that that is the intention behind doing this ology itself. This is the same one or primal power that we are seeing in verse 10, that leaders ought to know so that power does not become corrupt. And so that we can become good leaders in whatever our position might be whether you're a parent, or you have some position at work. The last part of the verse says, When who holds this power brings down to the very earth, they can triumph over a raging fire, the freeze of winter weather, and then they come to rule the world that's with the gentleness of a feather. So this power, when when when wielded is not a domineering type of power. It can overcome great things, great forces, but it does so with a kind of gentleness. And in my experience, if you do astrology long enough, you see that power comes and goes, victory and defeat come and go in succession, great periods of happiness are followed by challenging periods, and the seasons of our life, keep unfolding like this. And if we want to do well, or have an influence or leave a mark on the world or our within our sphere of interest, then it's important to understand what the power of the universe is actually, like it's tremendously powerful, and yet at the same time, tremendously gentle.
And it doesn't always feel like that. But I think that if we align ourselves in the right way, you can you start to perceive that. And in my experience, part of the way that you align yourself with something like the tao or or what these sacred texts are getting at whether it's the Bhagavad Gita, or the Tao te Ching, or, you know, so many other sacred texts, you have to empty yourself every day. I mean, being aware of what's happening in the world, through the planets is like that, that part guides me through the the actual Dharma path I have to go out and walk. It keeps me aware of what the weather's like. And that's important.
But also I have to like empty myself through meditation, or through prayer or through taking a walk, taking care of my body. If I don't empty myself, then it's really hard to feel how gentle and powerful this divine intelligence really is. So I think personally, one of the reasons I do series like these is because I think it's important that people who consume astrology, are pairing it with their spiritual development that they're taking time out for it. So if I don't take time out for it on my channel, then I don't think I'm doing a real service. Anyway, that's my philosophy. And I hope that you guys are enjoying the series. I do one a week. So we're going through the Tao te Ching, two verses at a time, one a week, just offering some reflections on why we do this, and really the heart of the sky that we're trying to get to know. So I hope that you enjoyed this today, as I said, and we will be back tomorrow for more astrology content. So have a good day, everybody, and we'll see you again soon. Bye.
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