by Dr. K. Parvathi Kumar Book Presentation Overview Astrology

Regulation 1

Fire of Spirit Saturn cools
Spirit of Service Saturn stops
Rhythm and Order Saturn blocks
Stove sign Saturn deadly cool.

Saturn represents the contrary to life, the contrary to warmth. It represents concretisation. It enables manifestation up to the dense physical. Its work is contrary to that of the Sun. Saturn is considered as a cold planet that would not let any further expansion. It means, the expansion meets its limit. Saturn is therefore seen as a limiting principle. To bring any act to its logical limit one needs Saturn. The limit happens when the fire of spirit extinguishes. Every manifestation has its limit. Even the cosmic manifestation finds its limit with the formation of the dense physical Earth. Thereafter what is manifest has to return through cycles of time.

When return of spirit is contemplated it faces the conditions stated in this regulation above. Men do not carry much spirit and get conditioned by the material. They lose sight of the values of spirit of service. Men tend to be self-centred and try to seek even the spirit for oneself. This is where the illusion is. Men are conditioned by the thought of receiving and seeking. They think of seeking the spirit. They need to know that a psychological shift has to happen in them whereby the sense of seeking is replaced by this sense of offering. Service is the first step towards that sense of offering. In the absence of the fire of spirit and spirit of service, men move without rhythm and order. They take to endless cycles of birth and death, which is a circular movement. The daily activity for mundane men is a circular activity, while the circular activity can also be a spiralic activity. Lives move on like the rodents around the mill. Life becomes a dead routine.

Master compares this state of Saturn to a stove, which is very cold and does not enable emanation of any fire whatsoever. This is the state of a mundane man, who takes to endless incarnations, running after material and material pleasures, and the more one tends towards material, one tends to be cold-hearted and deadly in action.

Regulation 2

Stove sign Saturn stalls all¸ Speeding Spirit stands arrested
Master's Spirit gently stimulates
Saturn signs agreement.

Stagnated life is indicative of Saturn. Saturn is the conditioning principle of matter. It continues to condition the spirit until matter completely dominates, and spirit is arrested. Spirit never dies, for without spirit matter cannot emerge. In the densest state of matter spirit remains arrested, dormant. Though spirit is the basis for the matter and though matter is the offspring of spirit, the offspring grows stronger and conditions its benefactor. It is a state where the son binds the father. Arrested spirit stays put. Such is the state of a stone and all seemingly inert material. The spirit in matter can be revived with the help of spirit, which is unconditioned by matter. It is similar to lighting a stove, which otherwise remains un-inflamed. The spirit requires support of higher spirit to regain the fire, revive itself, transforming the matter from its densest state to subtle state.

During times of Master CVV in India people used coal for cooking purposes. The coal had to be put to flame through external agency and also needed to be fanned to use the coal stove. Coal is carbon. Carbon is Saturn. Therefore Master humorously says that the stove is a Saturn stove. It is not easy to keep a Saturn stove (a coal stove) in good heat all the time. It needs continuous vigilance and attendance. In the absence of continuous vigilance and attendance the stove cools down. Therefore he calls it a cold stove.

Incidentally in Master's house there was a coal stove, which was giving much trouble to his lady, disabling her to cook food. He used to call that stove as cold stove and Saturn stove. He sees Saturn working in that stove giving trouble. He even humorously used to call his lady 'the Saturn stove'.

The anecdote apart, inert material requires ignition. When it is put to ignition the fire in the material awakens. Likewise the spirit of the Master gently stimulates the sleeping spirit of the student. When the Master's spirit is present, it is ever vigilant. And Saturn agrees for release of the hidden spirit.

Agreement with Saturn is fundamental for discipleship. Unless Saturn agrees to cooperate the practices of discipleship cannot be continuous. Unless there is continuity of practice, desired transformations do not happen. Unless transformations happen, initiations are not experienced. Thus the first and the foremost Teacher that one encounters on the path of return to the spirit is Saturn. The Master mystically says, “Saturn is the Grand Master, he is the Grand Old Man. Please him with patience, with regularity, and with rhythm. When the Grand Old Man is pleased, he leads you to higher realms.” For this reason serving the old is also recommended.

Regulation 3

Master's Spirit bores the way
Gentle boring Saturn senses
Saturn turns servant
Master turns out Work, Life Work
Sense of Life sensed in
Science of Life senses out.

Master's spirit is spirit of Varuna, the supra-cosmic Aswin, who is known in the lower planes as Uranus. The spirit of Uranus emerges as a ray from the heart lotus of the Master and reaches the heart lotus of the student and moves further down to Muladhara, the base centre. This influx of the ray into the Muladhara is called by Master CVV as 'boring'. Boring is a process of deep drilling into the depth of material. The ray of Uranus is interpenetrating and bores through the substance of Muladhara to clear the way for Kundalini. When the ray of Uranus reaches Muladhara, its presiding planetary energy, Saturn, senses the ray and responds to it. This energy of Saturn enables anchoring of human spirit to the Earth. Man's attraction to the Earth and the general downward pull that man experiences, is governed by Saturn, while the upward pull is governed by Jupiter.

When the ray of Uranus starts boring, the Saturnian conditioning slowly turns the student towards service. Service commences as servitude and later advances into service. Servitude is working for money, working for compensations. It is seen as the work of a slave, from the higher standpoint. In the mind of the servant the thought of compensation is more predominant than work. The compensation is inextricably linked to the work. One tends to look for more money doing little work. Such ones are preoccupied with how to earn more, working less. These are called the servants. But when the spirit of the Master touches the student, the importance of work is gradually realised and the importance of compensation is relegated to the background. Work is found tasteful. Work is carried out to the benefit of the surrounding life and the compensation becomes incidental. The joy of work is gained and the sense of life is sensed.

The whole creation is but action (Kriya Shakti). Nature's action can be perceived as intelligent activity since it has a rhythm, an order and purpose. The rivers, the trees, the plants, the fauna and flora, the minerals, the elements, the planetary energies, all are ever engaged in action. The life force in the humans and in the animals is ever at action. It is so even in sleep hours. Action is the basis for the creation to be and to be in poise. When this is realised the sense of life is realised. Many humans, even the so-called civilised humans, do not have this sense of life; the human business runs after money, power, covetousness, authority, possessiveness, and so on. Work for the joy of work is little realised. Only the yogi knows it well. Not even a philosopher or an intellectual or a person of knowledge. Yogi knows that he has to work, he has to work for the benefit of the surrounding lives. It is not only that he knows, he likes as well to do it. He doesn't feel compelled that he has to work for others. He likes to work for others. He loves to work for others. He loves to serve in whichever way possible. In his mind there is no thought of rewarding himself in any way. He is the self-forgetful one in service. To him the ideals are the planets, the elements, the flowing waters, the vegetable kingdom, the animal kingdom, and the Deva kingdom. He draws his inspiration from nature and lives to work. Such transformations are promised to be brought out by the Master in the student. The student senses the science of life. Such is the work of Master's spirit, when invoked.