Nava Grahas - The 9 Heavenly Bodies?

"AdityAyacha SomAya MangalAya BudhAyacha Guru Shukra Shanibyescha Rahavey Kethavey Namo Namaha"

The above sanskrit stotram (a prayer) is something which has been for ages. This is also based on the concept of Nava Grahas (9 celestial bodies) as per Hindu philosophy. You will know shortly why I have stated the above prayer.

Recently the news that scientists have discovered 3 new planets Ceres, Charon & UB313 which may belong to our solar system has been in headline in many channels yesterday morning. You may read more about it here. When one of the news channel made their news saying "Eclipse to Nava Grahas", I was upset in the morning. Again in the evening, I found that channel interviewing many a comman man with each one giving his idea about the discovery, some finding fault in the concept of Nava Grahas, some blindly denying the discovery by saying Nava Grahas means 9 planets and that is it and bla bla bla... yet none really manifesting the idea of Nava Grahas. I was more upset. The reason? Simple. No one really seems to know what Nava Grahas are!!! Added to that, a foolish media makes a riduculous headline.

First off, Nava Grahas are not about the nine planets of our solar system. The Nava Grahas include the Sun & the Moon and doesn't consider Earth, Uranus, Neptune & Pluto of our solar system. The Rahu & Ketu of the Nava Grahas are the ascending & descending lunar nodes. Now that may be confusing to some. Let me eloberate a bit. The concept of Nava Grahas, as per hindu philosophy, only states about the heavenly bodies in our solar system and their movements which influence creatures on this Earth - mostly human beings. So these astronomical bodies of Solar System are stated to be Sun, Moon, Mecury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Ascending & Descending Lunar nodes. (A fact common to all nava grahas is that they have relative movement with respect to the backgound of fixed stars in the zodiac belt).

So why only the above 9? Let me give an example. Why are there more tides on a full moon day? Our 8th class text book would teach us that this is due to gravity of the moon! So Science accepts the fact that moon has an impact on water on the earth. That sounds great to me. Since moon is not biased like us and treats all objects alike, I think its acceptable to assume that moon has similar impacts on other objects on the Earth.

Now, what is the size of the Moon compared to Sun? I assume that you all know how much more the Sun's gravitational pull is. So, though the Sun is far, it has its effect on us. After all Earth revolves around the Sun. What about Mercury, Venus, Mars & Jupiter. Can they all have their impact on us? The influence that I am talking about can actually be related (experimentally) to the formula which defines the force of attraction between any 2 bodies: F=G*m1*m2/r*r, where 'G' is the Newton's gravitational constant, 'm1' & 'm2' are masses while 'r' is the distance between the 2 objects. So, scientifically speaking the impact is proportioinal to the mass & inversly proportional to the distance of the planet from our world. Since Uranus, Neptune & Pluto are relatively farther, I think we can consider their influence on us to be negligible! Now you may ask me about Ceres (current 5th planet in our solar system) that is nearer than Jupiter. I would say "Look at its size". Its smaller than Mercury.

Coming back to Nava Grahas, I think I have made it clear, what actually these Nava Grahas are. Nava Grahas only defines about the movements of some celestial bodies of our solar system which influence our body & mind. I will leave it here for you to think about this and understand, but will continue a little about a related topic: The scientists who proposed the theory of Nava Grahas. Theories based on some facts. Facts which I think they are, but are called as myths by some. Myths, for those who cannot accept the facts. The concept of Nava Grahas has been for ages (millions of years they say) when there were no telescopes, satellites or flying machines. Then who perceived the Nava Grahas? The Answer: Rishis or Maharshis (SEERS) who can see anything & everything irrespective of time & space and with no bounds. To give an example, we all must have heard about Telepathy. In telepathy, the media is nature. The nature gives us the signals which we seek if we can tune our minds and make them capable of it. For a mind of that sort with no limitations, which can see the space above & below with time being no exemption and to which nature itself bows. This greatness belonged to them, the Rishis, who delivered the Vedas which comprises the Hindu philosophy.

So what if our solar system has a dozen planets?