Uranus: The Alchemist of the Age

Book Review: Uranus: The Alchemist of the Age  by Sri K. Parvathi Kumar (Danishta 2009)

I bought this book as a result of a dream I had. It is by a teacher who follows another teacher of the Ascended Master, Discarnated Wisdom Master type, called Master CVV, or the Aquarian Master. The philosophical type is a mixture of Theosophy but is also strongly infused with yoga philosophy, Vedic and Hindu knowledge, astrology, and new age teaching. So there is a whole esoteric system and cosmology reflected in these series of teachings. He notes a spiritual astrology that was re-configured by the Aquarian Master and perhaps others near the end of the 19^th century right around the time of the founding of the Theosophical Society in 1875. The author says that Madame Blavatsky was given three keys: astrology, etymology, and time. These are presumably to Vedic knowledge. According to the author there are three more: grammar, the metrical system in nature, and utterance.

According to the teaching Uranus is the ruling planet of Aquarius and since we are entering the Aquarian Age the influence of Uranus is being felt in various things such as the acceleration of scientific understanding of space, consciousness, the atom, and radioactivity. Uranus is the manifestation of the activity of Varuna, who is termed a supra-cosmic being concerned with root-matter, the spaces between things, and the ability to penetrate.  The similarities of Uranus and Varuna have been noted by those examining Indo-European religion so the connection may be on this basis as well. The great secret of Varuna, he says, is that of manifest creation itself, or apparent creation from seemingly nothingness. The Master CVV called this the Aquarian Passage and also gives it a place in man as a sort of thread-fire-river-bridge from the ajna chakra at the third eye to the sahasrara chakra above the crown. This passage he says is guarded by the Gandharva Narada mentioned in the Vishnu Purana. Narada is considered a Wisdom Master. In the Purana he was given special status by Vishnu for his devotion.  

Much of this book speaks about the attributions of Uranus and how it is supposedly manifested in the world of today. Uranus is associated more with the indivdualist, non-herd mentality person who does not follow trends and fads. So it is said that Uranus bestows originality. Uranus is friendliness and originality. He is the homeless wandered. His activity is that of Synthesis. So that is the Alchemy of Uranus. Here is a characteristic quote:

“Uranus stands for higher intuition, and it is this which is being brought about by the science of impression by the Masters.”

He refers to the disciples of the Hierarchy who developed themselves to be on the threshold of the buddhic plane in order to receive the teachings from the Masters. Uranus is associated with a shift from religion to science. He equates Uranus with the development in man of an etheric existence where the myth of death disappears. Uranus is anti-oppressive and anti-suppressive. He says Uranus advocates homeopathy and holistic types of healing. He speaks of Uranus as a bridge from the mundane to the supra-mundane and notes that astrologically the energies of all the planets are channeling the Uranian energies. There is given the notion of the Seven Rays – given as the Vedic names of the seven horses who pull Surya’s chariot – Will, Love-Wisdom, Intelligent Activity, Harmony, Concrete Science, Devotion, and Ceremonial Law & Order. This is equated to the seven rays of the sun – or colors of light as ROYGBIV. There is a whole series given here of correspondences of Seven related to these rays, planets, chakras, planes, glands, numbers, minerls, gems, food, days, colors, symbols, and asanas. Uranus is said to function through the nadis and governs the human aura. In terms of Mitra-Varuna he says the spirit is Mitra and the body of the spirit as soul is Varuna. So Mitra resides in Varuna. Here Varuna is termed Mother Varuna, or Varuni.

The originality of Uranus is equated to that of stories of Krishna who was so original that he does not dwell in any sort of patterns, or patterned consciousness, but in an enlightened spontaneity. He talks slso about the fundamental dualities of Siva and Shakti as consciousness/mind and energy and the triplicities of Mitra, Varuna, and Aryaman as well as Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva or as atma (spirit), manas (matter), and buddhi (consciousness). He compares them to the scientific model of th e atom where, “The neutron can be seen as the centre from which there is a moving out of energy which revolves around the centre. This is electron. When electron emerges, the neutron becomes proton to counterbalance the activity of electron.” Thus the positive energy is seen as stable and the negative energy as always in motion like the Shiva-Shakti scenario. The heart center and the buddhic plane are said to be where spirit and matter unite or attain a state of equilibrium.

There is a rather curious statement attributed to Master CVV that man will besome radioactive when he attains the buddhic plane. ‘The work of Uranus is ably assisted by radium and polonium. It is interesting to note that radium and polonium are found in the uranium ores and also that the atomic number of polonium (84) is also a number of Uranus. Indeed it takes the planet Uranus 84 years to complete its orbit around the sun making a typical human lifetime about 1 cycle. Also 84 is a rather convenient product of two of the foremost astrological numbers 12 and 7. Many symbologies can come from this. One given in the book is a division of the human lifetime into 12 cycles of seven years with prescribed behavior for each.

The author notes the Uranian method of awakening kundalini with sound. The Gayatri mantra was apparently, selected by the Masters as well as the sound CVV (see vee vee???) V is for VAM, the seed mantra of Varuna. The author notes that there are two currents of sound awakening – a lunar hierarchy current based on music through Neptune called Soma and presided over by the Grand Master Narada. The other is presided over by Varuna and is based on the science of sound. He says humanity is stuck in Libra and is planned to be lifted up to Gemini in the throat center through the sound activated kundalini. The Master CVV inaugurated it as May 29 – called the May Call early when the sun is in Gemini. Here is an interesting quote regarding yogic unfolding a la  kundlaini:

“Chakra is a conditioning energy, for it works in circles. Lotus is an unfolding energy. As the unfoldments happen from the base to the throat, the chakras become lotuses and the soul moves freely within through a cord called Sushumna. In other words, through the thread of Sushumna the flowers are all interconnected  and this is called Varna Mala, which is translated by Sir John Woodruff as  the ‘Garland of Letters.”

After this he recommends Woodruff’s book – The Serpent Power – another book recommended several times is – A Treatise on Cosmic Fire – which I think is by Madame Blavatsky.

The final chapter notes some interesting symbological yogic contemplation in reference to my dream. There is mentioned a Gandharva called Vena who exists as a fiery river in the Palace of Varuna and is the essence of this Aquarian Passage. He is able to move freely from states of apparent pure energy to states of apparent pure matter, from a condition of existence to non-existence. The Gandharva Narada is said to guard this passage and to bestow entry to sublime beings:

“The Purana therefore recommends  to the Yoga students (disciples) to regularly meditate upon the sevenfold palace of Varuna in the seventh plane and the flow of the fiery river Vena daily in the morning and the evening.” A retreat of 3 days and nights fasting and meditating is also recommended. He refers to the fasting as – sitting on the threshold of consciousness – so that hunger and thirst do not come. One contemplates the bridge between Ajna and Saharara chakras as a visualization with a mantra.

The weapon of Varuna (also of Uranus) is the pasa, or noose, and according to the author represents comprehension. In the more material or gross planes comprehension is typically narrow. The higher planes are said to engender wider fields of comprehension.

There is a final short paragraph on the function of Gandharva Vena being that of the neutralization of Karma. The binding of Varuna is also equated to the binding of karma and really if you think about it what is more binding than habitual action?

As a meditation one is instructed by Master CVVto think as follows:

“Vena, the Gandharva, is wiping off the pictures of the subconscious mind on the walls of my nature with the hieroglyphs of sounds from his seven stringed lyre.”

OK it was a good book and I think the philosophy is generally positive being generally devoted to becoming more spiritually aware and geared towards helping others and lifting up humanity. I must admit though that some of the theosophical BS and mish mashing of different spiritual ideas of different cultures and the various planetary hierarchies and cosmological assumptions one is faced with is a little hard for me to deal with. But other than that I enjoyed the book and learned from it. I have practiced the meditation and will continue to do so as I contemplate various hypnagogic and hypnapompic yogas and yogas of transitional states in general. I have another book of Sri K. Parvathi Kumar that equates the twelve deeds of Hercules to the energies of the zodiac and will likely read it in the future.