[INDOLOGY] Mind and moon

[Valerie Roebuck]

I think it’s meant to be a bit more profound than a verbal similarity - though of course these were widely thought not to be merely coincidental. We find the same correspondence in astrological texts, too, e.g. in Varāhamihira’s Bṛhajjātaka, Chapter 2 v. 1a, where the seven planets of the ancient world are placed on the macrocosmic man of Time.

kālātmā <> dina-kr̥n <> manas <> tuhinaguḥ <> satvaṃ <> kujo <> jño <> vaco <> jīvo <> jñāna-sukhe <> sitaś <> ca <> madano <> duḥkhaṃ <> dineśātmajaḥ <> / 


The Sun [‘Day-maker'] is the self (ātman) of Time, the Moon [‘Cool-rayed’] his mind (manas), Mars [‘Earth-born’] his courage, Mercury [‘Knower’] his speech, Jupiter [‘Life’] his knowledge and happiness, Venus [’White One’] his desire, and Saturn [‘Son of the Lord of Day’] his suffering.

The Moon has a very important place in Indian astrology, but here perhaps it is regarded as representing a less profound (because more changeable?) level of being than the Sun.

Valerie J Roebuck
Manchester, UK

> On 28 Jul 2016, at 06:32, naresh keerthi <nakeerthi at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Renou Etudes Vediques vol XVI p. 150 says it's a play on words.
> 
> I don't have access to this source, but is it possible that this conjecture is based on the similarity of mati = mind [Sanskrit, but also used in Tamil] and mati = moon in Tamil?  
> 
> 
> 
> Best,
> Naresh Keerthi
> National Institute of Advanced Studies,
> Bangalore
> 
> 
> 
>  
> 
> 
> ------------------------------
> 
> Message: 2
> Date: Wed, 27 Jul 2016 10:47:45 +0100
> From: dermot at grevatt.force9.co.uk <mailto:dermot at grevatt.force9.co.uk>
> To: indology at list.indology.info <mailto:indology at list.indology.info>
> Subject: [INDOLOGY] Mind and moon
> Message-ID: <57988341.1727.8FD05B at dermot.grevatt.force9.co.uk <mailto:57988341.1727.8FD05B at dermot.grevatt.force9.co.uk>>
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> 
> Can anyone explain why the mind is the microcosmic counterpart of the moon? The
> correspondence appears in Rgveda 10.90.13 and in countless passages of the Brahmanas
> and Upanisads, but it's not obvious like breath and wind.
> 
> Renou ?tudes V?diques vol XVI p. 150 says it's a play on words. I find that hard to accept,
> because the words (candra-mas and manas) are not very similar (they are in Latin, but the
> sages didn't have access to an Indo-European comparative dictionary).
> 
> Could the connection be through soma (often linked or identified with the moon), since the
> mind is called a pavitra through which poetic insight (dhI) flows and becomes offerings
> (Gonda Vision of the Vedic Poets pp. 278-9)?
> 
> Or is it that the mind, like the moon, is constant though its content continually changes?
> 
> --
> Dermot Killingley
> 9, Rectory Drive,
> Gosforth,
> Newcastle upon Tyne NE3 1XT
> Phone (0191) 285 8053
> 
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> 
> 
> 
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