aṣṭami: significant yet inauspicious⁉️

DH: gautamji, as you & I had already discussed a couple years ago, aṣṭami occurs exactly in between the extremes of a full🌝moon (most conducive for the emotional🥹mind/heart💖 to indulge entirely in devotion@bhakti) & a new🌚moon (most conducive for the sharp🧠intellect to indulge entirely in wisdom@jñānā) & vice versa. 

Hence, the eighth day@aṣṭami of both the waxing🌗& waning🌓phases of the moon provide an environment apt for balance as in “samā-dhī“ (balanced intellect in the deepest meditative state) for an equanimous person (sthitha-prajñā) to holistically integrate his/her sādhanā into sāṅkhya yōgā, as beautifully depicted & practically demonstrated in the concepts of kāla-bhairav-āṣṭami, durg-āṣṭami, 🧲kr̥ṣṇa🖤 janm-āṣṭami etc. 

Essentially, our mind+intellect combo is akin to easily mouldable soft clay of optimal consistency on the potters wheel, rather than too watery/dynamic/fluid/fluttery (as on🌕pournami) or too rigid/static/still/stable (as on🌑amāvasyā). I guess you may have by now recollected our discussion on these lines long back. 

Dr gautam, AOL: Thank u ji. Why is it considered inauspicious to start new worldly things during ashtami?

DH: Before I can pin-pointedly respond to your specific query, we need to🛫takeoff & climb🧗‍♀️up a bit to get the 30,000ft altitude bigger picture! The very classification of “spiritual & worldly” is erroneous as there’s absolutely nothing which isn’t truly spiritual IFF witnessed👁appropriately with total involvement & utter dedication. In the worst case scenario, even the so-called “spiritual” aspects can be seen in a jaundiced manner as materialistic/worldly. So the difference between what’s “worldly” & what’s “spiritual” is purely a matter of wrong/right perception & lack/presence of involvement. Prismatic vision maybe colourful but erroneous. Flirting maybe fun but not fantastic.

Hence, “considering aṣṭami inauspicious for starting new worldly things” is to indirectly advise novice sādhaks to bring in more & more awareness & dedication to whatever they do💪, speak🗣 or think🤔, at least on this one particular day of every fortnight so that the practice will gradually percolate to all the other days too. It doesn’t matter what you do. If you do it with full awareness & absolute involvement, even a so-called “worldly activity” becomes a sādhanā, rendering every day, nay every moment, *auspicious* for it. 

On the other hand, if you perform even a “religious ritual” habitually/accidentally/unconsciously/routinely, then not only choosing the right tithi/day & the other 4 elements of the Indian almanac@panca-angā, but even timing the event appropriately becomes necessary to maximize its productivity & that’s why the whole advanced science of muhurtam has evolved. 

For the spiritually awakened or advanced sādhak however, there’s never ever an inauspicious moment, leave alone an entire tithi/day/month/year/daśā-bhukti/transit/lifetime, as naively demarcated by novices. Every moment & every day is auspicious for something or the other, if only we care to observe, discover & leverage optimally. So is every place. In other words, the intelligent matching of “what WITH when AND where” is far more significant than “what” by itself, “when” by itself or “where” by itself. Even more important than “what AND when AND where” is the intent: “why;” & THE most important of them all is the process: “how@katham⁉️” That’s why we’ve a process-driven culture in our punya-bhūmi🇮🇳bhārat & its sanātana dharmā. 

This concept is most beautifully exemplified in a short story of two close friends “A” & “B” who set out together on a pilgrimage. Midway, one of them, namely “B” is solicited, enamoured & thus distracted by a hooker. What a detour enroute‼️

The other friend “A” tries convincing “B” to continue with their auspicious journey but to no avail. Unsuccessful with the attempts & feeling disgusted at this unanticipated/unfortunate diversion, “A” continues the rest of the trip@yātrā all alone. Reaching the destination, “A” even has a wonderful vision@darśan of the deity. However, A’s thoughts are all about how “B” at the brothel must be enjoying carnal bodily pleasures. In total contrast, “B” is continuously imagining the fantastic darśan that “A” might have received. Effectively, neither of the friends is entirely involved with & dedicated to the actual activity that they are engaging themselves in. This further complicates their kārmic structure, working against the very goal of life to loosen & unscramble its constraining strings, resulting from past actions.