Happiness is Overrated: In Defence of Saturn

The caller ID read US Department of Immigration. I picked up the phone and a smooth Indian accent proceeded to ask me to hold the line for a case officer, as I was being summoned to court by the US government for immigration fraud. A few weeks ago I had received a similar call from the “IRS” trying to extort money from me, and I knew this was a scam. I wanted to hang up but I was compelled to hang on because of a recent article I had read about the proliferation of scam call centers in India that are raking in billions of dollars. Young educated people trying to survive in the competitive Indian job market find it hard to resist the temptations of working for these organizations because they are not some seedy underground operations, but rather legitimate companies housed in posh buildings complete with company parties, picnics and t-shirts.

This is how our conversation went:

Him:  Mam, please hold the line to speak to your Case Officer who will explain the charges against you in more detail.

Me: What you have got to be kidding, I am US citizen – do your really expect me to believe that this a legitimate call?

Him:  Mam, there is a very serious charge against you and you could face 20 years in prison. You are an immigrant and you have committed a criminal offense.

Me:  Look you can stop wasting your breath, I know this a scam, I am a lawyer (I could not tell him I was an Astrologer) and you are not going to scare me with your stupid rehearsed lines. What you are doing here is very wrong, I know it feels like an easy way to make a living and have a good life. But it is going to come back and bite you in the long run. You are going to regret not taking the hard road and pursuing a real career. And not to mention the bad karma you are accumulating in the process. The short run suffering you will endure by walking away from this cushy job will be well worth it in the long run.

Please promise me that you will at least think about what I have said and consider finding yourself a new line of work. It is never too late to be who you were meant to be and I know there is greatness in you.

Him: You are a lawyer? Hangs Up.

Ten minutes later the phone rings again. The caller ID reads US immigration Office.

Him: Is this Mrs. Renu?

Me: Yes

Him: I have thought about what you said and decided to quit this place. I will go back to college and find another job.

Me: Thank you, thank you so much for calling me back. I am so proud of you. I know you will do well. You made my day!
 

I thought to myself, this guy must have been running a really good Saturn, Jupiter transit today – I was both those planets for him during the call. He so readily embraced the wisdom and higher road of Jupiter and the hard path of Saturn.

Now most of us would never do this to other people, but what’s worse is that we are always ready to scam our selves. We consistently avoid Saturn’s dreary teachings and put off the hard decisions, in lieu of temporary happiness. Time after time we project on to people and circumstance our longings and what we want to happen not what is. We live with unrealistic expectations from our partners, situations, places, jobs and even our body and we are devastated when they don’t meet our desires.

Our horoscope is a portrait of fulfilled and unfulfilled desires and longings and each planet has a unique job description. Depending on its placement it will make it hard or easy for us to get what we want.

The Moon represents our deepest emotional needs and cravings, our inner child, and feels the pain of unfulfilled emotional desires most intensely. Venus’ job description is to bring comfort, joy, pleasure, harmony and remove suffering. The moon is super sensitive and easily hurt and if there is any affliction to the moon in the horoscope it is easily derailed and thus often not able to do its job of fulfilling us emotionally. Venus on the other hand is usually pretty good at his job and will almost always give us some level of happiness in its planetary periods, even if not that well placed in the chart.

As you can imagine when the Moon and Venus come under the stern eye of the insipid Saturn, thorny Mars, sacrificing Sun, overdriven Rahu, or the minimalistic Ketu, it can really limit our happiness (Venus) and the fulfillment of our emotional longings (moon).

Many new age “religions”, are based on Venus and Moon’s needs that the divine wishes to fulfill our personal desires and goals and that we can and should have it all.

Most old religions, including astrology, are based on Saturn’s teachings that the divine will give us whatever experience is most helpful for the evolution of our consciousness.

Saturn bears the heaviest burden of bringing the worst news possible, but really all he is doing is cleaning up the mess other planets, especially Venus and Moon, leave behind.

So here is how I think a conversation between Venus, Moon and Saturn would go.

Venus: Saturn, you are so dreary and boring, you sound just like my parents. Self control, hard work, routine, chores, responsibility — all that sounds so limiting to my creative spirit. I want to express my inner goddess; I want to focus on positive intentions and affirmations to achieve my desires.

Saturn: How can you focus on positive intentions when your ego is controlling your desires? Most of the time your desires are made of reactive emotions (moon), telling you what is or is not going to make you happy. Emotions are not reality — they are usually just habit or old memories - reinforced by similarities with experiences in the past. This is why when you act on your feelings alone you make the same mistakes over and over.

Moon: Please don’t be so disrespectful and dismissive of my feelings, you are making me feel terrible. I feel I know what is best for me – I don’t need your lectures.

Saturn: What’s best for you is what actually happens and not what you feel should have happened. How can you know that the other outcome you are seeking will be best for you in the long run. I don’t want my feelings, passions and desires determining my happiness.

Venus: Passions are critical in life to fulfill our destiny. Our thoughts, positive or negative, decide our reality. I am not going to let you influence me into thinking negatively.

Saturn: It is not possible to get rid of our negative thoughts. You can however stop being a slave to your thoughts that will always leave you wanting more of what you don’t have even after you have manifested what you wanted. Thoughts have a mind of their own and they will come and go as they please, just don’t magnify, prolong or validate every thought and strong feeling that comes and you will be happy.

Moon: It’s just this kind of negative thinking of accepting the status quo that makes this world a terrible place. No one should have to suffer in this life. I want to manifest a reality that we are all living in harmony, no one is needing or wanting or suffering. A life filled with joy, laughter and happiness.

Saturn: Happiness is overrated. The secret to happiness is to love what you have and not manifest what you don’t have. It is gratitude and grace for the way things are that will bring us closer to the end of suffering and not the fulfillment of our endless desires. It is our attempt to dictate and manipulate how things should be and how people should behave that causes our suffering.

Venus: You are so negative. Look at me I am so happy right now — I am singing, dancing, filled with joy. Life can be an eternal spring and lived without any suffering. I am living proof of that.

Don’t you want that?

Saturn: No thank you. No one can guarantee what will happen to you in the next moment, I don’t want to rely on this type of happiness for my peace of mind. I prefer to find my happiness by taking care of my responsibilities, rather than finding transitory happiness that may be taken away any moment or when the seasons or dashas change.

Venus: Say what you will, I want to be happy right now and not worry about what will happen in the future.

Saturn: Happiness will never last if it comes from reliance on the feedback of your senses (Venus) and emotions (Moon). I  remain your humble servant and I will clean up the mess you guys have made and put you right back on track towards finding the true essence of your divine Self, which finds peace without needing the ego stroked, even if I have to bring you temporary pain to do so.

Venus & Moon: We get it we have heard stories about your obsession with humility and your “clean up” methods but for now we just want to follow our bliss, so leave us alone.

Saturn: I will until the date and time is right.