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So this was the story of Lord Shani Dev. If you read this, it will help you overcoming troubles of life caused by Shani Dev. Have total faith in him. The thing is that whatever your mind's eye sees, that is the reality - if you fill your mind with philosophical ideas, that will be your reality, and if you fill it with Sci-fi films that will be your reality. You may call it Fantasy, but Fantasies are not always bad or harmful. This is also true that the positive Fantasies help people to spend their lives in a better way. Healthy fantasies create a health self-image.

But the healthy self-image is not sufficient to effect harmony between one individual and the other or between an individual and the society. To be truly healthy, an individual needs a healthy image with which he can relate himself; and that image is of Universal Reality. Everybody knows that the Universal Reality is One. Although nobody has seen Him, still people have tried to make His images for long time. And although He is One still He has many faces, and vice versa - although He has many faces but He is identical behind the persona. But from the perspective of Universal Reality, every face is a limited expression of Divinity.

Seeing is believing, that is why we go to temples to have His Darshan (seeing - a peculiar practice of East) to look at a particular face of God so that it may enter your personal reality. There you concentrate on the Divine Reality and discourages your mind to wander around. Images for Darshan need not to be of material, it may be a story also which can help you achieve this objective.  You meditate so that those traits on which you are meditating upon, can become a part of you. So look at it, or meditate on it and try to adapt its qualities in you.

Nav Graha (Nine Planets)

In Indian Jyotish (astrology), the nine planets are not just the material balls, they are much more potent. It is necessary to understand the meaning of the word "Graha". "Graha", in Sanskrit, means to "grasp or to catch hold". This is used in both senses - in a sense organ means "which grasps" (by mind) and "hand" which physically holds physical things. One can use this as the life offers.

Just as you grasp the things in your hand or in your mind, in the same way other varieties of Graha can get a grip on the internal you. A few Grahas nourish us when they possess us - they are called "Anugraha" (means to follow in grabbing), and "Vigraha" (an iconic image - a form which enables the mind to grasp the nature of God). The faces of God which we see in temples are all "Vigrahas". What is the meaning of "Entering a Graha in one's body"? It is like entering our image in a mirror or as the rays of the Sun are collected in the crystal Lens, or as the soul enters our body, unseen.

So these nine Planets are the nine masks of the Reality. They have emerged from the nine major personalities which arise from the primordial images which populate the world of the mind. In Jyotish they are not only ego-conscious, but have the power to affect the ego-consciousness of other beings too. Their most important influence is their ability to give us their Darshan and to create image within us whether we want it or not.

Each of us, according to our individual astrological makeup mapped out in our horoscopes, is more susceptible to the Darshan of a certain Planet at a certain moment, and of the image that Darshan creates within us, whether we are aware of that image within us or not. When we are strongly affected by that Planet's Darshan, then we feel that we are acting out of our free will. Our everything is guided by that Planet's qualities. Even our philosophy is changed at that time according to that Planet. In fact the philosophy of that Planet influences our own personal philosophy through which we start to see the world.

When Shani strongly affects us we manifest his qualities within us, like delay, pessimism; in the same way when Shukra affects us, our sensory enjoyments come in foreground. So as the Graha, so the image; and as the image, so the experience. The images of these Nine Planets possess us so subtly, that it sometimes appears as if the Graha themselves are directing our actions.

We and Our Karm (Actions)

Any action with which you identify yourself as the Doer, is called Karm. This Karm is the seed out of which fruits are enjoyed. As each seed gives fruit after maturing into a plant, your each Karm also produces a fruit as it gets matured. As these Karmas mature, they project into the subtle or astral  body - the home of your self-image where they affect your mind by strengthening one or another of the qualities of the Graha whose images you carry. Then your mind directs your body to perform certain actions and to avoid others which produce the beneficial or detrimental results demanded by your stored Karm.

Your Destiny is the sum of your past actions and the Nine Planets see to it that you reap, without fail, what you sow - according the Karm Law, the Law of Action and Reaction. Each Graha acts on you according to his own unique job description; and the sum of all the Graha can sometimes highly original deviations from the path you had planned to tread. In fact by altering our perceptions, the images of the Nine Planets within us induce in us those peculiar thoughts which inspire those special actions which our Karm require of us - actions we might have not otherwise performed.

Although we surely like to believe that we are the master of our decisions, but most of us are thoroughly under the control of our past actions, and we perform only those actions which they tell us to do. For example, if you go for shopping some day when you are under the influence of Shani, then it is not you who are shopping but it is Shani who is shopping through you. OR since Venus promotes conciliation and Mars encourages confrontation, two people who are possessed by these two images will respond to a challenge in two very different ways. Even if you are aware of these influences of Graha, you cannot behave in your normal way, in your own way.

Shani (Saturn) in Other Cultures

Shani is the most important of the Nine Planets not only in India but in other cultures also. Chaldeans and Babylonians and Assyrians called him Sun of the night. Shani is the brightest planet in the sky. Western alchemist called him the Black Sun. The Greeks knew him as Kronos (he who gives the measures = the originator of Time), Chronos (Time), and Cronos (the crow god), the crow being much used in Divination and being symbol of long life, in both Italy and Greece. Western psychological explanations of Shani's importance concentrate on his distance from the rest of the solar system.

In both Indian and Western astrology Shani symbolizes people who are isolated from the daily life of the rest of the world: customs agents, jailors, ascetics, healers, patients in isolated wards latrine cleaners and grave diggers etc. Or people who can be isolated through leisure, solitude, sickness, theology, secret philosophy, superstition etc. In fact anything that makes us withdraw, physically or mentally, from the thick of the things is a function of Shani.

According to Indian astrology, Shani rules both longevity and prosperity. He has the power to make a King a pauper and vice versa. He controls everyone's Destiny. No one can escape his grip no matter where one is living. Only he can change someone's fate, so one must know about Shani so that you can live happily and peacefully.

He is the force of Fate which can make you experience your Karm whether you want it or not. He is the planet of Experience, that is why he is called the son of Soorya Dev. Soorya refers to the soul - the true experiencer. Our inner nature is present in our genes or chromosomes and determines how we experience the world. There is a saying in Sanskrit, "Swabhaav Vijayati Iti Shauryam" - means "the true heroism is to conquer your own nature". Until you have conquered your inner nature Shani can always affect you. He will search your weaknesses in your personality and will expose them to full view, making you experience your limitations by making your ego self-identity with those limitations. As long as you are unable to control your own nature, you are at Shani's mercy.

When Shani told Vikramaaditya his stories he meant that even God had one blind spot which must be encountered. In these situations Shani teaches endurance and humility. One Western author comments - "In esoteric teaching, Shani is the planet of discipleship and a disciple is simply someone who is learning."

How Shani Teaches

One of the most important lessons Shani teaches us is by his Saadhe Saatee period. It is like as if he has flipped a switch. He begins to cramp your life as soon he enters in the House just before your Moon's House. The Moon is most important Planet in Indian Jyotish as he denotes Amrit, and rules your heart. Although Soorya is the Planet of light but it is so intense that it burns, while the Moon's light is very cool and nourishes. If the Moon is very strong in someone's horoscope, he will flood his life with Amrit, making him happy and satisfied. An afflicted Moon will afflict your ability to be satisfied. Shani dries up that Amrit and shut the doors of enjoyment. "For the individual ... Cemeteries are usually located at the edge of the cities and that is where Saturn takes the soul." This is one of the reasons why Shani is considered the fiercest Planet among all the Planets.

Among the juices of life is the sweetness we get from love, so drying the juice means that he takes away this love from us, means he takes away those people who love us most. Accordingly people lose their grandparents during the first 7 and 1/2 years of life (which cannot begin later than the age of 23), then lose their parents during the second 7 and 1/2 year period; and die themselves in their third 7 1and 1/2 year period, if at all they are destined to live so long.

The origin of this principle of interpretation is unclear, though the idea of 7 years of bad luck is common in many cultures. The time span of the period also has certain developmental significance. A child is in his fundamental developmental stage till his 7 and 1/2 years of age; the next 7 and 1/2 years emotional developmental is seen. Puberty and development of the thinking mind takes next 7 and 1/2 years and so on. Since Shani moves once through the Zodiac in about 30 years of time, roughly four of these 7 and 1/2 year time periods occur during his each cycle. When Shani returns where he was at the time of birth, he promises material prosperity or career advancement. But Saadhe Saatee is normally bad for everyone.