As most of you know, 2019 is said to be a challenging year by astrologers who have made a lot of videos available on youtube. This is not a post that will explain these transits in detail, I will be writing articles about it in the following week. This is a post that is aimed at restoring faith and strength and not give in to the negativity that is being spread all over the internet about 2019’s transits.

The 4 most intense transits that we have to deal with and work with are

  1. Saturn – Ketu Conjunction
  2. Rahu Ketu axis change to Gemini / Sagittarius
  3. Jupiter in Gandanta
  4. Saturn Ketu Oppose Mars Rahu

Order your 2019 predictive horoscope based on your Moon/Ascendant sign here.

The key transits of 2019

You can view all these dates based on your time zone on the Cosmic Insights App.

  1. Sun-Saturn conjunction – Jan 1, 2019
  2. Partial Solar Eclipse – Jan 5, 6, 2019
  3. Total Lunar Eclipse – Jan 20, 21, 2019
  4. Venus – Saturn conjunction –  Feb 10 to Feb 18, 2019
  5. Venus – Ketu Conjunction – Feb 24, 2019
  6. Mercury Debilitated in Pisces – Feb 24, 2018
  7. Rahu/Ketu change signs too Gemini / Sagittarius – March 6th, 2019
  8. Saturn Retrograde and conjunction with Ketu- April 30, 2019
  9. Jupiter in Gandanta – March 15th to May 5th, 2019
  10. Jupiter retrograde 10 April 2019 to 11 August 2019
  11. Rahu and Mars oppose Ketu and Saturn – June 2019
  12. Total Solar Eclipse – July 2, 2019
  13. Partial Lunar Eclipse – July 16,17, 2019
  14. 3 Mercury Retrogrades – March 5 – 28, 2019, July 7 – 31, 2019, October 31 – November 20, 2019
  15. Mars debilitated in the sign of cancer – June 22 to Aug 8, 2019
  16. Mars in Gandanta – Aug 6 to Aug 10, 2019
  17. Venus debilitated in Virgo –
  18. Annular Solar Eclipse – Dec 26, 2019

Does this mean all is doom and gloom in 2019? Certainly NOT!

The planets are not here to cause harm and havoc all the time. They are nothing but a mere reflection of our own karma. Each planet has its own unique way to guide us but the ultimate lesson we have to learn is to move inwards and start asking ourselves the important questions in life. Who am I? Why am I here for?

If we are attuned with nature and with the universal energy around us, we certainly can cruise through obstacles. This could be a blessing in disguise for many of us who have been wanting to start our spiritual journey. That is the ONLY way out not just for 2019 but for the rest of our lifetime and even more.

There is no need to wait for any negative transit or event to happen. We can start our spiritual journey this moment and NOW.  Being on the spiritual path does not mean we run away from our responsibilities and become a saint. It is about living life consciously.

We fear Saturn, Rahu, Ketu, Mars and call them Malefics. But if you take some time to understand who they are and what is the message they have for us based on our own chart, there is no need to fear.

Saturn is a planet that shows us our reality, our responsibilities, our pending karmas, etc. Ketu is the significator of Moksha, Ketu wants us to drop the worldly affairs and seek self-realization and to make us do this he creates dissatisfaction and denials. When they come together there is a natural tug of war between these energies. One wants you to finish your tasks and be more responsible while the other wants you to let go and drop everything. If you do not know how to navigate these energies, we end up being swayed into all sorts of turmoil and turbulence. But on the other hand, if we understand this energy we can definitely channel them in the right direction. The keyword for this transit is “Vairagya – Dispassion”.

Vairagya is not being scared or running away from the world but being in the world and completely detached, centered and one of the most effective and most powerful ways to attain it is via Meditation, mantras and prayer.

Here is an interesting talk by Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar about Dispassion. 

Dispassion does not divide you, in fact, it connects you. It connects you to the present moment so totally, you can be one hundred percent in anything you do. Actually, what happens when you are not dispassionate? You are linked to the past or the future.

So, you are not one hundred percent connected to the present, you are more divided. Do you get it? When your mind is hoping for something in the future or regretting the past, it is not a hundred percent with the moment. That means it is already divided. When you’re fully centered, doing anything in the world, then you are one hundred percent every moment. When you eat, eat one hundred percent, enjoy every bit of it. You can feel every sip of the soup you’re having, every bite of the food tastes great. And every look, every sight, is fresh and new. Your love is like first love every moment. You look at anybody or anything and it’s all charming to the core, as though it is a very new sight.

Dispassion does not take joy away from you. Dispassion gives joy which nothing else can give.

There is a verse in a Shankaracharya composition:

Bhaja Govindam, Kasya sukham na karoti viragaha?  What pleasure is there that dispassion cannot give? It gives all pleasure because you are so totally in the moment. It puts you one hundred percent into the moment. Every moment is a peak experience.  People who think they are very dispassionate are melancholic. They are sad. They run away from the world, and then say, “Oh, this is dispassion, I have renounced the world.” This is no renunciation, no dispassion. Do you see what I’m saying? People escape out of failure, misery, sorrow, or apathy, and say they have dispassion towards the world.

Dispassion is something more precious, more refined, and more valuable in life. If you are dispassionate, you’re so centered, so full of joy and contentment. Anybody would like to be that way.

There is a story about Diogenes. When Alexander saw him, he was being carried out, taken to be sold as a slave. The people taking him to be sold looked like the slaves. Diogenes said, “Here is a slave, who wants to buy him?” He was roaring like a lion. It was difficult for people to see who was a slave and who was selling the slave. When Alexander the Great came to India, people told him that if he found a sanyasi or saint there, to catch hold of them and bring them back with him as they are very precious in India. So Alexander sent word but nobody would come. Then he sent a threatening message to the pundits saying, “If you don’t come, I’m going to sever (chop off) your head.” Still, the people did not agree to come. He said, “Okay, I’m going to take your books. All four Vedas will be taken away from you, including some scriptures.” They said, “Okay, you can take them by tomorrow evening. We’ll give you all our books.” What did this pundits do? He called all his children and made them memorize the whole scripture by heart, overnight. Then he took the manuscripts, he said, “Okay, you can take the manuscript, we don’t need it now.” He caught hold of the manuscripts when he wanted to catch hold of a sanyasi! The sanyasi wouldn’t come.

Finally, he had to go to him and say, “Are you coming or not? Else I’m going to chop off your head.” He said, “Fine, chop my head off. I’ll also see.” Alexander could not look into his eyes. He could not tolerate the power of dispassion. Here, for the first time was a person who did not care for an emperor. When Alexander entered India, people presented him with golden bread on a plate. Alexander said, “I’m hungry, give me bread, I want to eat bread!” They said, “Oh, you are an emperor, how can you eat wheat bread? We prepared golden bread for you.” He said, “No, you are making fun of me at this time. I am starving? I am dying, now give me bread!” They brought him bread and said, “Don’t you get bread in your country? Why did you have to conquer the whole world (all these places) to get bread? You eat the same bread that we eat here.” This shook Alexander for a moment. This was true, what was the point in conquering country after country? All that you need is to live peacefully and happily. And when you don’t have that happiness and peace, care and concern for people, then putting your stamp on all the villages and towns, has no meaning. So it seems he said, “When I die, my hand should be kept open. Let people know that Alexander the Great is going with empty hands although he conquered. He could not take a thing from this earth.”

Dispassion is this strength in you. Our Guru Dev used to say that even if the Creator offered him knowledge, he would say no. We don’t need to take anything from them, not even from the Lord of wealth or the angels! That is the strength of dispassion. I mean, it is not arrogance, it is centeredness. When you’re so centered, so calm, then you can understand that everyone who has come to this world has come to give something. There is nothing to take from here. Do you see? A shift happens and you come from a very different context altogether.

-Excerpts from Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s commentary on Patanjali Yoga Sutras.