The word grahaNa is used to mean An Eclipse. The word graahaka refers to a Customer, and the word anugraha is used in the context of a Blessing! Did you ever notice how these three Sanskrit words, which sound so close to each other, grahaNa – grAhaka and anugraha, are translated to mean such widely different things in English?
By paying closer attention to the meanings of these three words, and their origins, the true meaning of the word graha, which is usually mistranslated as a planet, can be understood. In this blog, we will look at the real meaning of the word graha, Why translating nava-grahas as the nine-planets is completely misguided, and at the end, answer the most common question, which is in fact not really a question, but a thinly veiled mockery, which is “How can Celestial orbs, far far away, affect our life here on Earth!”
The English word planet is used in its current meaning, only in the early 1600s. It finds its origins in the latin word planeta, and greek planetes, both of which mean, to move, or to wander. Once the west realised that in the solar system, the Sun is relatively fixed and the other celestial objects move around it, they started using the word planet, which conveys just that, celestial objects in motion. And of course after that, the debate has been on forever about which celestial objects in motion around the Sun are worthy to be known by the word ‘Planet’, and which are not!
The very word ‘graha’ on the other hand, is used with the earth, as the plane of reference. Not because of a lack of understanding that objects in the Solar system move around the Sun, the very arrangement of the Nava-Grahas with the Sun at the centre, demonstrates this understanding. Our interest, rather, was in studying how these external celestial entities exert their forces upon us here on earth. The study is done, with earth as the plane of reference. That is why we see that earth is missing in this arrangement of nava-grahas.
Coming to the words grahaNa, grAhaka and anugraha that I mentioned in the very beginning, all these three, come from the same root sound, which also forms the verb gRhNAti in Sanskrit, which means to grab, or to take hold of. The etymological definition of it is grah upAdAne which means, the sound grah is used in the context of ‘taking something’. That is why, the word graahaka, is used in the context of a customer, or a consumer. The one who takes. A student is a graahaka of knowledge, a plant is a graahaka of water and sunlight, and so on.
Similarly, the word grahaNam, denotes the ‘process of taking in’. It is used in the contexts of ‘grabbing’, ‘seizing’, and ‘wielding influence over’. ‘bhojana grahaNam’ is ‘taking in food’, ‘pANi-grahaNam’, is taking one’s hand in marriage and so on. And finally, the word anugraha, is used in the context of ‘taking someone close’, or ‘being favourable and benevolent’ to someone. So you see, the common theme in all these words is from the root sound ‘grah’ which means to grab, or exert an influence over something or someone. It is with this deep understanding, that the nava-grahas, or the nine celestial influences were identified. They are listed out in an order of the strongest influencers first. So we see the Sun and the Moon as the first two grahas.
Maybe listing out Nine Planets was a poor imitation by the west to mimic this borrowed wisdom. Maybe it was just a coincidence that they tried to count up to 9 somehow and then fumbled. Whichever be the case, mistranslating nava-grahas and nine planets and then reasoning backwards that the concept of nava-grahas is pseudoscience because it includes Sun, Moon and ecliptic phenomena, is just sheer stupidity.
So to answer the common question of the self-appointed owners of scientific thinking, “Do Planets affect Human Life on Earth?”
Well, asked the people who named them planets! The ‘nava-grahas’ on the other hand, are verily named, because of their influence on us. Elaborate systems of knowledge were created around identifying these influences, be it favourable or unfavourable. Practices and rituals were designed to either pacify these effects, or to move beyond them completely taking life into one’s own hands.
This is the basis of the entire field of Jyotisha Shastra.
