Narasiṃha & Chinnamastā Caturdaśī

NARASImHA CATURDAŚĪ

Artwork: Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck Collection, India, Himachal Pradesh, Nurpur, circa 1760-1770

नरसिंहचतुर्दशी | 04.29.2026

On the fourteenth (caturdaśī) day of the bright half of the month of Vaiśākha, the festival honoring Narasiṃha Avatār, the fourth incarnation of the daśāvatāra of Lord Viṣṇu, the man-lion, is celebrated.

Narasiṃha’s story begins with King Hiraṇyakaśipu’s brother being killed by Śrī Varāha, the boar. Seeking revenge, Hiraṇyakaśipu performs deep penance to obtain immortality. Pleased, Lord Brahmā (the creator) grants him a boon, rendering him invulnerable to any man or animal, among other stipulations. Arrogant and enraged, Hiraṇyakaśipu conquers the three worlds to avenge his brother.

The āsura king had a son, Prahlād, who was born a great bhākta of Lord Viṣṇu, having heard stories of him from Nārada Muni while in the womb. Hiraṇyakaśipu was outraged that his son would not accept him as God and tried many ways to convince him otherwise. After numerous failed attempts, he ordered his soldiers to torture and kill Prahlād.

Being a great devotee of Mahāviṣṇu, Prahlād surrendered completely, and the lord saved him from every attempt on his life. When Hiraṇyakaśipu questioned his son, while kicking a pillar, “Is your lord in the pillar too?” The pillar split, and the fierce half-man, half-lion Narasiṃha emerged — at dusk, upon the threshold, neither fully within nor without, neither by day nor by night — defying the very categories specified by Hiraṇyakaśipu’s boon, and thereby subduing him, to vanquish the oppressive āsura king and protect Prahlād.

Artwork: Pinterest

He who is Ugra, the ferocious, and simultaneously Śānta, the tranquil — Narasiṃha embodies the supreme paradox of divine wrath deployed in the service of pure love. His terror is not cruelty; it is the unflinching protection of the surrendered soul. It is Prahlād’s unwavering devotion, his complete and total surrender, that draws forth the lord from the very pillar — and it is that same surrendered heart that instantly pacifies the lord’s fierce form.

The lord incarnates age after age to restore balance, protect the virtuous, and vanquish the wicked. Allegedly born from the sweat of Lord Śiva during his tapas, Maṅgal Graha (planet Mars) is said to be associated with the story of Narasiṃha.

Maṅgal is Deha Karaka or the indicator of the body, the heart, and the immune system, as he is the defense system within our bodies. He is the carrier of Agni (fire) tattva, the significator of one-pointed focus, the lord of logic, power, preservation, and violence. He represents protection, particularly the protection of the innocent.

He is further Ṛṇa Karaka, the indicator of debt — for it is Maṅgal who governs what is owed, what must be repaid, and the burdens carried across lifetimes through action and obligation. He is equally Roga Karaka, the indicator of sickness and disease — for when his Agni burns without discipline or direction, it turns inward, inflaming the body and disturbing the vital equilibrium he is otherwise sworn to protect.

Like Narasiṃha himself, Maṅgal is both Ugra and Śānta — fierce in the face of violation, steady in the protection of the devoted. On this Narasiṃha Caturdaśī, one may offer prayer to Lakṣmī-Narasiṃha not only for courage and protection, but for the dissolution of all Ṛṇa and Roga — that the lord who emerged from stone to answer the cry of his devotee may equally dissolve what binds us and restore what has been disturbed.

ॐ श्री लक्ष्मीनृसिंहाय नम:


Chinnamastā Jayantī

Mahāvidyā Chinnamastā Riding Lion by Kailash Raj

Today also marks Chinnamastā Jayantī, honoring the sixth of the Daśa Mahāvidyā—the self-decapitated Goddess who reveals the hidden movement of prāṇa and the deeper alchemy of the guṇas; severing her own head, she drinks from the central stream while two currents nourish her attendants, illuminating how life sustains itself through offering and how consciousness awakens when identification is cut—standing upon the union of desire, she makes clear that the very force that binds can liberate when seen—deeply linked to Rahu, she governs the threshold where hunger, desire, and dissolution converge, transmuting tamas into grounded potency, rajas into conscious circulation, and sattva into a clear channel that must also be released, revealing that true freedom arises not from refinement alone, but from moving beyond all three into the unbound Self.

ॐ ह्रीं श्रीं क्लीं ऐं वज्रवैरोचनीयै हुँ हुँ फट् स्वाहा ॥

All my Relations, Tulsi

New Moon in Aśvinī: The Star of Transport

NEW MOON IN AŚVINĪ

Curated by @___turiya

April 17th 4:51AM PDT | 7:51AM EDT | IST 17:21

The New Moon अमावस्या of April arises in Aśvinī अश्विनी (sidereal Aries), the Vedic lunar mansion known as the Star of Transport—governing movement, as well as the subtle passage between states of being.

Aśvinī stands at the threshold—where one state dissolves and another has not yet fully formed—making it a potent gateway for transition, initiation, and swift reorientation of the path.

Seated at the beginning of the zodiac, Aśvinī holds the spark of latent power, igniting the unmanifest into manifestation. Initiating the first of the dharma houses, and governed by Ketu graha (south node)—marking Sūrya’s uccha (exaltation) point—the emergence of the individual principle, singular and self-illuminating—it is represented in the celestial firmament by two bright stars in the constellation of Meṣa—known in modern astronomy as Hamal (Alpha Arietis) and Sheratan (Beta Arietis)—which ancient Vedic ṛṣis saw as forming the head of a horse.

This asterism holds the energy of Śīghravyāpana Śakti—the power to quickly reach or attain the object of one’s aim. There is a swiftness inherent here, a directness in movement, where intention meets response with minimal delay. There is also an element of the miraculous—an intelligence that moves beyond limitation, where outcomes once thought fixed may be restored, reversed, or brought back into alignment.

Artwork: Pinterest

Ruled by the Aśvinī Kumāras, the celestial physicians to the devas—Daśra and Nāsatya, “bringing help” and “truthfulness”—this Nakṣatra embodies healing, rejuvenation, and the intelligence of alternative medicine. Symbolized by the head of a horse, it carries vitality and the eagerness to begin—to set forth with sensitivity, precision, and a swift, determined current.

The Aśvinī Kumāras are born of a subtle concealment within the solar lineage—when Sañjñā, wife of Sūrya and daughter of Tvaṣṭṛ, unable to bear his radiance, placed her shadow (Chāyā) in her stead and assumed the form of a mare. Sūrya followed, taking the form of a stallion, and through this union the twin horsemen were born—carrying the intelligence of swift restoration, arriving at the threshold where life is renewed.

Initiatives taken now, especially those related to health and healing, are said to bear rapid results, drawing upon the potency of creation itself. There is a subtle current here that replenishes what has been diminished, restoring vitality where life force has waned.

Half animal and half human, they hold an invisible thread—linked to the nostrils, to the first and final breath, and to the currents of iḍā and piṅgalā. The practices within Yoga Śāstra encourage the gentle and steady purification of these channels, guiding awareness toward the inner, hidden pathway, through which the journey of transcending identification with the body, the senses, desire, and even the fruits of action unfolds.

There’s a desire here for a fresh start and rebirth, one that lays the foundation for something enduring. This is attainable through unwavering focus and a commitment to the inner and outer purifications that may have kept you in a holding pattern. This constellation carries the swift momentum to achieve one’s objectives, much like its animal totem, the horse.

Artwork: Pinterest

Just as the race horse wears blinders to avoid distraction or misstep, we too must maintain singular focus, centered in our own lane. Let us remain resolute — unmoved by the opinions, expectations, or noise of the waking dream and world around us — steadfast in the pursuit of what truly matters.

The energies have been clearing the way, awakening clarity, and inviting us to take our seat at the center of our wheel and draw in congruency. With this New Moon, like a doorway swinging wide open, that which we’ve been tending to with steadiness, patience and a slow maturation can begin to land and meet with forward momentum.

What are you claiming?

All my Relations, Tulsi

Join us for our monthly New Moon gathering | Pulse of the Stars: Vidyā & Chai - Sunday, April 19th ☽☼

My schedule is now open for consultations. → Jyotisa Readings

I Said to the Wanting Creature
by Kabir (trans Robert Bly)

“I said to the wanting-creature inside me:
What is this river you want to cross?
There are no travelers on the river-road, and no road.
Do you see anyone moving about on that bank, or nesting?
There is no river at all, and no boat, and no boatman.
There is no tow rope either, and no one to pull it.
There is no ground, no sky, no time, no bank, no ford!

And there is nobody, and no mind!
Do you believe there is some place that will make the
soul less thirsty?
In that great absence, you will find nothing.

Be strong then, and enter into your own body;
there you have a solid place for your feet.
Think about it carefully!
Don’t go off somewhere else!

Kabir says this: just throw away all thoughts of imaginary
things, and stand firm in that which you are.”

Full Moon in Hasta: The Star of the Hand

FULL MOON IN HASTA & HANUMĀN JAYANTĪ

Artworkk: Pinterest

04.01 19:11 PDT | 04.02 7:41AM IST

The full moon (Pūrṇimā) in April rises in the Vedic lunar mansion of Hasta हस्त (Virgo), known as the Star of the Hand.

With the first full moon of the Vedic year, what was planted under the New Moon (Amāvasyā) in Uttara Bhādrapadā begins to be illumined—revealing the early architecture of a stable and enduring foundation taking form beneath the surface of awareness.

Here, that which has taken root begins to be shaped, refined, and brought into the field of conscious creation.

Hasta reveals itself through five stars of the Corvus constellation, forming what the ancient ṛṣis perceived as an open hand—five fingertips poised in space beneath Kanyā (Virgo), near the brilliance of Spica.

Sitting at the heart of an artha trikoṇa, ruled by Savitṛ, the life-giving solar intelligence, this constellation illumines the power of skilled creation—the capacity to shape, refine, and fashion something meaningful into form. 

Its animal totem, the female buffalo, revered as a bearer of abundance and sustaining strength, reflects the quiet power to bring forth; its śakti, Hasta Sthāpanīyāgama, holds the energy to gain what one seeks and place it into the palm of the hand.

Channel your creativity, especially in tasks requiring skill and dexterity. This is a very mental nakṣatra—use discernment to align with higher thinking and listen to your intuition.

What is gained here, however, must be held with intelligence.

Artwork: Pinterest

This is not a nakṣatra of acquisition alone, but of right use. The hand is the instrument of karma—what reaches, receives, makes, tends, blesses, and builds—and what comes into it carries responsibility.

Skill here is cultivated, not assumed. It is intelligence refined through restraint, repetition, and guidance. This is the current of Gayatrī—an intelligence purified enough to illumine action without distortion, to move without waste, to act without losing alignment.

This nakṣatra carries a strong mental charge. When guided, the mind becomes precise, dexterous, capable of exacting execution. When unguided, that same intelligence fragments—overreaching, over-calculating, dissipating what it has the power to gather.

There is consequence here.

What comes into the hand may be stabilized and carried forward, or spent. Merit may be directed, or depleted. This is where impulse, indulgence, or misalignment exhaust what has been earned. What is received is not the completion—it is the beginning of a subtler test.

The hand holds two possibilities. It may close—grasping, clinging, attempting to control. Or it may remain open—steady, skillful, and in service. One depletes. The other learns how to hold.

There is also the question of guidance. Without right orientation, intelligence becomes manipulation, action becomes misaligned, and effort becomes excessive. With it, something else moves—clean, measured, exact.

Within the larger movement of this cycle, this full moon marks a point of quiet precision. We are approaching a time where what has been in motion begins to take form. But this is not a moment for hurried grasping. It is a moment for steadiness.

In Hasta, the transformation of material into beauty is exacting—it asks for attention, restraint, and right use of what has been given. What comes into the hand is not by accident—it reflects what has been prepared for, and how it is met determines whether it endures.

As you hold the vision of that which you would like to bring into fruition, return to this place. Neither grasping nor resisting. Neither forcing nor withdrawing.

Stay at the center of your own wheel—steady, inwardly anchored, and discerning.

We are approaching a time where things are able to land. What is already within reach now asks to be met with clarity. What takes form here carries forward. Hold it well.

Artwork: Pinterest

This full moon also marks the sacred observance of Hanuman Jayantī हनुमज्जयंती. Hanuman, the son of Vāyu (the wind god) and an ardent devotee of Rāmacandra, the seventh incarnation or āvatār of Lord Viṣṇu, is regarded as the embodiment of unwavering devotion, courage, humility, and selfless service.

जय श्री राम | jaya śrī rāma

All my Relations, Tulsi 

दशमे युगे यतीनाम् ब्रह्मा भवति सारथिः॥

Daśame yuge yatīnām brahmā bhavati sārathiḥ.

For those established in self-referral consciousness, the infinite organizing power of the Creator becomes the charioteer of all action. - Ṛk Veda 

Join us for our monthly Vidyā & Chai New Moon gathering, honoring the sacred observance of Akṣaya Tṛtīyā and attuning to the emergence of a potent new cycle under the New Moon in Aśvinī (Aries).

All are welcome