Venus (Shukra)

Astronomical Introduction

The planet Shukra (Venus) has a diameter of 12,000 kilometres. It remains at an average distance of 170 million kilometres from the Sun, around which it completes one revolution in 225 days at an average speed of 35 kilometres per second. It takes 243 days to complete a single rotation on its own axis.

Puranic Account

Venus is a brilliant planet, visible in the morning or the evening. According to the Puranas, this is Shukracharya, the son of Kavi, regarded as the guru of the daityas (demons). Owing to his association with the Magha nakshatra (one of the twenty-seven lunar mansions), he also bears a name meaning the offspring of Magha. This supremely intelligent Shukra is himself an acharya (master) of yoga. His wife is Shataprabha, by whom his daughter Devayani was born. Even the gods were once alarmed by Shukra's tapasya (austerities), so much so that in the end Indra sent his own daughter Jayanti to attend upon him, and upon completing his tapasya, Shukra married Jayanti. The name Khyati is also recorded as Shukra's wife:

devi dhata vidhatarau bhrigoh khyati asuman | shriyam cha deva devasya patni narayanasya bhah (Vishnu Purana 1.8.16)

"The goddess Khyati bore to Bhrigu the two gods Dhata and Vidhata, and also Shri, who became the wife of Narayana, the god of gods."

At the time of the Vamana avatara, Shukra seated himself inside the spout of the daitya king Bali's kamandalu (water-pot), so that King Bali would be unable to give the whole earth away to Lord Vamana. But when Vamana probed the spout with a blade of grass, one of Shukra's eyes was put out, for which reason he is also held to be one-eyed. According to the Skanda Purana, he had obtained the Mrita-Sanjivani vidya, the knowledge that revives even the dead, and it was to learn this very science that Kacha, the son of Brihaspati, came to him. Beyond this, semen too is called shukra; hence this same sanjivani (life-restoring) power resides in the seminal essence as well, and by guarding it the native may attain the higher worlds. His realm is Shukra-loka, situated above Budha-loka (the realm of Mercury). At the inspiration of Brahma, Shukra is the one who, for the protection of life in all three worlds, brings forth rain and drought, fear and fearlessness.

In the Puranas, Shukra appears in both female and male forms. In the house of Bhrigu, Shukra took birth in female form as Shri, and he is also said to be of the same nature as Lakshmi. As the star that shines in the morning, Shukra is the guru of the asuras; in the form that shines in the evening, this same Venus is regarded as Rati, the goddess of love. At the Konark temple in Odisha, an image of the planet Venus in female form is found. In Western Asia, too, the goddess Ishtar, that is, Venus, appears in two corresponding forms.

In the Greek myths, Venus is regarded as the goddess of beauty. Thus Mars and Venus are the deities of love. In the Indian Puranas, Kamadeva (the god of love) is held to be the child of Lord Vishnu, that is, of the goddess Lakshmi (Venus). When the asura Typhon (Shambara) emerged, Venus and Kama leapt into the waters of a river, and two fishes carried them to safety upon their backs. By another tradition, the two themselves assumed the form of fish to escape the asura. Perhaps the secret of Shukra's exaltation in Meena rashi (Pisces) lies hidden in this very tale.

Of all the grahas (the celestial "graspers" that act upon a chart), Shukra is the most beautiful, radiant, and lustrous. This is precisely why it is regarded as the symbol of beauty. If the Moon represents one aspect of woman, her motherhood, then Venus reveals woman's other form, where she stands as man's equal, his companion and partner. Venus is the symbol of woman's completeness, where, in friendly rivalry with man, she refines her own personality by herself. Yet that same woman is also the significator of bondage in the web of maya (illusion). It is because maya predominates among the asuras that Shukra was made the guru of the asuras.

The Person Influenced by Venus

The Venusian body is dark-complexioned yet brilliantly lustrous, beautiful, and attractive. All the limbs are in even proportion. The hair of the head is black and curly; the eyes are large and round. Shukra's constitution is dominated by vayu (wind) and kapha (phlegm). The native is rajoguni (governed by rajas, the quality of passion and activity), pleasure-loving, carefree, a connoisseur, sweet-spoken, given to luxury, and of a comfort-loving disposition. A devotee of beauty, he keeps himself looking handsome at all times and is fond of fashion.

An afflicted Venus makes the native lustful and renders him characterless, and in the end the native loses his honour and standing in society.

Influence on the Body

Semen, the male organ, and the female organ are under its authority. It governs the pleasures of love, romance, marriage, sensual desire, sexual union, luxury, music, instrumental playing, dance, song, and like activities.

Astronomical Details

Remedies

According to the Bhavishyottara Purana, worshipping Shukra on a Friday that coincides with the Jyeshtha nakshatra removes the afflictions caused by the planet Venus, and the observer of the vow becomes happy.