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Swara, Part One

Solar and Lunar Days

Indian astrologers use a special almanac, called the panchangam. It is a combination of ephemeris and a log of the astrological energies that pervade the environment. The panchangam is usually used as a tool of electional astrology, in which the most auspicious date is selected for various activities, but can be a very handy boon for students of Swara.

The panchangam consists of 5 main elements, but in Swara we are mostly concerned with two, Varan and Tithi. The Varan is the astrological solar day. The planets ruling those days are the same as the ones that we get their names from. Sunday belongs to the Sun, Monday to the Moon, Tuesday to Tyr (the Norse sword god, although in French it is Mardi, for Mars), Wednesday to Wotan (Mercury) Thursday to Thor (Zeus/Jupiter) Friday to Freya (Venus) and Saturday to Saturn. The Varan starts at sunrise.

The well known planetary hour guide is a variation of this method of subdividing time, in which the planetary day name is the first hour, followed by the others in descending order of speed, or chaldean order. Observe the diagram to the left: if you go around the circle clockwise starting from Saturn, this is the order of the planetary Hora, while if you start from any planet and follow the lines of the star in a clockwise direction, you will see that this is in order of the Varan.

The apparent orbits of the Sun and Moon is the basis of the Lunar month. The circle and is divided into 12 months of 30 Lunar days each. These Lunar days, or Tithis, are really 12° separations of the Moon from the Sun, calculated dynamically. In other words, if we start from the New Moon, when the Moon reaches full, the Sun will have moved around 15° from the position of the New Moon.

The first, or waxing half of the Lunar Month is called "Shukla Paksha" or bright half. These are the 15 days from the New Moon to the Full Moon, and during this period, the left nostril is dominant on days 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 9, 13, 14 and 15.

The second, or waning half of the Lunar Month is called "Krishna Paksha" or the dark half. These 15 Lunar days span the period from the Full Moon until the next New Moon, and the right nostril would be dominant on days 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 9, 13, 14 and 15. In this case, day 1 is actually the 16th day of the Lunar month, or the day after the Full Moon.

It must be mentioned again that these are not calendar days, and sometimes there will be a double day or an empty day, in which the 12 degree separation has not been completed in the period between two sunrises, or in which two sunrises occur during a single lunar day. Also, since the time of sunrise will vary from place to place, this calendar is local, making it difficult to know which day is which.

Probably the best way to get a feel for the Swara rhythm is to check the nostrils on the New Moon and Full Moon days. On the sunrise following the New Moon, the left nostril should be operating, and continue to do so for three days. At sunrise following the Full Moon, the right nostril should operate for 3 days.

Local newspapers usually have the time of sunrise, and the time of the New and Full Moons (calendars are usually set for Greenwich or the time zone of the company that makes them). You can use that information as a guideline. On the new and full moon days, you should wake up before sunrise and check the operating nostril before getting out of bed. If the incorrect nostril is operating, you may want to block the open nostril and breathe rapidly through the closed one for a little time before getting out of bed, in order to get in on the Lunar rhythm.

The Solar breath, which is masculine and connected with the left hemisphere is connected with the planets Sun, Mars and Saturn, the 'malefic' planets of astrology. On their days, Sunday, Tuesday and Saturday, the right nostril operates for one hour, beginning an hour and a half before sunrise. One half hour before sunrise, the nostril that belongs to the Lunar Day takes over. If the nostril of the Varan and the nostril of the Tithi are the same, the flow of breath through that nostril is auspicious.

The Lunar breath, which is feminine and connected with the 'benefic' planets, Moon, Mercury, Jupiter and Venus, is connected with the right hemisphere of the brain. Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday the left nostril operates for an hour 90 minutes before sunrise, and the nostril of the Lunar day takes over 30 minutes before the Sun rises.

Shushumna Nadi operates briefly when the dominance shifts from the nostril of the Varan to the nostril of the Tithi. It is not influenced by the Solar or Lunar currents.