Spensorium

The confusion, the misunderstandings behind Rahu and Ketu, can largely all be blamed on the variation in understandings (and lack of) regarding maya, desire, attachment and detachment.

Many people attribute Rahu to something close to Buddhisms notion of craving, and as a byproduct, for those who arent informed, assume Ketu always = full rejection or disinterest in a certain area.. a complete void, lack of clarity and neglect.

Rahu does lead to insatiable desires, unyielding hunger and pushing something to the limits among many things – like taboos, what is foreign in the house it sits, manipulation/scheming and capacity for clever shortcuts.

Ketu is not merely lack of desire, though, it is opposing rahu, and is a significator of detachment (though ketu, ESPECIALLY when debiliated, can lead to neglect and dissociation).

Detachment is the ability to engage with something, without clinging, and being able to dissolve psychological binding at will.Ketu is where one has engaged in and essentially karmically mastered or overrun their course over lifetimes, providing one with the capacity for dissolution of illusion and spontaneous flashes of clarity OR a general lack of interest.

It is the headless planet, also symbolized with smoke (In Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra (BPHS), Ketu is explicitly described with qualities like:
“smoky” (dhūmra)
headless obscure, unclear, difficult to grasp) – indicating its granting of intuition, subtle awareness and the ability to dissolve affirming to what is temporary and illusory, as well as potentially obscuring so one can diverge from for new experiences in other areas.

One may not crave the area of ketu in the sense of “tanha (craving) – grasping, compulsive, identity bound desire”, at least, not for very long until ketu annihilates it.. but one can absolutely  desire the renunciation, otherworldiness, subtle energies and detachment it brings.. and more importantly, the intuitive brilliance granted.

Where ketu sits, is very often the area where one effortlessly acts with supreme efficacy, and with 0 cognition.

I experience both of these placements in such an extreme way – my ketu directly on my ascendant in Bharani Nakshatra, and my Rahu being directly on my Venus malavya yoga (libra 7th), conjunct closely to my Sun, and conjunct my atmakaraka Jupiter.

I am as Ketu as I am Rahu.

Again, I tie the misconception of Ketu being all about “rejection” and total renouncing to people not realizing the difference between desire and attachment.. and lack of desire from detachment.. these are NOT the same.

I dont see rahu as evil, especially in kali yuga, and wanted to share the different ideas on desire and craving, in which ive brought up with others recently.

In Buddhism it says certain types of desire(craving) is the root of all suffering, but in reality, desire itself does not inherently lead to suffering. It is only with avidya (ignorance) where desire produces suffering and attachment.

Even in Buddhism, it is made clear that there are distinct types of categories of desire. I.e tanha (craving) – grasping, compulsive, identity bound desire
chanda: intention, aspiration and motivationThe second not automatically being an issue on the path (though it is intended to eventually be discarded).

Attachment and desire are not one in the same, many people often conflate the two.
Sure, not wanting anything makes it impossible to be disappointed or unfulfilled – though wanting something does not imply attachment or inability to let go of clinging to what no longer serves you, or an inability to control the expression and outcome of your whims.


In Kashmir Shaivism, the doctrine I align with, all differentiation is the desire/will of the transcendent itself.. and the transcendent does this because of lila(divine play).

The Supreme reality does everything, all of the contraction and veiling, out of joy and bliss.

In this metaphysics – one can engage in the world and become a jivanmukti, experiencing jagadananda(realized while alive, experiencing the entire world as your own play) – participating in the world while simultaneously aware of ones true nature.

In this system: samsara, life, maya, is not evil at all.. rather, it is seen that you are here entirely by choice, and it is divine.

So, to be clear, tantric, nondual shaivite and shakta schools certainly diverge strongly in their ideas of desire, agency/will and the concept of maya, relative to other eastern schools.