Manu and Ikshvaku

MINOR ARCANA - Body/Pentacles- Decision

ZODIAC- Jupiter in Capricorn

NUMBER - 2 OF Body (PentacleS)

MEANING: equanimity, InFINITY, MATURITY, RESPONSIBILITY, ALchemical Child

Conversation between Manu and Ikshvaku

Once Ikshvaku asked his father Manu, who had come from the world of creator god, brahma 'What can be the cause of this visible universe?'
          Manu tells 'King! This, whatever is seen, does not exist even a little. It is nothing but a mirage or castle in the air. It is nothing but that, indestructible thing which is beyond mind and senses and is difficult to comprehend. That reality is called self.
          King! This continued creation, filled with all visible objects, is only the reflection in that great mirror of self. The reflection seen as intelligence is nothing but that pure consciousness with an intention and will. With this, the consciousness attains individualisation. It is just like water becoming waves.'

Ikshvaku is the son of Manu and an ancestor of Lord Rama. After him the Ikshvaku dynasty is named. He was also one of the early monarchs of India, and played a vital role in bringing forward the Vedic Religion. He had a hundred sons, of whom the three most distinguished were Vikukshi, Nimi, and Danda. Fifty of his sons were the kings of the northern nations, while forty-eight of them were princes of the south.

Lord Krishna, in Bhagavad Gita mentions Ikshvaku as, “I instructed this imperishable science of yoga to the sun-god, Vivasvan, and Vivasvan instructed it to Manu, the father of mankind, and Manu in turn instructed it to Iksvaku.”

When Manu, the first man on the earth, was sneezing, Iksvaku was born from Manu's nostrils. Ikshvaku was the first king of the Ikshvaku dynasty and founder of the Sun Dynasty (Suryavamsh). He is the son of Vivasvant Manu who is the son of Vivasvant (Surya, the Sun god).

Rama and Buddha are both stated to have belonged to the Suryavamsha or Ikshvaku dynasty.

When you mature on your path you are a faced with a choice. Either you take the responsibility by getting rid of your ego which is another name for the mind. This shifts the perception and you move to the next stage or you digress. Time comes when you cannot keep the performance going, what you have to do is to start noticing these signs:

  1. anger becomes subdued
          2. delusion about the reality of the world becomes feeble 
          3. desire reaches a stage of exhaustion 
          4. greed runs away 
          5. sorrows do not disturb 
          6. pleasures do not exhilarate
          7. Equability rises on its own in whatever one does
          8. certain coolness spreads in the heart *

*Vasishta tells Rama in yogavasishta

The traditional meaning of the card reveals a reference to fool’s carefree nature. Approaching life with grace, trust and joy points us to whether we have it all or we got nothing the infinite possibilities of what we have strength to manifest are endless. We survive the turbulent seas by staying present in the now.

Further on Ishhvaku