The Transformatikos: Budha
(Part of The Transformatikos by Adityanath)
After completing the Shukra Mantra, the next Planet we encounter as we travel inward toward the Sun is Mercury, known in Sanskrit as Budha. It is important to note the spelling so as not to confuse this Planet with the Buddha, spelled with two d’s. They are, however, related: Budha being related to the word budhi, the mind (or more specificly, intelligence), while Buddha relates to the Enlightened Mind.
In the 36 Tattvas of Kashmir Shaivism, Budhi contains two faculties, Ahamkara and Manas. Ahamkara is called the I-maker because, although it is really a more general purpose relational database, in practice the Ego tends to relate everything to itself. But abstract logical thinking (e.g. A is related in such-and-such a way to B, and B is related in some-other-way to C, etc.) depends on the relational memory of Ahamkara.
The second faculty, Manas, is the active and projective aspect of mind. It is the interface between the relational memory of Ahamkara and the Senses. It is responsible for the interpretation of objects and both builds up images of the external Universe and projects name and form onto the world of the Senses. The faculty known as Attention is also a function of Manas, and this allows us to switch our focus from one Sense to another as well as build up the proverbial train of thought or images. Active Imagination relies on the properties of Manas.
Metaphorically, Mercury or Budha is the Prince of the Court: he is just a boy and his father the King uses him as a gofer or messenger boy. All negotiation, communication, studying, and meditation is delegated to Budha. The latter function may appear strange, but there can be no meditiation unless Budhi willingly enters the meditative state, the state in which it is receptive to the higher Tattvas rather than focusing on Ahamkara, Manas, and the Senses.
OM BUM BUDHAYE NAMAHA!
The Mantra of Budhi is repeated 4,000 times. The seed syllable BUM is pronounced “boom” — the vowels in all the mantras are long ones. This seems a good juncture to describe the structure of the Mantra. All of the Planetary Mantras start with the seed syllable OM, followed by the seed syllable of the Planet, which is constructed from the first consonant-vowel sequence of the Planet’s name followed by the nasal M. Then follows the Planet’s name with the honorary suffix of deity “-ye” appended, followed by NAMAH. The word Namah is related to the English verb “to name,” but also carries with it the connotation of respect, meaning something like “I utter your name with the greatest of respect.”
In puja, this is often followed by an attitude of “Please have a seat and make yourself comfortable. Here’s a nice drink and would you like some water to wash your feet?” There are many traditional sets of offerings in puja often numbering up to sixteen items and more, but the idea of offering water, incense, flame, food and flowers are common to all. As these five elements are common to many arcane and occult traditions, many Naths find a five-fold offering convenient.
The Budha Working should be started on a Wednesday during the Waxing Moon. Like Venus, it is a good idea to ensure that Mercury is in direct motion and not too close to the Sun, Surya.
Home | Soma (Moon) | Shukra (Venus) | Budha (Mercury) | Surya (Sun)
Mangala (Mars) | Brhaspati (Jupiter) | Shanaishchara (Saturn) | Appendix