The Universal Star

August 7, 2025

Uttara Ashada, 21st Nakshatra

Today the Moon is moving through Uttara Ashada, the 21st Nakshatra called the Universal Star. This Moon sign offers an unstoppable victory as its Shakti, but you must fight the right battle to attain it.

Carl Jung wrote about the conflict between need and desire that can become a life changing experience when resolved. Desires belong to the ego, that part of consciousness that gives us our identity in relation to sensory experiences. If the senses like a thing so does the ego. If something is unpleasant to the senses the ego rejects it.

Much of waking consciousness gets hijacked by the endless pursuit of pleasure and avoidance of pain the ego seeks. The ego lives moment by moment and has no sense of incidental consequences or collateral damage caused by its choices. That is a problem most of us struggle with.

The counterpoint to the ego is willpower. This is a part of consciousness that develops the resolve to choose right action over convenience, necessity over desire, and recognizes that Life in the collective often requires sacrifices of life as an individual. These sacrifices extend from use of time to death of the individual, which will happen to all of us eventually.

Winning the battle involves allowing the will to flourish in its pursuit of higher things and restricting the ego to those desires that align with what is needed or at least don’t interfere with necessity and right action. Over time we can tame the ego’s appetites and perhaps even quash it entirely, leading instantly to comprehension of our true self and connection to all things, times, and places.

That comprehension leads to moksha, ultimate freedom, serenity, and power in service to life.

Uttara Ashada is symbolized by the broken tusk of Ganesha, the elephant-headed deity in the Vedic pantheon who is the giver of boons and overcomer of obstacles.

Ganesha was a scribe who lost his head to greedy bandits (a metaphor for the ego). Brahma had essential work for Ganesha to do and when an old elephant offered his head to Brahma, the Supreme Creator used the gift to restore Ganesha to life.

Grateful for a second chance, Ganesha dedicated his life to helping others reclaim their wills and overcome the seduction of destructive forces from the ego.

Chosen to write down the Vedas as the great Rishi (sage) Vashishta chanted them, Ganesha had the misfortune of his last quill breaking in mid transcription. The sage insisted he find a solution immediately or Vedic wisdom essential to life would be forever out of reach of humanity. Recognizing the truth in this imperative, Ganesha snapped off his tusk at great pain to himself in order to have an indestructible quill for completing the work.

This selfless sacrifice gave him the unstoppable victory of fulfilling his commitment to repay the gift of life, honoring the sacrifice of the old elephant, and immortalizing Ganesha as one of the most beloved avatars of creation.

So today, remember the gifts you have received and pay them forward, not to earn fame and fortune, but to gain the unstoppable triumph of will over ego. Measure all desires against need and always privilege the higher truth over base wanting. Namaste 🙏