A leading astrological researcher, based in Hyderabad, India.
Ram says: "Like every one else, I too am a traveller adrift in this journey of life, in the quest for the Truth. Circumstantially, I am a graduate in Mathematics and worked as a computer analyst programmer for 15 years before giving up all commercial activities to take up full time astrological research, which I have been doing for more than a decade now."
You can write to Ram: Click Here |
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The Gospel of Grandpa [part eight]
Colours of Life
Nature is indeed so very democratic. All that it has to bestow upon us is done equally, uniformly and consistently, with no partiality or prejudice. Looking at a narrow slice of time, it may appear that some have been unduly preferred—favourably or unfavourably—but in the long run everything evens out and is balanced. Not only is nature a true democrat, she is also an excellent accountant! Once more Ram Ramakrishnan visits Grandpa and the children to explore and unfold the mysteries of life...
It was a day when nature had decided to put up a grand spectacle of colours and aroma. It had rained heavily for a few hours and now the Sun was out in all its splendour. The sweet smell of wet earth pervaded the countryside. The greenery glistened, the birds chirped and the butterflies glided around flowers in full bloom. And in the sky above was the grand spectacle of a magnificent rainbow. Grandpa and the children were savouring this display seated in their usual haunt under the peepal tree.
Munni, who was usually the first off the block when it came to expressing an opinion, remarked that it appeared as if nature was expressing the idea that all the multitudinous colours and hues that were on display were from the seven basic one in the rainbow, and these seven too were after all components of just one colour—white. There was so much symbolism in what they express. Nature appeared to be a philosopher as well!
Chotu who was more reserved but thought deeply, wondered aloud whether there might be correspondences between the colours around that instil and propagate different sentiments in us and the celestial movements that are also said to be a measure of such emotional fluctuations. Grandpa concurred. He confided to the children that for him, celestial movements were merely a set of variables that help in deciphering the workings of life.
Similarly, colours and their combinations were yet another set of such variables. And as both—if correctly interpreted—pointed to the same outcome, correspondences should certainly exist. In fact, planets were identified with certain colours. So saying, he went into his room and picked up a couple of books from his modest library to show various tabulations to the children that listed colours identifiable with celestials and signs as well as emotions. The children quickly brought out their note-books to prepare a consolidated tabulation that appeared as below.
| Colour | Celestial | Sign |
|---|
| Red | Â | Sun, Mars | Aries |
| White | Â | Moon, Venus | Taurus, Pisces |
| Green | Â | Mercury | Gemini |
| Pink | Â | Â | Cancer |
| Off-white | Â | Â | Leo |
| Piebald | Â | Â | Virgo |
| Black | Â | Saturn, Raahu | Libra |
| Gold | Â | Jupiter | Scorpio |
| Brown | Â | Â | Sagittarius |
| Variegated | Â | Ketu | Capricorn |
| Deep Brown | Â | Saturn | Aquarius |
| Deep Blue | Â | Saturn | Â | | Â |
| Colour | Emotion, Idea |
|---|
| Red | Â | Anger, Activity |
| Dark Blue | Â | Malice |
| Deep Blue | Â | Religious Feelings |
| Olive Green | Â | Deceit |
| Green | Â | Fertility |
| Yellow | Â | Intellect, Wealth |
| Orange | Â | Pride |
| Pink | Â | Kindness |
| Grey | Â | Fear |
| Black | Â | Hate |
| Lavender | Â | Spirituality |
| Greyish Blue | Â | Nobility | |
Different texts equated certain colours a little differently with celestials, signs, emotions and ideas, but with some colours there was no ambiguity at all. Red, yellow and black belonged to the latter set.
The children, who had watched a world cup football qualifying match between Germany and Croatia just the other day, immediately identified this set of three colours with the German flag. What significance does this have asked the children of Grandpa, who went into a little reverie before answering. He said that perhaps the colours of a country's flag signify the collective psyche of the people of that country. The
yellow base of the German flag points to the high intellect and consequent wealth of the German people. The red indicates their activeness in transforming their intellect into wealth and also their aggressiveness towards people of other nationalities. The black indicates the hatred of other people towards the Germans and their own sense of sadness and maybe remorse. Looking at history over the past 100 years, Germany as a nation had been the cause of starting two world wars and had been the object of hatred of the people of many nationalities. This was Grandpa's reading of the significance of the colours of the German flag. He said, maybe others would interpret it differently.
But don't collective psyches change with time, asked the children. Grandpa said yes, they certainly do. And so do flags. At the time of birth of the entity that is known as a nation at this time, the colours adopted to represent this entity would reflect the colours associated with the emotions of the people of this time. Any entity that takes birth perishes some day. From the remnants of this entity rises another in its place—with new geographical boundaries, new ethnic amalgamations, new social fabric, new aspirations, new emotional combinations, new goals to pursue and hence a new flag that reflects these emotions and ideas.
In the present times itself, Grandpa continued, the colours representing differing regions within a nation may indicate the peculiarities of the people there which may or may not be consonant with those of the national psyche. He let the children dwell on this thought while he made a quick dash to his library and back, this time bringing with him a book on Germany and its people. Under the section of flags and their history, the children were fascinated to see the flags of some of the regions of that country with varied colours many of which were far removed from the colours of the national flag.
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| Baden |
Bayern |
Berlin |
Branden |
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| Bremen |
Hamburg |
Hessen |
Meckpom |
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| Neiders |
Rheinland |
Saarland |
Sachsen |
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The clouds began gathering again and the vivid colours that were in view just about an hour ago were replaced by duller and darker shades with the grey skies imparting their ominous disposition to the earth below. As sure as grey did represent fear, Grandpa and 
the children scurried to the safety of the house from their perch under the peepal tree. The heavens then opened up bringing to an end what was a glorious afternoon. Here again thought the children, was a composition from nature the story-teller which explained that everything in life is transient and all that begins—pleasant or otherwise, comes to an end.
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 Here ends this chapter of this continuing story. Read more from 
