Mars is Agni, Ketu is Bhasma.
Among the Navagrahas, Mars and Ketu share a mysterious relationship. Both possess fiery qualities, both are warriors. Yet their domains are vastly different. Mars is the fire that burns, Ketu is the sacred ash that remains. Mangal is the warrior who enters the battlefield with sword in hand and fire in his heart. For a Sadhaka it is a fire of tapas, sacrifice, like the fire that consumes, purifies. Just as a yagya cannot occur without fire, transformation cannot begin without the energy of Mars. Yet agni is only the beginning the remainder is bhasma, the remainder is Ketu. Mars is shakti in motion, Ketu is gyana in stillness. Mars teaches us how to fight and Ketu teaches us what is worth fighting for.
Ketu is everything that the fire has burnt away. The desires, the pride, the attachment, the illusion of individuality that has been reduced to ash in the sacred fire. The silent heart of the Sadhak, the smashan, the ascetic 's cave is Ketu 's temple.
Ketu is the headless graha, Sri Vinayaka is the deity who lost his original head. The rulling deity of ketu is Vinayaka. The beheading of Ganesha is not merely a mythological event. The human head symbolizes ego, limitation, and ignorance. When that head is removed and replaced by the elephant head, divine wisdom emerges. Ketu severs identification with the lower ego & cuts away false identity so that higher awareness may arise.
Sri Vinayaka stands at every sacred doorway. Before every puja, every mantra, every spiritual undertaking, he is worshipped first. Because he governs the threshold between ignorance and wisdom. Ketu also governs a threshold by standing between worldly consciousness and liberation, the doorway to moksha. Ganesha the great remover of obstacles, teaching humanity that true wisdom begins when the ego's head falls and divine consciousness awakens.
Ganesha is not merely the giver of worldly success. He is the Lord of Buddhi, Viveka, and Gyana. It begins with Skanda. It culminates in Ganesha.
Mars is agni, Ketu is bhasma.
Om Shree Maha Ganpataye Namaha
Om Shree Gurubhyo Namah
Jai Maa
— Srotoswini
- By Srotoswini Shisya of Gurudev Shri Praveen Radhakrishnan