Chandra Mantra

Chandra is the only graha that visibly changes shape, and Jyotisha gives him the part of us that does the same — the mind, the moods, the mother. The Moon mantras are quiet ones, chanted after dark in a low voice, and they are less about getting than about settling. Where Surya asks who you are, Chandra asks whether you can sit still with the answer.

What This Graha Governs

Chandra is manas — the mind in its receiving mode, the surface everything lands on before you have decided what you think about it. He carries the mother, the chest and the fluids of the body, sleep, memory, taste, and the whole apparatus of feeling. He rules Cancer, is exalted in Taurus and weakest in Scorpio, where feeling is asked to survive being submerged. Unlike every other graha his strength depends on the calendar as much as the chart: a Moon near amavasya is faint whatever house he occupies. That is why Chandra remedies are the ones astrologers reach for most often — the mind is the instrument that reads the rest of the chart.

The Beej Mantra

Om Shraam Shreem Shraum Sah Chandraya Namah. Shra is the seed the tradition assigns to the Moon, and it is worth noticing how soft it is — the whole mantra is built from sounds that can be made without effort, which is the point. The three vowel turns move the seed through its arising, holding and dissolving registers, Sah seals it, and Chandraya Namah, salutations to Chandra, is the only part that carries dictionary meaning. Chant this one under the breath rather than aloud. A Moon mantra shouted is a contradiction in terms.

The Vedic Mantra

The longer form in common use is the Chandra Gayatri: Om Kshira Putraya Vidmahe Amrita Tattvaya Dhimahi Tanno Chandrah Prachodayat — we contemplate the son of the milk-ocean, we meditate on the essence of nectar, may Chandra set our thought in motion. The imagery is not decorative: in the puranic account Chandra is churned out of the ocean of milk, and amrita, the nectar, is what the Moon is said to hold and pour. Some lineages use a variant opening with Padmadhwajaya Vidmahe, and both are current — take whichever your tradition gives rather than mixing them. Formal navagraha homa uses a Rig Vedic verse for Chandra instead, but that is a priest's recitation, not a householder's japa.

How and When to Chant

Monday, after sunset, facing north-west. Chandra japa is done in the evening because the graha is itself a night-time presence, and the full moon and the days around it are considered the strongest window. Use a sphatik or pearl mala, and wear white or something plain and pale. Eleven thousand is the full anushthana, and because that many across Mondays alone would take months, most people complete it over forty consecutive days. Offer rice, milk and white flowers, and if you can, do the last round sitting quietly with the lamp out.

Who Needs It Most

The classic indications are a Chandra born close to amavasya, a Moon in Scorpio, and Kemadruma yoga, where no graha flanks the Moon and the mind has nothing on either side to steady it. A Chandra mahadasha or antardasha brings it forward, as does an afflicted fourth house or a Moon caught between Rahu and Ketu. Astrologers also suggest it for sleeplessness, for stretches of emotional flooding, and where the mother's health or the relationship with her is under strain. The mantra treats none of these — it is a practice that steadies the practitioner, and a steadier mind reads a hard transit differently.

✦ Chandra does not remove what you feel; he changes how long you have to stay inside it. Chant on a few Mondays and the practice itself will show you the difference between a mood and a life.