Saturn as the Servant
Nobody wants to be the servant, but what if being a servant can help you reach the highest goal?
In the classical Jyotiṣa text Bṛhajjātaka (2.1), the planets are personified in terms of their occupation in a king’s court:
As expected, Saturn is the servant. Depending of course on Saturn’s placement in one’s horoscope, when Saturn is prominent in one’s life, such as during Sade Sate (7.5 years when Saturn is going over one’s Moon / Mind) or a Saturn Mahadasha, such things are likely to start happening that force one into servitude. One might lose their house, money, family, fame, career, etc. They might literally be forced to take service-like jobs that are below their level of knowledge and experience.
None of us want this - we of course want to be the King. But this reading of Saturn as a servant requires a deeper look.
For example, you may still be rich and successful, but are you using that money and success to buy stuff for yourself or are you using these resources to serve society? Is the knowledge you have helping others? Is your life used to serve what is good?
That is the “servantness” that Saturn is asking for of those who he afflicts. Saturn’s job is to remove one’s ego so that one can move closer to moksha or enlightenment. In this way, a “servant” is not actually considered “bad” when compared to a king. It may actually even be an advantage when it comes to the final goal of reaching moksha. Being a king is comfortable and doesn’t force such a deep look at one’s life as the misery brought on by Saturn.
In Vedic mythology, the greatness of servantness is personified by Hanuman, the monkey god who is the most devoted servant of Rama, an incarnation of Lord Vishnu. The monkey head represents our monkey mind, which, when uncontrolled, runs around everywhere, grabbing one thing after the next.
But in the case of Hanuman, he was able to conquer the monkeyness that is inherent in all of us. It is only because he was able to conquer his mind that Hanuman even QUALIFIED to be a servant of a god, after which he was entrusted with the most difficult tasks that couldn’t be entrusted to anyone else, such as finding Sita and delivering Rama’s ring to her. That is the high mark (the highest) with which an attitude of servitude should be taken.
According to some stories, Hanuman is considered to be one being that cannot be afflicted by Saturn. That is because Hanuman, as a servant, has already lost his ego and does all for selfless action. So there is nothing for Saturn to take away. Perhaps this is why the worship of Hanuman is said to help mitigate the bad effects of Saturn. The more we think about Hanuman and act like him (as the highest-level servant to what is good), the less power Saturn has.
