Sadhguru: Now, we must understand this; people are thinking that these temples are places of prayer.
These temples are not places of prayer. They’re different types of energies. Shani means Saturn.
These are temples created for the different planets in the solar system. The impact of different planets upon
our own physiology, our psychological structure and the way many things happen,
is obvious to us in many different ways. There is a complex calculation about taking your time of birth,
date of birth and the latitude and longitude of birth taking these numbers; they make a complex calculation
as to what are the planets which have maximum influence on you in your life.
All these things are relevant to you to some extent.
As I said, if you have an inner technology, you level out all these things, all these impacts.
Saturn, which is a small faraway planet, takes thirty years to complete one revolution around the sun.
Because it is a thirty-year cycle, because there are, what is called as four segments in a day
and four segments in a year, according to what happens on this planet, once in thirty years
Saturn will have a certain influence upon you. So people, who come from India…
What is it, sadha saata hmm? What is it you call that in North India?
Sade saat (Referring to Hindi word Sade saati – seven-and-a-half, a seven-and-a-half year
long period of Saturn in one’s life, which is a much feared astrological phase).
Sade saat influence in the north. People, who come from Tamil Nadu,
Elara Shani (Referring to Tamil word – seven-and-a-half years of Saturn) (Laughter).
Theriyunthaane (Referring to Tamil phrase – as you know), Elarai Shani.
So seven-and-half years of influence of Saturn upon you will be there.
At this time, you become more susceptible, it's not that you must have it,
you become more susceptible to disease, depression, disasters, death. You’re in the hands of “D” company
(Laughter). So, people know when their sade saat or Elarai Shani will come.
At that time, they will start doing certain things, so that they can bridge over
these pits that may arise in their life. So there is a temple for Shani Deva.
So he’s been, you know, what to say, personified as a god.
Shani temples are mainly used for occult and exorcism. Even today, there will be one or two priests,
who are trained here. When… On Saturdays, or on a significant Saturday, whatever those Saturdays are,
on those days, he will come and sit on a seat, which is full of sharp nails. He will sit on this
and attend to people’s questions and problems and whatever. He will sit on this for hours on end.
People come here with variety of things, largely for influence of occult or they feel they are possessed
or something like this. Because such things are done, the energies are kept in a certain way in the sanctum,
which is not very conducive for a woman. Can a woman not enter there at all?
She can, if she is trained particularly for that.
But it would be much more difficult to train a woman on these things than training a man on these things,
simply because of a few biological advantages man has in these areas of life.
Especially a woman, who is in a state of pregnancy, or in menstrual cycle, should never enter
such a space because she is very susceptible or vulnerable at those times, that she could
be deeply impacted by these forces. And today, somebody thinks this is discrimination.
One must know the difference between discrimination and discretion.
This is certain discretion but maybe the way it is enforced, I don’t know how they’ve enforced,
I have not been there. Maybe the way they are enforcing is crude and seems discriminatory,
probably, I’m saying because it’s not designed for them. It’s not discriminatory.
It’s just a certain discretion, which has to be…
If we don’t employ discretion, then (Laughs) life will become very ugly and rudimentary.
Don’t treat every temple like it’s some kind of a place of worship. It’s not a place of worship.
So, they’re designed in a certain way, for a certain purpose.
It needs to be conducted that way, otherwise there’ll be no meaning to it.