Navigating Varuna's Net: How Awareness Frees Us from Karmic Struggles
- Aishani Rishi
- 3 minutes ago
- 4 min read
In the ancient Vedic texts, there is a story that many overlook but holds a profound truth about how we deal with karma. It is the tale of Varuna, the cosmic guardian of waters, who weaves a net not of physical ropes but of subtle karmic threads. This net traps those who struggle against their karmic patterns, tightening with every effort to resist. The lesson is clear: some karmas do not unravel through force or avoidance but through awareness and surrender.
This post explores the story of Varuna’s net, its meaning in vedic astrology, and how understanding this energy can help us stop struggling and start transforming.
The Story of Varuna and His Net
Varuna is a unique figure in mythology. Unlike Mars, who is fiery and aggressive, or Jupiter, who expands and grows, Varuna’s power is quiet and deep, like the currents beneath a calm ocean. He governs the waters, which symbolize the subconscious, emotions, memory, and hidden karmic ties.
According to the scriptures, Varuna carries a Pāsha, a net made of subtle karma. When someone becomes entangled in this net, fighting or running only tightens the bonds. This net is not meant to trap the body but to awaken the mind. The only way to escape is through realization, not resistance.
This story teaches that some karmic patterns are not obstacles to overcome by sheer will but invitations to deeper awareness.
How Varuna’s Energy Shows in Vedic Astrology
In vedic astrology, Varuna’s influence is felt most strongly in:
The 12th house, which relates to subconscious patterns, isolation, and spiritual surrender
Water signs like Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces, which govern emotions and intuition
Cycles that repeat in life, especially those that feel karmic or unfinished
Dreams that carry hidden messages or karmic memories
Relationships that seem to carry unresolved past-life energy or deep emotional ties
These placements often indicate areas where the soul is invited to surrender rather than control. The lessons here are internal, focusing on emotional healing and spiritual growth.
Why Some Karmas Don’t Respond to Action
Many people try to fix karmic struggles by taking action: changing circumstances, manifesting new outcomes, or using tools like tarot or NLP to reprogram the mind. While these methods can help in many ways, Varuna’s net represents karmas that resist such efforts.
These karmas do not respond to:
Force or willpower
Avoidance or denial
Prayer or ritual alone
Manifestation techniques without awareness
They shift only when you ask a different question: “What is this trying to teach me?” instead of “Why is this happening to me?” This shift in perspective moves the focus from victimhood to learning.
Personal Story: Facing Varuna’s Net
Imagine someone who keeps encountering the same painful relationship pattern. They break up, try to move on, even seek therapy or use tarot readings to understand their love life. Yet, the pattern repeats. Each time, the emotional pain feels deeper, the longing more intense.
This person is caught in Varuna’s net. The more they struggle to escape, the tighter the net feels. The breakthrough comes when they stop fighting and start reflecting: What lessons about self-worth, boundaries, or forgiveness is this pattern holding? What unconscious beliefs are driving these choices?
By turning inward and embracing awareness, they begin to unravel the net’s threads. The pattern loses its grip, not because it disappeared overnight, but because it no longer controls their mind.
The Role of Psychology and Spiritual Surrender
Psychology offers tools to explore subconscious patterns and emotional wounds, which align with Varuna’s domain. Techniques like mindfulness, journaling, and therapy help bring unconscious material into awareness.
Spiritual surrender, a concept emphasized in many traditions, complements this process. It means accepting what is without resistance and trusting the unfolding of life’s lessons. This surrender is not passive resignation but an active choice to observe and learn.
Together, psychology and spiritual surrender create a powerful path to freedom from karmic struggles.
Recognizing When Varuna’s Energy Is Present
You might notice Varuna’s energy in your life through:
Recurring emotional themes that feel unresolved
Déjà vu moments that hint at past connections
Unfinished business with people or situations
Unexplained feelings of guilt or longing
Dreams that seem like memories from another time
A sense of being “held back” despite efforts to move forward
These experiences are not punishments but signals. They invite you to pause, look inward, and explore what you might be repeating unconsciously.
Practical Steps to Work with Varuna’s Net
Pause and Observe
When you feel stuck or caught in a repeating pattern, stop struggling. Notice your emotions and thoughts without judgment.
Ask Reflective Questions
Shift your focus from “Why is this happening to me?” to “What is this teaching me?” or “What part of me needs healing?”
Use Tools Mindfully
Whether you use vedic astrology, tarot, NLP, or psychology, apply these tools to deepen awareness, not to force change.
Practice Spiritual Surrender
Accept the situation as it is. Trust that awareness will guide you to the next step.
Seek Support
Sometimes, working with a counselor, astrologer, or spiritual guide can help you see patterns you miss.
The Deeper Lesson of Varuna’s Net
Varuna’s net teaches that the real imprisonment is not karma itself but unconsciousness. Karma is simply the pattern; freedom comes from awareness.
This means some karmas will not unravel until you stop struggling and start observing. The net tightens with resistance but loosens with understanding.
By embracing this, you transform karmic struggles into initiations - opportunities to awaken and grow.
The story of Varuna’s net offers a powerful reminder: not all challenges respond to action or avoidance. Some require a quiet turning inward, a surrender to awareness. When you learn to navigate this net, you move from being trapped by karma to being guided by it.
The Deeper Lesson
Varuna teaches: Some karmas will not respond to action. Some won’t respond to avoidance. Some won’t respond to force, prayer, or manifestation techniques.
They shift only when you ask:
“What is this trying to teach me?”instead of“Why is this happening to me?”
Because the real imprisonment isn’t karma - it’s unconsciousness.
The universe is saying:
Pause. Look inward. You’re repeating a pattern you haven’t understood yet.
The Release
In the myth, the net dissolved not when the captive escaped, but when they awakened.
Awareness unties the knot. Presence dissolves repetition. Truth ends the loop.
Varuna’s message is simple:
When you stop resisting the lesson, the karma becomes the doorway. And the net becomes the path. If you are interested to work with me, please do click this button to explore my offerings and feel free to book a session.
