How to overcome addictions and bad habits using Vedic astrology? PEOPLETALK columnist and Vedic astrologer Dhruv Mehta answers

Every day we perform repetitive actions, some of which are biologically determined, such as eating. Others do more harm than good: drinking coffee on an empty stomach, impulsive overeating, the habit of falling asleep with your phone on, smoking, etc. All these so-called minor weaknesses provide relief in the short term, but poison life in the long term.

Why is it so hard to quit bad habits? How to get out of the vicious circle?

Dhruv Mehta, Vedic astrologer, Indian Brahman and creator of the Astrosutra school, answered these questions exclusively for The Fashion Vibes and told how you can get rid of addiction and get rid of bad habits with the help of Vedic astrology (Joytish).

Dhruv Mehta, Vedic astrologer, Indian Brahmin

Besides being legends in their own field, do you know what Sigmund Freud, Albert Einstein, Carl Jung, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Michael Jordan have in common? They are all smokers with many years of experience.

If high intelligence or discipline could cure addiction, none of them would smoke pipes or cigars. It lives in quiet corners where even the brightest minds seek solace and relief from unfulfilled desires.

“Why can’t I stop?” You should ask yourself this question: “What pain am I trying not to feel?”

These are the situations where Vedic astrology finds practical application. It does not predict addiction, rather it reveals the emotional structure you live in without realizing it.

Teacher hiding behind buildings

Until I was 41, I followed the same algorithm: I quit smoking, felt virtuous for weeks or months, but all it took was one stressful day or a heated argument for me to start again and smoke a pack a day.

In 2009, I taught at a newly opened spiritual center in Moscow, where I taught how to use astrology for self-understanding. During breaks, I went out to smoke a cigarette where no one could see me. One day something unexpected happened. A woman in the audience turned the corner, saw me, and didn’t say a word. He just looked at me with surprise and disappointment. His gaze had a stronger effect on me than any lesson in willpower.

I already knew my birth chart. They combined the effects of Saturn and Ketu. I was born prematurely and spent my first weeks in an incubator away from my mother. The psychology was clear: fear of leaving early, of losing warmth and security at any moment. But knowing and feeling are two different things.

It took eight more years of smoking and shame. I finally realized that I didn’t smoke because of my lack of discipline. Somewhere inside me, this frightened newborn was still seeking solace. Smoking wasn’t a rebellion, it was my safety ritual. Healing began not when I gave up, but when I stopped running from the emotions I had repressed.

Vedic astrology describes the emotional nature. Psychology calls mechanisms. Both sciences describe the same wound from different perspectives.

rahu – this is an eternal “hunger”. It can only be satisfied by filling the emptiness inside, not by food. When Rahu connects with the Moon, we become devoid of emotions. There is a lack of pleasures with Venus.

ketu – the opposite: shutdown, drowsiness. When Ketu aspects personal planets, there is often a history of pain that is too much to bear and so the system shuts down. You avoid everything in general, not just joy.

Venus It seeks pleasure, but carries a damaged aspect of self-medication. A glass of wine that has already lost its taste. Shopping is where we fill the emptiness and dissatisfaction within us.

Anthem Controls impulses and attraction. When Mars is weak or excited, the difference between “wanting” and “doing” disappears. You tell yourself not to do something, but you quickly lose your temper.

Saturn It brings feelings of guilt and bitterness. Your inner critic tells you that you are bad and you need to try better. This shame often triggers the behaviors we condemn in ourselves. You do something wrong, then you feel guilty, and for relief you do something you’ll be ashamed of again; a vicious circle.

The Moon in conjunction with Rahu or Ketu creates spirals of emotional vulnerability. Moon needs security and care. Rahu makes this need desperate. Ketu dulls it. In any case, you are left with a nervous system that has never learned to calm itself.

“Ask yourself not where my addiction comes from, but where this pain comes from,” says renowned ADHD and addiction expert Gabor Mate. Astrology shows the nature of this pain, psychology shows how it works. Birth chart is not addictive. It shows which emotions you protect yourself from.

The Woman Who Wasn’t Hungry

A client with Moon conjunct Rahu in the fourth house came in to talk about being overweight, but we both knew it wasn’t food related. Late in the evening, he ate by inertia, without even tasting it. During our second session, he said quietly: “I’m not hungry. I just long for peace.” His voice was soft, as if he were admitting something he had known for years but never said out loud.

The Moon needs emotional security. Rahu makes this thirst endless. His mother was cold and critical. The house didn’t seem safe at all. Food became the mother he needed; reliable, comforting and always available.

Something changed when he saw this not as a failure but as a wise adaptation to real pain. The obsessive desire began to weaken. Before opening the refrigerator, he paused and asked himself: “What do I really need right now?” This pattern has not disappeared, but it has lost its automaticity.

The real problem is not thirst, but lethargy

The deeper block is not thirst, but lethargy. A defense that says, ‘Don’t feel it, it’s not safe.’ Ketu and Saturn are building these walls. Ketu – through alienation, Saturn – through control and guilt. Both are trying to protect you from pain that once seemed unbearable. However, the pain you avoid is not in your past wounds, but in the fear of experiencing it again. This requires more energy than when you experience the emotions yourself in the moment. I’ve seen this happen many times with clients.

When you choose discomfort instead of turning away from pain, something changes. It doesn’t disappear, but you realize you can be around it without being destroyed by it. That’s when Ketu’s “thirst” begins to wane.

Healing begins when you remain in an uncomfortable situation for at least 60 seconds without trying to relax. Try this app. Let me emphasize this: This is not transcendence, just presence.

Traditional tools still work but they need translation for the modern mind. Mantras are not magic. Despite their esoteric meaning, they have an equally clear modern meaning. They regulate the nervous system. Especially the repetition of low and rhythmic sounds activates calmness. Modern neuroscience recommends singing or humming to regulate the vagus nerve and active parasympathetic nervous system, that is, to achieve calmness.

When Rahu suffers or Saturn holds us in its grip, the mantra creates space between stimulus and response. This area is a preferred location. When “Thirst” occurs, you can try “Om Namah Shivaya”. Not to eliminate it, but to support your nervous system as you try to be with what’s bothering you.

Service and charity also restore energy balance through empathy.

When you move beyond your story and meet someone else’s need, the cycle of “longing” loosens. Saturn’s guilt is alleviated by service. When you give instead of taking, Rahu’s hunger is satisfied.

Simple rituals help because they interrupt automaticity.

Light a lamp before reaching for alcohol. Write one sentence that describes how you feel. Take three conscious breaths. These are not temporary solutions, but a break in the pattern. They create a space through which awareness can penetrate.

But the ultimate solution is itself presence. Awareness interrupts karma. When you pay attention to the moment when the “craving” arises, without judging it, without feeding it, just by seeing it, the pattern begins to dissolve. Your birth chart does not predict your addictions. It shows what you are trying to forget.

Karma is not a cosmic punishment. This is repetition through unconsciousness. You keep doing things because you don’t yet understand why you’re doing them. Momently presence breaks this cycle.

Next time you reach for a cigarette, alcohol, or smartphone, stop. Ask yourself: What does my Rahu really desire right now? What pain am I trying not to feel? For just 60 seconds, allow yourself to confront your feelings of loneliness and inadequacy, without attaching any significance, without any feverish pursuit of success.

To break the harmful algorithm that causes the habit, give yourself the opportunity to be alone with the emotion that worries you, such as pain, anxiety or shame, without trying to change anything.

You are not broken. Each of us is built a certain way, and this internal structure has created adaptations. They once protected you, but they are no longer needed or even in your way. Feel this transformation point in yourself so that the habit turns into awareness that will lead you to the freedom you have been waiting for.

Source: People Talk