"The wise think of insult as nectar, and fear honor as much as they would poison."
Mahabharata Shanti Parva 229.21
The Moon is currently in the extremely triggering & agitating nakshatra of Dhanistha, which is both the height of Mars among the nakshatras as well as the exaltation nakshatra of the planet itself. When we are enmeshed in dualism, we tend to think of criticism or insults as something to avoid. "Don't criticize me" is essentially the mantra of our times. When we become more aware of energetic exchanges and what it means when someone criticizes you on a spiritual level, and rise out of the governing of our egoic emotions, however, we can come to desire it and even crave it. Essentially, when one is looking for spiritual guidance or a mentor or guru, they are looking for someone who will criticize them and point out what they are doing wrong. This is the mechanism behind counseling and consulting as professions in general, and people hire individuals to observe and look for potential avenues or methods that they are not using to improve themselves and their life situation, and want the second pair of eyes that are more unbiased in regards to the situation, and can offer a fresh perspective. The individual who wants to improve in life seeks out ways that they can criticize themselves or asks another person or deity to criticize them in order that they can develop themselves. Dhanistha rules the 10th house, being located partially in the sign of Capricorn in the natural zodiac, and thus rules the knees and one's overall support and foundation, which determine the height the we rise to in every sense of the word. When we develop our Mars to a certain capacity, we become very stable and find that many people around us are unable to contain themselves or stop themselves from fixating on us-- especially in negative ways. Mars relates to the outward flow of energy from the body, and ties to lust, anger, criticism, etc., which is how he drains ourselves or others of their uncontrolled vital energies. So if we don't criticize ourselves, we then become vulnerable to criticizing others and sacrificing ourselves in ways that end up benefitting that person. This is why Dhansitha rules over the highest & most subtle aspect of Mars, who is the planet that governs the executive branch of warfare. Sacrifice is the essential core of criticism in general, because it is always a sacrifice on the part of the criticizer to "offer themselves up" energetically to the person they are criticizing, rather than not interacting with & leaving them to their own devices. If a person is doing something wrong and you laugh and point it out to them even in the cruelest and most ill-intentioned way, then they start doing it correctly; you took it upon yourself to enrich that person's life and point them in the right way, when before that they had no idea & were dwelling in ignorance. This is why Rudra rules over Ardra nakshatra, which is constantly and uncontrollably criticizing and becoming angry at those around it. It is often said that Rudraksha beads are the tears of Rudra, and that a rosary made out of them is more spiritually powerful than a rosary made of solid gold. This is because when you recite on these beads you obtain his criticism, which is uncomfortable but leads to immense personal benefit. This is why they are called his "tears", because he sheds them out of compassion for humanity even when he is scorned for it, to deliver them out of ignorance. At the end of the world however, when Maha Rudra comes, he causes all criticism to disappear, because instead of crying and offering himself up for the impure & ignorant masses of humans, he instead decides to begin consuming and offering humanity up in a massive Yagna or sacrifice, and reverse the roles.
This form of Bhairava is powerfully present in Purva Bhadrapada nakshatra (the 2nd highest Nakshatra in my serial killer research). This is why Purva Bhadarapada individuals often desire to be "scapegoats" and purposefully embody the fears or dualistic concepts of the society they live in, in order to generate a lot of criticism or fixation upon themselves, to get others to sacrifice themselves for their benefit & to churn this cosmic process. Dhanistha is the compatible sexual animal corresponding to Purva Bhadrapada, which is the Lion yoni, indicating the predatory sexual nature of these two nakshatras, and why Dhanishta women are often extreme bodily provocateurs in the public eye and consume massive amounts of anger, criticism, and semen, which is the most refined aspect of blood. The lion is after all the "king of the Savannah" and the female lions often do the "hunting". This is important to consider because Mars is the planet connected to bloodshed, but in his exaltation it becomes a bit more subtle and refined than outright warfare and becomes more a kind of sexual warfare, where one is drained & defeated through indirect means. This is where the common sentiment arises that criticism is a sign that you are doing something, or making some kind of impact; “Criticism is something we can avoid easily by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing." At the end of the world, Maha Rudra stops crying and begins to cover up avenues of potential self-improvement, because he is done being the one sacrificing himself for humanity to advance, and instead wants to "sacrifice" humanity, which is impossible if they are asking for criticism (or, in other words, open to shattering egoic delusions to align with truth). This is why esoteric teachings all adopt the philosophy of personal responsibility which means resisting to directly criticize or attempt to change others, while exoteric teachings stress externalized & forced control. When you criticize others, you sacrifice yourself needlessly, and neglect to notice your own distorted position and lack of success. To reach a high stage of development or adepthood, one can only do so precisely because they work to direct all of their criticisms on themselves, open themselves through authentic expression to the fires of bleeding energy and criticism from others, and thus are constantly improving & increasing in power.
