The Principles of Naming

INTRODUCTION
Name is the result of the first tangible result which the eternal soul attains with human birth in the world of Maya. This gives us the identity and individuality. Whenever anyone calls with that name, it fills up his mind with some very unique perceptions regarding our selves. The perceptions are very subjective and very unique and the persons near us interact with us in a very specific way. This is a common occurrence that, a person might have more than one name in the home, among friends and in his work circle. This is seen that the way the people or the world behaves considerably change with the name.

Now we wouldn’t have bothered much if the name would only defined our unique images in the mind of the person, interacting with us, however, it is not limited to that. The results we accrue in the society is the results of all those numerous interactions which we have within it. Thus it is very important to know our own name is in store for us. This knowledge shall also empower us to change our name if necessary, to make the vibrations of the name positive in our life. We can keep the name of a new born not on an arbitrary basis but on well grounded principle of Jyotish, so that their life can be fruitful and prosperous.

Even if you don’t believe in this, which seems superstitious, why not give a honest try and see whether or not it works. There is nothing you lose.


AKSHARAS AND NAKSHATRAS
The entire gamut of Aksharas is divided into the 28 Nakshatras or asterisms. Each Nakshatra is of four padas, each pada is assigned to an akshara. The duration of each pada is 3d 20m, however this is a bit different in the case of Uttarashadha and Sravana. The duration of Uttarashadha is divided into four parts and the first three padas are assigned to Uttarashadha, which makes the duration of Uttarashadha to be 10deg with each pada to be 2d 30m. The remaining one pada of Uttarashadha is assigned to Abhijit, the intercalary nakshatra. Similarly beginning 1/15th part of Sravana is given to Abhijit, making its total length to be 253.33 min, i.e., 4d 13m 20s. The remaining 14/15th part of Sravana is assigned to the four padas of Sravana, making the total duration of Sravana to be 12d 26m 40s.

Figure 1: Nakshatra and Aksharas


RASI AND AKSHARAS
The aksharas are assigned to the different rasis of the zodiac based on the assignment of the Nakshatra padas to the Rasi. Each rasi consists of 9 nakshatra padas and hence nine aksharas are assigned to each rasi, Makara being an exception, because of assignment of four extra pada of intercalary nakshatra Abhijit.

Figure 2: Rasi and Aksharas


MEANING OF AKSHARAS
Whenever a particular sound is uttered, it has a very peculiar and specific influence on us at various levels, physical, mental and spiritual. Thus this is very important to understand, what each of the sound signified by the various aksharas of Sanskrit signify. This shall help us know, what kind of influences we like to draw to the native when his name is called by others. Thus when a particular akshara is picked for the native’s name, it should be based on a well understood principle and not on a random manner.

The following table shows the meaning of each of the aksharas of the divine language, Sanskrit and help us in deciding what aksharas we need to chose for a name to heighten some particular influences of planet and the aksharas themselves.

The Maharishis of the yore have found through their intuition, the aksharas, which symbolises the different influences of the universe, control the power centres of the body, called the charkas. These charkas are placed along the length of the Spinal column and control various parts of the body and various aspects of our personality through the nerves spreading through out the body carrying the messages of the Brain or our thoughts. When an akshara is pronounced repeatedly, it heightens the influences of these charkas, which bring with them, myriads of effect, most of which act at a very subtle level and can hardly be objectively felt. More can be found in the literature on the Kundalini Yoga.

Figure 3: Katapayaadi Varga- Vowels
 
Figure 4: Katapayaadi Varga- Consonents


STEPTS IN FINDING OUT THE RASI, WHERE THE NAME HAS STRONG INFLUENCE:
I. Write the word of the stanza in Devanagari script and remove the “matras” and incomplete/half letters.

II. The numerical value of the remaining letters should be written sequentially. If the name starts with “0”, it must not be ignored.

III. The number so obtained should be reversed.

IV. Divide this reversed number by 12. The reminder shall show the rasi ruled by the name. If the reminder obtained is “0”, then 12 becomes the reminder. The remainder when counted from Aries gives the sign on which the name has predominant influence.

The Rasi so obtained becomes the nama Arudha of the person and shows how is he perceived by those who calls him by a particular name. This can be judged when we see how the different planets are placed from the nama arudha and find out the influences of the conjunctions, aspects etc.

The Moon is the sustainer of the Arudha and when Moon is placed in the trines or 12th from the Nama Arudha, the native gains from the name. However, Moon should never be placed in the 8th from the Arudha. Such placement of Moon is called Chandrastama and is very damaging to the Arudha, which shows that the native shall get into troubles, trial and tribulations, if such things happen in his horoscope.

V. Divide the reversed no. by 9. The reminder so obtained shall show the predominating planet influencing the name.

1- Sun, 2- Moon, 3- Jupiter, 4- Rahu, 5- Merc, 6- Venus, 7- Ketu, 8- Saturn, 9- Mars


ILLUSTRATION
Let’s find the Rasi obtained by the name Sanjaya
I. Write the word of the stanza in Devanagari script and remove the “matras” and incomplete/half letters.

The name Sanjaya is made up of three phonemes namely Sa, nja, and ya. However, the 2nd phonemes is a compound akshara (yutkakshara) and hence the half akshara has to be ignored here. Now in a compound akshara or phoneme, the last akshara is the complete one and all others are incomplete and hence we always need to consider the last one in case of these compound aksharas, which happens to be “ja” in this case.


II. The numerical value of the remaining letters should be written sequentially. If the name starts with “0”, it must not be ignored.

The numerical value of each of these aksharas are sa- 7, ja- 8 and ya- 1. Thus 781 is the no. signified by the name Sanjaya.

III. The number so obtained should be reversed.

The reversed no. is 187

IV. Divide this reversed number by 12. The reminder shall show the rasi ruled by the name. If the reminder obtained is “0”, then 12 becomes the reminder. The remainder when counted from Aries gives the sign on which the name has predominant influence.

The reminder obtained when the number 187 is divided by 12 is 7. The Rasi signified by No. 7 when counted from Aries is Libra.

V. Divide the reversed no. by 9. The reminder so obtained shall show the predominating planet influencing the name.

The reminder obtained when the number 187 is divided by 9 is 7. The planet which rules the name becomes Ketu. Thus the associates with the person, calling him with the name Sanjaya, shall consider him to be a spiritual person, a good mathematician etc., which is indicated by the naisargika nature of the planet. More can be judged from Ketu’s placement in the person’s horoscope, which can moderate the general nature indicated by the planet.


PRINCIPLES OF NAMINIG
The following principles are to be followed while naming a baby or checking the effect of the name on someone.

Principle I:
The name of the child should be based on the most auspicious planet in the chart. If The planet which is the most auspicious and bringer of yoga is chosen, the beneficence of this planet shall always one the native, whenever his/ her name is called. The aksharas of this planet shall be the starting akshara of the native.

Principle II:
Among the aksharas of the most auspicious planet, chose the akshara which is placed in the Kendra/ Trikona from Moon. In case of doubt, chose the akshara of the Moon’s position.

Principle III:
If the Sign, selected by the above process is Chara Rasi (Movable Sign), then two phonemes should be selected. If the Sign is Dwisvabhava (Dual), then select three phonemes name. However, if the sign arrived at is Sthira (fixed), then four phonemes should be selected.

Principle IV:
The Name chosen should have a benefic influence on the native. Thus if the name is related to the name of Ista, then each time the native is called by the name, this would remind him/ her of their Ista Devata and hence would be highly beneficial.

Principle V:
Use Katapayadi Varga system to know the exact influence of the name on the native. This will show how the people around perceive the native.

Principle VI:
Use Achyutayadi Varga system to know the focus of the native in life, when he is surrounded by people, who calls the native with a particular name. (More on this later)


ILLUSTRATION

CASE I: Lord Sri Rama
The name of lord Rama starts with the Akshara “ra”. This is lorded by Moon. In the Horoscope, Moon is very well placed in the Lagna with exalted Jupiter shows that the name shall bring the blessings of the strong Gaja-Keshari yoga in Rama’s life and give him tremendous fame and people would remember him forever.

ra akshara falls in the Taurus Rasi, which is placed in the 11th house from Moon. This is aspected by a strongly placed Moon and Taurus happens to be the exaltation rasi of moon. This shows that the name was protected and Sustained by Moon.

In Katapayadi system, Rama is ra-2, ma- 5, which when reversed and divided by 12 yields 4 as the reminder. When counted from Aries, the Nama-arudha falls in the cancer Rasi. Now this shows that he got the fruits of the Gajakeshari yoga giving him everlasting fame. Now the whole world perceived him a very righteous person and also a very compassionate one.

However, what he got from the world can be seen when we count the reminder from his Lagna. This comes at Libra with exalted and retrograde Saturn. A malefic in the fourth house is very detrimental to the happiness at home and everyone is aware of the troubles and pain, Lord Rama had to pass through to establish dharma in this world.

The name Rama falls in a Movable sign because of the two aksharas or phonemes. In the trine to the Lagna, it falls in the Lagna itself, showing that the focus of the native shall be perfection in Ideals shown by the Lagna. This is no wonder that Rama is popularly known as Purushottama, the best among purusha or human.


CASE II: Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa
 
Ramakrishna Paramahamsa is most popularly known as Ramakrishna only. Like Rama, the initial akshara is lorded by the planet Moon. Moon is placed in the Lagna with Sun and Mercury. Moon in the Lagna expressed his pure love and compassion for the divine mother and its placement with Mercury shows that he often behaved like a child. Repetition of the name made this nature quite pronounced.

The Akshara falls in the Taurus sign, which is in Kendra to Moon, but not the best Kendra as it is placed with a strong malefic. This shows that he faced lots of pain in the life like Lord Sri Rama.

In the Katapayadi scheme, the name can be broken up to Ra- 2, Ma- 5, Ka- 1 (ri is a vowel), Na- 5. The no. 2515 when reversed and divided with 12, gives a reminder of 7, which falls in Libra as counted form Aries. The whole world perceived him as a great devotee of mother goddess Kali (Saturn), some one who is always in pain, being separated from the Mother (separation- Saturn).

Whatever he received from the name can be seen from the counting the reminder from Lagna, which comes to Leo. Leo is aspected by Saturn and Mars, in the 3rd from AL, showing his tremendous amount of suffering in the life.


CASE III: Hitler
 
The initial akshara of the name, i.e., ha is represented by the planet Moon. Moon is under the terrible shakti yoga, destroying the benign Jupiter, which shows his mass pogrom of the Jews. Among other things, the planet of Humanity is not only destroyed by the shakti yoga, but also there is a terrible Guru-Chandala yoga along with the axis. This shows why he made his mission of life to eradicate one complete race.

The Akshara falls in the Karkata (Cancer) rasi. Now Cancer is 8th from the Moon and hence shows that it is not sustained by the natural sustainer Moon. This shows why Hitler faced such difficult times from his childhood. Not only that, his end was quite tragic and terrible, where he had to see all his dreams getting shattered one by one.

According to Katapayadi Varga, the name is broken down as hi-8; Ta-1; la-3; ra-2. This No. when divided by 12 gives a reminder of 2, which comes to Taurus Rasi. Now from Ta, moon is placed in the 8th house, causing chandrastama, which is a terrible thing to happen. This sign also happens to be the 8th house, aspected by Saturn. Now people will remember him as a mysterious character with devious intention (8th house placement from Lagna) and stern behaviour (Saturn’s aspect). As this sign is placed with HL and aspected by GL, this becomes the seat of power and money.

Comments

Excellent work on namkaran........nothing more explicit can be aded to this :P
Varahamihira said…
Dear Sharmaji,

You are welcome. I am in the process of compiling everything I know, so that others can be benefitted.

Best Wishes
Sarajit
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Anonymous said…
"the reminder obtained when the number 187 is divided by 9 is 7."

How do you get this actually?

When i do calculation 187 / 9
it gives me = 20.78~

I dont understand this.

Plz help?
Anonymous said…
Hi Sarajit,

Excellent blog. Just one question. You mentioned in case of Sri Rama and Ramakrishna that ra is the first letter and falls in tauras. But the list in the site shows ra falls in libra. Please clarify.

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