Varahamihira

6. Ardra Mythologically ārdra is ruled by Rudra. There is abundance of references of Rudra in the vedas and puranas and it would not be possible to bring forward all the aspects of rudra in article such as this, however, I shall try to provide pointers which shall help the reader to understand the hidden meaning behind this nakshatra. In Rigveda, Rudra is often portrayed as the deity of storm, wind and the hunt. The name rudra has many meaning of which the most commonly used is to cry out loud. The root of the word ‘rud’ means ‘to cry’. In earlier scripture Rudra was identified as an independent deity which got merged with one of the aspect of Shiva, an aspect which represents the form of Shiva which is responsible to cause destruction in the scheme of creation, sustenance and destruction. Although the most common belief is that the rudra are the cause of destruction, many others believe that Rudra are the protector of the created world and only when they are decline to support, destru...

1. INTRODUCTION: Sarvatobhadra Chakra is a tool used as part of Transit of Planets. The term Savatobhadra means overall auspiciousness (sarva- overall; bhadra- auspiciousness) and takes into consideration almost all factors in vedic atrology viz., the 28 nakshatras, the 12 signs, the 30 tithis, the 7 weekdays and the 50 aksharas (Sankrit Alphabets) and hence can be used for variety of analysis of planetary transits. Although the prime focus here is analysis of transits, this can also be used for natal horoscope, dasa analysis etc. This chart contains 9*9 = 81 boxes containing the nakshatras, signs, tithis, weekdays or the aksharas. For reference purpose I have given the names to the column from 1 to 9 and that to the rows as A to I, although this is not done in the astrological texts and other astrologers. I find giving names to the rows and columns will make it easier to refer to a particular boxes. In subsequent article, the boxes will be referred as A1 (row A, column 1), I9 (row I, ...

The principle of astrology can not only be applied to horoscopes of living being such as humans and animals but also anything else in this world such as nations, institutions, organisations, associations etc. We should appreciate the fact that everything in this world is only temporary, it can be marked by a specific time when it came into existence and there would also be a time when it will cease to exist. In this world of maya numerous things are created and destroyed every momenet and all such things can be analysed using astrological principles. This can be done because essentially everything in this manifested universe can be mapped to 12 signs and 9 planets based on the underlying forces of 5 elements. One should note however that the signs represent the immobile aspect whereas the planets represents the mobile (living) aspects of the things under consideration. The mentioned things can be analysed by creating a horoscope at the moment of commencement of the thing. For instance,...

The Indian lunar calendar is based on movement of both luminaries Sun and the Moon in the sidereal zodiac. One should note the difference between Indian Lunar Calendar and the Chinese Lunar Calendar. While Indian Lunar Calendar is based on sidereal zodiac, the Chinese Lunar Calendar is based on tropical zodiac and hence the Indian Lunar months are not synchronized with seasons, but fixed stars (or the nakshatras), while Chinese Lunar Calendar is synchronized with seasons. This indicates the importance of fixed zodiac not only in astrology but also celebration of the festivals. Since the Lunar Calendar is synchronized with the Sidereal Zodiac, the lunar months are tagged to sidereal signs. This means based on the sign occupied by Sun in the sidereal zodiac, the lunar month will bear the same name. For example, Chaitra, the 1st month of Lunar Calendar is tagged to sidereal Pisces. The names of the months are given by the name of the nakshatra, the Moon is expected to be placed while Sun ...

In aphorism 1.2.39 of Jaimini Sutra, Maharishi Jaimini explains the result of placement of Planets in the 10th from svamsa. रिफे बुधदृष्टे वा मन्दवत्॥ riphe budhadṛṣṭe vā mandavat|| Mercury aspecting the 10th from svamsa indicate results like Saturn. Maharishi explains in previous stanza that when Saturn is placed in the svamsa makes a person achieve success in any line of activity due to sheer hard work. They also tend to become traditional. However, the thing to note here is that why Mercury in the 10th give results as if Saturn in svamsa. The clue to decipher this lies in counting the number of planets in the weekday order starting from the planet placed in the 10th to svamsa. Thus if Mercury is placed in the 10th then counting in the weekday order we have Mercury (10th)-Jupiter(11th)-Venus(12th)-"Saturn(svama)", thus we arrive at Saturn. Applying this principle, we can understand the influence of other planets on the 10th of svamsa. The weekday order is Sun-Moon-Mars-Merc...

Jaimini Sutras 4.3.69 - 4.3.73 यत्ने अंशत॥ yatne aṁśata|| The result of navamsa lagna in various houses as counted form the rasi lagna is explained in the following aphorisms. राज्ये नीचः॥ rājye nīcaḥ|| If the navamsa lagna is placed in a sign which is in the 12th house from the rasi lagna, the native will be base and gross. धने कामी॥ dhane kāmī|| If the navamsa lagna is placed in the 9th house from the rasi lagna, the native will be passionate. धर्मे मोक्षः॥ dharme mokṣaḥ|| If the navamsa lagna is placed in the 11th house from the rasi lagna, the native will attain moksha. धान्ये पापी॥ dhānye pāpī|| If the navamsa lagna is in the 7th house from the rasi lagna, the native will be sinful. The aphorisms given above give us the clue on how to analyze the placement of navamsa lagna in various sign as seen from the rasi lagna. For example, if the rasi lagna is placed in Aries and the navamsa lagna is placed in the Taurus, which is 2nd from the rasi lagna, what kind of results can be read fr...

Punya Chakra is used for determining the whereabouts of the soul after death. The term Punya means good deed as in Hinduism death is considered as the eternal truth and the freedom from the world of suffering, the mrityu loka or earth. Hence the chart casted at the moment of death is called the Punya Chakra, which in lay men's terms can be translated as the horoscope of death. Similar to the birth chart, which shows the details of the experiences of the soul after birth, the death chart shows the details of the soul after death. This is an important tool of vedic-astrology to decipher the condition and the whereabouts of the soul after death based on which various obsevances such as Sraddha etc. can be done to pacify a wandering soul. So far this tool has been a closely guarded secret of the Sri Jagannath Center tradition and was disclosed for the first time for the aspiring astrologers by Pt. Sanjay Rath in 2005 in the SJC west coast conference. In this article, I will enunciate t...

Month start and end dates and times for year 2008, based on timezone +08:00 hrs of GMT Month 01 : 07 Feb 2008 11:45:00 - 08 Mar 2008 01:14:40 Month 02 : 08 Mar 2008 01:14:40 - 06 Apr 2008 11:55:42 Month 03 : 06 Apr 2008 11:55:42 - 05 May 2008 20:18:37 Month 04 : 05 May 2008 20:18:37 - 04 Jun 2008 03:22:58 Month 05 : 04 Jun 2008 03:22:58 - 03 Jul 2008 10:19:00 Month 06 : 03 Jul 2008 10:19:00 - 01 Aug 2008 18:12:59 Month 07 : 01 Aug 2008 18:12:59 - 31 Aug 2008 03:58:30 Month 08 : 31 Aug 2008 03:58:30 - 29 Sep 2008 16:12:44 Month 09 : 29 Sep 2008 16:12:44 - 29 Oct 2008 07:14:21 Month 10 : 29 Oct 2008 07:14:21 - 28 Nov 2008 00:55:07 Month 11 : 28 Nov 2008 00:55:07 - 27 Dec 2008 20:22:55 Month 12 : 27 Dec 2008 20:22:55 - 26 Jan 2009 15:55:49

Although this calendar is followed by Chinese all over the world, mysteries abound on the computation of this calendar. Like any knowledge developed by ancient civilizations, I consider even this calendar deserves merit to study it in details. The purpose of this article is to provide a brief description and its astronomical basis for those who are interested. When time permits, I will try to contribute more on this subject. I am sure, my understanding of this calendar will increase with such narration of my current understanding. Tropical or Sidereal Whenever we discuss about any calendar, we need to know whether the purpose of the calendar is to reckon time with respect to seasons or with respect to fixed stars. Like any other calendar which was developed to keep track of the seasons for agricultural purposes, this calendar is a tropical calendar and tries to synchronize with the season markers such as equinoxes and solstices. However, instead of this being a solar calendar which tra...

Written in http://groups.yahoo.com/group/varahamihira/message/3901 Date: Nov 5, 2000 I am writing something which i was willing to write for many days but couldn't get the time to do that. In a mail, I supported the concept of fatalism and said that I shall write some more things on the same topic. Here I shall write my understanding of two things: 1. How the karmic forces influence us? 2. How do the planets interfere in the life of human? Anyone who has read the Hindu scriptures or understand the Indian philosophy wouldn't deny the influence of karmic forces in the life of human beings and the theory of life, death and rebirth; the theory of reincarnation. karma and all the above mentioned concepts are highly related and intertwined. Whatever we do is the karma and also reap the result of the karma. The result may be got in this birth or the next birth. When we think that why shall we get the result of this birth in our subsequent birth, we may not get an answer if we think as...

Written in http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vedic-astrology/message/8146 Date: Jun 23, 2001 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Before going into the debate of whether Astrology is a Science or not, we must understand what is science? How science is defined.... I have picked up the article from a website http://www.csicop.org/youngskeptics/education/resources/sciencedef.html which defines science as A Brief Definition of Science Science is a process of searching for fundamental and universal principles that govern causes and effects in the universe. The process itself is a method of building, testing, and connecting falsifiable models to describe, explain and predict a shared reality. The method includes hypothesis, repeatable experiments and observations, and new hypothesis. The prime criterion in determining the usefulness of a model is the ease with which the model correctly makes predictions or explains phenomena in the shared reality. A short explanation of the term "shared reality...