Planetary Beacons and Pointers in the Rashi Varga by Rohiniranjan © 2008 (some old practices of mine that I ran into recently)
As one walks on the long and arduous and lonely path of Jyotish for a few decades at the very least, many observations, thoughts and ideas arise and get incorporated into one's daily practice; even become second nature and then suddenly one runs into one's old writings or notes and realizes the point where the thoughts and ideas in personal practice, originally originally arose! In this instance, what I am about to share with you all came to me some 35 to 38 years ago at a time when I was working away alone at my self-imposed mission of understanding COSMO-SYMBiOLOGY in general, general, and through Jyotish in particular. This past Christmas (2007), I suddenly got connected to those moments after seemingly a very long time and to my surprise discovered that I had been experiencing without realizing this trend within myself that I thought was recent but tonight as I pen this article, I realize that it always had been with me! THAT: After spending some really intense, quality time with jyotish, one way or another, suddenly the "pattern" emerges and at some time in the past actually got documented, and got incorporated in my daily practice of jyotish. What triggered this realization realization was through an email request for a reading that I got some time ago and only recently could get to it. The young man was sharing with me his experiences with contemporary jyotish and readings that he had received from many after paying paying significant sums of money and some perhaps even for free. He was lamenting over the fact that most of these jyotishis seemed to use only the rashi chart and did not seem to be able to go beyond it. In recent years, years, many vocal leaders and teachers in jyotish jyotish had been stating repeatedly and very emphatically that rashi (signs (signs as opposed to finer divisions or
of planets and so on but what I share today is perhaps a slightly different view on how I viewed the indications of the planets, some decades ago in a moment of understanding. Hopefully, it will be of some help to others. Translated into english, what I wrote was: The house/sign in which sun is placed, by itself, and associated with the lords or significators (karakas) and the house in which Leo is placed in the nativity's horoscope, hold the key to the areas or indications or things that the nativity is pleased to attend to or accomplish, at the soul level. A similar algorithm was then followed for the remaining planets {the ones in brackets were later revelations!}: Moon, the house it is in, the planets its is associated with and the hou se in which cancer falls: The things, areas and activities that please the mind Mars: The things and activities which the individual will willingly devote efforts and energy towards Mercury: Areas of trade {and communication} Jupiter: {Areas of knowledge, knowing and morals} Venus: Things without which the person's life becomes bland, insipid and like death. Saturn: Things and areas which remain 'dead' and absent in the nativity's life or are avoided and suppressed during the current lifetime (in accordance to the life-plan). Kind of like repressed or unexpressed 'genes'
4. 5.
Not meeting the above requirements, the planet is stronger in the following order: Movable, Fixed, Dual. The planet in dual sign is the strongest contender. If both are in the same triplicity, then utilizing the Jaimini Chara order of counting, the planet that is farther away from the sign under consideration (aquarius or scorpio) becomes the ruler.
The prescribed order of counting is normal (aries, Taurus, Gemini…) for Aries, Taurus, Gemini, libra, scorpio, and Sagittarius, and in reverse order (cancer, Gemini, Taurus…) for the remaining signs. The order alternates in clusters of three signs. Now to illustrate, let us take a chart well-known to jyotishis, that of the modern Rishi: Dr. Deepak Chopra. Here sun is placed in its sign of debility in the ninth house and leo is placed in the 7th house. Though a fairly accomplished modern medicine specialist who received education in an Ivy League institute in India (AIIMS) and then did pretty well abroad, obviously there was something that the 'soul' of the good doctor was finding amiss. The spiritual linkage between the healing system and the patient was missing and the ninth house sun was calling out to Dr. Deepak with all its might. And the soul wanted to bring all of this out in the open, in plain view for all to see, which is what the 7th house (in this case the natural home of sun) is all about. Deepak Chopra found a spiritual teacher who brought together the missing pieces in Dr. Chopra's life and then a wonderful journey began. And now about the planets associated with sun? Jupiter's wisdom, mercury's skilled writing and allegorical presentation, presented with the brilliant ene rgy depicted by the mutual exchange between Venus (lord of 9th) and mars (lord of 10th) is not happenstance. The presence of ketu with Venus in the mysterious Scorpio adds the depth of wisdom that is not coming from what someone read just in the last few years and is regurgitating but comes from many lifetimes of observations, and comprehension, deep comprehension. An interesting trait
Mars as earlier pointed out is placed with sun, mercury, Jupiter in the 9th and rules the 3rd and 10th. Through communication and actually remaining connected to his original profession through the Chopra Healing Center, Deepak has managed to devote his enormous internal energy towards meeting his personal life-goals (physical, mental and spiritual) and in a rather effective manner. The pivot of spirituality, of higher learning which through the martian-venusian energies feeds into and is expressed through the mercurian modalities (speeches, workshops, writings) and all of these bringing a rather lucrative return in a worldly sense in terms of riches of all kinds are what mercury is all about when he smiles on the nativity. What the sun lacks in terms of uchchabala (exaltation strength), is more than made up through cancellation (presence of mars with sun, and Venus being in kendra from lagna) which then energizes the budha ditya yoga (sign association of mercury and sun) in the ninth and a spiritually-minded teacher-healer was born. Jupiter has been described earlier and the thematic link between Jupiter in 9th, Jupiter owning the 2nd (speech and family) and 11th (earnings and gains) can be seen in Deepak's experience. One thing to point out here is that jyotishis, particularly beginners tend to focus on one factor. While this is the only way to discuss or absorb the astrological factors, due to our linear thinking and communication, this is a good example where one must not think of Jupiter without simultaneously thinking of mars, sun and mercury all in 9th house and then synthesize the energies into one reading!
And finally, Venus, Saturn and rahu: So what is it that our good doctor would feel bleak without? Or which remained unexpressed as per our hypothesis to serve as the key behind Saturn in this chart? With Saturn in the sixth, and
(described earlier in this article)! Where does this statement come from? I think it arises from the segment of astrology described by both Parashara and Jaimini when they tell us about the dual rulership of Scorpio and aquarius rashis which jyotishis accept as being co-ruled by ketu/mars and rahu/Saturn respectively. These are in most instances not co-ruled, but ruled by one or the other based on some very clear guidance given by both Rishis. In this chart for instance, both Saturn and Rahu are placed singly in two houses, however, Rahu is placed in a fixed sign while Saturn is placed in a chara sign. The dual signs are considered stronger than fixed signs and the fixed signs are stronger than the movable or chara signs. Rahu is in a fixed sign, taurus, in this chart and thus becomes the lagnesha. The visible proof for this is the physical appearance of Deepak Chopra. His youthful looks, pleasant and gentle demeanour, the shape of forehead, the dimple on his chin, his love of aesthetics and attention to beauty in any project he takes on are crying out aloud: Venus! Venus aspects Rahu from the 10th house and taurus also arises in navamsha. Although Deepak will age gracefully, I am certain that he is probably not looking at it with welcoming arms. He loves integrity and particularly of the mind-body-spirit working well in a coordinated manner throughout the lifetime and that he has turned into a lifelong quest as we all know from his writings and thoughts shared with all of us. Since the Rahu ketu axis sits in the 4th and 10th houses, a major concern had been that pertaining to home life and its balancing with a very productive professional life and a great deal of effort has gone into making sure that the two areas remained well-attended and integrated. I hope I have been able to present my thoughts in a cogent and hopefully veritable manner. Several things are obvious and easily confirmed from facts that we know, but there are certain things that can only be confirmed by Dr. Deepak Chopra. In the absence of such confirmation or feedback forthcoming (unless Dr. Chopra reads this article on this wonderful website, AND I hope he does!), my research must continue on this hypothesis that came to me at an opportune moment. You, readers and hopefully serious and sincere astrologers will join me and help by becoming 'testers' or as was the term in homeopathy (Heilkunst), "proovers"!
