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Astrology / Vedic Jyotish
Remedies
in Vedic
Astrology – 2
Let us now look at the sample chart that we are going to prescribe a karmic remedy for:
In this chart Aquarius rises with moon and retrograde mars in ascendant, Ketu in 4th, Saturn and Rahu in 10th, Venus in 6th, Jupiter in 7th and, sun and retrograde mercury in eighth. The lords of trines are mercury, Saturn and Venus. Let us put these under the heading of benefics. Note that mercury the lord of 5th also rules over the 8th, which happens to be its primary or mooltrikona sign as well as sign of its exaltation. So, mercury is certainly not a benefic. Saturn, on the other hand, is the lord of ascendant but also is the lord of the 12th house, and hence not an unqualified benefic. Venus is the lord of 9th and 4th houses. This would make it a yogakaraka since it rules over an angle, the 4th and a trine, the 9th. However, please note two things. Firstly, that Venus being a natural benefic, its rulership of an angular house takes away some benefic points from it, according to standard Parashari dicta that natural benefics ruling the kendras are reduced in their benefic properties, the reverse being true for natural malefics. Secondly, the mooltrikona of Venus, Libra, is placed in the 9th house in a horoscope with a fixed sign, Aquarius rising. This makes Venus the lord of the badhaksthana. Venus, therefore, in this chart is not an unblemished benefic. But, notice, how it is placed in a trik-sthana, the sixth and its dispositor, the moon is placed in the ascendant. This indicates a karmic signature. True to her astral signature, she had many serious problems regarding relationships and other Venus-related karakattwas. The presence of Venus in the 12th in navamsha does not help relationships, either. The mutual aspect between Saturn and moon in navamsha influencing the 2nd and 8th house and the fact that these are lords of 1st and 7th houses in navamsha is meaningful. Many of the problems of this lady were due to her extreme lack of self-confidence and a tendency to limit and confine herself into situations that were not conducive to developing a relationship in the society she chose to be born into.
Now, let us look at the malefics. The lords of 6th, 8th and 12th. The lord of 6th is moon, the lord of 8th is mercury, and the lord of 12th is Saturn. Notice that other than moon, the two remaining trikeshas or lords of trika houses, namely, mercury and Venus are mixed malefics, since they also have some benefic properties as indicated when we discussed benefics. Moon is the only planet that is clearly a malefic in this chart. It is also the ruler of the 7th house (relationships) in the relevant varga, namely, the navamsha chart. It being in the star of Rahu who forms yuti with Saturn is another negative factor.
In a case such as this, where there is no clearly defined benefic, gemstones do not form a good method of remedying karma. On the advice of someone, this individual had tried wearing a pearl and within hours developed a severe sinus infection that became widespread and toxic landing her into an emergency room and kept her hospitalized for a few days. This happened in Jupiter bhukti of Saturn dasha. Note that Jupiter is placed in the star of Venus which is in the 6th house, the house of sickness. Jupiter would tend to give the effects of Venus in its bhuktis (as propounded by Krishnamurthi, the father of Stellar Astrology). Venus also happens to be placed in the sign of the malefic moon in this chart and therefore is not beneficial. This, despite the fact that it is a
yoga karaka by definition. This is a good example that warns us of the necessity of taking into account factors such as badhakasthana lordships
(Venus is lord of badhaka house for Aquarius risings). During this same period, the individual was able to resolve and understand some of her relationship issues and scars of abuse by her spiritual teacher from her past. She grew spiritually, and so there was activation of the seventh and 9th house effects. Anyway, getting back to our discussion of remedial astrology, she was advised to remove the pearl, by me when she was referred to me, and the removal of the pearl seemed to stabilize her mental turmoil as well. The removal of a gemstone, even if it was originally mis-prescribed is not something that must be done suddenly. I suggested to this individual, who already practiced meditation, etc., to observe a fast and certain other specific procedures and then the pearl was removed and she decided to offer it in charity to a cause that was in tune with the attributes of moon, in this case, to a shelter for single mothers without a home.
Moving along our original path, in such a case, with no clearly defined benefic or semi-benefic planets being there other than Venus which was only 19% in strength, I would be rather wary of prescribing any gemstone. If we prescribe a diamond, an expensive choice, there could be improvement of materialistic and financial matters, however, health and spiritual areas would suffer. Health, because Venus is in the 6th and represents illnesses in this chart. Strengthening it would result in strengthening the 6th house, which is not desirable. Venus is in the star of mercury which is strongly placed in the 8th house. Chances of a chronic disorder surfacing and getting worse then would become a strong possibility. This is because chronic disorders which tend to be of karmic nature are better reflected through the 8th house.
One thing that must have caught the readers' attention in this chart is the number of planets that are retrograde, the ascendant lord himself, Saturn and mars, all are retrograde. Some jyotishis tend to consider retrograde planets as undesirable, however, in the shadbal system of Parashari astrology, vakravastha or retrograde status is considered as strengthening and adds to the chestabal of planets. It is also stated that natural benefics when retrograde become benevolent, while natural malefics when retrograde become strong but qualitatively malevolent. I feel this area needs more study and is not so cut and dry or as simple as it is made out to be. Mars is the lord of the 3rd and 10th in this chart and is placed in retrogression in the first house in company of the sixth lord. The presence of Saturn and Rahu in the 10th often brings about sudden ups and downs in ones career. Overall, these are not conditions that would be likely to reflect an easy going career. Lots of responsibilities, technical skills and strain at work is possible and is indeed actually the case in this person's life. Mars is fairly strong, as it happens, and rules over a neutral and a benefic house. It is very strongly associated with completion of tasks indicated by the tenth, and personal efforts, ruled by the 3rd. Moreover, it is a karaka or significator for action and personal efforts, initiatives. a remedial procedure that would take away the sharp edges off
Martian energies in this charts can reduce stress levels and make life a little easier. Wearing a gemstone is not going to help because the planet is already strong. Pooja, penance, fasting and charity, on the other hand would help harness the
Martian energies in a constructive way.
Mars is a fairly cruel influence and when it is present in the rising (1st house) in a sign that is ruled by Saturn, representing confinement, restraints, control, it is indicative of unhappiness. Moreover, the sign is airy and fixed. The fire of mars is fanned by the airy element and its movement is restricted in the fixed sign. This increases the degree of discomfort. Such is not true when mars is in Capricorn, its sign of exaltation! The earth gives it a firm base to burn on steadily, while the movable nature of Capricorn allows room for some movement. The mental, airy environment of Aquarius is not easy for mars to cope, and indicates frustrations and abusive environments or one who grew up in environments where there was too much controlling going on to allow for healthy growth. The
Chandra Mangala yoga, the combination of mars and moon falling in a saturnine sign in a woman's chart is often indicative of one who was controlled, while in a man's chart, it indicates one who can be controlling and the oppressor. A note of caution is wise to mention here for the benefit of the overzealous beginner: one swallow does not announce summer and one combination does not clinch the final diagnosis in astrology, or elsewhere!
We have talked a bit about the horoscope, the different houses, but we have not talked a lot about one very significant factor in jyotish, namely the planetary period that one is experiencing, the vimshottari dasha! In this nativity's case, from mid-1996 she has started the 17 years long mercury mahadasha. That is almost one fifth of ones life! Surely, such a long stretch of time must be taken into consideration when determining the suitable remedial upaaye for someone. We have already discussed how mercury is a mixed malefic and benefic planet in this chart and being placed in strength in the 8th along with the 7th lord, it has affected the relationships and several other things. Mercury is retrograde and this makes it even stronger. Retrograde planets are generally believed to be indicative of karmic influences. Having said that, I wonder if there is any other kind of influence, even possible, other than karmic! Rhetorical question!
Let us look at this mercury a bit closer! It rules the fifth house, which is the house of creativity, of entertainment, of joy that is felt in ones heart, of romantic relationships, and above all, it is the house that indicates that portion of karma that is intimately connected with efforts, the plastic portion of karma that can be modified so that we may sleep easily in future! And I do not mean the future as in tomorrow, or next year, but for even longer periods of time, maybe even lifetimes. Divine grace, mantra siddhi is also studied from this trine. Our ninth house indicates our bhagya or fortune, the karma that is already ripe and available for the picking. However, the fifth house whispers to us what we must do, so that we have good fruit waiting for us tomorrow, and for a series of tomorrows. It is easy to see why the fifth house in a chart gives us some indication about the likelihood of our efforts to improve our future of being successful. If the fifth house is afflicted, then the path would not be easy and it is kinder to prepare the client whose fifth house is afflicted to not expect quick remedies or immediate effects when they decide to follow a remedial plan. The lord of the fifth house and other significant planets in association with this house would indicate the deity, if one is religiously inclined, that may be worshipped to improve ones karma (advanced jyotishis often look at the spiritual varga, vimshamsha, also). If rituals are not your thing, then the planetary energies one reads from the fifth house can give important hints about the remedial measures that may be taken, the charities and causes that might be supported through a gift of time, service or other gifts of energy. Please do pay extra attention to the fifth house, in every chart that you study. Particularly, because from a karmic point of view, this house is in a primordial form in each lifetime and can be wisely shaped, molded and in some sense this is where the signature of our free-will exists, the keys and answers to many of our karmic burdens lie in this very important house. I would like to very quickly remind you of the principle of horoscopy that goes under the moniker "bhavat bhavam". The house that is as far removed from another as the latter is from the ascendant, holds the key to the area of life that is indicated by the primary house. The third house from ascendant is where our courage, our personal efforts, our communication and our co-borns are studied from. The third from the third house is the fifth house in our horoscopes and this, therefore, is our higher third house! It deals with our higher communications, our personal efforts in a longer time-scale, and those souls and influences that are our
soul mates, our soul co-siblings, that we often draw to us in the form of our children! Much of what we receive from our inner reality, indeed our internal communications reach us through the fifth house. This is where our intuitions emerge from and this house forms an important link between the earthly selves that we are and our antahkaran, our inner track, our inner source, the personal parcel of divinity, our angels that we carry within us. Divine Grace comes to us through the signature that is indicated in the fifth house!
The nativity under consideration is an individual who is embarking on a journey that activates her fifth and eighth house, both ruled by mercury whose dasha she is now experiencing, would have a very interesting journey, indeed. The presence of the 7th lord in 8th with exalted mercury indicates that there would be a turning inward experienced by this person, and this is beginning to come true, already. Mercury rules over younger people, children, those who are in the path of learning, teachers, communicators, healers, programmers, etc. Working with these kinds of people will feel easier and more fulfilling for this person, who by the way is a software programmer and trainer, as well as an energy healer. It is hard to miss the boat when the indicator planet is strong. The individual is coping very well with the deep loneliness she feels within but it is allowing her to concentrate and focus on what could prove to be a very fruitful period in her life. She does not have any striking affliction that would indicate that mercury is very malefic, such as communication defects, nervous or other brain disorders, etc. She does have rather unusual thinking but some of it could be due to the qualitative difference attributed to her retrograde mercury. It would be appropriate to suggest a suitable remedial for propitiating mercury, such as fasting on Wednesday, spending time in contemplation and meditation, charities and service that are in tune with those pertaining to mercury. However, let us look some more. Her mercury is in the star of moon. Moon is the sixth lord and is placed in ascendant, afflicting it. It is not good to have an association between the lords of first and sixth or between these two houses. Penance would tend to minimize the negative indications.
What is a dasha? It is a way of progressing the natal moon! Starting with the natal position of the moon in a star which gives us the janma or birth dasha, we can think of the subsequent dashas as being areas of the zodiac that are sequentially illuminated by the progressed moon! One cycle of dashas lasts 120 years, and during this period, the moon is progressed through 120 degrees! But, this is not quite a degree a year progression. The moon progresses through the 120 degrees at varying rates of progressed motion, and this is why it covers the 13d20m in sun's star in 6 years but takes 20 years to progress through the same distance, 13d 20m in Venus's star! So, as it progresses forward, think of the moon turning on switches as it progresses into a planet's star, the period would be what we would call a mahadasha! Right now, in our example, the
Vedic progressed moon is turning on the switch named mercury! It would become active and the areas that it represents in a chart will gain importance. It will become the prime mover in a sense. Its transits, as well as areas ruled by it in sign but more so in nakshatras would become significant during the dasha period. The same would be true for the lord of the smaller periods, but to a lesser extent. And if the two planets representing the two switches, namely the dasha and bhukti, are not wired conducively or mutually harmoniously in the chart then there would be disharmony, loss of energy, opportunities wasted. This would be the case when a planet that is in the 6th or 8th from mercury would co-rule, such as mars and moon.
Mars in this chart is very strong, and is not quite a strong malefic, as earlier discussed; however, it is placed in the 6th from dasha lord mercury and is not exactly very congenial towards it! Moreover, it is aspecting mercury with its 8th aspect. Note that mars is aspecting mercury but mercury is not aspecting mars. However, being a partial benefic, we need not worry about mars, right? Wrong!! Notice whose company is mars in! The lord of the sixth house, afflicting the ascendant. Mars is not an island, and in a situation like this, one must always take into account the fact that it would be transmitting through its aspect some of the venom of moon, passing it on to mercury. Since mercury is the fifth lord and for all the other reasons already discussed, even if we propitiate mercury, it would still be under the influence of mars and moon!
We could propitiate mars in this case and that would help. Again, not through gemstones but through resonating to the energy spectrum that is indicated by mars, by surrendering to it, supporting its causes, fasting on Tuesdays etc. Now, the root of problems here is not mars, but moon! The sixth lord afflicting the ascendant, casting its glance through mars on to the lord of 7th, a benefic in this case, and mercury, the strong lord of 5th, a karmic indicator, a planet that indicates and is associated with karmic free-will of a higher nature, a planet that is in the asterism of moon and is under its influence, in a sense.
Therefore, in this chart, moon is the planet that must be propitiated, first, and then mercury the dasha lord or any other planet. Since moon is a malefic in this scenario, we would look for a day when a Monday falls a few days after a new-moon day (a beginning!), preferably a day when the moon is transiting a star that is either ruled by moon, or mars or mercury. This is often not possible and hence one can choose a star ruled by Jupiter or one of the benefic stars. In practice, any Monday would do in most cases! On this day, there should be a special meditation, carried out with sincerity, an expression of intent done privately or in company with loved ones and friend, the intent being a surrender to the energies that are represented by moon, seeking its help and blessings. This is best done early in the day, followed by a light breakfast. Over the next few Mondays, assuming there is no medical or other contraindications, one gradually switches to a liquid diet, completely avoiding all dairy products on Monday, total abstinence from drugs, tea, coffee, alcohol, and preferably a light vegetarian repast with which the fast is broken, later during that day. The intent is not to pass out from starvation but to feel the hunger, feel the emptiness, and eventually, one must try to make the fast complete, taking only fluids, weak herbal tea, some juices, water on Monday. This would need to be continued for a year at least, but preferably throughout the dasha of mercury. Other acts of penance, and serving causes that resonate to moon's domains and attributes, mothers motherhood and maternity related issues, very little children, infants, blood banks, and above all, just plain and simple caring, would all help.
In this case, by the Grace of God, the recommendations were followed and much spiritual peace was regained by the individual as well as the development of a relationship within six months. She continues to observe the fast and other activities and continues to gain a better sense of who and where she is at and is an accomplished healer, already.
Om Shanti
–
Rohini Ranjan
March 29, 2001
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Astrology / Vedic Jyotish
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