I will be moving all my posts to the Lunar Astro Blog site in the coming months and this website will no longer exist. Please check my latest post here.

Quick analysis on Rishab Shetty’s chart.

Lagna Lord exalted and AL in the 9th house of bhagya in/thru foreign lands. 2nd lord and karaka for fame in 12th house of foreign lands and a loaded rashi of arts/skills. So the reach of this movie is both pan India and foreign markets. In the interview he famously quotes” Regional is Universal”.
A4 in the 12th with aspect of A3 so very comfortable in making films and very good story telling skills. A3 in rashi of religion and parivartan between vakri Guru and Ketu compelled him to make to make the theme of avAhan (kola) of devta/bhoot(Ketu) into jeev(Guru), in the 5th house of vision/movies/bhakti and mystical/occult/death rashi of Vrischik.
Guru being aspected by exalted Lagna Lord Chandra and karaka for masses, he knows the pulse of the people. Because of vakri Guru, the charcater of Shiva initially is reluctant to take on his family tradition and only after his brother dies (Guru in Vrischik and parivartan with Ketu) he is forced to take on the bhoota kola. Now why panjurli(varAha) and guliga?
His AK is Rahu a manifestation of the varaha avatar of Lord Vishnu and is in Mrigshira nakshatra the searching star, hence Panjurli comes searching for Shiva in the movie.
And in the end to destroy the land lord guliga takes over Shiva’s body, this is shown by Gulika and Shukra in Magha nakshatrs in Rishab’s chart! Magha is the karm assigned to you by your pitris and its manifesting in Rishab’s chart as a movie since its in Simha rashi the naisargik 5th of movies and the setting/story is in a forest again represented by Simha rashi.

Parashurama (Shukra) went on and killed the kshatriyas 21 times over, which is shown as the killing of the land lord. And the whole of the south west (Nairuti) of Bharata is Parashurama kshetra.
There is an argala on Simha rashi from the loaded 12th house/Mithun with Rahu (Varaha), Mangal (killing and the gun misfiring and effecting the forest officer’s eyes), Budh (subconscious effects this movie had in the climax, Budh also shows endings as Revati is the last nakshatra), Surya (name/fame Rishabh got and dispositor of Shukra).
Now the release date is Sept 30, 2022 and my favorite Kaala Chakra Dasha easily shows this. His Mesha dasha started in the end of 2018, the 10th house so some new beginnings of his career.

Antar Dasha is Simha the rashi of name/fame/movies with A11(gains) and A10(career and his karma) with Gulika and Mandi! Shukra shows natya kala. Its the 2nd house and its fetching him handsomely (perhaps will break some box office records). Pratyandar dasha is Kanya which is the in 7th from AL i.e. opens up the gates for his Ardhua Lagna to rise (name/fame).
Paribrahman Paddhati also shows success in his current 40th year running. Exalted 5th lord Shani in Lagna with A8 so the sudden rise in name/fame. Other 5th co lord Rahu in the bhagya stana with 11th lord(gains) Surya (karaka for name/fame) in Mithun rashi (art/movies etc.). Exalted 10th lord Moon in the 8th again sudden change in the career. LL in the 11th house of gains. Parivartan of 2nd and 3rd lord showing the theme of the movie.

Wrote this as a post in the Lunar Astro Facebook Group.

June 9th, 2022 today/tomorrow (depending on where you are in the world) is Vatuka Bhairava Jayanti. The tithi is ज्येष्ठ शुकल दशमी (Jyestha Shukla Dashami). A few thoughts on this rupa.

He is a saumya and bala rupa (a boy of 8 years) of the more ferocious kAla Bhairava, hence less intense. The tithi for kAla Bhairava jayanti is मार्गशिरा कृष्ण अष्टमि (mArgashira krushna ashtami). So here surya is in Mrigashira nakshatra entering Mithun rashi for vatuka and for kAla he is in Jyeshta nakshatra entering Dhanu rashi. The rupas are being formed by the illumination of Surya entering the rashis as a balak in Mithun and learned adult man in Dhanu. But the rupas are drawing their energies from the mAsa (month) and the tithi (angle between Surya and Chandra).

Vatuka is drawing his bala energy from Jyeshta ruled by Budh (balak) and dashami tithi ruled by the Chandra, hence the more saumya qualities. kAla on the other hand draws energy from Mrigshira nakshatra ruled by Mangal and Ashtami tithi ruled by Rahu, hence the ferocity.

Now a bit on the iconography. vatuka is shown with a fan showing the airy rashi of Mithun for communication. There are several meanings of damaru, but here I think we can take it as the bhavat bhavam of the 8th and 3rd rashis which are the two sides of the damaru which look like the number 8 laterally or the symbol of infinity and transformation. Like other ugra devtas he is holding a severed head, showing us that he will cut off our ego, preconceived notions and limited identity. It also represents the sub conscious mind in Mithun.

He is carrying a small sword which says that one has to control the sharp tongue or communication in Mithun. There is a puppy following him. In sanskrit a dog is called श्वान (shvAna).

The root word is श्वा (shva) which means tomorrow and is conjoined with न (na) which means without, i.e. without a tomorrow/future. This can be extended to past as well, hence the puppy is representing kAla or time, i.e. time follows him as he is the lord of time.

More info on this deity can be found here. Another awesome resource on Kala Bhairava is this playlist from KYG Yoga.

You must have heard about the metaphor “Grow a Spine” meaning fighting and having the courage to tackle something important. We can think of this also in terms of morals and ethics. Our lives revolve around this concept of ethics in the western worldview but in the Sanaatana Dharma (Hinduism) it is referred to as Swa Dharma or your personal Dharma. Doing the right thing as per your context/situation, time and place. Now this is not a simple task and requires a lot of courage (spine). Life presents a lot situations where you have to take a lot of decisions and make choices. This is represented by Tula Rashi where the lord of Karma Shani Bhagwan gets exalted i.e. your choices decide your karma i.e. action.

According to Kriya Yoga all the seeds of Karma are stored in the astral spine in the chakras. The techniques of Kriya Yoga involve breathing techniques with focus (Chitt) on the physical spine which is a manifestation of the astral spine from the Pranamaya Kosha (astral body). Shani Bhagwan is Vayu tattwa. The breath is an instrument thru which you access this Prana Shakthi and hence one can erase the stored Karma thru Paranayama and Kriya techniques, similar to wiping out the memory stored in computer devices.

If we consider the spine and the skeletal system in Physiology, it supports all other organs and the organism as a whole. This can be considered similar to the planets revolving around the Sun in the Solar system. Surya Bhagwan is that Swa Dharma that our lives revolve around. Hence he exalts in the Mesha Rashi, 9th (Dharma) from his own Simha Rashi.

Observe that he is always shown with a Bow. Isin’t the bow similar in shape as the Spine? This ethical/moral spine? Physically the spine cannot be straight, it has to be curved so as to absorb the stress from the movement of the body and gravity (Gurutwa). Similarly Dharma cannot be a one size fits all or straight it has to be curved like the spine based on the context (desh, kaal and paatra).

The breath is also like the action of the bow and arrow. You inhale i.e. pull back the string of the bow with arrow, focus on the target, and then release the arrow (exhale). A leader never jumps into action without assessing the situation. Its the same going back and assessing the situation i.e. inhalation and then releasing the funds/execution etc. of exhalation. Surya Bhagwan is also “Praananath” and hence the remedies of “Prana Prathishta” are given for afflictions to Surya in the natal chart. The spine is also called as the “Back Bone” or foundation to the body. Even Shani Bahgwan is shown with a Bow and Arrow, again showing the importance of this moral compass on your Karma.

As the Telugu new year “Ugaadi” is approaching let’s discuss briefly about the souls journey and new beginnings. Lagna is defined defined as the point in the sky on the eastern horizon when any being is born. This forms the anchor or Lagna for the life span of that being. Several points in the sky could be considered as this anchor but this “Udaya Lagna” i.e. the point on the zodicac that coincides with this eastern horizon becomes the most important point in the natal chart.

The natural zodiac begins (anchors) with Mesha (Aries) rashi and depending on the various schools of thoughts the first nakshatra is either Ashwini ruled by Ketu or Krittika ruled by Surya. But all the nakshatras starting from Revathi up to Krittika and the two rashis of Meena and Mesha, symbolize the soul’s journey into a living being.

The Lagna is like the anchor that hooks the ship (soul) on to the dock (body) in this “Samsara Sagar” (sea of life) akin to Meena Rashi which is symbolized by the sea and a pair of fish. The pair of fish swimming opposite to each other representing the duality (Dwaita) or Yin-Yang principle. Meena rashi is classified as a dual rashi in Jyotisha. Revathi nakshatra represents the mythical “Vaitarini” river as mentioned in the Garuda Purana. It is shown symbolically that the souls have to catch the tail of a cow to cross over this river to reach Yamapuri. But isn’t it so strikingly similar to the journey of the sperm up to the egg for fertilization? Observe that Revati nakshatra is ruled by Budha graha who also rules the endocrine system which controls the harmones required for reproduction. The northern direction is ruled by Budha and in olden days the grave yards used to be on the north side of the towns and villages. Budha also rules babmboo wood which is used to carry the dead bodies and the natural 3rd house (entry) which is the 8th from the 8th (exit). The female reproductive system (Yamapuri) is Bharani Nakshatra whose ruler is Lord Yama. Out of the millions of sperms only one is able to survive the acidic environment of the Uterus and fertilize the egg, which is symbolized by this river full blood and pus in Garuda Purana. The sperms have to compete and race like a horse (Ashwini) to reach the egg. This is the “Gandanta” or junction between the Watery and Fiery rashis. A certain balance of heat and cold must be present for the fertilization to occur. Bharani means “to carry”, the fertilized egg is carried over to the uterus by the Fallopian tubes. The fetus develops in a constrained environment as symbolized by Yamraj’s noose (Yama and Niyama are self-regulation and personal practices, which are so important for a women during pregnancy). The cutting of the umbilical chord is represented by Krittika nakshatra symbolized by scissor/blade/knife. The uterus looks like the Ram’s head. Wonder if Elon Musk got inspired by Aries (something new) for his Tesla car’s logo?

This is just a scratch at the vast symbolism in Hinduism, and many layers of understanding and interpretations exist.

“The Only Purpose of Man’s Sojourn on this Earth is to Seek God ”- Yog~Martand Yogiraj Siddhanath (SatGurunath)

Reference:

https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/handle/1885/196359

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaitarna_River_(mythological)#:~:text=Vaitarna%20or%20Vaitarani%20(Vaitara%E1%B9%87%C3%AE)%20river,believed%20to%20purify%20one’s%20sins.

Sanatana Dharma (Hinduism) is very rich in its iconography and deities. It is a condensed form of the formless nature of existence (Brahman) and very symbolic. Its foolish to take the literal meanings or what is apparent. But even the condensed forms are characterized by multiple layers of complexity and subtlety.

Let us look at the iconography of Lord Dakshinamurthy from a Jyotish angle. He is shown as keeping his right foot on the Rakshasa (demon) Apasmara. Smarana in Sanskrit means recollection or memory, and Apasmara is understood as Apa (loss) of Smara (memory), meaning forgetfulness, delusion or confusion. The Apasmara also symbolizes ignorance (Avidya). What is Karma? it is a collection of all types of vasanas (memory/tendencies/ignorance etc.) from previous lives. Here I would like to paraphrase what Sadhguru often says “You have your great grandfathers nose on you”, which is nothing but a memory or Apasmara.

Take Dhanu rashi for Lord Dakshinamurthy, who is a form of Lord Shiva as a Guru. He has his right foot (12th) on Apasmara which is the natural 8th house Vrischik rashi. This rashi is like a deep dark well or blind spots in your life, where once you fall in it, only a Guru can pull you up. It is a Jala rashi and all Jala Rashi’s carry memory (look up Dr. Masaru Emoto’s experiments on water carrying memory). Apasmara is also referred to the Ayurvedic disease concepts related to neurological disorders. The 8th house and the Bhavat Bhavam of it the 3rd house both rule sub conscious mind which has been programmed from past lifes based on our karmas. Observe that Apasmara is clasping a snake representing Maya (illusion), and Vrischik rashi’s co lord is the half snake Ketu.

Lord Dakshinamurthy’s left leg is folded in a sitting pose and the feet is touching the Mooladhara chakra. This means that this form is controlling this chakra and gives clarity in thought and emotions especially related to basic necessities of life. The right leg is in Vrischik in Jyeshta nakshatra and the left leg in Dhanu rashi and Mula Nakshatra. Hence this form of Shiva is an excellent remedy for all 8th house and Jyeshta/Moola nakshatra matters.

Sri Adi Shankara Bhagwat Pada in his Dakshinamurthy Stotram aptly describes this Maya in these words “Rahu grastha divakarendu sadrusho, Maya samachedanath”.

References:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apasmara

Sri Dakshinamurthy iconography and some other questions: Part One

https://isha.sadhguru.org/us/en/wisdom/article/why-sadhguru-sit-particular-way

http://www.hindupedia.com/en/Sri_Dakshinamurthy_Stotram

Vinayaka Vijayam is a 70’s Telugu movie that they used play on Doordarshan (Indian Government run channel) every Vinayaka Chathurthi when I was a kid. Yesterday, my wife was reading the Katha (story) on the birth of Ganesha as part of the ritual. Gajasura was given the boon by Lord Shiva that he would reside in Gajasura’s stomach. This caused commotion with the Devas and Maa Parvati pleaded with Lord Vishnu to help. Lord Vishnu took the help of other Devas and Nandi and went to Gajasura incognito. They performed various acts and Nandi gave a wonderful dance performance to Gajasura (reminds me of the many 70’s bollywood plots like “Amar Akbar Anthony” etc. where the good guys dress up as performers and go to the villians). Gajasura was very pleased by Nandi’s dance and asked them for any boon. He had the ego that I am no less than Lord Shiva. The devas (who came in as Jangama performers a Shaivite sect mostly in Karnataka) asked for the Linga in his stomach. He wanted to keep his word, but said the Devas can take the linga out of his stomach as he will not be able to take out with his own hands. Nandi charges into his stomach with his horns and lets Shiva in the form of the linga come out of Gajasura stomach. Now why am I telling you this story? It reminded me of what my Jyotish Guru Shri Deepanshu Giri ji taught about a 12th house Guru in the Rashi Chakra. This yog is formed if one was not careful about giving away knowledge to undeserving people.

Maa Parvati meanwhile creates a boy (prana Prathishta) out of the Turmeric paste that she uses for bathing. She keeps the boy as a guard at the entrance and asks him not to allow anyone in. When Lord Shiva returns after the death of Gajasura, the boy does not allow even Lord Shiva inside. All Hindu stories are symbolic like its iconography. Now this hindrance to even Lord Shiva is symbolic of first getting the blessings/permission of Lord Ganesha (how the boy became Ganesha with an elephant head is another sub story) who was standing as a guard (Kshetrapal) for achieving Shakthi. Ketu is the connection to the Para and Shakthi Sadhana which one cannot achieve without its blessing in a Rashi Chakra.

Chakras are focal or energy centers in the subtle energy body inside our physical bodies. Mutthuswami Deekshitar was a famous carnatic composer and a contemporary of Tyagaraja and Syama Sastri a musical trinity of the 17th century. All three were realized souls. Deekshitar in his popular composition “Vaatapi Ganapatim“, praises Lord Ganesha as ” Moolaadhaara Kshetrasthitam” i.e. residing in the Moola Chakra, note that the Moola Nakshatra is ruled by Ketu. Mooladhara Chakra is at the base of the spine near the anus. This is a Gandanta (knot/chakra) in the Rashi chakra and in the subtle body from where the Kundalini Shakthi rises up to the Shasrara Chakra at above a few inches above the head. This is symbolic of Maa Parvati rising up from Muladhara to meet Lord Shiva at Sahasrara. The potential energy residing as a coiled serpent transforms/rises (Vrischik) up as kinetic energy. So Ganesha’s blessings are necessary for both Shakti to meet Shiva and Shiva to meet Shakthi since he is the Kshetrapal (Gaurdsman).

Imagine Shakthi rising up as traversing from Vrischik (Moola nakshatra) to Mithun (Ardra Nakshatra) and Shiva coming down to meet Shakthi (Ganesha story above) as traversing from Vrishabha (Lord Shiva needs his vahana/vehicle Nandi to travel) to Dhanu. The opposite rashis form the spoke of the Kala Chakra. When one is pursuing higher spiritual goals, they are traversing from Shakthi to Shiva and when one is on materialistic pursuits then one is traversing from Shiva to Shakthi. Both must be balanced and represented by the Yin-Yang principle. The following is an attempt (no experience just limited knowledge of mine) to map the chakras and their emotional balance wheel. These may not map exactly to each of the 30^o of the rashi but rather the junctions between the rashis and you would see some overlaps. There may be a lot more emotions than these.

Chakra	Emotions
Mooladhara	Feeling secure, grounded in reality, food, basic necessities in life i.e. food, shelter, money etc. Vrischik (fears)-Vrishabh(material security) axis.
Swadhishtana	Sexuality, Creative energy, Good things in life, ego, harmone imbalance. Tula-Mesh axis.
Manipura	Gut Feeling, Determination, Judging, Letting Go, sense of wisdom, personal power, control. This is called the warrior chakra i.e. taking action. Kanya-Meena axis.
Anahata	Relating to other people, love, Bhakthi, addiction, uplifting others. Simha-Kumbh axis.
Vishudha	Empathize, Clarity in Speech, Speak with love, speaking the truth, shutting down not speaking out. Karka-Makara axis.
Agnya	3rd eye. Psychic, Subconscious, Paranormal. Equally in tune with the outer and physical worlds. The Mithun-Dhanu axis. The Arudra and Moola nakshatra axis. These are gateways to the portals. Lord Bhairava for Arudra (for higher planes) and Lord Ganesha for Moola (for lower planes).

The Sahasrara is outside the physical body a few inches above the head in the aura of the person and hence not mapped to the rashi chakra. This is the pure consciousness where Shiva and Shakthi are in perfect union.

Shani Maharaj is the Judge, Jury and Executioner. Reference from Makara. It is his Dharma (9th) to Judge (Kanya Rashi). It is his Karma (10th) to be the Jury/Deliberate (Tula Rashi). It is his Kaama (11th) to Execute/Deliver (Vrischik Rashi).

Nashta Jataka (Lost Horoscope) is one of subjects in classical Jyotish literature where using Prashna techniques the horoscope of the native is constructed, who has either lost the birth details or doesnt know their birth day and or exact time. But even if you have a fair awareness of the birth date and approximate time, having the precise time up to the second becomes important. When I first started learning Jyotish and going to Jyotishi’s for consultations they were blindly predicting with whatever time I gave, without giving any thought to the accuracy of the birth time. I started realizing that accurate time is required to predict accurately especially if the lagna degree is on the border of the rashis or if one wants to go into the divisional charts. The higher Amshas (divisionals) are very sensitive to the exact time up to the second.

As I found my Jyotish Guru Shri Deepanshi Giri ji and started learning the basics of Kala Chakra Dasha (KCD) from him, I started applying those principles to reverse engineer the life events onto KCD. As suggested by Deepanshi ji, if I used the SM Singh option on Jagannath Hora software and apply the KCD techniques, I was getting excellent results sometime up to the hour in my own chart. Although I must confess that I am completely oblivious to the actual calculations of KCD, but it works like a clock (literally) in some cases. Imagine the wheels of the clock machinery behind it to be the dasha periods on the KCD. The biggest wheel is the Maha Dasha, the next smaller wheel the Antar Dasha and so on.

Please find here an example of using KCD and other techniques to rectify the birth time. https://www.lunarastro.com/post/birth-time-rectification

The Mridangam is an acosutic double sided drum like instrument always used in Carnatic music performances. This instrument has all the characteristics of Makar rashi and Shani Maharaj. Let us see how.

First of all it is an ancient instrument often depicted on sculptures, paintings, wood work and mythology. It is the instrument of choice for Ganesha and Nandi. It is hollow inside with air in it and Shani rules over Vayu tattwa. It is a percussion instrument where it is beaten/struck or scraped by the artist, similar to the nature of Shani who represents the down trodden/beaten/ often blamed people. It is traditionally made by hand and laborious to make it. The artist usually places the instrument on his legs and ankles representing Makar and Kumbh rashis of the Kala Purusha.

There are three nakshatras in the Makar rashi. Uttarashada, Shravana and Dhanishta. The Mridangam is made out of Jack Fruit tree wood by hollowing it out. Uttarashada is ruled by Surya and whose ego is hollowed out by Shani and Uttarashada is represented by Jack Fruit tree (see Nakshatra Vana reference below). After hollowing it out the sides of the instrument are covered by Goat or Buffalo skins. The aperture in the middle is anointed by Iron Oxide. The skins are tied/braided with ropes made out of Buffalo skin. Both Goat/Buffalo skins and Iron are signified By Shani. It is said that the sounds made out of the Mridangam pleased Lord Shiva when it was played by Nandi and it is known as a “Divine Instrument”. This signifies Shravana nakshatra the star of hearing. And in Jyotish the symbol associated with Dhanishta nakshatra is a drum and flute again hollow acoustic (Vayu tattwa) instruments. The akshar “Ma” is ruled by Shani which is the starting letter of this beautiful instrument.

I am pretty confident that Makar Rashi and Shani Maharaj play an important role on the charts of famous Carnatic Mridangam artists of the past, but that is for another day.

References:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mridangam
• http://www.vedicvanas.com/nakshatravana.html