Saturn (Shani) And Mars (Mangal) Transits Next 2 Months

Beware! Many people need to be extra cautious on health and abrupt mishappenings next 3 months. Mars goes combust today. A combust planet becomes very weak and is dependent on the Sun for giving it's results. Anyone running the Mahadasha or Antardasha or Pratyantardasha of Mars will feel the effects starting today. Moreover Mars is currently aspected by a Retrograde Saturn that's in debilitation in Navamsha. Its like 2 angry people face to face. Whoever is under their influence suffers. At this time it's people who have Mars as the Lagna Lord. Especially Scorpio as in it's retrograde journey, Saturn will move back from Sagittarius to Scorpio on 22nd June. Thats a fallen state for the planet and it becomes more unpredictably precarious. Scorpios will find a little relief after August 26 when Saturn goes direct again. But do not throw caution to the winds just yet. Wait a few days after August 26 to see the effects till Saturn gathers speed. Saturn finally leaves Scorpio for 30 years on October 27. People with Mars Lagnas (Aries and Scorpio) and those running Mars Dashas continue to be tormented as Mars also goes debilitated on 12th July in addition to being combust. Till August 28, the red planet is combust as well as debilitated. Guard your health fiercely, Take no foolish risks, Drive very carefully, Do not underestimate any health problem and Pay immediate attention to treat. Time to bring in the positive health routines that you were shirking from. Though Mars is out of combustion on August 28, it continues to be debilitated till 18th September. Expect your body to be weaker than usual and for working doubly hard to keep the immunity and energy intact. Stay in harmony with nature - avoid hot, spicy foods and especially overeating during these periods. Stay hydrated and have an early light dinner. Thats it. Not difficult, right? And I speak for all because even if you are not running Mars Dashas and are not Mars Lagnas, you are not completely unaffected. Mars is the vitality in our bodies and we all need to be alert. Just that some need to be more alert. Lastly Mercury Lagnas (Gemini and Virgo) and those running Mercury Dashas should also expect volatility in the next 2 months. There will be a see-saw of events. Do not expect permanence in the events or ventures undertaken in the next 4 months. The mantra for this period is persevere, work hard and plan. Expect results once October sets in. Till then, go along and make this world a better place for everyone around you :-)

Who Is Most Powerful - Lagna (You), Dasha (Time) or Gochar / Transit (Events)?

Many times my students ask me, while making predictions, on what should be the focus - Dasha or Transit. Many astrologers do their predictions with heavy focus on either one of the factors. They are not off the mark and many times get close to the right prediction, yet there remains something amiss. Let me clear this dilemma by explaining the 3 and then with an example.

Lagna is about 2 things that are equally important. First, what are the blessings and challenges you have come with or are going to face in this life. That's destiny. Second thing here and enormously important is how you will face these challenges and your strength to never give up or resurrect yourself.  How can this be ever ignored? One person gives up after a leg amputation and lives in depression, another goes on to climb the Everest.

Let's talk about Dasha. I have always refered to Dasha as "मनोदशा" - a hindi word denoting our thought pattern. During a dasha, a planet not just gives results it has come with but also makes us the prime participant by working on our mind and inducing us with attitudes, actions and behaviour that the particular planet signifies. So we equally heavily influence what we are receiving from nature at any time. Else it's the same world that appears gloomy to the one who has just lost a dear one but is all roses and peaches to the one in first flush of love. It's the state of our mind how we look at the same world.

Last one that's given the maximum attention and importance by many is Transit or Gochara. Understand it like this with an example of a work or professional situation - You with all your skills and capabilities is the Lagna, Your current opportunity is your Dasha (it could be job, business, self employment) and the Transit is all factors that are influencing a situation at a specific time (the govt. laws change effecting your business adversely OR a specific country has a economic collapse impacting your visa situation OR there is sudden demand in a sector where you were already skilled thus increasing your salary opportunities manifold.. ). I hope you get the drift.

So the answer to our question in the beginning that who is most important - the answer is All 3. You ignore either one and you'll miss out on the correct prediction. But do not make the mistake of not giving due importance to the King - the Lagna. If you've read a previous post of mine ("Lagna is the King"), you'll understand the meaning here better. A person who stays humble and grounded even if he/she has a huge lucky windfall and a person who never ever gives up and finds alternatives in the face of every adversity is the one who goes far, as goes a saying in hindi - लंबी रेस का घोड़ा. So Dasha and Transit will help you with a short to medium term prediction but keeping Lagna in view will help you foresee how the native (whose birthchart is being read) is going to perceive and react. At the end, that's the only thing that matters. Isn't it?       

When Is The Right Time To Do The Right Thing? Waiting For The Divine Muhurat?

One of the most important tasks that Astrologer and Pandits in India do is to calculate the right muhurat or the divine moment to perform an action / ritual / launch or event. Whether it’s a marriage, business launch or a specific pooja / prayer, everything needs a muhurat. Many a time I come across people who lament that they followed the right muhurat, yet the venture did not succeed. Lo and behold! Right there the person loses faith in Astrology or Astrologer or both.

Let me help you understand what is happening here. Firstly what is muhurat? Muhurat is, in very simple terms, a specific time frame when the alignment of planets is such that it is supportive and auspicious of certain ventures. Now how does that happen? Planets are not a 3^rd party entity waving a magic wand from outer space and making things happen millions of light years away on our earth. Planets are entities that are part of us and are effecting us – our thinking, our actions and our reactions all the time. So firstly, we are participants in making things happen along with the planets. Secondly, no venture of ours is in isolation. The success or longevity of any of our ventures depends on many other people associated with us and with the venture. Planetary alignments effect everyone. Hence, auspicious or good or divine planetary alignments imply that everyone is highly likely aligned to the action under consideration for muhurat and is highly likely to support our effort. Hence the longevity and success become a very high probability.

These planetary alignments are similar to weather alignments - the way we predict heavy rain or heavy snow or clear weather. Is your trip likely to be delayed in heavy rain? – Yes, extremely high probability. Will you be able to enjoy your walk in good nice clear weather with cool winds? Yes, highly likely. Though less likely, but it’s also possible that you reach your destination in time in heavy rain or not enjoy your walk in good weather. Does it mean that the weather prediction department is wrong. No. They are telling you about weather alignments and likely effects on your plans. Your individual preparation, planning and flexibility also matter. Lastly, whatever you do, there are others getting equally effected by the phenomena and everybody reacts differently. We can maximize the possibilities by maximizing our reception of the happenings. If we are looking for 100% guarantees, we need to start with the most important participant – Ourself!

Ascendant OR Lagna Is The King

One of the most often asked question by my students of Vedic Astrology includes

Is Saade Saati really very bad?

My answer is – Who decides? A situation is good or bad depends on how the experiencer looks at it. Let me share a very interesting story here to illustrate.

My Jyotish Guru was once explaining to us the importance of the 10^th house in the chart. This house being the karmasthana carries extraordinary importance for a human. Yet my guru placed the Lagna or the Ascendant above it. To help us understand how to compare the importance of these 2 houses while delineating the chart, he shared with us one of the most popular and engaging episodes about Shiva and Shakti or goddess Parvati.

During one of his dances Parvati challenged Shiva to a dance competition.  Shiva would perform a dance and then Parvati would recreate the dance just as gracefully as the lord of dance.  For one pose Shiva lifted his right leg above his head exposing his genitals in a pose known as urdhva-nataraja or urdhva-tandavam.  Parvati modestly declined to repeat the action and Shiva won the competition. At this goddess nagged Shiva saying that she could compete with him in dance but not in audacity. Our guru likened the Lagna to Shiva’s win in this episode. Lagna wins or prevails over all other senses. Hence depending on how powerful and well aspected the Lagna is, the native will receive destiny and react. What Lagna perceives, the rest of the senses follow.

That’s the reason why it is extremely important to understand the native, their perspective, their evolution in life, their dreams & motivations, their fears and above all their strength & ability to resurrect after every dip in life before deciding how an event will effect them. It’s exactly like deciding how an individual will recover from an illness or react to medication. Each one’s body immunity, mental strength and reaction to medication is different.

Coming back to the question at the beginning, a saade saati, which is an almost 7.5 years period when Shanidev or Saturn moves in certain proximity to the native’s moon in the birthchart, for sure throws challenges. It demands of us to rise to tough situations and it doesn’t spare anyone. In fact, Saturn gives us huge power and opportunities in multiple facets of life during this period and then watches us how we use it. Do we become corrupt and arrogant or work hard and benefit maximum people? Do we use every possible opportunity, evaluate options or sit and crib? Many of our Indian Prime Ministers have come to the high office during their saade sati.

Never forget, every taskmaster loves us and by throwing us challenges helps us to rise to our maximum potential. Shanidev is impartial and gives this chance to take a tough test to everyone. . Let’s make the lord proud of us. Embrace the period with preparedness and peace, not with dread and confusion. If we choose to work doubly hard, be disciplined, ignore setbacks, overcome problems and be humble during this period, Shanidev showers us generously with lifelong rewards. 

3 Workouts To Change Your Life

It is lovely to see the gyms packed these days. People of all ages are thronging the place and working hard to keep their bodies in shape for various reasons though. Most of them want to look awesome, some are there coz they have an ultimatum from the docs and medical reports. Body can only take butter chicken at 11PM till a certain stage! Even parks are full of people in the mornings, running, doing group or individual yoga, pranayama or just meeting friends. Amidst all the varieties of workouts, I see one getting thoroughly missed out and till it gets added to the regime, others are going to be of little help.

Body beautiful is getting ultra attention, Inner health via healthy eating, meditation sessions and many other group sessions is also part of the thought process. The 3^rd dimension that’s getting the most casual treatment and is being taken for granted is the ‘Mind’. Just keeping it occupied in the daily routine of work isn’t ‘workout’, exactly the way doing housework all day is no substitute for a dedicated workout routine. The way our gyms, sports sessions, yoga, walks, healthy & nutritious diets are part of our timetables now; mental workout is the final frontier, without which the receptacle that we are preparing is empty. A fantastic vessel of a beautiful and healthy body that holds nothing special!

What are these workouts? No amount of social media engagement counts! Brain teasers and puzzles included! Let me share what does count. Unless we mark time everyday in our discipline to pursue our passion undistractedly, we will be missing out on the 3^rd workout completely. We all have an interest, a passion – cooking, reading, guitar, writing, photography… just look within.. nothing deep and you’ll find it right there… somewhere close to the surface itself. Why don’t we strive to polish that everyday the way we look at every inch of fat melting in the body?  Because the body beautiful is visible and the mind isn’t? Or that’s what we think. Interestingly enough, the other 2 are very easily matchable by others around us, the differentiation lies in the 3rd. Anyone who we admire for any level of achievement or excellence in their field, is there because they’ve kept that time in the daily diary for a mind workout. That’s the only frontier left. 2D is flat. 3D is what brings it to life. Time to add the 3^rd dimension to our lives. That’s where magic begins.

What Is Rahu Kaal And Why is It Dreaded?

The mere mention of Rahu Kaal brings fear and confusion for most people. Let me clarify in very simple terms what the planet is, what it means and why the fear. Once we understand something, we approach it not with fear but with a mature understanding backed by intelligent actions.

Rahu and Ketu are 2 planets that are part of the Vedic or what's popularly called Parashari Jyotish. Unlike other planets like Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Mars and others which are tangible or physical bodies (something that can be seen or touched), Rahu and Ketu are mathematical points. One can understand the detailed calculation as a student of jyotish but as a non student, it is sufficient to know that these are not physical bodies that one can observe in the sky. However, our sages have deemed these 2 mathematical points of extreme significance while analysing birthcharts and predicting the effects.

Having understood what Rahu is, let me share what Rahu Kaal is. Simply put, this is roughly a one and a half hour timeframe everyday that is considered not good for any new activities. Why? This is because Rahu governs reckless bahaviour, rashness, uncalculated risks and enthusiam to flirt with danger. Hence if we start a new venture during this time, we may not have the same enthusiam to complete it as we had when we jumped into it. Even if we believe that we have started an initiative with all possible planning, a venture always involves people other than us. Others are also governed by Rahu during Rahu Kaal and someone who is part of the new effort may back out later.

The new work can be a business transaction, a journey, a meeting, a medical treatment or anything else. So does it mean we do nothing during these 1.5 hours everyday? Not at all. The Rahu Kaal is inauspicious or not recommended essentially for new ventures or anything where you are taking the first step, making the first call. An ongoing project, venture or activity is fine.

Lastly how is Rahu Kaal determined for each day? The approximately 1.5 hours Rahu Kaal period is calculated mathematically and depends on the sunrise and sunset time for a particular city. This roughly 1.5 hours segment is different for each day but falls around the same time for a specific week day. Let me explain. For eg the Rahu Kaal for Monday will always be in the morning, an hour and a half after sunrise while as Rahu Kaal for Sunday will always be in late afternoon. The exact time, like I said above is dependent on the sunrise and sunset. There are various online Panchaangs that can give the exact time for Rahu Kaal for a certain day.

I hope the above helps clarify and remove any fears about this powerful planet.      

Understand Personalities and Planets before Jumping to Predictions

It’s your friend’s birthday and you want to give them something special. You are discussing options with your brother for suggestions. You reject many and accept some to think over. How are you doing this? Because you know your friend well. What contributed to this understanding? It’s a simple thing but the result of complex processes that your mind does in the background without making it obvious.

Your understanding of your friend is a combination of multiple pieces.

Part one is their age, gender, education level, family background, exposure, financial status. Even if 2 friends were similar on these considerations, you may still choose different gifts for them. Because you are distilling their personality further based on Part two that is their unique behavioral quirks, influences (people / philosophies), nature in terms of reactions to various situations, unique experiences, dreams and expectations from life. Your brother is suggesting gift options based on his knowledge of part one. Your acceptance or rejection is happening based on part two. Similarly while reading a chart in Astrology, unless a person’s chart is as comprehensively understood, it will be difficult for an astrologer to make accurate predictions. Humans are evolving all the time and prediction has to take into account not just the events that can be foretold, but also the likely reactions of the person in question. Because subsequent situations are influenced by this.

There is an additional aspect to this argument. A chart covers all facets of a person’s engagements – work, parents, marriage partner, children, friends, sexual inclinations, earnings, kind of work that a person will engage in, kind of people a person will interact with and many more. These are a result of interaction between planets and houses (there are 12 houses in a chart and each represents a wide facet with dominant qualities). If we were to give a human form to each planet and house for our understanding (not too many here, just 21 if you are a student of Vedic Astrology – 12 houses and 9 planets) and understand their personality in the same way as above for your friend, prediction will be a cakewalk. Unless we know every single thing a planet can do, believes in and will or will not do in a specific case, we are far away from any prediction. Same goes for the houses. Then and only then can the synthesis to draw a sketch begin.

The bane of many a budding astrologer is the rush to jump on buying the gift before understanding the friend.