How Vedic Astrology Works

The knowledge of Vedic Astrology has come down to us from the Vedic
slokas. These slokas have been deeply studied and realized by our
Siddhas in ancient times. Hence, through them we learnt about the
Universe, and the waves of energy that impact our lives. They
suggested practical ways to diffuse negative energies of planets in our
lives and how to seek blessings of good energies.

Vedic Astrology guides us to seek a better life than what our planets
have destined for us. Siddhas in ancient times had understood the
cosmic energy, and calculated its effects for the good of common man.
Maharishi Parashara is said to have provided explanations of this
ancient Vedic science as predictive astrology to enable man seek
blessings of benefic forces and protect themselves from malefic ones.

Source of Vedic Astrology:

Vedic slokas tell us how the presence of planets in each house can
create specific effects on man. But many of these slokas are indicative
or suggestive in nature and not easy to comprehend without deeper
knowledge of Metaphysics. Generally speaking, Ancient Vedic
Astrology, as revealed through Vedas, mainly relates about creation of
this Universe, and its relationship with man born to the Earth.

Astrology that came down from the Siddhas:

It was through the Siddhas that we learnt about the Universe, and the
waves of energy that impact our lives. It is interesting to note that for
better perception of the powerful forces of cosmos and understanding
the nature of each planet; Siddhas represented them to us as deities.
So planets are prayed and invoked as Gods and Goddesses: Power of
Mars is represented by Lord Muruga, Sun by Lord Shiva, Mercury by
Lord Vishnu and so on.

The Siddhas also suggested practical ways to diffuse negative energies

of planets to a certain extent. Such remedies specifically help in adding
good energies in human life.

The Predictive Astrology:

In Vedic Astrology, Moon is a very important planet and the Moon sign
of a person is considered his or her Rasi. It is the combined study of
the yogas, qualities of the 9 planets, their influence on the 12 houses,
and how the qualities or gunas like Sattwa, Rajjas and Tamasa, and
five primordial elements like space, air, fire, water and earth influence
matter in forming their nature.

Modern Vedic Astrology has evolved over the years and at present, it is
popular as a predictive astrology that forecasts about individuals from
their birth-charts based on the time and place of birth. And here lies
the most sensitive point of this field what percentage of accuracy in
predicting human life can be achieved? Perhaps 75 percent, at least
this is the common belief.

The role of astrologer:

What surely an individual can gain from Vedic astrology is the

knowledge about himself or herself. With a certain amount of
interaction with individuals, and mainly study of birth-chart, an
astrologer can tell about the nature and inclinations of the individual.
He makes one aware of the good and the bad influences of planets and
such awareness of cosmic powers can help one with better abilities to
make appropriate decisions further in their lives.

The remedies in Vedic astrology:

When planets are in debilitated state, or in retrograde they bring lot of

hardship to the native. There are certain strong afflictions of planets in
birth-charts such as Pitra Dosha, Kaal Sarpa Dosha, Shani Dosha, and
Mangal Dosha, which prevent the native from enjoying the good
effects of planets.

Vedic Astrology suggests remedial measures like chanting of Mantras,

observing and practicing certain rituals, keeping one energized through
Yantras, wearing beads garlands and observing practices such as
fasting on the days when the planets are powerful.
Principles of Tithi Pravesh Chakra

Tithi pravesh chakra is one of the cornerstones of Vedic astrology and

was hidden in tradition of SJC until the knowledge was given out by Pt.
Sanjay Rath. Vedic astrology widely uses the solar return chart or the
surya varsha pravesh chakra to predict the event of a year and this is
widely known as Varshaphala. However, from time immemorial the
scholars and pundits of India used the Tithi based calendar to reckon
time, since the time needs to be reckoned from both the luminaries, as
they represent two different aspects of our self.

Thus, the start of a year needs to be reckoned from the time when the
exact portion of tithi commences again after a full cycle of Sun in the
zodiac. Since the Moon phase calendar or the tithi calendar is
synchronised with Sun, we need to see the tithi when the Sun returns
back to the same sign after a year and the exact amount of the birth
tithi has elapsed. When the event happens, that commences a new
year in the life of native and the horoscope drawn for that moment can
show the events of the year. However, the tithi pravesh chart can not
be read independently from the natal chart, since the natal horoscope
has an over-riding influence over the native. This article shows how to
analyse the tithi pravesh chart, while simultaneously taking the natal
chart into consideration.

In addition to analysing tithi pravesh chart like a normal rasi chart,

there are specific factors which need to be analysed while analysing a
tithi pravesh chart. They are:

1. Weekday: Take the weekday running at the commencement of the

tithi new year. This becomes the lord of the year and has the most
predominating influence on the native. Here the day needs to be
reckoned from Sunrise to next sunrise and thus, somebody who is
born after 00:00 hrs need to be considered to be born in the previous
day. Only when the birth is after Sunrise, the weekday becomes the
current weekday. Thus there can be minor discrepancy between the
weekday as reckoned as per the English calendar and the one
reckoned as per the Hindu calendar.

If this planet happens to be a functional benefic for the natal lagna and
placed favourably in the horoscope, then the year would be favourable,
otherwise unfavourable. The intensity of the results can be seen from
how well the planet is placed in the natal horoscope, what are the
yogas the planet is involved in etc. The year lord shall activate all the
yogas and results related to it in the natal horoscope during that year.
This is based on the principle that whenever a planet is strong to give
results, it will give the results of its ownership, placement and yogas in
the natal horoscope.

2. Lagna: The lagna is the key which chanalises the energies of the
natal horoscope to the Tithi pravesh chakra.
Thus, if the tithi pravesh lagna is placed in Kendra to Natal lagna, it
will bring happiness; in trikona it will bring prosperity and if placed in
Dusthana or badhakasthana, it will bring troubles and obstacles.

The lagna lord in the tithi pravesh chakra needs to be studied for
success or failure in different endeavours in the year.

3. Hora: The Hora lord at the commencement of the tithi New Year set
the focus of the events that are going to happen in that year. The
events can be seen from the ownership, placement and yogas the Hora
lord is involved in the tithi pravesh chakra.

This is the most important factor of the three and the strengths,
placement or ownership and the yogas it is involved in will have
tremendous impact on the main events of the year. If it is badly placed
or afflicted, then the events can leave us with some bad experiences.

The influence on the hora lord can be seen from the different divisional
charts to find the exact nature of events likely to take place in different
area of life represented by the divisional chart.

The principle of the Year lord, Lagna, Lagna lord and Hora lord can be
applied to any other pravesh chakra such as Masa pravesh chakra or
Dina pravesh chakra.
Introduction to Nakshatras

The nakshatras are the apparently fixed bodies in the Zodiac, where
the planetary system moves with them placed in the background.
Among the Rasi and the nakshatras, the former is overlorded by the
Sun, whereas the latter is overlorded by Moon. This implies that the
Rasi shows the environment we would be placed with at different times
in our life and what we get out of it, on the other hand, the nakshatras
govern the different state of mind we shall be having at various times.
Even the actual events are important in our life, taking a person-
centric view point; our reactions to them also matter equally. Hence
the study of the nakshatras is well warranted.

There are two nakshatra schemes, one of which uses 27 Nakshatras

and the other uses 28 nakshatras, which include the Abhijit Nakshatra,
an intercalary nakshatra. Both the schemes are useful in their own
right. While 27 nakshatra scheme is used for all day to analysis, such
as analysis of birth chart, analysis of dasas, using Navatara chakra etc;
the 28 nakshatra scheme is used for analysis of few chakras such as
sarvatobhadra chakra, the sannadi chakra etc. The Nakshatras are
reckoned from beginning with Aries which coincides with the beginning
of Ashwini.

There are four padas (quarters) of each nakshatra, each measuring 3d

20m making the total duration of the nakshatra to be 13d 20m. Thus
there are 108 padas across the zodiac and each map to 1 Navamsa.
However, since the duration of 1 sign is 30 degrees, the nakshatra
cannot be mapped exactly on the Rasis. However, it is interesting to
see that 9 nakshatras can be mapped to 4 Rasis. From this we can
derive the basis of dividing the zodiac of 12 Rasis and 27 nakshatras
into 3 parts each measuring 120 degrees. This is the basis for the
Navatara Chakra, where the nakshatras are divided into three groups
of 9 each, starting either from the Janma or Lagna Nakshatra.

While we see the mapping of the 9 Nakshatras on 4 Rasis, we see that

there are few nakshatras which would fall across two Rasis such as
Krittika, which falls in Aries and Taurus; Mrgashiras, which falls across
Taurus and Gemini and so on. There are others which would fall in 1
rasi such as Ashwini, Bharani, Rohini etc. Even though this looks
haphazard and erratic, there is a hidden meaning behind it. To
understand the meaning, we need to know the tattvas (primordial
elements) ruling the Rasis and the Nakshatra padas. Beginning from
Aries, the Rasis are ruled by Fire, Earth, Air and Water in a cyclical
manner. Thus Aries, Leo and Sagittarius are the fiery signs; Taurus,
Virgo & Capricorn are the earthy signs and so on. This is the same
pattern which repeats for the nakshatra padas, which means that the
first pada is governed by fire element, 2nd by earth, 3rd by air and the
4th by water. This cycle repeats across the nakshatras.

The beauty of the mapping of the Nakshatra with the rasi is that,
among the 9 nakshatra padas which fall in a rasi, the tattva of the first
and the last pada belongs to the tattva of the sign. So the first and last
pada of Aries would be Fiery, the first and last pada of Taurus would be
Earthy and so on. Seeing this from another perspective, the while seen
among the three groups of 4 signs (starting from Aries, Leo and
Sagittarius), the 1st sign starts from 1st pada of a nakshatra and ends
with the 1st pada of a nakshatra (for example, Aries starts with 1st
pada of Ashwini and ends with the 1st pada of Krittika). Similarly, the
2nd sign (Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn) start with 2nd pada of a nakshatra
and end with the 2nd pada of another nakshatra (for example, Taurus
starts with 2nd pada of Krittika and ends with 2nd pada of
Mrgashiras); 3rd sign Gemini starts with 3rd pada of Mrgashiras and
ends with 3rd pada of Punarvasu and the 4th sign Cancer start with
4th pada of Punarvasu and end with 4th pada of Aslesha.

The lordship of each cycle of 9 nakshatras, as per Vimshottari dasa

scheme, starting from Ashwini is Ketu, Venus, Sun, Moon, Mars, Rahu,
Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury. It is worthy to note that the 3 of the 9
nakshatras, which fall in the junction of signs (rasi sandhi), are ruled
by Sun, Mars and Jupiter, the three best friends on the Devas side!
The other Nakshatras which fall inside the signs are ruled by Ketu,
Venus, Moon, Rahu, Saturn & Mercury. What can be made out of these
two categories of the planets?

Classification of Nakshatra

Fixed Nakshatras

Rohini, Uttar-phalguni, Uttar-ashadha and Uttar-bhadrapada are

supposed to be fixed nakshatras and they are favourable for activities
which are related to establishing something permanent such as
coronations, laying the foundations of cities, sowing operations,
planting trees.

Soft Nakshatras

Chitta, Anuradha, Mrigasira and Revati are soft nakshatras. They are
favourable for soft or artistic activities such as wearing new apparel,
learning dancing, music and fine arts, sexual union and performance of
auspicious ceremonies.

Light Nakshatras

Ashwini, Pushya, Hasta and Abhijit are light nakshatras, and they are
favourable for light and sportive activities such as putting
ornamentation, pleasures and sports, administering medicine, starting
industries and undertaking travels.

Sharp Nakshatras

Moola, Jyestha, Ardra and Aslesha are sharp nakshatras in nature and
they are favourable for sharp, piercing and painful activities such as
incantations, invoking spirits, for imprisonment, murders, and
separation of friends.

Mobile Nakshatras
Sravana, Dhanishta, Satabhisaj, Punarvasu and Swati are mobile
nakshatras and they are auspicious for mobile activities such as
acquiring vehicles, for gardening and for going on procession.

Dreadful Nakshatras

Purva-phalguni, Poorvashadha and Poorvabhadra, Bharani and Makha

are dreadful nakshatras and they are favourable for nefarious
schemes, poisoning, deceit, imprisonment, setting fire and other evil
deeds.

Mixed Nakshatras

Krittika and Visakha are mixed nakshatras and during their influences,
works of day-to-day importance can be undertaken.

Inauspicious Nakshatras

Beginning from the third quarter of Dhanishta and ending with the last
part of Revati, the time is held to be unsuitable for any kind of
auspicious work. This period goes under the special name of Nakshatra
Panchaka and when these stars are ruling, one should avoid journey
towards the south, house repairing or renovation, collecting fuel and
cattle fodder or acquiring cots and beds.

Auspicious Nakshatras

Of all the twenty-eight constellations, the pride of place appears to

have been given to Pushya, the 8th star.

Nakshatras:

1. Ashwini

2. Bharani

3. Krittika

4. Rohini

5. Mrgashiras

6. Ardra

7. Punarvasu
8. Pushya

9. Aslesha

10. Makha

11. Purva-phalguni

12. Uttara-phalguni

13. Hasta

14. Chitra

15. Swati

16. Visakha

17. Anuradha

18. Jyestha

19. Moola

20. Purva-ashadha

21. Uttara-ashadha

22. Sravana

23. Dhanishta

24. Satabhisaj

25. Purva-bhadrapada

26. Uttara-bhadrapada

27. Revati

The Nakshatras Relationship to the Sushumna Chakras

of the lunar mansions [the twenty-seven nakshatras] I am Abhijit.
Krishna speaking in Srimad Bhagavatam, Canto 11, ch.16, v.27

I am an amateur astrologer who has been meditating for twenty-five

years and studying Maha Yoga under the guidance of Sadguru Sri
Vasudeva. I have been researching the nakshatras for a number of
years and want to share an amazing discovery that to my knowledge is
unknown, namely that the nakshatras relate to points of energy and
consciousness along the sushumna subtle channel.

There are twenty-eight points along the Governor Vessel (the Dumai
meridian, same as the sushumna nadi) in the acupuncture system of
traditional Chinese medicine. These points correspond to the lunar
constellations in the Chinese system. Furthermore, in Taoist neidan
(inner alchemy) according to Grandmaster Mantak Chia, these points
map out how one refines/processes/transmutes life force energy in
meditation from gross to subtler forms. I have experienced these
refinements myself so I can attest to this.

I am sure it is no coincidence that nakshatra sounds similar to

chakra and kshetra. The lunar constellations and stars of the
twenty-eight nakshatras come together in a cohesive story (or inner
orbit) of minor chakras and nadis dealing with the refinement of the
soma/amrita of the Moon/psyche as the soul (jiva) explores the
greater possibility of enlightened rapture (ananda). These twenty-eight
nakshatras are linked to centers within the brain and cerebrospinal
stem through subtle energy channels (nadis/meridians). The Moon
represents the mind that rules the astral and causal bodies
interpenetrating this gross field of nerve plexuses and vortex points.

I believe that understanding this alignment of the nakshatras with the

sushumna is central to decoding their meaning, and that this
represents a lost body of knowledge that is only now coming to light.
It must have been part of the older nakshatra system mentioned in the
Vedas because in this template Abhijit is included and it begins with
Krittika.

Here are some of the more obvious correspondences I have uncovered

so far:

Abhijit, the nakshatra Krishna identifies with corresponds to the

Brahmarandhra Chakra (GV20), a point at the top of the head,
connected to the top of the sushumna nadi, where 100 yang (solar)
channels converge. These are the 100 physicians of Satabhisha.

Purva Ashada is the minor Bindu Chakra at the back of the head where
the hair swirls (GV18) and is the posterior position of the Soma
chakra. When the yogi is able to bring their sexual energy out of their
semen bringing it up to this point, it transmutes into ojas, releasing an
intoxicating feeling in the brain.

Purva Bhadrapada is a point (GV24) that is linked to the Manas Chakra

in the sushumna, a chakra associated with the naga because it is all
about the chitta all the mental storage in the soul based on sense-
impressions and samskaras (attachments).

Jyestha is a point (GV16) corresponding to the posterior of the medulla

or Talu chakra, while Bharani (GV28) corresponds to the anterior. As
Paramahansa Yogananda states, the (unenlightened) soul enters and
exits through the medulla when taking a new birth. Jyestha is located
close to the earring area and the stem resembles the pole holding up
the umbrella of the brain. Bharani is associated with the portal
between earthly life in Bhur and the afterlife (for the unenlightened
soul) in Bhuva.

Krittika (GV1) is located at the coccyx, which has a kind of spear or

knife shape. Located at the beginning of the sushumna at the
posterior end of the root chakra, when Kundalini begins to move heat
is felt here hence Krittikas deity is Agni. Its shakti is the power to
burn desires, a theme that is taken up in the mythology sequence
related to the next three nakshatras.

Rohini (GV2), Mrigasira (GV3) and Ardra (GV4) are located at the
posterior of the sexual and navel chakras. The mythologies associated
with their respective deities tell a cohesive story about Brahma lusting
after Rohini who is shot down by Rudras arrow of restraint. In the
context of the refinement of pranic energies in the sushumna, this can
be read as an allegory about a yogic practice of bringing the sexual
energy into the navel chakra where it is changed back into vitality so
that it rejuvenates and strengthens the physical body, giving radiance
and health through this center.
This is just a sample of the many things I have discovered. There is
more to share and explore but I am now in the process of mapping out
the meanings of all these points and am inviting you to contribute to
my research. These meanings will be posted on my blog Chakra
Nakshatras with ongoing updates and more details:
chakranakshatras.blogspot.com

You can post comments there or contact me on the site.

I plan to eventually include the Chinese and Mayan astrological

meridian systems as well because they also align on this acupuncture
map. I am sure an original template must have existed that was
known to these three cultures, probably around the start of Kali Yuga.
This knowledge goes beyond the Vedic Astrology system, beyond any
philosophical or cultural inheritance. My interest is in deciphering the
core knowledge that these ancient systems understood and that
anyone can access through right meditation and awakened Kundalini.