ASHTAKAVARGA SYSTEM OF PREDICTION PART 25

By Dr.E.S.NEELAKANTAN INTRODUCTION A well built gentleman boarded an aircraft in order to fly to US for a professional visit . The plane took off and this man decided to enter into a conversation with a person seated next to him. The gentlemans next seat was occupied by an American girl, who was slim in stature but fair in complexion . After they had exchanged their usual pleasantries, the subject matter of their conversation turned to age, physique, appearance and topics on similar lines. The girl said, You will be surprised to know that though I appear young and slim, my age is nearly fifty. The stout man was shocked because he was nearly the same age but overweight and he was under the mistaken impression that the girl should either be in college or had just completed graduation. The gentleman explained Madam, we in India bother about our looks and physique, only till marriage. After that we are not concerned. The lady said, Sir, In our country , we are not sure how long our marriage will last. We are forced to re-marry when circumstances compel us . So, we have to keep our body in good shape always. Hope you now realise the need for my present appearance. The stout gentleman was really at a loss of words, hearing this practical discourse on marital affairs in a western country. This explains why I had started in part-24 of this series, In India, since time immemorial, social behavior is dictated by Dharma Sastras. Jyothisha or Astrology is

an independent science whose tenets are not bound by rules pertaining to Dharma Sastras. We now continue our discussion on Ashtakavarga rules pertaining to Venus. (1)If Saturn occupies the 5th or the 9th house from Venus, married life is not happy. (2)If Jupiter occupies the 5th or the 9th house from Venus, it bestows happiness. (3)The virtues of wife can be inferred from the strength of these planets. Let us take up the first rule for discussion. When Saturn occupies 5 or 9 from Venus, it is not going to aspect Venus. Therefore Venus will be free from Saturns aspect or influence. Then, how come it spoils marital happiness? I will give the reason for this rule. When we assess a chart for marital prospects we do it from three points of view 1) Lagna viewpoint. 2) View from Moon. 3) View from Venus(Karaka) Please note that view from Venus is only for marriage examination. If it is for progeny, you have to view it from Jupiter. Likewise if you have to study education, view it from Mercury; so on and so forth. I will briefly explain the genesis of this threefold examination. 1) Lagna denotes physique, appearance and the egoic self.

2) Moon represents mind. 3) Venus refers to Marital happiness, sensual pleasures and worldly happiness. Every human being lives at three levels; physical, mental and spiritual. Let us say a boy is good looking that satisfies one at a physical level. There are some persons who speak in such a way that everyone gets attracted. There are many speakers who can attract huge audiences, by their ability to mesmerize people by their speech. The third level is spiritual level- one may not be good looking, may not speak much but still will be very attractive. A classic example of such a person is Bhagwan Ramana Maharishi. Ultimately married life will affect the couple at all the three levels. In the first stage, physical beauty is the principal factor which creates mutual attraction. John Keats said, A thing of beauty is a joy forever. Please note that this adage applies only to inanimate things like Statue of Liberty, the, Leaning Tower of Pisa or Taj Mahal. For human beauty, we use a different adage , Beauty is skin Deep. When marriage is a product of romance and infatuation, there is much confusion and frustration, after the initial euphoria wears off. Hence viewing a chart from lagna standpoint satisfies only the physical or egoic point of view. The second and third levels at

which we judge a horoscope , namely from Moon and Venus, are far more important in deciding the quality of married life. The weightage in viewing a horoscope from these three angles could be quantitatively described as : Lagna - 100% Moon - 50% Venus - 25% When Saturn occupies 5 or 9 from Venus, what happens is that good effects of the houses of poorvapunya and bhagya (good fortune) get curtailed. Further 9th house is the 3rd house from the 7th.3rd is usually the house for friendship. When 9th is afflicted, the spouse may be indifferent or unloving . Please note that love can mean affinity even at a mental or spiritual level. Hence Saturn in 5 or 9 from Venus is a stumbling block for marital happiness. While Saturn is a planet of contraction, Jupiter is a planet of expansion. Jupiter also stands for cheerful disposition, positive bent of mind , progeny or expansion of family, benevolence and friendship. When Jupiter occupies 5 or 9 from Venus , not only it benefits the poorvapunyasthana as well as Bhagya stana but it also aspects Venus. Please note that when Jupiter aspects Venus any dosha which is attributable to Venus in the birth chart automatically gets annulled. The third and final point we need to discuss is the rule that virtues of wife stem from strength of planets.

There is a colloquial saying Determine Phalam (results) from Balam (strength). What does this mean? Only strong planets yield results. Weak planets do not yield results. According to Varahamihira , The results produced by powerless planets will be enjoyed in dreams and thoughts. (Brihat Jataka, Chapter viii ,stanza 22) What exactly do we mean by realization of desires through dreams and thoughts? It means :- Though there are yogas for achieving things , there is some stumbling block for realization of desires. I wish to cite one example here. In the seventies Indian cricket was dominated by the spin Quartet Prasanna , Bedi, Venkat and Chandrasekhar of whom Bedi alone was a left arm spinner. In that decade, three great left arm spinners played in domestic cricket Shivalkar, Goel and Dilip Doshi. All of them spent their lives in the shadow of Bishen Singh Bedi. If they had played cricket when Bedi was not there , all of them would have represented India in tests. (Doshi did play test cricket , finally after Bedi retired). This is one example I can quote to drive home the point we discussed just now that of achieving things in thoughts and desires. It means that since the desire is unlikely to fructify, one can at least visualize having achieved something and derive some paltry satisfaction out of that. The End.