Planetary Beacons and Pointers in the Rashi Varga

by
Rohiniranjan
(some old practices of mine that I ran into recently)

As one walks on the path of jyotish, many thoughts arise and get incorporated into one’s practice
and become second nature and then suddenly one runs into one’s old writings or notes and
realizes the point where the thought originally arose. In this instance, this one arose some 35 to
38 years ago at a time when I was working away alone at my self-imposed mission of
understanding jyotish. I suddenly connected to those moments after seemingly aeons and to my
surprise discovered that I had been experiencing without realizing this trend within myself that I
thought was recent but tonight I realize that it had been always with me! After spending some
really intense, quality time with jyotish, one way or another, suddenly the “pattern” emerges and
at times gets documented. Documented or not, it gets incorporated in my practice of jyotish.
What triggered this realization was through an email request for a reading that I got some time
ago and only recently could get to it. The young man was sharing about his experiences with
contemporary jyotish and readings that he had received from many after payment and perhaps
some for free. He was lamenting over the fact that most of these jyotishis seemed to use only the
rashi chart and did not seem to be able to go beyond it. In recent years, many vocal leaders and
teachers in jyotish had been stating repeatedly and very emphatically that rashi alone
(understandably) does not give a lot of information and cannot give a serious or rich reading.
Others then would voice their opinions from time to time that the other vargas were not being
utilized as the rishis intended and the “silicon-oil” bath (internet flame wars and discussions)
arose but went nowhere, as usual! Some even question, from time to time, the veracity of using
finer vargas (other than rashi varga) as charts as opposed to their being utilized as indicators of
strength or beneficience (e.g., sun is placed in so many own or exalted vargas, or not!); a
consideration that is incorporated in the saptavargaja bala segment of Shadbala, for instance.
The debate continues and shall continue till Ma Kamdhenu shall come home at Godhuli bela!

And yet, the rashi varga is not really that marasmic in terms of information, truth be told. It
holds not only the crux of jyotish with pointers to the relationships between planets, and the
indicators for awasthas, other states, functional maleficience and beneficience and lest we forget,
the Jaimini system is heavily dependent upon or based on rashi vargas. The rashi varga is not
something to be dismissed lightly in my opinion.

Many have written reams and reams on karakattwa and other attributes of planets and so on but
what I share today is perhaps a slightly different view on how I viewed the indications of the
planets, some decades ago in a moment of understanding. Hopefully, it will be of some help to
some individuals.

Translated into english, what I wrote was: The house/sign in which sun is placed, by itself, and
associated with the lords or significators (karakas) and the house in which leo is placed in the
nativity’s horoscope, hold the key to the areas or indications or things that the nativity is pleased
to attend to at the soul level.

A similar algorithm was then followed for the remaining planets {the ones in brackets were later
revelations!}:

Moon: The things, areas and activities that please the mind

Mars: The things and activities which the individual will willingly devote efforts and energy to

Mercury: Areas of trade {and communication}

Jupiter: {Areas of knowing and morals}

Venus: Things without which the person’s life becomes bland, insipid and like death.

Saturn: Things and areas which remain ‘dead’ and absent in the nativity’s life or are avoided and
supressed.

Lunar nodes: Things and areas which remain uncertain or where phobias and obsessions arise.

Over a period of time, I have begun to take more seriously the statement in jyotish that goes:
Sanivada Rahu, kujvata ketu. This obviously, in my understanding, refers to the rulership of
Scorpio by mars/ketu and of aquarius by Saturn/Rahu as elaborated in the conditions prescribed
for their utilization as rulers in the Chara Dasha scheme (Parashara and Jaimini). When the
nodes become rulers of the two signs normally ruled by mars and Saturn, special attention must
be paid to the nodes in such charts in general and for the considerations given in this article.

Let us take a chart well-known to jyotishis, that of the modern Rishi: Dr. Deepak Chopra.

Here sun is placed in its sign of debility in the ninth house and leo is placed in the 7th house.
Though a fairly accomplished modern medicine specialist who received education in the Ivy
League institute in India (AIIMS) and then did pretty well abroad, obviously there was something
that the ‘soul’ of the good doctor was finding amiss. The spiritual linkage between the healing
system and the patient was missing and the ninth house sun was calling at Dr. Deepak with all its
might. And the soul wanted to bring all of this out in the open, in plain view of all to see, which
is what the 7th is all about. Deepak Chopra found a teacher who brought the missing pieces into
his life and then a wonderful journey began. And the associated planets? Jupiter’s wisdom,
mercury’s skilled writing and allegorical presentation, presented with the brilliant energy
depicted by the mutual exchange between Venus (lord of 9th) and mars (lord of 10th) is not
happenstance. The presence of ketu with Venus in the mysterious Scorpio adds the depth of
wisdom that is not coming from what someone read just in the last few years and is regurgitating
but comes from many lifetimes of observations, and comprehension, deep comprehension. An
interesting trait that Deepak has is of giving a whole string of keywords and examples when he is
discussing something. A benefic mars and mercury in the presence of Jupiter (energy, wisdom,
verbosity) in the 9th through their rulership of the relevant houses, 2nd for speech, from the mind
(5th), and the 3rd for thoughts communicated and 7th (to the masses). Obviously there are many
classical yogas in this chart and those do help further.

What pleases the mind of Deepak? His moon is placed in virgo in the 8th house. His primary
profession, as the world sees him is as a doctor and healer. His writing, teachings, guru status
comes afterwards. The sixth sign virgo is often seen prominently in the charts of doctors. In this
case, he always seems to be concerned about the inability or limitations of modern medicine to
deal with chronic, lifetime illnesses, generally indicated by the 8th house. The lord of 6th moon is
placed in the 8th giving a vipareeta rajayoga. So, health, definitely is something that will be of
great interest to Deepak’s mind, and fortunate is he who has found what pleases his mind to unite
with what pleases his soul, earlier described, and turned into a mission in this lifetime. Virgo is
also the sign of writers and authors and Deepak has himself mentioned that he always wanted to
write and share his experiences and knowledge with others in a simple and pleasing manner (the
Venus and ketu helped too!)

Mars as earlier pointed out is placed with sun, mercury, Jupiter in the 9th and rules the 3rd and
10th. Through communication and actually remaining connected to his original profession
through the Chopra Healing Center, Deepak has managed to devote his enormous internal energy
towards meeting his personal life-goals (physical, mental and spiritual) and in a rather effective
manner.

The pivot of spirituality, of higher learning which through the martian-venusian energies feeds
into and is expressed through the mercurian modalities (speeches, workshops, writings) and all of
these bringing a rather lucrative return in a worldly sense in terms of riches of all kinds are what
mercury is all about when he smiles on the nativity. What the sun lacks in terms of uchchabala,
is more than made up through cancellation (presence of mars with sun, and Venus being in
kendra from lagna) which then energizes the budhaditya yoga in the ninth and a spiritual teacher-
healer was born.

Jupiter has been described earlier and the thematic link between Jupiter in 9th, Jupiter owning the
2nd (speech and family) and 11th (earnings and gains) can be seen in Deepak’s experience. One
thing to point out here is that jyotishis, particularly beginners tend to focus on one factor. While
this is the only way to discuss or absorb the astrological factors, due to our linear thinking and
communication, this is a good example where one must not think of Jupiter without
simultaneously thinking of mars, sun and mercury all in 9th house and then synthesize the
energies into one reading!

VENUS SATURN and RAHU:

So what is it that our good doctor would feel bleak without? Or which remained unexpressed as
per our hypothesis to serve as the key behind Saturn in this chart? With Saturn in the sixth, and
Saturn being lagnesha and lord of 12th, his profession and association with illness and suffering in
others are very key drivers without which none of this would have been possible. And without
which (Venus in 10th) his message, his life would have remained unaccomplished. Venus rules
the 9th and 4th in this chart. Without the spirituality and home/peace of mind that he has
obviously gained from many lifetimes of good deeds, as evident from his 9th house situation,
Deepak would have not arrived in the grand way that he has! There are people who can switch
careers drastically with no link to what they did before or were trained for. Ironically, it is true for
many foreign-trained medical doctors in North America. Only Deepak knows and can confirm,
but this is one area that he has always felt strongly about but has probably not addressed. Now
what about Rahu? What are the doctor’s fears and inner trepidations? Deepak has experienced
at some point in his life a great fear of losing someone very dear, close to home and it could be
related to his experience about his children during the 9/11 experience as he has shared, as well
as the period when he was being ostracized by the Medical community for his extremely brave
step to speak out against established medicine in a country that was not his own! An interesting
thing to note in this chart is the fact that Rahu and not Saturn is the lagnesh in this horoscope!
This has been a personal research of mine based on the rather well-accepted premise of kujawata
ketu and sanivada Rahu that all jyotishis are aware of! Where does this statement come from? I
think it arises from the segment of astrology described by both Parashara and Jaimini when they
tell us about the dual rulership of Scorpio and aquarius rashis which jyotishis accept as being co-
ruled by ketu/mars and rahu/Saturn respectively. These are not co-ruled, but ruled by one or the
other based on some very clear guidance given by both Rishis. In this chart for instance, both
Saturn and Rahu are placed singly in two houses, however, Rahu is placed in a fixed sign while
Saturn is placed in a chara sign. The dual signs are considered stronger than fixed signs and the
fixed signs are stronger than the movable or chara signs. Rahu is in a fixed sign, taurus, in this
chart and thus becomes the lagnesha. The visible proof for this is the physical appearance of
Deepak Chopra. His youthful looks, pleasant and gentle demeanour, the shape of forehead, the
dimple on his chin, his love of aesthetics and attention to beauty in any project he takes on are
crying out aloud: Venus! Venus aspects Rahu from the 10th house and taurus also arises in
navamsha. Although Deepak will age gracefully, I am certain that he is probably not looking at it
with welcoming arms. He loves integrity and particularly of the mind-body-spirit working well
in a coordinated manner throughout the lifetime and that he has turned into a lifelong quest as we
all know from his writings and thoughts shared with all of us. Since the Rahu ketu axis sits in the
4th and 10th houses, a major concern had been that pertaining to home life and its balancing with a
very productive professional life and a great deal of effort has gone into making sure that the two
areas remained well-attended and integrated.

I hope I have been able to present my thoughts in a cogent and hopefully veritable manner.
Several things are obvious and easily confirmed from facts that we know, but there are certain
things that can only be confirmed by Dr. Deepak Chopra. In the absence of such forthcoming
(unless Dr. Chopra gets to read and comment on this piece!), my research must continue on this
hypothesis that came to me at an opportune moment.

Rohiniranjan © 2007