Fundamentals of Vedic Astrology for Beginners

By P.L. Khushu

the
fundamental principles of astrological parameters for
knowing the essential segments of astronomy relevant to the
practical side of astrology and its mathematical calculations,
which is the basis of the configurations of the birth charts
or to say the horoscopes, for using these as the fundamental
tools for predictive purposes.
The subsequent chapters of this book deals with the
essential aspects of mathematical astrology, necessary for
the correct computation of the horoscopes according to the
well laid out principles of astrological parameters.
Similarly chapters carrying relevant information about
the various planets and their strengths and characteristics,
the details of various astrological signs (rashi's), nakhshtras,
houses (bhavas) along with their characters etc, are
encompassed in this book in detail.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sagar Publications
• Release date: Apr 8, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215958667

Book preview

सरस्वती महाभागे विद्ये कमल लोचने ।

विद्यारूपे विशालाक्षि विद्यां देहि नमोस्तुते ॥

(Saraswati Mahabhaage, Vidye Kamal Lochane, Vidyarupe Vishaalakshi Vidyam Dehi Namostute.)

We pray and bow our head to the Goddess Saraswati, Goddess of knowledge

Chapter-01

What is Vedic Astrology?

Vedic Astrology is a divine science which is a chronicle for depicting the possible future events in one’s life in almost all the fields of one’s his life and living, along with the impact of surrounding happenings, which will include mundane, meteorology, horary astrology, etc. Mundane astrology refers to the world affairs and events. Meteorology astrology refers to the study of the Earth’s atmospheric and weather conditions involving rain and snow, conditions and effects of monsoon, floods, storms, tornadoes, hurricanes, tycoons and the like. Horary astrology is an ancient branch of horoscopy astrology, in which attempts are made by an astrologer to construct a horoscope for the exact time at which the query is received and then commented upon by the astrologer concerned about its results.

Astrology is an established limb of Vedas. In the Vedic context, it called as ‘Vedic Astrology’. It is equally known as Vendange(Anga-of-Veda). Vedas being our heritance, it is equally essential to mention here briefly that the word Veda has its roots in ‘Vid’, which stands for knowledge. The ancient extant text on Jyotisha is the Vedanga-Jyotisha.

Vedic scholars mention about the importance of the Vedangas, when they describe the Vedas as having six limbs as six Vedangas, (the different sub parts of Vedas), these are:

1.Shiksha: It shows the path to the understanding of the ‘Vedic’ ‘Varnas’, Swaras’ and Mantras, thus leading one to modes of right pronunciation.

2.Kalpa: It deals with the procedures of performing of religious rituals using the Vedic sutras and mantras.

3.Chhanda: It ensures appropriate lyrical recitation of the Vedic ‘Suktas’.

4.Nirukta: It explains the difficult words, ‘Padas’ and ‘Mantras’ of Vedic terminology.

5.Vyakarana: It shows the grammatical aspects of the Vedic language.

6.Jyotisha: It refers to the movement of planets, constellations, with mathematical background known as ‘Ganita-Jyotisha’, with their effects on animate and inanimate beings, known as predictive astrology (Phalita).

The Vedas while representing the cosmic body (Kalapursha), (Jyotisha) represents its eyes, having visualization to see the past, present and future of a person or an event.

Jyotish, the official Sanskrit name for Vedic astrology, is one of the six Vedangas, and is called the eyes of the Vedas.Vedic astrologers in India believe that Jyotish represents the knowledge of the light of consciousness. The word Jyotish means light, and its experience empowers us to understand the relationship between matter and consciousness and experience the subtle balance between predestination and free will (karma). In astrological terminology, the Horoscope presents a precise roadmap to one’s future. Vedic Astrology or Jyotish has the unique power to tell us in exquisite detail as to what our unique spectrum looks like. Astrology’s premise is the planetary movements influencing the Moments of Time, during our living as humans. The planets continue to move, engaging with the earned energies of our past lives, to be consumed in this birth, which depict the various happenings and ups and downs in our life and living.

Astrology (Jyotisha), is further divided into three main sub divisions called as Sakandas, namely Ganita, Samhita and Hora. These are further classified as under:

Ganita: This first ‘Sakanda’ deals with the mathematical aspect of astrology. These are compiled into several compositions, called as Siddantas. These treatises called as ‘Siddantas are about eighteen in number in ancient times. Varahamihira the great astrologer considers only five ‘Siddantas’, out of the total number of such ‘Siddantas’, in his famous astrological work known as Pancha Siddantika. In this book, he writes about mathematical astronomy. He explains about the five earlier astronomical treatises by five authors, namely the ‘Paulisa Siddhanta’, ‘Paitamaha Siddhanta’, ‘Surya Siddhanta’, ‘Vasishtha Siddhanta’, ‘Romaka Siddhanta’. Thus, there are five Siddantas, and these are, Surya-Siddhanta, Paulisha Sidhanta, Romaka Siddhana, Vasishtha Siddhanta and Paitamaha Siddhanta. A prolific knowledge in these Siddhantas’, is a prerequisite for a competent astrologer as per sage Varamihara.

Samhita: Samhita means a collection of the most generic context. Samhita refers to any methodical collection of text or verses. Any Shastra, Sutra, or Sanskrit epic, along with Vedic texts, is to be referred to as a Samhita. As for as astrology is concerned, these encompass varied areas, like weather forecasts, natural phenomenon’s like earth quakes, famines, epidemics, wars, changes in governments, international events, political and economic developments of nations through the planetary movements and combinations. Predictions for annual world happenings or of various countries, are generally based on the Hindu New Year commencing on ‘Chaitre Shukla Pratipada, or on the Solar Ingress into Aries and it falls under Samhita Astrology.

Hora: This third ‘Sakanda, deals with the individual horoscopes (Jataka), which is used in natal predictive astrology of individuals for guidance. It also covers the Muhurata", a part of astrology, which refers to the choosing of favorable planetary combinations to regulate and achieve favorable results in one’s day to day working or actions. A ‘Jataka’ (horoscope) of a person is compiled on the basis of the date, time and the place of birth of a person. These three variables should be quite accurate for the compilation of one’s horoscope, which is not the natal birth chart only, but constitutes other divisional charts too, which are very vital for predictive purposes.

Astrologers of good and sincere essence need to offer prayers to the Lord Ganesha, who is the lord of intelligence, Mother Saraswati, who is the Goddess of knowledge and its learning, to attain proficiency in the mathematical astrology, which is the basis of astrological predictions.

Astrology can be baffling at first instance, because it involves a committed kind of wisdom, yet, if studied with devotion and commitment to its basic values, one will find it very much educative as for as it’s cosmic and predictive values are concerned. Astrology and its study have been declared something like a superstitious belief by neo-scientists. Such so called scientists calling themselves as the born pillars of science and its applications on a self assumed belief, have most of the times criticized astrology, when they have never bothered to study this subject as a subject of science, where the cause and effect principle of science gets applied fully. While defining science, it means knowledge and observations of critical systems and objects, verified through critical experimentations and tests of sorts along with its similar replications. It thus gets systematized and generalized as a subject called as a subject of science. Astrology and its study has a similar base. It fulfills both the criteria’s of cause and effect and its replication.

Cause & Effect: While physical science being an outcome of cause and effect, as per the scientists, they thus ridicule astrology as a myth. This phenomenon of theirs refers to the laboratory testing of various phases of the events of science. They are ignorant about the fact that astrology is a cosmic science, where the limitations of the laboratory testing of events are very vast. In fact, the whole cosmos is the testing laboratory for the scientific testing of astrological norms and narratives. In the case of physical sciences, a cause may be gross or subtle in its form, showing results, which are in the shape of physical or gross, effects instantaneously. In the case of astrology the cause is always subtle, while the predictable or predictive results are varied, according to settled astrological norms and predicaments which are century old developed and defined axioms in this regard. The subtle cause in astrology has reference to the cosmic forces, which are defined by the placement of various planets in the birth chart of a person, which is prepared just at the time of his/her birth. Equally, astrology deals with multiple problems and phenomena’s upon earth. It being so, various astrological parameters and methods need to be applied with caution and precision, before an astrologer can be able to give correct predictions. Predicting in astrology is thus very difficult, when an astrologer has to be very much learned having varied knowledge of astrology. The subtle cause may be one, but the effective results can be varied, depending upon the individual horoscopes, as per typical planetary combinations in the individual horoscopes. Unfortunately since quacks have cropped in this field of astrology as astrologers, their failures to predict correctly has made astrology as a failed science when it is not so. These so called Pundits of the road, while projecting themselves as astute fortune tellers have defamed this pious and cosmic science.

Replication Effects: The neo scientists claim that the physical sciences have replications of its various principles, when astrology and its principles do not possess so. It is necessary to mention here that every astrological prediction carry the phenomena of replication. Astrology being a complex science, all the known astrological principles are to be applied carefully. In ancient Vedic scriptures, numerous astrological dictums lie hidden. Once applied carefully, they show their applicability fully and give comprehensive results of their replication. During world war-I, word war-II and subsequent wars of 1965, 1971 between India and Pakistan and the like, typical astrological planetary combinations akin to each event of such a war or happening, gives enough credence to the fact of the replication effects of planets in astrology. It is on the basis of such anticipated planetary combinations in future, the most veteran astrologers of our country, have been able to predict the anticipated good or bad happenings in anticipation for future times.

Astrology and Karmic Effects: Our ‘Karmas’ are an outcome of our good or bad deeds. Here comes the concept of cause and effect in operation in astrology. If there is an effect of some good or bad event in one’s life today, it has a cause preceding it. Every good or bad event of today in one’s life is linked to his or her actions Karmas’, of the past. Certain actions Karmas of a person give immediate results. Some such actions Karmic doings, may take time in its fructifications. Once the belief of cause and effect is understood or felt by a person in his day to day doings, he or she will certainly limit one’s such actions to good deeds only for a better tomorrow. With better doings ‘Karmic actions in this life ((Janama) for a person, is a better investment to have a good rebirth in next life (Janma), when it may even mean to be a cause for avoiding subsequent births and rebirths. The astrology gives clues to such good or bad actions called as (Karmic actions) of the past, of a person, while delineating the present good or bad events in one’s present life (Janama). In fact our ‘Karmic actions’ decide our destiny

Chapter-02

Preliminary Concepts of Astronomy

Vedic astrology has its base in astronomy. A preliminary knowledge of astronomy is required for an astrologer. A fair concept of the rotation of earth, the occurring of eclipses, concept of lunar and solar months, formation of seasons, the equinoxes, the concept of zodiac, ecliptic, celestial Equator, fair concepts of the placement of the planets and stars in the sky, celestial longitudes and latitudes of the planets, the first point of Aries or the Vernal Equinox, the first point of Libra or the Autumnal Equinox etc, is required to be acquainted with fully, by a student of astrology before venturing to learn and then practice astrology.

Earth: The Earth is revolving on its own axis. In addition to its spinning, it is also revolving around the Sun. Though it is known that the Earth is moving like other planets round the Sun, yet, for the purposes of the Vedic astrology, the ancient Geocentric system is followed when the Earth is taken as the centre of the universe and predict the astrological results accordingly. Earlier the Earth was considered as the centre of the solar system, with the rest of the heavenly bodies in the universe in constant motion around it, in their individual manners. Such a situation in astronomical terminology is called as Geocentric. The other position is Heliocentric, when it considers Sun as the centre as solar system. The Indian astronomy is thus Geocentric and not the Heliocentric. Our Vedic astrology is known as ‘Pratyaksha Shastra, which refers to the visible or the apparent movement of the planets. It has a relationship with the ‘Geocentric Observations astronomically.

While living on the Earth’s surface the creatures living on the Earth also keep on moving in the space with the same speed as that of Earth. Sun, which is actually stationary, appears to be moving in opposite direction to that of the Earth. As the Earth moves from west to east, the Sun and other stars and planets in the space appear to move in the opposite direction, which is from east to west. Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor and support life. About 29.2% of Earth’s surface is land consisting of continents and islands. The remaining 70.8% is covered with water. The shape of Earth is nearly spherical. It rotates from west to east around its axis. The average diameter of the Earth is about 12,742 Kilometers. Earth’s gravity interacts with other objects in space, especially the Moon, which is Earth’s only natural satellite. Earth orbits around the Sun in about 365.25 days. Earth rotates on its axis in about 23 hours and 56 minutes. Earth’s axis of rotation is tilted with respect to its orbital plane, producing seasons on Earth. Earth is the densest planet in the Solar System and is supposed to have been formed over 4.5 billion years ago, along with the other members of the Solar system. Almost 8 billion humans live on Earth and depend on its biosphere and natural resources for their survival.

Equator of Earth:

The Earth’s axis is an imaginary line, which passes through its centre connecting its poles called as North Pole and the South Pole. The axis of the Earth is tilted at 23 degrees and 28 minutes from the perpendicular to the plane of Earth’s orbit around the Sun. The axis of the earth is inclined, when the northern end of this axis points to the Pole Star, known as Dhrav Tara. An imaginary line passing through the centre of Earth and perpendicular to the axis of Earth is known as the Equator. It divides the Earth’s sphere in to two equal halves, called as northern and the southern hemispheres. It is called as terrestrial equator. The terrestrial equator is considered of zero degrees latitude. Drawing parallels to the equator on north or south of it will indicate north or south latitudes from the zero degree at the equator to 90 degrees at either pole. Figure-1, below shows the concept of equator of the Earth, as also indicates the North Pole and the South Pole.

imgp10

Northern and Southern Hemispheres of Earth.

The equator of earth divides the sphere of earth in two equal parts, which are known as Hemispheres. The Hemisphere towards the north is called as Northern Hemisphere and the Hemisphere towards the South is called as Southern Hemisphere. Figure-2, below shows the Northern Hemisphere and the Southern Hemisphere of the earth created by the Equator.

imgp11

Geographical Longitudes and Latitudes.

Terrestrial Longitudes: If the surface of the Earth’s is cut imaginarily by several concentric circles, passing through the north and the south poles, then each such circle will cut the Equator at a right angle. These imaginary circles are known as ‘Meridians of Longitude’. The longitude of a place is measured east or west of the Prime Meridian. The Prime Meridian on the Earth passes through the original Royal Greenwich Observatory near London. The meridian of longitude (circle), passing through the Greenwich is considered as the circle of zero degrees longitude. All places located east of this Prime Meridian have 0 to 180 degrees (E) east longitude. Places located west of this Prime Meridian will have 0 to 180 degrees (W) west longitude. These all are known as ‘Terrestrial Meridians’. Such longitudes from 0 to 180 degrees marked east or west, depends upon the location of a place east or west of Greenwich. 180 degree east and the 180-degree west meridians are the same meridian circles lying opposite to 0-degree meridian and it is called as the ‘International Date Line’. Ancient Vedic astrologers considered terrestrial meridians passing through Ujjain as the zero degrees longitude. The meridian passing through Greenwich was accepted as the Prime Meridian of the world at the Washington Conference of 1884.At present, the meridian passing through the Greenwich in England is considered as of zero degrees longitude. Longitude of a place is the angular distance of that place’s meridian east or west of the Prime Meridian passing through Greenwich.

Terrestrial Latitudes: Drawing imaginary circles parallel to the Earth’s Equator, the centre’s of which falls at the axis of Earth, these imaginary circles are called as ‘Parallels of Latitude’. All places being located at the Equator have zero degree latitudes. Places located north of the Equator will have 0 to 90 degree (N) north latitudes, depending upon the location of such a place. Places located south of the Equator will have 0 to 90 degrees (S) south latitude, depending upon the location of such a place. The point of intersection of the zero degrees longitude and the Earths Equator is the reference point for locating any place on the Earth. The latitude and the longitude of pace are the coordinates, which help in locating the place accurately on the surface of Earth.

Figure-3, above shows the position of the terrestrial longitudes and latitudes.

As explained in the paras above, it shows how to locate or find a place on the surface of Earth. Thus extending these principles of locating a place on the surface of Earth, a heavenly body viz, various planets placed in the space also can be located or defined similarly. In this regard, it has been imagined that the entire space around our planet Earth, is a huge sphere with infinite diameters. So while living on this planet the Earth, the other planets in the space would appear to us to be situated on the imaginary surface of this imaginary sphere.

Celestial Sphere:

An imaginary projection of the earth in all directions up to infinity is considered as Celestial sphere. It is a cosmic sphere or what is known as ‘Brahmanda’. The celestial sphere is an imaginary sphere centered on the Earth in which all stars and other celestial bodies can be projected. A great circle joining the celestial North Pole and the celestial South poles is called as ‘Meridian. Figures-4, explain such situations.

imgp13

Celestial Equator:

Extending the plane of the terrestrial equator into space is called as Celestial equator. It can be said that by extending the earth’s equator indefinitely, an imaginary great circle will get created which will cut the celestial sphere into two halves. This is known as the celestial equator. It divides the celestial sphere in to northern celestial hemisphere and the southern hemisphere. Celestial sphere along with its planetary bodies that is planets appear to rise in the east and get set in the west. This has reference to the Earth’s rotation on its axis from west to east. Figures 5 & 6 define such situations. (Celestial Equator is the great circle on the celestial sphere, when every point of which is exactly 90 degrees from the celestial poles).

imgp14imgp15

Ecliptic: As mentioned above that in Indian astronomy, Geocentric centric observations with the Earth are followed, with the Earth at the centre of Universe and all other heavenly bodies moving around it. Sun thus also appears to revolve around the earth, rising in the east and setting in the west. This apparent path of Sun in the space along which it appears to move around the Earth is known as Ecliptic. It is actually the path of Earth in rotation around Sun. The ecliptic is the plane of Earth›s orbit around the Sun. It is also known as ‘Ravi Marg’. From the perspective of an observer on Earth, the Sun’s movement around the celestial sphere over the course of a year traces out a path along the ecliptic against the background of stars. The ecliptic is an important reference plane and is the basis of the ecliptic coordinate system. The Ecliptic is inclined approximately, at an angle of 23 degrees and 26 minutes to the plane of the celestial equator, due to the obliquity of the Earth’s axis. This angle between the Ecliptic and the equator is called as the obliquity of Ecliptic. The figure-7, below explains this situation.

imgp16

Zodiac: Zodiac is a broad area of about 18 degrees extending approximately 9 degrees on either side of the Ecliptic, in which all the planets are situated, which pertain to the Vedic astrology. It can be said that the zodiac is an area of the sky that extends approximately 9° north or south as measured in celestial latitude of the ecliptic, which is the the apparent path of the Sun across the celestial sphere over the course of the year. It is to be noted here that the planets never proceed more than 9 degrees either north or south side of the ecliptic. For astrological purposes, this broad band of 18 degrees is referred to rather than referring to the entire sky. Figure-8, below explains such a situation.

imgp17

The Zodiac circular band of 360 degrees and of 18 degrees width in the heaven is further divided in to 12 imaginary equal parts of 30 degrees each. These constitute the various signs of Zodiac, which are 12 in number, starting from Aries to Pisces. Each sign is named after a particular constellation placed in it. There are 27 constellations (Nakshatras), of 13 degrees and 20 minutes each located in the zodiac evenly. As such, each two and a quarter Nakshatras are located in each sign. As Zodiac contains 12 equal