Easing into Vedic Astrology for Beginners

By Rohiniranjan

This is an introductory text about Vedic Astrology (Jyotish) which presents in a simplified manner with an aim to reduce confusing jargon in order to make it easier to understand and follow the fundamental essentials. A stepping stone towards gradually attaining practical experience in the vast field of vedic astrological divination with hopefully a pragmatic utility for all beginners interested in learning this fascinating discipline. Basic alphabet of the system is provided along with link to my helpful Primer (Jyotish and related articles, 400+ pages) which the readers can download for FREE. Together these offerings book will serve as a reference to be studied and revisited along your journey towards becoming an effective astrologer in a deeper and more meaningful manner than imbibing bits and pieces from social media or dipping into difficult to understand rehashed material from ancient scriptural texts. The book avoids superstitious rituals and similar constructs that generally turn-off the interest of the modern student. I plan to add more volumes using a similar approach with many practical examples depending on the interest shown by readers.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Rohiniranjan
• Release date: Feb 24, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224849949

Rohiniranjan

Rohiniranjan has several areas of interest including Vedic Astrology, Spiritualism, Poetry, Science and related domains. He has written and published many articles (technical and other topics) and self-published books (Primers etc.) in Vedic Astrology, Jyotish, in magazines, web, etc.

Book preview

Prologue

Having served Jyotish and related disciplines for several decades through learning this most intriguing and fascinating discipline and its related subject matter, followed by studying many charts, providing advice to a variety of individuals: some friends and many strangers, and writing many articles which were published in journals in India and abroad, since late 70s, and then on the web fairly actively, I am now offering my lessons learned and observations through this and hopefully a series of books to the variety of fairly serious and sincere folks interested in Vedic Astrology or Jyotish. Many translations and commentaries of classics and other scriptural texts exist already. My approach, I hope, remains inclusive but also somewhat different, but only the readers  can be the judges of that.

My first brush with jyotish was a near-disaster! I was about 15 or16 then and had already spent a year or so dabbling in palmistry and phrenology  that had drawn me in a most unusual manner. I was brought up in rather modern, scientific surroundings and did not experience a lot of traditional Hindu cultural conditioning that was often taken for granted while growing up in India. There was no one in my immediate family who had introduced me to occultism, although I had heard stories about my grandfather who lived far away and had never visited us (until I was about 18 after they were thrown out of their home and homeland of East Bengal and moved to India), and his interest in homeopathy and occultism (he did séances and auto writing, etc. which he had given up after some scary experiences!).

I still vividly recall how I was so taken by the small pocket book written by one Cheiro (William John Warner self-identified as Count Louis le Warner de Hamon) who wrote books on palmistry and one giving some prophetic predictions which I never managed to lay my hands upon. After Cheiro’s books came a few more, in English and Hindi, and then I managed to read a book by one Cmt. De Saint Germain who opened a new dimension in palmistry for me, way beyond Cheiro could.

I was beginning to feel frustrated with my lack of intuitive abilities which it seemed were essential for making palmistry tick! A childhood friend with whom I shared many pleasant hours discussing occultism, and philosophy (sometimes to the detriment of the math and science that I should have devoted my time to, instead!) was beginning to dabble in jyotish and enticed me into trying it, as well. Jyotish, at first seemed too cerebral and too calculation-based. Moreover, it had a rather complex structure which V.A.K. Ayer’s Everyday Astrology (hope I am recalling the title correctly) simply did nothing to make the subject more comprehensible or me less apprehensive about. After a couple of weeks of intense frustration with this and a few booklets in Hindi, I gave up on ever being able to understand this complex subject and devoted time to more useful scientific pursuits (which provided food and shelter lifelong, freeing me of the need to turn into a commercial astrologer). 

A year later, I found a western book named The Dictionary of Astrology, which had an abridged ephemeris and a very lucid and non-threatening style of presentation. I went through the book with great ease and at the end of the exercise even managed to draw up my own chart for the first time in my life (my family did not believe in astrology and no horoscopes were erected for myself or my brothers). With some knowledge and the basic lingo under my belt, I approached again Everyday Astrology with a lot less fear and lo and behold - jyotish was miraculously not that difficult any longer!

Timing is everything, as they say; I was fortunate to find out that a series of books written by one Professor Raman existed and using my very meager allowance I acquired some of his books, gradually one by one. The learning curve was steep but not as insurmountable as it had appeared during my first encounter. My experience with average astrologers was limited and almost entirely negative. I found