Journal of Astrology Newsletter September 2009

Sun and Saturn  - The story of a major transit and a crucial dasha

This September we are to witness two major astrological events: the change of the dasha of Venus which governed us for the past 20 years, to Sun in the Indian Independence horoscope, and the shift of Saturn from Leo to Virgo after two and a half years .

India has experienced the influence of Venus for long and this presence would repeat itself only  after100 years in the Vimshottari dasha cycle.And Saturn would come  again to Leo after a while ( twenty seven and a half years) .

The Venus dasha bids us farewell on the 9^th September and Saturn leaves Leo on the10^th.

However, September nervous fever of change is due more to the Saturday’s lord Saturn, than to the change of dasha from Venus to Sun. This is because the latter affects affairs of the nation, which are seldom a concern for the aam admi. The Sun and Saturn influence story is like that of a henpecked husband afflicted by male chauvinism boasting about his power over his family,. “It is I who takes the major decisions; the minor ones are left to my wife”. On being  asked to explain  what he meant by `minor’ and`major’,he said the decisions on whom to vote into power on assessing the performance and political scenario of the country  are mine, always, as also the decisions on  finalising the annual family budget, but the minor ones like what to eat, where to eat,where to go, when to go ,where to spend on a daily and monthly basis  –the routine ones are under the jurisdiction of my wife.

While national events impact us peripherally, most of us are more concerned about our own self, so the Saturn transit impacting at the individual level is crucial and national affairs are typically of interest for a while over the morning cup of tea with a newspaper. We forget that our individual destinies are linked to the destiny of the nation. And we rarely reflect on the mystery of our coming to this earth and our journey to the unknown after our death. If we do, our attitudes may well change

The dasha of Sun in the Indian Independence Horoscope from 9th September,2009 to  8^th September,2015

What changes this shift brings would be of interest to all. Venus represents women ,wife ,husband , love ,beauty , sex ,arts TV, films, visual media , cars  entertainment , luxuries of all sorts, money, wealth . Venus  to India, in the past 20 years , gave motor cars, mobile phones, a further boost to women’s liberation and disputes within and outside in plenty . Venus is the 1st and the 6th lord of the chart. It gave good results as that of the Lagna lord; and disputes, rivalry as the 6th lord. 

What will then be the scenario in the dasha of the 4th lord Sun for India? Will we have a change in the country’s aura and characterization?

The Sun is a disciplinarian and it represents the father. It the significator of the spirit of the individual (atma). It represents ego and vitality it represents the identity we build for ourselves. It is that force that has created life and governs it.  In its dasha it can set the home in order as it is the lord of the 4^th house. The ground work is already done with a government coming to power with strength. So rulers can expect to fly higher than ever before. They will be able to consolidate and deliver.

The fourth lord Sun in the third again indicates neighbours and partners, which has remained the most striking feature of India and the Independence horoscope. 

In recent times, we had the dasha of Venus-Mercury from 9th September, 2005 to 9th July,  2008. This was the period of the boom in the IT sector. Mercury is the 2nd and 5th lord, both representing wealth in the Indian Independence horoscope. It also signifies IT. Since it represents finance aswell, the share market went up to a record high during this period. IPL became a huge money maker.

In the antardasha of Ketu, we were confronted with ugly realities like the terrorist attacks of 26th November, 2008 in Mumbai. Koorma Chakra of this year indicates problems from the eastern border after Mars entry in Gemini in August 2009. The tremors of this configuration were felt in August when Indian media and academic circles reacted with alarm to signals of increasing assertiveness, even hostility from China. A Chinese semi-official website released a surprisingly direct and unambiguous report about the benefits to China of the dismemberment of India. An unprecedentedly large military exercise by China projected its force in the Asian region and was seen with concern by all its neighbours, coming as it did on top of years of massive increases in military budgets.

India's outgoing naval chief pointed out that it was neither feasible nor desirable for India to match the immensely superior Chinese military, a rare admission by the Indian defence establishment.

Readers may recall we predicted the tension on the eastern border in our Newsletter written in the last week of July and released on 6^th of August, 2009.

Even though it is hard to separate the official from the unofficial in the inscrutable Chinese context, these events played into public perceptions of worry of Chinese intentions, particularly with channels like Star News whipping up passions with reportage sensationalising the signals from the neighbour. On the morning of 27^th August TimesNow broke the story of clashes on the Indo-Chinese border. It mentioned that there has been no exchange of fire since the last fifteen years when the tranquility agreement was signed and therefore the rumoured gunbattle is indeed big news. In Nathla where the incident allegedly happened no such activity was witnessed since the 1962 Indo-Chinese war. How accurate was this prediction in the Newsletter of August, 2009, can now be judged.

The HindustanTimes of August 28, 2009 had this news item on the front page:

India, China armies clash?

Drimi Chooudhary KOLKATTA:

Indian and Chinese armies have reportedly been locked in sporadic exchanges of fire across the Nathula-La border in Sikkim, 54 km east of Gangtok. A senior defence ministry official in Kolkatta, where the Eastern Command is based, said the conflict has been on since Tuesday night.In a statement issued on Thursday, the Ministry of Defence, however, denied any shooting on the border. The Kolkatta based defence official, who refused to be identified, said “The gun battle intensified during the early hours of Wednessday. There is however, no reports of any deaths or serious injuries”. He said although India had not deployed any additional forces in the area, all civilian traffic had been stopped .But the ministry statement said roads have been closed in the area because of landslides .The official said, “The skirmishes caused concern as both sides recently reaffirmed their resolve to strengthen the existing relationship at a special joint meeting on August 15”. Situated at 14,140 feet, Nathula is reopened for trade in 2006, which had stopped in 1962 following the Sino-Indian war.

FLASHPOINT NATHU-LA * the defence ministry has officially denied the clash between the Indian and Chinese armies. But sources said a gunbattle has been on for three days. * Nathu-La, through which passes one of the highest international borders, was opened for trade only three years back.

With Mars getting dangerously close, should we expect something more? On Saturday 29^th August media reported unusual killings in the Jharkhand area of four, including a little girl and a woman, by suspected Maoists. Could be this also be an act of planners across the border? The involvement of terrorist’s outfits in Nepal in the counterfeit currency rackets unearthed in India has been in the news every day during the last week of August 2009 and the 1^st week of September. Both the Hindustan Times and Times of India carried news of Chinese incursions by helicopters in Ladakh on 30^th and 31^st August 2009. They reported a statement of the Army Chief admitting such incursions .On 6th September tales of Chinese troops painting stones red 1.5 km inside India and attack son Hindu priests in Nepal hit the headlines.

On the brighter side, the advent of the Sun dasha from 9th September promises to be an era of solar energy. In the dasha of Sun, we can expect some major positive changes.  Can India‘s reputation change from the present characterization as a state where the political system and bureaucracy can be manipulated and managed? Can we expect discipline in the form of moral policing to tighten the loose permissive attitudes left in the dasha of Venus? Will we lose much of our freedom won in the name of human rights and democracy .Does the phrase “Spare the rod and spoil the child” apply to us and we would realize this in the dasha of Sun?  Can we expect fresh reforms of controls and checks?  Can expect measures to check corruption and will we see public participation in disciplining the corrupt. Transparency and fair play will be adopted sincerely in the dasha of Sun.  Are we near an era of increase in Government intervention and revival of the public sector? Will there be a balanced and system- oriented reforms and easing of red tape as we go along?Surely, all this would be under the scanner  in the dasha of Sun and  despite the underlying risks need to be implemented. This may all well happen since armed with a stronger political mandate, the government is planning to kickstart the stalled disinvestment programme and other such measures to bring the economy on track..

Entry of Saturn into Virgo

It would mean boom time for TV channels where the world population is being divided ham handedly into twelve and all sorts of predictions are being unleashed freely without bothering about repercussions. It would mean business for the pong  pandits as our landmark campaign against their frauds skimmed only the surface, exposed just a few of their misdeeds.   They need to be hit harder for more revelations and to reform them and bring in an era of transperancy and fair play in astrology as well.

Saturn is sacred as it represents Kaal – the timer of everything important for everyone, nations included. Nothing of importance has ever taken place or will ever take place without the blessings of Saturn and Jupiter. This is the guiding principle of our Guruji Mr. K. N. Rao, based on which many successful predictions have been made .Saturn is always there to stamp its authority. Its influence is all pervasive.Saturn reminds us of our boundaries, our responsibilities. Saturn in any house reveals our limitations, fears and a sense of responsibility. Saturn in Sanskrit is called Shani or Shanischarya (the slow mover). He is a tapasvi. He is worshipped all over and in some places intensely.

 Vibrations created through tapasaya, in fact, change the atmosphere of a place. I am reminded about Shani mandir in Shringrapur near Shirdi in Maharashtra.  . The luxury of leaving your things unattended -a bag on the bonnet of the car sitting  for hours or telling the shop keeper you will pay after you return from the darshan in  a few hours and his response  that no one goes from here without paying and nothing is stolen, are memories that are not easy to delete. People sleep in the open. There are no iron grills on windows and no lockers in the bank. Even cash in the bank is kept without lock and key. The faith and fear of Saturn has to be seen to be believed.

Saturn represents slowness , dirt , ugliness , grief , depression ,  delay  , limitations , restrictions ,lethargy sombreness, cremation grounds –the real life . It takes you towards reality from your dream concoctions in other dashas. Yes, indeed, its transit to Virgo is a major transit for all as it brings the changes that perhaps we awaited for 60 years. Saturn and Jupiter come to the same position where they were after every sixty years. It could bring something after a wait of 27 and a half years when it comes to the same sign.

Worshipping Saturn

This is a planet not to be feared .It has to be admired for its power to bring in changes, both good and bad .Our approach to astrology should be scientific with an element of divinity. To understand it, we need faith and an unbiased questioning attitude. If we are guided by logic, we will not fall into the trap of unscrupulous astrologers (ponga pandits).

How can the destinies of all mankind of six billion are divided into twelve parts. This is a question that one should ask oneself and one will get the answer without seeking any half baked advice from ponga pandits. Can a person change your destiny against payment by reciting mantras for you or by performing some rituals however painstakingly? It is you who have to improve your destiny by minimizing the adverse that is threatened and maximizing the good that your destiny holds. The efforts have to be made by you alone.

Mantra jaap will help .It cleanses your aura and generates vibrations around you which attract positives. If these are done collectively or at a place where many saints have done tapasaya earlier, or on auspicious days, when planetary positions are favourable, the effect doubles and multiplies, it is for these reasons we go on theerth yaatra. If a scientist was to ask whether we can prove this effect, the answer would be that this can be realized not proven. Perhaps it is God’s will. If it was not so, no one would have believed in God or gone to temples, churches, or mosques. If so, one would not even look up and remember God for a moment.

Therefore the best way to worship Saturn is to recite its mantra. One can choose auspicious days from the panchang and the ones which are specifically suited for mantra jaap, after considering Chandra shuddhi and Nakshatra shuddhi. However, Mantra jaap is always helpful even on inauspicious days. Saturdays would give extra power to Shani mantra as it is Saturn’s day, so would Saturn’s Hora.

Going to certain theerths can be a waste as they have been polluted by frauds and corruption and manned by the unscrupulous. In view of this, our advisory would be to sense the vibrations and then go. The neighborhood temple could give better results than miles of travel and expense of thousands of your hard earned money. Question yourself if someone recommends expensive stone costing thousands to modify the effects of the planets on you. Colours do have an influence. To what extent and whether good or bad is hard to establish.

Here, one’s own judgement and that of well wishers matter. Never go by the advice of people who have commercial interests.

In view of this the best remedy to confront the likely ill effects of Saturn is to recite the Hanuman Chalisa at home .It will not only bring power to the person who recites this magical and simple mantra  but also improve the vibrations  for peace and tranquility for all at home.