ASTRO-CURRENT JOURNAL OF ASTROLOGY (JULY-AUGUST 2014)

Life is an illusion, not reality. What we know of it is from our sensory perceptions.

Perhaps near- death and around - birth experiences are closer to reality, when the soul perhaps remembers some past life events and sees the future ones also. Amidst this confusion between reality and illusions, the enlightened advise us to perform meaningful karmas that help us in this life and in the lives to come. Even among the enlightened (Tatwa Gianis) there are different views, given that their understanding of the un-understandable varies; the absolute truth itself appears an illusion!

Preachers have different levels of 'tatwa'. Tatwas can be defined as an element or aspect of reality. There is mention of ‘Atma-tatwa', 'Vishnu tatwa', 'Shiva-tatwa' and the like in Srimad Bhagavad Gita. The tatwas are said to be 32 in number. None has perhaps mastered all of them. Will we ever get to know the reality? Only God knows!

A path to a deeper understanding of the soul, closer to reality, is shown by astrology, this goal can be also be reached perhaps by concentrating on the Bhagavad Gita and other religious scriptures. Based on our knowledge of correct predictions on application of astrological principles, it can be said that we carry with us, after death, just an account of our karmas, and nothing else. The consequences of these karmas are to be experienced in the lives to come. A natural question is: can an astrologer take us to the right path for liquidating our karmas and creating meaningful karmas. Astrologers are perennially searching for convincing answers to this abstract question convincingly this abstract question. One technique is to focus on the 1-5-9 houses of a horoscope.

Against this backdrop, we undertook a research project to develop a methodology that could provide insights into the destiny of the soul. During our research on the fifth house, we got some startling insights. The karmas of our earlier life, seen from the fifth house, give clues to our mental inclination. This inclination is the prime source of all our actions.

Let us discuss the fifth house a little more.
We now look at how the psyche is constructed and how it is structured. How to judge whether the psyche is blessed with more freedom or less? Or whether our thoughts surge towards being positive, negative, constructive, destructive, creative, aesthetic, morose, lethal or mostly happy?

The raw-material for construction of your psyche are your karmas and karmas alone. This is the reason why the psyche has that subtle difference of shade at the individual level. The insightful and interpretative analysis of the fifth house that holds the key to the current life’s destiny and of many more lives that are still to come can be explained in absolute terms.
We cannot ignore the Sun, the fifth lord of the natural zodiac representing the soul. The fifth house, also known as the house of Sanchit Karmas, is meant to keep a record of all actions and deeds in perhaps a disk of sorts that the soul carries with it after death to another life. This house has your record from perhaps the times of the big bang. The destiny of yet another life is carved from that record kept by the house with debits and credits to it on a daily basis. The fifth house is the house of karma and the eleventh of its reward. The equation of fifth and the eleventh carries on for thousands and thousands of years. Each opposite house represents fructification for the other.

The consequences of an action that takes a few seconds to complete could impact you after a thousand years. Hard to swallow! But the mechanism of human action is such that the results could remain suspended for years and may manifest themselves after a millennium. The debate on the moral consequences of our actions surely will lead us to a better understanding of our own self and of natural and karmic justice.

An action that becomes a karma of consequence could be in just a gesture, a spoken word showing some amount of decisiveness or simply a routine act from motivational forces that tune the psyche. The psyche is constructed both from the karmas of earlier births which the soul records along with the actions of the current birth. Your conscience too has developed from such karmas of yours. Be it a tendency to shower snide remarks, self-praise, ridicule or to criticize others.

In fact, for every idea that comes to your mind and for every action, there is a reason and logic that lurks behind.

The samskaras (psyhco mental tendencies) imbibed rom actions (karmas) of past and current births get built in your psyche. How much of tamasic, rajasik or satwik elements (gunas) are there in your psyche and your conscience can be assessed from an analysis of the fifth house of your horoscope as the nine planets and the twelve rashis are classified as Tamasic (laziness, irresponsibility, cheating  maliciousness), Rajasik are the undecided qualities between Tamasic and Satwik. Satwik Guna or innate quality would mean fearlessness, pure heartedness, charity, self-restraint, austerity, non-violence, truthfulness, modesty and the like. A domination of Satwik planets in the trinity of 1-5-9 houses, therefore makes you a Satwik, concentration of Rajasik makes you a Rajasik and so forth.

Processing the Human Action
The fifth house prompts, the ninth filters and the first house acts. A process that takes a fraction of a second in some of your actions still follows this route. Your reaction to unwanted situations that you are forced into also goes through the same process. Therefore don't judge people by… how they disappoint you but judge them … by their reaction when you disappoint them.

Every action is not a Karma. An action of consequence only goes to the account and not the routine ones. If this screening and elimination was not there the account perhaps would become unmanageable. Sanchita Karmas are the accumulated karmas of past lives. Prarabdha - that portion of the accumulated karma which is allotted for the present birth, Kriyamana are the karma we do in the present life. Aagami are the karmas that reflect in our future births.

Akarma and Vikarma: The Good (Akarma) and the Bad (Vikarma). Vikarma are a) Anti-parental karma b) Anti-family karma and c) Anti-society karma.
Results of these Karmas:
a) Akarma leads to salvation.
b) Vikarma leads to divine punishment and bondage
Every Psyche is peculiar.

The reward of the same Karma will differ based on age, desh, kaal and paatra considerations. Marrying 2-3 times in the permissive west will not amount to a serious anti society Karma as it would be in India. Not caring for parents will be lesser evil in the developed west, where children have not seen their parents respect their grandparents, than in India where the society trains you to look after your parents. And culturally and morally it is considered a duty.

Could History be different if free will was exercised judiciously? Are we puppets in the hand of destiny? History has in its record many major upheavals caused from routine reactions out of mistaken perceptions of those in power. Were these pre-willed by the destiny of the earth, nations and the individuals or did free will play a role in these actions. Can free will, postpone, minimize or maximize. This will remain an eternal debate. Bhagavad Gita answers it eighty percent. Lord Krishna tried his best to avert the Mahabharata. It was both the destiny of the nation as well the karmas of the high and mighty who did not agree to budge that led to the Mahabharata.

The action inspired by the beauty of Helen of Troy led to the sinking of a thousand ships and the destruction of the great Roman Empire. The insult of Draupadi, by a spoken word led to the Mahabharata war and as a consequence the eternal Gita was created. A line drawn by an Englishman on a map dividing India and Pakistan led to killing and uprooting of millions.

Spot the reason for being in a tight situation. Do not miss the bus every time. That the Almighty God has given us ample opportunities to improve is quite clear. One is thrown into a typical situation and tested time and again. A challenging situation may be an opportunity to liquidate your bad karmas.

Vedic Astrology can Read your Psyche from the 5th house: The house controls that crucial channel that connects Heart- Brain-Soul. The 4th house governs the heart as Moon is the lord of the 4th house of the natural zodiac. The lordship of the 5th house of the natural zodiac is of Sun, the significator of the soul. The planets in the 4thand 5th house and their lords indicate the promptings that go for every action and it is finally the culturally molded mind- set that processes and gives command. The Sun and Moon are planets of royalty. The 4th represents the simhasan (throne) and the fifth royalty and sovereign. In our research on 15 Indian prime ministers we have found a dominating role of the 4th and the 5th house at the time when they became prime ministers.

Sun as the lord of 5th house of Kaal Purusha represents a person with power, kings, prime ministers, government heads of state, big commercial firms and new undertakings, cabinet, ministers, of state and perhaps holding high political power, person in authority, important person in society including influential businessman, honor, fame, big name and reputation. This is well accepted in astrological circles.

As per Brihat Parashar Hora Shastra amulets, sacred spells, learning, knowledge, sons, royalty (or authority), fall of position, house of sanchit karmas. The 5th house governs higher learning (education) in the 1st phase, children in the 2nd and spirituality in the 3rd phase. As per Mantreshwara's Phaldeepika the fifth house deals with he mark of the sovereign, taxes, soul, intelligence, knowledge of the future, life, progeny, belly. Vedic knowledge and other religious scriptures. Vyankatesh Sharma's Sarvarth Chintamani suggests son, intelligence, ministers, mantra, eating, father, heart, belly, power of discrimination as the matters.

What to see from the 5th in Mundane Astrology: Children, birth rate, educational facilities in arts. All forms of national pleasures, enjoyment entertainment, theatre, cinema hall, casinos, community parks actors and actresses, artistic activity of the nation, sports, public parks, speculation, stock exchange, morals, immorality, scandals, crimes related immorality, elite society and functions, upper house of Parliament, Rajya Sabha, House of Lords, schools and places of education, ambassadors and diplomats from foreign countries, danger to rule as it 8th from the 10th, mentality of rulers even crime according to Mr.B.V.Raman.

The 5th an intellectually stimulating house. Mantra-Tantra -Yantra is seen from here. No other house has been given such an esoteric character. The society today is changing at a rapid pace and we must be in tune with the realities. We need to work in tandem both with esoteric and the practical.

Divine Intervention is also seen from the 5th house. All about the past and the future lives is also seen from the 5th house. Past life regression is seen from the 5th house.

The Amazing Brighu Reading: Mr. K. N. Rao often narrates the case of a doctor who had gone for a Brighu reading. In the reading it came out that in his previous birth he was a vaidya (doctor) and he had aborted a girl who cursed him. It was mentioned in the reading that she would be born as his wife in the next birth. Most surprisingly this doctor came to Mr. Rao and gave him a firsthand account of his current life. He, as a successful doctor in this life had made millions. His wife and brother- in- law conspired against him to get him framed and take away all his wealth. He is now on the run and is not likely to escape imprisonment. There are many instances of rebirths found, the account of which can be had from the book Karma and Rebirth by Mr. K. N. Rao.

Hidden Talent is seen from the 5th house and the 8th house. The 5th house and 8th house connection is found in deeply intuitive people. Acharya Rajneesh, Amitabh Bachchan and Nostradamus have these links in their horoscopes. The 5th is the house for intuition, the 8th for hidden talent, the 11th for fulfillment and the 2nd for wealth generation, name fame and also for the mission in life. Therefore the quadrant of 5-8-11-2 houses of a horoscope complement each other. These famous men with the quadrant link could get name, fame and wealth from their innate talent.

Film making and creative writing is also seen from the 5th house: The 5th house reveals your mindset, a domination of artistic planets like Venus and Mercury indicate artistic talent.

Do you have the intuitive power that could see events happening or is the tendency to give self-fulfilling prophecies? The power to discriminate, the supernatural and the power to see beyond the ordinary is also assessed from the 5th house.

Speculation is also seen from 5th house: Do you have the urge to gamble? Do you have the Midas touch? Whether you can make money in speculation. All this can be assessed from the 5th house.

The aesthetic sense is also seen from the 5th house. The power to create and innovate is also seen from the 5th house. How much is from your earlier births and how much you have acquired in this life through learning is though difficult to assess but certainly possible to read from the 5th house.

Is it possible to control yourself and balance? Is maintaining the equilibrium the answer. How much do you know about yourself?

The 5th house is the house of education and high learning. The knowledge acquired by activation of the 5th house could last for a millennium in form of Samskaras. Our parampara (Indian tradition) to cultivate Raj gurus (advisors to rulers), yogis, and preachers, thinkers through yogic practices and meditation to reach a high spiritual level is well known. It was a good policy for the Satya and Treta Yugas but not for Kaliyuga. The invaders of Kaliyuga compelled us to review this policy of diverting the strong minds to spirituality at the cost of our defense. Which school of thought do you subscribe to? How cynical about everybody including the government you are? Are you proactive in your statements and deed? Do you pass the buck? Is cynicism in you so entrenched that you believe in none. The 5th house can describe your mentality. How does one let go past the Brain- Suicides, Mercy killings, Murders and other crimes. If you are running a bad dasha period the 5th house creates a stir in you that could lead you to suicide and other crimes. Do human values emerge only when the going gets tough?  Does your source of inspiration to do the right dwindle and is shadowed by the evil forces. If you have come with a criminal mind-set and your current life's karmas are also evil, the planets then drive you to a natural and karmic justice. Your karmas can change your conscience. The feeling of guilt and the factors that drive one to suicide or to other evil deeds can be controlled. An honest counselling at the appropriate time is crucial.

Is a jolt needed to become a whistle- blower? Patriotism, nationalism and humanism is also seen from the fifth house. What drives you to blow the whistle can also be seen from the fifth house. Across India Many RTI activists have been killed for asking inconvenient questions while police usually looked the other way.

The fifth house governs children. Those impressionable and fragile ones. They are our future, rather they are we as we going to be born as them. They need be nurtured collectively for a better environment and a happy life for our own sake. Mother is not a medical condition but a promise. Our attitudes need overhauling for our own sake. Human values need to be changed especially when it comes to the mother and the child. The thinking spare the rod and spoil the child need revision. What are we doing for the spastics, for the hypersensitive for children with short attention spans and pent up feelings Quote from Planets and Children by Mr.K.N.Rao.

Categories of Children.
The ancient thinking about the types of children, a woman can have, has always been both liberal and progressive. It is only now when the western societies have started legalizing children born out of wedlock or accepting them in the society without any stigma attached to them that once again the attention of many Indians have been drawn to the problem of what are called illegitimate children. A famous Indian journalist, who had earned a high reputation both for his sense of style in English and relatively higher moral standards in the disturbed post-independence era of Indian journalism, was the late S.Mulgaonkar. All his life, he had one big remorse- that he was an illegitimate son and did not know who his father was. Perhaps in the Victorian England, the expression bar-sinister conveyed social rejection of a child born out of wedlock. What happens in modern India is no different. We have a long list of children abandoned in the hospital and maternity-homes.

Ancient India was much more progressive in these matters and not merely recognized the problem but adopted a very sympathetic attitude towards such children. In the Shanti Parva of the Mahabharata, Bhishma explains to Yudhisthira that there could be as many as twenty type of sons. But of these twenty, six are from Pratiloma marriages (marriage below one's status in the caste-hierarchy), six from Anuloma marriages (in which the status of the husband is higher than that of the wife).

All these 20 types of children recognized in the Mahabharata were looked after by the society which put spiritual value far above the petty fogging attitude of a dogmatic and unrelenting society.

Today along with earlier disparity we have the children of upper class mixed with the children from economically weaker section, giving them complexes. We have the problem of APHD Syndrome (Attention Deficit hyperactivity disorder), less attention span and problems caused by easy access to the perverse on internet and TV which is difficult to absorb by the fragile and impressionable young minds. In addition to this the problem of the physically and mentally challenged remains. We have to collectively take the challenge upfront for our own benefit. All this and more on children is proposed in a book where a group research undertaken in 2009 will be presented on issues relating to the 5th house.
Since the 5th house is the 8th house from the 10th house and the 10th house from 8th house, it is capable of bringing about the sudden down fall as well as the sudden favours.

Predict effectively by focusing on the fifth House
To process a   prediction, one should begin with a scrutiny of the fifth house which can reveal our mental inclination at any given point of time. The fifth house from the mahadasha lord, the antardasha lord and the Pratyantar lord, is a clear pointer to our mood prevailing. The findings should be cross-checked from the fifth houses of the rashis whose dashas are going on under the Jaimini system at three levels. This process reveals much. It is indeed revealing. You get to know from the past which is bothering you or is hurtful or rejuvenating, depends upon the fifth house's planetary disposition and the location of the fifth lord. Passions that make you an achiever in your career or those that are generated by the hit of cupid's arrow can all be seen from the fifth house. This mental make-up should be judged from the Moon as also by fifth from it.

The Current Area
Indian Affairs. It is Modi Modi all the way. Like it was India clubbed with Indira a few decades ago, it is Modi and Motherland now. Can Modi put India on a fast track, make us a developed country by 2020? Let us analyze the possibilities astrologically.

Many would argue that India desperately needed someone like Modi to discipline and clean it. Astrologically, in accordance with the pre-ordained, this had to happen in the dasha of the disciplinarian Sun, which is the fourth lord in the third house of Indian Independence horoscope of 15th August, 1947. Presently, India is in the Sun-Venus period under the Vimshottari dasha scheme. Since the onset of Sun dasha five years ago, shameful scams came to light involving people in high  places; came to light cabinet Ministers and Chief Ministers jailed who found themselves in jail. What brewed and could not be uncovered in the dasha of Venus of the Indian Independence horoscope from September of 1989 to the September of 2009 was exposed in the dasha of Sun from September of 2009. The question is whether we can wipe out the corruption that has spread and penetrated deep into our being? We cannot unless we remove Rahu from the Ascendant of the Indian Independence horoscope. Which we cannot! Rahu signifies corruption.

The Sun also represents the soul. The world got to know more about India's spiritual prowess during Modi’s recent visit to US. He not only survived on just warm water for nine days of navratras but successfully handled the challenges attached to a hectic visit to US of an Indian Prime Minister. A clear indication of his infallible determination which the Scorpio Ascendant and Moon there can only give. This is the positive side of Indian Affairs.

Is Saturn likely to jolt Indian Affairs after 2014? After its transit into Scorpio on 2nd November, 2014 major upsetting changes are likely in the Indian context.               

World Affairs. Though one would not like to be governed by the sixth, eighth and twelfth houses and planets like Mars, Saturn, Rahu and Ketu but there is no escape from the dictates of destiny. When the pre-ordained has to happen the mind- set of the people who control world peace changes. The rage and tension that comes can be seen in their individual horoscopes and in the horoscopes of the nations that they rule.

In current times, the knives are out. Whether it is Obama - Putin, Russia-Ukraine Japan - China, India -Pakistan, Palestine - Israel or the ISIS and the rest of the world.

The internet is being misused to promote tension and hatred even among people known for   sanity. Inhuman acts like be-headings are made public. From the astrological perspective, it is the uncontrolled rage of planets that prevails in conjunctions, led by Mars and the dusthana houses- 6-8-12. The seed was sown when Saturn and Rahu conjuncted in Libra in July, 2014 last year. Mars hovered around this conjunction many a time.