Astrology helps us understand our lives through a map of the skies above, kind of like the universe telling us a story with the Stars and Planets as the main characters. I have explored various tools and techniques in Vedic Astrology... Each of these has its own set of rules and complexities, and an important tool that I use is that of the Dashas. All major systems in Vedic Astrology use this tool, including the Parashara system, Jaimini system and even the Tajik system in Vedic Astrology. An analogy for understanding Dashas Think of life as sailing on a vast ocean, where the direction of t ..read more

Prelude: I'm using abbreviations for the sake of brevity. Signs are abbreviated as S, Houses as H, Lords of Houses as L and Vargas as D. So for instance, "Saturn as the lord of the 5th House, debilitated in Aries in Namasha", is stated as "5L Saturn debilitated in 1S in D9". Also, Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra by Maharishi Parashara is referred to as BPHS. When I started writing this blog, almost a year ago, Mercury was about to debilitate in Pisces as per Vedic Sidereal Astrology. And this got me thinking what debilitation actually means? Does it mean the planet is at its lowest capacity to d ..read more

I often get clients asking me what they should do to change their lives, or find love, or succeed at work and so on. And more often than not, I suggest changing their attitudes, intentions, motivations and perceptions towards these events, and direct their attention inwards, rather than attempt to change the external world. Depending on the chart, I also recommend asana and pranayama or other measures as appropriate. Such suggestions come under the broad term of "remedies in Vedic Astrology", akin to medicines in modern day Science. But what are these remedies, and are there any general remedi ..read more

The natal chart is like a blueprint that helps us understand an item of interest, be it an individual, a company, a nation, a pet animal, a science experiment, a cricket match or an election to name a few. It has the capacity to throw light on all aspects of the item in question, for the entirety of its existence. The meanings of each Planet, Sign and House will change depending on what the chart is made for, and with it, the interpretations get modified accordingly. At the base level, Vedic Astrology has 9 bodies (known as the Navagrahas), 12 Zodiacal Signs (or Rasis), 27 Lunar Divisions (Nak ..read more

This is a continuation of my previous post, where I attempted to harness the different limbs of Yoga to live a more holistic lifestyle, and introduced the world of breatharianism or Pranic Living. One of the limbs is Pratyahara, i.e. Withdrawing from food. This is usually interpreted as fasting from physical food, though I believe that what is actually called for, is withdrawing from feeding any sense organ (not just the sense of taste). Here in this sequel, I hope to link Vedic Astrology with fasting, speak about the Elements and Planets involved with fasting and the kinds of detoxification t ..read more

I have been experimenting with the breatharian process the past 6 months, and the benefits have been so immense, that I'm starting to seriously consider it for a longer duration. This goes by many names, including and not limited to "pranic living", "breatharian lifestyle", "living on light" and so on. To put it simply, this is the process of consuming very less food, or none at all, combined with a fair amount of exercise and meditation practices to live on prana. This is a small but growing international community, though it is part of Vedic culture since time immemorial. For me, it started ..read more

If I told you that world leaders are meeting in New Delhi, what do you suppose the agenda would be? It will be about India without any doubt, isn't it? Instead of Delhi, what if they were meeting in Hollywood? Then most certainly the group will discuss cinema, art and drama and entertainment. So you see, the place and the environment of a meeting, can be used to infer the agenda for that meeting. Now what if a meeting was taking place in Capricorn? What can we infer about the agenda of such a meeting? And what will each of the attendees bring to the table? Because that is exactly what has been ..read more

Of the 9 grahas that were revered by the ancient Indians, Mercury is closest to the Sun, and has the fastest period of revolution. It completes one revolution around the Sun God in just 88 earth-days, and it should come as no surprise then, that in Greek mythology Mercury is associated with Hermes, the quick-footed messenger of the Gods. A 'messenger' is one who picks up items from one place and delivers to another. This makes me associate Mercury with "picking up and delivering", i.e. How we give something to others, and also how we process what others give us, or any form of e ..read more

Kaal Sarp Yoga is said to be formed when all seven planets are between the nodes of the Moon i.e. Between Rahu and Ketu, in the anti clockwise direction. ‘Kaal’ refers to time, death and transformation, and ‘Sarpa’ refers to the serpent. There are several versions of this, depending on whether the ascendant is included or not, the side on which the planets lie (between Rahu and Ketu, or between Ketu and Rahu), and the House in which Rahu and Ketu lie (one of the 12 Houses). What this implies for an individual, or for a nation is a constant source of debate. There is a group of a ..read more

Here’s my take of the calendar for 2021. Each coloured line represents the movement of a planet from Jan to December, with the retrograde motions in darker shade. The grey in the background is the zodiac in the South Indian Vedic format. Mars will move from Aries to Scorpio, and won’t retrograde in 2021. Venus will go around the whole zodiac, from Scorpio to Capricorn and then retrogrades back to Sagittarius in December. Mercury will retrograde thrice in 2021, in Aquarius/Carpicorn, next Taurus, and last in Virgo. Saturn stays in Capricorn the whole year and retrograde there as well, while Ju ..read more