Fundamentals of Jyotisha (Vedic Astrology) Part III

ॐ श्री गुरावे नमः !

GRAHA/PLANETS characteristics and description

Graha, (Planets as they are normally called) are cosmic entities and represent Lord Vishnu’s incarnations, which have the capacity to influence any living thing through other living things on this earth plane, Table 17 lists all the Lord Vishnu’s Avataras (Incarnations).

The moment a living thing takes birth, The hour, minutes, seconds and the Graha situation of that moment is drawn as a equation and deposited in the account of that native, the native’s physical and mental faculties develop based on this equation, the Rising sign has the maximum influence on the native and based on that equation native gets his/her shape, size, abilities or deficiencies, but the Graha as they are in continuous motion, influence the native almost every moment based on their position generally called as Gochara/Transits,
Therefore, the basic point one has to understand is that there are two levels.

First the basic Graha Equation at the time of birth, the natal chart.

Second the Gochara/Transits (The current position of Graha using the native’s configuration)

We will deal with this when I will take up analysis of the Chart in one of my future posts.

Graha/Planet: Parameters pertaining to the Graha and their characteristics.

Lagna is the most important point in the horoscope; it is the Rasi/zodiac sign that rises in the East, on the latitude of birth. The apparent rising of a Rasi is due to the rotation of the earth on its own axis, causing every degree of the zodiac seemingly ascends on the eastern horizon, approximately, every two hours one Rasi passes via the horizon, i.e. every degree taking 4 minutes to ascend and this duration is based on the concerned latitude.

Shubha Graha/Benefics/Krura Graha/malefics: Each Graha can be classified as Benefic if it gives beneficial phala/result or, as a malefic if it gives negative or malefic effect, Table no 18 lists the Graha’s as Benefics or Malefics.

Note: A natural Benefic Graha is supposed to be always delivering beneficial phala or result to the Native and the Krura (Malefic) Graha’s always the malefic effect, but this is not actually true, many factors influence this property of the Graha’s,

Like position of the Graha, the number of the House it is posited in, the mutual relationship with other Graha posited with it, mutual Drishti, Avastha and strength of the Graha etc.

Table no 19 lists some of the important characteristics of Graha’s starting from the Surya (Sun) to Sani (Saturn), the list shows the main governance of each Graha, in the human body, time scale, taste, trees, fabric, seasons, and the main abode.


The governances listed in the Table no 19 suggest the characters of the Native also, meaning the Native ruled by particular Graha/Planet will have the same characteristics in his way of living, his/her choice of color, place, taste, materials, and physical and mental attributes etc.

Further the table no 20 lists remaining characteristics of the Graha like status, complexion, ruling deity, sex of the Graha, element, social status, nature, eyes, shape of the body, habits, quality of brain, and other features.


The characteristics listed in the Table no 19 and 20 are for reference purpose whenever a native needs to be described for his/her characteristics, physical and mental attributes, the above given characteristics come very handy.

Graha/Planets and their Strengths: Basically, strength here means the ability to bring an effect it could be positive or negative, the natural order of planets based on there natural strengths is: Surya (Sun), Chandra (Moon), Shukra (Venus), Guru (Jupiter), Budh ( Mercury), Mangal (Mars)and Sani (Saturn) in decreasing order.
Further to the natural strength of the Graha’s, the Avasthas of the Graha’s is most important, Avastha is to see the situation of the Graha/Planet, is it a infant?, young or is it too old, is it ashamed or proud etc. It tells us the State and condition of the Graha/Planet and based on the condition of the Graha/Planet the Phala/Result can be explained.There are two sets of Avasthas, the second set of Avasthas i.e. Shayan Adi Avasthas is most important and should be considered to make predictions regarding strength etc. Table no 22, 23 and 24 lists all the types of Avasthas and their level of Phala/Result.

Rule 1: In case of odd Rasi’s the order starts with Baal to Mrit (Dead) and in case of even Rasi’s the order is from Vriddh (Old) to Baal.

Rule 2: Estimate the effects due to a Bhava, after ascertaining the strength and weakness, weak Grahas cause reduction in good effects, while stronger ones give greater effects. If a Graha, posited in Karm Bhava, is in Lajjit, Kshudhit Avastha, or Kshobhit Avastha, the person will always be subjected to miseries. If a Graha in Putra bhava is in Lajjit Avastha, the progeny will be destroyed or only one child will survive. The spouse of the native will pass away if there is a Graha in Yuvati bhava and is in Kshobhit, or in Trushit Avastha.
Rule 3: A Garvit Graha will cause happiness through new houses and gardens, regal hood, skill in arts, financial gains at all times and improvement in business.A Mudit Graha will give residences, clothes, ornaments, happiness from lands and wife, happiness from relatives, living in royal places, destruction of enemies and acquisition of wisdom and learning.
A Lajjit Graha will give aversion to God, loss of intelligence, loss of child, interest in evil speeches and listlessness in good things.
A Kshobhit Graha will give acute penury, evil disposition, miseries, financial debacles, distress to feet and obstruction to income, due to royal wrath.
Kshudhit Graha will cause downfall, due to grief and passion, grief because of relatives, physical decline, troubles from enemies, financial distress, loss of physical strength and an eclipsed mind, due to miseries.

A Trushit Graha will cause diseases through association with females, leading over wicked deeds, loss of wealth, due to one’s own men, physical weakness, miseries, caused by evil people and decline of honor. 

Shayan Adi Avasthas:

Calculation of Shayan Adi Avasthas: Multiply the number of the Star occupied by the Graha being calculated by the number denoted by the Graha (Surya 1 to Sani 7). Multiply the obtained figure with the number of the Navamsa of the Graha. Add to this the number of the birth asterism (Ruling star, the one, occupied by Chandra), the number of Ghatis of birth and the number of Rasi’s, The Lagna gained from Mesh (Mesh 1, Vrishabha 2 and so forth). This figure should be divided by 12 and the remainder will indicate the corresponding Avastha of the Graha.

The sub-states ( Drishti, Chesht and Vichesht) in the said Avastha can be found out in the following way. Multiply the figure (Shayan 1 to Nidr 12), denoted by the Avastha concerned, by the same figure and increase it by the figure, denoted by the Anka value for the first syllable of the native’s personal name. Divide the product so obtained by 12. The remainder there of should be further increased by constant additives of the Grahas in the following way: Surya 5, Chandra 2, Mangal 2, Budh 3, Guru 5, Shukra 3, Sani 3, Rahu (Ketu) 4. The product so arrived at should be divided by 3. In the process of calculation, if it happens, that the remainder is one, it is Drishti, if two, it is Chesht and, if zero, it is Vichesht.


All the Shayan Adi Avasthas are discussed in detail from Table no 25 to 36, each Graha and its effects in each situation is listed in the said tables. If Surya is in Upavesan Avastha the native will be an artisan, dark in complexion, devoid of learning and miserable. One will serve others.

Should Mangal be in Upavesan in Lagna, the native will be extremely sinful and he will incur several diseases, will be indigent and not peaceful. If Upavesan occurs for Mangal in Dharma, the native will lose his whole wealth apart from his wife and progeny, If in Netrapani there will be all kinds of happiness.

If Surya is in Putra, Dharma, Karma, or Yuvati. In other bhavas Netrapani of Surya will give eye diseases and enmity with all. Mangal in Netrapani in Lagn will give poverty and will destroy the native’s wife and progeny; if Mangal is in Netrapani in other bhavas, this confers on the native all kinds of wealth and happiness from wife and children. The Dhana or Yuvati position of Mangal in Netrapani will cause fear from lions and snakes apart from giving earnings from lands. Furthermore, the native’s wife will predecease him.

Table no 26 and 27 list all the Graha’s and their effects if in Upavesan and Netrapani Avastha respectively. 

If Surya is in Prakash Avastha, the native will be meritorious, religious and liberal, will enjoy pleasures, be equal to a prince and will enjoy the status of Kubera, the God of wealth. However, the Prakash Avastha of Surya, placed in Yuvati bhava, or Putra bhava will cause loss of the first child and will produce many litigations. Should Mangal be in Prakash in Putra, or in Yuvati, the native would lose his wife and all children. If Mangal is placed in Putra in Prakash and is yuti with Sani, the native will kill cows.

If Surya is in Gaman Avastha, the native will incur diseases of the feet and will be very mean. Should Mangal be in Gaman in Lagna, the native will be active in his assignments, will incur diseases of the joints, burning pains in the eyes and will obtain dental afflictions and the like, he will have fear from dogs and will adore the guise of a female. In other Bhavas Mangal in Gaman will bring royal favors, leadership and luxuries of life. 


If in Agaman Avastha, Surya in Vyaya bhava or in Yuvati bhava will destroy progeny and will give very limited wealth. Mangal in Agaman will cause piles and diseases of the rectum.



If in Agam Avastha, Surya will give many miseries, an ugly appearance and foolishness. However, he will give wealth. Surya in Bhojan Avastha in Dharma bhava will cause many hindrances to spiritual and religious undertakings. In other bhava’s Surya in Bhojan Avastha will cause head and ear diseases, apart from joint pains. If Mangal is in Bhojan, or in Shayan in Putra or in Randhra, there will be premature death for the native. In other bhava’s Bhojan Avastha of Mangal will confer wealth.

Surya in Kautuk Avastha will have fear from enemies, Surya in Kautuk in other Bhavas will number of daughters, two wives, itch, excellence, liberality etc.
Should Mangal be in Nritya Lips and happens to be in Lagna, Dhana, Yuvati, or Karma, the native will receive all kinds of happiness; there will be miseries in abundance, if Mangal is in Nritya Lips and placed in Randhra or Dharma apart from incurring untimely death. In other Bhavas Nritya Lips of Mangal will make the native akin to Kubera. Mangal in Yuvati or in Dharma in Kautuk will give several diseases and death of the first child and wife. In other bhavas Kautuk will confer scholarship, various kinds of wealth, two wives and more female children.


If Surya is in Nidr Avastha, the native will be predisposed to incur piles and elephantiasis, will experience a lack of peace and he is liable to lose his first child. In Nidr Mangal in Lagn, Dhana, Sahaj, Dharma, Karm, or Labh will give scholarship, foolishness and poverty. Putra or Yuvati placement of Mangal in Nidr will give many miseries and many male children. Should Rahu join Mangal in Nidr in any bhava, the native will have many wives, be miserable and will. 



Rule 4. If a benefic Graha is in Shayan, there will be benefic effects at all times.
If a malefic is in Bhojan, everything will be destroyed.
Should a malefic in Yuvati be in Nidr Avastha, auspicious effects will follow, provided, that there is no Drishti from another malefic.
Premature death, due to royal wrath, will happen, if there is a malefic in Randhra bhava in Nidr, or in Shayan Avastha.
If in the case of a malefic in Randhra Bhava in Nidr, or Shayan there happens to be a benefic Drishti, or the Yuti (conjoined) of a benefic, (untimely) death will be in the river Ganges, i.e. Gangetic belt, shrines etc.
If there is a malefic in Karma bhava in Shayan, or Bhojan, the native will face many miseries because of his own deeds.
O excellent of the Brahmins, doubtlessly a Raj Yoga will come to pass, if Chandra is in Karma bhava in Kautuk, or Prakash Avastha.
Thus, the good and bad effects should be guessed, assessing the strength and weakness of the Grahas, concerning all the Bhavas.
Graha/Planets and mutual relationships and behaviorPlanets like human beings have friendship, enmity and neutral relationships with each other. The relationship is of two types, Permanent and Temporary. By friendship and enmity we mean that the rays of one Graha will be intensified or countered by the other Graha.
Natural Relationships. Note the Rasi’s, which are the 2nd, 4th, 5th, 8th, 9th and 12th from the Moolatrikona of a Graha. The Grahas ruling such Rasi’s are its friends, apart from the Lord of its exaltation Rasi. Lords other than these are its enemies. If a Graha becomes its friend as well, as its enemy (because of the said two computations), then it is neutral, or equal.
Temporary Relationships. The Graha, posited in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 10th, 11th, or the 12th from another, becomes a mutual friend. There is enmity otherwise. (This applies to a given Horoscope/Janm Kundali).

The final compound relation ship should be deduced based on the following table no 38.


Ratio of Effects: A Graha in exaltation gives fully good effects, while in Moolatrikona it is bereft of its auspicious effects by one fourth. It is half-beneficial in its own Bhava. Its beneficence is one fourth in a friendly Rasi. In an equal’s Rasi, one eighth of auspicious disposition is useful. The good effects are nil in debilitation, or enemy’s camp. Inauspicious effects are quite reverse with reference to what is stated.

Non-luminous Upa-Grahas (Sub-Grahas/ Sub-Planets).

To calculate the position of Sub-Graha’s:

Add 4 Rasis 13 degrees and 20 minutes of arc to Surya’s longitude at a given moment to get the exact position of the all-inauspicious Dhoomketu.
Reduce Dhooma Ketu from 12 Rasis to arrive at Vyatipat, Vyatipat is also inauspicious.
Add six Rasis to Vyatipata to know the position of Parivesh. He is extremely inauspicious.
Deduct Parivesh from 12 Rasis to arrive at the position of Chap (Indra Dhanus), who is also inauspicious.
Add 16 degrees 40 minutes to Chap, which will give Ketu (Upa Ketu), who is a malefic.
By adding a Rasi to Upa Ketu, you get the original longitude of Surya. These are the Grahas, devoid of splendor, which are malefics by nature and cause affliction.

Rule 5: Effects of Sub-Grahas. If one of these afflicts Surya, the native’s dynasty will decline, while Chandra and Lagna, respectively, associated with one of these, will destroy the longevity and wisdom. So declared Lord Brahma, the Lotus-Born.

Calculations of Gulik and other Kalavelas.

The portions of Surya etc. up to Sani denote the periods of Gulik and others. Divide the day duration (of any weekday) into eight equal parts. The eighth portion is Lord-less. The seven portions are distributed to the seven Grahas commencing from the Lord of the weekday. Whichever portion is ruled by Sani, will be the portion of Gulik. Similarly make the night duration into eight equal parts and distribute these, commencing from the Lord of the 5th (by) week. Here again, the eighth portion is Lord-less, while Sani’s portion is Gulik. Surya’s portion is Kaala, Mangal’s portion is MR^ityu, Guru’s portion is Yamaghantak and Budh’s portion is Ardhaprahar. These durations differently apply to different places (commensurate with variable day and night durations).

Gulik’s Position. The degree, ascending at the time of start of Gulik’s portion (as above), will be the longitude of Gulik at a given place. Based on this longitude only, Gulik’s effects for a particular nativity be estimated.
Calculation of Pranapad.
Convert the given time into Vighatis and divide the same by 15. The resultant Rasi, degrees etc. be added to Surya, if he is in a Movable Rasi, which will yield Pranapad. If Surya is in a Fixed Rasi, add 240 degrees additionally and, if in a Dual Rasi, add 120 degrees in addition to get Pranapad. The birth will be auspicious, if Pranapad falls in the 2nd, 5th, 9th, 4th, 10th, or 11th from the natal Lagna. In other, Bhavas Pranapad indicates an inauspicious birth.
Ardhaprahar, Yamaghantak, MR^ityu, Kaala and Gulik are the 5 Kalavelas, suggested by Maharishi Parasara. The day duration, according to altitude, is divided into eight equal parts. The eighth portion is without any lord. The first portion is allotted to the weekday Lord. Other portions follow in the order of weekday Lords. We consider five portions of Grahas, ignoring that of Chandra and Shukra. The portions of Surya, Mangal, Budh, Guru and Sani are, respectively, called Kaala, MR^ityu, Ardhaprahar, Yamaghantak and Gulik.
In case of night, the durations or 1/8th parts are allotted in a different order. The first portion goes to the Graha, ruling the 5th weekday Lord, counted from the day in question. The others follow in the usual order. Here again, the 8th part is without any lord. The portions of Grahas from Kaala to Gulik are the same in nomenclature in the night also.
Out of the 5 Kalavelas, viz. Gulik etc., four except Kaala (related to Surya) have their own Rasi system in the respective Rasis, ruled by their fathers. Gulik, son of Sani, has Kumbha, as his own Bhava. Guru’s son, Yamaghantak, has it in Dhanus. Ardhaprahar, Budh’s son, is in own Rasi, if in Mithuna. MR^ityu, son of Mangal, has Vrishchika, as own Bhava. It is not known, why Kaala, a son of Surya shifted to Makara, a Rasi of his brother (Sani), leaving his father’s Simha. Obviously, Sani has given his Moolatrikona to his son Gulik, while he gave Makara (a secondary Rasi) to his ‘brother’ Kaala.
People without any Indian tongue will have little difficulty pronouncing and understanding the natural meaning of these terms, for an Indian born most of the terms should be part of their daily language. sorry, you have get used to them, if you want to understand the actual meaning.

More to follow............................................

ॐ नमः शिवाय!

Surya Ianala, April 22, 2007, Montreal

Hanuman/Bajrangbali/Anjaneya

The full moon day of Chaitra masa (Indian Lunar calender-March 19 - April 17) is the day when mighty lord Hanuman ji's birthday is celebrated, i.e. today 02 April, 2007, on this day he took birth in a cave on the Rushyamuk mountain to mata Anjani and Kapiraj Kesari.

It is very interesting to note that, As "Shri Ramachandra", comes to one's mind when ever one is stuck in some difficult situation, Shri Hanuman's name also comes to one's mind when one is faced with grave danger, but the name "Hanuman ji", means different to different age groups.

The birth of Lord Hanuman was due to many factors and reasons,

1. Angira rishi's curse and subsequent blessings to Hanuman ji's mother Anjani.

2. Anjani's prayers

3. Shri Mahadeva's (Shiva's) blessings

4. Attainment of Shiva's divine shakti by Vayu deva

5. The fruit of a Putreshti Yagna

Rishi Angira was summoned in the court of Indra and a beautiful Apsara named Punjikshtala was asked to dance for the entertainment of the rishi, as the Apsara started dancing, the rishi went into meditation, as she finished dancing lord Indra asked the rishi, did you like the dance, O rishi, rishi replied, these things does not interest us, to this the Apsara commented, "How does a rishi know the value of dance in heavens", to this the rishi cursed her, that she would be born as a female monkey in mountain forests, when she asked for forgiveness, rishi told her, not to worry, a great devotee of Shri Vishnu will be born to you and he will have limitless powers.

Hence Shri Hanuman (Result of Shiva's desire to serve Shri Vishnu, hence Hanuman is one of the 11 Rudras forms of Shiva) was born to the monkey queen Anjani and Monkey king Kapiraj Kesari of Mount Sumeru.

He learned everything from Surya deva (Sun), Once when Hanumanji was young Surya deva blessed him with knowledge of countless weapons and mantras. However, Hanuman wanted to swallow the red fruit-the Sun! Indra hit him with his Vajra( Lightening). but later he was blessed by Indra to remain eternally undefeated, victorious. and Varuna deva (water deity) and Yama - deity of death also blessed him with victory and immortality.

From Brahma, he obtained the power of inducing fear in enemies, of destroying fear in friends, to be able to change his form at will and to be able to easily travel wherever he wished. From Lord Shiva he obtained the boons of longevity, scriptural wisdom and ability to cross the ocean by flying.

As a result Hanumanji attained a supremely formidable form but being a monkey started harassing rishis and as a result Bhrigu and Angira rishi's cursed him that he would forget all his powers, and his powers will return to him only when a divine person (Lord Rama) will remind him of his powers.

Then Hanumanji lived an ordinary life in Kishkindha, on Mount Hrushyamuk as Sugriva's advisor. and when Shri Ramachandra and Lakshman reached Kishkindha in search of Sita, they meet Hanuman and the actual spiritual jouney of Lord Hanuman begins.

Hanuman ji is a confluence of integrity, intelligence, patience, strength,valor, wisdom, bhakti, he has taken the Dasa Bhakti to its heights, no one else has reached the heights of dasa Bhakti lord Hanuman has reached and he continues to do so, Dasa Bhakti is the bhakti form, where GOD is the master and the devotee is the servant, once Lord Rama offered him a pearl necklace, Hanuman ji chewed on to every pearl in the necklace and tried to hear something in it and throwed it away, Lord Rama got little upset with this behaviour and asked him, Why he destroyed the necklace, Hanuman ji said, "not a single pearl chanted your name", then he plucked a hair from his body and brought close to Lord Rama's ears and the hair folicle happened to chant Shri Ram, Shri Ram, Shri Ram............., such is the devotion and Bhakti of Hanuman.

For a common man, Hanuman is a symbol of strength and courage, and lot of commedy has been depicted in movies combining the ghosts and the power of Lord Hanuman to ward of the evil forces, but in reality, Hanuman induces limitless powers in the devotee to stand unperturbed in the face of any kind of upheavals or disturbances.

For yougsters and unmarried men he is source of inspiration to maintain their celebacy and even some married men follow this very seriously, for women he is a source of protection limitless purity, while searching for Sita in Lanka, Hanuman had to look at lots of women including Ravana's wife, for a moment he doubted, will this peeping in to women quarters cause any problem to his vow of celebacy (Brahmacharya), then he corrected himself, by saying I am doing this for the lord, so should not be a problem.

Swami Tulsidas, after his broken heart and other episodes of hopelessness, was searching for GOD, then someone pointed towards a particular temple and suggested that every time when there is a prayer of Shri Rama, you will see a begger sitting near by that temple, go to him he is none but Hanuman, later Tulsidas swami got Hanuman's blessing and the result was "Ram Charitra Manas", such is the devotion.

I personaly feel him everywhere in my home, everyday, his warmth and love for Shri Ram flowing through my heart and my sorrounding, Hey Ram! Hey Bajrang bali!

Every Tuesdays and Saturdays are the days when it is very appropriate to worship Hanuman,

Fasting without even water, reading of Hanuman Chalisa, begin reading Hanuman chalisa 100 days before Hanuman Jayanti and end the ritual on this day with sure blessing of Hanuman, you can also read Atha Bajrang Bali Baan, Hanuman Astakam, end with Tulsidas ji's Hanuman Aarti, whatever you read, read with devotion and try to understand each and every word, its meaning and power.

Aarti Kijey Hanuman Lala Ki Dushtdalan Raghunath kala Ki..........................Tulsidas

Sometime back (1991) in India I had a muslim landlord and he was very scared of dark and ghosts etc, in front of our home we had a small Hanuman temple, being a muslim he would not go anywhere near the temple, but one night as I was sleeping on the terrace, he came to me and asked , are you not afraid of dark and ghosts, I said as long as lord Hanuman's temple is in this locality, no evil spirit will come anywhere near you, the next day I saw him standing in front of the Hanuman temple and then onwards he also started sleeping on the terrace and never complained of fear of dark or ghosts, all psychological fear vanished, and I also told him Allah and Shri Hanuman are very deep friends, he was a simple soul, after that, every day he would touch the temple wall while walking past it, though his devotion for Allah remained intact.

For old men and women Shri Hanuman is source of Health and longevity, a direction of life for true devotion and bhakti.

ॐ आन्जनेय विद्महे 

महा बलाया धीमहि। 

तन्नो हनुमानः  प्रचोदयात 

ॐ हूँ  हनुमते रुद्रात्मकाया हूँ फट 

जय बजरंग बलि की जय || 

Though sometime's we add, Todd de Dushman ki Nali, I do not know what exactly "Nali" means, in simple translation it would mean, break the enemies pipes or bones, whatever! it works.

ॐ नमः शिवाय!

Surya Ianala

On the occasion of Hanuman Jayanti in Montreal, 02 April 2007.

Shri Rama Chandra Swami

Sri Rama, Hare Rama, Ramachandra, Ramakrishna, Ramaayya, like this many many names are taken by many many hindu's everyday, mostly when ever they face an obstacle it could be a small irritant or a very serious issue, "Ramachandra", comes to one's mind immediately, whether it is a learned behaviour or a intutive cultural thing, I do not know.


Shri Rama Chandra is the 7th incarnation of Shri Vishnu, born as a prince in Ayodhya in India, in the Treta Yuga, that would be around 1 million years ago, well do not ask me for carbon dating etc, he is know for his humane qualities and has set an example for all humans to follow them, but then it was in the treta Yuga, when everything was in place, but now we are talking about Kali Yuga, where the life of a human being is decided by flipping a coin, so, to live like Shri Rama is little difficult but not impossible.


Shri Rama means, Purushottama, i.e. to be popular among masses, Kind, Brave, Just, Obedient, Intelligent, Patient, with a great sense of universal love, and be dutiful, and before preaching anyting he practised it himself then asked others to follow, this again is the characteristic of Lord Vishnu, well he got the best attention one can imagine, but was asked to leave the kingdom by his stepmother, as dutiful and obedient as he was, without asking the reason, why?, he left the kingdom for 14 years, his devoted wife Sita and brother Lakshmana followed him.


They spend their life in forest as wished by his stepmother, the story begins here, it is a story about POWER and its understanding, the mighty demon king of Lanka RAVANA's demon sister, Shurpanaka happens to raom around in the forest at the same time, she spots Shri Rama and falls for him, she asks him to marry him, Shri Rama refuses and instead asks her to go to his brother Lakshmana.


Lakshmana is a sharp and impatient person, he chops her nose and ears and asks her to get lost, all hell breaks loose, Shurpanaka runs to her mighty brother RAVANA, after hearing her story, he decides to teach the brothers a lesson, and with his deception and other manipulative techniques, kidnaps Sita devi and takes her to his fortress in Lanka, and asks her to marry him, Sita is a incarnation of Lakshmi devi, consort of Lord Vishnu, Instead Sita devi asks him to protect himself from Lord Rama and his divine powers.


RAVANA Keeps her in the Ashoka Vatika for almost a year, meanwhile, Rama and Lakshmana figure out the whole story, as to what happened to Sita, they finally reach Srilanka after building the Rama varadhi between India and Sri Lanka, with the help of mighty Hanuman and the monkey force.


Meanshile in Lanka, RAVANA's younger brother Vibhishan cautions Ravana and asks him to return sita to Rama, but Ravana is filled with pride and knows that no one can kill him (since he has a pot of ambrosia in his stomach and unless untill the ambrosia is removed from his stomach, no one can kill him etc a boon he got from Lord Shiva.), this family secret is revealed to Rama by Vibhishan, that is after RAVANA asks Vibhishan to leave the kingdom, RAVANA Ignores everyones request to forget and return Sita, but he remains adamant of teaching a lesson to Shri Rama.


After a bloody war, RAVANA is killed along with his brothers, sons, and other soldiers, Sita is returned to Rama by Vibhishan, and Vibhishan is made the king of Lanka by Shri Rama.

Moral of the story is:

Had RAVANA asked his sister to forget about the incident and went on with is life, the whole story would have been different, but as it is know when the time of destruction arrives, even the most intelligent behave like fools, so did RAVANA just to satisfy his foolish sister's foolish pride he staked everything he had and lost.

People who feel they are powerful should remember that :


POWER is within oneself and not because you know someone like RAVANA, POWER is a gift given by nature and human should know how to use it in a proper way, but most of the humans as history suggests misuse the POWER and get in to deep trouble.

ॐ नमः शिवाय!

Surya Ianala


Mar 27, 2007 on the occasion of Shri Ramam Navami.

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श्री राम नवमी  

नामा रामायण 

आदित्य हृदयं 

राम अष्टकम 

राम आरती 

पिबरे राम रसम 

Fundamentals of Jyotisha (Vedic Astrology) Part II

ॐ श्री गुरावे नमः !

Dasa/Dasha/Planetary periods: Every planet has a time period and time frame in a native's life and it depends on the rising sign of the native, dasha can be deduced in anyone of the systems listed in the table no 10, but the most common one is the Vimsottari Dasha/Dasa.

* Important

Out of all the dasha systems, Vimsottari dasha is the most common and widely used by all astrologers and as per Rishi Parasara, Vimsottari dasha is most appropriate for the general populace and as in kaliyuga the maximum life span of any human is 120 years and hence the total sum of all the Graha’s is 120 years, Vimsottari itself means 120.

Beginning from Kritika, the Lords of Dashas are Sūrya, Candr(Moon), Mangal(Mars), Rahu, Guru(Jupiter), Śani(Saturn), Budh(Mercury), Ketu and Śukr(Venus) in that order. Thus, if the Nakshatras from Kritika to the Janma Nakshatr (Birth Star) are divided by nine, the remainder will signify the Lord of the commencing Dasha. The remaining Dashas will be of the Grahas in the order, given above.

Structure of Dasha, Basically in the life span of 120 years, the periods of Maha Dashas of Sūrya, Candr(Moon), Mangal(Mars), Rahu, Guru( Jupiter), Śani( Saturn), Budh( Mercury), Ketu and Śukr(Venus) are 6, 10, 7, 18, 16, 19, 17, 7 and 20 years in that order, and under each Maha dasha there will be following further classification:

Antar Dasha’s of each Graha in years, under each Antar dasha there will be Pratyantara Dasha’s of each Graha in months, under each Pratyantara dasha there will be Sookshma Antar Dasha of each Graha in weeks or days, under each Sookshma-Antar dasha there will be Praana Antar Dasha of each Graha in days or hours, and under each Praana-Antar dasha there will be Deha Antar Dasha of each Graha in hours.
So for e.g. On Feb 21, 2007, 5.00 Pm in Montreal the structure of Dasha will be.

Mahadasha—------------------------Ketu---------From 2003-03-22 to 2010-03-22
Antar dasha------------------------- Rahu--------From 2006-02-20 to 2007-03-10
Pratyantara dasha—----------------Mars-------- From 2007-02-16 to 2007-03-10
Sookshma- Antar Dasha----------- Jupiter-------From 2007-02-20 to 2007-02-23
Praana Antar dasha----------------Saturn-------From 2007-02-21(7:26:30 am) to
2007-02-21(6:31:41 pm)
Deha Antar dasha------------------ Rahu ------- From 3:23:12 pm to 5:02:59 pm

Like this, for any event or time point the Dasha can be deduced and the native can see if the time is favorable for him to, do any thing or carry out transactions, for this the Nakshatra at that time is also considered, like Rahu kalam is generally considered inauspicious for travel or to initiate any good work, e.g. the time period of 3:23:12 pm to 5:02:59 pm on 21 of Feb. 2007 from the above e.g. could be considered inauspicious, so better avoid initaiting good transactions or travel etc during that period. I will explain this later in one of my following posts.

AshtakVarg: The meaning of AshtakaVarg is literally the group of eight things. In other words, it is the combination of the good and bad positions of a Graha with reference to the seven Grahas and Lagna. So it is the combination of the benefic and malefic marks (the Rekhas (lines) and the Bindus (dots)) in a planet’s chart with reference to the position of the eight Grahas (here Lagna is to be treated, as a Graha).

AshtakaVarg is a simple system or tool by which a direct conclusion can be drawn for inauspiciousness and auspiciousness of each Rashi/House and for each Graha/Planet. Longevity can be calculated using AshtakaVarg; I will take this in detail in one of my following posts.

Yoga – Means prospect for wealth, children, spouse, royal association, kingdom, riches, etc. and for poverty or penury and death, due to certain combinations and positions of Graha’s/Planets, and the Graha responsible for such a prospect is called the Karaka.
BPHS (Brihat Parasara Hora Shastra) and Kalyan Varma Saravali, list out hundreds of these yoga’s, the main combinations are classified as:
Nabhash Yogas, Chandra Yogas, Surya Yogas, Raj Yogas, and miscellaneous yogas, I will present the complete list with details under Yoga and Yoga karakas.

Lost Horoscopy: if the time of birth is not known or the horoscopy got lost, using Prasna Lagna (Query chart), a new chart can be created and there are other ways to correct your time of birth also.

Female Horoscopy: All the effects as described in the classics for males will also apply for the females. Matters, relating to her physical appearance, should be determined from Lagna, those, relating to children, from the 5th Bhava, fortune for the husband from the 7th and death of the husband (widowhood) should be deduced from the 8th. Those effects, which are impossible to ascribe to the female, should be declared applicable to her husband.

Remedies: Jyotisha deals with remedies in detail and I will list them in a separate post.

Lunar Year, months and days: Even before Christ, people in India were following various calendars, Vikram samvat, and the oldest is Yudhisthir Shaka, as per Yudhisthir shaka the current Gregorian year would be 7507 and as per Vikram samvat it is 2064 and as per Salivahana Shaka the current year is 1928.

The names of lunar year, months and days are listed in Table no 11, 12 and 13 resp.


* It is a 60-year cycle the names will keep repeating.


Day: The day starts with sun rise and ends with sun set, a day is given panch-angas, five properties, Tithi, Vaasara( weekdays), Nakshatra, Karanam and Yogam.

Tithi: This is already listed in the table no 13, so a day can be either Shukla paksha (Waxing moon) or Krishna paksha (Waning moon).

Vaasara: Ravi (Sunday) Soma, Mangala, Budha, Guru, Shukra, Shani (Saturday).

Nakshatra: Already listed in the table no 5.

Karanam: A Karanam is half of a Tithi, to be precise, a Karanam is the time required for the angular distance between the sun and the moon to increase in steps of 6° starting from 0°.
There are only eleven karanam's and out of 11, four are fixed Karanam's and seven are "repeating" type .

First Tithi of Krishna Paksha Pratipat is always Kimstughna Karanam followed by Shakuni Karanam, Chatuspad and Nagava for Krishna Paksha Dwitya, then the repeating seven karanam’s repeat for 8 times till full moon day with Vishti Karanam, The Karanam active during sunrise of a day is the Karanam for the day.

Yogam: the angular distance along the ecliptic of any object on the sky, measured from Meshadi (Start of Aries) is called the longitude of that object. When the longitude of the sun and the longitude of the moon are added, they produce a value ranging from 0° to 360, the 27 parts (each equal to 800')hence obtained are called Yogam. The Yogam that is active during the sunrise is the Yogam of that day. What one should look for in a Horoscope: The purpose of getting a horoscope is to understand the cosmic implications in our lives, so the parameters one should be asking for predictions are:

1 General Appearance( Appearance of a person changes with Dasha Lord)
2 Wealth from Inheritance
3 Relations with youngsters, friends etc.
4 Property
5 Children, past puNya
6 Health and Enemies, Job
7 Marriage, Spouse and Defense against enemies
8 Longevity
9 Blessings, curses and favorable deities.
10 Career, Income.
11 Wealth, Gains, friends, relation with elders.
12 Loss and litigation
13 Past lives, karma level etc.
14 Purpose of life
15 Life direction
16 Travel, Favorable times and periods etc.
17 Unexpected future happenings etc.
Horoscope/Kundali: This is a document which details out all the Graha, and astrological combinations etc, there is no hard and fast rule for constructing a Horoscope/Kundali, if all information is included it could go to 40 to 50 pages, but if only basic info is covered a two page Horoscope is sufficient. The basic information required to construct a horoscope are following.

1 Name of the Native
2 Date of birth, year, month and day
3 Time of birth of the native ( reliable source are Birth certificate or Mother, most of the times it needs correction)
4 Place of birth and time zone
5 Longitude and Latitude correction(if any)
6 Day light saving time( if any)
7 Ayanamsa followed by the family( If any)

Basic Information: The first page of Horoscope, it is a tradition that the basic info contain the raw data.
Charts Rasi Navamsa ( D-9) Match Making: Once Horoscope is prepared, it can be matched with horoscope of a person from the opposite sex for marriage purposes and it is in fact a very good tool to know the strengths and weaknesses in the marriage and also if the marriage is good enough or not. To get an idea we have to see what Ashta kootas are, Ashta Kootas are eight parameters with maximum and minimum points for a match to qualify.

Any match with 18 and above is considered good and less than 18 is not recommended, above 28 is rare combination. If the first seven Ashta Koota are same for the couple, the points earned are maximum, but for Nadi it should never be the same, Bhakut and Nadi are the most important, for a marriage to survive and go a long way.
Learning, practicing and teaching Jyotisha:Maharishi Parasara said. O Brahmin! I have described to you the Jyotish Shastra, as narrated by Lord Brahma to the Sage Narada and by Narada to Shaunaka and other Sages, from whom I received the knowledge of this Shastra. I have narrated the same Jyotish Shastra, which I learnt from them. Do not impart the knowledge of this Shastra to one, who is insignificative, slanders, or calumniates others, nor to one, who is not intelligent, is wicked and unknown to you. Teach this supreme Vedanga Jyotish Shastra only to one, who is gentle and amiable, devoted, truthful, brilliant and well known to you.

Only that person, who possesses adequate knowledge of time and the positions of Grahas and Nakshatras, can understand this Hora Shastra. Only that
person, who has complete knowledge of the Hora Shastra and who is truthful, can make correct favorable or unfavorable predictions.
One, who reads, or listens with attention and devotion to this excellent Hora Shastra, becomes long-lived and is blessed with increase in his strength, wealth and good reputation.
Om Tat Sat!
I will try to cover and explain each topic in detail and it will sure take hell of a time, I will also try to add individual biographies of famous and infamous Indian and International personalities.

Keep checking ……………………………………………….:-)

ॐ नमः शिवाय!

Surya Ianala, Feb 22, 2007

Fundamentals of Jyotisha (Vedic Astrology) Part I

ॐ श्री गुरावे नमः !

Jyotisha or Vedic Astrology is unique in many ways when compared with any other astrology; many concepts are unique to Jyotisha alone. There is a big difference when we say “Graha” and Planet, Graha is an energy field, a space entity which has the capacity to hinder or facilitate certain energy to the native, but when we call it as Planet it becomes a physical space entity. So I would prefer to call Graha as Graha and not translate it in to English where it looses its significance, particularly in case of Rahu and Ketu and other Upa-grahas, Upa-grahas (Can call them sub planets just for understanding and not for reference) are yet to be found by Modern Astronomy.Graha as described in Brihat Parasara Hora Shastra is a heavenly body that passes through the Nakshatras (Constellations) Graha’s are listed in Table 1, those listed in Table 2 are Upa-Graha’s and those listed in Table 3 are Kalavelas.

Now we have Graha’s, Upa-Graha’s and Kalavelas, let us complete the picture before we deal with them in detail.

Earth is a globe and it is suspended in the space, it is tilted on its axis at an angle of 23.5° and it rotates on this axis, completing one circle every 24 hours, and at the same time it also circles around Sun, and completes one circle in 365 days and 6 hours, as it travels around the Sun, it crosses 27 Nakshatra’s (Lunar asterism) and 12 Rashi’s (Zodiac signs), before it reaches its starting point.

The precession of Earth’s axis:As the Earth rotates on its axis, it maintains certain speed but the northern point of the axis does not remain directed to the same star field, in fact it sways like a top, this is called precession and the gravitational pull of the two luminaries, Sun and Moon are responsible for this. In addition, Earth takes 26,000 years to complete one precession cycle that means it takes that many years to reach the exact same point where the north point of the axis points to the same star field.

This will be explained in detail when I will take up Ayanamsa.

An imaginary circle (360°) around Earth if divided into 12 equal segments and each 30° segment is given a name and called as Rashi, or the zodiac signs. Table 4 lists all the Rashi’s.

Further, another Imaginary circle (360 degrees) is again divided in 27 segments of 13° 20 minutes each; each segment is occupied by one Nakshatra (lunar asterism) Table 5 lists all the Nakshatra’s.

* Further explanation in future posts.
Now we have Graha’s, Upa graha’s, Kalavelas, Rasi’s, Nakshatras and Earth, we will discuss each one of them in detail, but to correlate all these we need a chart, In India we have three types of Charts, North Indian Chart, South Indian Chart and East Indian Chart and the western astrology uses a circle.
Chart

The South Indian chart is shown as Chart no 1, Mesha(Aries) is always fixed in the top row, 2nd house and the remaining signs follow in a clockwise direction as shown in the chart no 1, Nakshatra position is also fixed with Ashwini taking the 1st 13° 20 minutes of the Mesha bhava( Aries House), as we already know that each house is equal to 30°. The lords of the houses are also fixed as shown in the chart no 1, except Sun and Moon all other Graha’s have lordship of two houses each, Rahu and Ketu have shared lordship with Sa in Khumba (Aquarius) and Ma in Vrishchika (Scorpio) resp.
In the North Indian Chart, the house positions are fixed (1st house top middle, with the rest following in counterclockwise order) and the signs of the zodiac are indicated by numbers in the chart (1 for Aries, and so on). The lagna occupies the first house.

Lagna/Ascendant& Special Lagnas: This is the sign that rises in the eastern horizon at the time of the birth of a native, and it determines the physical appearance, general health, longevity and other functional and dysfunctional traits in a native, depending on the Rasi and position of the lord of that Rasi.


In Jyotisha, normal lagna is used to draw inference about the native’s life in general, but to get information in specific areas like wealth, business, prosperity, power, marriage etc, the Rasi/House with the special lagna is taken as the first house.

Arudhas/Padas: As the normal Lagna(As) denotes the true self of a native, Arudhas or Padas denote the illusion attached with the native in the material world, or we can say the image of the native as the world perceives it can be found from position of Arudhas.Table no 7 lists all the arudhas and their significance.
Arudhas: Arudhas or Padas are arudhpadas of various bhavas or houses as listed in the table no 7, normal lagna denotes the real image or personality or character or true self of the native and the Arudhas denote the perceived image /character/personality/position/illusion created by the material world/people/or a hype created by the people around native, it could be bad and good based on the positions of the arudhapadas, a simple example is a very genuine person by nature/character/personality might be perceived by the material world as a bad character or bad person and vice versa, a very intelligent person as very stupid and very stupid as a genius, all this depends on hype created in the material world, many times we see people flying very high with hype but the actual picture could be that everything in that persons life is dubious, this is maya which is represented by Arudhas, so each pada signifies some aspect of the life as listed in the table no 7, this helps in differentiating between the actual reality and the cream coated image of the native, sometimes both can match also.
Each Bhava/house has some significance/properties in addition to the characteristics of the Rasi/Sign, these are listed in the table no 8
Bhava/houses, the chart is divided in to 12 Bhavas/houses, based on the 12 Rasi/Signs of the zodiac, Graha’s posited in the bhavas will influence the native in those areas of his/her life, e.g. Dhana bhava gives “x” properties to the native, but the level of phala/result will depend on the Graha’s, Arudhas, lagna etc.

Above list is not exhaustive, each bhava will be dealt in detail. Varga - the divisional charts: Varga simply means division i.e. when each Bhava is divided into Vargas or amsa; we have various Varga/divisions, as it will be very difficult to show them in one chart, each Varga is presented as a separate chart.

The bhava is divided in to divisions from two to 60 and even 144 and the Graha’s positions are determined based on the registered longitude of the Graha at the time of birth. Out of all the Vargas, Rasi, Hora, Navamsa, Dashamsa, Shodashamsa, Vimshamsa, Siddhamsa, AkshaVedamsa and Shashtiamsa are very important to get a complete picture of the native.

In fact the Rasi/Radix gives the complete information about the native’s life but the divisional charts are like tools to confirm the prediction, if all the divisional charts are placed one above another like a stack of mirrors, and if all the Graha’s are posited in same positions in all the divisional charts (very remote) the native will have theoretical phala i.e. 100% in a way.

Other terms I will deal with are, Lagnamsha, Vargottama, Parivartana, Uttamans etc. names of all the Vargas/divisional charts described by Maharishi Parasara and Jaimini are listed in the table no 9.
To follow: Fundamentals of Jyotisha( Part II)

ॐ नमः शिवाय!

Surya Ianala, 23 Feb., 2007

Line of life: Part I

ॐ श्री गुरावे नमः !

The life line as it suggests deals with the life in general, but as it is believed it does not directly convey the life duration, sometimes people simply measure their life line and conclude that they have a short or long life, but one has to be very careful reading it and concluding information from it, because there are many misconceptions and misunderstandings regarding this line.

Life line gives us the general information about the health of general life, the content of your life and duration of life is the last one, based on the curve and the area in the curve i.e. how many years would one person live, well as per Rishi's, in Kalyuga ( Current Yuga) the maximum life span of any human is not more than 120 years, most of them dwindle immediately after their retirement because, psychologically after working for 35 to 40 years, suddenly when they retire and are out in the open doing nothing but house chores or fooling around in the homes of their kids or with their grand children, or many of them I have seen start a fresh life, they start looking for new relations though the body does not support such an endeavour etc, but internally the day they retire, the mind tells them you are useless, the person starts feeling worthless and dies internally long before he actually dies. so death has more to do with the health of the Mind, Body and Soul, then just with the length of life line, so to measure one's duration of life in terms of earn ability, social life, personal and professional life, one should take in to account the length and quality of fate line, line of intelligence, and line of heart, Rachettes and also the line of Health of life (I will add this in my next post) then the quality of life line, finally the length of life line, once done, then check the size of your hand, check the palm length with the length of fingers, etc. once all these are put together, you can deduce, what would be your life like and the duration also.

Two extreme cases of this line are: One a very short life line reaching up to the level of inner edge of the thumb and stops, second one is a complete circle reaching up to the back of the palm, check for length and quality of other lines before concluding, like any other line, check for the health of life line i.e. color, depth, curve, marks and signs, particularly dot "." , and hash "#" and also for gaps, these are bad, and would suggest a possible break in the life at that particular time point, when this happens, almost all the major lines will also show similar effects, when I say break in the life, I mean the native might stop living when there is a dot and the line stops there, that is right the only truth we know"Death", but nothing to worry about, there will be more lives after this, it is a vicious cycle, if the line continues after the dot, it would mean that the native met with an life threatening accident or event but survived, in this case see for similar breaks and marks on the fate line and line of health also, at the same time look for a sister life line running parallel to the main life line inside the Venus mount, this kind of line is common in almost every women I have seen, particularly those who had difficult delivery, the sister life line sustains the life during those difficult hours, it is less common in Men.

The rules regarding the color, depth are common for all the main lines, Fig P5A shows various life lines based on the color and depth.

The above figure shows various lives lines based on the color and depth, the length of the line is full and the curve is also excellent, so a person with a life line in the figure P5A2 & 5 (again it depends on the thickness of the palm) will live a long and full filling life, the life will be complete in all spheres of modern life.

Fig P5B shows various types life lines, here we have to see the origin of the life line, the length, the curve, I have tried to keep the color and depth common for all, the first one is very normal but short and the curve is small and the Venus mount is greatly effected due to this flat arc, the life of the person will lack the emotional side pertaining to relations with family but the relation with others will be in excess, so lack of affection in home will be balanced by affection bought from outside, the lack of affection and also lack of ability to extend affection will effect the life spheres, the second one is a normal life line, complete by all means, this is the best life line one could ask for, a long and complete fulfilling life, balanced ability to receive and extend affection, the third one is in the excess side, the native will have too much attention in the home front and will lack external circles, but the positive side of this is the native will be very spiritual, spirituality breaks open from rejection in the family social circles, the length of the line though is full does not mean that the person will live 120 years, NO, the native whatever years he will survive will live the kind of life as described, it could be from 0 to 120 years, short life is 0 to 30 years, medium life is up to 70 years and long life is up to 120 years.

The second three figures, 4, 5 and 6 are complete life lines as far as life content is concerned, in these three figures, look at the origin of the life line and then the way it travels towards the wrist, no 4 is found in all those people, who had very sensitive parents, and had too much governance, so as the adage goes " Most governed is least governed and least governed is most governed, too much security makes people too dependent on family circles and hence develop a tendency to crave for such security all their life, this causes little problems in social interactions, no 5 is very common one, seen in all those people, who had a very normal upbringing, parental care, social care, and normal dependence on these circles and hence the curve of the right degree, I have already discussed this issue in the previous post on line of intelligence, because this clearly tells you the basic foundation of an individual, like by looking at the pattern, you can immediately get an idea, what kind of individual you are dealing with, the parental care could be from anyone, but if it satisfies the conditions, it is enough, No 6 is separated from the line of intelligence, this is found in case of orphans and completely neglected children, meaning independent development right from the beginning, in circumstances like, living in orphanage, living with very old grand mothers, living in bad foster care homes, living on the streets etc, the environment forces the native to fend for himself/herself, but during that phase if they get any parent like support, then the line of intelligence will huddle closer to the line of life, I have tried to show it little on the extreme side to emphasize the point that, the native with this kind of line would lack complete social coverage of any sort, from this point you can deduce the % of social affection one got during their initial years and this basically forms the basis or foundation of the natives adult life and how one interacts with others etc. One very important point is if any one of them during their growing years get an opportunity to develop skills to cover their deficiencies then it becomes little difficult to figure out, but the pattern will still be reflecting the kind of initial life one had.

The other thing I could not show in the figures is the pattern below the index finger, one has to look is the no of lines entering the life line on the right side edge of the palm i.e. below the index finger, this would indicate the no of souls, which tried to enter the body of native during conception in the womb. more lines would indicate more split personality, one line is in very normal and simple people, I feel the souls compete with each other to enter the body, and the one with more suitable karmic points succeeds, but during this process, they do create a disharmony in the native Mind and Body, which sometimes goes a very long way causing trouble and misery to the native, blessed are those with just one line.

Fourth point is look for small lines entering the life line below the Index finger, these lines are extra energy needed to sustain the life force in the native during his/her initial years.

look for Island like circles in the initial segment of the life line and line of intelligence, this would suggest some kind of mystery attached with the natives birth, try to find out from your mother or elders for any event that came to their knowledge or was discussed during the birth of the native and a island would also suggest neglected by parents for that much time.

Fif P5C shows various lengths, marks and signs, No 1 is complete, No 2 is medium and stops meaning the native might stop living his normal life and instead move away from the social circles, and if there are no marks or signs, look for the health of other major lines and if all are effected like this, then the native might have a medium life, again, If the native starts Yogic and Pranayama to improve or sustain the life force, then the line would change and the duration and quality will also change, No 3 is a very short line, look for same signs and conditions but the duration and the quality of life of this native will certainly be incomplete by many ways. No 4 is a short life line with a black dot, this is a indication of abrupt ending of life force, but if the line continues after a gap, then the native struggled to survive and came out a winner, a parallel life line in the inside is a life sustaining line in the difficult times.

A hash "#", suggests surgery, this mark would be slightly towards the center of the palm, the no of surgeries can be seen with no of "#", signs, it is again very common in women with Cesarean sections, and men with surgeries to their reproductive systems and abdomen.
Circles, islands, triangles, squares, all these are due to lack flow of life force and form a reservoir of the energy, but if channelized properly can lead to very beneficial life, or once it takes it own course, there will be too many options and to many distractions in the life of the native.

I have not seen any hand till now without any life line, No 6, if available please send me a scanned picture of the palms both right and left with particulars to ianala@hotmail.ca, I would appreciate that.

Fig P5D show the ending of the life lines, No 1 is a good ending, No 2 is with a bifurcation, meaning the native will have choice to settle in his native land or in a foreign land during his/her last years. No 3 is a triangle formed with the fate line, meaning during that point of time in the life of the native, the native would find himself/herself standing right in the cross roads of life and too many choices might be available or no choice might be available which can be seen from the lines that pass from this triangle towards the Rachette or the wrist.

No 4 ends forming a circle close to the thumb the native will pass his/her last years in his native land, and it also shows Rachettes on the wrist, Rachettes are like graphs of your life, one look at the pattern and quality of Rachettes can give you the complete picture of the natives life, after deducing the approx. length of the life, divide that number with no of Rachettes one has, each one will give information about the overall health of the natives that part of life, No 5 shows life line ending towards the mount of moon it would mean the last years in a foreign land and could be spiritual too.

No 6 shows life line merging with the fate line, this has more to do with the fate line then with the life line, the natives fate was entirely dependent on the parents life pattern, earning source etc. Horizontal lines in the Venus mount area or inside the Arc formed by the line of life are the influence lines from the natives family side and if they cut the life line or any other major line and travel all the way up to the four upper mounts, Mercury, Apollo, Saturn and Jupiter, that would suggest that the influence of that familial source would influence that particular aspect of the natives life, small lines ending inside the life line would mean that the native does not entertain family members in his/her daily life events.

The most important thing which everyone is actually interested is the length of life, I have already given enough indication that it is not possible to measure the length of line with a scale and declare 'x' years, all the above given points needs to be considered and length of the life determined, but for pointing out the life events, one needs some scale, so the life line for this purpose can be divided in to segments of 5 years starting from below the index finger to the wrist, 70 years is taken as a basic figure for all purposes, then again 5 years in a small hand would be just few mm and in a very large hand, more than a cm.
The best way to increase the life span is by doing regular Pranayama, minimum three cycles basic pranayama morning and evening with chanting Gayatri Mantra would enhance the life force and will help the body last longer, in case not able to do so, does not matter, there always is a next life:-)

More to follow.................need some time.:-)))))

ॐ नमः शिवाय!

Surya Ianala, April, 2007

Mahatma Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi a Mystic

Mahatma Gandhi (Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi) during freedom struggle

Gandhi in the uniform of a sergeant of the Indian Ambulance Corps. He served during the Boer War (1899).

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born into the Hindu Modh family in Porbandar in 1869. He was the son of Karamchand Gandhi, the dewan (Prime Minister) of Porbandar, and Putlibai, Karamchand's fourth wife, a Hindu of the Pranami Vaishnava order. He was born into the vaishya, or business caste.
In May 1883, at the age of 13, Gandhi was married through his parents' arrangements to Kasturbai Makhanji (known as "Ba"), They had four sons: Gandhi was a mediocre student in his youth at Porbandar and later Rajkot. He barely passed the matriculation exam for Samaldas College at Bhavanagar, Gujarat. He was also unhappy at the college, because his family wanted him to become a Barrister.
At the age of 18 on Sep 4, 1888, Gandhi went to University College London to train as a barrister. His time in London, the Imperial capital, was influenced by a vow he had made to his mother in the presence of the Jain monk Becharjee, upon leaving India, to observe the Hindu precepts of abstinence from meat, alcohol, and promiscuity. Although Gandhi experimented with adopting "English" customs – taking dancing lessons for example – he could not stomach his landlady's mutton and cabbage. She pointed him towards one of London's few vegetarian restaurants. Rather than simply go along with his mother's wishes, he read about, and intellectually embraced vegetarianism, He joined the vegetarian society, was elected to its executive committee, and founded a local chapter.

He was encourages to read the Bhagvad Gita. Not having shown a particular interest in religion before, he read about Hinduism, Christianity, Buddhism, Islam and other religions. He returned to India after being admitted to the bar of England, but had limited success establishing a law practice in Mumbai, later applying and being turned down for a part-time job as a high school teacher. He ended up returning to Rajkot to make a modest living drafting petitions for litigants, but was forced to close down that business as well when he ran afoul of a British officer. In his autobiography, he describes this incident as a kind of unsuccessful lobbying attempt on behalf of his older brother. It was in this climate that (in 1893) he accepted a year-long contract from an Indian firm to a post in Natal, South Africa.
Civil Rights Movement in South Africa (1893—1914)

Gandhi read his first newspaper at the age of 23, and was prone to stage fright while speaking in court. South Africa changed him dramatically, as he faced the discrimination commonly directed at blacks and Indians. One day in court at Durban, the magistrate asked him to remove his turban. Gandhi refused and stormed out of the courtroom. He was thrown off a train at Pietermaritzburg, after refusing to move from the first class to a third class coach while holding a valid first class ticket. Traveling further on by stagecoach, he was beaten by a driver for refusing to travel on the foot board to make room for a European passenger. He suffered other hardships on the journey as well, including being barred from many hotels. These incidents have been acknowledged by several biographers as a turning point in his life, explaining his later social activism. It was through witnessing firsthand the racism, prejudice and injustice against Indians in South Africa that Gandhi started to question his people's status, and his own place in society. However, these events by no means explain why he inculcated non-violence instead of aggressive revolution.

At the end of his contract, Gandhi prepared to return to India. However, at a farewell party in his honour in Durban, he happened to glance at a newspaper and learned that a bill was being considered by the Natal Legislative Assembly to deny the right to vote to Indians. When he brought this up with his hosts, they lamented that they did not have the expertise necessary to oppose the bill, and implored Gandhi to stay and help them. He circulated several petitions to both the Natal Legislature and the British Government in opposition to the bill. Though unable to halt the bill's passage, his campaign was successful in drawing attention to the grievances of Indians in South Africa. Supporters convinced him to remain in Durban to continue fighting against the injustices levied against Indians in South Africa. He founded the Natal Indian Congress in 1894, with himself as the Secretary. Through this organization, he molded the Indian community of South Africa into a homogeneous political force, publishing documents detailing Indian grievances and evidence of British discrimination in South Africa. Gandhi returned briefly to India in 1896 to bring his wife and children to live with him in South Africa. When he returned in January 1897, a white mob attacked and tried to lynch him. In an early indication of the personal values that would shape his later campaigns, he refused to press charges on any member of the mob, stating it was one of his principles not to seek redress for a personal wrong in a court of law.
At the onset of the South Africa War, Gandhi argued that Indians must support the War effort in order to legitimize their claims to full citizenship, organizing a volunteer ambulance corps of 300 free Indians and 800 indentured labourers called the Indian Ambulance Corps, one of the few medical units to serve wounded black South Africans. He himself was a stretcher-bearer at the Battle of Spion Kop, and was decorated. At the conclusion of the war, however, the situation for the Indians did not improve, but continued to deteriorate. In 1906, the Transvaal government promulgated a new Act compelling registration of the colony's Indian population. At a mass protest meeting held in Johannesburg on September 11th that year, Gandhi adopted his methodology of Satyagraha (devotion to the truth), or non-violent protest, for the first time, calling on his fellow Indians to defy the new law and suffer the punishments for doing so, rather than resist through violent means. This plan was adopted, leading to a seven-year struggle in which thousands of Indians were jailed (including Gandhi himself on many occasions), flogged, or even shot, for striking, refusing to register, burning their registration cards, or engaging in other forms of non-violent resistance. While the government was successful in repressing the Indian protesters, the public outcry stemming from the harsh methods employed by the South African government in the face of peaceful Indian protesters finally forced South African General Jan Christiaan Smuts to negotiate a compromise with Gandhi.

A British-educated lawyer, Gandhi first employed his ideas of peaceful civil disobedience in the Indian community's struggle for civil rights in South Africa. Upon his return to India, he organized poor farmers and labourers to protest against oppressive taxation and widespread discrimination. Assuming leadership of the Indian National Congress, Gandhi led nationwide campaigns for the alleviation of the poverty, for the liberation of women, for brotherhood amongst differing religions and ethnicities, for an end to untouchability and caste discrimination, and for the economic self-sufficiency of the nation, but above all for Selfrule—the independence of India from foreign domination. Gandhi famously led Indians in the disobedience of the salt tax on the 400 kilometre Dandi Salt March in 1930, and in an open call for the British to Quit India in 1942. He was imprisoned for many years on numerous occasions in both South Africa and India.
Throughout his life, Gandhi remained committed to non-violence and truth even in the most extreme situations. A student of Hindu philosophy, he lived simply, organizing an ashram that was self-sufficient in its needs. Making his own clothes—the traditional Indian dhoti and shawl woven with a chakra, he lived on a simple vegetarian diet. He used rigorous fasts, for long periods, for both self-purification and protest. Gandhi's life and teachings inspired Dr Martin Luther King Jr., Steve Biko and Aung San Suu Kyi and through them the American Civil rights movement and the freedom struggles in South Africa and Myanmar respectively.

In May 1915, Gandhi founded an ashram on the outskirts of Ahmedabad, India and called it Satyagraha Ashram (also known as Sabarmati ashram). There lodged twenty five men and women who took vows of truth, celibacy, ahimsa, nonpossession, control of the palate, and service of the Indian people.

Under his leadership India won Independence on 15 August, 1947

ॐ नमः शिवाय!

Sianala, Jan, 2007.