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.

Shri Swami Sivananda Maharaj

Shri Swami Shivananda Guru

Shri Swami Sivananda - another mystic par excellence. a medical doctor by profession but the pull by the nature to renounce the world and serve the unknown was so over powering that, he renounced the world at the young age of 36 years, after excelling in medicine in India and Malaysia, but as nature wanted something else from this spirit, he returned to his final destination, Rishikesh in India.

( Sep 8,1887--Jul 14,1963)

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Life history of this great saint can be read at the following site

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http://www.dlshq.org/saints/siva.htm,

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and all his teachings, e-books, e-articles and other information can be downloaded from

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http://www.dlshq.org/,

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Another site devoted to this great saint is

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http://www.sivananda.org/

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The data generated by this saint in the fields of yoga and vedanta all written by himself are worth reading and worth practising for a better life and for a better understanding of our mind body and soul.

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All this was possible only when he renounced this world and entered sanyasa ashram (Monk Order) and got initiated rest is history, it needs shear devotion, determination and sacrifice to achieve this level of universal understanding, above all a heart so thirsty for knowledge that it is very difficult to quench it with nothing less than the ultimate knowledge of the ultimate.

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Swami Sivananda Saraswati : God has given us a great gift in the form of this human body. The only purpose of this human birth, which is very difficult to get, is to realize God and hence terminate this incessant cycle of birth and death.

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Many Yoga centres and ashrams were started by his disciple Shri Swami Vishnu-Devananda in the west, and the first centre was started in Montreal, Canada in 1959.

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http://www.sivananda.org/montreal/en/index.htm

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Out of all his teaching the small quote is very educative and catchy.

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" Serve- Love- Give-Purify-Meditate-Realize" .

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A very long list of very educative articles can be downloaded free and can also be saved for you personal reference is available at:

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http://www.dlshq.org/download/download.htm

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In this list "Practical lessions in Yoga " is very informative and well explained for begginners.

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Shri Swami Sivanada passed away on 14 July 1963 in his Kutir on the bank of Ganges, In Sivanandanagar.

ॐ नमः शिवाय!

Sianala, Montreal

Jan , 2007

Swami Ramakrishna Paramhansa

Shri Swami Ramakrishna Paramhansa

Shri Swami Ramakrishna Paramhansa, a mystic, (Gadadhar Chattopadhyay) was born to poor Khudiram and Chandramani in the village of Kamarpukur, West Bengal province of Bharat(India). Gadadhar disliked school, and did not show interest in earning money. Instead he devoted most of his time with nature, he liked visiting monks, He respected people from lower caste.

Rani Rashmoni founded a temple at dakshineswar, Gadadhar was to decorate the deity Bhavatarini, he began to question if he was worshipping a piece of stone or a living goddess. If he was worshipping a living Goddess, why should she not respond to his worship? This question nagged him day and night. Then, he began to pray Kali "Mother, please reveal yourself to me, Am I not also your son?" he would weep and some times cryout loudly while worshipping, At night, he would go into a nearby jungle and spend the whole night praying.

One day he grew so impatient to see Mother Kali that he seized a sword hanging on the wall and was about to strike himself with it, when the light from the deity spread across the temple, the very sight of this devine illumination made him unconscious, it is a general talk that, when such a light comes out particularly from Kali, one should start looking at it from the feet to the head to avoid the ferocious appearance of goddess Kali, many monks have lost their minds and gone crazy when gazed directly at the illumination.

by doing so the appearance of the goddess takes the form of very pleasing goddess durga,

Ramakrishna was initiated in advaita vedanta by a wandering monk named Totapuri, in the city of dakshineswar, Ramakrishna started to remain in the state of Samadhi for six months at a stretch.
Rumors spread that Ramakrishna had gone mad, marriage was proposed, instead of objecting to the marriage, he mentioned Jayrambati, three miles away from Kamarpukur, the five-year-old bride, Sarada, was found and the marriage was duly solemnised. she remained with her parents till she turned 18, then she joined Ramakrishna, but by then Ramakrishna was way deep in renunciation, so Sarada become his first disciple, he began to treat her as the Universal mother and would perform puja, Sarada as Tripura Sundari Devi. He said, 'I look upon you as my own mother and the Mother who is in the temple'. Ramakrishna impressed upon Sarada Devi that she was not only the mother of his young disciples, but also of all humanity. Initially, Sarada Devi was initially shy about playing this role, but slowly, she filled it with courage.

Sarada Devi

Her renunciation is believed by devotees to be a striking quality that she shared with her husband in a measure equal to, if not beyond, his. The true nature of their relationship and kinship was believed to be beyond the grasp of ordinary minds. Ramakrishna concluded, after close and constant association with her, that her relationship and attitude toward him were firmly based on a divine spiritual plane. Devotees believe that as they shared their daily lives, no other thought other than that of the divine presence, arose in their minds. An account of such continuous divine relationship between two souls of opposite gender is unique in religious records, not known in any of the past hagiographies. After the passing away of Ramakrishna, Sarada Devi became a religious teacher in her own right and she is called as holy mother.
He soon came to be known as Ramakrishna Paramahansa, seekers of God were attracted to him, he taught the basic truths of religion for about fifteen years and eventually developed throat cancer and attained Mahasamadhi on 16 August, 1886.
Ramakrishna's taught oneness of existence, the divinity of living beings, the unity of god, and harmony of religions, he beleived that the primal bondage of human beings were lust and greed, he emphasized that God-realization is the supreme goal of all living beings, religion was merely a mean for the achievement of this goal. Devotees believe that Ramakrishna's realization of nirvikalpa samadhi also led him to an understanding of the two sides of maya (illusion), to which he referred as Avidyamaya and Vidyamaya. He explained that avidyamaya represents dark forces (e.g. sensual desire, evil passions, greed, lust and cruelity), which keep the world-system on lower planes of conciousness. These forces are responsible for human entrapment in the cycle of births and death, and they must be fought and vanquished. Vidyamaya, on the other hand, represents higher forces (e.g. spiritual virtues, enlightening qualities, kindness, purity, love and devotion), which elevate human beings to the higher planes of consciousness. With the help of vidyamaya, he said that devotees could rid themselves of avidyamaya and achieve the ultimate goal of becoming Mayatita - that is, free from maya.

The famous Swami Vivekanada ( 1863-1902) was his first desciple and he started the

Swami Vivekanada

Ramakrishna matth and Mission institute of culture in Calcutta in 1897, Swami Vivekananda become famous after his speech at Parliament of Religions held in Chicago in 1893, after a very hectic but short public life of mere 10 years, swami vivekananda also suffered from throat cancer and in the midst of acute physical suffering he left for posterity his four classics: Jnana-Yoga, Bhakti-Yoga, Karma-Yoga, and Raja-Yoga, all of which are outstanding treatises on Sanatana( Hindu) philosophy. He passed away at the young age of 39 years.

Under his leadership many national and international vedanta Societies were started, one in Toronto was started in 1968, Vedanta Society of Toronto, 120 Emmett AvenueToronto, Ontario M6M 2E6Phone: 1-416-240-7262 Fax: 1-416-245-3764E-mail: vedanta@total.net, society@vedantatoronto.ca

ॐ नमः शिवाय!

Sianala, Jan 2007

Shri Shirdi Sai Baba

Shri Shirdi Sai baba

( xxxxx-----15 Oct 1918 )

Shri Shirdi Sai Baba, a mystic, lived as a fakir in shirdi, begged his food and spent his renounced life under the neem (Azadirachta indica) tree, Shri Hemadpant wrote "Sai Satchritra in Marathi and was blessed by Sri Sai in 1910 to initiate this work, english translation of this work was done by Shri Nagesh Vasudev Gunaji, Shri Sai breathed his last on 15 Oct 1918.

Mystic's divine powers, he used to lit lamps with pure water, could pull out a burning piece of coal out of the ground using two tongs to lit his pipe.

The Samadhi mandir is at Shirdi about 15 KM from the nearest railway station of Kopargoan, which is about 296 KM from Mumbai, this is a grand temple and is visited by millions, boarding and lodging is available near the temple.

Datta Avatar Sadguru Sai! Majla Tthav Dhava Payi!!

More than three generations of my family have been worshipping Shri Sai Baba.

Prardhanastakam

1. Shantachitta Mahapragnya Sai nadha Dayadhana!

....Daya Shindhu Satyasvarupa Mayaatama Vinashna!!
2. Jaata Gaotateeta Siddha Anchitya Karunalaya!
....Pahimam Pahimam Naadha Shirdigrama Neevasaya!!
3. Sri Gyanarka Gyanadaatya Sarvamangala Karaka!
....Bhakta Chitta Maralaahe Sharnagata Rakshaka!!
4. Srishti Karta Viranchittey patatu Indirapati!
....Jagatra alayaneta Rudratotuncha Nishchiti!!
5. Tujavenney Ritakotthey Tthav Naya Mahavaree!
....Sarvagnyatu Sai Nadha Sarvanchaka Hridayantree!!
6. Kshama Sarvaprardhinchi Karaviheytee Maaganey!
....Abhakti Samsayachatya Latta Shri Granivariney!!
7. Tudheynu Satsametaneyva Tu Indu Chandrakanta mee!
....Svarnnadhirupa Tvatvapadha Aadharey Dasaheenamee!!
8. Ttheyva Aataa Shri Majhya Krupeychakara Panjara!
....Shoka Chinta Nivarani Gannoo Ha Tava Kinkara!!
..............Jaya Jaya Sai Sadguru Parmatma Sai!
(Source- Shri Shiridi Sai baba Jivitha Charitra - Shri Patti Narayana Rao)

Shri Sai Nitya Daiva Prardana

Karuna murthy agu o sai maachittam sarva kala sarvavasthalayandunu mee padaara vindamlu yandu lagnam aii achanchalam ayna bhakti to kuudi undunatulu anugrahimpumu!
## Guardian of forgiveness O Sai please bless my heart so that always and all the time it is focused at your feet with unshaken and un distracted devotion.##
Paramadayanidhi baba! prataakalam nidra lechinadi modalu marla parundu varukunu manovakayam maa valana evari ki ni apakaram kalga kundunatlunu itara prana kotlaku upakaram cheyyu lagunu sadbudhini daya cheyamu.
## Prime Guardian of forgiveness! Please bless me with good intended mind so that right from getting out of bed in the morning till again falling asleep, I should utter only to do good but not to hurt anyone. ##
Sacchidanandamurthy! sadguru! O Shiridi Sha! Maa antha karnamunandu yenaddunu ye vidhamayna dustha sankalpam gaani vishaya vasana gaani agyana vruuti gaani jora padakundulatnu daya to anugrahimpu nu.
## Sacchidananda murthy! O Good teacher! O Shiridi Sai! Please guide my soul so that it does not rush into any kind of evil intentions, evil obsessions & habits, and ignorant jobs##
Nimba vriksha mula nivasa! abhaya svarupa! maa yandu bhakti, gyana vairaga beejam ankurinchi sheegramga pravrudamulagunatlu ashirvadimpamu mariyu ee janmam nande kadateri mee saanidhyamu na ketanchitavalisina shakti samardyamulunu karuna to nosangumu.
##O resident of the Neem Tree! Fearless Form of god! Please plant the seed of renunciation in me and bless me with abilities to overcome the desires of this physical life.##
Daasa guna hridya nandunavu deenalu palita kalpavriksha swarupudavu! neevu tappa naku inka evaru dikku?
## Your heart beats for all the downtrodden and poor, you are god's form of "tree of wish " for the poor, other than you who is my caretaker##
Ninnu ashrainchitini asatu nuunchi satunaku konipamu ! tamsu nundi jyoti loni ki teesukoni pomu, mrutyu nundi amrutatvamu pondacheyumu eede naa vinatee anugrahimpumu nee dari cherichkonumu.
## As I lean on to you, Please bless me so that I can walk from untruth to truth, from darkness to light, from death towards ambrosia, this is my request, please accept my request so that I can reach you##

Om Sai Ram Sai Ram Sai Ram Sai.

Eee Prardhana Ubhaya Velalo Smarinichvariki Sai Eeshu Ni Anugraham tappaka kalugutundi.

## Those who read this prayer in the morning, will definitely receive Shri Sai Eeshu's blessings##
Shri Sai Gayatri Mantra

Gyana Rupaya Vidmahe

Avadhutaya Dhi Mahi

Tanno Sai Prachodayat.

Om Shri Sai Devo Namah!

ॐ नमः शिवाय!

SIanala, Dec 31, 2006

Quotes - Mahatma Gandhi

Mahatma's few famous quotes

(Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi)

All the religions of the world, while they may differ in other respects, unitedly proclaim that nothing lives in this world but Truth.

Always aim at complete harmony of thought and word and deed. Always aim at purifying your thoughts and everything will be well.

Among the many misdeeds of the British rule in India, history will look upon the act depriving a whole nation of arms as the blackest.

Breach of promise is a base surrender of truth.

Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is the truth.
Everyone who wills can hear the inner voice.

Each one has to find his peace from within. And peace to be real must be unaffected by outside circumstances.First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.

God is, even though the whole world deny him. Truth stands, even if there be no public support. It is self-sustained.

It is within everyone.An error does not become truth by reason of multiplied propagation, nor does truth become error because nobody sees it.

I would heartily welcome the union of East and West provided it is not based on brute force.

In a gentle way, you can shake the world.In matters of conscience, the law of the majority has no place.

In prayer it is better to have a heart without words than words without a heart  It has always been a mystery to me how men can feel themselves honoured by the humiliation of their fellow beings.

It is any day better to stand erect with a broken and bandaged head then to crawl on one's belly, in order to be able to save one's head.

Love never claims, it ever gives. Love ever suffers, never resents never revenges itself.

Man can never be a woman's equal in the spirit of selfless service with which nature has endowed her.

My religion is based on truth and non-violence. Truth is my God. Non-violence is the means of realising Him.

Non-violence requires a double faith, faith in God and also faith in man.

Peace is its own reward.

Poverty is the worst form of violence.

Prayer is a confession of one's own unworthiness and weakness.

Prayer is not an old woman's idle amusement. P

roperly understood and applied, it is the most potent instrument of action.

Prayer is the key of the morning and the bolt of the evening.

The good man is the friend of all living things.

The real ornament of woman is her character, her purity.

The spirit of democracy is not a mechanical thing to be adjusted by abolition of forms. It requires change of heart.

The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.

Those who know how to think need no teachers.

Truth is by nature self-evident. As soon as you remove the cobwebs of ignorance that surround it, it shines clear.

Truth never damages a cause that is just.Truth stands, even if there be no public support. It is self-sustained.

We must become the change we want to see in the world.

Where love is, there God is also.

Where there is love there is life.

You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body, but you will never imprison my mind.

You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.

Mahatma Gandhi

ॐ नमः शिवाय!

Sianala, Dec, 2006