Friday, July 20, 2007

Panchanga Examples by PVR

Panchanga Examples: My First emails to Sri K.N. Rao and Pt. Sanjay Rath

Namaste friends,

I am travelling on office work and did not get a chance to read the list or send mails. I thought I'd send a mail today, as I am a little free today.

I wrote a while ago that the five limbs of panchanga (tithi, vaara, nakshatra,yoga, karana) represent the five elements (water, fire, air, ether, earth respectively). I wrote that water shows harmony and prosperity, fire shows vitality and longevity, air shows the past karma and distractions, ether shows the binding force and relations and earth shows the accomplishments.

When analyzing a prasna chart (horary chart) or a muhurta chart (electional chart), we can look at the five limbs of panchanga and each has its own use as listed above. I will give a couple of new examples.

Example 1: My first email to Sri K.N. Rao

The first email sent to someone by me shows the initiation of my communication with that person. If my interactions with a particular person turn out to be important, then it has be shown in the muhurta chart of the first communication. This muhurta chart is the seed of all future interaction with that person.

Date:          June 10, 1998
Time:          7:21:32 pm
Time Zone:     5:30:00 (East of GMT)
Place:         77 E 12' 00", 28 N 36' 00"
               --, --
Altitude:      0.98 meters

Lunar Yr-Mo:   Bahu-dhanya - Jyeshtha
Tithi:         Krishna Pratipat (Su) (61.09% left)
Vedic Weekday: Wednesday (Me)
Nakshatra:     Moola (Ke) (97.57% left)
Yoga:          Subha (Su) (80.16% left)
Karana:        Balava (Mo) (22.19% left)
Hora Lord:     Venus (5 min sign: Ar)
Mahakala Hora: Venus (5 min sign: Ta)
Kaala Lord:    Sun (Mahakala: Rahu)

Sunrise:       5:23:37 am
Sunset:        7:17:57 pm
Janma Ghatis:  34.9130

Ayanamsa:      23-49-59.49
Sidereal Time: 12:15:12

+-----------------------------------------------+
|Ju         |Ve   Sa    |Su   Ma    |           |
|           |GL   Md    |Me         |           |
|           |Gk         |           |           |
|           |           |           |           |
|           |           |           |           |
|-----------+-----------------------+-----------|
|Ke         |                       |HL         |
|           |                       |           |
|           |                       |           |
|           |                       |           |
|           |                       |           |
|-----------|         Rasi          |-----------|
|           |                       |Ra   AL    |
|           |                       |           |
|           |                       |           |
|           |                       |           |
|           |                       |           |
|-----------+-----------------------+-----------|
|Mo         |As         |           |           |
|           |           |           |           |
|           |           |           |           |
|           |           |           |           |
|           |           |           |           |
+-----------------------------------------------+
 


You can see that the yoga is Subha (auspicious), ruled by Moon. Though Moon is the 9th lord (dharma) in the 2nd house (JyotirVidya or astro-learning), he is placed in the 8th house from paka lagna. Yoga shows aakasa tattva, i.e. the binding force that brings people together. Yoga lord's bad placement from lagna lord does not show any important coming together as a result of this communication.

Karana is Balava and lord is Moon again. For coming together, we saw the lagna lord. For accomplishments, let us see the 2nd and 5th houses as these are important for this communication. Moon is in 2nd and in a quadrant from 2nd and 5th lord Jupiter in Pisces. Thus, if this communication had led to a relationship, the relationship would've been fruitful for astrology. Now, you can see why you cannot make a prediction just on the basis of karana or just on the basis of tithi. In this case, yoga lord is ill-placed from lagna lord showing that this interaction may not result in any important relationship. Thus, any predictions made just on the basis of karana will go wrong.

Nakshatra is Moola, ruled by the demon Nirriti. Nakshatra shows the airy element and shows the karma behind something and distractions etc. Nakshatra ruled by nirriti shows bad karma. Sri K.N. Rao may be a great astrologer and several people may have benefitted from his association, but I was not meant to work with him. I was meant to work with Pt. Sanjay Rath. The short-lived interaction with Sri K.N. Rao was due to some bad karma by me in the past (as shown by Nirriti).

Finally, look at vaara (weekday), which shows the fire element, to see the vitality and longevity. Weekday is Wednesday here. While yoga (coming together) was analyzed w.r.t. the paka lagna, longevity is to be analyzed w.r.t. lagna only. Mercury is the 8th lord in 7th and a clear maraka (killer). As he governs the weekday here, it shows that the interaction will be very short-lived. Indeed my interaction with Sri K.N. Rao was short-lived.

Example 2: My first email to Pt. Sanjay Rath

Date:          November 27, 1997
Time:          1:47:00 am
Time Zone:     5:00:00 (West of GMT)
Place:         71 W 12' 00", 42 N 30' 00"
               --, --
Altitude:      0.84 meters

Lunar Yr-Mo:   Isvara - Karthika
Tithi:         Krishna Trayodasi (Ju) (70.68% left)
Vedic Weekday: Wednesday (Me)
Nakshatra:     Swaati (Ra) (84.39% left)
Yoga:          Soubhagya (Ve) ( 25.16% left)
Karana:        Garija (Ju) (41.37% left)
Hora Lord:     Mars (5 min sign: Pi)
Mahakala Hora: Venus (5 min sign: Ta)
Kaala Lord:    Mercury (Mahakala: Venus)

Sunrise:       6:50:14 am (November 26)
Sunset:        4:12:26 pm (November 26)
Janma Ghatis:  47.3651

Ayanamsa:      23-49-35.57
Sidereal Time: 6:27:06

+-----------------------------------------------+
|SaR        |           |           |HL         |
|           |           |           |           |
|           |           |           |           |
|           |           |           |           |
|           |           |           |           |
|-----------+-----------------------+-----------|
|Ke         |                       |           |
|           |                       |           |
|           |                       |           |
|           |                       |           |
|           |                       |           |
|-----------|         Rasi          |-----------|
|Ju         |                       |Ra         |
|           |                       |           |
|           |                       |           |
|           |                       |           |
|           |                       |           |
|-----------+-----------------------+-----------|
|Ma   Me    |Su         |Mo   GL    |As   Gk    |
|Ve   AL    |           |Md         |           |
|           |           |           |           |
|           |           |           |           |
|           |           |           |           |
+-----------------------------------------------+
 
One analyzing these charts superficially may notice that the first chart has Jupiter in Pisces in the 5th house and the second chart has debilitated Jupiter is in the 5th house and conclude that the first chart is stronger. However, let us do a thorough analysis using the five panchanga elements.

You can see that the yoga is Soubhagya (great fortune). Its ruler Venus is in the 4th house in great digbala (towards moksha). Lagna lord Mercury joins him! Thus, the yoga lord is well-placed from lagna lord and 9th lord. In the previous example, yoga lord was well-placed from 9th lord but not from lagna lord. The potential for a good relationship existed only in one direction. In this case, yoga lord is well-placed from lagna lord (me) as well as the 9th lord (Pt. Rath). Thus this interaction can lead to a good relationship. Aakasa tattva is quite strong. [Note: Those of you who know how to analyze the weaknesses in various tattvas using D-30 can check out the D-30 of both charts. In the first example, D-30 shows affliction of aakasa tattva (binding force) by Rahu and Ketu. In the current example, the signs ruled by Jupiter (aakasa tattva) in D-30 are empty and thus aakasa tattva is free from affliction. The 10 signs used in D-30 show the 5 elements in pairs by rulership. Aakasa tattva is represented by Sg and Pi ruled by Jupiter. In D-30, they are afflicted by nodes in the first example and empty in the second example.]

Tithi is Krishna Trayodasi (K13) and karana is Garija. Both are ruled by Jupiter. Jupiter is well-placed in the 5th house of scholarship and fame and in the 2nd house of resources/food from paka lagna. Jupiter feeds the intelligence (paka lagna) and gives fame. Jupiter is debilitated in rasi, but exalted in navamsa (dharma) and hence attains neecha bhanga. He takes part in a raja yoga with Saturn (5th and 7th lords having exchange), in Saraswati yoga (good for learning) with Mercury and Venus and in Gaja-Kesari yoga with Moon. As this Gaja-Kesari yoga is in 2nd and 5th houses (2nd, 5th, 8th and 11th houses are important for astrological knowledge), it shows fame in astrology.

The above yogas given by Jupiter by themselves do not mean much. When we analyze a prasna chart or a muhurta chart or a dasa pravesha chart, it is easy to get carried away by nice yogas. What decides if those yogas fructify or not is the links with panchanga. Panchanga is a very important aspect of astrology!

Here Jupiter owns tithi (watery element - harmony and prosperity) and karana (earthy element - accomplishments). Thus this interaction will lead to a relationship that will accomplish a lot in the field of astrology. Had the tithi and karana belonged to another planet, it would've been a totally
different situation.

However, for this relationship to live long, the above elements are not enough - we need fire. So look at the weekday.

Weekday lord is Mercury again. In the first exmaple, he was the 8th lord in 7th. Here he is the lagna and 10th lord in 4th. While the interaction of the first example was short-lived, this interaction was to be long-lived. My relationship with Pt. Rath has only steadily grown since that day. Very soon, five years will be completed since the first email. During this time, our interaction has been very very fruitful for me and for some other people who follow my writings.

* * *

Though it is accepted by almost everyone that the five elements of panchanga are very important, the exact principles governing their use have been lost. There is a lot of confusion in this regard and people use them in a mixed up way. Is the result of a bad karana and a bad yoga the same? Is the result of a bad weekday and a bad tithi the same? Definitely not, though some people use all these elements interchangably. I am trying to throw light on these differences, as taught in our tradition.

When you analyze a muhurta chart or a prasna chart or a dasa pravesha chart, keep these things in mind don't get carried away by nice yogas. Use the five elements of panchanga to get a clear picture. Understand the meaning of each element and use accordingly!
May Jupiter's light shine on us,
PVR
Nov-17-2002, 11:16 AM

Wednesday, July 04, 2007

My Interpretation of Surya Mantra (RV 1.35.2)

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Narasimha P.V.R. Rao <pvr@charter.net>
Date: Jun 16, 2007 7:36 AM
Subject: [vedic-wisdom] My Interpretation of Surya Mantra (RV 1.35.2)
To: srinivas bhattiprolu <bprolu@yahoo.co.in>
Cc: vedic-wisdom@yahoogroups.com , sivacharya@yahoogroups.com

Dear Sreenu,

Hoping that you will not mind, I am cc'ing my reply to the "vedic-wisdom"
and "sivacharya" yahoogroups. I was actually thinking of picking some
RigVedic hymn and sharing my interpretation with others this weekend. Now
that I got this mail from you, I will take up the Surya mantra.

* * *

This mantra is a very popular mantra for worshipping Surya (Sun god). It is
used in Navagraha homam and navagraha pooja as a part of Satya Narayana
vratam. Parasara Maharshi (father of Veda Vyasa Maharshi) specified this
mantra as a remedy for any problems related to Sun in the horoscope (see
"Brihat Paaraasara Horaa Saastram").

My interpretation may be different from what Sayana, Max Muller etc gave.
Especially when it comes to the second line, most scholars have interpreted
"ratha" as chariot and alluded to Sun going around earth on a chariot. I
have a different Vedantic take on it. I know some Sanskrit, but it is the
inner inspiration given by Mother Mahalakshmi that enables to interpret.

May erudite scholars ignore me if they find my interpretation faulty!

* * *

RigVeda 1.35.2

AkR^iShNena rajasA vartamAno niveshayannamR^itaM martyaM ca |
hiraNyayena savitA rathenAdevo yAti bhuvanAni pashyan ||

vartamAnaH = existing (present)
rajasA = with the light [though rajas is one of the three gunas, it also
means light and energy]
AkR^iShNa = extending till (including) darkness
niveshayan = inhabiting/dwelling in/filling
amR^itaM = the imperishable [Brahman, the unmanifested potentiality]
martyaM ca = and the perishable too [all the manifestations of Brahman in
this universe perish]
savitA = the god Savita
hiraNyayena = with the pure/golden essence of Brahman
rathena = with desire/attachment [though ratha normally means a
chariot/vehicle, it also means a desire. The word "manoratha" (manah+ratha)
comes from it. It means the desires and wishes of the heart. I prefer this
meaning here and not the normally taken "chariot".]
yAti = moves into
AdevaH = all beings including gods
pashyan = experiencing [though pashyan basically means "watching", it also
means considering, perceiving and experiencing]
bhuvanAni = all the worlds and the beings dwelling in it

Meaning in Brief:

Existing with all the light and the darkness, dwelling in the imperishable
Brahman as well as the perishable creation, Savita, with the pure essence of
Brahman and with the desire that causes movement in it (and results in
creation), moves into all beings including the gods and experiences through
them all the worlds and the beings of this diverse creation.

Detailed Commentary:

If you study carefully, this verse gives the essence of Vedic philosophy. It
contains the essence of great scriptures such as "Yoga Vaasishtham" and
"BhagavadGita", sooktas such as Purusha Sooktam and Narayana Sooktam and
hymns such as Ganapathi Atharva Seersham. It is a very important hymn.

Savita is the highest form of Surya. He is basically the supreme cosmic
being. He is Atman, the pure spirit that fills the entire universe - the
creation as well as the uncreated. He is the pure light behind all the light
and darkness that we see. Good and bad, gods and demons, pleasure and pain,
all such dualities are but different manifestations of the same Brahman. The
ONE Brahman manifests as the duality and diverse beings.

The one Atman, which is but pure light, manifests as duality - as light and
darkness - and fills the entire universe. Savita dwells in Brahman as well
as the entire perishable creation. Everything that has manifested has to
perish. Savita dwells in all - in the imperishable Brahman as well as the
perishable manifestations of Brahman (various worlds, gods, demons and other
beings).

The ONE pure light of Savita manifests as DIVERSE objects ranging all the
way from pure light to darkness and fills all beings. With the pure and
untaintable essence of Brahman and the movement caused in Brahman due to
desire, Savita enters all the beings including gods. In other words, all the
beings are created from Brahman and the desire/movement in Brahman.

Vedanta teaches that Brahman is unmanifested pure consciousness. A part of
Brahman causes movement in Brahman, which becomes a desire and gets
fulfilled immediately. This results in the creation of various beings. The
word "ratha" refers to this. The pure essence of Brahman (hiraNyaya) as well
as the desire that caused a movement of thought in Brahman (ratha) enter all
beings. Savita enters all being as Shiva as well as Shakti!

When all the desires come to a halt and the movement of mind stops, all
beings can experience the pure essence of Brahman that has entered them
(i.e. sat-chid-ananda). When the desire is there, there are thoughts and
movement of mind and the beings do not experience the pure essence of
Brahman that has entered them.

The hymn says that the pure essence of Brahman (Shiva) and the desire that
causes movement of thought (Shakti) are both aspects of ONE Savita only.

Savita enters all the beings with the pure essence and the desire/thought
and experiences the worlds and beings through them. If a person called
"Narasimha Rao" exists, it is actually Savita who exists through him. If a
person called "Narasimha Rao" experiences the entire world - various worlds
and beings in those worlds - it is actually Savita who has entered him that
experiences the entire world through him!! All his thoughts, experiences and
actions are actually those of Savita - the in-dwelling spirit.

This is the same as what Ganapathi Atharva Seersham means by "tvameva
kevalam kartAsi...". This is the same as what Krishna means when he tells
Arjuna in BhagavadGita that it is Krishna who acts through various beings
and that the beings should not be deluded to think that they are doing
things.

Savita in this hymn is represented as the same supreme cosmic being that is
referred in various other Vedic scriptures!

Most authorities have interpreted the second line to mean that Sun goes on a
chariot and watches the entire world. That is a gross interpretation and
misses the subtle and deeper meaning.

In fact, when Atman goes on the chariot (ratha) of desire (ratha), it moves
and sees the diverse creation. When the chariot (ratha) stops, then the
desire (ratha) stops and there is no movement of thought. No longer a
diverse creation is perceived and there is only bliss of true being
(sat-chid-ananda). Thus, even the gross chaiot interpretation is a metaphor
for the subtle interpretation given above!

This hymn is very important as it covers several important Vedantic
concepts:

(1) The supreme cosmic being is one, but assumes duality.
(2) The supreme cosmic being enters all the beings with the duality.
(3) The supreme cosmic being experiences through all the beings.
(4) The pure essence of supreme cosmic being enters all the beings and helps
them experience sat-chid-ananda.
(5) The desire (movement of thought) in the supreme cosmic being enters all
the beings and results in movement of thought within them and diverse world
experiences.

* * *

You asked about the counts, rules etc. Unfortunately, I am not an expert on
those. But I will say what I know.

You can chant this mantra as many times as you want. Parasara also mentions
offering this mantra in fire (homam).

Imagine Sun god. Offer a mental obeisance to Hiranyasthoopa Angirasa
Maharshi. Then, thinking of Sun god, whose effulgence fills the entire
universe, read the mantra mentally with the correct intonation as many times
as you can.

The goal of sadhana with any Vedic mantra is to become one with the mantra.
The goal is to lose one's self-consciousness so completely that the mantra
can fill one's entire existence. One can feel and "experience" the sound and
meaning of the mantra then.

Forget "I", "my body", "my name", "my senses", "my experience" completely
and create a vacuum within, so that the mantra can fill the vacuum.

* * *

I now use the version from RigVeda. The audio on my website is quite old. It
not only has text errors, but pronunciation errors too. I will have to
update all the planetary mantra mp3's on my website someday.

Best regards,
Narasimha (PVR)
----------------------------------------------------------
Homam manual and audio: http://www.VedicAstrologer.org/homam
Free Jyotish lessons (MP3): http://vedicastro.home.comcast.net
Free Jyotish software (Windows): http://www.VedicAstrologer.org
Sri Jagannath Centre (SJC) website: http://www.SriJagannath.org
----------------------------------------------------------

----- Original Message -----
> Hi PVR,
> ...
> The information below is from a site that belongs to
> Sri Aurobindo followers. I went there to get the
> sandhya mantras. My question was about the surya
> mantra below, which I remember from your Vratham,
> about which I am having some keen interest recently.
>
> http://www.vedah.com/org2/literature/sandhya_mantras/conclusion.html
>
> From the site as well the Yajurveda Samhita(except
> that in the book with me, it is 3.4.11.6 or 7), the
> mantra is as follows:
> ***
> â satyena rajasâ vartamâno niveshayannamºtam martyam
> cha
>
> hiraòyayena savitâ rathenâdevo yâti bhuvanâ vipashyan
>
> [RV (1.35.2), KYV (3.4.11.2), SYV (33.43); (34.31)]
>
> Moving along the worlds of Truth duly establishing the
> immortal and the mortal,
>
> God Savitr comes in his golden car beholding the
> worlds.
> ***
>
> However, looking at the reference provided above of
> Rig Veda Samhita-1.35.2 the mantra has two
> differences.
>
> 1. It was 'a krishnena'(RV) for 'a satyena'(KYV)
> 2. In line 2 it was 'bhunanani pashyan'(RV) for
> 'bhuvana vipashyan'(KYV)
> 3. Your site audio sounded -'a satyena'(as in
> KYV)...'bhunanani pashyan'(as in RV)
>
> Hence wanted to talk to you about this. I would be
> delighted to know the primary importance of this
> mantra also the rules and numbers?
>
> You can call me anytime. Talk to you later.
> Sreenu


Brihaspati Gayatri, Vishwamitra/Gaathina Rishi Rig Veda 6.62.6