Parasara's Teachings on Drigdasa

Discussion Between Jy. Guru Sanjay Rath, Jy. Guru Narasimha Rao and Jy. Guru Robert Koch
Dear Sanjay and others,

Here is the promised write-up on Parasara's teachings on Drigdasa.

Here are the verses of Parasara on Drigdasa from chapter 46 of Santhanam version (chapter number will be different in GC Sharma version, but the verse numbers will be the same). The chapter is called "dasaadhyaaya".

This is in ITrans notation and you can cut & paste into ITransliterator.

lagnAd.h dharmasya tad.hdR^ishhTarAshInAM cha dashAstataH |
dashamasya cha tad.hdR^ishhTarAshInAM cha nayet.h punaH || 185||
ekAdashasya tad.hdR^ishhTarAshInAM sthiravat.h samAH |
pravR^ittA dR^ig.h vashAdyasmAd.h dR^ig.hdasheyaM tataH smR^itA || 186||
chare vyutkramato grAhyA dR^ig.hyogAH sthirabhe kramAt.h |
vishhame kramato dvandve rAshayo vyutkramAt.h same || 187||

DASA ORDER:

We reckon drigdasa by taking the 9th house and houses aspecting it, then the 10th house and houses aspecting it, and finally the 11th house and houses aspecting it. If lagna is in a dual sign, this results in a repetition of signs and Sanjay has modified this to 9th, 8th and 7th and I have no problem with it. This is not granted by Parasara, but seems like a reasonable thing to do. So I will accept it, atleast for now.

Now, when we take either the 9th house or the 10th house or the 11th house and find the order of the houses aspecting them, the procedure we at SJC have been using to is to see if the sign is odd-footed or even-footed and go zodiacally or anti-zodiacally (respectively). Suppose the 9th house is Aries. It is odd-footed. So we go zodiacally and scan for the signs aspecting Ar. Thus, we get Ar, Le, Sc and Aq as the first 4 dasas (arising from the drigyogas of the 9th house Ar).

Parasara too talked in one full verse about the direction of reckoning the drigyogas. However, he gave a totally different rule, which differs from the above in 8 out of 12 cases!

Look at verse 187 above to see what Parasara has to say.

chare vyutkramto grAhyA = in movable, take by the reverse order
sthirabhe kramAt.h = in fixed sign, by the regular order
vishame kramato dvandve = in odd dual sign, by the regular order
vyutkramAt.h same = in even [dual] sign, by the reverse order

If the 9th/10th/11th house is fixed, we find its aspects by scanning zodiacally. If the 9th/10th/11th house is movable, we find its aspects by scanning anti-zodiacally. If the 9th/10th/11th house is dual, we then go by whether it is odd or even. If the 9th/10th/11th house is dual and odd, we find its aspects by scanning anti-zodiacally. If the 9th/10th/11th house is dual and even, we find its aspects by scanning zodiacally.

You can see that a couple of these definitions are counter-intuitive. However, Sanjay made an excellent intuitive sense of them by talking about the proximity to light. If you want to go to the NEAREST aspected sign, you have to go forward for fixed signs and backward for movable signs!!! That explains why the order is what Parasara taught. In the case of dual signs, we are finding the nearest sign owned by another planet. From Jupiter's signs, we go to the nearest sign owned by Mercury and vice versa.

In any case, this is what Parasara taught and we will be wise to give it due consideration. Unless Jaimini, who was cryptic and easy to misinterpret, Parasara was quite elaborate. In this particular case, there is no ambiguity whatsoever.

Suppose Le is the 9th house and we want the signs aspected by it. In the old method, we would have gone backwards because Le is even-footed and gotten Le, Ar, Cp and Li. With Parasara's method, we go forward as Le is fixed and get Le, Li, Cp and Ar.

Thus, our old SJC method and Parasara's method deviate for Ar, Li, Le, Aq, Ge, Vi, Sg and Pi. If the 9th/10th/11th house falls in one of these 8 signs, the order of the 4 signs associated with it changes with Parasara's definition. This is a considerable deviation.

DASA LENGTHS:

The above was quite clear. Now comes the tricky part. Parasara gave a clear instruction to use "sthiravat.h samAH" in Drigdasa, just as he did in Mandooka dasa and Shoola dasa. The instruction is to use the "sthira dasa like equal years". However, there is some scope for interpretation here. I think there can be two views here, but I haven't fully experimented and cannot say more at this time. Perhaps in a few more months. In any case, I am sure Sanjay can easily guess what I am thinking!

In the private release of JHora 7.03 that I made available on this yahoogroup last month, I just stuck to chara dasa years (i.e. Narayana dasa years), as I don't yet have a final view on how to apply the sthira dasa years to Drigdasa as Parasara recommended.

This is also why I said that we are still taking baby steps and there are more issues to resolve.

In any case, atleast the order of counting the aspected signs is crystal clear. I see no ambiguity or need for research there. Parasara's word, when there is no scope for ambiguity or a different interpretation, is the last word to me. However, others may hold a different opinion.

* * *

> How can you say that? In my chart the dasa are from the 9th house and since
>
> Vi: 2000-08-07 - 2001-08-07
> Ge: 2001-08-07 - 2003-08-08
> Pi: 2003-08-08 - 2015-08-08
> Sg: 2015-08-08 - 2018-08-07

Sanjay, in your chart, if we stick to chara dasa years and use the order given by Parasara, the above will change to

Vi: 2000-2001
Sg: 2001-2004
Pi: 2004-2016
Ge: 2016-2018

Vi is an even and dual sign. So we should go forward (so that we go from Mercury's sign to the nearest Jupiter's sign). So we get Vi, Sg, Pi, Ge instead of Vi, Ge, Pi, Sg.

That is what I was talking about.

> Thats right. I cannot be under Pisces Drig Dasa with Jupiter and running
> around this world like a madman! When Pisces comes I will be next to the
> ocean and will have a fixed mind with the grace of my Gurudeva...so the

I believe you are right. When the light of Jupiter in Pisces is shining, you will not need anything more in life. It should be a period of supreme bliss and contentment. When our understanding of Drigdasa calculation becomes perfect, I am pretty sure we will find that Pisces dasa is not running now.

May Jupiter's light shine on us,
Narasimha


Dear Narasimha
Clue lies in the word drig yoga

ekAdashasya tad.hdR^ishhTarAshInAM sthiravat.h samAH |
pravR^ittA dR^ig.h vashAdyasmAd.h dR^ig.hdasheyaM tataH smR^itA || 186||
chare vyutkramato grAhyA dR^ig.hyogAH sthirabhe kramAt.h |
vishhame kramato dvandve rAshayo vyutkramAt.h same || 187||

Option1: Narasimha's proposal
Option 2: If we read the two slokas together then it may have a different connotation also. For example it can also mean that the order for
1. moavle signs rising is 11th, 10th and 9th
2. fixed signs rising is 9th, 10th and 11th
3. dual signs rising which are odd - count regularly, dual signs which are even, count reverse
Option 3: What is 'dR^ig.hyogAH '?? This holds a clue
Option 4: Maybe this sloka 187 is for antardasa based on the lord of the rasi. or maybe a drig yoga involving the lord of the sign and the sign. Clue lies in the word drig yoga

Narasimha, ...let us have some examples, like say the time of renunciation of the sankaracharya's.

Partha...relax and enjoy this. I have passed through the phase you are going through when you read this, many many times. Jyotisa is not easy and the teachings from the word of mouth maybe distorted as Kali Yuga progresses as the understanding is dwindling. Let us stive for perfection and try to achieve the level of Varahamihira and others by checking everything and correcting ourselves.
With best wishes and warm regards,
Sanjay Rath