ASHTAKAVARGA SYSTEM OF

PREDICTION PART 25

By Dr.E.S.NEELAKANTAN

INTRODUCTION

A well built gentleman boarded an aircraft in order to fly to US for a

professional visit . The plane took off and this man decided to enter

into a conversation with a person seated next to him. The gentleman’s

next seat was occupied by an American girl, who was slim in stature but

fair in complexion . After they had exchanged their usual pleasantries,

the subject matter of their conversation turned to age, physique,

appearance and topics on similar lines. The girl said, “You will be

surprised to know that though I appear young and slim, my age is

nearly fifty.” The stout man was shocked because he was nearly the

same age but overweight and he was under the mistaken impression

that the girl should either be in college or had just completed

graduation. The gentleman explained “Madam, we in India bother

about our looks and physique, only till marriage. After that we are not

concerned.” The lady said, “Sir, In our country , we are not sure how

long our marriage will last. We are forced to re-marry when

circumstances compel us . So, we have to keep our body in good shape

always. Hope you now realise the need for my present appearance.”

The stout gentleman was really at a loss of words, hearing this practical

discourse on marital affairs in a western country. This explains why I

had started in part-24 of this series, “In India, since time immemorial,

social behavior is dictated by Dharma Sastras. Jyothisha or Astrology is

an independent science whose tenets are not bound by rules pertaining

to Dharma Sastras.”

We now continue our discussion on Ashtakavarga rules pertaining to

Venus.

(1) If Saturn occupies the 5th

or the 9th

house from Venus, married life

is not happy.

(2) If Jupiter occupies the 5th

or the 9th

house from Venus, it bestows

happiness.

(3) The virtues of wife can be inferred from the strength of these

planets.

Let us take up the first rule for discussion. When Saturn occupies

5 or 9 from Venus, it is not going to aspect Venus. Therefore

Venus will be free from Saturn’s aspect or influence. Then, how

come it spoils marital happiness? I will give the reason for this

rule.

When we assess a chart for marital prospects we do it from three

points of view

1) Lagna viewpoint.

2) View from Moon.

3) View from Venus(Karaka)

Please note that “view from Venus” is only for marriage

examination. If it is for progeny, you have to view it from Jupiter.

Likewise if you have to study education, view it from Mercury; so

on and so forth.

I will briefly explain the genesis of this threefold examination.

1) Lagna denotes physique, appearance and the egoic self.

2) Moon represents mind.

3) Venus refers to Marital happiness, sensual pleasures and

worldly happiness.

Every human being lives at three levels; physical, mental and

spiritual. Let us say a boy is good looking – that satisfies one at

a physical level.

There are some persons who speak in such a way that

everyone gets attracted. There are many speakers who can

attract huge audiences, by their ability to mesmerize people by

their speech.

The third level is spiritual level- one may not be good looking,

may not speak much but still will be very attractive. A classic

example of such a person is Bhagwan Ramana Maharishi.

Ultimately married life will affect the couple at all the three

levels.

In the first stage, physical beauty is the principal factor which

creates mutual attraction. John Keats said, “A thing of beauty is

a joy forever”.

Please note that this adage applies only to inanimate things like

Statue of Liberty, the, Leaning Tower of Pisa or Taj Mahal. For

human beauty, we use a different adage , “Beauty is skin

Deep”.

When marriage is a product of romance and infatuation, there

is much confusion and frustration, after the initial euphoria

wears off.

Hence viewing a chart from lagna standpoint satisfies only the

physical or egoic point of view. The second and third levels at

which we judge a horoscope , namely from Moon and Venus,

are far more important in deciding the quality of married life.

The weightage in viewing a horoscope from these three angles

could be quantitatively described as :

Lagna - 100%

Moon - 50%

Venus - 25%

When Saturn occupies 5 or 9 from Venus, what happens is that

good effects of the houses of “poorvapunya” and “bhagya”

(good fortune) get curtailed. Further 9th

house is the 3rd

house

from the 7th

.3rd

is usually the house for friendship. When 9th

is

afflicted, the spouse may be indifferent or unloving .

Please note that love can mean affinity even at a mental or

spiritual level. Hence Saturn in 5 or 9 from Venus is a stumbling

block for marital happiness.

While Saturn is a planet of contraction, Jupiter is a planet of

expansion. Jupiter also stands for cheerful disposition, positive

bent of mind , progeny or expansion of family, benevolence

and friendship.

When Jupiter occupies 5 or 9 from Venus , not only it benefits

the poorvapunyasthana as well as Bhagya stana but it also

aspects Venus. Please note that when Jupiter aspects Venus

any dosha which is attributable to Venus in the birth chart

automatically gets annulled.

The third and final point we need to discuss is the rule that

virtues of wife stem from strength of planets.

There is a colloquial saying – Determine “Phalam” (results)

from “Balam” (strength). What does this mean? Only strong

planets yield results. Weak planets do not yield results.

According to Varahamihira , “The results produced by

powerless planets will be enjoyed in dreams and thoughts.”

(Brihat Jataka, Chapter viii ,stanza 22)

What exactly do we mean by realization of desires through

dreams and thoughts? It means :- Though there are yogas for

achieving things , there is some stumbling block for realization

of desires.

I wish to cite one example here. In the seventies Indian cricket

was dominated by the spin Quartet – Prasanna , Bedi, Venkat

and Chandrasekhar of whom Bedi alone was a left arm spinner.

In that decade, three great left arm spinners played in domestic

cricket – Shivalkar, Goel and Dilip Doshi. All of them spent their

lives in the shadow of Bishen Singh Bedi. If they had played

cricket when Bedi was not there , all of them would have

represented India in tests. (Doshi did play test cricket , finally

after Bedi retired). This is one example I can quote to drive

home the point we discussed just now – that of achieving

things in thoughts and desires. It means that since the desire is

unlikely to fructify, one can at least visualize having achieved

something and derive some paltry satisfaction out of that.

The End.