Planetary placements and their relation to an individual’s guna and karma

[Rekha Shastry]

Hare Krishna Prabhu

I had some prior knowledge in Vedic astrology before I began studying your works, now with the additional knowledge of guna, karma and kala I am trying to reconcile what I had learnt. However, I am unable to make the connection or causal link. I will be grateful if you could shed some light on that matter. From the source that I had learnt, a planetary placement in a particular house (i.e. aspect of life) will indicate the way the planet colors that particular aspect of life. I will further clarify the guidance I am seeking from you from the following points.

1. Vedic astrology mostly talks about placements of planets and their relation (aspects) to other planets. In very chart we can see planets distributed in various houses. Lets take the planet Moon for this discussion. A Cancer ascendant whose lord (Moon) is placed in 5th house. Then the various things that happen due to this placement is discussed like person in search of creativity, romance and true love etc. What is the role/duty of Moon here? Does the Moon influence the person towards these pursuits?
2. All these placements are because of time the person is born. In the above case if a person was born little later then the placement of Moon would be in a different house and would indicate a different aspect of life the Moon would influence. In a way can we say that person (or nature) chose the particular cosmic weather as most conducive for the birth? So basically my query here is how is an individuals guna & karma related/connected with the planet?

Whatever you could share from your own research on the above points would be utmost useful. Thank you.

• This topic was modified 4 months ago by Rekha Shastry.

[Ashish Dalela]

I’m not an astrology expert. There are a few things I understand that I can point to for reading. First, read the book Mystic Universe. The last chapter has a discussion on astrology. Second, you can read this post. The following is a relevant excerpt, but it would be understood if you read the post.

Economists talk about the “invisible hand of the market”. That invisible hand is these puppeteers. The working of this invisible hand is elaborated in the book The Balanced Organization. There are ten kinds of movements—five of which occur within each person and the other five in the environment of that person (which is also within another person). These are the five prāṇa. They involve inward, outward, upward, downward, and around movements. They are also in control of the above six puppeteers by dividing each prāṇa into six aspects. This means that the inward, outward, upward, downward, and around movements are sometimes due to what and when causality, sometimes due to how and where causality, and sometimes due to the who and why causality.

There are times when a person automatically develops spiritual inclination due to time making Jupiter prominent. This makes the upward prāṇa prominent. How this spiritual inclination is expressed, however, depends on the other planets influenced by time. For instance, if Mercury is raised along with Jupiter, then the person will go around exploring many different spiritual systems. If instead Mars is raised with Jupiter, then the person will go inward to meditate and introspect. If Venus is raised with Jupiter, then the person will make spiritual friends or join a society of spiritualists. If instead Saturn is raised with Jupiter, a person may learn lessons from his previous mistakes. If the Sun is raised along with Jupiter, then the person will seek intellectual answers to religious questions. If the Moon is raised along with Jupiter, then the person will try to express their creativity through religious activities. If Rahu is raised along with Jupiter, then a person will try to become a religious leader and focus on bringing other people under his control based on religious pretexts. If Ketu is raised along with Jupiter, then the person will perform charities; even if he speaks about religion, it would be for charity rather than for control.

Below are general aspects of the mind-body complex:

• Ketu – moral sense
• Rahu – ego
• Sun – intellect
• Moon – mind
• Jupiter – upward prāṇa and the ether element
• Saturn – downward prāṇa and the earth element
• Mars – inward prāṇa and the fire element
• Venus – outward prāṇa and the water element
• Mercury – round-and-round prāṇa and the air element

There are three positions of each planet:

• The house from 1 to 12 – these decide the Karma
• The 12 zodiac signs from Aries to Pisces – decide the Chitta
• The 27 (or 28) Nakṣatra – these decide the Guna

So, a single planet placement decides the Karma based on the house, Guna based on the Nakṣatra, and Chitta based on the zodiac sign. Then there is a general understanding of ādidaivika, ādibhautika, and ādiātmika. Whatever you call the “lord” is the ādidaivika. Each “lord” has some houses which are the ādibhautika. And then these “lords” have their effects on other “lords” and “houses” which is called their “dṛṣṭi”. Then there is a system of deciding which planet is the most prominent, called its “bala” or “strength”. When a planet is strong, its “dṛṣṭi” on other planets and houses is stronger than if the planet is weak. Accordingly, a strong planet’s “dṛṣṭi” can make a house stronger, which can change the karmic effect, which will then change the occurrences in their life.

Beyond that, there is a general understanding of space based on guna. All the locations in space are not the same. Every location is different. This is a quality space or a “semantic space”. So, every moment the planetary quality is changing, and due to this change, the corresponding house strengths, influence strengths, and their “dṛṣṭi” on the other planets are also changing.

This science is not understood at present because the ability to understand guna, see the interaction of guna, and then determine the effect of that interaction is not understood. I tried to study Brihat-Parasara Hora but even that is just giving “if-then-else” types of rules. Then there are differences in Surya Siddhanta and Drik Siddhanta calculations. Without the fundamental principles of space, time, object, change, laws of change, etc. it is very hard to understand astrology. So in my view, we should study the fundamental principles before we try to understand all the resulting complexities.

[Rekha Shastry]

Thank you Prabhu.

This discussion cleared some of the gaps in my understanding. I had read the chapter on Vedic astrology in Mystic Universe and also the entire book but my understanding about the theory that was dealt in the previous chapters was not clear and I couldn’t make the connection that you pointed out. I can now give the book a few more readings to understand the theory better

Regarding the many combination of the planet Jupiter, I have found that to be true in my chart and a few others. That was a very good explanation.

Thank you, I still need to study more, now with some of the pointers you have shared.

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