2a4399pkoai5kw9vy7or

7/28/2019 2a4399pkoai5kw9vy7or

1/6

THE ALPHA AND THE BETASLearning any language is easy if we are exposed to it for a long time. Any new language that

we pick up or learn is through listening and understanding and this is useful for verbal

communication. For written communication it is important to learn the script and thealphabets (the building blocks of words and sentences).

We will be doing just that in this first lesson for this course.

The script of Jyotish has nine players called planets (Graha in Jyotish, pronounced Gra as in

grant and ha as in hunt).

The term planet is not as per Astronomical definition. Here the seven planets of the sevenweekdays plus the Ascending and descending nodes of the Moon are termed as planets or tobe politically correct Graha.

These Nine Grahas are:

Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, Dragon head and Dragons tail.

They are commonly referred to in Sanskrit as:

Sun is called Soorya (su as in soon, r as in rain ya as inyet), it is also referred to as Ravi (Ra

as in rain and vi is pronounced as we).

Moon is called Chandra (ch as in chapel, and as in under and, ra as in rain). It is also called

Soma (So is so of English and ma is muster).

Mars is called Mangal (Ma as in mug and ngle as in tingle), it is also referred to as Kuja (in

south India) Ku as in cook and ja as injump.

Mercury is called Budha (bu as in bush and dha as in dharma.Jupiter is called Guru, he is also called Brihaspati.

Venus is called Shukra (pronounced shookand ra as in rain

Saturn is called Shani. (Sha as inShine and ni as in near.

Dragons head is called Rahu.(Ra as inRascal, Hu as inHook)

Dragons tail is called Ketu. (Ke as in Cage, tu as in took)

The backgrounds where all the scenes take place in this vast cosmic play are called the signs(the popular Sun signs). We will give the Jyotish equivalent of these.

Aries is called Mesha (May and sh as inShine).

Taurus is Vrishabha (vri as in wring, sha as in shine and bha as in

Gemini is Mithuna (mi as in mist, th as in thank, una as in tuna)

Cancer is Kark (kar as in curb k as in cork)

Leo is Simha (sim as in simple ha as in halt.)

Virgo is Kanya (kan as in cunning ya as inyeah the American equivalent of yes)

Libra is Tula (tu as in la as in last)

Scorpio is Vrischika (vri as in wring, s as in shine, chi as in chicken and ka as in cork.

Sagittarius is Dhanus (Dha as in Dharma nus as inNoose)

Capricorn is Makara (Ma as in mug and ka as in come and ra as in rain)Aquarius is Kumbha (kum as in and bha as in )

Pisces is Meena (Mee as in me and na as in number).


2/6

The first thing that confronts a Jyotishi (Astrologer) is a chart or diagram made up of twelvecompartments. Inside each compartment are certain things written. We should first

understand what this chart means in our daily usage.

For example in the south India an Astrology chart will be drawn this way:

Rashi

The planets are entered into it and the chart then looks like this

Shukra Surya Bhudha Ketu

Mangal

Rashi

LagnaGuru

Chandra

Rahu Shani (vakri)

We have to be able to decipher this chart or decode it and it is really very easy.


3/6

The square is a representation of the Sky and the twelve smaller squares in it are the twelvesigns of the zodiac called the Rashis.

Actually the Zodiacal belt is cicular but it is shown as a square for a reason. We will come tothat later.

It this chart the names of the Rashi (Signs) are not written and are to be understood as below:

Meena

(Pisces)

Mesha

(Aries)

Vrishabha

(Taurus)

Mithuna

(Gemini)

Kumbha

(Aquarius)

Makara

(Capricorn)

Rashi

Kark

(Cancer)

Simha

(Leo)

Dhanus

(Sagittarius)

Vrischika

(Scorpio)

Tula

(Libra)

Kanya

(Virgo)

Now look at the chart given above and understand (The names of the planets in brackets are

English equivalents).

Shukra

(Venus)

Surya

(Sun)

Bhudha

(Mercury)

Ketu

(Dragons tail)

Mangal(Mars)

Rashi

Lagna

(Ascendant)

Guru(Jupiter)

Chandra

(Moon)

Rahu

(Dragons head)

Shani

(Saturn)


4/6

This chart is akin to a photograph of the sky at the time of the birth of the person to whomthe chart belongs.

Remember there are other ways of drawing this chart followed in India as well as western

Astrology. We will deal with each of them at a later stage and the special properties of them.This course will be using the above chart format and the student is advised to become

familiar with the same.

From what we have learnt till now we may decode the chart as follows:

The Mesha rashi has planet Sun (Surya), Vrishabha has Budha (Mercury) and so on for the

other Rashi. Some Rashi are empty because they dont have any planets (Graha) in them.

We now know to see from the Horoscope (Chakra) which sign is tenanted by what planets.

Here we find that we have encountered a thing called the Lagna or Ascendant. We are goingto learn now what this means.

Well you see this horoscope is a geocentric view of the sky, or in other words this is what the

sky looked at the time of birth of this person from the centre (core) of the earth and at theEastern horizon the sign Kark (cancer) was climbing ( Ascending, rising). This is the starting

point of the zodiac (The Zodiac is called Bhaa chakra in Sanskrit) for the person whose

horoscope we are seeing.The Natural zodiac has starting point as Mesha (Aries), but different people will be born in

different signs as their Ascendant (Lagna pronounced Lug- na) and this sign will be the

starting point for the horoscope.

Houses (Bhaava):Just as Aries is the First sign for the natural zodiac (The world horoscope) so also the Lagna

(Ascendant) is the first sign for each and every horoscope.

In the example chart given above, we see Kark (Cancer) is rising (Ascending) because Lagnais written in it. This means that the first house for this horoscope is Kark. The next or second

house will be Leo (Simha), the third will be Virgo (Kanya) and so on. In all there will be

twelve houses in the horoscope corresponding to the twelve Rashis.Houses are called Bhaava in Sanskrit. This word requires a detailed explanation to

understand what it means and we will go into it soon.For now just keep in mind that Bhaava (Houses) show the different departments of life which

defines a persons life. In other words a person has to put on different acts in front of differentpeople. In front of his Father he is a Son and in front of his Son he is a father and so on.

These are what the Bahvas are all about.

Summing up the Graha (Planets) are the co actors, the rashi is the backdrop for a scene and

bhaava is the act and The Lagna is the person whose horoscope is being played out (actually

it is the sense of presence of that person, the I am feeling).In this lesson we have been introduced to the three basic concepts of Jyotish, The Rasi, the

Graha and the Bhaava. These form the bedrock of Jyotish knowledge and every learner

should get familiar and at ease with these.The details of these will be covered individually in later lessons.

BTW the Chart shown above is Shri Rams chart. Traditionally, while teaching Jyotish this is

the first chart used for illustration and learning.


5/6

We will now delve into other traditions of drawing a chart.But remember that it is better to use the South Indian format first and use it to learn the

basics of Jyotish, then switch over to the Diamond format (Ruled by Shukra).

The Northern parts of India draw the chart in a diamond shape format. The chart of Sri Rama

is shown below in Northern India format.

In the diagram given above, the compartment where the number four is written is always the

first house and the number four shows that the Rashi on Lagna is Kark (the fourth sign).

Then the houses are counted anti-clockwise and the Rashi number is written in order.

Thereafter the Grahas are entered as per the Rashi they occupied at the time of birth of the

Native.

The following image will make this clearer:


6/6

The difference of the two ways of drawing the chart is:

1) In the South Indian format, the Rashis are fixed, whereas in the North Indian format

the Houses (Bhaavas) are fixed.2) In the South Indian chart the counting of bhaavas and Rashis are clockwise whereas,

in the North Indian or the Shukra chakra the count is anti clockwise.

2a4399pkoai5kw9vy7or

Documents