We live on Earth. During daytime we see the Sun gradually crossing over the sky; and at nighttime, the Moon does so. The Earth is a 'Planet' of the Solar system - whereas Astronomically Sun is a 'Star' and Moon is a 'Satellite'. But in Astrological parlance, the two Luminaries (Sun and Moon), five other planets (Mars to Saturn), the two Lunar Nodes (Rahu & Ketu) have been classified together as 'Grahas' - which literally means the fast-moving large massive bodies hovering in space. As the nearest term available in the widely known language English is 'Planet', we habitually term the 'Grahas' as "Planets" - without making any distinction whether each of these is a star, planet, satellite, or node. Thus, it must not be construed that our ancient seers were not aware of the distinction; they were even very well aware of the fact that the SUN also moves round the center of the Galaxy (Milky Way), and it takes about 25, 777 years to make a complete round. Nothing in space can ever remain in a static condition.


There are innumerable galaxies in the Universe, and our Milky Way galaxy is just one of these. The center of our 'Milky Way' Galaxy is situated in sign Sagittarius at about 242* Longitude and about 6* South Latitude - at a distance of about 26, 000 Light years away (from Earth/ Sun). The Sun's orbit lies at about half the distance from the center of the Galaxy to its edge. The position of the center of the Galaxy falls in 'Moola' Nakshatra - from where the new stars are said to evolve, and start moving apart. As the galaxy is not situated on the same plane where we are stationed, we can observe it from one side only (from above); for this reason, what happens in the other part will always remain unexplored. … Thermodynamics postulates that the 'entropy' (or the measure of disorder) has been increasing; and Astronomy claims that the Universe is expanding. Well, is it? Although it appears to be so, most possibly it is not; what is actually happening might be just the opposite.

Let us imagine that we take a big spherical balloon and hold two diametrically opposite points on its periphery, then compress the two points towards inside vertically, and bring the two points together coinciding with the center of the balloon; thus we get two equal conjoined haves - of 3-dimensional figure of annular shape, having no internal diameter. When seen from one side, if any particle evolves from its center and moves apart up to the periphery of one half, then (and till then) it will appear to be moving apart, but on further continuation of its sojourn, instead of diverging, it will start converging; upon reaching the other side, it will proceed towards the same center. Although a bit overly imaginative concept, yet it appears to be a fairly reasonable model. … In our ancient sacred scriptures also, indications have been given along similar lines - after expanding for some time, there comes a time-period of equal duration for contraction for 'regeneration' (which is termed as 'pralaya' or dissolution - which is neither disintegration nor dissipation). … Thus it appears entirely possible that the Universe is not at all expanding, rather it is in a steady state; the things contained in it will appear to move apart for some time, and - although these will still continue their motion apparently in the 'same' direction, yet after some duration of time - these will in fact turn back, and proceed towards the very same point from where these had begun their sojourn.

The physical forms of materials are destructible or perishable, but the core 'elements' are not; the 'elements' undergo transformation only, and in the long run always return back to the same source from where these had originally evolved.

However, persons engaged in the pursuit of Astrology should not and must not be bogged down by the mirage of too much of Astronomy - which is a materialistic 'science' (while Astrology being termed as a half-science and half-art - which conforms to the precise definition of an 'applied science' or technology). The observable or roughly/ vaguely 'measurable' properties like distance, mass, gravitation, luminosity, electro-magnetic radiation, x-ray emanation, etc either in isolation or in any simple- or complex- combination (with various other reasonable or doubtful factors) do in no way help us to estimate the nature of effects of the planets; the significations of the planets are essentially 'esoteric' .

Regarding the newly discovered trans-Saturnine planets (Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto), it deserves to be mentioned here that not much of dependable information is available about the effects of these planets so far. It may be noted that it is neither essential nor even necessary to take these planets into account - as their so-called effects can be ascertained by considering the main 7 planets and 2 nodes. But as many practicing Astrologers habitually note the positions of these trans-Saturnine planets, we have kept the provisions for determining the positions of these planets (including the position of the recently discovered planet Chiron).

The positions of the Lunar nodes (Rahu and Ketu) are measured in two different ways: one is as per their 'mean' motion - which is uniform and always retrograde - while the other is their 'true' motion - which is not uniform, and can be retrograde, static, or even direct. At times, the positions as per these two systems may and can differ from each other by up to about 1*45' . Although we have kept the provision for finding the positions as per either of the methods as chosen, we wish to mention here that for astrological predictive purposes, the 'mean' positions offer more reliable results - while for astronomical purposes like finding the exact moments and durations of eclipses, etc the 'true' positions offer accurate results.

Another important thing is to note that as we are stationed on the Earth, we are concerned with the 'apparent' motions of the planets. At times when the non-luminous planets (Mars to Saturn) arrive at certain angular distances from the Sun, they become stationary for a brief duration, and then they appear to move in opposite direction that continues for a number of days; this is called "retrogression" of planets. Thereafter, they become stationary again, and after that resume their direct motion; the process goes on in a cyclic order. Not only the direction of motion, but also the rate of motion of the individual planets at a particular moment of time is important, and deserve to be noted - since these are also indicative of certain characteristic effects.

Time is the property of motion, and motion is the quality of the hovering bodies having some mass (however immense or insignificant those might be). Mass is the condensed form of Energy resulting from curvature of Space - while Energy is the released form of Mass resulting from contraction of curvature of Space. When a mass is moving through a region of the space, the two are influencing each other; the mass is trying to bend a part of the space around it by trying to create a curvature (but is only capable of causing ripples - which gradually subside), and in turn the space is trying to resist it by inducing great stress on the mass (which has to endure the resultant strain). Thus, owing to such mass-space interaction, some sort of 'effect' is generated. At the time of birth or formation, a person, creature, or a thing had been under a set of such effects - which has ever since then being slowly, steadily, and continuously being modified by the ever-changing transitory effects leading to gradual transformation that will go on till its existence reaches the respective ending moment.

According to our traditional belief, life is not considered to be an isolated existence between birth and the 'great escape' ; rather, it is considered to be a continuation between the past existence of the previous birth and the future existence of the next birth. The non-escapable law of 'Karma' holds us all in its firm grip. The horoscope is thus considered to be a 'balance-sheet' of the fruits of meritorious and otherwise deeds one has committed in his/ her past existence, and cumulative effect of those will determine what lies in the store of the native in the present existence. Then again, he/ she will continue doing some more deeds in the present existence - good, or bad, or probably both; thereby his/ her prospect of enjoying the 'results' would most possibly become further complicated! This is why it is being said that through such sacred subjects (like Astrology), we have been trying to comprehend the incomprehensible!

Now let us concentrate on the more practical aspects. The Moon moves round the Earth (and its orbit is nearly circular), and the planets from Mars to Saturn are eternally in motion in elliptical orbits around the Sun. From the Earth (our station of observation), they appear to move around the Earth. The Lunar Nodes (Rahu and Ketu) are not visible - as they have no mass; nevertheless, as they are intersection points of the apparent orbits of the Sun (of the Earth actually) and the Moon, they are capable of exerting tremendous influences.

The cycle of the 30 phases of the Moon (= 29. 5306 days) might have given rise to the concept of 'month' , and annual phenomena of re-appearance of the seasons (= 365. 25 days) might have given rise to the concept of the 'year' . As the Lunar year falls a bit short of 360 days (29. 5306 * 12 = about 354) and the Annual Solar return is a bit more than 360 days, probably the mean figure of 360 was taken from Luni-Solar Calendar, to be the measure of the zodiac; and its one-twelfth division (360 / 12 = 30) was taken to be the measure of a sign. Lunar movement through the fixed constellations (= 27. 3217 days) gave rise to the concept of 28 Nakshatras (including tiny tot Abhijit) - which was later being taken as 27 Nakshatras for the sake of ease and convenience of calculating, and the measure of a nakshatra was fixed as 13*20' (= 360* / 27) .

One thing appears quite queer that the 12 equal segments of the zodiac have been termed as 'Rashis' in Sanskrit; in English, these are called signs. It does not really matter what the term is used in a developing language like English - since they use the names for the purpose of identification only. But it is entirely different when it comes to Sanskrit. The name 'Rama' consists of two letters 'R(a)' and 'M(a)' with a monosyllable 'a' placed in-between. The brevity of Sanskrit is such that not only the letters used but also their relative placements are full of significations. The term 'Rashi' as such cannot really mean 'a segment of zodiac' ; what it actually means is that it is an assimilation of various constituent parts - which are reasonably termed as 'Amshas' (that means 'divisions' ). … As such, it will be well understandable to the interested readers that the 'Rashis' are in fact not mere astronomical segments only; a Rashi contains as many divisions of the corresponding divisional charts - like 2 Horas, 3 Drekkanas, 9 Navamshas, 10 Dashamamshas, etc. The divisional charts are in fact 'symbolic' ones, and they are of limited significations and usefulness; what is more important is the corresponding divisional positions of planets when it is in a 'Rashi' - regardless of whether the positions have reference to natal-, progressed-, or transit- charts.

Moon and His Marriages

Three supreme gods Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva disguised as monks, came to test Anasuya, the wife of Atri Rishi and demanded that she feed them milk from her breasts. The great Anasuya with her spirutal powers got to know the truth and and turned these three gods into babies and feed them as they desired. Immensely pleased and impressed with Anasuya, lords of the universe blessed her to have great children. Shiva's blessing caused the birth of Durvasas rishi, Vishnu's blessing resulted in the birth of Dattatreya, and Brahma's boon caused the Moon's birth. The Moon was then worshipped by all the celestials. He later married all the twenty seven daughters of Daksha and they were non other than twenty seven constellations or nakshatras. Out of his twenty seven wives Moon preferred only Rohini, and always remained with her. Other twenty-six sisters pleaded Moon to spend equal time with all of them. But Moon ignored them and with no option left these twenty-six sisters complained to their father, Daksha, who tried twice to reason with Moon, his son in law, but Moon ignored it as well. Daksha then lost his temper and cursed the Moon to suffer with consumption. Every day the Moon started to wane, losing his glow and no remedy could cure him. The gods also got alarmed at the possibility life on Earth will be affected without Moon, approached Daksha and asked him to modify his curse so that life continues on Earth. Daksha then modified his curse on condition that Moon has to spend one day with each of his wives and the consumption will effect him for fourteen days and in next fourteen days he will gain back his form. Thus, the Moon now waxes and wanes in cycle of twenty eight days and he visits each of his wife once a month, for one day. Moon had no children by his twenty-seven wives, but he have four sons by another wife, named Manohara. But most famous son of the Moon is the planet Mercury. There is some great story of moon and manohara written somewhere

Mercury's Birth

Mercury is the son of the Moon. Moon conquered the three worlds and performed the Rajasuya, the sacrifice which gives lordship. Many gods and goddesses served him; having achieved this glory he became arrogant. The Moon was the chief disciple of Jupiter, the guru of the celestials, and was also the favorite of Tara, Jupiter's wife, who was attracted to him by his character and beauty. Once when Jupiter was away Tara (manohara) and Moon eloped. Jupiter returned home, found his wife gone, soon discovered her whereabouts, and several times sent messages to the Moon requesting his wife's return. The Moon, however, repeatedly refused to comply with these requests, maintaining that Tara had accompanied him of her own accord and would leave only when she was satiated with him. These replies so infuriated Jupiter that he communicated them to his disciple Indra, the chief of gods who sent an ultimatum to the Moon. When Moon refused to yield, Indra began a war. Venus and the asuras (demonic celestials) took the side of Moon in this war, because of the ongoing enmity between Jupiter and Venus, while Lord Shiva, took the side of the devas. The war dragged on so long that the Great Rishis began to fear that the end of the world was near. Brahma asked Moon to return Tara . This the Moon did, but he returned her pregnant. When Jupiter learned of this he was furious, and asked her for abortion. Tara had to did that but the baby which was a boy survived and he was radiant like gold. Seeing the child's splendor both Jupiter and Moon hankered after him, and both claimed paternity, demanding that Tara declare the true father's name. Tara was too embarrassed to speak. Finally, when Brahma questioned her in private she admitted that the Moon was the father of that wonderful child, who was the planet Mercury.

I believe all know how Mars was born.... i was told this story when i started learning..... its currently airing on mahadev too....


Daksha, the king of entire earth once organized the greatest yagna and invited all gods, demigods, sages, and other famous personalities. He however did not invite Lord Shiva, his own son-in-law. When Sati, Lord Shiva's wife heard about this yagna she left to attend it inspite her husband's objections, but when she arrived there her father Daksha insulted Shiva. This was unbearable for Sati and she gave up her life. On hearing the events that had taken place at Daksha's yagna, Lord Shiva's wrath reached its boiling point and in rage he pulled a hair from his matted locks and threw it on the ground and it became a fiery being of unequal strength with many heads and eyes, and thousands arms and legs. His mare sight was enough to strike unparallel fear in strongest of hearts. Lord Shiva named him Virabhadra and commanded him to destroy Daksha and his yagna and anyone who tries to stop him. Virabhadra with Shiva's army of spirits and goblins reached the venue of the yagna and seeing him and his army all started to run in different directions to save themselves. Virabhadra destroyed Daksha's sacrifice, and then killed Daksha. Virabhadra returned to Shiva who was extremely pleased with him, and granted him a permanent place in the heavens as a planet and named him Angaraka (Mars), the fiercest of planets. As Lord Shiva directly produced Mars or Angaraka's, he is naturally referred as son of Lord Shiva just like his other son Karttikeya and it is said that those afflicted by Mars should worship Karttikeya.ury is the son of the Moon. Moon conquered the three worlds and performed the Rajasuya, the sacrifice which gives lordship. Many gods and goddesses served him; having achieved this glory he became arrogant. The Moon was the chief disciple of Jupiter, the guru of the celestials, and was also the favorite of Tara, Jupiter's wife, who was attracted to him by his character and beauty. Once when Jupiter was away Tara (manohara) and Moon eloped. Jupiter returned home, found his wife gone, soon discovered her whereabouts, and several times sent messages to the Moon requesting his wife's return. The Moon, however, repeatedly refused to comply with these requests, maintaining that Tara had accompanied him of her own accord and would leave only when she was satiated with him. These replies so infuriated Jupiter that he communicated them to his disciple Indra, the chief of gods who sent an ultimatum to the Moon. When Moon refused to yield, Indra began a war. Venus and the asuras (demonic celestials) took the side of Moon in this war, because of the ongoing enmity between Jupiter and Venus, while Lord Shiva, took the side of the devas. The war dragged on so long that the Great Rishis began to fear that the end of the world was near. Brahma asked Moon to return Tara . This the Moon did, but he returned her pregnant. When Jupiter learned of this he was furious, and asked her for abortion. Tara had to did that but the baby which was a boy survived and he was radiant like gold. Seeing the child's splendor both Jupiter and Moon hankered after him, and both claimed paternity, demanding that Tara declare the true father's name. Tara was too embarrassed to speak. Finally, when Brahma questioned her in private she admitted that the Moon was the father of that wonderful child, who was the planet Mercury.

Dasa systems work very precisely. No astrological prediction is meaningful unless the same is synchronized with such a dasa system.

The unique feature of Indian System of astrological prediction is its quality of precision in revealing the periodic ups and downs in the course of an individuals life. The natal chart shows the potential. The order of events is described under Dasa and Mahadasa system. It is only on the basis of this system that the astrologer can indicate whether the inherent potential of any planet can actually fructify during the course of anyone’s life.


The ancient seers have indicated various planetary orders which bring different planets in prominence at different periods during the course of ones life. But they have not given the clues or the rationale for this order. They have assigned the course of these planets to be completed within certain number of years and within this total they have given different years of ruler ship to planets all of which are not equal. The reason of the total number of years of the cyclic duration, the sequence of planetary rulerships as well as the periods of their rulership is still a well guarded secret which is not known. Nonetheless, these Dasa systems work remarkably precisely and no astrological predictions is meaningful unless the same is synchronised with such a system.

Parashar has mentioned ten of these system as very important. They are known as Vimsottari, Ashtottari, Sodashottari, Dwasashottari, Panchottari, Shatshama, Chaturshityabda, Dwisaptatisama, Khastyabda and Sattrisadvatsara. Besides these, he also noted that there were several astrologers who also take into consideration Kala Dasa, Chakra Dasa and Kala Chakra Dasa. Parashara was also aware of several other systems of these planetary periodicity but he did not consider them very reliable……

The applicability of various Dasa systems in any specific individual depends upon time, place and the special planetary combinations present in the horoscope. The details of these factors are not generally available though some astrologers are found to apply a few of these Dasa Systems according to their individual prediction. Vimsottari Dasa, in spite of such a large number of Dasa Systems existing in astrological treatises, at present remains the most popular and universally acceptable system which has been giving very precise results.

The beginning of any planetary rulership in the case of an individual depends upon the Moons occupancy in a nakshatra, while the planetary rulership over different nakshatras begins with Sun as the ruler of Krittika and follows the same sequence throughout the nakshatra chain.

Vimsottari Dasa is based on the position of Moon at the time of birth in a specific nakshatra. The period of rulership of any planet at the time of birth depends upon the rulership of the planet on the nakshatra. The sequence of rulership of these planets follows a particular order, the rationale of which is still not known. This order is as follows: Sun, Moon, Mars, Rahu, Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury, Ketu and Venus. The periodic rulership of the planets in any ones life, under this Dasa System also follows the same sequence. It implies that the beginning of any planetary rulership at the time of birth of an individual may be any one of these planets but once this is determined, the following periods of rulership must adhere to this sequence. That is, if the initial rulership period starts, say, with Saturn, then the next Dasa Period would be that of Mercury followed by Ketu and so on; if the initial rulership begins with say, Mars, then the following Dasa period would be that of Rahu, followed by Jupiter and so on.
The planetary sequence is the same in the case of planets rulership over different nakshatras. At birth under the Krittika nakshatra, that is, if the birth of the individual occurred when Moon was occupying Krittika nakshatra at the time of birth, the ruling planetary period would be that of Sun. Rohini follows Krittika, and any birth in Rohini nakshatra would have Moon as the ruling planet, and at Mrigashirsa that of Mars. The entire 27 nakshatras are divided in three rounds of planetary rulership each of these having the same sequence of planetary rulerships as indicated above. So the sequence of planetary rulership in the case of an individuals life as well as in the case of nakshatra rulership is the same: the beginning of any planetary rulership in the case of an individual depends upon the Moons occupancy in a nakshatra, while the planetary rulership over different nakshatras begins with Sun as the ruler of Krittika and follows the same sequence throughout the nakshatra chain.
The total planetary rulership under Vimsottari Dasa amounts to 120 year while in Ashtottari it is equal to only 108 years which shows that the total duration is not uniform for every dasa system.

The 120 years of total Vimsottari Dasa is allocated to different planets as follows : Sun 6 years; Moon 10 years; Mars 7 year; Rahu 18 years; Jupiter 16 years, Saturn 19 years; Mercury 17 years; Ketu 7 years; and Venus 20 years. These years of planetary rulerships according to some valid reason through the same is not know to us.

An important point to note is the way of calculating the initial balance of a planet at birth. It has been indicated above that the rulership of any planet starts according to Moons placement in nakshatra. Each nakshatra consists of 13° 20 of a sign of the zodiac. Aries starts with Ashwini nakshatra. It can, on the basis of information given above, be found out that this nakshtra is ruled by Ketu. It implies that a person born at the 0° of Aries which tantamount to 0° of Ashwini, and this portion of the sign of the zodiac is ruled by Ketu, will have the whole 7 years of Ketu at birth as balance to enjoy. The entire area of 0° 0 of Aries to 13° 20 of it which is under Ashwini is ruled by Ketu. But the individual may not be born at the very beginning of the asterism. The area already traversed and the remaining area yet to be covered by the Moon at birth will have to be taken into account for the determination of the period of Ketu yet to be enjoyed by the individual born. Assuming the individual was born when Moon was at 6° 40 of Aries that is, half-way through Ashwini, the Ketu balance at birth would be only 3 years and 6 months. Depending upon the distance yet to be covered by Moon in the asterism, the period has to be proportionately changed. Let us take another example. Assume that the Moon has gone further and is presently traversing Bharani which extends from 13° 20 of Aries to 26° 40 of the same sign. If there is another birth when Moon was at 16° 40 of this zodiac, then Venus would be the ruling planet and the distance between 13° 20 to 26 40 will have to be divided over 20 years which is the ruling period of Venus as against 7 years of Ketu. Moon at this new birth time has traversed only one fourth of the total distance, so only one fourth of its total rulership period has elapsed. This new born will have 15 years of Venus still to undergo after his or her birth.

Bepin Behari