Vedic Astrology Series: Beginner’s Guide Part 1

It has been 5 years since I started the journey of learning Vedic astrology also called as Jyotish Vidya or Jyotir Vidya. Intially I studied on my own. Read few books made notes and all. Then slowly it became complex for me to understand so luckily I got the blessings of couple of Gurus- Hemant Kathuria ( my senior from IIT who has been practicing it for a very long time ) and another marvellous guru Freedom Cole who has done his study in Achyutananda (Disciple of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu) Prampara of Orissa.

Since last year (2022) I wanted to record my learning and share the knowledge and also to make it simple for future learner. As every learner has different way of learning and every teacher has different way of teaching so I hope the way I am presenting here might be useful for some if not for all.

Lets start the reading with invoking few gods to help us in learning it.

Om Ganeshaya Namah | Om Suryaya Namah | Hare Rama Krishna

What is Vedic Astrology ?

The core philosophy of Vedic astrology is rooted in the Vedas and it is heavily influenced by the Sankhya Philosophy (One of the six Indian Philosophical system). The psychological and physiological aspect of philosophy is ingrained in the Sankhya philosophy. Nearly all the puranas and the Tantric text start with the creation theory which is nothing but Sankhya Philosophy. Though it is the first chapter of all text it is the most difficult to comprehend however without knowing it you can not make predictions with solid foundations which has logical reasons behind it. We will leave the topic of Sankhya philosophy for some other day and some other article but I will certainly touch upon it in future.

What are the different styles of Vedic Astrology in India ?

Primarily there are 5 styles but some recent styles have also emerged like the KP Astrology. However, all these are heavily influenced by Vedic Astrology.

1. Nadi Astrology
2. Parashari Jyotish
3. Jamini Jyotish
4. Tantric Jytoish
5. Tajika Jyotish

Though I have listed the different styles but I am not going to discuss their core philosophies as I am not a master in all the styles. However, Nadi astrology fascinates me but never tried it. I will keep my discussion around Parashari Jyotish. The idea of Parashari Jyotish is contained in the Magnus Opus : “Brihat Prashar Hora Shastra (BPHS)” . Its the bible of Vedic Astrology.

There are other books which are commentary or heavily inspired by BPHS : Saravalli, Jataka-Parijataka, Phaldipika, Prashna Marga, Chamatkar Chintamani etc.

What is Karma and its type?

The word Karma literally means our action that we have done in this and previous. The Karmas are responsible for the fate that we suffer (good or bad) in our present life. The unfolding of Karmas leads to different experiences in our life.

As an astrologer it is our duty to understand the Karmas from the birth chart of the native. But it is not always possible to decipher all the karmas from the chart. There are some karmas which could not be deciphered from the chart even by an expert astrologer and the fruits of such karmas we have to bear.

For better understanding the Karmas can be categorized as

1. Sanchit Karma : Karmas of previous births. Very difficult to know all the Sanchita Karmas of yours or others from the chart. However, part of it can be known by looking at chart and it is called as
2. Prarabdha Karma: The part of Sanchita Karma which has ripened and is ready to give result in this lifetime. This ripened part is called as Fate or Destiny. You might find yourself to be very good at workplace but find it difficult to manage your home and family because of this karma of previous birth getting ripened in this life.
3. Kriyamana Karma : This is the Karma you do in present birth using your free will. You doing remedy to overcome your Sanchita karma is Kriyamana Karma.
4. Agama Karma : These are the karmas that you have planned to do in the future and so again represents your free will

Though I have presented it as 4 different types of Karmas. But at philosophical level they are same because what is Kriyaman of this birth is Sanchita of next and so on.

You can get an idea about the Prarabdha, Kryamana and Agama Karma from your birth chart.

If you want to transform your life than quantity and quality of effort invested (called as Upaya in jyotish like wearing a stone or chanting mantra or feeding others) should be more than the quantity and quality of effort that created it . The former is free will(Kriyamana and Agama) while latter is fate (Sanchit Karma and Prarabdha karma). So, transformation can occur only if Kriyamana and Agama Karma neutrilizes Sanchit Karma and Prarabdha karma.

Further the Prarabdha Karma can act with different intensity in this life.

1. Dridha Karma (fixed karma): They give fixed result. And everybody has to experience it however hard they try to avoid it. In the chart where multiple factors are showing that something will happen than you wont be able to avoid it and that good or bad will happen to you. These are easiest to predict as many factors will give indication towards it.
2. Dridha-Adridha Karma(fixed & non-fixed) : These are the karmas which can be overcome by free will. However, the amount of this karma that you have overcome will depend on your effort. So if you put in lot of effort to avoid something bad indicated in chart by mantras or stone then you will only experience that bad in mild form but you will experience it. You can overcome it entirely but that will require a tremendous amount of effort.
3. Adridha Karma (non fixed): Wherever no confluence exist this is in the play. This Karma is easily negated by little effort.

I hope you enjoyed reading it. In the next article we will delve deeper into the ideas of Grahas (Planets).