Vedic astrology: the bhava chalit chart and spiritual life

 Hari Aum.

In Vedic astrology, there is debate about what constitutes a 'house' in the chart. There are various viewpoints. Some say that if the ascendant falls in a sign, then the entire sign equates to the first house, and other houses are allocated to the following signs. E.g. if the lagna is 29 degrees Sagittarius, then the whole of Sagittarius is the first house, the whole of Capricorn is the second house and so on.

There are other popular approaches. One of these is to say that the degrees of the ascendant is the mid-point of the first house. And, as a house is 30 degrees, this means that fifteen degrees either side of this mid-point will constitute the first house.

So, with this method, if the lagna is 29 degrees of Sagittarius, then the beginning of the first house will be (29-15=) 14 degrees of Sagittarius. And the end of the first house will be (29 + 15)= 14 degrees of Capricorn.

Other people hold that the degrees of the lagna constitute the starting degrees of the first house. So if lagna is 29 degrees Sagittarius, the first house begins here and continues upto and including 28 degrees of Capricorn. The second house would then begin from 29 degrees of Capricorn and so on.

To know where a house begins and ends is important as the houses represent the different domains of life. 

I follow the widely-used method which takes the lagna as the mid-point of the house. 

Applying this method to the above example, if Moon is present at 28 degrees Sagittarius, it will be in the 1st house. If it is present at 2 degrees Sagittarius, it will be in the 12th house.

The moon aspects the seventh sign from where it is located. Therefore it will aspect Gemini. This will be the case regardless of whether it is at 2 or 28 degrees or anywhere else in Sagittarius.

If Moon is at 2 degrees of Sagittarius in the above example, it is in the sign of lagna (29 degrees Sagittarius). But it is in the 12th house (as it is more than 15 degrees away from the lagna/mid-point of the first house). How should this be interpreted? Well Moon in the 12th will give an interest in meditation/moksha. It is the 8th lord in the 12th which is good (dushtana lord in dushtana house). However, the style of thinking will strongly influenced by Sagittarius. 

This chart which looks at the houses using the lagna as the mid-point is known as the bhava chalit chart. It is an important chart which helps us to correctly understand the placements of planets.

Much of the knowledge of the ancient rishis who gave the knowledge of jyotish to humanity has been lost and we struggle to fully understand and interpret the rules. As we develop our intuition and practice this subject, we gain a greater understanding of the interpretation of the chart. Things are not set in stone in Vedic astrology; this is an area which many people are studying and new knowledge emerges from time-to-time.

On that note, I would like to give my chart as an example. In a previous post (spiritual path from the birth chart) in October 2017, I had discussed my chart as an example to illustrate some of the key points about that topic. 

Recently, some confusion arose regarding my lagna. My lagna was at the very end of Aries and it would change to Taurus if my birth time was increased by a mere 4 minutes. My relatives also informed me that they used a method to determine my birth time involving some 'averages' -- this meant the time when I would have fully emerged into the world was later than the documented birth time. There was therefore the strong possibility that I was a Taurus lagna.

My chart is a good example to illustrate the bhava chalit chart. I have four planets in Scorpio-- Sun, Mercury, Jupiter and Venus. With lagna at the end of Aries, these were in the 8th sign but in the 7th house (7th house in the bhava chalit chart). With lagna in early Taurus, these four are in the 7th sign and the 7th house. In both cases, the sign of Scorpio would strongly influence the personality. There would be an interest in the occult and mysticism as this is associated with Scorpio. However, with Aries lagna, these four planets do not aspect the 1st house from the 8th sign; they aspect the 2nd house. With Taurus lagna, these four aspect the 1st house.

My moon sign remains Sagittarius regardless of the lagna being Aries or Taurus. It also remains in the 9th house in the bhava chalit chart with Taurus lagna. So there is no major change. However, with Taurus lagna, it is in the 8th sign (though the 9th house in the bhava chalit chart). This will bring some 8th house energy to the signification of the Moon i.e. mind, mother, emotions etc. This is true in my life.

Despite the planets (except the nodes) remaining in the same signs and houses (in the bhava chalit chart) for Aries and Taurus lagna, there is an important difference. The benefic/malefic planets for these two charts are different and will give different results in their dashas. For Aries lagna, Jupiter, Sun and Mars are the benefics. For Taurus lagna, Saturn, Mercury and Venus are the benefics. This has huge implications for what to expect in the dashas.

The nakshatra of the Moon also influences the personality aside from lagna and moon sign. There are three nakshatras in every rashi/zodiac sign. These are ruled by different planets. The three nakshatras of Sagittarius rashi are Jyeshta, Purvashada and Mula which are respectively ruled by Mercury, Venus and Ketu. Three people with the Sagittarius moon sign whose moons are present in these different nakshatras will have variations in their mental make-up based on these additional influences. 

So determining the personality of a person takes into account various factors including the lagna, the moon sign, the nakshatras of the lagna and moon sign, the planets aspecting/influencing the lagna/moon sign and the location of the ruler of the lagna and moon sign. That is a lot of factors to consider and therefore it is no easy task sometimes to tell apart two lagnas, particularly when the lagna is at the very end of a sign and the bhava chalit charts are very similar!

Certain events have taken place in my family life in the past two years however which strongly fit with a Taurus lagna (they would be very unlikely with an Aries lagna). Apart from that, I have been strongly drawn to bhakti yoga and my hobbies are music and dancing which fit better with Taurus lagna. (I had previously thought these were due to my Moon being in Purvashada nakshatra ruled by Venus). I am not at all drawn to worship Subramanya (the diety associated with Aries) but I have a very strong interest in worshipping Durga (Venus, the ruler of Taurus, is in Scorpio). Virgo, the sign ruled by Mercury (representing Vishnu or Narayana) becomes the fifth house (representing mantra and worship) for Taurus lagna (again this fits better than Leo for Aries lagna).

Many other features of my personality and life events fit better with a Taurus lagna. I did not want to self-diagnose my own lagna (just like doctors are discouraged from diagnosing and treating themselves and their loved ones as it is difficult to be objective which is needed for accuracy). 

I therefore consulted an astrologer I respect and have known for a long time on this issue. Taking into account the various elements of my chart and specific recent life events (and the method by which my birth time was documented), he concluded that it it highly likely that my lagna is Taurus and that the actual birth time is about six minutes after the documented time (it is very common for rectified birth times to be +/- 10 minutes either side of the documented time). This fits with the key events in my life and also my experience of good/bad periods in life. It also fits far better with the results expected from planetary transits.

So both my previous chart and the current one have the same planets in the same signs, and the houses are almost the same. But the lagna and aspects are different. Rahu sits in Gemini while Ketu, Moon and Mars are in Sagittarius. Venus, Jupiter, Mercury and Sun are in Scorpio. Saturn is in Libra. The 7th house of partnerships and marriage plays an important role in my life. 

Four planets in a sign give sannyasa yoga (the yoga of renunciation) but with Venus as lagna lord in the 7th house, there will be a strong interest in marriage. This is the case for me. I toyed with the idea of complete renunciation in my early 20s. I even ended a close relationship thinking I would pursue the path of sannyas but it did not happen. After marriage though, I was drawn to the path of 'karma sannyasa' (living a life of a householder based on the concept of sannyasa) and took an initiation into this from the Satyananda tradition (he was a disciple of Sivananda). So while the approach of sannyasa has been an important to me, so are marriage and connections with people. I feel I need both to grow spiritually. 

Sannyasa in my life is not currently about the external life of a sannyasi (the orchre robe and living in an ashram) but rather about trying to live according to the broad principles of sannyasa (cultivating the spirit of karma yoga, egolessness, God remembrance and so on). As Sivananda says, it is the mind which primarily needs to be dyed orange while robes are less significant. Krishna also describes similar concepts of sannyasa in the Gita (the emphasis is on the mind/internal intent and thinking process, not merely on the body/external actions. Of course external sannyasa has an important role in society but it needs to be backed up by true internal sannyasa to be effective).

I also greatly enjoy sankirtan, singing spiritual songs both by myself and especially in a group with others. This, according to Sivananda, is one of the most effective spiritual paths. I am at my happiest when in a room full of people engaging in kirtan. In truth, this creates spiritual feelings in me like nothing else does. The joy of kirtan supersedes even that of japa in my life (which is why I plan to do more). This makes complete sense with the Taurus lagna (ruled by Venus and which has an affinity for music and singing) and the planets in the 7th house of Scorpio (representing the company of people). With Taurus lagna, I can see why I am the way I am. Things make much more sense that they did with Aries lagna. 

My atma karaka is still Mars regardless of the lagna. With both lagnas, Mars in located in Libra in navamsha and also in vimsamsa (the chart of spirituality). Mercury is the ruler of Virgo, the 12th sign from Libra. There is no planet in Virgo in Vimsamsa, but Mercury and Sun aspect Virgo from Pisces. This fits with worship of Narayana/Vishnu (represented by Mercury, lord of 12th from Atma karaka). 

Navamsa lagna is Capricorn with Saturn in the 12th house of Sagittarius. Jupiter, 12th lord, in the 7th house Cancer in exaltation. Moon and Venus are in the 9th house. These placements would fit well with a person with my interest in spiritual life. 

Vimsamsa lagna is Sagittarius with Jupiter in lagna, Moon in Cancer in the 8th, and Saturn in Leo in the 9th. Rahu and Ketu jointly occupy the fifth house Aries. As mentioned above, Mars is in Libra, while Mercury and Sun occupy Pisces. (Except for the nodes, these planets are all in the same signs in both Aries and Taurus lagna in the main chart, but vimsamsa lagna is Sagittarius when the main chart has Taurus lagna). These placements fit with worshipper of Guru (Jupiter), Durga (Rahu) and Narayana (Saturn) in trines.

There are many ways of calculating Vimsamsa and this is also a topic of debate amongst astrologers. The rashi chart is generally the one that most people agree on and the key factors of spiritual life should be seen here in my view (this is after all the main chart that is the basis of all the others).

I hope this article has highlighted the nuances of Vedic astrology, the multiple factors to consider when interpreting a chart and the challenges that one can sometimes face in certain situations such as when the lagna changes within a few minutes of the birth time.

I am still learning this wonderful subject and I see the recognition of myself as a Taurus lagna as a further huge green light to continue the practice of japa, kirtan and other bhakti yoga practices, and also continue the worship of Hari and Durga. 

Om Namo Narayanaya. May God bless us all. 

Hari Aum Tat Sat.