Transits, Cycles and Eras of Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

In this article I analyze the transits, cycles and eras of the founder of the Hare Krishna movement, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. I previously overviewed his birth chart. The vimshottari dasha cycles and eras referred to herein are calculated with the nakshatra year, which is 359.017 modern days.

Prabhupada was born into the Mars era. This highlights the importance of the houses owned by Mars, in this case the fourth and eleventh. The fourth house is the house of bhakti and self-realization. The eleventh house is the house of social groups. Srila Prabhupada had enormous and enduring social impact by creating a social institution to facilitate the path of self-realization through Krishna Bhakti.

In Prabhupada’s case being that there are four planets in Mars’ trikona (Aries) in the navamsha, I have to note that Prabhupada’s birth in the Mars era highlights the destiny foretold by this configuration: that he would author copious amounts of very serious literature on the deepest aspects of spirituality and religion.

Scottish Church College

Prabhupada received a very good education, attending Scottish Church College in Kolkata where he was a member of both the English Society and the Sanskrit society. His education was good because it occurred entirely within his Rahu era. Notice that Rahu in Prabhupada’s chart is in the house of fundamental knowledge (the second house). Prabhupada’s education gave him the foundation on which he would later build his life’s mission: translating Sanskrit culture and philosophy for the English speaking world.

He was educated by foreigners, the British. Rahu represents foreigners.

Most importantly, note that Prabhupada’s Rahu has a 100% perfect aspect from Jupiter, the planet of wisdom. Therefore during Rahu’s era Prabhupada received a good education which would later allow him to use his second house, Jupiter-guided Rahu to speak spiritual mysteries for global enlightenment.

One sure sign that Prabhupada was educated under Rahu is that in the end he rebelled and refused to accept his diploma! As a devout follower of Gandhi at the time, he protested British control of India by refusing to accept their diploma.

w/ Mother, Father, Wife and Children

Prabhupada’s father wanted him to marry and arranged his wedding to Radharani Datta in 1918, exactly at the beginning of his Jupiter era.

During Jupiter’s era Prabhupada had children (Jupiter is the planet of children). His first child was born in 1921. This was the Saturn cycle of the Jupiter era, while both Saturn and Jupiter were conjoined in ninth house transit over Venus, the owner of the fifth house. Thus, Prabhupada’s first child was born when both the era planet and the cycle planet were activating a fortunate occurrence pertaining to children.

Prabhupada's Guru

It is well known that Saturn/Jupiter combinations pertain strongly to spiritual leadership. Thus, still during Saturn’s cycle of Jupiter’s era (1922), Prabhupada met his guru, Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur. This happened when Saturn and Jupiter were both in the house of the guru, the ninth house, transiting the lord of the ninth house. Furthermore, they were in the company of Rahu – the planet of significant, radical changes in direction. Finding Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur was undoubtedly a radically important milestone in Prabhupada’s life, radically changing his direction from Gandhi-like social concerns towards pure spirituality.

Prabhupada was born with Jupiter and Ketu exactly conjunct, in the house of occult spiritual perception. During the Keu cycle of Jupiter’s era Srila Prabhupada had the profoundly spiritual experience of visiting the Sri Vrindavana (Krishna’s home) for the very first time. He would later make this his own home.

On November 21, 1932 Prabhupada received formal initiation from Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur, who modified his birth name (Abhay Charan) to Charanaravinda. This happened when Prabhupada was in the Saturn subcycle of Rahu’s cycle of Jupiter’s era. As I mentioned earlier, it is well known that Jupiter/Saturn combinations are relevant to gurus and spiritual leaders.

On this day Saturn, lord of the Subcycle and of Prabhupada’s first house was conjunct with Prabhupada’s ascendant – signaling very significant changes. The ascendant is the point of birth. An initiation is like a “new birth.” The transit of Saturn over the point of birth depicts this well. Rahu, lord of the cycle, was exactly trine to Prabhupada’s birth Saturn. Thus Prabhupada’s ascendant and his ascendant lord were both in a radical milestone of transformation during a period where the era and cycle planets were very spiritual and guru oriented.

Prabhupada had occasional but very deep, affectionate and confidential association with his guru for the remainder of his Jupiter era, but during the first cycle of his Saturn era, in 1936, his guru departed from the mortal world, just weeks after requesting Prabhupada to explain the message he was teaching to people who speak English. Prabhupada lost his guru when the nodes (Rahu and Ketu) were exactly trine to themselves in his chart, at the same time as Saturn was exactly trine to its own natal position, and Mars was exactly trine to its natal position. Thus all the naturally malefic planets were activated and caused a profoundly painful event.

Saturn is a very strong planet in Prabhupada’s chart. It is the lord of the house of self exalted in the house of career. During Saturn’s era Prabhupada would become known as a competent leader in his own right, no longer one among many followers.

Prabhupada was recognized for his devotional scholarship by the other disciples of his guru when they gave him the title “Bhaktivedanta” in 1939. This was in the Mercury cycle of his Saturn era. Mercury’s condition in Prabhupada’s ninth house is the cause of his approach to religiosity being one of “heartfelt intellectual scholarship” – a close translation of the term “Bhaktivedanta.”

Prabhupada began publishing his own magazine, Back to Godhead, in February of 1944. This was the Mercury subcycle of the Venus cycle of his Saturn era. Mercury of course is verbose and a writer by nature. Mercury combines with Venus in Prabhupada’s house of fortune and religion – making him a religiously creative person (Venus and Mercury combinations inspire artistic expression). In February this creativity was at a zenith point, because the two planets in Prabhupada’s house of creativity (fifth house) were being activated (Mars conjoined natal Mars, and Saturn conjoined the natal Moon). Also, Jupiter, the lord of the house of written communication was exalted at the time and was influencing very important houses for the publication of written & creative works (aspecting the third and eleventh houses).

During the remainder of his Saturn era Prabhupada attempted to start a movement of philosophically informed Krishna devotees, which he called “The League of Devotees.” Prabhupada’s Saturn is exalted in a quadrant house (shasha-yoga) which inspires one to form and lead groups.

In 1950 Prabhupada took up the first stage of renunciation, vanaprastha ashram – a precursor to the complete renunciation of the sanyassa ashram. Thus occurred in the final cycle of his Saturn era, the cycle of Rahu. We describe Prabhupada’s second house Rahu as a factor causing upheaval and dissatisfaction in family life on religious grounds (due to Jupiter’s extreme influence on Rahu). So during Rahu’s cycle of Saturn’s era Prabhupada commenced his renunciation of family life.

In 1953, exactly at the beginning of Mercury’s era, Prabhupada initiated his first disciple, Acarya dasa. Mercury is the exalted lord of the house of guru (ninth house). Thus the first thing Mercury did for Prabhupada was to officially make him a guru. At this time he also opened an actual center for the League of Devotees, in Jhansi.

Prabhupada's Room in Vrindavana

In September of 1956 Prabhupada moved to Sri Vrindavana – seeking to deeply intensify his understanding of and love for Krishna and then make use of nearby metropolitan New Delhi to share his realizations with the world by publishing his English magazine, Back to Godhead. This was exactly at the commencement of the Venus cycle of his Mercury era. A quick look at Prabhupada’s birth chart will remind you that these are the two planets forming extremely potent raja-yogas (power combinations) on the house of religion. During their era they brought Prabhupada to Vrindavana to fill him with the spiritual power that he would later draw from to create a successful worldwide movement of intelligent devotion to Krishna.

On September 17 of 1959 Prabhupada took up the fourth ashram, sanyassa: complete renunciation. It was the Sun’s cycle of Mercury’s era, on a day when Mercury was completely “combust” due to being entirely conjunct the blazing, fiery Sun. The Sun is the inner soul. When the Sun combusts a planet, that planet devotees its energy to the inner soul only, removing its energy from the normal material plane. Prabhupada symbolically devoted himself entirely to the life of his inner soul in the era of Mercury/Sun, when Mercury (lord of his house of religion) was entirely combust by the Sun – thus creating the destiny for the day Prabhupada would formally entirely dedicate himself to spiritual pursuit.

Photo taken after his sanyass initiation.

During his sanyassa initiation he obtained the name Bhaktivedanta Swami.

Sanyassa a type of death, the death of material life. Thus it is fitting that a very successful sanyassi, Prabhupada, accepted this lifestyle when his lord of fortune was swallowed by the lord of the house of death.

Prabhupada lived as a beggar, going from door to door to beg wheat, rice and beans as is customary for sanyassi. But Prabhupada also begged for paper and pens, on which he continuously wrote in English. He turned these writings into his first published book in the autumn of 1960, entitled “Easy Journey to Other Planets.” This was during the Moon cycle of his Mercury era, when Jupiter (lord of his house of writing) was exactly trine to Prahupada’s natal Jupiter.

Under those astrological settings he began an extremely significant literary undertaking: translating and commenting on the most revered of all Krishnaite scripture, the Bhagavata Purana. In two years, by 1962 he published the first section of this scripture in three hardbound volumes and began traveling to distribute them. These were completed in the Rahu cycle of Mercury’s era. Of course Mercury supports literature and written communication by nature. In Prabhupada’s chart, obviously, Mercury supports religious literature and communication because he is the lord of the ninth house exalted in the ninth house. Rahu’s cycle is more important and interesting here, at least to me. Rahu is the planet in Prabhupada’s chart which indicates that he was destined to speak revolutionary words of spiritual guidance that would change the world. It was when Mercury combined with Rahu that Prabhupada produced what could be his most important literary words to that effect.

The Boat Prabhupada Took

On August 13, 1965, Prabhupada set out on a steamship freighter to America. It was the Saturn subcycle of the Jupiter cycle of his Mercury era. The transits were all extremely powerfully aligned on that day.

Mercury (lord of the era) was exactly conjunct the two planets which destined Srila Prabhupada to become great spiritual leader (Jupiter and Ketu), and thus exactly aspects the planet who destines Prabhupada to speak words that will change the world (Rahu). The Moon was also exactly conjoined Rahu on that day.

Jupiter (lord of the cycle) was exactly trine to Prabhupada’s Rahu, and trine to Prabhupada’s Mars, which means that Mars was also trine to Prabhupada’s Rahu. This is what Western astrology identifies as a grand trine alignment. Actually, it is a rarer form of the grand trine, a kite alignment, because of the position of Mercury directly opposite from the apex point (Prabhupada’s Rahu and the transiting Moon). This is an enormous indication that Prabhupada was about to start a huge religious revolution in the world, largely focused on his spoken words (Rahu) and even moreso on the focus of the kite formation: his written words (Mercury).

Even the lord of the subcycle (Saturn) was in an important configuration at the time, being exactly trine to Prabhupada’s natal Saturn.

Prabhupada began having significant health issues a few days into the trip, as the Sun (planet of the heart and of health) transited into his eighth house. He had heart attacks onboard the steamship when the Sun directly transited his conjoined Jupiter and Ketu in that house.

On the day the Sun left his eighth house, Prabhupada’s ship landed at commonwealth pier in Boston.

At 26 2nd Ave

Within a year he managed to set up a storefront to use as a “temple” / “ashram” at 26 Second Avenue in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Many young people were attracted and in July of 1966 Prabhupada founded his International Society for Krishna Consciousness (“ISKCON”). This occurred during the Jupiter cycle of his Mercury period.

In my estimation, ISKCON went through two phases while Prabhupada remained alive on the planet. The first was a very intimate phase. The second was a very huge, opulent, expansive phase. This first phase correlates to the ending portion of Prabhupada’s Mercury era. The second phase correlates to the next era in Prabhupada’s life: Ketu.

Recall that Mercury’s era began with Prabhupada founding the League of Devotees and initiating his first disciple. It ended with him forming ISKCON and beginning to open small, intimate centers of devotion in America. The entire period has a very renunciative feeling to it, and a very “Vrindavana” mood. This renunciation is largely due to Prabhupada’s Mercury owning his sixth house (bringing the challenges and rigors of renunciation). The intimate Vrindavana mood is largely due to his Mercury being with the planet of loving emotions in the house of religion.

Prabhupada’s Ketu period began in December of 1969. Ketu is reclusive and withdrawn. During the Mercury era, Srila Prabhupada was amply available personally to anyone and everyone in his centers. During Ketu’s era Prabhupada became more and more inaccessible, working passionately on his books while his main followers carried on most of the practical business of ISKCON. The first major event to happen in Prabhupada’s Ketu era was the formation of a Governing Body Commission (“GBC”), transferring practical authority from himself to his followers. He continued forming branches and departments within ISKCON to facilitate its expansion and operation without his direct personal involvement.

Leader of a Worldwide Movement

It is the combination of Ketu with Jupiter which destines Prabhupada to become an extremely powerful guru, and that is exactly what happened during Ketu’s era. Prabhupada because the spiritual master of an enormous movement opening over 108 temples and at least a quarter of a million avowed followers.

Frankly, his main activity during his Ketu period occurred in private: sitting alone at his dictaphone writing book after book after book. He apparently was the world famous guru of an international religious corporation, but factually the main focus of his life during Ketu’s era was privately diving deeper and deeper into the hidden spiritual realities of Krishna consciousness, and expressing those things into his dictaphone to be shared with the English speaking world.

Prabhupada gave up his mortal body on November 14, 1977, as the first major event to occur after his Ketu cycle ended and Venus cycle began. Saturn, the lord of the physical body (first house) was on this day exactly conjoined to the cusp of the eighth house. The Moon was in the twelfth house. The Moon represents Sri Krishna. The twelfth house represents the afterlife. Thus the planets declared that Srila Prabhupada left the world on that day to return to Sri Krishna in the spiritual world.

- Vic DiCara

www.vicdicara.com

© 2010 Vic DiCara, All Rights Reserved

The Most Fortunate Horoscope – A Tribute to Aindra

The Most Fortunate Horoscope

A Tribute to Sripad Aindra das Babaji

On July 16^th of this year, 2010, at 10:25pm in Sri Vrindaban, India my hero and inspiration in life died. “Died” is not a bad word, but it is a bad word for me because it means I lost my chances to again sit with that man in Kirtan.

His name is “Aindra.” For about 30 years straight he would sit in the temple of the beautiful Radha Shyamasundar and he would sing the Hare Krishna mahamantra:

हरे कृष्ण हरे कृष्ण कृष्ण कृष्ण हरे हरे ।
हरे राम हरे राम राम राम हरे हरे

hare kṛṣṇa hare kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa hare hare.
hare rāma hare rāma rāma rāma hare hare.

He organized the “kirtan” (singing of this mantra) so that for 30 years straight it went on continuously for 24 hours. When Aindra sang “Hare Krishna” it was absolutely unique. It was as if a tornado of emotion would form around him. All you or I had to do was want to go sit inside that tornado and it would effortlessly carry us away like Dorothy to a spiritual “Oz” of genuine, real, tangible pure ecstatic love for Krishna.

Birth Data

I am fortunate to have a confidant and friend, Sriman Akincana Krishna das, who spent much time with and developed a close relationship to Aindra. He told me that an astrologer predicted Aindra should have lived about 10 or 20 years longer than what he actually did. When I heard this, I jumped to attention. “You know Aindra’s birth time?!?” With just a short delay Akincana acquired that data and sent it to me:

March 12, 1953 at 4:28:45 am

In Arlington, Virginia (USA)

Exact coordinates given as 77º W 05′ 04″ by 38º N 53′ 25″

The most obvious detail here is that this time has been obviously “tinkered with” by an astrologer, because no one knows their birth time down to the exact second. Obviously some astrologer had put a lot of work into this data. Hopefully it is close to the original. Upon overviewing the horoscope it produces I find no reason to doubt its basic veracity.

About the Man, Aindra

There are a few things about Aindra that are obvious to anyone who even looks at a photo of him.

• Pale with reddish blonde hair, and a fair amount of it on his body
• Neither gaunt nor overweight, but has a healthy amount of padding
• Handsome with softness in his features
• On the short side
• Wild, piercing and hypnotic eyes.
• A renunciate, fully devoted to spiritual practices

Then there are things that anyone who listens to Aindra’s recordings would find obvious.

• An extraordinarily talented musician
• Deep and mysterious voice, is not polished, belabored and schooled.

Anyone familiar with Aindra’s backgrounds knows:

• He is extremely famous and his career accomplishments are outstandingly remarkable.
• He dedicated himself “cent percent” to the specific spiritual practice of hearing the holy names of Krishna in the Hare Krishna mahamantra.

Those who know Aindra more deeply and personally would call your attention to these key traits:

• He was an individualist. He did what he knew was right and what would please his teacher (the great A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada) and didn’t ask for anyone’s approval or support.
• He was, however, not egotistical – but very humble at heart. Thankful for any support and help offered, and worked to make things nicer for others.
• His intellect was outstandingly sharp, piercing and penetrating. He understood the inner workings of extraordinarily esoteric spiritual details, yet applied it all in the most down-to-earth, practical, and tangible manner.

The Fiery Saint

I always thought that there had to be a great deal of Mars in Aindra since he was so reddish, had such piercing eyes and intellect, and was so capable of individuality. Especially when he died in a fire accident, I could not stop wondering about Mars in his horoscope.

Looking at the chart produced by the birth data I have for Aindra I find that Mars is almost literally as exalted as a planet can possibly be. Readers who are not learned in the science of Jyotish (Indian Astrology) will not find this obvious, so I ought to explain.

The zodiac has 12 main sections, “signs,” in its primary division, but there are 16 subdivisions which represent the acoustic resonance and standing waves generated on a degree by degree basis throughout the zodiac. Astrological hobbyists consider a planet’s “dignity” only with reference to its place in the obvious twelve zodiac signs, but real astrologers appropriately factor in the effect of the signs of the harmonic subdivisions as well. The ancient Indian formula for doing so describes dignity as a numeric value on a scale from 0 to 20, where 0 is absolute and utter debilitation and 20 is unequivocal and absolute exaltation.

The dignity of Mars in Aindra’s chart is an almost impossibly exalted 19.8!

In astrology, the dignity of a planet tells us how much “good” or “bad” karma that planet holds for us. The more dignified, the better. A planet still needs potency to be able to make the good or bad karma it holds into a real factor in a human being’s life. Ancient Indian astrology measures this by exhaustively evaluating six categories of strength. I call it the Sixfold Strength system.

In Aindra’s horoscope Mars is not only phenomenally dignified, he is also phenomenally potent, having what Sixfold Strength describes as “191%” of normal strength!

So when I look at Aindra’s red beard, reddish glow, fiery effulgence, fierce self-sufficiency and absolutely undefeatable piercing mind I see the clear manifestations of a Mars with strength and goodness that one does not see even after looking at millions of horoscopes.

In astrology, planets must not only have potency, they must get the opportunity to use that potency. There are a few avenues in Aindra’s horoscope which allow Mars excellent opportunity to use its potency fully. The lord of the house of self, Saturn, is in Chitra nakshatra, which is the domain of Mars. Almost exactly 180º away from the lord of the physical self, Saturn, is Mars. Therefore Mars has opportunity to influence the physical self by an “aspect” at maximum strength, and by controlling the lunar mansion the lord of the physical self occupies.

Any elementary student of astrology should know the term “dispositor” and “final dispositor.” The dispositor is the planet who owns the house occupied by another planet. For example, in Aindra’s horoscope Venus is in Aries, which belongs to Mars. Therefore Mars is the “dispositor” of his Venus. Dispositors create the planet’s attitude or “disposition.” A final dispositor is the planet who creates its own disposition. This planet gains influence in a horoscope by affecting the disposition of all the planets that it disposits.

In Aindra’s horoscope Mars is the final dispositor of every other planet!

So, I see what I expected to see in Aindra’s horoscope: a phenomenally good, powerful and influential Mars.

Penetrating Intellect

His amazing Mars also conjoins the lord of intellect, Venus. That is why Aindra’s intellect was so sharp and piercing. This conjunction between sharpness and intellect occurs in Ashvini, the lunar mansion of “Miraculous Speed.” Aindra could penetrate into fantastically deep understandings with a speed that bordered on instantaneous and miraculous. His grasp of the deepest esoteric details of spiritual truths is literally miraculous for a human being to accomplish.

In Aindra’s horoscope the lord of self is in Chitra nakshatra, the lunar mansion of “multifaceted blueprints.” Chitra is a place where architects understand the detailed inner workings of things. For Aindra, penetrating intellect aspects the self in the lunar mansion of detailed blueprints.

Many people who have piecing intellect and understand things in extreme detail are terribly useless and impractical. Not Aindra. Every detail he understood he put into a tangible, practical form in his everyday life. This is because he was born when Capricorn was rising. As Capricorn suggests, Aindra was never impractical in the slightest, and he was always serious, determined, and steadfast.

Other Physical Traits

There are a few physical traits of Aindra not explained by Mars alone. For example, though he was short, Aindra was not thin or muscular as is characteristic of Mars. This is because all the kapha (fleshy) planets influence his physical body: The Moon sits in the house of the body, while Jupiter and Venus (especially Venus) aspect the lord of the body. Therefore the natural thin physique of a prominent Mars is counterbalanced by the plumpness of Venus, the Moon and Jupiter.

These three benefics also make him a beautiful man with a gentle appearance. They also give him a healthy constitution strong enough to allow an American born man to survive for decades on end amid the different and very strong bacteria and virus of rural India.

Wild, Piercing, Hypnotic Eyes

Using textbook astrology one would say that the second and twelfth houses represent the right and left eyes, and having his Mars conjoined or aspecting both of these lords is a sure indication that Aindra’s glance could be fierce, piercing, and fiery.

There is more to it. The nakshatra (lunar mansion) of hypnotism and hypnotic glances is Aslesha (The Serpentine Embrace). The planet of hypnotic trance is Ketu. Aindra’s horoscope has Ketu in Aslesha. It is no ordinary Ketu either because it is “stationary.” This is a rare occurrence when a planet does not move at all in the sky, neither forward nor backward. Such planets gain extreme potency. Thus Aindra had a gaze which was piercing and fierce yet induced and reflected a hypnotic spiritual trance indicative of the state of his elevated inner consciousness.

If you look into Aindra’s eyes you look directly into the hidden worlds of truly occult spirituality. Ketu in Aslesha already describes this, but also the lord of mysterious spirituality (the lord of the eighth house, the Sun) occupies the house of Aindra’s facial appearance (the second house), which is also the house of the right eye. Meanwhile, the house of the left eye receives a combined aspect from Jupiter and Saturn – the combination which produces spiritual leaders. There was never anything in Aindra’s glance, neither coming in nor going out, that was not purely spiritual and trancelike. Whatever he glanced upon, he glanced with two intentions: (1) To see, in a trance, its connection to meditation upon singing the divine names of Krishna, (2) To see how he might assist the strong spiritual growth of whomever or whatever he looked upon.

Spiritual Renunciate

Aindra renounced all material sense gratification and lived an ideal and exemplary spiritual life. The lord of spirituality occupies his house of wealth, causing Aindra to perceive that true wealth is not material. The lord of renunciation occupies his house of treasures, causing him to treasure spiritual knowledge, detachment and humility. This lord of renunciation conjoins the lord of enjoyment, indicating a person who would renounce ordinary concepts of enjoyment and instead take to an enlightened concept of pleasure and enjoyment.

Despite being a true, hardcore renunciate, Aindra led a life that was anything but bare or spartan. His life was brimming with beauty, art, music, color, sound, smiles, emotions, and vitality. Like an alchemist turning iron to gold, Aindra transmuted ordinary art, beauty, music and emotions into transcendental and enlightened experiences, because he understood that the zenith of all spiritual pursuits was to dedicate his emotions to pleasing the transcendental senses of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri Krishna.

An Extraordinarily Talented Musician

Elsewhere, I have described combinations which produce great artistic and musical skill (see: Musical and Artistic Talent in an Astrological Chart). Aindra’s horoscope shows these combinations to the fullest extent. The lord of the 3^rd, 5^th and 11^th houses all join in the 4^th house. There could not be a more stunning example of artistically blessed planetary alignments.

To explain using more common terms: The lords expression and creativity combine in Aindra’s horoscope. This allows creativity the dexterity to be fully expressed. In Aindra’s chart the combined lords of expression and creativity are joined by the lord of performance arts! Greater still, all of them – performance, expression and creativity – they all combine in the house of emotions which is the true root of artistic genius.

To make Aindra’s artistic talent even more extreme, all these planets of performance, creativity, expression and emotion are directly opposite the lord of the self. Thus not only is Aindra full of unsurpassed skill, he also gets to physically and tangibly manifest that skill in his exalted career as a spiritual musician.

Aindra personally attracted dozens if not hundreds extremely adept and skilled musicians to join him in his 24 Hour Kirtan project. Ask any one of them who the greatest musician they ever encountered was and I would be shocked if they did not say, “Aindra.”

Aindra’s musical style was the antithesis of practiced, rehearsed and self-conscious. It was absolute genius! It was absolutely real. His brilliance did not come from any formal training or efforts at mastery. Rather it manifested for mysterious and unknown charismatic and spiritual reasons. Why? One reason is that the lord of the eighth house was in Aindra’s second house, causing his voice (second house) to expressing things coming from the hidden world, the mysterious world of the infinite spirit.

Fame & Power

Aindra’s fame is really quite enormous, especially considering that he lived in a rural town in India as a humble renunciate. Hundreds of thousands of people across the globe listen to his music every day. Hundreds count themselves as his disciples and followers. He published almost a dozen records that have distributed in six digits at the very least.

First, his house of fame (tenth house) holds the exalted lord of the self. As I described just previously – that lord of self is aspected by all his copious artistic talent. Thus he gets tremendous recognition for his career as a spiritual musician.

Aindra’s chart holds a “yoga” (an impressive sounding word meaning “combination” or “alignment”) indicating fame: The lord of the fifth house (a trine) combines with the lord of the fourth house (an angle). The lord of the fourth happens to be Mars, and I have already described to you the towering beneficence, potency, and influence of Mars in Aindra’s horoscope. This allows Mars to powerfully manifest the potentials of this combination for fame.

Furthermore since the Moon is in Aindra’s first house, this alignment exists from the Moon’s viewpoint as well. On top of that, both the fourth and the fifth lords align with the lord of the first house – causing four additional instances of this powerful fame combination (“raja-yoga”). Besides that also the Moon’s conjunction with Rahu creates yet another instance of such a combination. You could easily measure Aindra’s horoscope to have seven or more counts of Power and Fame combinations! This is on a par with huge celebrities like Oprah Winfrey, Angelina Jolie, etc.

Although he was more famous than just about anyone else around him, he never once basked in the ego that might come with such karma. Never once. He was not destined to, because his lord of humility conjoined six out of seven of the fame and power combinations he possessed.

This is interesting, too, for it speaks accurately about Aindra’s style of power. He was an enormously powerful person. Many times very powerful people would attempt to change, redirect or alter Aindra’s apparent non-conformity. Despite their own extremely formidable power they never succeeded even one iota. Aindra would indirectly crush their attempts without the slightest malice or intention to harm, and would quietly and assuredly go on becoming exactly what he knew he must become – a pure devotee of the Hare Krishna mahamantra as best as he personally knew how, leaving the other person feeling enlightened in the process.

Shravanam Kirtanam – Complete Dedication to Chanting

All of that was really very interesting (at least for me), but it is only now that we come to the real crux of Aindra. He was perfectly, completely, and absolutely dedicated to the spiritual path of hearing and chanting about Sri Krishna, particularly in hearing and chanting Sri Krishna’s mahamantra: Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare. Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.

The process of hearing and chanting is summarized in a Sanskrit word, Shravanam. There is one lunar mansion out of the 27 of them which bears this word as it’s title: Shravana.

That mansion, Shravana, was rising over the Eastern horizon when Aindra was born. Moments after his birth, the Moon, also in the mansion of Shravana would rise as a 12^th phase crescent. Moments thereafter Rahu, also in the mansion of Shravana would rise into the sky and glance upon the newborn child.

This means that Aindra was born for hearing and chanting about Sri Krishna, it was his due destiny. According to Parashara and all ancient seers, the Moon represents Sri Krishna. Rahu represents destiny pulling us towards our inevitable future. Both the Moon and Rahu occupied the lunar mansion of hearing. This mansion is not just about the auditory sense! The word “Shravana” has a distinctly spiritual connotation in Sanskrit, and the deity of this mansion is Sri Vishnu / Krishna. Thus Aindra’s ascendant clearly and simply reveals the purpose of his birth: to hear and chant about Sri Krishna as a wildly powerful compulsion.

His Passing

The lord of the physical body occupied a certain degree called mrtyu-bhaga which indicates that Aindra’s body would be subject to a difficulty. Mars, the planet of fire and accidents directly aspects the lord of the body at that difficult degree. Rahu and Ketu, the planets of sudden occurrences, are very dominant in the chart and directly affect the house of the body.

Aindra’s body would be subject to a flaw that would be exploited suddenly by a fiery accident.

That accident took place during the era (“dasha”) of Saturn – the lord of Aindra’s physical body. In the cycle (“bhukti”) of the Moon the lord of the house of death, occupant of the house of the physical body, dispositor of sudden Ketu and housemate of the uncontrollable Rahu. The sub-cycle at the time belonged to Mars, the planet of fire and accidents and the single most dominant planet in Aindra’s chart.

A textbook principle of astrology is that the planets owning the second and seventh houses cause death (because the seventh house is opposite to the house of birth and the second house is opposite to the house of longevity). In Aindra’s case these planets are Saturn and the Moon. Saturn controlled the era and the Moon controlled the cycle when Aindra died. Mars, the natural planet of injury and accidents, controlled the subcycle.

On July 16^th 2010 at 10:20 – 10:30pm we lost Aindra.  At that time Saturn and the Moon exactly conjoined one another in the sky.

This conjunction occurred in Virgo, a sign belonging to Mercury, giving Mercury the power to determine the disposition of the fate indicated by the conjoined Saturn and Moon. At this exact point in time Mercury was precisely conjoined to Aindra’s Ketu – the planet of sudden, drastic events.

Ketu itself transited Gemini, Mercury’s other sign – sealing the strong link between the two planets. Aindra’s lord of material loss, Jupiter, was exactly conjoined with Aindra’s Mercury, who was aspected at full strength by Mars.

So the two planets capable of causing death (Saturn and the Moon) were exactly conjoined, and their disposition was governed by Mercury because they were in Mercury’s sign, Virgo. What disposition did Mercury create for these two death-capable planets? It was thoroughly linked to sudden and dramatic material and physical loss, due to its links with Ketu and the lord of physical loss.

Just as the Sun (the nakshatra dispositor of both Saturn and Moon at the time) entered the border of Cancer (Aindra’s house of disappearance) a gas stove in Aindra’s room exploded as he lit it to cook for his deities. The soundproofing on the door caught fire and consumed the oxygen in the room without letting him escape. He turned to his deity of the most merciful proponent of the Hare Krishna maha mantra, Nityananda Rama and left this world while in prostrated prayer at the feet of this deity.

The influence of Ketu in this death is a sure sign that Aindra was withdrawn from the physical world and taken into the “other world” – not the “afterlife.” The connection of the ninth lord of religion and fortune (Mercury) with Ketu on this event, while Saturn and the Moon occupied that ninth house is another sure signal to us not to look for a “reincarnation” of Aindra. He will not again reincarnate by any stretch of the imagination except in the ways that he has empowered the rest of us to follow his lead.

He has moved to his inescapable future, which is with Sri Vishnu, Sri Krishna, in the mansion of hearing and chanting which is not bound by the limitations of space and time.

I will mourn his loss until by chance of great mercy I might one day find  his perfected identity in the deepest spiritual groves of Sri Vrindaban Dhama and have the supreme blissful fortune of making divine music with him to assist the dances of Sri Sri Radha Shyamasundara. Until then I find solace and inspiration in the many recordings of Aindra that I am lucky to find left behind.

To learn more about Aindra and his path

Please visit the website of his project: 24 Hour Kirtana

There you will find his philosophy, and in the “Media” section of the site you will find a treasure of links to his music and speaking.

- Vic DiCara / Vraja Kishor das

www.vicdicara.com