Jyotiṣa is the Sanskrit word for ”Astrology.” There is a lot of speculation on what it means. Here is what it really means, in lieu of authentic Sanskrit dictionaries and linguistic rules. It is made of two parts jyotis and the suffix ṣa. [It's not made by combining jyoti and iśa because (a) there is no such word as jytoi (it's jyotis), and (b) there is [...]
I have come to embrace the conclusion that the 12 sidereal signs of modern Indian astrology are not in line with the classical Indian definitions of the 12 signs, and have therefore adopted a somewhat unique system of calculating the 12 signs tropically, but calculating the 27 stars (“nakshatra”) sidereally. Many people have kindly read [...]
Let’s get some basic astronomical and physical concepts ironed out. First of all motion is relative. If Car A is going 50kph and Car B is going 45kph. Than Car B is moving backwards at 5kph relative to someone looking at it from Car A. And someone sitting in Car A experiences the car itself [...]
Describing the astrological conditions of the birth of King Yudhisthira, the Mahabharata says, starting from 114.4: muhUtrte ‘bhijite ‘zthame divaa madhya-gate sUrye tithau puNye ‘bhipUjite The first line means Yuddhisthira was born, “at the moment of abhijit / eighth.” Abhijit is never considered the 8th nakshatra (it is counted as the 22nd or sometimes the [...]
What do these words have in common? Soulful Lunatic Mercantile Venereal Martial Jovial Stern They are adjectives formed from the proper Latin-based names of the seven main astrological planets: Sol, Luna, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn! The Sun’s proper name is Sol. It represents the Soul, the singular center of all things, the core [...]
In the Mahābhārata (Virata Parva, Section 44) Arjuna explains his many names to his daughter in law, Uttarā. In text 14 he explains why he has the name Phālguna. उत्तराभ्यं च पूर्वाभ्यं फल्गुनीभ्याम् अहम् दिवा जातो हिमवतः प्रेस्ष्ठ तेन माम् फल्गुनं विधुः uttarābhyaṁ ca pūrvābhyaṁ phalgunībhyām aham divā jāto himavataḥ presṣṭha tena mām phalgunaṁ vidhuḥ [...]
Nakshatras are not the basis of all dasa systems. There are several dasa systems that have nothing to do with nakshatras. However, the most popular systems are nakshatra based. And the most popular of all, vimshottari dasa, is among the nakshatra systems. The reason nakshatras are essential in calculating the flow of time can be [...]
At the time of the Ksirodaka-lila (churning the cosmic “ocean of milk”) there was not yet any being named Rahu or Ketu. There was however an asura (“demon”) named Svarbhanu. When the amrita (“nectar of immortality”) was finally produced from the ocean, the devas (“gods”) managed to get it from the asuras by trickery via [...]
A lot of things about the zodiac can be more easily grasped by looking at a regular analog clock. The short, hour hand is the Sun. The long, minute hand is the Moon. whole clock is the zodiac. The Sun (short, hour hand) goes around the zodiac once, meanwhile in that time the Moon (long, [...]
Śrī Caitanya, the world-famous saint and avatar of divine love, was born February 27th 1486 at 17:55 in Mayapur, India. He is an excellent subject to illustrate the nature of the Moon in Leo because the Moon in Leo was rising as a full moon during an eclipse when he was born. There are several [...]
