Mercury in the Birth Chart of Swami Prabhupada

• The Sun is in Virgo.
• Virgo navamsha rises.
• Moon is in Gemini
• Mercury is in the 10th house, alone amidst the kendra.

So there is a lot of Mercury’s resources available to Prabhupada. A typical expectation of such resources is to be childlike, playful, diplomatic and balanced. And although these qualities did have some place in Prabhupada’s character, they were by no means his primary qualities. Instead Prabhupada was very mature, serious, uncompromising and one-pointed (“one-sided” some might say).

Why don’t the expected effects of Mercury shine forth in Prabhupada?

• Mostly Virgo, not Gemini
• Mercury is deficient in potency
• Mars and Saturn influence the Gemini Moon
• Capricorn rises and Saturn is vargottama.

There are significant differences between Virgo and Gemini, and Prabhupada’s Mercury resources come more through Virgo than Gemini (he has two major counts of Virgo – the Sun’s sign and the rising navamsha, and just one count of Gemini – the Moon).

Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Another factor is that Prabhupada’s Mercury is not endowed with strength (sad-bala). Therefore Mercury lacks the gusto to keep its natural character intact and unaltered by influences. And those influences are strong: Mars, vargottama Saturn, and Capricorn ascending.

It is essential to notice that Prabhupada’s Gemini Moon is in the association of Mars. Mars’ presence significantly alters the natural diplomacy, playfulness, and balanced openess of Gemini. Additionally, the strongest aspect upon Prabhupada’s Moon is from Saturn – further altering the flexibility, childishness, and frivolity associated with Gemini “out of the box.” It is because of the strong effect of Mars and Saturn on this Gemini Moon that Prabhupada was more obviously an uncompromising, one-pointed, serious man. The combination of Saturn, Mars and Gemini upon Prabhupada’s Moon made him extremely persuasive in speech. By his chants and lectures alone he changed hundreds of thousands of lives and it is not unreasonable to say he even significantly altered the history of the world.

Finally, the major overriding context of the chart is Capricorn ascending. This also significantly alters what the influence of Mercury comes out to be in the final say. Capricorn is notoriously critical, inflexible, unyeilding, and perseverant.There is a lot of Mercury in Prabhupada, yes – but it has to work with a Capricorn ascendent and vargottama Saturn. So this chart cannot produce a playful, fluffy, flowery, flexible, “I’m OK. You’re OK.” diplomat typical of abundant Mercury. Instead it makes a person with critical genius, ability to communicate complex concepts to a totally foreign and inexperienced audience, and a prodigious author of books that are practical, not artistic or refined. Prabhupada operated with absolute fidelity and loyalty that does not compromise or bargain or negotiate, but did so with the significant Mercurial ability to adapt to modern times, cultures, and people; and presented in language that was appealing and extremely persuasive and convincing to hundreds of thousands.

So in Srila Prabhupada we have an excellent example of how the overall chart modifies specific observations such as Moon in Gemini.

- Vic DiCara

http://www.vicdicara.com

Srila Prabhupada: Saturn in Scorpio

My textbook definition of Saturn in Scorpio:

Unimpressed: This quality makes us less gullible but more critical, harsh, and uninspired.

Dissatisfied: An increase of melancholy and emotional dissatisfaction makes us more prone to be ill-tempered, averse to festivities, and unnecessarily hostile.

Resourceful: Saturn in Scorpio makes us more resourceful, improving our ability to utilize the resources and wealth of others.

Prabhupada’s Saturn is in the 11th house, which is a desirable position for natural malefics. Therefore the effects are made less blunt and negative.

Prabhupada was definitely “unimpressed” with anything and everything. The only thing that impressed Prabhupada was the transcendental attractor, Sri Krishna. He was highly critical towards everything that was conceived of as separated from Krishna. He was very harsh in arguments of substance and would not pull any punches to deliver his message forcefully. He was uninspired, unmotivated for anything besides Sri Krishna (anyabhilashita sunyam).

Prabhupada was definitely dissatisfied and melancholoy. It is famous that many people seeing Srila Prabhupada’s photo would say, “Why is he so unhappy?” He was unhappy with the constant state of perceived disconnection from transcendence that surrounded him in this world. He was not satisfied with any career, wealth, family, or anything except Sri Krishna.

Prabhupada was extremely resourceful, as can be seen in his creating a worldwide movement of historical import while he was a beggar / sanyassi with no personal possessions or wealth.

 

Jupiter in Leo: A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, “Srila Prabhupada,” was born September 1, 1896 at about 4pm, in Calcutta. Using my tropical/sidereal rashi/nakshatra system, this puts Jupiter in Leo.

My textbook defines the baseline effect of Jupiter in Leo like this:

Kingly: Jupiter in Leo enhances our kingly qualities: we become more commanding, powerful, strong and self-sustaining.
Loyal: The loyalty and faith of Jupiter in Leo is deeper and longer lived. Friendships are stronger and longer lasting – but so are enmities.

Kingly

Prabhupada was the leader of an international religious movement that he founded on his own, with almost no visible assistance from others (self sustaining). His nickname was “Senapati Prabhupada” (senapati means “General”, as in the General of an army) because he was very commanding, powerful and strong.

Jupiter is a planet of religion and philosophy. Leo is the sign of kingliness. So (As Prabhupada’s case illustrates) Jupiter in Leo is especially suited to grant the above-described kingliness in relation to religious, spiritual, philosophical and moral arenas.

Loyal

Prabhupada is universally recognized by spiritualists as a shining example of “avyavasayatmika budhih” – unwavering fixedness of intention. He was the paragon of loyalty and fidelity to his predecessors. He loathed the idea of inventing novel concepts or implementations for no good reason, and strongly preferred to stick as closely as possible to exactly what his teacher had taught him. He tried to instill this same idea in his followers (and did so, almost too successfully, one might argue).

As indicated by the textbook, Prabhupada was almost equally loyal towards enemies. He absolutely refused to give one millimeter of forgiveness to the mayavadi (the philosophy that God, especially a personal God, is an imaginary figure or a figure created by illusion), false avatars (people claiming that “we are all God” or “I am God”), sahajiyas (people who take the beautiful intimacy of Krsna as if it were equivalent to ordinary intimacy and a thing easily and cheaply gotten), and many others.

Note about Ketu

Prabhupada’s Jupiter is on the exact degree with Ketu, within just 2 minutes of arc. Thus the qualities of Jupiter in Leo, for Prabhupada, are extremely spiritually oriented. It was during his Ketu phase (dasa) that all the qualities of Jupiter in Leo – especially the kingliness – became very powerfully manifest (his Ketu phase, according to my system, went from December of 1969 through October of 1976).

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Vic DiCara

www.vicdicara.com

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Mars in Gemini: Srila Prabhupada’s Practical Intellect

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, “Srila Prabhupada,” was born September 1, 1896 at about 4pm, in Calcutta. Using my tropical/sidereal rashi/nakshatra system, this puts Mars in Gemini.

My textbook defines the baseline effect of Mars in Gemini like this:

Intolerant: Mars is the planet of independence, but Mercury is the planet of cooperation and interaction. So when Mars takes charge of the resources of Mercury it poses a challenge to our ability to interact without others in a cooperative, tolerant, understanding and mutually beneficial manner.

Ambitious in Business: Mars in Mercury’s signs puts ambition into monetary exchanges. Thus it inclines us to desire money, become wise about saving it, and brave in pursuing it.

Know-How: Mars is utilitarian. Mars working through the resources of Mercury imparts utilitarianism to our intellect; better suited to figuring out how to defeat the obstacles and enemies which threaten to frustrate our ambitions.

Intolerant. Although he was kind and compassionate, Srila Prabhupada would not tolerate ANYTHING that was 1 cm deviant from the ideal. All these people would come to him expecting to be babied and encouraged and Prabhupada would not tolerate their nonsense AT ALL. He was very, very strong and heavy and not “flexible” at all. He was very much Mars in Gemini.

Ambitious with Money… Prabhupada had about 200 rupees in his pocket when he got on a boat and came to America alone. From that within a few years he had millions of dollars at his disposal.  He was also a very frugal man.

Practical intellect… Prabhupada’s guru was an enourmous scientific philosopher. He was first a “Siddhanta” because he translated Surya Siddhanta into Bengali and explained it, and did the same for Siddhanta Shiromani. Then he devoted his intellect to bhakti and became Bhaktisiddhanta. He made the most amazing disciples – huge, huge geniuses and philosophers. A doctor from Germany even became his disciple. Other very elevated scholars, the great, great philosophical genius B.R. Sridhar Swami. Our Srila Prabhupada was very humble amidst all these great and learned persons. Yet HE was the one, not any of them, who accomplished the miraculous deed of quite successfully transferring the seed of Krsna-prema-bhakti from India to American soil. WHY? One very important reason is the traits he had as a result of Mars in Gemini: “Practical Intellect.” Srila Prabhupada knew what he NEEDED to know, how to apply philosophical concepts in practical ways, and make them real and concrete and tangible. Prabhupada is a shining example of how practical intellect (characteristic of Mars in Gemini) can be far more useful and impactful than theoretical scholarship.

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Vic DiCara

www.vicdicara.com

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