The Most Fortunate Horoscope
A Tribute to Sripad Aindra das Babaji
On July 16th 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 3rd, 5th and 11th houses all join in the 4th 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 12th 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 16th 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
