Is Nakshtra Lordship Misconceived !

Is Nakshatra Lordship Misconceived!
(Reproduced from Modern Astrology Dec 2017)

What is the meaning of lordship in predictive astrology! We know that every sign is ruled by a certain planet but still it has its own traits too. Sign Aries and Scorpio both are ruled by Mars but the properties of both signs are not the same. Though both the signs have a somewhat aggressive nature like Mars but possess a great part of their nature that does not necessarily match with each other and ruler Mars. So don’t be rigid with the meaning of the word ‘lord’ or ‘ruler’. I would like to suggest the word ‘representative’ instead of ‘lord’ or ‘ruler’. Though there is no harm to use these (lords or ruler) words in a general sense.

I shall take up the questions raised against Nakshatra lordship and the Nodes having no rulership of the Zodiacal signs.

1-    It is true that Nodes are ignored to get zodiacal allotment at many places. In this context I want to discuss two points:

a-     First of all we must understand the basic theme of zodiacal allotment. That is the availability of space according to the nature of the ‘divisive concept’ and planet but without disturbing the logical order of the time frame. Wherever the division of zodiac and astrological time frame is got to divide by more than 7 parts, nodes have been attributed space by the authorities. There are some places where other planets are ignored too due to unavailability of space as the Sun and Moon get no rulership over senses and Tatwas

The five senses and Tatwas are attributed to the remaining other planets.

Why the most important planets Sun and Moon are ignored! The lordship of ‘Ayan’ is attributed to only Sun and Moon!

This is due to the basic theme of division, availability of space, and the nature of the ‘divisive concept’ and planet.

The ‘Jaimini Sutram’ is available an old book on Vedic astrology where Maharishi Jaimini tried to attribute zodiacal signs to nodes. The ‘Briddha Karika’ contains a related verse which is also supported by Parashar in the context of ‘Char Dasa’. The Related Sloka is below here.

Here you can raise a question that nodes are taken only to calculate Dasa year and it does not indicate any lordship over concerned zodiacal signs. At this point, I have some counterarguments. (a) It shows a strong connection of nodes with concerning signs for which seers took them into account. (b) When calculating Dasa year for other signs Maharishi used sign lords so it is admissible nodes as a sign lord for related signs. (c) In this related Sloka author clearly mentioned the word lord (swami).

Maharishi Parashar supported the view of Jaimini with some extra remarks.

 The uncertainty at certain places is perhaps due to the shadowy nature of nodes. As a shadowy planet, they adopt the influence of other factors more easily. But this is not the process only limited to nodes, every planet, sign, and star received the influence of others and the final result depends upon the strength of related factors. We know well that the nodes possess their own nature beyond the influenced planet which varied from zodiac sign to sign, house to house like other planets.

The lordship of a direction is provided to Rahu due to availability while Ketu is ignored due to the limited number of eight. The famous concept of ‘Rahu Kalam’ is nothing but the ‘Astamsha’ division (1÷8) of the day, where ownership of a part is attributed to Rahu. This concept is clearly mentioned in Prashna Marg (3*Prashna Marg vol-1, Chapter 16, Sloka- 25).

a-      There are several other places in Parashar Hora where nodes get significations such as some significance of army (4* sloka 16, Ch 3, BPHS), a place like a hole, cave, cloth with many colors, torn cloth and material like ‘Seesa and Neelmani’ are attributed to Rahu and Ketu (5*Sloka 42, 43 Chapter 3, BPHS).  When a planet is getting significance over several worldly things than why it cannot rule/represent some of astrological divisions of the zodiac.

The learned author suggested that the planets got ownership of time through the concept of Dasa_Antar Dasa lord in the Vimsottari scheme and that does not mean ownership of space. But he is forgetting that space and time are not two different things/concepts. Modern scientific research clearly tells us that time and space are the two aspects of the same coin (Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking). The whole theme of distribution/partition of space and time is arranged accordingly in Vedic astrology the body which is representing the space that is able to represent the time frame also. So far there is no Dasas for sub planet like Parivesh, Upketu, Kaal, etc but Dasas are of zodiac signs and also of planets representative of Nakshatras.

2-    The Vimsottari Dasa and some other Nakshatra-based Dasas:

a-     The ‘Parashar Hora’ had not been completed in a single day. This is a research work complied by Maharishi Parashar and also includes the views of other savants. [He uses the word “केिचदषटौ” ‘KECHIDASHTOU’ for the favor of ‘seven Char Karak’ scheme which refers to the view of other (6*Sloka 1-2, Ch 30). At another place (2*-chapter 49, Sloka 33-34, BPHS) he quoted the word ‘KENCHIT’ ‘केनचित्’ to refer to the view of others.]

So here I want to say that the Nakshtra-based Dasas other than Vimsottari may be the views of others and failed to the practical ground due to taking wrong ownership/ representativeness of the Nakshatras.

b-    I condemn the illogical view that certain Dasa is effective in certain region! The anti-malaria pill kills the germ of malaria in all places and the poisonous snake bite is life-threatening in the whole world.

All the Nakshtra-based Dasas cannot be true at a horoscope as a different planet would operate at different times and how can it be justified the period of a certain planet at different stages of life for a native! The invention of Vimsottari Dasa is one of the greatest inventions in the field of predictive astrology, the most suitable to practical ground. And that is due to the correct concept of correct ownership/representativeness of planets over Nakshatras. 

3- Zodiacal sign and the star of hermaphrodite planets:

a-     What is the contradiction a fruitful sign has most part of the stars ruled by hermaphrodite planets!

Do you know! The earthy sign Capricorn is ruled by an airy planet Saturn! The watery sign Scorpio is ruled by a fiery planet Mars! So we cannot put all qualities of representative over signs and stars. What I have told at the beginning of the article is that every sign and stars have own nature predominantly than its lord/representative. So the stars ruled by Saturn and Mercury will not necessarily reflect the hermaphrodite nature of his representatives. The stars have a different division of nature/qualities like zodiac signs and planets.  

b-    There is no perfect or absolute zone. Every astrological division/ factor also possesses the quality of others. Every sign is further subdivided and carries the qualities of other signs too. The Navamsa division is the most important and according to it, every zodiacal sign is also ruled by other nine zodiacal signs! So sign Aries can reflect the qualities of Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, and Sagittarius also. If a fiery sign can reflect the nature of watery signs, so what is the contradiction for a sign having Nakshatra of the opposite nature in it! Actually, this is not an anomaly or contradiction of any kind. The strength of a Nakshatra, sign or their representative planets decides the matter.

c-     The subdivision of a Nakshatra which refers to a sub-period is not a mere sub-division of time, it also represents the space. The system of Krishnamurthy fully depends upon this concept. I don`t believe much in his system due to the extreme use of subdivision of Nakshatras which do not satisfy fully on practical grounds. But I realize that the star and sub-star of the Moon (sub-period lord) at birth decides many things in life in a decisive manner.

d-    How the strength of a planet works! Is a disputed matter. The exalted Sun in the 10^th house can harm the life significance of the father but is favorable to attaining high status or reputation. The combustion of Venus can harm married life but can produce interest in art and music. Similarly, many such positions of planets can be seen in a horoscope. The planet gets some strength at its own Nakshatra without any doubt. But this is not always work in the same manner as planets in their own sign. A rule which is to be implemented on the practical ground is so complicated as to make seats in a general bogie of a passenger train. 
4- The ‘Phal Deepika’ is a reliable treatise on astrology. It provided us many noble and reliable clues. The learned author ‘Mantreshwar’ accepted the concept of Nakshatra lordship clearly and in a decisive manner. Observe the related verse where he is suggesting adding the longitudes of certain Taras (star) lord:

5-The system of Vedic astrology did not use much the Nakshatra lordship concept as there is already a vast zone of divisional zodiacal signs to work out and that is enough to make a prediction and also to get tired. Ultimately the ‘stellar system’ cannot stand alone without the help of the zodiac sign as it has no alternative of ‘house lord’! Even in the KP system, it surpasses the importance of the sub-lord of the house for fixing the ‘Karak’ planets of a house.

Some say that the older Vedic authorities were unaware of the use of Nakshatras for Vedic astrology. That is a wrong concept. Vedic authorities have been using the Nakshatras for Muhurta purposes since the Vedic era itself. But it is also true Maharishi Jaimini and also Maharishi Parashar ignored the conception of Nakshatra lordship to a great extent. It was irrelevant to Maharishi Jaimini to quote Nakshatra lordship as his system was fully based upon zodiac signs. Maharishi Parashar accepted the conception of Nakshatra lordship for making the structure of Vimsottari Dasa. The Dasa lord is the Nakshatra lord itself. Otherwise, there is no answer to the question ‘why a particular Nakshatra shows the Dasa of a particular planet!’ And this is the secret of the success of Vimsottari Dasa on practical ground. The work of Maharishi Satyacharya based upon the stellar theory that is often quoted by Varah Mihir is also self-proved.

--------------------------------------------------------------Raghvendra Khare