A brilliant globe of light rising on the eastern horizon and setting in the west with unerring regularity called the sun has awe-inspired mankind since its inception. This sole sustainer of terrestrial life undergoes constant fusion reaction on its surface as per modern science in which two atoms of hydrogen fuse together to form one atom of helium and in the process an incredible amount of energy is released. The latest scientific developments have enabled man to pursue his search for extra-solar planets about 90 of which have been discovered so far but without any confirmation of extraterrestrial life being present there primarily due to the lack of a special combination of factors like right distance of planets from the sun, right size of the planet, presence of an atmosphere and most importantly the presence of water. These studies further emphasize the uniqueness of our sun-earth relationship which is apparently purely astronomical in nature but in effect astrological too.
A great deal of our ancients� attention was focused on the Sun who well recognized its central position in our solar system and also the fact that many such suns are scattered across various galaxies. These and many other astronomical and astrological facts of importance are well documented in our ancient scriptures including Suryasiddhanta.
In ancient lore, there is a story about Maya demon, who, after a long tapa was blessed by the Sun God, a part of whom appeared before him and granted him a boon. Maya asked to make him known the mystery and secret workings of nature and the science of Jyotisha was explained to him by the Sun God himself. Jyotisha contained both predictive and mathematical portions.
In predictive astrology, the Sun represents royal position, the king, authority father, Atma(self), Tanu(body) and especially the portion of head. Astrologically, if Sun is ill-placed or afflicted in any manner it can affect the abovementioned significations adversely but as taken in conjunction with its lordship. We will discuss in the course of this article positive or negative effects of the Sun with respect to different lagans(Ascendants), such placements and the Rajayogas(combinations for attaining high positions) it is capable of formation.
Aries Lagna: Sun is the ruler of 5th house for this Lagna ruling children, education and intellect. Sun is a benefic planet here. It can form Rajayogas with mars, Moon and Venus for this Lagna in the ascending order of power.
Positive Placements: Lagna, 2nd 3rd, 5th, 9th, 10th and 11th houses. Rest of the placements is negative.
Taurus Lagna : Sun rules the 4th house for this Lagna ruling mother, heart, domestic attachments and property related matters. Sun can form Rajayogas with Venus(blemished due to 6th lordship), mercury and Saturn in the ascending order of power.
Positive placements : Lagna, 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 9th, 10th and 11th. Rest of the placements are negative.
Gemini Lagna : 3rd house is governed by the Sun for this Lagna representing younger siblings, prowess, shoulders and arms etc. Sun is a functional malefic here.
Positive placements : Lagna, 2nd, 3rd, 6th, 8th, 11th and 12th. Rest of the placements are negative.
Cancer Lagna : Sun is ruler of the 2nd house ruling wealth speech, right eye, face and neck. Sun is a strong Maraka for Cancer Lagna. As 2nd lord, Sun is a neutral planet. It can form Dhanayogas( combinations for wealth) with Moon, Venus and Jupiter(blemished).
Positive placements : Lagna, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 9th, 10th and 11th. Rest of the placements are negative.
Leo Lagna : Sun is lord of Lagna for the Leo natives. It is an unflinching benefic here. Sun can form Rajayogas with Mars, Jupiter(blemished), Saturn(blemished) and Venus(slightly blemished).
Positive placements : Lagna, 2nd, 4th, 5th, 7th, 9th, 10th and 11th. Rest of the placements are negative.
Virgo Lagna : Sun is lord of the 12th here ruling losses, expenditure etc. Although 12th lord is a neutral planet here still because of being a Dusthana(negative house) lord usually it is taken to be a malefic.
Positive placements : 2nd, 3rd, 6th, 8th and 12th. Rest of the placements are negative.
Libra Lagna : Sun being lord of the 11th house for Libra Lagna rules gains, profits, friends etc. Sun is a functional malefic here. But as its significations are positive it is usually taken to be a benefic. It can form Dhanayogas with Mars(lord of 2nd), Mercury(9th lord) and Venus(Lagna lord).
Positive placements : 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 7th, 9th, 11th. Rest of the placements are negative.
Scorpio Lagna : Being lord of the 10th Sun rules government, father etc. for Scorpio Lagna. Here the Sun has got a special role to play. Being both the karaka as well as the lord of the abovementioned significations it can show accentuated effects of its position in these areas of life. It can form Rajayogas with Mars(blemished), Jupiter and Moon in the ascending order of power.
Positive placements : Lagna, 2nd, 4th, 5th, 7th, 9th, 10, 11th and 12th. Rest of the placements are negative.
Sagittarius Lagna : As lord of 9th house, Sun represents bhagya(fortune), foreign travel and fame for this Lagna. Sun is a benefic for Sagittarius Lagna natives. Sun can form Rajayogas with the Jupiter and Mercury as lords of Kendras.
Positive placements : Lagna, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 7th, 9th and 10th. Rest of the placements are negative.
Capricorn Lagna : Sun rules the 8th house for this Lagna and represents Ayus(longevity), suffering and diminution but under a special rule of Parashara Sun and the Moon are exempt from the Dosha(blemish)of 8th lordship. Hence Sun is a functional benefic but can be taken to be a slight malefic because of the inherently negative significations of the 8th house.
Positive placements : 3rd, 6th and 10th. Rest of the placements are negative.
Aquarius Lagna : The Sun rules 7th house for Aquarius Lagna. It represents marriage, travel, partnerships. Sun is a benefic here. It can form Rajayogas with Saturn, Mercury(blemished) and Venus in the ascending order of power. It has also been assigned Maraka powers and its connection with 2nd house can be especially harmful in relation to health. Positive placements : Lagna, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 10th and 11th. Rest of the placements are negative.
Pisces Lagna : Sun is lord of the 6th for Pisces Lagna ruling enemies, debts and diseases. It is a full-fledged malefic here.
Positive placements : 3rd, 6th, 8th and 12th. Rest of the placements are negative.
These positions of the Sun should not be taken as decisively positive or negative on the basis of the results given above without looking into other planets� influence and especially Bhava degrees, the degrees of the planets and the power of the Sun in the horoscope of a particular individual.
Astrological Remedies for the Sun If Sun is negatively disposed in a particular horoscope due to either malefic placement, aspect or conjunction proper remedies can be performed to ward off the evil. These can be performed especially in the major or sub-periods of the Sun.
Mani : A good quality Ruby of at least 5.25 Ratti or 5 carat weight approximately can be worn in a gold ring on a Sunday. The weight of the stone should be in accordance with the power of the planet to bring evil to the concerned person.
1. Trial : First one should keep the stone for 2-3 days below his head while sleeping and look out for the indications he may receive in the form of dreams or otherwise. Then the stone can be worn in red cloth on arm or in the ring only after proper Shuddhi(purification).
2. Shuddhi(Purification) : The stone should be purified with snana(bathing) in pure water, unboiled milk, honey, curd, pure ghee and lastly in the Ganges water. Then Dhoopa, Deepa(incense) should be shown before wearing the stone. During Shuddhi(purification) of the stone one should constantly chant Surya Mantra to seek the blessings of the Sun God.
Fasting : This is also an effective remedy. While fasting for the Sun one should eat only once which can be sweet but salt is to be avoided. Something made of guda can be eaten. For the rest of the day one can take fruits, milk etc. fasting on Sunday in the aforesaid manner is said to ward off the evil. In my opinion, fasting should be continued for the whole of the astrologically affected period.
Charity : One should perform charity on Sundays for seeking positive effects of the Sun. For this purpose, one should donate red articles like clothes, pulses etc. in the quantities of a whole and a quarter(1 � ). This can also be continued without break on Sundays.
Japa(Chanting) : Japa(chanting) of the Surya mantra can be performed with complete austerities. Usually, the number can be one hundred and twenty five thousand(125,000) but can also be its half depending on the power of the Sun.
Surya Mantra : Om hraang hreeng hraung sah suryaya namah.
One should fix the number, place and time of the Japa(chanting) for daily routine and strictly adhere to it. A Raktachandan Mala(rosary) and a woolen asana can be used for the purpose. One who performs Japa(chanting) should be a Brahmin and know the correct pronunciation of the mantra from an able guru.
Astrological remedies can work wonders if performed carefully and their power should never be underestimated.
1/6/08
The Sun: Astrological Effects and Remedies
The True Zodiac
Vedic Sidereal Zodiac
The firmament contains countless stars that we know little about. But those that concern us from an astrological viewpoint because of their influence on earth and its inhabitants are located in the zodiac belt that extends 9� on each side of the ecliptic (upward and downward) to form an imaginary 360� sphere divided into 12 equal parts called zodiac signs.
Since the zodiac is not a straight line, but a circular or ecliptic belt, how can the beginning or starting point be identified? The Jyotisha establishes that point on the basis of fixed constellations, specifically the Ashwini (or Arietes according to modern astronomy) at 0�. The starting point for Western astrology, however, is the vernal equinox (in the Northern Hemisphere), on March 21. This happens when the sun moves northward to a spot precisely over the equator. At that moment, night and day last the exact same length of time anywhere on earth. When the spring equinox coincided with the Ashwini 0� position about 1800 years ago, the two zodiacs, the sidereal (Vedic) and the tropical (Western), were identical. However, the retrograde movement of the equinoctial points (a phenomenon known as the precession of the equinoxes) creates a constant delay of 1� every 72 years, meaning that today there is a difference of over 24� between the true zodiac based on the constellations from which the signs take their qualities and, in some cases, their names, and the zodiac used today in Western astrology.
So, according to the sidereal zodiac, the Sun is not in the sign of Aries between March 23 and April 22, as shown in Western horoscopes, but is located there between April 14 and May 13. The same difference of over 23� is to be found in the position of the ascendant and in that of the other planets.
In order to calculate a birth chart according to the sidereal zodiac, if Western birthdays are used, the correction known as ayanamsha must be made. The term Ayanamsha is a combination of two Sanskrit words: ayana, which means �solstice� and amsha which means �a portion�, and establishes the difference between the present location of the spring equinox in relation to the fixed constellations, and the beginning of the Aries constellation. In other words, it is used to calculate the constellational longitude of a point or a celestial body when its position has been taken from Western birth dates.
The official Ayanamsha used by the Government of India is the Lahiri, according to which the beginning of the Ashwini constellation and the vernal equinox coincided in the year 258 A.D.
An error handed down by the Greeks
Modern Western astrology has inherited the Greek error of measuring the zodiac from the spring equinox. A great deal of the literature on which current astrology is based was written and translated in the third century and at that time the vernal equinox coincided with the beginning of the Ashwini or Aries constellation. The Greeks made the mistake of considering that point unchangeable. The spring equinox today still occurs in the third week of March, as it did at that time; however, it is no longer in the Aries constellation, but in the Pisces because of equinoctial precession.
The popular idea that we are living in the Age of Aquarius is another misconception arising from that same error; in actual fact, this is the Age of Pisces and it will be another four centuries at least before the Age of Aquarius sets in.
It is important here to stress that the signs of the zodiac do not exist apart from the constellations; they are imaginary spaces that correspond to a given group of stars.
This also means that the horoscopes published in Western newspapers and magazines are meaningless, because the position of the Sun is their only reference point and in 75% of the cases this position is incorrect, having been calculated according to an obsolete zodiac. In India, however, the Bangalore monthly, �The Astrological Magazine,� and other similar publications contain horoscopes based on the Moon, which is used to calculate planetary courses, as we shall see later. Most of the people there can benefit from reading a true horoscope based on Lunar planetary courses.
The Vedic sidereal zodiac corresponds to visible and certifiable astronomical phenomena
Physicist Georges Charpak and Professor Henri Broch, in their scientific book "Debunked", published in France, seek to �unmask� mystical philosophies and beliefs, together with certain paranormal phenomena like levitation, walking on coals, and so forth. They use the following argument to demonstrate the alleged falseness of astrology:
�In fact, the zodiac birth signs so common in astrological columns, along the supposed personal qualities for those born under them, are mostly based on astronomical positions traced out thousands of years ago. The problem with this is that the axis of the Earth's rotation is in continual change. The axis pivots, in a way similar to a spinning top, completing a revolution in about 25,790 years. As a result the zodiac signs in use today by astrologers do not correspond at all to the constellations represented when the charts were originally drawn up�
The authors conclude that modern society is infected with thoughts that have little to do with science and that it is not so rational or scientific, after all. In seeking to discredit astrology in general, Charpak and Broch brandish an argument that, as we have seen, is not applicable to Vedic astrology, whose zodiac recognizes and adjusts to the continuous changes in the axis of the earth�s rotation they mention in their book. Astrology, for them, apparently refers only to that practiced in the West. It is true, then, that modern society is neither so rational, nor so scientific, for, with the exception of a very small group of people, it is unfamiliar with the goldmine of knowledge and information to be found in the Vedas and believes that the civilization of ancient India was based exclusively on superstition and religious fanaticism, without any philosophical or scientific basis whatsoever.
When modern astronomers and students discover the existence of the Vedic zodiac, they will realize that the wise men of old India were extremely familiar with facts that they are only now beginning to glimpse with the advances in technology. They will find themselves, thanks to this discovery, looking upon that civilization and culture with respect and admiration and will want to learn from it. We predict that in the not-too-distant future, there will be very few astrological practitioners who don�t use the Vedic sidereal zodiac.
The Zodiac
From the beginnings of time man has been star struck by the stars (in the sky, that is) and this is where the signs of the Zodiac come from. The different stars make up the designs and shapes of the constellations in the sky, and ancient astronomers have always identified them and mapped them out. We look and observe them, and their movements in time and then we make wishes on the �first star I see tonight�.
Early astronomers made maps of the all the ancient constellations that they discovered, and relatively nothing has changed in the cosmos since then, so they are still observed today. Many people can find the Big Dipper or the Little Dipper on a clear night, and some people know more than that � the Big Bear, for instance, still sits in the northern sky. To the trained eye or someone who has studied the astronomical charts, the 12 signs of the Zodiac appear on a clear, starry night in the same way, and this is where the belief in the horoscopes originated.
Depending on where you are in the world at the time, remember that the Earth itself revolves on its axis, you could find your Zodiac sign. The signs of the Zodiac have been tracked for centuries and are made up of 12 different signs, or shapes of the constellations. Your birth date determines your own sign and shape. For instance, a birthday on October 14, would be under the sign of Libra, which is the sign of the scales.
The 12 signs and the birth dates that are included in that sign are below:
� Aries - March 21 - April 20
� Taurus - April 21 - May 21
� Gemini - May 22 - June 21
� Cancer - June 22 - July 22
� Leo - July 23 -August 21
� Virgo - August 22 - September 23
� Libra - September 24 - October 23
� Scorpio - October 24 - November 22
� Sagittarius - November 23 - December 22
� Capricorn - December 23 - January 20
� Aquarius - January 21 - February 19
� Pisces - February 20- March 20
�What�s your sign?�
