Arudha Padas — Satya vs Maya

Arudhas: Clarification of Attribution

• Some astrologers in India do not even draw the Arudha chakra. In the Godavari and Krishna districts of Andhra Pradesh, where Jaimini's system dominates, nobody makes a chart without it.
• Because of that, people file Arudhas under "Jaimini astrology". The moment you use Argala, Rasi Drishti or Arudhas, some astrologers — learned ones too — say: "This is Jaimini astrology. I do Parashara astrology. I don't use them."
• Parashara covered Arudhas in great detail in Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra. People ignore it.
• People take what Varahamihira, Kalyanavarma and Mantreswara wrote (Brihat Jataka, Saravali, Phaladeepika) to be Parashara's teaching. It is not. Those are their own teachings. Parashara's actual teaching is far more voluminous.
• A student asked whether the basics are common to both. Yes. Jaimini took a few concepts and went deeper into them. The foundations were defined by Parashara also. The two were probably contemporaries.

"There aren't two astrologies. It's basically one Jyotisha that Parashara and Jaimini both taught."

The Fifth Pillar: Arudha Padas

The four pillars covered so far:

1. Rasis (signs)
2. Grahas (planets)
3. Bhavas (houses)
4. Vargas (divisional charts)

The fifth is the Arudha Pada. Ārūḍha means "the risen one" — what rises in the material world so that it can be seen.

Every house in every divisional chart has an Arudha. The houses counted from lagna do not show materially perceptible things. They show what is hidden inside you. Whatever manifests in a material form, so that people can see it and feel it, is seen only from the Arudha Padas.

Core Philosophy — Satya vs Maya

Abilities and their trappings

Take the 5th house in D-24 — abilities in learning.

"When you talk about somebody's abilities, it's an abstract concept. It doesn't manifest in a way you can perceive it. Even I can't perceive what my abilities are."

• What people know is: he knows astrology, he was state first in the intermediate exams, he studied at IIT Madras. From such things they form a sense of his abilities.
• Marks, ranks in an entrance examination, a university gold medal, a President's award for an actor, a hit film, 300 runs in a day for a sportsman, a Padma Bhushan — all of these can be perceived. People form their impression from them.
• Does a man who gets high marks have to be intelligent? Not necessarily. The intelligence itself is hidden within the person. Nobody can perceive it, including him.
• Intelligence is not an Arudha. It does not rise. The marks, ranks, awards and trophies are the Arudha.

Vahana sukha and vahana (D-16)

• The 4th house in D-16 does not show which car you have. It shows your sukha — how comfortable you are.
• A man may ride a bicycle to work every day and be happy with it. Another may own three Mercedes and three BMWs and still be unhappy, wanting a Rolls-Royce.
• The vahana is parked in the parking lot; anyone can see it. Vahana sukha is "parked within you". Even the person himself may not understand it.
• 4H = vahana sukha. A4 = the vahana — the vehicle, or the TV, the refrigerator and other tangible items of comfort.

Worked cases PVNR gives:

House vs Arudha

An Arudha is one more parameter. You judge it the way you judge a house: who occupies it, who aspects it by Graha Drishti and Rasi Drishti, who has Argala on it. The house and its Arudha are not alternatives. Each has its own purpose, and in practice you read both.

Maya is not the lesser thing

The ability within you is Satya. The marks, scores, awards and prizes are Maya — illusion.

"When I say Maya, don't think that it is less important. We are living in the world of Maya. This whole world is Maya. So actually Maya is a more important thing than Satya. But the bottom line is, it is Maya. Satya is something else."

The Mirror Analogy

• House — inanimate. A circumstance that exists within you. The 5th house is simply your ability.
• Lord of the house — a planet is a thinking, acting being. The lord is the consciousness within you that takes the resources of the house and converts them into a tangible activity. You have an ability; applying it, you write an examination.
• Arudha — what the world sees as a result: the score.

"If you want to see where the image is going to be, you see where the person is and the distance to the mirror. And at the same distance from the mirror, you see the image."

Computation

1. Take the house.
2. Count from the house to its lord: the lord is in the Nth from the house.
3. Count the same N from the lord. That sign is the Arudha.

You need not compute by hand — the software shows every Arudha — but the computation is simple and worth understanding.

Worked on the example chart

PVNR works on a chart on the screen. Its birth data is not read out. From his counting: Leo lagna, Sun in Gemini, Jupiter in Leo, Moon and Rahu in Aries, Venus in Taurus, Saturn in Gemini.

AL

• Lagna = Leo. Lord = Sun. Sun is in the 11th from lagna (Gemini).
• 11th from Sun = Aries. AL = Aries.

A5

• 5H = Sagittarius. Lord = Jupiter, in the 9th from it (Leo).
• 9th from Jupiter = Aries. A5 = Aries — AL and A5 fall together.

Arudha Notation

Names given in the class:

"The thing with Parashara is he does not stick to one word. If the 5th house shows children, he calls it Putra Pada. He comes up with new words everywhere."

If the 10th house shows X, the Arudha of the 10th can be called X Pada. In class PVNR uses only the A-number.

The Exception: Arudha Cannot Fall in the Satya Axis

Rule: if the computed Arudha falls in

1. the house itself, or
2. the 7th from that house,

it is invalid. Take the 10th from the sign where you found it. That is the Arudha.

• Both Parashara and Jaimini give this exception. Some astrologers in India hold it to be wrong and do not use it. PVNR: it is valid.
• The 10th is counted from the invalid position, whatever the original count was.
• The axis is that of the house whose Arudha is being found, not of lagna. An Arudha that falls in the 7th from lagna is fine unless lagna is the house in question.
• In practice the exception arises when the lord is in the house itself, or in the 4th, 7th or 10th from it.

Why the house and its 7th

• The house itself is Brahma sthana. The 1st house is your existence, your creation, and Brahma is the god who creates.
• The 7th is Shiva sthana. It is the house of desire and of marriage. Shiva gives desires, marriage and marital happiness.
• Narayana lives in the stronger of the two — he is either with Brahma or with Shiva.
• Whenever Jaimini speaks of a house he speaks of that house or the 7th from it. Planets in the 7th aspect the house. One person's existence is governed more by what he is, another's more by what he desires.
• The house and its 7th are the Satya of that matter. The Arudha is Maya.

"Maya is always divorced from the Satya. Maya and Satya are never the same. That is the basic principle of this creation."

The mirror again: the world never sees the object, only the image. If the person stands exactly in front of the mirror, he blocks his own image from someone behind him. If he is behind the mirror there is no image either. Then there is no tangible thing to judge by, and you judge by the karma of that image — the 10th from it. PVNR admits the analogy is hard to give.

Examples on the same chart

UL (Arudha of the 12th house)

• 12H = Cancer. Lord = Moon, in the 10th from Cancer (Aries).
• 10th from Moon = Capricorn — the 7th from Cancer. Not allowed.
• 10th from Capricorn = Libra. UL = Libra.
• That the first count was also 10 is a coincidence. The 10th is taken because the exception applies.

A10 (Karma Pada)

• 10H = Taurus. Lord Venus is in Taurus itself — the 1st from the house.
• 1st from Venus = Taurus again — the house itself. Not allowed.
• 10th from Taurus = Aquarius. A10 = Aquarius.

A3 (Bhratru Pada)

• 3H = Libra. Lord Venus is in the 8th from it (Taurus).
• 8th from Venus = Sagittarius. Not on the Libra–Aries axis, so no exception. A3 = Sagittarius.

Dual Ownership: Scorpio and Aquarius

Parashara clearly says:

• Aquarius is owned by Saturn and Rahu
• Scorpio is owned by Mars and Ketu

Many people forget the ownership of the nodes. When Rahu or Ketu is stronger than Saturn or Mars, the Arudha is found from the node.

A7 on the example chart

• 7H = Aquarius. Saturn is in the 5th from it (Gemini); 5th from Saturn = Libra. The software does not show A7 in Libra.
• Rahu is the stronger lord in this chart (PVNR leaves the reason aside). Rahu is in the 3rd from Aquarius (Aries); 3rd from Rahu = Gemini. A7 = Gemini.

First rule of strength (given later, on PVNR's own A3): the lord with more planets beside it is the stronger.

Two Arudhas, two images

• Found from the stronger lord, the Arudha dominates. The Arudha from the weaker lord also exists and also manifests.
• For lagna in Aquarius or Scorpio that means two Arudha Lagnas — two images. Different people hold different images of the person, or he has one image in one part of life and another later. Such people often move in different parts of society and lead different lives.
• When the weaker Arudha manifests: in the dasha or antardasha of a planet that influences it — for instance one that has Argala on it.

"Always take the stronger Arudha to judge. But the weak Arudha will also manifest."

Three Aspects of Any House Matter

A student asked: if someone wants to know when he will get a job, is the Arudha the thing to see, this being the world of Maya? Yes.

• 10th house — the karma one does. Actions are an abstract concept. "Somebody is writing intelligent software" — you cannot put that on a table.
• A10 — the job. "Principal software engineer at Microsoft" has an offer letter, a name tag, a visiting card. It has risen in the material world. For when one gets a job, A10 is far more important.

A student objected that A10 sits in one sign for life while jobs change. PVNR: so does the 10th house. You do not read the sign alone. You read its lord, its occupants, and the planets with Argala and Graha Drishti on it, and the dasha decides which of them acts.

• A10 with the Argala of Saturn and Mercury: in Saturn's period he does hard, routine work — say a truck driver.
• Argala of Sun on A10: in Sun's dasha or antardasha he becomes a union leader.
• Later, under another influence, he decides truck driving is bad, takes a one-year software course and becomes a software engineer.

The sign of A10 shows the circumstances and surroundings of the job. The planets influencing A10 show the job itself.

• A10 in Aries — a fiery sign owned by Mars, planet of enterprise and technology: usually high-tech work.
• A10 in Sagittarius — the dharma sthana of the natural zodiac and a fiery sign: courts, legislatures, places where dharma is upheld.

The three layers

"AL is your image. The 10th house from AL is the karma of that image. You are not doing that karma. But the image of you in people's minds — that image is doing a karma."

The janitor

Rasi and Varga

• Rasi chart = physical existence: the body and what the body does. The 10th in Rasi shows the physical act — a janitor handles dirt, a software engineer types.
• D-10 = the environment of work. The karma is read there. "Environment" is not only the physical surroundings; what you think and imagine is also part of it.
• PVNR's advice at this stage: for these questions ignore Rasi. The varga is far more important.
• Arudhas in every varga are physical. A trophy is a physical object, but it measures an ability that belongs to the working environment, so it is seen in D-10. A car is physical, but it measures vahana sukha, so it is seen in D-16 — the Rasi chart is a bad place to look for a vehicle.
• Arudhas in the Rasi chart show physical things of the body itself — body parts.

Remedies for Weak Arudhas

A student asked what one can do to change the image the world holds.

Why fasting

• Of the five limbs of the panchanga, vara (the weekday) shows physical vitality. Arudhas are physical things, so the vara is what matters.
• Because Arudhas are physical, the remedy is physical suffering, not merely reading a mantra: upavasa, fasting.
• To strengthen a house, do pujas to the gods. To strengthen an Arudha, fast.
• Asked whether there are other ways to suffer: there may be, but fasting is what he was taught for Arudhas. Asked whether mantras are ever prescribed for an Arudha: he is not aware of any.

Procedure

1. Take the lord of the Arudha. Its weekday is the day. (AL in Scorpio → Mars → Tuesday.)
2. Fast on that day from sunrise to sunset.
3. At the end take a bath, pray, then break the fast.
4. Pray to the god shown by the lord of the 2nd from the Arudha.

The published class notes work it for the 10th house of PVNR's D-10: A10 is in Aries, its lord is Mars, so whatever concerns the 10th house is done on Tuesday — fast on Tuesday and propitiate the god of the 2nd from A10.

Why the 2nd from the Arudha

The 2nd house is food and resources. It is what sustains the Arudha.

"As far as image is concerned, it is more concerned about the food that it gets than the dharma that it has. Image is very selfish. In the world of Satya, dharma is very important, karma is very important. But in the world of Maya, food is very important, because Maya wants to get fatter and fatter, even at the expense of other people's Maya."

Example — A5 in PVNR's D-10

A5 is not actually afflicted in his chart; he assumes it is, to show the method.

• 5H = Capricorn. Lord Saturn is in the 9th from it (Virgo). 9th from Saturn = Taurus. A5 = Taurus.
• Lord of Taurus = Venus → fast on Fridays.
• 2nd from A5 = Gemini. Lord = Mercury.
• A student answered "Agni". No — Agni rules the amsa Mercury occupies in this chart. The gods of Mercury are Vishnu and Narayana, the adhidevata and pratyadhidevata placed beside Mercury in the navagraha mandala of a Satyanarayana vratam.
• Fast on Friday, pray to Vishnu to be recognised in the career. Recognition in career improves.

A3 — Communications and Books

Finding A3 in PVNR's D-10

• 3H = Scorpio. Lords: Mars and Ketu.
• Mars is alone. Ketu is with Jupiter. The lord with more planets is stronger → Ketu.
• Ketu is in the 3rd from Scorpio (Capricorn). 3rd from Ketu = Pisces. A3 = Pisces.
• A student objected that Pisces is the 7th from lagna. That does not matter. The exception looks at Scorpio and Taurus, the house and its 7th.

What A3 shows

• In the chart of karma the 3rd house is communication — writing, journalism. To do any karma in society, the ability to communicate is the first need.
• The skill itself is buried inside. Nobody can probe it, not even the person.
• Its tangible manifestations are A3: the books, a long mail on a Yahoo group, the lecture being given, the MP3 recording of it, articles, talks at conferences.

"If you look at the 3rd house, you will not understand why I have so many communications related to astrology. All these you can't explain if you take my 3rd house. But take A3."

Reading A3 in Pisces

• The sign. Pisces: spiritual, the knowledge of the rishis, astrological knowledge.
• Argala (from the 2nd, 4th and 11th):
  • Jupiter and Ketu in the 11th from Pisces (Capricorn). Jupiter also owns Pisces, so A3 is strongly under Jupiter. Jupiter = astrological and Vedic knowledge. Ketu = spiritual matters.
  • The 4th from Pisces is Gemini. Venus sits there, but because of the Parivartana it is Mercury who has the Argala. Mercury is the planet of mimamsa, of analysis. His book reads like an engineering textbook, more systematic than most astrology books.
• Timing. Ketu's dasha: spiritual books. Jupiter's: Vedic knowledge. Mercury's: analytical books on astrology.
• How many books? Quantity is always difficult. What kind is easy.

Mars and Saturn on A3 — Graha Drishti and Rasi Drishti

A student pointed out that Mars and Saturn also aspect A3. Are they used only for timing?

• Mars in Sagittarius aspects Pisces by his 4th-house Graha Drishti. Saturn in Virgo aspects it by his 7th-house Graha Drishti.
• Sagittarius, Virgo and Pisces are dual signs, and dual signs always aspect each other. So both also have Rasi Drishti on A3.
• Graha Drishti = a desire that is fulfilled in a particular period. In Mars or Saturn antardasha something is written that carries their mark. Graha Drishti and Argala are triggered by dasha and by transit; if you learn dashas well you are set.
• Rasi Drishti = a permanent influence. It always works.
• Saturn in Virgo: laborious, disciplined, systematic application of intelligence.
• Mars in Sagittarius: forceful application of dharma.

"Whenever I write something, it will look blunt because of Mars, and it will look very disciplined because of Shani. If I write, it will be very detailed. And whatever I want to say, if it is right, I just say it brutally, forcefully, bluntly."

Vakri (Retrograde) Planets and Neecha Bhanga

A student asked about Jupiter, retrograde and debilitated in Capricorn in this D-10.

Neecha + Vakri

• Debilitation is bad. But a debilitated planet that is retrograde gives results akin to exaltation. This is Neecha Bhanga. It holds in any chart, Rasi included.
• An exalted planet that is retrograde gives results akin to debilitation. That is bad.
• So this Jupiter is practically exalted.
• Which chart? Apply the rule in the varga where the planet is debilitated. Jupiter is debilitated in PVNR's D-10, not in his Rasi chart, so the question arises only in D-10.
• Notation: the software shows a retrograde planet in parentheses — the convention of Telugu astrologers.

Three ways of Neecha Bhanga

• A student raised the second rule, and PVNR added the third. Neither is "preferable". From Moon works the same as from Lagna.
• Whatever the other two do, retrogression by itself gives Neecha Bhanga, and it works for the whole life.

When the Neecha Bhanga comes without retrogression

Suppose Jupiter were not retrograde and only Saturn and Mars broke the debilitation.

• Jupiter first gives the results of Neecha — some adharmic work.
• The Neecha Bhanga comes when Saturn or Mars takes charge of life: in their dasha, fully. In their antardasha, only if the dasha lord likes Jupiter and is on good terms with the planet giving the Neecha Bhanga (e.g. Jupiter dasha, Mars antardasha).
• Through Saturn — owner of the 5th and 6th, planet of tradition and of hard work: ability in traditional knowledge, and hard labour to understand it.
• Through Mars — owner of the 3rd and 8th: a burning desire and determination, and the pursuit of occult knowledge.
• Either way the Neecha is broken and he does dharmic work. Otherwise he would have done adharmic work.

Retrogression — desire carried from the past life

• A retrograde planet stands for a very strong unfulfilled desire from the past life. That desire is what breaks Jupiter's Neecha here.
• A student asked which desire. From D-10: the houses Jupiter owns — the 4th (knowledge) and the 7th (desire, dealing with people).
• The best chart for it is D-60, the chart of the past life. In PVNR's D-60 (Capricorn lagna) Jupiter is in the 5th in Taurus with Ketu — a spiritual planet with the moksha planet in the house of ability and scholarship: ability in traditional Vedic knowledge in the past life.
• There Jupiter owns the 3rd (communication, writing, spreading knowledge) and the 12th (giving).

"There was a strong desire to communicate astrological knowledge, or some Vedic knowledge, and give it to people. That was carried over from the past life."

Ketu in a sign — count Argala backwards

While showing how the software highlights debilitation signs, ownership, Rasi Drishti, Graha Drishti, Argala and planetary relationships, PVNR picked Capricorn and the highlighted Argala signs looked wrong. They were right.

• If Ketu is in a sign, the Argala places on that sign are counted backwards. Ketu makes everything go backwards. Only Ketu, not Rahu.
• With Ketu in Capricorn, the 2nd, 4th, 5th (secondary Argala) and 11th from Capricorn are counted in reverse.
• For any other sign the count is forward — Taurus: the 2nd, 4th, 5th and 11th from it.

Arudhas in Various Vargas

A student asked whether all this applies to D-60 as well.

• Use Arudhas only in the physical charts (up to D-12) and the mental charts (up to D-24).
• Above that the charts are subconscious. D-60 is supraconscious — what the soul remembers from the past life. What "rising materially" means there is very hard to define.

One hint: AL of D-60 = lagna of the past life

• The lagna of D-60 is not the lagna of the past life. It is what you have to experience in this life.
• The Arudha Lagna of D-60 is the lagna of the past life. Use it as lagna to see what the person did then.

PVNR's D-60: Capricorn lagna. Saturn is in the 10th (Libra); 10th from Libra is Cancer, the 7th from lagna, so the 10th from Cancer is taken — AL = Aries.

• Aries: in the past life a very aggressive, enterprising, bold person.
• Jupiter and Ketu are in the 2nd from it, in Taurus, a sign of Venus. In this life's Rasi chart Jupiter is again in the 2nd in a sign of Venus (Libra).

"So in my last life also I was an astrologer. A reasonably learned astrologer."

Further Rules for Arudhas

A3 as weapons

The 3rd house is also boldness and initiative. For a warrior:

• A man with a big sword is taken to be very brave. A man with a small knife is feared less. A man with a machine gun — people keep away.
• He may hold a big sword and never use it. That is decided by the 3rd from lagna.

Advice: Reading Your Own Chart

A student had been told when young not to look at his own chart. PVNR does not agree.

• The rule exists because people are biased. Shown Mars in Sagittarius in his Arudha Lagna, PVNR accepts "people see me as forceful". Another man will say, "Mars is in Jupiter's house, so it shows a very dharmic image." He twists the rule, and then he learns a twisted rule.
• If you have the maturity to accept good and bad about yourself, your own horoscope is the best instrument for learning.

"With other people, all you know is their Arudha. You see their Arudha Lagna, their A2, their A3, their A5. You don't know their 1st house, 2nd house, 5th house. You have absolutely no idea. How can you judge them?"

Children's charts

• Some say a child's chart should not be seen until a certain age. PVNR: it can be seen as soon as the child is born. His father saw his chart at birth.
• The fear is Balarishta — a learned astrologer pronouncing a short life and his vak-bala making it so. But if there is a Balarishta, seeing the chart is what lets you prescribe a remedy. It is better to see it.
• The bias problem is worse with children. With your own chart you suppress the negative. With your spouse's chart you magnify it. With your children's you do not see it at all. So children's charts are poor material to learn from — again, depending on your maturity.

Two Additional Mantra Analyses

A student's follow-up on the mantra analysis of the earlier class (source = number of words, destination = number of letters, devata sthana = destination plus the difference).

Om Mantra

Everything is the 1st house. It strengthens your very existence.

"Surya" Mantra

Reciting "Surya, Surya, Surya…".

• The god of the mantra, Sun, sits in the 3rd. That is good for Sun: he is a malefic, and the 3rd and 6th — upachayas — are good for him. In the 3rd he gives determination.
• The destination is the 2nd, the house of resources. He gives the resources needed for your karma.
• The strength of the 1st house is taken and used to remove weakness in the 2nd. A good mantra, especially if the 2nd house is weak.

The student's own case: his lagna lord and 2nd lord are in Parivartana. By the exchange the 2nd lord is in effect in the 2nd — he should have resources such as money and speech in plenty. If other influences block the Parivartana, this mantra makes it give its full results, especially if Sun is involved in the Parivartana.