Karakamsa = D20 Vimshamsa NOT Navamsa (Parashara: D20 = Upasana, Navamsa = Marriage); Ishta Devata = 12th from AK in D20; Rahu AK = Count Anti-Clockwise; Mahavidyas for Moksha ONLY (NOT Material Goals); 7 vs 8 Charakarakas = Same Degree → Use 8 (Parashara's Criterion)

Ishta Devata — Karakamsa = D20, NOT Navamsa

The question came from a student who wanted guidance on worship for this native.

What Parashara Says

From the 12th from Karakamsa, by the planets influencing it:

What Tradition Did With It

• Took "amsa" to mean Navamsa by default: 12th from Atmakaraka in D9.
• Replaced Parashara's list with others: the ten avataras (Sun = Rama, Moon = Krishna, Mars = Narasimha …), or the Mahavidyas.
• "People were seeing trees without seeing the forest." A person may not be fit to worship a Vishnu avatara or a Mahavidya, and is given one anyway.

PVNR's Position: Vimshamsa

• At the beginning Parashara gave the key: parents from D12, upasana from D20, learning from D24.
• After that he writes only "amsa" in many places and never names Vimshamsa or Chaturvimshamsa again. If amsa always meant Navamsa, he defined the others for nothing.
• A rule about a person's upasana is therefore read in the amsa of upasana.

"To me, Karakamsa is not the Karaka's Navamsa. It is the Karaka's Vimshamsa. So take the Atmakaraka in the Vimshamsa and take the 12th from him."

• Influences to weigh: the 12th sign, planets in it, planets aspecting it, its lord.
• Planets in the 12th are certainly counted; see which is strongest.
• Any of these associated with Rahu or Ketu dominates. Association with Ketu, karaka of moksha, helps.
• For the 12th lord, the sign he is in matters, not the house.
• Stick to Parashara's list. Do not be over-ambitious about naming a specific form (Dakshina Kali, Bhadrakali, Smashana Tara …) without guidelines.
• PVNR's article on this, with ten or twelve charts (Vivekananda, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Ramana Maharshi and others), is in his Jyotish Writings group.

Rahu as Atmakaraka — Count in Reverse

• If Rahu is Atmakaraka, count the 12th anti-zodiacally.
• Rahu's advancement in a sign for chara karakas is measured in reverse. Argalas from Rahu are taken in reverse. "Everything is reverse for Rahu. His view of the world is reverse."

This Chart

• Rahu is Atmakaraka with 8 chara karakas, and also with Parashara's mixed 7/8 scheme.
• D20: Rahu in Aquarius. 12th counted anti-clockwise = Pisces. It is empty.
• Lord Jupiter → Shiva. Sun in Virgo aspects Pisces (by graha dṛṣṭi and by rāśi dṛṣṭi) → Shiva. Jupiter is in Leo, a solar sign. The strong influences are Sun and Jupiter.
• Advice: a Shiva mantra. The native was already worshipping Shiva.
• Navamsa happens to agree here: Rahu in Scorpio, and counted clockwise the 12th is Libra with Jupiter in it.

Ramakrishna Paramahamsa — Where the Navamsa Reading Fails

• In an old debate, the Navamsa method gave the 12th from Atmakaraka as Sagittarius with Sun in it. Jupiter and Sun → Vamana or Rama among avataras, Tara or Matangi among the Mahavidyas of the traditional list.
• The argument made for it: the Kali of that temple is Bhavatarini, so "actually Tara"; and he had a childhood experience of Rama.
• PVNR's answer: this man talked with Kali day and night and saw Kali in everything. When he was offered Nirvikalpa Samadhi, beyond all forms, he first asked Kali's permission, and she said, "Go ahead. I sent him to you."

"Anybody who tells you Kali is not his Ishta Devata because of the formulas they use, they are basically doing something wrong."

• A student asked whether he deprived himself, as Kali's way requires. Yes: he threw an expensive shawl into the Ganga because the mind would be drawn to it; he threw money and stone into the Ganga saying "money is stone, stone is money"; he sat in a cremation ground for six months.
• If the formulas fail for those who found their Ishta Devata and reached God, what assurance is there in the advice given to those who are only aspiring?

Do Not Worry Too Much

• One can worship any deity and reach moksha. One deity may suit better because of sadhana done in the past.
• Ishta Devata is not like finding a job or a field of study. Ramakrishna was not sent to Kali by an astrologer; his brother took him to a Kali temple and she took over his life.

"If somebody is destined to make spiritual progress, Ishta Devata will find the person."

Mahavidyas — PVNR's Mapping vs Tradition

Mahavidyas Are for Moksha

• Vidya is knowledge; Mahavidya is supreme knowledge. In all Tantra texts they are the deities who free you from the cycle of life and death.
• They are not for winning a court case, success in career or getting a job. "For that there are so many other smaller deities."
• Prescriptions PVNR calls nonsense: Bagalamukhi for litigation because Mars is litigation; Chinnamasta or a Varaha mantra because Rahu is 12th from Atmakaraka in Navamsa. Parashara said Rahu is Durga.
• One man out of a job was told: Rahu is in the 6th from your Amatyakaraka in Navamsa, so worship Chinnamasta and you will get a job.

"This is absolute craziness. This is basically half knowledge stretched to its limit."

• Chinnamasta's form is abstract symbolism for something higher: she holds her own severed head, three streams of blood feed the head and two attendants, with a couple in union beside her. Worshipping her or Dhumavati for a job or a child is wrong.

The Traditional Mapping

• Sun → Matangi; Moon → Bhuvaneshwari; Mars → Bagalamukhi; Mercury → Tripurasundari.
• It comes from one text written a few centuries ago by a scholar, not a rishi. Why he mapped them so is unclear. No Tantra or rishi supports it.

PVNR's Mapping

• Tantra equates each Mahavidya with an avatara: Rama is a manifestation of Tara, Krishna of Kali, and so on.
• Parashara links each planet to an avatara.
• Put together, planets map to Mahavidyas, and the list differs from tradition.

• The full list was posted earlier to the Yahoo groups; only these four are worked through in class.
• Each Mahavidya approaches Maya from one direction. Master that direction, then work out the whole of Maya from it. Whichever is worshipped, the goal is the same: to overcome Maya and become one with Brahman.

7 vs 8 Charakarakas

"If two planets are in the same degree, then you use 8 karakas. If not, you use 7 karakas."

• PVNR: neither is right for all charts. One is right in some charts, the other in the rest.
• Check: Parashara's Karaka Dasha. It shows death and the periods of rise correctly only when the right count, 7 or 8, is used for that chart. PVNR's article on chara karakas has the examples.
• Software: Jagannatha Hora → Preferences → Related to calculations → Chara karaka calculation scheme → "mixed 7/8 chara karakas of Parasara". With that option it applies the criterion by itself.
• In the example chart Rahu is Atmakaraka under either scheme.

Chara karaka replacement theory (PVNR disagrees):

• The theory: one planet is the karaka for part of life and another takes over later.
• Parashara never spoke of dashas triggering karakas. They are fixed by the birth chart.
• Karakas decide basic things such as the Ishta Devata. It is not logical that these change in the course of life.
• PVNR's reading: there are 7 or 8 portfolios. Usually each planet gets one. Sometimes planets contest, one gets several, and another gets none.

On Research

A student asked what it means when the 12th lord from Karakamsa sits in Karakamsa.

• It surely means something, and one can guess. A guess must be validated on many charts.
• Many astrologers are weak in research and conclude from one or two charts. "The haste to declare that I know this will result in wrong knowledge."
• So much water has been mixed into the milk that separating them now takes heat.
• PVNR's rules: base the work on the words of the rishis and interpret them faithfully; use intuition to a limited extent; when you do, use many charts and do not jump to conclusions.