Narayana Dasha — Rasi Dasha Foundation, Cosmic Framework & Calculations

Why Narayana Dasha Is Different

Nakshatra Dashas vs Rasi Dashas

All the dashas used so far (Vimshottari and the conditional nakshatra dashas) start from the nakshatra of Moon and progress it. "Jupiter dasha" for someone born in Purva Bhadrapada is really Purva Bhadrapada's dasha; the next is Uttara Bhadrapada's, then Revati's.

• Moon rules the division of the zodiac into 27 nakshatras. Moon is mind and perception.
• Sun is the karaka for the division of the zodiac into 12 signs. Sun has 12 forms, the 12 Adityas, one for each sign. Sun shows truth.
• Nakshatra dashas = how you feel, react and perceive. Life seen from the vantage point of the person's mind.
• Rasi dashas = what is happening on the ground — the ultimate truth at a given point of time.

"Somebody may be a very successful lawyer, but he may be very unhappy. He may not perceive any success at all during that time when he is considered by others as a successful lawyer. In that case, Vimshottari Dasha may not actually show that success."

"Narayana Dasha talks about the ground reality. It doesn't care what you think. It doesn't care what people think. It tells you what is happening on the ground."

Its Origin and Status

• Those who specialise in Jaimini's teachings use many Rasi dashas; Chara Dasha is the popular one. (There is no separate "Jaimini astrology" — Jaimini taught some of Parashara's teachings in more detail.)
• Narayana Dasha is a generalisation of Chara Dasha — more generic and more powerful.
• In the parampara it is the king of all dashas. It is Pt. Sanjay Rath's favourite dasha.
• It is not a conditional dasha. It applies to every chart and can always be used.
• Some astrologers predict with Narayana Dasha alone and do not look at Vimshottari at all.

The Cosmic Foundation — Brahma, Shiva, and Narayana

Narayana Dasha is the progression of lagna. In Vimshottari you progress Moon's nakshatra; here you progress the lagna sign. The dasha sign at any time is the new lagna, and it changes every few years. The progression need not be linear.

The catch: the dasha does not always start from lagna.

"Lagna and the 7th house are the abodes of Brahma and Shiva within you. And the stronger of those, that is where Narayana lives."

• So Narayana Dasha does not necessarily start from lagna. It starts from lagna or the 7th house, whichever is stronger.
• Do not mix this up with Part 4. Here Brahma and Shiva are in houses (1st and 7th). In Part 4 Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva rule signs (movable, dual, fixed).

How to Find the Starting Point — Comparing Lagna and 7th House

Compare the two signs with these rules, in order. Go to the next rule only on a tie. (The software does this; it does not hurt to know the rules.)

Rule 1: Number of Planets

• Count all 9 planets, Rahu and Ketu included. Lagna itself does not count as a planet.
• The sign with more planets wins.

Rule 2: Mercury, Jupiter, and the Sign's Own Lord

• See how many of these three occupy the sign or aspect it by rasi drishti (argala is not considered).
• The sign connected with more of the three wins.
• If Mercury is himself the lord of the sign, he counts twice.

Rule 3: Exalted Planet

• A sign holding an exalted planet beats one that holds none. If both hold one, it is a tie.

Rule 4: Oddity of the Sign and of the Lord's Sign

• Note whether the sign is odd or even, and whether the sign occupied by its lord is odd or even.
• Different (one odd, one even) = good. Same = weak. The sign with the differing pair wins.
• Example: Pisces is even; its lord Jupiter is in Libra, an odd sign. Different — good.
• Reason: the sign is the inanimate circumstance; the lord is the intelligence driving it. Odd signs carry male energy, even signs female. When the two differ, both energies work together. When they are the same there is only one kind of energy — less powerful.
• If one sign is odd, the 7th from it is always odd too. So this rule is settled by where the two lords sit.

Rule 5: Degree of the Lord

• See how far each lord has advanced in the sign he occupies. The sign whose lord has more degrees wins. On equal degrees look at minutes, then seconds.
• A student asked what happens if they are exactly equal. PVNR: he does not know a rule; it practically never happens; his guess is to use the Naisargika (natural) strength of the planets.

Worked Exercise: Gemini vs Sagittarius (teacher's chart)

Done only as an exercise — as if Sagittarius were rising on that day.

• Rule 1: both signs empty. Tie.
• Rule 2: dual signs are aspected by the other dual signs. Mercury (Aries) and Jupiter (Libra) are in none of them. Gemini's lord is Mercury, Sagittarius' lord is Jupiter. Count 0 and 0. Tie.
• Rule 3: no exalted planet in either. Tie.
• Rule 4: Gemini is odd, Mercury is in Aries (odd). Sagittarius is odd, Jupiter is in Libra (odd). Both weak. Tie.
• Rule 5: Mercury is at 3°07' Aries; Jupiter is at 9°45' Libra. Jupiter is more advanced. Sagittarius wins.

The Actual Start (teacher's chart): Virgo vs Pisces

• Virgo lagna has 0 planets. Pisces (7th) has Sun.
• Rule 1 settles it: Narayana Dasha starts from Pisces.

The Three Types of Progression

Once the starting sign is known, the order of the dashas depends on which deity rules that sign:

Brahma — Movable Signs (Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn)

• Movable signs have rajasic energy. Brahma sets creation in motion.
• Brahma's progression: the regular order, one sign after the next. Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer… (or the reverse when counting backward).

Shiva — Fixed Signs (Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius)

• Shiva stops the motion.
• Shiva's progression: every 6th sign.
• From Leo: Leo → Capricorn → Gemini → Scorpio → Aries → Virgo → Aquarius → Cancer → Sagittarius → Taurus → Libra → Pisces. The next 6th is Leo again. Every sign is covered once.

Vishnu — Dual Signs (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces)

• Vishnu is the devata of dharma, so his progression goes by trikonas.
• 1st, 5th, 9th (dharma trikona). Then shift by one sign to the 10th and take its trines: 10th, 2nd, 6th (artha). Shift again: 7th, 3rd, 11th (kama). Shift again: 4th, 8th, 12th (moksha).
• 1-5-9, 10-2-6, 7-3-11, 4-8-12 — houses from the starting sign.

Forward or Backward? — Odd-Footed vs Even-Footed Signs

All three progressions can run zodiacally or anti-zodiacally.

Rule: take the 9th sign from the starting sign. If it is odd-footed, go forward. If it is even-footed, go backward.

• Odd-footed: Aries, Taurus, Gemini; Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius
• Even-footed: Cancer, Leo, Virgo; Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces

This is not odd/even sign by sign. It goes three signs at a time — the three padas (strides) of Vishnu, by which he maintains dharma.

PVNR first stated this rule in class as "9th sign odd or even", got the wrong order, and corrected himself: it is odd-footed or even-footed. He had not computed the dasha by hand since coding it in his software.

Example (teacher's chart) — start from Pisces

• Pisces is a dual sign → Vishnu's progression.
• 9th from Pisces = Scorpio = odd-footed → count forward.
• Sequence: Pisces, Cancer, Scorpio · Sagittarius, Aries, Leo · Virgo, Capricorn, Taurus · Gemini, Libra, Aquarius.

Dasha Length Calculation

The length is not fixed per sign as in Vimshottari. It changes from chart to chart.

Basic Rule

1. Take the dasha sign and find its lord.
2. If the dasha sign is odd-footed count forward; if even-footed count backward. (This is the dasha sign itself — not the 9th from it. The 9th is used only for the order of the dashas.)
3. Count houses from the sign to the lord, both included, and subtract 1. Or, the same thing: start counting from the next sign.
4. That number is the dasha in years.

Exceptions

Hypotheticals worked in class:

• Jupiter in Capricorn: Pisces dasha = 2 by count (backward), minus 1 for debilitation = 1 year.
• Jupiter in Cancer: Pisces dasha = 8 by count, plus 1 for exaltation = 9 years.
• Mercury in Virgo: Virgo dasha = 12 years. Gemini dasha = 3 by count (forward), plus 1 = 4 years.

Maximum 12 years, minimum 0. PVNR adds that there are two or three further exceptions he did not teach in this class.

Two Cycles

• After all 12 signs are over they repeat. In the second cycle each sign gives what it did not give in the first: Pisces gives 5 years now, so 7 years in the second cycle.
• First cycle + second cycle = 12 years for every sign. The dasha supports a maximum of 12 × 12 = 144 years.

Two Lords — Scorpio and Aquarius

Scorpio: Mars and Ketu. Aquarius: Saturn and Rahu. Narayana has no bias toward Mars and Saturn; the stronger lord is taken.

• First rule: if one of the two lords is in the sign itself, he does not count as lord. Take the other.
• Second rule (only when both are outside the sign): the one conjoined with more planets.

Calculations (teacher's chart)

Narayana Dasha is easy to compute by hand — two or three minutes on a slip of paper. Do a couple of charts manually and compare with the software. Antardasha calculation is left for a later class.