Panchanga 5 Tattvas, Nakshatra Suktam & Special Nakshatras from Moon

Panchanga — The 5 Limbs of Time and Their Tattvas

Panchanga = the 5 limbs of time: Tithi, Vara, Nakshatra, Yoga, Karana. They are the 5 classifications of time and they stand for the Pancha Bhutas (5 elements):

Order of Creation and What to Strengthen First

• The first thing created was space, Akasha. Then Vayu. Then fire, water, earth.
• To strengthen something, first strengthen the space within it. "Without it, nothing exists."
• Next comes Vayu. If Vayu is not calm and stable, "there is either no strength or there is too much of strength" — instability.
• Only then can fire, water and earth be put in, so that all 5 elements come into being.
• So among tithi, karana and nakshatra, nakshatra comes first:

"More than the tithi, more than the karana, it is the nakshatra that is the first thing."

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Nakshatra — Why It Matters

Vayu Tattva

• Nakshatra shows the airy nature of time.
• Vayu is what makes you move and do things. If you sit here and your thoughts travel to someone in India, that is Vayu. If you are perturbed, that also is Vayu.
• Positive side: energy and force to do things.
• Disturbed, vitiated Vayu: disturbance, tension, anxiety.

"Vayu is that which sets you in motion. Which sets things in motion, which keeps things moving."

Where to Look

• Someone says "I am very unhappy at work." Look at the 10th house and the planets, and at the muhurta in which he joined the job — all the panchanga elements of that moment.
• Everything may be fine but the Vayu tattva bad: he chose a bad nakshatra, say Ashlesha, the nakshatra ruled by the snake, and the nakshatra lord is also badly placed.
• Someone says "I have been out of a job for a long time, I am trying but it is not working." There may be a big Vayu-tattva problem: things cannot be set in motion.
• A planet may look fine by every other measure and still carry built-in tension and anxiety. It will not give its results until the person goes through that anxiety, "unless a lot of things move."
• The remedy for any nakshatra problem is the mantra of the nakshatra's deity.

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Nakshatra Suktam — Vedic Mantras for the Nakshatra Deities

What It Is

• Nakshatra Suktam = Vedic chants praising the deities of the nakshatras. One stanza for each nakshatra.
• A student had asked whether the class could read it. PVNR starts a new practice: after the prayer, one or two nakshatras are read at the beginning of every class, so the recordings can be used for practice. This class: Krittika and Rohini. Next class: Mrigashira and Ardra.
• The text with svara marks is in a Ramakrishna Mission book of Vedic mantras (the recording sounds like "Mantra Bhushan"; the class notes name Mantra Pushpam).

Deity vs Vimshottari Lord

• Which planet rules a nakshatra comes from the Vimshottari table (Ashwini–Ketu, Bharani–Venus, Krittika–Sun…). That list is secondary: it holds only for Vimshottari. In Ashtottari the planetary rulers are different.
• The deities are standard, whatever dasha is used. The list is in the table at the beginning of PVNR's book Vedic Astrology: An Integrated Approach.

• A student asks whether the mantra is the deity's mantra or the nakshatra's. It is both: a mantra for the deity as the ruler of that nakshatra, not a generic mantra for that deity.

Organization

• The suktam starts from Krittika, goes round the zodiac and ends in Bharani. Some dashas also use the Krittika system.
• There are 28 mantras, including Abhijit.
• The software reports a planet's nakshatra on the 27-nakshatra scheme. For a planet shown in Uttarashadha, work out whether it is in Uttarashadha or in Abhijit. "That's the only tricky part."

Reciting

• Vedic mantras have svara: some sounds are pronounced low, some with stress. PVNR says he is not perfect himself. Read with the right intonation they are very powerful.
• He does not give the meanings. Vedic grammar differs from later Sanskrit, and he is not sure the printed text is always right — dadātu ("may he give") or dadhātu; both have a meaning, and the difference may be a corruption that came through Tamil script, which does not separate those letters.
• You do not need the meaning to get the effect.

"Even if you read them as they are, even in their imperfect state, Vedic mantras are so powerful."

• The saying that a donkey which eats a book of Veda mantras gets Self-knowledge is an exaggeration, he says. But take one mantra and keep at it a few hours every day and "you will really get Self-Knowledge."
• Simple alternative: Vedic Remedies in Astrology by Pandit Sanjay Rath gives plain "Om … namah" mantras for the nakshatras. "But the Vedic mantras have a strength of their own."

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Special Nakshatras from Moon — Choosing Which Nakshatra to Propitiate

Counted from the natal Moon's nakshatra on the 28-nakshatra scheme (Abhijit is counted):

• The software list has more (Samudayika, Sanghatika, Desha and others); they are only named.
• Example on screen: Moon in Ashwini → Karma nakshatra = Magha, the 10th.
• Abhisheka is also the nakshatra that binds:

"Power is basically what binds you. This shows how free you are or how bound you are."

• Vainashika may be hurting because a planet is activating it in transit, or because a dasha corresponding to it is running.
• Career trouble: "just take your Karma nakshatra blindly" and read its mantra as many times as you can every day. It changes how the career goes and above all how you perceive it.

In JH Software

• Main longitude window → pop-up menu → "Special taras/nakshatras from Moon".

The Nakshatra of an Important Planet

• You can also take the nakshatra occupied by an important planet or by the planets of a yoga.
• Raja yoga: 9th and 10th lords together in Anuradha → propitiate the deity of Anuradha.
• Hamsa yoga: Aries lagna, Jupiter exalted in Cancer in the 4th house — a Mahapurusha yoga. Suppose it is not working and Jupiter is in Ashlesha. Jupiter is no favourite of Sarpa, so he has no nakshatra bala. Whatever his other strength, he has a Vayu-tattva problem.
• Rahu in Ashlesha would be very powerful: Rahu's nature and the nature of the deity are alike, so there is harmony.
• So for a planet in a nakshatra that does not suit it, take that nakshatra and propitiate its deity.

Two Rules

• Use the natal chart — not the annual, monthly or daily charts.
• A wrong choice does no harm:

"If you select a wrong nakshatra, don't think that you will get a bad effect. … You may not get the result that you are aspiring, but you will get a good result only."

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