Example Chart (1960) — Shoola Dasha Longevity (Aquarius Dasha Critical), D20 Saturn Dasha Spiritual Life & 3rd from AL = Circumstances of Death

The Father's Chart — Māraka Daśās, Shoola Dasha and the Three-Parts Rule

The chart

• Virgo lagna with Mercury (exalted) and Venus. Jupiter and Saturn in Sagittarius, the 4th. Mars in Gemini, the 10th. Moon in Aries, the 8th. Sun and Rāhu in Leo, the 12th. Ketu in Aquarius, the 6th.
• Jupiter is at 1° Sagittarius: the 7th lord, in own sign, in gaṇḍānta.
• The last class read his finances and career with Lagna Vimshottari and told him never to try the stock market again. This class starts with his son's question: lifespan.

Is a māraka daśā running?

Lagna Vimshottari — Saturn daśā.

• Saturn sits with Jupiter, so Saturn gives Jupiter's results. A student objected that Jupiter is strong in his own sign. The teacher's answer: strength does not block the exchange.

"As far as exchange of results is concerned, whether the planet is strong, whether the planet is exalted, whether the planet is debilitated, whether the planet is in own house or Moolatrikona, all those things don't really matter."

• Only two enemies sharing a sign, like Sun and Rāhu, may fail to exchange. Saturn and Jupiter do exchange.
• Jupiter is the 7th lord, a māraka, the bādhaka lord, and in gaṇḍānta. So the running daśā is not a safe one. Had it been Mercury daśā, there would be no chance at all.

Chandra Vimshottari — Rāhu now, Jupiter next.

• Check a māraka daśā in two or three daśā systems and look for the intersection. Some māraka daśā must be running for a life to end.
• Jupiter will give Saturn's results. Saturn is not a māraka himself, but he is a natural and functional malefic joined to the māraka. Any malefic with the 7th lord, or aspecting the 7th house or its lord, can give the result.
• From the Arudha Lagna (Gemini), Saturn and Jupiter are both in the 7th.

Rudrāṁśa (D-11) — the chart of death.

• D-11 lagna is Taurus. Saturn is in Aquarius, his Moolatrikona, but with Mars and Ketu, the two lords of the 7th.
• Jupiter is the 8th lord there and sits with Rāhu in Leo: a Guru-Chāṇḍāla yoga.
• So both daśā systems show some māraka quality, in the rāśi and in the Rudrāṁśa.

A caution about honesty. This much detail on death is not needed in most charts. With an ordinary client it is fine to give hope and say he has at least ten more years. The class is being exact only because the person asking is himself a serious student of astrology.

Shoola Dasha

"More than Vimshottari, more than Narayana, when you are talking about death, Shoola Dasha is paramount."

• The dangerous signs are the Arudha Lagna, its trines, and the 3rd from it.
• What Jaimini actually taught is to take the stronger of the Arudha Lagna and the Darapada (A7). Here that choice does not arise: AL and A7 are both in Gemini.
• Problem signs: Gemini, Libra, Aquarius (trines) and Leo (3rd from AL).
• The Shoola Dasha running is Aquarius, till 2014 — six more years at the time of the class.
  • Aquarius is a trine from AL.
  • It holds Ketu, who is the 3rd lord from lagna (co-lord of Scorpio).
  • Sun and Rāhu, sitting in the 3rd from AL, aspect it by graha dṛṣṭi.
• So this daśā has the potential. The teacher hopes it is not the one and that he lives into the Gemini daśā, "but there is a chance."

The 3rd from Arudha Lagna — circumstances of death

• The 3rd from AL shows how death comes. Here it is Leo, with Sun and Rāhu.
• Mars there shows suddenness. Rāhu and Ketu show a sudden, violent, unnatural end. Rāhu is here, afflicting the Sun.
• Leo is also the 12th from lagna and holds its own lord, the Sun: it could be in a hospital. Leo and Sun can also show a government or official building, or a politician's house.

"It will be something unfortunate and something sudden and something unnatural. That is what we can say."

The three-parts rule

Fixed signs give short life, movable signs long life, dual signs middle life. When the two factors differ, take the third kind of sign.

• Hora Lagna is in the middle of its sign, so a half-hour error in the birth time either way does not change it.
• Two short and one middle. But there are exceptions the class never covered in full (Jupiter, the lagna lord). Here the lagna lord Mercury is exalted in lagna, and that is a saviour.
• Verdict: by itself a short-life chart; the exception lifts it into middle life, in the lower half of that range.
• With bad Vimshottari daśās running as well, "the current Shoola Dasha of Aquarius is actually quite dangerous."

Remedy and advice

• To prolong life through such a daśā, the only thing is more mantra: Mahāmṛtyuñjaya mantra, and Mahāmṛtyuñjaya homas done with competent priests. Until 2014 is the critical time.
• Do what can be done, and also be prepared.
• To the son: let the father take it easy. Keep his name in whatever business is run and give him a role, since the chart also shows him rising again, but take the day-to-day load off him and let him turn his mind to God.

The Father's Chart — Spiritual Life from the Vimshamsa (D-20)

The father wants to know how his spiritual life will go over the next five to ten years. He says he was not spiritual before and is becoming so now.

The D-20 chart

• D-20 lagna is Leo, with Mars, Jupiter and Saturn in it. Sun is exalted in Aries, the 9th. Mercury is exalted in Virgo, the 2nd. Rāhu and Ketu are both in Aquarius, the 7th.
• Lagna is strong in the rāśi and in the Vimshamsa, so Lagna Vimshottari is used.
• Saturn in lagna is in his maraṇa kāraka sthāna, yet he is not bad here: Saturn in lagna gives discipline, devotion and hard work at spiritual progress.
• Mars is the yogakāraka (4th and 9th lord), Saturn the 7th lord, Jupiter the 5th lord. The 4th, 5th, 7th and 9th lords together in lagna make several rāja yogas.
• Lagna lord Sun is exalted in the 9th and the 9th lord Mars is in lagna: a parivartana between lagna and the 9th.

"He says he was never spiritual"

• Forget what he says and read the chart. With the 9th this strong he must have had the religious side: going to temples, attending pūjās, respecting a priest. And he does not deny that.
• Take feedback in perspective. People report their past from where they stand now.
• The 9th house is the organised-religion side of spirituality. A karma-yogi for whom work is worship is seen from the 6th and 10th, not the 9th.
• What has changed is the level: from temple-going to wanting to experience Ātman and Brahman, what the Upanishads describe.

Why now — Saturn daśā

• Saturn and Jupiter are together, so Saturn gives Jupiter's results.
• Jupiter is the 5th lord (bhakti) and the 8th lord (the hidden one — searching for it, finding it, tapasya).
• The 8th house falls in Pisces, the sign of the Ṛṣis, and the 8th lord is in lagna.

"The 8th house falling in such a good house and the 8th lord being in lagna and his results being given right now by Saturn, there is that interest in finding the unknown, in experiencing something."

• Mercury antardaśā, about to start: Mercury is exalted in the 2nd and aspects the 8th house. Good for sādhana.
• Ketu after that: very auspicious.

"Rahu and Ketu are actually karakas for serious sadhana, not just religious rituals, but for real sadhana which makes you understand God."

Narayana Dasha of the Vimshamsa

• Aquarius daśā is running. It holds Rāhu and Ketu. In many charts, when the 8th house, the 8th lord or the nodes come to the fore in a daśā, the questions start: who is God, what are the Vedas and Upanishads, how can I experience Him.
• The daśā is read in three parts of two years each:
  • September 2007 – September 2009: the sign itself. Aquarius is the 7th house: interaction with people on spiritual matters, and kāma — desire — for spiritual progress.
  • Next two years: the lords, Rāhu and Saturn. Saturn is with the 8th lord; Rāhu is the kāraka. The pursuit matures.
  • Last two years: occupants and aspectors. Rāhu and Ketu in the sign, the Sun aspecting. Better still.
• So from now till 2013 there is a ramp-up in the spiritual focus.

Drig Dasha

• Sagittarius daśā began in September 2007. The progressed lagna is Aries.
• The 9th from the progressed lagna is Sagittarius itself, the daśā sign, holding Saturn and Jupiter. The 9th lord in the 9th, and he is the kāraka of Guru.
• In this daśā he finds a Guru, or a Guru already in his life comes in strongly and guides him.
• In the daśā-praveśa chart the 9th lord Jupiter is in the 8th, and the 8th lord Mars aspects the 8th: the house of sādhana and tapasya is strong.
• The 5th is strong in both: Sun with Rāhu in the natal chart (Leo, 5th from the progressed lagna Aries), Sun with Ketu and Saturn in the daśā-praveśa chart.

What kind of sādhana

• The 5th is the house of mantra and bhakti. Sun there with malefics shows an Ugra Devatā: Rudra rather than Shiva. Hanuman, an aṁśa of Rudra, fits.
• Malefics also show intensity: the leg hurts, the body hurts, and he goes on with the mantra. Benefics show milder sādhana.
• Advice: learn the Hanuman Chalisa and chant it 54 times every day. It is plain Hindi, needs no svara, and is easy to learn.
• The Ishta Devatā was worked out in the last class. Apart from the astrology, the teacher's intuition is that Hanuman is the one who will help him.

The Father's Chart — His Wife Read from the Navamsa

The son asks about his mother. She is the native's wife, so she is read from the father's chart.

The reference point

• A specific fear, such as fear of closed spaces, would need an accurate Shashtiamsa (D-60). The teacher once caught exactly that in one chart from the D-60, helped by intuition. With no certain D-60 here, the Navamsa is used, and a phobia cannot be read from it.
• Take L7 — the ārūḍha of the 7th lord — in the Navamsa as the spouse's lagna. The 7th lord Jupiter is in Aries and L7 falls in Leo. (The Navamsa lagna itself is Gemini; ignore it for this.)

Wealth

• From Leo, Saturn is the 6th and 7th lord in the 2nd (Virgo), and Mercury, the 2nd lord, is in Capricorn: a parivartana between the 2nd and 6th lords. Saturn daśā is running.
• Saturn in the 2nd depletes wealth. But after a threshold Saturn acts as Mercury — the 2nd lord in the 2nd, exalted.
• So the daśā depletes at first, and after Mercury antardaśā triggers the exchange it can bring wealth back.

Vitality

• The 3rd house is the house of vitality and physical energy. Lagna is the root.
• From Leo the 3rd (Libra) holds Mars the bādhaka lord, Rāhu, and Moon the 12th lord: beaten down. That matches a weak, inactive person.
• The blessing is that the 3rd lord Venus is strong. Jupiter aspects the 3rd but he is the 8th lord. Mars, as yogakāraka, redeems more than Jupiter does.

Pitta

• Lagna lord Sun is in Scorpio, a sign of Mars. When the Sun as lagna lord is in a Martian or fiery sign, pitta is strong. Mars, with Rāhu and a māraka, is again a pitta planet.
• The son confirms she has migraines. A badly placed Sun and pitta give headaches.
• Remedy: worship the Sun with a Sūrya mantra to ease the headaches.
• Diet: no pickles, no chillies. Use equal parts coriander, cumin and fennel seed, roasted and ground, as the base spice; it balances all three doṣas. A little black pepper or dry ginger for warmth. Mild vegetables: beans, carrots, cucumber, squash, peas.

Health and spirituality

• Saturn as 6th lord can give health worries, but there is no bad affliction of lagna or lagna lord involving the 6th and 8th lords, and not in the daśās running now. Health should be reasonable.
• The 8th lord Jupiter is in the 9th with Ketu. "8th lord with Ketu is enough for spirituality." The 12th lord Moon is opposite them, on the Rāhu–Ketu axis.
• She is spiritual, perhaps more than her husband.

Preparing for Death

• All of us die, today or a hundred years on. Astrologers have a little more idea, and still do not know for sure.
• What decides the next gati is not what was done through life but the thought at the time of death.
• When the body gives in and control over it is cut off stage by stage, it is frightening and confusing the first time. The mind runs to everything left undone. Whatever desire is in the mind when prāṇa leaves sets the agenda for the next life.

"The goal of all sadhana is to cut off this attachment with the body even while you are alive. Simulate the death … so that you practice what to do at the end."

• Someone who knows he has five or ten years should prepare. In fact everyone should, all the time.