Watched Raavan recently and couldn't help but wonder... What the heck were you thinking Mr Mani? Seriously?? I have seen some bad movies before like Prem, Iruvar, Army, Rajkumar, a few Mithunda's movies etc.. but have never been as repulsed by any. And none of these had a script backed by the greatest author in Indian history. So atleast they had an excuse to be so bad. And calling your latest master piece -- Your Aag -- will be a grave insult to RGV, really!! But I am finally happy that I have been proved right!! You did not reaally lose it this time. To me.. you never really had it!! So there you go. You have proved sir that you are the most overrated and under talented director in history of Cinema. For how can anyone totally screw up an excellent, off the shelf script-- A script that was written so well in the ancient past that it lasted 1000s of years in the hearts and minds of Indians as Itihaas. Hats off!!
Well to be fair, I admit that you are good at telling simple stories.. be it Geetanjali or Anjali or Mounaragam or Gharshana.. ofcourse supported ably by the genius of Illayaraja. But the megalomaniac in you pushes you to take up a larger than life topic like Bombay or Roja or Dil Se or Guru or Iruvar or Raavan. And then you make a complete mess of it. Granted a few of the above were money spinners but ..oh.. come on.. Take out ARR from the equation and you might as well get complete duds... To be frank, I could not relate to many of the movies you made. What the heck was your point in your movies since early 90's??..other than the fact that ARR is the best music director and xyz is the best cinematographer??? Were you giving a message.. Duh.. Were your giving a solution. Nope...
So My Dear Mani Sir.. my humble request to you. Please stick to your core competency (I doubt if there is any) and make simple stories in one language you are most comfortable with. and ofcourse please continue using the services of Illayaraja/ARR. Else u cant make money on the simple ones too. And please spare us poor audience from stupid irrelavant pretentious halfbaked gyan on Kashmir and Mumbai and the rise of Ambanis.. where u neither make any relevant point nor offer any feasible solution.. Please stop making movies just to kill your worthless time.. Please spare us poor indians all the crores u spend on dull boring drab insipid crap. And most importantly, for heavens sake please dont mess up something as sacred and beautiful as Ramayana.. Quiet frankly I am sure you dont have the balls to tell such a story. Now if you cannot make a simple reproduction of an epic without messing it up so badly, dont you think its time to hang up ur thinking ass. Above all, dont you see that spending 100 Crores on something as stupid as Raavan is a crime against Indian poor??
Monday, July 12, 2010
The One with the menace of Saturn
Its been a while since I wrote anything worth while. Have been busy with many things off late. Part of the problem is that I am running through the first phase of Sade Sathi and could clearly experience the dullness and monotony that has set in since last september. Things are way too slow. An astrologer once told me that Sade Sathi starts when one has maxed out utilizing skills one has learnt in the past 30 years. Its time to buckle up and retool oneself to prepare for the next 30 years. Its like starting your life all over again. I feel almost the same now. The next 4-5 years should be very interesting and definitely not easy. Nothing is good at work place for now. I see hostility everywhere.
But on a happier note, I was glad that Nadal has won Wimbledon again. Its always nice to see someone so humble reach the top. Although it wasn't as shocking to see Federer being so ungracious in defeat. A person's true character is often exposed in adversity. Federer could have given more credit to Berdych, despite anything. But he just did nothing. Infact I have rarely seen Federer give credit to an opponent after a loss (except to Nadal & DelPotro may be). So unbecoming of a Great Champion. But Federer is now running the first phase of Sade Sathi.. just like me and the first casuality of this Saturn return is the mass support that he has enjoed so far. So may be this is the time he needs to re-tool himself if he wants to continue winning till 2015 (as he claims). Saturn is the greatest of life's teachers. His phase will teach even the Great Federer (who does not believe in hiring a coach/guru btw) quiet a few lessons in the next few years, which, in all probability will be very eventful for the tennis GOAT (Greatest Of All Time).
Btw Dr Paul beats me completely.
But on a happier note, I was glad that Nadal has won Wimbledon again. Its always nice to see someone so humble reach the top. Although it wasn't as shocking to see Federer being so ungracious in defeat. A person's true character is often exposed in adversity. Federer could have given more credit to Berdych, despite anything. But he just did nothing. Infact I have rarely seen Federer give credit to an opponent after a loss (except to Nadal & DelPotro may be). So unbecoming of a Great Champion. But Federer is now running the first phase of Sade Sathi.. just like me and the first casuality of this Saturn return is the mass support that he has enjoed so far. So may be this is the time he needs to re-tool himself if he wants to continue winning till 2015 (as he claims). Saturn is the greatest of life's teachers. His phase will teach even the Great Federer (who does not believe in hiring a coach/guru btw) quiet a few lessons in the next few years, which, in all probability will be very eventful for the tennis GOAT (Greatest Of All Time).
Btw Dr Paul beats me completely.
Saturday, May 8, 2010
The one where I should have let my talk do the working
Satisfying one’s boss at work is not an easy task. But it is a necessary (if not sufficient) criterion for growth. As one becomes upwardly mobile, this task transcends all perceived boundaries of “traditional work” and becomes an art in itself. When one is with one’s boss, one should say and do the right things at the right time. Whatever that means! If this sounds like global gyaan, please forgive me. If I knew better, I would not be writing about it.
The point is, unfortunately, I belong to a class of workers (whom I prefer calling Soldiers) who swear by “Let my work do the talking”. Most of you would easily relate to this class. But I had quiet the privilege of closely observing a second class of workers, let’s call them artists just for yucks. The more I observed them, the more it became clear to me that being an artist is not for the uninformed or the faint hearted. However ironical it might sound, the weaklings always end up as soldiers in corporate circus. Here, it is the artists that run the show. It is not amazing that you will find more artists than soldiers as you climb up the ladder. I realized this long time back, when I was working for a well known IT Company in India (lets call it BABA Consultants).
Just as everything in this world is not in black and white, a few of whom I came across could not relate to artists or soldiers. They are the shades of grey in between. They could be dangerous at times. But I will explain this in another post.
What I have also observed is that many times it is your boss and his environment that decides which class you should belong to, even if you don’t like it. If your boss is a smart soldier, can you imagine being an artist? If your boss is a clever artist, will he allow you to be another one? I don’t know the answers for these. But you could try it and let me know.
A few years ago, when I was in the US, working for a client of BABA Consultants, I had the privilege of working under a mallu boss (let us call him RG). One fine day he called my extension and invited me for an appraisal discussion. He seemed to be in a cheerful mood. As usual I had worked my butts off for the previous year and came to the appraisal discussion straight from a glowing review from my client manager. My boss seemed quite happy with my performance. I was just 2 years into the company and I was already the onsite tech lead for a set of very complex customer facing applications. I was the only one in my group who had “REAL” experience in the technology (someday I will write about “naareal” experience if time and readers permit). I had fixed quite a few serious issues in the project. The soldier in me was elated, dreaming of the 2000 INR pm hike (there were no hikes at onsite) and a sure shot early promotion knocking at my doors.
My discussion went quiet well. My boss gave me a 5 rating on a scale of 1-5 where 5 is the best. Or let us call it “Exceeded All Expectations”. But he informed me that my promotion is in the hands of my super boss (the boss of my boss). I felt a huge lump in my throat. I have never factored in the super boss in my calculations. As a 2 year old fledgling in BABA Consultants, I was still naïve with these things. MY super boss never worked with me. He never sought my customer’s feedback about me. All he knew about me was what my boss preferred to pass on to him. Shit!!!. But I went back with the satisfaction that my rating and my boss’s good word would help push my case.
Two weeks later, I received a two sentence email from boss calling me for a second appraisal discussion. I went there quite confident that my promotion would be finalized. He received me with a stoic expression and informed me that due to "sudden and unexpected circumstances" my rating has been cut to 3 (Exceeded some expectations) from 5. I was shell shocked. I asked him for an explanation. He said a lot but the essence of his gyaan was that my super boss had a larger team and that there is some obscure curve called the normalization curve in which my super boss’s team including me had to be fit in and I did not fit in that well.
Just two weeks back I was exceeding all expectations but in the “changed scheme of things” I would not even be counted as exceeding some expectations. He told me that with great difficulty he convinced the super boss to give me a 3.
Now this was news to me, not just my promotion, but even my rating was to be decided by some entity who does not bother to know anything about me. I had a big fight with my boss on this. Little did I realize that worse was yet to come. Two more weeks later I recieved an auto triggered email which read something to the effect “Dear Associate, Your Final Rating for the year 2001-2002 has been decided. In recognition of your performance and hard work for this year, you have been awarded a rating of 2 (Meet all Expectations) for this year. Please click on the link below and close your appraisal discussion”. I also came to know through unofficial sources that my Boss was awarded a 4 (Exceeds most expectations). I did not get how my boss could exceed most expectations while his team members are as inadequate as me. I moved out of the project next month to get my sanity back.
Now coming to the real point, the boss is usually identified with a father figure in vedic astrology. Hence the 9th house in your horoscope tells us what type of boss you will have. Planets like Rahu and Ketu there could give you some difficulties with the boss, a strange boss, an eccentric one, one who may not like you always. They could also give you a very benign boss in foreign lands. Benefics like Jupiter and Venus when in friendly / Own / Exaltation / Mooltrikon signs in the 9th house would bless one with an ideal boss. Malefics here are not conducive for a good relationship with boss specially if not in Own or exaltation signs. Also the aspect of a benefic like Venus or Jupiter on the 9th house gives a harmonious relationship with boss. Malefic aspects will spoil this. Whenever the periods ( vimshottari maha dasha/Antar dasha/Pratyantar dasha) of the planets in or aspecting or lording the 9th house pass by, they will impact all of life’s fundamental areas influenced by the 9th house.
We have already identified the Exaltation/Mooltrikon/Own & debilitation signs in my previous post. To identify which signs are friendly for which planet, you could follow this:
Jupiter – Signs lorded by Mars, Sun, Moon are friendly.
Venus – Signs lorded by Saturn, Mercury are friendly.
Saturn – Signs lorded by Mercury and Venus are friendly.
Mars – Signs lorded by Sun, Moon and Jupiter are friendly.
Mercury – Signs lorded by Venus and Saturn are friendly.
Sun – Signs lorded by Mars and Jupiter are friendly.
Moon - Signs lorded by Sun, Jupiter, Mars are friendly.
Rahu – Signs lorded by Venus and Mercury are friendly
Ketu – Signs lorded by Jupiter and Mercury are friendly.
Happy Reading!
The point is, unfortunately, I belong to a class of workers (whom I prefer calling Soldiers) who swear by “Let my work do the talking”. Most of you would easily relate to this class. But I had quiet the privilege of closely observing a second class of workers, let’s call them artists just for yucks. The more I observed them, the more it became clear to me that being an artist is not for the uninformed or the faint hearted. However ironical it might sound, the weaklings always end up as soldiers in corporate circus. Here, it is the artists that run the show. It is not amazing that you will find more artists than soldiers as you climb up the ladder. I realized this long time back, when I was working for a well known IT Company in India (lets call it BABA Consultants).
Just as everything in this world is not in black and white, a few of whom I came across could not relate to artists or soldiers. They are the shades of grey in between. They could be dangerous at times. But I will explain this in another post.
What I have also observed is that many times it is your boss and his environment that decides which class you should belong to, even if you don’t like it. If your boss is a smart soldier, can you imagine being an artist? If your boss is a clever artist, will he allow you to be another one? I don’t know the answers for these. But you could try it and let me know.
A few years ago, when I was in the US, working for a client of BABA Consultants, I had the privilege of working under a mallu boss (let us call him RG). One fine day he called my extension and invited me for an appraisal discussion. He seemed to be in a cheerful mood. As usual I had worked my butts off for the previous year and came to the appraisal discussion straight from a glowing review from my client manager. My boss seemed quite happy with my performance. I was just 2 years into the company and I was already the onsite tech lead for a set of very complex customer facing applications. I was the only one in my group who had “REAL” experience in the technology (someday I will write about “naareal” experience if time and readers permit). I had fixed quite a few serious issues in the project. The soldier in me was elated, dreaming of the 2000 INR pm hike (there were no hikes at onsite) and a sure shot early promotion knocking at my doors.
My discussion went quiet well. My boss gave me a 5 rating on a scale of 1-5 where 5 is the best. Or let us call it “Exceeded All Expectations”. But he informed me that my promotion is in the hands of my super boss (the boss of my boss). I felt a huge lump in my throat. I have never factored in the super boss in my calculations. As a 2 year old fledgling in BABA Consultants, I was still naïve with these things. MY super boss never worked with me. He never sought my customer’s feedback about me. All he knew about me was what my boss preferred to pass on to him. Shit!!!. But I went back with the satisfaction that my rating and my boss’s good word would help push my case.
Two weeks later, I received a two sentence email from boss calling me for a second appraisal discussion. I went there quite confident that my promotion would be finalized. He received me with a stoic expression and informed me that due to "sudden and unexpected circumstances" my rating has been cut to 3 (Exceeded some expectations) from 5. I was shell shocked. I asked him for an explanation. He said a lot but the essence of his gyaan was that my super boss had a larger team and that there is some obscure curve called the normalization curve in which my super boss’s team including me had to be fit in and I did not fit in that well.
Just two weeks back I was exceeding all expectations but in the “changed scheme of things” I would not even be counted as exceeding some expectations. He told me that with great difficulty he convinced the super boss to give me a 3.
Now this was news to me, not just my promotion, but even my rating was to be decided by some entity who does not bother to know anything about me. I had a big fight with my boss on this. Little did I realize that worse was yet to come. Two more weeks later I recieved an auto triggered email which read something to the effect “Dear Associate, Your Final Rating for the year 2001-2002 has been decided. In recognition of your performance and hard work for this year, you have been awarded a rating of 2 (Meet all Expectations) for this year. Please click on the link below and close your appraisal discussion”. I also came to know through unofficial sources that my Boss was awarded a 4 (Exceeds most expectations). I did not get how my boss could exceed most expectations while his team members are as inadequate as me. I moved out of the project next month to get my sanity back.
Now coming to the real point, the boss is usually identified with a father figure in vedic astrology. Hence the 9th house in your horoscope tells us what type of boss you will have. Planets like Rahu and Ketu there could give you some difficulties with the boss, a strange boss, an eccentric one, one who may not like you always. They could also give you a very benign boss in foreign lands. Benefics like Jupiter and Venus when in friendly / Own / Exaltation / Mooltrikon signs in the 9th house would bless one with an ideal boss. Malefics here are not conducive for a good relationship with boss specially if not in Own or exaltation signs. Also the aspect of a benefic like Venus or Jupiter on the 9th house gives a harmonious relationship with boss. Malefic aspects will spoil this. Whenever the periods ( vimshottari maha dasha/Antar dasha/Pratyantar dasha) of the planets in or aspecting or lording the 9th house pass by, they will impact all of life’s fundamental areas influenced by the 9th house.
We have already identified the Exaltation/Mooltrikon/Own & debilitation signs in my previous post. To identify which signs are friendly for which planet, you could follow this:
Jupiter – Signs lorded by Mars, Sun, Moon are friendly.
Venus – Signs lorded by Saturn, Mercury are friendly.
Saturn – Signs lorded by Mercury and Venus are friendly.
Mars – Signs lorded by Sun, Moon and Jupiter are friendly.
Mercury – Signs lorded by Venus and Saturn are friendly.
Sun – Signs lorded by Mars and Jupiter are friendly.
Moon - Signs lorded by Sun, Jupiter, Mars are friendly.
Rahu – Signs lorded by Venus and Mercury are friendly
Ketu – Signs lorded by Jupiter and Mercury are friendly.
Happy Reading!
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
The One where Graf fails to appear
Warning!: Please don't read this specific post if you get easily bored with religious literature or astro babble.
Although I wanted to post Graf's chart in my second post, I decided against it as my readers are strangers to a few terms that would routinely appear on this blog. So, for their benefit, I will post a few basics of astrology. The intention is not to make a reader an expert but just to make him/her understand a few basics to follow the posts better. More experienced astrologers might feel offended or horrified by the descriptions given below. Please bear with me.
In vedic Astrology, every chart is divided into 12 houses which fit well into the 12 signs of the Zodiac. These 12 houses represent 12 key areas of an entity's life (I call it an entity because it could be applied to any entity, nation, person, company etc).
The 12 signs are further divided into 360 degrees- 27 constellations - or what we call as Nakshatras, with each Nakshatra - divided into 4 equal parts or padams (quarters), making for a total of 108 Nakshatra padams. This gives a distribution of 30-degrees and 9 padams per sign.
The houses are:
1st house: Self, Appearance, character, temperament, the truth about oneself.
2nd House: Family, Wealth, Death
3rd House: Younger Siblings, Courage, Communication, Change of residence
4th House: Mother, Native Place, Residence, Fixed assets, Primary Education
5th House: Progeny, Intelligence, Investments
6th House: Enemies, Servants, Pets, Litigations, Diseases, Service (job)
7th House: Partnerships (Business, Marriage, relationships, Friends)
8th House: Longevity, Secrets, Health, Husband/Wife's Family
9th House: Father, Luck, Fortune, Religion, Dharma, Foreign Travel
10th House: Profession, Karma, Duty
11th House: Professional Gains, Elder Siblings
12th House: Sleep, losses, Expenses, Foreign Residence, Spirituality
Of all these Houses, 1st House is called the Lagna or the Ascendant. It is that Zodiac sign which is rising in the eastern horizon at time of birth. To be more precise, itis identified with that specific Constellation that is rising in the eastern horizon at the time of your birth. In any horoscope, it can be identified by the placement of the letters AS (short for Ascendant). Like wise, every planet appears to occupy a specific constellation padam at the time of your birth as seen from the place of your birth. This formation will decide the placement of the 9 planets in 12 houses/ signs/ Nakshatra Padams.
Goes without saying that the specific Zodiac sign that becomes the Lagna will decide the 11 remaining houses- so counting clockwise from the ascendant sign, you fix the 12 houses in 12signs.
Each Zodiac sign is lorded by one of the 7 planets (grahas) Sun, Moon, Mars, Jupiter, Venus, Mercury and Saturn and 2 Shadow Planets (chaaya grahas) Rahu(Serpent Head) and Ketu (Serpent Tail).
The Signs are:
Aries - Mesha - Lorded by Mars AKA Mangal/Kuja
Taurus - Vrishabh - Lorded by Venus AKA - Shukra
Gemini - Mithun - Lorded by Mercury AKA - Budha
Cancer - Karkataka - Lorded by Moon AKA - Chandra
Leo - Simha - Sun AKA - Ravi/Surya
Virgo - Kanya - Mercury - Budha
Libra - Thula - Venus - Shukra
Scorpio - Vrischik - Co-Lorded by Mars and Ketu
Sagittarius - Dhanu - Lorded by Jupiter - AKA - Guru/Brihaspati
Capricorn - Makar - Lorded by Saturn - AKA - Shani
Aquarius - Kumbh - Co-Lorded by Saturn and Rahu
Pisces - Meena - Lorded by Jupiter
You notice that the planets Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Mercury and Saturn lord 2 signs each.
Naturally, this sign ownership translates into ownership of the houses attached to specific zodiac signs as per the entity's horoscope. These planets govern results of those specific areas in a person's life as per their house lordship. Additionally, planets give the results of the house they are located in. They are also capable of tempering the results of the house/planets they cast their aspects(drishiti) on.
Aspects are a very simple concept of astrology:
Every Planet, except Ketu, casts its full 100% aspect on the house/sign exactly opposite to it (count 7 houses clockwise starting with house where the planet is located).
Mars additionally aspects 4th and 8th houses from its location.
Saturn additionally aspects 3rd and 10th houses from its location.
Jupiter additionally aspects 5th and 9th houses from its location.
Rahu additionally aspects 2nd, 5th and 9th houses from its location.
Rahu/Ketu/Sun/Mars and Saturn are natural Malefics. The aspect of a natural malefic always gives bad results to house or planet aspected.
Additionally a waning Moon and a mercury conjunct Naural Malefics are also malefic.
Jupiter and Venus are Natural Benefics: Their aspects are always good for the results of the planets/houses aspected.
Additionally, a waxing moon and a mercury conjunct natural benefics are also benefic in nature.
Houses 1 4, 7 10 are called Quadrants or Kendras and are Vishnu Sthana's of a horoscope. These are the houses that Sustain us like Lord Vishnu sustains this world.
Houses 1, 5 and 9 are called the Trikonas or the Trines are called Lakshmi sthanas. Needless to say, these are very important to assess a person's bhagya/fortune/luck, dharma etc.
Houses 1,4,5,7,9 and 10 are the best houses in a horoscope for any planet to be happily placed and give good results.
Houses 6 8 and 12 are called the dusthanas or the Bad houses. Planets placed in these houses are generally not happy and are prone to give bad results.
Houses 3 and 11 are upachayas along with 6 and 10 and are good houses as they show gradual progress of an individual. Malefic planets like Rahu/Ketu/Mars/Saturn give very good results here.
House 2 is a mixed bag. This is a death inflicting house as well as the giver of wealth and family happiness. Benefic Planets like Jupiter, Venus, a Waxing Moon and a clear Mercury are good here.
Every Planet has natural affinity for certain zodiac signs. It might perform exceedingly well or bad as per this affinity. This is described in terms of a planet's Exaltation, Own, Mooltrikon, Friendly, Enemy and Debilitation signs. A planets results are best when its exalted and worst when it is debilitated. The degree of the beneficence of the results gradually reduces from Exaltation to debilitation.
A small table below identifies this relationship.
Based on the above description, you could try and evaluate Lord Rama's chart I have posted yesterday.
Sorry! I did not mean for this to be such a lengthy post. But wanted to do this earlier so I can concentrate on the funnier stuff later.
Happy reading!
Although I wanted to post Graf's chart in my second post, I decided against it as my readers are strangers to a few terms that would routinely appear on this blog. So, for their benefit, I will post a few basics of astrology. The intention is not to make a reader an expert but just to make him/her understand a few basics to follow the posts better. More experienced astrologers might feel offended or horrified by the descriptions given below. Please bear with me.
In vedic Astrology, every chart is divided into 12 houses which fit well into the 12 signs of the Zodiac. These 12 houses represent 12 key areas of an entity's life (I call it an entity because it could be applied to any entity, nation, person, company etc).
The 12 signs are further divided into 360 degrees- 27 constellations - or what we call as Nakshatras, with each Nakshatra - divided into 4 equal parts or padams (quarters), making for a total of 108 Nakshatra padams. This gives a distribution of 30-degrees and 9 padams per sign.
The houses are:
1st house: Self, Appearance, character, temperament, the truth about oneself.
2nd House: Family, Wealth, Death
3rd House: Younger Siblings, Courage, Communication, Change of residence
4th House: Mother, Native Place, Residence, Fixed assets, Primary Education
5th House: Progeny, Intelligence, Investments
6th House: Enemies, Servants, Pets, Litigations, Diseases, Service (job)
7th House: Partnerships (Business, Marriage, relationships, Friends)
8th House: Longevity, Secrets, Health, Husband/Wife's Family
9th House: Father, Luck, Fortune, Religion, Dharma, Foreign Travel
10th House: Profession, Karma, Duty
11th House: Professional Gains, Elder Siblings
12th House: Sleep, losses, Expenses, Foreign Residence, Spirituality
Of all these Houses, 1st House is called the Lagna or the Ascendant. It is that Zodiac sign which is rising in the eastern horizon at time of birth. To be more precise, itis identified with that specific Constellation that is rising in the eastern horizon at the time of your birth. In any horoscope, it can be identified by the placement of the letters AS (short for Ascendant). Like wise, every planet appears to occupy a specific constellation padam at the time of your birth as seen from the place of your birth. This formation will decide the placement of the 9 planets in 12 houses/ signs/ Nakshatra Padams.
Goes without saying that the specific Zodiac sign that becomes the Lagna will decide the 11 remaining houses- so counting clockwise from the ascendant sign, you fix the 12 houses in 12signs.
Each Zodiac sign is lorded by one of the 7 planets (grahas) Sun, Moon, Mars, Jupiter, Venus, Mercury and Saturn and 2 Shadow Planets (chaaya grahas) Rahu(Serpent Head) and Ketu (Serpent Tail).
The Signs are:
Aries - Mesha - Lorded by Mars AKA Mangal/Kuja
Taurus - Vrishabh - Lorded by Venus AKA - Shukra
Gemini - Mithun - Lorded by Mercury AKA - Budha
Cancer - Karkataka - Lorded by Moon AKA - Chandra
Leo - Simha - Sun AKA - Ravi/Surya
Virgo - Kanya - Mercury - Budha
Libra - Thula - Venus - Shukra
Scorpio - Vrischik - Co-Lorded by Mars and Ketu
Sagittarius - Dhanu - Lorded by Jupiter - AKA - Guru/Brihaspati
Capricorn - Makar - Lorded by Saturn - AKA - Shani
Aquarius - Kumbh - Co-Lorded by Saturn and Rahu
Pisces - Meena - Lorded by Jupiter
You notice that the planets Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Mercury and Saturn lord 2 signs each.
Naturally, this sign ownership translates into ownership of the houses attached to specific zodiac signs as per the entity's horoscope. These planets govern results of those specific areas in a person's life as per their house lordship. Additionally, planets give the results of the house they are located in. They are also capable of tempering the results of the house/planets they cast their aspects(drishiti) on.
Aspects are a very simple concept of astrology:
Every Planet, except Ketu, casts its full 100% aspect on the house/sign exactly opposite to it (count 7 houses clockwise starting with house where the planet is located).
Mars additionally aspects 4th and 8th houses from its location.
Saturn additionally aspects 3rd and 10th houses from its location.
Jupiter additionally aspects 5th and 9th houses from its location.
Rahu additionally aspects 2nd, 5th and 9th houses from its location.
Rahu/Ketu/Sun/Mars and Saturn are natural Malefics. The aspect of a natural malefic always gives bad results to house or planet aspected.
Additionally a waning Moon and a mercury conjunct Naural Malefics are also malefic.
Jupiter and Venus are Natural Benefics: Their aspects are always good for the results of the planets/houses aspected.
Additionally, a waxing moon and a mercury conjunct natural benefics are also benefic in nature.
Houses 1 4, 7 10 are called Quadrants or Kendras and are Vishnu Sthana's of a horoscope. These are the houses that Sustain us like Lord Vishnu sustains this world.
Houses 1, 5 and 9 are called the Trikonas or the Trines are called Lakshmi sthanas. Needless to say, these are very important to assess a person's bhagya/fortune/luck, dharma etc.
Houses 1,4,5,7,9 and 10 are the best houses in a horoscope for any planet to be happily placed and give good results.
Houses 6 8 and 12 are called the dusthanas or the Bad houses. Planets placed in these houses are generally not happy and are prone to give bad results.
Houses 3 and 11 are upachayas along with 6 and 10 and are good houses as they show gradual progress of an individual. Malefic planets like Rahu/Ketu/Mars/Saturn give very good results here.
House 2 is a mixed bag. This is a death inflicting house as well as the giver of wealth and family happiness. Benefic Planets like Jupiter, Venus, a Waxing Moon and a clear Mercury are good here.
Every Planet has natural affinity for certain zodiac signs. It might perform exceedingly well or bad as per this affinity. This is described in terms of a planet's Exaltation, Own, Mooltrikon, Friendly, Enemy and Debilitation signs. A planets results are best when its exalted and worst when it is debilitated. The degree of the beneficence of the results gradually reduces from Exaltation to debilitation.
A small table below identifies this relationship.
Based on the above description, you could try and evaluate Lord Rama's chart I have posted yesterday.Sorry! I did not mean for this to be such a lengthy post. But wanted to do this earlier so I can concentrate on the funnier stuff later.
Happy reading!
Monday, May 3, 2010
The One with the Introduction to Astrology
Quiet a few eminent astrologers like The Great Sri KN Rao ji and The legendary Raman saab have written about the greatness of the science called Vedic Astrology. They have all contributed greatly to its popularity around the world. I pay my humble respects to all of them and to all those around the world who have embraced vedic astrology as their own. There is not much that I could possibly write now that has not been written before.
My blog is a humble attempt to take this great tradition forward.
My introduction to astrology happened quiet a few years ago when I was in a little obscure town in coastal AP. I was always fascinated with this subject. But I never knew how this magical science worked. Those were the days of pre-liberalized India. Internet was not known to that generation. DD-1 was the only channel on TVs. So you get the picture.
As the only male child of a rather middle class family, I had huge expectations running on me to be a brilliant student and relieve my family of its financial mess (phew!!). I had my first reading done when I was in my 10th standard. I could never forget that day. The well meaning astrologer had predicted excellent future ahead for me. But shortly after that my dream world came crashing down right in front of me. My 10th class results (though I got above 82%) shattered my confidence and self esteem. I was not even my school topper. My +1 was not good either. I probably even lost my faith in god during that time. In retrospect, it all seems silly to lose faith over such a trivial issue. But my education was my life those days.
Then during +2, when I was running Saturn Mahadasha, we meet another astrologer who, to my dismay, predicted severe consequences during Sat-Sun and Sat-Moon periods. Unfortunately, most of his predictions came true and ironically that's when I got my faith back. I wanted to learn this great art of prediction but did not have the means nor time to do it.Internet was still a rarity not to mention expensive. You could not give up 24X7 engineering entrance exam prep to go join a vedic school. That was unthinkable.
So my real interest in learning astrology came much later.. when I was in my second year of IIM Ahmedabad. The Internet had already taken the world by storm. There were thousands of wannabe rich astrology websites overloading gullible readers with gyan on Parashara and varahamihira. That was my first bursh with the secrets of this science. I get hold of a few sources of astro knowledge and started learning this seriously.
I am a huge fan of Steffi Graf. So naturally that was the first chart I wanted to analyze in this forum. But let me do that later. I luv Lord Rama too much to analyze anything else in my first post.
Wikipedia says: Aadi kavi Valmiki thus describes Lord Rama's Natal Chart
"On completion of the ritual six seasons have passed by and then in the twelfth month, on the ninth day of Chaitra month [March-April], when the presiding deity of ruling star of the day is Aditi, where the ruling star of day is Punarvasu (Nakshatra), the asterism is in the ascendant, and when five of the nine planets viz., Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Venus are at their highest position, when Jupiter with Moon is ascendant in Cancer, and when day is advancing, then Queen Kausalya gave birth to a son with all the divine attributes like lotus-red eyes, lengthy arms, roseate lips, voice like drumbeat, and who took birth to delight the Ikshwaku dynasty, who is adored by all the worlds, and who is the greatly blessed epitome of Vishnu, namely Rama"
Lord Rama's Chart depicts a classic example of the manifestation of the greatest form of Rajayoga's called the Pancha Mahapurusha Yogas. It has Jupiter, Saturn and Mars Exalted in Kendras creating 3 of the coveted Pancha(five) Mahapurusha Yogas.
1) Jupiter: The benign Guru and 9th lord exalted in lagna creating the highest form of Hamsa Yoga, causing Spiritual enlightenment, excellent intellect and a pious nature.
2) Saturn retrograded and exalted in 4th House causing Sasa Yoga: Making Lord Rama a great leader with huge mass attraction and appeal.
3) Mars Exalted in his 7th House causing Ruchaka Yoga, making lord Rama perhaps the greatest and most fearsome warrior earth has ever known.
Yet this very placement of planets also caused him considerable grief that he endured throughout the duration of his great incarnation.
I will discuss some aspects of these in a different post.
Please keep reading and post your valuable comments for my benefit.
My blog is a humble attempt to take this great tradition forward.
My introduction to astrology happened quiet a few years ago when I was in a little obscure town in coastal AP. I was always fascinated with this subject. But I never knew how this magical science worked. Those were the days of pre-liberalized India. Internet was not known to that generation. DD-1 was the only channel on TVs. So you get the picture.
As the only male child of a rather middle class family, I had huge expectations running on me to be a brilliant student and relieve my family of its financial mess (phew!!). I had my first reading done when I was in my 10th standard. I could never forget that day. The well meaning astrologer had predicted excellent future ahead for me. But shortly after that my dream world came crashing down right in front of me. My 10th class results (though I got above 82%) shattered my confidence and self esteem. I was not even my school topper. My +1 was not good either. I probably even lost my faith in god during that time. In retrospect, it all seems silly to lose faith over such a trivial issue. But my education was my life those days.
Then during +2, when I was running Saturn Mahadasha, we meet another astrologer who, to my dismay, predicted severe consequences during Sat-Sun and Sat-Moon periods. Unfortunately, most of his predictions came true and ironically that's when I got my faith back. I wanted to learn this great art of prediction but did not have the means nor time to do it.Internet was still a rarity not to mention expensive. You could not give up 24X7 engineering entrance exam prep to go join a vedic school. That was unthinkable.
So my real interest in learning astrology came much later.. when I was in my second year of IIM Ahmedabad. The Internet had already taken the world by storm. There were thousands of wannabe rich astrology websites overloading gullible readers with gyan on Parashara and varahamihira. That was my first bursh with the secrets of this science. I get hold of a few sources of astro knowledge and started learning this seriously.
I am a huge fan of Steffi Graf. So naturally that was the first chart I wanted to analyze in this forum. But let me do that later. I luv Lord Rama too much to analyze anything else in my first post.
Wikipedia says: Aadi kavi Valmiki thus describes Lord Rama's Natal Chart
"On completion of the ritual six seasons have passed by and then in the twelfth month, on the ninth day of Chaitra month [March-April], when the presiding deity of ruling star of the day is Aditi, where the ruling star of day is Punarvasu (Nakshatra), the asterism is in the ascendant, and when five of the nine planets viz., Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Venus are at their highest position, when Jupiter with Moon is ascendant in Cancer, and when day is advancing, then Queen Kausalya gave birth to a son with all the divine attributes like lotus-red eyes, lengthy arms, roseate lips, voice like drumbeat, and who took birth to delight the Ikshwaku dynasty, who is adored by all the worlds, and who is the greatly blessed epitome of Vishnu, namely Rama"
Lord Rama's Chart depicts a classic example of the manifestation of the greatest form of Rajayoga's called the Pancha Mahapurusha Yogas. It has Jupiter, Saturn and Mars Exalted in Kendras creating 3 of the coveted Pancha(five) Mahapurusha Yogas.
1) Jupiter: The benign Guru and 9th lord exalted in lagna creating the highest form of Hamsa Yoga, causing Spiritual enlightenment, excellent intellect and a pious nature.
2) Saturn retrograded and exalted in 4th House causing Sasa Yoga: Making Lord Rama a great leader with huge mass attraction and appeal.
3) Mars Exalted in his 7th House causing Ruchaka Yoga, making lord Rama perhaps the greatest and most fearsome warrior earth has ever known.
Yet this very placement of planets also caused him considerable grief that he endured throughout the duration of his great incarnation.
I will discuss some aspects of these in a different post.
Please keep reading and post your valuable comments for my benefit.
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