Abstract: The Sagittarius chart has some interesting combinations. But when more closely examined, as astrologers often do for great personalities, they will find it essentially weak and flawed and not related to Srila Prabhupada. We demonstrate the weak position of the Sagittarius ascendant placed in the Rasi-Sandhi (junction of two Signs). Show how some astrologers will still find Jupiter in the 8th house. We shall bring to the readers notice various combinations which indicate short, accident prone, sickly life. Show how the disturbed 5th house indicates: no sons and only daughters if any children at all; a person with an evil, sinful mind and suffering from mental diseases. Also how the disturbed 5th as well as afflicted Jupiter and Venus in the 10th indicates megalomania and religious hypocrisy. In short the planets are not where they should be for a strong chart.
3.1 Concern for the Opinion of Astrologers
Nalini Kanta Prabhu has practically claimed that Sagittarius rising for Srila Prabhupada is a flawless chart which clearly indicates a pure devotee and perfectly describes Srila Prabhupada. Whereas he has only used unkind words to describe the Capricorn rising chart which Srila Prabhupada himself appears to have accepted as most correct (see 6.1 TKG’s letter ).
In this section we will examine the Sagittarius horoscope. One of Nalini Kanta Prabhu’s arguments has been that:
“many others like myself will see the flaws in the horoscope [with Capricorn rising] and think less of Srila Prabhupada.” (Nalini Kanta, p. 5) (For opinion of other astrologers see chapter 7.)
He has made this statements many times in different ways, in an effort to influence people (inexperienced in astrology) into thinking that the Capricorn Rising chart is that of a “demonic karmi” whereas that of Sagittarius Ascendant is that of a “Saktyavesa avatara.” So far I have only shown the many positive aspects of the Capricorn chart; now let us turn to the Sagittarius chart.
Certainly, the Sagittarius rising chart has some very notable features, which might tempt us to think that this was Prabhupada’s chart. With a Sagittarius rising the most notable features are Sun (the 9th lord) with Jupiter (lord of the ascendant itself, and the 4th house) in the 9th house of Dharma (9th house represents—
dharma, guru, past pious activities, higher learning, good fortune, etc.). This is a very favorable position indicating life long good fortune, scholarship, travel overseas, happy life, good relations with father, religious tendencies, etc.
Mercury exalted in the 10th causes Bhadra Mahapurusha Yoga which is very good and which Nalini has described on page three of his report. Rahu is also quite strong in the 3rd house giving courage, tenacity, cleverness, etc. And Mars, a natural Malefic, seems well posited in the 6th house of enemies, obstacles, etc.
With such positions we understand why someone, especially a beginning student in this science (Nalini Kanta, p. 2) without much experience, would be mislead by this chart.
Let us now go a bit deeper, and as we do, the flaws become glaring and will see why this chart could not be that of Srila Prabhupada.
3.2 Sagittarius Chart Weak Because of Rasi Sandhi
First of all Nalini Kanta Prabhu, in order to keep the time of birth as close to Prabhupada’s stated time of birth (4:00 PM), has chosen 3:30 PM as the time of birth. When I calculated the chart on my computer with this time I was surprised to find that at 3:30 PM (LMT) 0 degrees of Capricorn (Lahiri Ayanamsa) was rising. This indicates how fragile this time of birth is. To actually get Sagittarius we must go earlier than 3:30 PM to at least 3:29 PM. This puts the Ascendant at 29SA45 (29 degrees Sagittarius, 45 minutes). This position of the ascendant is so close to the Sandhi—junction of Sagittarius and Capricorn that it creates the flaw known as Rasi-Sandhi (italics mine):
“There are four kinds of Sandhi viz. Rasi-sandhi, Rksa-sandhi, Tithi-sandhi and Dina-sandhi, whose effect is not happy.”49[49]
Rasi-Sandhi is a serious defect. Any planet or ascendant that falls at the junction place between two signs or two houses becomes useless:
“If a planet, on the other hand, is posited in the same degree as the Sandhi, it should be put in the Sandhi and belongs to neither Bhava [house]. Such a planet is utterly ineffective in conferring good or bad results to the native. Please bear this important principle in mind for future guidance.”50[50]
The worst Rasi-sandhi is called Gandhanta and is caused when the Sandhi is at the junction of Pisces-Aries, Cancer-Leo, and Scorpio-Sagittarius. The reason being that not only is it the junction place of two signs but also of two Nakshatra. For example in the case of Pisces-Aries it is also the junction of Revati-Asvini. The point being that having the Ascendant placed at the last possible moment of Sagittarius, as Nalini Kanta Prabhu has done, has introduced a very serious flaw into the horoscope making it very weak and “utterly ineffective”—like a riven cloud with no position in any sphere. The strength derived from position is called Stana-bala in Vedic astrology. Prabhupada’s chart, as depicted with a Sagittarius Ascendant suffers from the serious defect of the ascendant having no Stana-bala because of being in the Rasi-sandhi, junction between two signs. And since the lagna is of immense importance this is not a defect easily shrugged off. Since Nalini has “speculated” on the time of birth it might be argued that this serious flaw could be easily mended by pushing the time of birth back ten, fifteen or twenty minutes. As far back as necessary to change the Ascendant and make it strong. This, however puts him between Scylla and Charybdis because now the time of birth is even farther away from 4:00PM, the time Prabhupada favored, than before—say 3:10PM or 3:15PM. This is not a very acceptable solution.
Let us, just for the sake of argument, accept that it is possible to push Prabhupada’s chart back without raising charges of gross speculation. Does that mean the chart is now free of serious flaws. No.
3.3 Numerous Astrologers Will Still Find Jupiter in the 8th
A point to be considered is that Nalini Kanta is very concerned about the opinions of other astrologers. He should know that they would also note this negative Rasi-sandhi position. Also he should consider that not all astrologers in India use the Sign=House method of house division as we both do. (This is the most traditional method of house division.) Some use the Vedic Equal House or Sripati system for house division. For example B.V. Raman states:
49[49] Bhat, p. 41.
50[50] Bhat, p. 27.
“Classical writers like Sripathi favor a determination of Bhavas on the lines given in the following paragraphs. In our humble experience extending for nearly 35 years the equal house system [Vedic Equal House] appears to yield more satisfactory results.”51[51][Italics mine.]
Some “modernized” astrologers even opt for Western house division such as Placidus. The followers of Krishnamurti Paddhati in South India certainly use this system. The point being that there will be a substantial minority of astrologers, (some like B.V. Raman, are very well known) who will use these other house systems. And these astrologers will find that for the chart that Nalini Kanta proposes Jupiter will still fall in the 8th house, except that, unlike being the 12th lord in the 8th which is good, it will be the lagna lord in the 8th. This is not at all favorable unless very positively aspected. They will also find that Sun is not conjoined Jupiter who is in the 8th house, but is rather in the 9th house conjoined debilitated Venus.
The reason for this is as follows. (I will try to be as untechnical as possible.) In the traditional Sign=House system, the first house, and all subsequent houses in the chart, is determined by which ever sign the Ascendant should happen to be in, irrespective of its degree in that sign. Thus if 29SA45 rises, then the whole of Sagittarius is the first house, all of Capricorn is the 2nd, Aquarius 3rd, . . ., all of Leo the 9th, Virgo the 10th, etc. But with the Vedic Equal House system and the other various unequal house systems such as Sripati and Placidus, the scenario changes drastically.
For example, with the next most traditional system, Vedic Equal House, we get the following result. By the simple rules of this system the houses are thus mathematically defined: Take the ascending degree (let X = ascending degree) and add plus or minus 15 degrees to it. Thus the definition of the first house will be “X”
+/- 15 degrees. In the case which Nalini presents the ascendant is 29SA45. Thus, by this Vedic Equal House system the first house would stretch from 14SA45 (Sagittarius 14 deg, 45 minutes) to 14CP45 (Capricorn 14 deg, 45 min). The other houses are obtained by adding multiples of 30 to each. By this method the house positions change radically. Rahu is now in the 2nd, Mars and Moon stay in the 6th, but Ketu and Jupiter go to the 8th; and Sun, Venus, and Mercury go to the 9th; with Saturn staying in the 11th.
This is not at all a good chart because the ascendant lord has now gone to the 8th house and is conjoined, Ketu, a first rate malefic.
And, as I said earlier, followers of Sripati Paddhati, Krishnamurti Paddhati and others will get a similar result of having Jupiter, the ascendant lord, in the 8th house with malefic Ketu. This is what a significant minority of astrologers will see. Thus we see that it would be naive in the extreme to expect that all
astrologers would view the Sagittarius Ascendant chart which Nalini has presented, in a favorable light. We thus must conclude that his argument based on the opinion of other astrologers agreeing with him to be worthless.
If it were desired to change the Ascendant, so that the Vedic Equal house structure would not place Jupiter in the 8th house. We would again have to postulate a time of birth significantly before 3:30 PM say about 2:30 PM or even earlier. This puts us in the same dilemma as the solution for Rasi-sandhi, junction between two signs.
For the sake of argument we will ignore the substantial minority of astrologers who do not follow the most traditional system of house division—Sign=House, and only discuss the chart drawn up by Nalini Kanta Prabhu.
3.4 Candra-Mangala Yoga in the 6th
51[51]
Raman, 1976, p. 95.
Our colleague, Nalini Kanta Prabhu, has placed Moon (Candra, lord of the 8th) and Mars (Mangala, lord of the 5th and 12th) in Taurus (the 6th house) and considers this quite good52[52]. But is it?
Moon, alone, as lord of the 8th, is exalted in Taurus and does tolerably well here. And it is well known that Mars does well in the 6th. So this seems good. And considering that Mars also rules the 12th this might be considered a Viparita Raja Yoga53[53] as well. But there are some serious problems with this combination that Nalini Kanta has over looked and which indicate that this could not be Prabhupada’s chart. Let us now look into this54[54].
“A natural malefic [in this case Mars], where ever he may be, he will destroy the house he occupies. But in so doing his qualities [karaka—significations] will get improved by his contact with good houses.
(Favorable houses for malefics are 3, 6 and 11. When dealing with diseases 6 also is unfavorable). Thus evil planets occupying these houses will give out good [according to their karaka—significations of the planet] in their Dasa periods.”55[55]
Thus, in the case of Mars for a Sagittarius chart of Prabhupada we get the following result: Because Mars is strong in the 6th the significations of Mars will be strengthen, they being: “courage, diseases, (younger) brothers (and sisters), lands, enemies, paternal relations, army, heroic deeds, power, contentions, cuts, wounds, fire, etc.”56[56] In this case we would expect that it would indicate a very brave and courageous man of a contentious nature. We, of course agree that Srila Prabhupada was a very brave and courageous person.
So we do not differ here. But there is more.
The qualities of the 6th house get destroyed, i.e., enemies, obstacles, etc. Except that (as seen in previous quote) illness will get increased and the person will have many illnesses and injuries through out life in general especially in regards to the part of the body ruled by the sign associated with the 6th house. In this case that sign is Taurus, which rules the face, so we should expect many illnesses, wounds, and scars in regards to the face. It is clear that Srila Prabhupada did not have and pock marks, wounds, illnesses or scars in regards to his face or throat area. In general, especially considering the other malefic combinations found in this chart which we will shortly discuss, we would think that the person born with this chart would be very rash, hot headed (Mars-Moon) with many enemies and obstacles to over come. In so doing he would run many risks and suffer many injuries such as falls, burns, stabs, gun shot, high fevers, broken bones, infections, etc.
Aside from this we must note the houses that Mars rules (5th and 12th) and how they will be affected by Mars being in the 6th. We are most of all concerned with his 5th lord rulership as it gets destroyed by being in the 6th especially in conjunction with the Moon (lord of the 8th).
The 5th house stands for: “intelligence, prudence, memory, power of discrimination, merit earned in previous births, capacity to advise, ministers, children and condition of mind.”57[57]
Texts such as Satyajatakam, Sanketanidhi, Parasara, etc. are in general agreement that the 5th lord in the 6th, especially conjoined the 8th lord, is not at all favorable for the portfolio of the 5th house. The effect of the Moon as 8th lord is expressed thus:
52[52] AM, Dec, 1981, p. 902.
53[53] See my chart of Srila Prabhupada as well as chapter on the analysis of Nalini's arguments for definition of this Yoga.
54[54] Based on principles of analysis outlined in Prasna Marga chapter 14, and Catechism of Astrology (vol 1) pp. 102-106.
55[55] Raman, 1983, p. 103.
56[56] Raman, S.K., p. 36.
57[57] Raman, 1980a, p. 423.
“With regards to ownership, 6th, 8th, and 12th alone are bad. The lords of these, wherever they may be, will destroy the Bhavas [Houses] they occupy or aspect. Here ‘lords’ means both subhas [natural benefics]
and papas [natural malefics].”58[58]
While it doesn’t specifically say so, it would be correct to extrapolate and say that a similar destructive effect will be felt on the houses owned by any planet conjoined the 6th, 8th, or 12th lords. In this case Moon with Mars adds to the destruction of the 5th house in the Sagittarius chart. Thus we could expect that a person with such a chart, would have no sons, or they would all die at a young age, or there would only be girls, or they would have to adopt or purchase a son. The person would have poor intelligence, no discrimination, be unwise, evil minded and probably suffer from some type of mental disease. Also since Mars is conjoined the 8th lord this strongly indicates a highly sexed individual addicted to illicit
connections with women. This certainly doesn’t sound like Srila Prabhupada.
The problem with this Sagittarius chart is that all the planets are not so well placed. Planets which rule trinal and quadrants should be in trines or quadrants or at least neutral houses. And planets that rule evil houses like the 6th, 8th and 12th should be in said houses. In the Sagittarius rising chart this is sadly missing. While there are some good combinations there are some major problem areas as we just
mentioned. The lord of the 5th, Mars, has gone to an evil house, the 6th. He would have been much better placed in the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, 7th, 9th, 10th, 11th or even the 12th. The 12th, though bad, is in this case ruled by Mars so there would have been minimum difficulties if any. Another badly placed planet is Venus who rules the 6th and 11th. We shall discuss Venus later.
3.5 The Question of Longevity
The Capricorn rising chart definitely shows longevity as the 8th house is fortified by the Sun who owns the house, and a great benefic, Jupiter, being placed in it. Jupiter in this case shows peaceful death in holy place. But what of the Sagittarius rising chart? It appears to me that there are many serious yogas in it which indicate only a medium life span at best and a short one is more likely. Let us look at them.
We have already noted the combination of Moon (lord of 8th) in the 6th, with Mars (lord of 5th and 12th).
Moon alone here would have been good for longevity as he is the lord of the 8th, the house of death/life.
His well being is important. But we see that the ruler of the 8th house is conjoined a first rate, natural malefic—Mars. While Mars, independent of other considerations is good in the 6th, but we must now consider the combination of Mars—who is always a natural malefic and never loses that status—in conjunction with the 8th lord the Moon. This is not a good indication and definitely points to a sudden and violent death as is the nature of Mars (as we outlined above). Not only death but a life comprised of a string of serious illnesses, fevers, accidents, and venereal complaints even before death. Of course in astrology we cannot put every thing on just one indicator. But there are more.
Saturn, who for Sagittarius rising, rules both the 2nd and 3rd, becomes a first rate Maraka (death inducing planet) and he is a natural malefic. He is directly aspecting the 8th house of death as well as the ascendant.
While it is true that Saturn is exalted, this doesn’t in anyway eliminate his maraka quality. Saturn is a killer par excellence.
What about the Jupiter, the ascendant lord. Is he not aspecting the ascendant and thus protecting the life?
While it is true that Jupiter does aspect the ascendant, it is not a very exact aspect. The ascendant is at 29 deg, 45 minutes of Sagittarius while Jupiter is at 2 deg, 1 minute of Leo. The aspect is off by 28 degrees.
To be considered a close aspect it should have been within 5 degrees of being exact. That would have been very nice and protective, but in this case it is a very wide aspect—only shooting in the general direction, not close to the target. Aside from this wide aspect, Jupiter, the ascendant lord is very closely conjoined by
58[58] Raman, 1983, p. 103.
Ketu who is only 6 minutes of arc away. Only .1 degrees. Ketu is a first rate malefic considered to be of a similar incendiary nature as Mars. This is a very serious affliction when considering longevity and physical and mental health in general making for an individual with either life long chronic illnesses or mental aberrations or both. And on top of this Mars is also aspecting this combination of Jupiter and Ketu from the 6th house, which only adds fuel to the fire.
We now see that there are actually quite a few pointers showing that this chart is inherently weak regarding
We now see that there are actually quite a few pointers showing that this chart is inherently weak regarding