PREDICTION OF AFFLUENCE FROM BIRTH CHART
The Biblical dictum is “It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to attain the Kingdom Of God”. (Mathew : 19:23-24)
So do scriptures prohibit accumulation of wealth? WHAT DO THE Vedas and Eastern religions say about Wealth? Finally what is the outlook of Jyothisha towards Wealth? We will seek answers to all these age-old questions in the course of this article.
Spiritual Viewpoint
Contrary to popular belief, the Hindu Scriptures never support poverty or find any merit in living a poverty stricken life. The Vedas say that one should not only possess wealth but also become an enjoyer of wealth. Vedas further advocate conservation of resources to meet future requirements.
The Rig veda instructs us to “Be a master of abundant riches”. The Rudram-Chamakam is considered as a very important mantra to be chanted not only in temples but also in houses. The whole of Rudram is a prayer to lord Rudra. The Chamakam is immediately chanted after Rudram and this contains all the things in this world which makes for a comfortable living. We know from Puranic Stories that demons like Bhasmasura and Kumbakarna were also ardent devotees of the lord. But when blessed by the Almighty, they sought favours based on their egoic needs, greed and selfishness. As the Almighty always blesses the devotee, these wishes were fulfilled immediately. But for the demons this only resulted in destruction for them. Hence the Chamakam is the useful booklet to seek fulfillment of “desirable desires'.
The Vedas further declare that profits shall be earned only through fair means. The Vedas contain several references to wealth in terms of acquisition, maximisation and distribution. I wish to quote a small example here. If the sugar level tested after fasting is between 80-120 one is perfectly healthy. Let us say the sugar level is 240 or more - there is no need to be happy - on the other hand it shows you are a diabetic.
Likewise wealth when available in disproportionate quantities can as well become a source of misery rather than perform its role as a source of happiness. Hence Scriptures exhort us to do charity which benefits both the donor as well as the recipient . Astrologically, speaking, the ideal day for giving charity is Saturdays, which is ruled by Saturn- which is the foremost planet in giving effects to the fruits of bad karma.
What is prosperity?
A major misconception in people's minds today is about their concept or definition of prosperity. The Sanskrit term for prosperity is “Aishwaryam”. Aishwaryam means not only wealth but also the happiness attendant on a prosperous family. I wish to now draw the reader's attention of what the Tamil Poet Tiruvalluvar has to say on prosperity:
1.That Nation shall be prosperous which has an unfailing harvest and is the abode of wise men as well as worthy men of wealth.
Valluvar's definition is more or less similar to the views of the eminent economist Alfred Marshall who said that land , labour capital and organization are the four Factors of Production.
According to Valluvar
a)Land which gives unfailing produce
b)Discussing men of wealth
c)Men of learning &character are the three factors for an ideal territory.
2.The five ornaments of an ideal Nation are
(a) Unfailing Health
(b) Wealth
(c) Richharvests
(d) Popularpleasures
(e) Security.
Health, Wealth and a good harvest are essential for prosperity. Security is always regarded as the duty of a just living or a good government. Valluvar and Machiavelli seem to hold similar views that popular pleasures meaning Fairs and Festivals are indicators of prosperity.
Astrology and Prosperity:
In India, Astrology has always been looked upon as a light House for guiding the lives of people . Even when adverse combinations for wealth were indicated , people resorted to spiritual or remedial measures to thwart the designs of planets.
The 2nd house in any horoscope rules wealth. The11th house is indicative of Labha, or gains. So the real task of an astrologer is to assess the merits of these two bhavas , understand their relationship with the lagna as well as lagna lord and pronounce , the extent and scope of prosperity. I wish to quote this advice of Dr. B.V.Raman , before any astrologer would analyse the Dhana Bhava.
“Grades of Wealth differ”. Wealth has many sections and will have to be interpreted with reference to locality , time , circumstances and surroundings. Ordinarily we can recognize three grades viz; aristocratic commanding immense sums; middle class people, who have enough to eat but not much to spare; and the poorest classes who have only one meal a day and who are hard pressed for money. To this class , of course , belongs the overwhelming majority . They have no houses , no properties, no means to eke out their existence. Then there are people , who have no doubt decent incomes, but whose burden of debts contracted by themselves or their ancestors become unbearable and who out of false notions of self respect , social position and family tradition cannot lead simple and contented lives.
Even the mediocre, who have enough to eat can hardly meet extra expenses like marriages and other family functions. To have a clear knowledge of the combinations of planets which produce all these various stages of Financial affluence and depression , one should posses not only a good knowledge of the subject , but also vast experience (vide How to judge a Horoscope, Vol 1 Page 119-120) So it is important to know all the rules connected to prosperity and then apply the same to an individual chart and detect the existence or non-existence of prosperity .So the next logical step would be to discuss the astrological rules relating to prosperity which inter alia would include all the rules relating to the 2nd bhava and its lord.
Rules for wealth
1. In a horoscope , prosperity could be said to exist if 2nd lord in conjunction with the 10th lord joins a quadrant or trine. I wish to add a small comment of mine to this rule. There is a common saying , ‘Lazy people seldom gain access to riches.” Getting up in Brahma Muhurta is an auspicious thing to do to invoke blessings of Goddess Lakshmi. All these rules incorporate one basic truth. Wealth and hard work go together. In rare cases , wealth and luck go together. If you see the rule stated above , the lord of 10 is actually lord of Karma, which has no relationship to wealth and needs to conjoin the lord of 2 to produce wealth. This actually reflects the Truth, that the 2nd lord in isolation cannot generate wealth, it has to join the lord of Karmashtama. We say, “something cannot come out of Nothing” and Magicians try to do all sorts of tricks to disprove this statement. Likewise generating wealth is next to impossible with hard work and this astrological rule merely goes to prove that statement.
2.Sun in Leo Ascendant associated with Jupiter and Mars.
3.The lords of 2,9 and 11 in quadrants.
4.One will be rich right from childhood onwards when the lords of 2 and 9 occupy quadrants aspected by lagna lord.
5. Gain of treasure is indicated if
a) Lord of 11 is in Ascendant
b) Ascendant lord is in 11
c) 2nd lord is in 11.
I would advise all serious students to commit Rule 5 to their memory. This is a very important rule and if one can comprehend its importance analysis of Dhana Bhava would become simple. If 2nd lord is in 11 and 11th lord is in 2, we say there is mutual interchange between lords of 2 and 11 which we term as “Parivarthana”. But the rule stated above is like a three- way plug which we use in our houses. The lagna,2 and 11 can be considered as a single group and all these lords are in this group of houses itself. But no planet is supposed to occupy its own house. At a deep level , what this means is that these three houses are inter- related at some cosmic level and bring about upswing in fortunes of a native by virtue of this inter - relationship. Now, compare this rule with Vipareetha Raja Yoga (where lords of 6, 8 or 12 are supposed to occupy any one of these three houses itself).
6. Onewillhaveself-earnedwealthifthelordof2conjoins11thlord& ascendant lord in a quadrant /trine and gets aspected by benefics.
7. Ifthe2ndlordisstrongerthanthe7thlordandbothofthemareinconjunction , wealth will be got from wife.
8. Moneywillbegotfromfatherifthestrong2ndlordgetstheassociationor aspect of 9th lord , 10th lord or Sun.
9. Benefics occupying Upachaya signs 3,6,10 or 11.
10. Moon- Mars conjunction makes a person rich. This yoga is known as Sasi- Mangala yoga or Chandra-Mangala yoga.
11. If all the benefics occupy kendras , a person becomes rich.
There are several combinations for prosperity but there are three important factors we need to study before confirming their existence.
a) The planets which give rise to these yogas must be strong in order to make the yoga powerful enough to give results.
b) The planets must get connected to the lagna or lagna lord to give the desired effect .
c) The native must run appropriate dashas for prosperity.
Kemadruma yoga
Before pronouncing prosperity in a chart , the astrologer must ensure that there is at least one planet occupying either the 2nd or 12th house from Moon. If both the 2nd as well as the 12th house from Moon are vacant , then the inauspicious yoga is termed as Kemadruma yoga. This is precisely the yoga for becoming poverty stiricken. If a Raja yoga occurs in a chart along with Kemadruma yoga what is the result? Will the native become a king or become a pauper? The answer is provided by the learned scholars of Astrology. A herd of elephants would run away when they see a lion. Similarly all Raja yogas becomes defunct when kemadruma yoga is present.
What exactly is the adverse significance of Kemadruma yoga? We know 2nd house indicates accumulation of wealth. 12th house relates to expenditure or losses. A benefic in 12 might indicate expenditure on good causes . So planets in 2 and 12 are indicative of inflow or outflow of money. In other words , we might call it movement of funds. Some businessmen call it , “rotation of funds”. Let us say you get some good order which if executed will yield you good profit. So get a temporary overdraft from bank. Complete the job and earn the profit . Repay the bank overdraft along with interest. Now, without any capital of your own , you have made a profit.
Recently a client sought my advice on how to deploy maturity proceeds of a Capital gains bond. He was an investor in shares . So, if the matured amount is put as an FD, liquidity will not be there for Investment in Shares. If the entire money is put into share market , the principal becomes unsafe. So what is the way out? I suggested that he deploy the entire funds as FD with a Nationalized Bank. Open a current account and take an overdraft facility with the FD being pledged to the bank as Security for the Over draft account. The client was very happy because the Fixed Deposit will give regular returns and the current account will give the liquidity to raise funds whenever an opportunity is spotted in the stock market.
Coming back to the main subject, we discussed just now that no planets in 2 and 12 means inaccessibility to money. So Kemadruma yoga is a yoga for poverty.
Before we conclude this discussion , I wish to point out that people need not get frightened when they come across Kemadruma yoga in their charts. Our Rishis have given a number of rules which go under the category “Kemadruma bhanga yoga” . We will have a look at some of them.
Kemadruma Bhanga Yoga
1) There is no yoga producing poverty when the Moon or Venus occupying a quadrant is aspected by Jupiter.
2) Kemadruma yoga gets cancelled when Moon is either in a friendly or in exalted Navamsa and gets aspected by Jupiter in the Rasi chart.
3) FullMoonwithabeneficinlagnacancelsthedoshastatedabove.
4) Moon exalted in 10 aspected by Jupiter is enough to ward off Kemadruma yoga.
5) A benefic in a quadrant from Moon wards off Kemadruma yoga . Gajakesari yoga effectively neutralizes Kemadruma yoga.
Conclusion
In conclusion I wish to state that Vedas exhort all of us to live happily with prosperity.Poverty is a bane,not a boon.
Every effort must be made to ward off poverty.In Bhaja Govindam Adi Sankara wrote “ Arthamanartham bhavaya nityam “( Verily riches bring in only grief)
This is not an advice from Sankara to embrace poverty.It is an advice to know the illusory nature of the world.Some people argue like this ,” when you die what are going to carry with you?”.But the counter argument is like this - When you die you don't carry anything with you.So what is your problem in leading a happy life now?
Unfortunately in our country today most of the problems are self-created.If a thief is spotted he can be caught by a policeman.If a thief appears in a dream how can he be caught?There are two ways - either a policeman has to appear in the dream or you have to wake up.Likewise the Vedic utterances about wealth have been completely misunderstood and now people treat absence of riches and poverty as a virtue which will grant them salvation at the end of this life.The advice given by the Rishi of taittiriya Upanishad is “ Bhootyanna prmadithavyam' ( Never neglect your own prosperity).If this advice is followed in letter and spirit there will be no financial problems in our country.Unfortunately people consider this as a selfish pursuit.Thus we need a complete change of mindset.Money by itself is not an evil.It is only when attachment and greed join it becomes evil.In fact when properly utilized for one's own well being and that of the family and charity is performed in a regular manner,Artha(Wealth) can itself become a tool for liberation.