ASTROLOGICAL INDICATIONS FOR GAIN OF HONOUR AND RESPECT

By Dr.E.S.Neelakantan

INTRODUCTION:
In ancient times, the test of success in life would be the honour conferred on an individual by a Village, Country, Society, King or the Subjects. It is one thing to be capable, talented, virtuous so on and so forth but respect and honour depend upon how a person is perceived by society. Consequently we have lots of mediocre men held in high esteem; the converse is also true – lots of intellectuals and geniuses who are spurned by society.
In a popular film song (in the 1962 Tamil film Annai), the well known Tamil poet, Kannadasan wrote; “ Those who are blessed with brains are not always successful; Those who have emerged victorious, alas, are not brainy! †( Buddhi yulla manithar ellam vetri kanbathillai ;Antha vetri petra manithar Yavum Buddhi Saali illai)
There is a well known Sanskrit adage which says “A king is worshipped only in his own kingdom; a scholar is worshipped everywhereâ€.( Swadeshe Poojyate rajah Vidwan sarvatra pujyate).A similar though not identical adage runs as follows
svagRRihe pUjyate mUrkhaH svagrAme pUjyate prabhuH |
svadeshe pUjyate rAjA vidvAn sarvatra pUjyate ||

A fool is honored in his own house, a landlord is honored in his
own village, a king is honored in his own country and a scholar is
honored everywhere.

Though ancient Indian lore is replete with sayings about Fame and Honour ,I would like to recapitulate just two to reiterate the importance given to honour and self respect in Ancient India.
prANaM chApi parityajya mAnamevAbhi rakShatu |
anityo bhavati prANo mAnamAchandratArakam ||

Even at the cost of one’s life one should preserve his honour, as
life is temporary and honour is ever lasting as the moon and stars

vipadi dhairyaM tathAbhyudaye kShamA
sadasi vAkpaTutA yudhi vikramaH |
yashasi chAbhiratirvyasanaM shrutau
prakRRiti siddhamidaM hi mahAtmanAm ||

Courage in trouble, forbearance in prosperity, eloquence in the
assembly, valour in battle, eagerness in gaining fame,
attention to the holy scriptures, all these are natural to great ones.

Let us now try to understand the dictionary meaning for the terms respect, honour and fame
Respect: A feeling of deep admiration for someone or something elicited by their abilities, qualities or achievements.
Honour: High respect, Great esteem .
Fame: The state of being known or talked about by many people, especially on account of notable achievements.
A person who has become famous on account of sports or entertainment becomes a “celebrityâ€. What role do the planets play in catapulting a person to the status of a celebrity? What role do they play in ensuring that a person gets respect and honour? The astrological principles will be discussed in the course of this dissertation after which, as always we will take up a few charts for case studies.
Astrological rules
Jupiter in the 10th is a clear indication for fame. Jupiter is a Sattwic planet which denotes expansion and is connected to the “ether†element, a determinant of stability and gives raise to spotless, eternal fame. Venus in the 5th house, which denotes poorvapunya can be a determinant of celebrity status, especially in female charts. Venus in lagna can make one beautiful, good-looking, pretty or handsome and gives rise to fame through a graceful personality and personal charm.Mercury, which is a benefic, in close proximity to the Ascendant can make one honourable while Moon in 11th is a common feature in charts of people who enjoy great reputation.
A strong Sun, a strong Moon and a strong Ascendant are all essential for gaining name and fame. Without a strong foundation, the mere presence of yogas would not make one famous. One becomes famous only when the auspicious dasha of an appropriate planet is in operation. This is why many people who have remained in obscurity in the first part of their lives, suddenly get into limelight as their life unfolds. In fact, one can see in many charts, the presence of Kala Sarpa Yoga which diminishes the prospects of the chart holder in the initial stages of life and gives rise to a Raja Yoga in the later parts. This is what we call the “Rags-to-riches†story, we often come across.
Mass appeal is denoted by Saturn. Whenever Saturn is strongly placed in a chart, one gets liked by the masses. Generally people who become celebrities through the movie line have very good Venus, Rahu and Saturn. Similarly those who succeed through Politics have strong Sun, Mars and Saturn. Professionals who do well in career and get popular with their Clients have strong planets peculiar to their line of profession. For instance, a Chartered Accountant who does well in auditing should have a strong Mercury or Jupiter. Again it is Jupiter who is karaka for Law. Sun, Venus or Mars strongly placed give rise to doctors who become famous for their diagnostic skills.
It is also noted that a cluster of planets associated with a particular house adds to the strength of that house and consequently the chart holder derives name and fame through the indications of that house. The 10th house could be said to be the house of fame. A strongly placed planet in the 10th gives rise to name and fame. If the Ascendant Lord is strongly placed either in the 10th or in a quadrant house, it gives rise to fame. The conjunction of the Ascendant Lord with Jupiter makes one reputed.

Yogas and fame
Yogas like Adhi Yoga, Gaja Kesari Yoga, Vasumathi Yoga and Amala Yoga make one a prominent face in society. Pancha Maha Purusha Yogas and the Maha Bhagya Yoga also give rise to name and fame. Here I would like to place a rider. If the horoscope as a whole is devoid of benefic influences, then the mere presence of the above mentioned Yogas will not take a person to dizzy heights. The presence of the Yogas is like the proverbial “icing on the cakeâ€- so what we need to know is that when the cake is absent the icing will not help!
One becomes famous if Jupiter occupies the Ascendant, aspected by the lords of 2,5 or 9. One gets fame if Jupiter and Venus occupy their own houses while a strong planet occupies the 7th. If a trinal sign from the house where the Lagna lord is placed, happens to be a fixed sign and is aspected either by a benefic or the Lagna Lord then the chart holder begets lasting fame. Other combinations which give rise to fame are:
a) Ascendant lord in the 10th
b) 5th Lord in the 9th
c) Moon in the 2nd, Lagna Lord in 9 and 9th Lord in 4.

Fame can come in a variety of ways but honour can be got from the government and other organisations. Now let us look at a few combinations for honour.
If the 9th Lord is in the 10th and Lord of 10 is exalted and conjoins Jupiter, then one begets honour. If the Ascendant Lord is in the 2nd or if Lord of 2 is in 11, one gets honour. One leads a honourable life if the 7th Lord is strong and either conjoins or gets aspected by benefics.

Important parameters
There are three important parameters which govern honour. These are the Lagna, the 10th house and the placements of benefics. If the above factors are favourable and in addition the 7th house is influenced by benefic planets, one begets honour in a foreign country. If the 2nd house is associated with benefics, then one’s children become popular. Here I would like to put forth my explanation for the above rule. The 5th house is the house of Children. To know the prospects for Children, treat this house as the Lagna for the children. The tenth house there from is the second house we are now discussing. Just as 10th house denotes fame ,one’s second house is to be analyzed to know the prospects of children acquiring fame. If the Sixth Lord occupies the eleventh house, one begets honour. Same is the case when the sixth lord occupies the sixth house. One begets honour if the Ascendant Lord occupies the fifth house. If the sixth Lord occupies the seventh house the native begets honour. It is also opined if the fourth Lord occupies the fifth, the chart holder will be happy, favourite of all, devotee of Lord Vishnu, Virtuous, honourable and will possess self earned wealth. If Lord of 5 occupies 2, not only will the native acquire fame but also will be well-versed in Mathematics and economics. If the 6th lord occupies the 11th house, not only the person will be famous, but also will earn through medicine. We know that the ninth house rules over luck. So it is termed as Bhagyasthana. When the 11th Lord occupies the 9th house, one gains wealth without much effort, will be fortunate, skillful, truthful, wealthy and honoured by the king. It is worth mentioning here that the 9th house, is in fact, the 11th from the 11th house. So the Bhavat bhava theory, when invoked, would imply that the extent of gains indicated by the 11th house, finds measurement in the 9th house.
When we talk of respect, the next question which automatically comes to our mind, is respect from whom and respect for whom?Respect to a teacher is governed by the 9th house. If the Ascendant Lord is placed in the 5th, one will gain the respect of the King. In today’s parlance, this could be interpreted as governmental favour. Respect for elders is governed by the Sun and the 9th house.
I know it is pretty difficult to gain the respect of one’s own relatives! There are three conditions to be satisfied if a person were to gain the respect of relatives.
a) The 4th Lord should be a benefic
b) The 4th Lord should be aspected by benefics.
c) Mercury should occupy the Lagna

One gains respect when the Lord of 2 occupies the 10th. The 4th lord, when occupying the 2nd house, will bless the native with all kinds of wealth, family life, honour and adventure.
When the Lord of 11, occupies the 10th house, the native begets royal honour, is virtuous, devoted to god, truthful and has his senses under control. If the 9th Lord occupies the 10th, not only the chart holder will be elevated to the status of a king but having become a ruler, will also gain the respect of people.
The Sun and Mars rule over political power. The Saturn rules over the masses. So whenever these three planets are strong, one gets fame through political power and leadership qualities. Venus and Rahu hold sway over entertainment. So “Celebrity status†is attained through the influence of Venus and Rahu. Intellectual ability is conferred by Mercury. So honour in the field of Education is conferred by Mercury. One becomes famous in the fields of astrology, banking and advisory services whenever Jupiter is strong. Jupiter represents the power of wisdom, the power of knowledge, the power of intuition and the power of prophecy. People with strong Jupiter influencing their 10th house are best known as prophets or messiahs of humanity. They have an innate gift, the power of their Higher Mind to influence the thoughts of masses to guide them on a path which reflects the higher trajectory of spiritual or cosmic evolution. Basically a native with strong Jupiter is an evolved soul. Theosophy, religion, the occult sciences, prophecy and fortune telling are the fields in which these persons are bound to acquire name and fame. The fundamental difference between Mercury and Jupiter is that Mercury represents Knowledge whereas Jupiter represents Wisdom.

Textbook combinations
Textbooks on Astrology throw much light on combinations which lead to fame and fortune. According to Bhavartha Ratnakara “ If the Lords of the Ascendant, 9th and the 4th are in the 10th, the Lords of 1 or 7 conjoins the 10th Lord, then during the periods and the sub periods of the aforesaid planets, the chart holder ascends the throne becomes very fortunate and enjoys wide fame (Chapter 8, Verse 9). If an exalted planet is situated in 5 or 9, the person becomes fortunate and famous (Ibid, Verse 11). Venus becomes a Yogakaraka if it conjoins the Moon in the Third house. Under this Yoga, fame will be conferred in Venus dasha (Ibid, Chapter 9, verse 5). Rahu in the 7th will confer fame and prosperity(Ibid, Chapter 9, Verse 14). If the 9th and 10th Lords are in the 10th and 9th respectively, the native enjoys Raja Yoga and much fame(Ibid, Chapter 9, Verse 16). This yoga is nothing but a Parivartana or mutual interchange between Lords of 9 and 10. As we all know, 9th rules over luck and dharma. 10th house rules over Karma. Technically this Yoga is termed as Dharma – Karmadipathi Yoga. Work without luck is infructuous. Luck without work is equally bad; such a person is only a parasite on society. Only work combined with luck yields magnificent results. This is also a pointer to many persons who look to Astrology for instant gratification. Luck alone, in the absence of properly guided actions, is useless. Many people still believe Astrology will take them to dizzy heights, while they are sitting and doing nothing. So this rule clarifies the point that Karma is an essential ingredient of material prosperity and success.

Karma,Astrology and Astrologer’s role
Munnar is a picturesque hill station in Kerala, forming part of the Western Ghats. If you happen to visit Munnar, please do visit a picnic spot, called “Echo pointâ€. The unique feature of this place is that if you make any sound, you can hear the same sound reverberate and this is why they call this “Echo pointâ€. What has this to do with Astrology? There is one similarity. The law of Karma is similar to the echo – whatever you do comes back to you, sometimes manifold. So we were talking about luck and karma and how they unite to give rise to a Raja Yoga. The tenth house deals with karma. To be precise the operation of the 10th house has everything to do with prarabdha karma (Activated Karma) which is different from sanchita or Dormant Karma. Sanchita Karma is similar to Potential energy whwereas Prarabhda karma is like kinetic energy.So it is best to either do good karma or selfless karma or better still not to increase the karmic baggage, at least in this birth. When we speak about fame, respect or honour, they are merely by-products of karmas of earlier births. You are praised by someone today because you did something praiseworthy in your last birth or even earlier. The job of an astrologer is to decipher from the planetary placement at birth and whether the chart is indicative of fame or notoriety. When a chart is neither indicative of fame nor indicative of notoriety, one is bound to lead a life of anonymity. This effectively means, there are no strong planets influencing the houses which are productive of fame.
Once it becomes crystal clear that a chart is productive of fame, immediately the Astrologer should assess which house is giving rise to fame and find out operative planet which makes one famous. From the above, it is possible to judge the dasha and bukti which would catapult a native to the hall of fame. As said by Thiruvalluvar, only those who are famous are fit to have taken birth in this world; the rest are better off not having being born. (***)So, neither notoriety nor anonymity is Thiruvalluvar’s cup of tea.
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*** Thondrin pugazhodu thondruga, akthilaar ,
THondarlin thondaramai nandru.

CASE STUDIES
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With this, we will move on to our discussion on case studies.
In our discussion we stressed upon the power of Saturn to give rise to “mass appeal†and further we elucidated the role of Venus, Rahu and Saturn in propelling one to celebrity status. We also mentioned the beneficial features of a strong venus in the Ascendant. All these rules find applicability in the chart of well-known Bollywood actress of yesteryears, Waheeda Rehman . Notice how Venus as a Yogakaraka is in Capricorn Ascendant, with Ascendant lord Saturn in conjunction with 10th lord Mars in an Upachaya house, Rahu in 11th, another Upachaya house with a strong rising sign hemmed between Jupiter and Venus. She received the Padma Bhushan in 2011 and got awards for her performances in Guide (1967) and Neel Kamal (1968) besides the Film Fare Lifetime Achievement Award in 1994 .
In our theoretical discussion I mentioned the 10th house as the house of fame and further added that a strong planet in the 10th gives rise to name and fame .An illustration of this rule can be found in the chart of former Wimbledon champion in women’s singles, Steffi Graf.
The 10th lord Mars, strongly placed in the 10th in its own house, catapulted Steffi to the pinnacle of glory in women’s tennis. Reckoned from Moon , the 10th lord Jupiter aspects its own house from the 4th. She, along with Margaret Court are the only players to have won three Grand Slam events in a calendar year 5times; Graf achieved this feat in the years 1988, 1989, 1993, 1995 and 1996. She was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2004.
If the lord of 5 occupies the 2nd, not only one will beget fame but one will also be well versed in Economics and Mathematics.This rule, we discussed, in theory finds practical relevance in the horoscope of eminent economist John Maynard Keynes.
Keynes got his bachelors degree in Mathematics from King’s college. Even as a Mathematics student, he attended lectures on Economics for one term, which gave him proficiency in both Mathematics and Economics. Keynes is considered to be the most famous 20th century economist of Great Britain. In 1999, the Time magazine included Keynes among its “Most important people of the century†. He is widely considered as the founder of Modern Macro Economics. The global financial crisis of 2007 has sparked resurgence in Keynesian thought. In Keynes’ chart we find a practical example of the dictum, “Rahu in 7 makes a person famous and prosperousâ€. Mars as Lagna lord in Lagna is a major contributor to the success of Keynes. It is also possible to see a cluster of Planets in the 2nd , which is an “Artha†house, meaning it signifies Economics and Wealth; therefore Keynes became an International Celebrity in the field of Economics.
Venus, Jupiter, Mercury, Sun and Saturn are all strongly placed in the chart of Prakash Padukone. Sun is in its own navamsa, while the rest occupy their own/exaltation house. We discussed earlier that when Jupiter and Venus occupy their own houses and a strong planet is in 7, one begets fame. Here Jupiter, though not in its own house, is still exalted. The 7th has an exalted Saturn, while the 7th Lord Venus in its own house. So, the essence of this rule is fulfilled, making Prakash Padukone, a celebrity in Man’s Badminton. We saw another rule in our theoretical discussion; if the 2nd house is associated with benefics one’s children become popular. In Prakash Padukone’s case the lord of 5 joins the 2nd lord in the 2nd. If I were to treat the 5th house, Leo is lagna, then we can infer that for Prakash’s children, the Ascendant lord joins the 10th lord in the 10th, a superb combination for professional success (Leo becomes the deemed lagna for Children). In reality, we notice Deepika Padukone, the Bollywood actress and super star is Prakash’s Daughter,thereby giving a practical evidence of this rule in operation.
The main pillars of success are a strong Sun, strong Moon and a strong Ascendant. In the chart of Madonna, all these three factors are present. Sun is hemmed between benefics, Venus and Jupiter. Moon is strongly placed in Lagna. Mercury gives rise to fame, when it is very close to the Ascendant. The 9th and 10th houses are crucial to success. Here the 9th lord Mars aspects the 10th lord Venus from his own house, Aries. The seventh house gains strength due to its receiving the aspect of Jupiter, while the 7th lord, in own Navamsa, is in a quadrant. Madonna is an American Singer, song writer and actress. Many of her songs have reached the top of record charts, worldwide. Through her concert tours, she has grossed over 1.4 Billion US Dollars, making her the highest-grossing solo tourist artist of all time. She has also won seven Grammy awards and sold over 300 Million records worldwide. She is the best selling female rock artist of the 20th century.
Jyoti Basu (1914 – 2010) served as the chief minister of West Bengal from 1977 to 2000. The key planets of political power, Sun and Saturn are both placed in the 10th.Though Mars gets relegated to the 12th, it is still strong, being vargottama and generates a partial Vipareetha Raja Yoga, being lord of 8 in 12. The striking feature of Basu’s chart is a strong Gaja Kesari Yoga in the 5th. Thus, the 5th house which denotes Poorva Punya is strongly influenced by the benefics– Jupiter in 5 and Mercury – Venus combination in 11 aspecting the 5th. The two planets in 10th viz., Sun and Saturn are both exalted in Navamsa. The lord of 11 Moon is also Vargottana. So there is a dazzling array of planets in Basu’s chart catapulting him to dizzy heights in the political arena.
We discussed earlier that Jupiter in the 10th is a clear indication for fame. This truth is brought out in the chart of former Wimbledon champion Boris Becker, in whose chart not only Jupiter occupies the 10th but is also exalted in navamsa. The 10th lord Sun is strongly placed in lagna. We also mentioned that a native will beget honour if the 4th lord occupies the 5th. Here the lord of 4, Saturn occupies the 5th house. Further we stated that one gets respect if the second lord occupies the 10th. In this chart that condition is also fulfilled. On 7th July 1985, Boris Becker at 17 years, 227 days, became the first German and first unseeded player to win Wimbledon Singles title, defeating Kevin Curren .Becker won the singles title in 14 different countries. In 2003, he was inducted into the International Hall of Fame.
CONCLUSION:
In conclusion I can say that in almost all charts, where a person has got name, fame, respect, honour or recognition, the essence of astrological rules mentioned in our dissertation, are by and large fulfilled. The presence of yogas, can also strengthen the functionality of the Planets giving rise to honor.

BORIS BECKER

JOHN MAYNARD KEYNES

JYOTI BASU

MADONNA

PRAKASH PADUKONE

STEFFI GRAF

WAHEEDA REHMAN