aTMAKARAKA pLUS 3

[Guest guest]

Dear Sudharsan

 

Dandavats! All glories to Srila Prabhupada

 

you

<<That was a well thought out post, but I have a question for

you.Though the different grahas represent different incarnations of

the Lord,my reading specifies 12th to the Karakamsa as a guide to the

Ishta Devata. For example I have Saturn posited in Capricorn(In

Navamsa) as Atmakaraka,so Jupiter becomes the indicator of Ishta or

propensities of the Soul toward a Deity.

Infact thats my second question, though Jupiter signifies Vamanadeva,

our parampara dictates worship of Sri Krishna, and I worship the

Supreme Lord.In my Navamsa Jupiter is placed in Taurus with Mars,and

that could reconcile my orientation toward Lord Narasimhadev.But my

worship of the Lord in His original form as Krishna is still a matter

that iam attempting to figure.>>

 

me

Thank you very much for your appreciation and question.

 

Your question is about Ishta Devata. For newcomers I will explain a bit

about this. In the Jyotish books there are some rules about how to find the

divine personality to be worshipped by anyone, as seen from the personal

Vedic horoscope.

 

According to those rules you are advised to worship that particular Ishta

Devata.

 

To answer to this question I will give my own opinion.

 

By being born in Mexico where Catholicism is prevalent, I was educated as a

Catholic as well. In fact I did go to Church when I was 11 to do my First

Communion, all dressed in white and with a white candle.

 

However, my Virgo rising gave me a very critical nature and I did find some

details in my religion, which made me an atheist. However, at the age of 18

I did start to have some religious awareness, and first I did think that the

Sun must be God, because great cultures in the past like the Mayas, Aztecs,

Incas, etc. did worship the Sun as God.

 

With that belief I did feel well as if I had found the origin of creation.

But on 15 April 1973, just 2 months after arriving in Paris from Mexico, I

was visiting the Hare Krishna Temple outside Paris, and 3 devotees were

reading the Bhagavad Gita As It Is to me. I do remember when Sergio, the

Spaniard devotee later on to become Sukirti Das, said "Krishna is the

Supreme Personality of Godhead". At that moment, my belief that the Sun was

God, vanished forever, and within my heart I felt that I had achieved the

highest awareness of all.

 

It was like a mystical conversion. Yes, I felt, Krishna is God. Krishna

has many names according to the cultural understanding but God is One, and

the origin of the Sun.

 

Later on at the beginning of 1976 I did start to study Vedic astrology.

Perhaps because I do have 9 planets in 9 Navamsas (in my experience, only 1

in about 100 persons have that configuration), I have the tendency to study

many subject matters and a diversity of books.

 

I do consider that perhaps we as astrologers can read in a lifetime, about a

10% of all the Jyotish books ever published.

 

Each author gives what he thinks is the best path to follow by his readers,

and that according to his/her own experience and karma.

 

In my 26 years experience in Jyotish, I never have come across a person

asking me about his/her Ishta Devata. In fact I did never had that question

myself because from the beginning of my spiritual Vedic path, I did find

Krishna.

 

I do feel that those rules to find the personal Ishta Devata is very helpful

for those wanting to know about their spiritual focus.

 

But in my own experience, like you, I too worship Krishna and I have never

have lost my time in trying those rules to find my Ishta Devata.

 

In the beginning I did lost my time in calculating by hand the Graha and

Bava Balas of about 10 horoscopes. I did take about 10 hours on each.

 

I did realize that I could use my time in studying other important and more

practical rules.

 

I do not say that the graha and bava balas are useless, what I am saying is

that I did learn in the hard and long way, when we did not have computers to

facilitate our studies.

 

I knew that I had to follow a practical approach to study Jyotish, and

therefore I did cut off some lessons, which were not for me.

 

In the end, it is the accuracy of the predictions, which are wanted.

Anything that is helpful in our spiritual advancement is welcome, but we

should be practical, life is short to be wasted in redundant issues.

 

Like you say "our parampara dictates worship of Sri Krishna". That is our

faith. We believe that we are following the right school, and we are lucky

to have great teachers in the past and present dictating us what is for our

best spiritual interest.

 

We are following the Brahma parampara Vaisnava, or the disciplic succession

coming from Lord Brahma, the architect of this particular universe, and we

believe that we are on the right track.

 

I do hope that this answer is helpful.

 

Hare Krishna

 

Natabara Das