Ruling planets

June 24, 2001

Ruling Planets

Ruling Planets is a very important concept, in fact one of the corner

stones of KP that attracted me to test KP more. Simply put ruling

planets are the planets which rule over the particular moment of

judgement (in the case of Prasna), birth (in the case of natal

chart), or whatever the issue maybe. They are the strongest

determinants of the moment. According to Sri Krishnamurthi they are:

Lagna star lord

Lagna lord

Moon star lord

Moon sign lord and

Weekday lord

Later his students also added the Lagna sublord.

If Rahu or Ketu occupy a sign whose lord owns another sign, and if

that planet happens tp be a ruling planet, the node should also be

taken as a ruling planet.

These planets determine the outcome of anything. Let us look at the

rationale of Ruling planets. Isn't it a common experience even

for a beginner that quite often when he sits to study a chart the

prasna lagna is the same as the birth lagna of the client? Isn't

it

even more common that the Prasna chart itself reflects accurately the

current picture as well as the natal chart? This has indeed been

noticed even by Western astrologers who have come up with what they

call the `Consultation chart'. The exact moment when an

astrologer or even the client genuinely has the urge to look into a

question is very important in Prasna. Why? Buddhi Karmaanusaarini.

The mind follows the Karmas.

Most astrologers will agree that in principle it is possible to

predict based on the Consultation chart. But the dispute would arise

about why only the above said planets are selected. The idea of

selecting certain planets as the determinants based on some criteria

is not really that new either. In my own studies I have come across

this a couple of times. The best instance is that of sage

Satyaachaariar's `Jaataka Satyaachaareeyam'. In Adhyaya

1, slokas 7

to 14, the sage gives the four determinants of any chart based on

whose strength and disposition he judges the chart straightaway. A

simplified version of the same is given here. I am not going into the

details of the usage here. It should be pointed out that this

wonderful book is the forerunner of the great Nadi classic Dhruva

nadi. In fact the principles enunciated here along with the

Nadiamshas forms the subject matter of a class of Nadi literature in

the form of Dhruva and Satya Samhita Nadis. The determinants of any

moment according to the sage are:

Birth lagna lord

Moon or lagna nakshatra lord (whichever is stronger)

Moon sign lord

Navamsa lagna lord

Lord of the rashi (in the rashi chart) occupied by the Navamsa lagna

lord

It will be seen that Krishnamurthi's Ruling planets are quite

similar. Instead of taking the nakshatra lord of either the lagna or

moon based on whichever is stronger, he takes BOTH. He also takes

both the Lagna lord and Moonsign lord. He has no place for the

Navamsa lord. But introduces the Weekday lord. Let me hasten to add

that the above comparision is MINE. Krishnamurthi himself doesn't

tell where he got the idea of Ruling planets from. I have over the

years slightly modified the version for myself. But I will first

represent the RP faithfully as they are used by KP.

After drawing a list of the ruling planets we can eliminate some as

follows.

1. Planets deposited in the nakshatra of a retrograde planet

have to be rejected. But planets which are retrograde pose no

problem, ONLY those IN THE CONSTELLATION of a retrograde planet will

be rejected.

2. If any RP is in the sub of planet detrimental to a house by

being a significator of the 8th or 12th house to the relevant house

whose matter we are judging, even that planet will be eliminated. Of

course this is with reference to the horary chart according to KP

only.

Beginners to KP don't have to worry about the last rule since I

will give a simple example without Prashna chart. Moreover this rule

has is relevant only with an actual prashna chart. Three points are

to be remembered.

1. The fructification of the event will occur only when the

transiting planet transits a point in the zodiac ruled by these

planets. If the result is expected on the same day, the lagna will

transit this point. If it is in days, move the Moon to this point, if

it is expected to happen in months, move Sun, and finally if it is

expected in years, Jupiter will transit a point in the zodiac whose

sign lord, nak lord and sublord are ruled by the ruling planets.

2. Even if you have three strongest ruling planets, you have 3

points in the zodiac ruled by this three planets. If the ascendant at

judgement is a movable sign, the earliest one may be preferred. If it

is fixed, the last point.

3. In judging the strength of the ruling planets the following

will be helpful most of the time. They are stronger in the descending

order.

Asc nak lord> Asc sign lord >Moon nak lord> Moon sign

lord>Weekday lord

The RP can be used in many ways. I will mention a few here.

· Birth rectification: The ruling planets of the moment you sit

to judge the chart (in case of any doubt about the accuracy of birth

time) will be same as the birth time ruling planets. In case of doubt

about the degree of lagna, it will be the degree ruled by RP. The

birth lagna lord, lagna nakshatra lord and sublord will be indicated

by the RP. Often the dasha or antardashalord will also come up. This

can be used with traditional astrology too.

· In conjunction with the Prashna chart, when we have too many

significators for an event, the significators which are also the

ruling planets are to be clinched. Remember that prashna method will

have to be that of KP.

· Fast predictions can be given just based on the Ruling

planets directly. I will illustrate one such case here. Can be used

with traditional astrology too. No need of KP as long as you have the

table of 249 subs. Most programs give the nakshatra and sublords of

every planet including the lagna in the details.

Let me now give an actual example now. I used to teach Vedic

astrology classes in the University of Sydney during the weekends.

These classes were arranged by a student who was a faculty member in

the Aeronautical Engineering dept in the same University. After some

months of regular traditional Vedic astrology classes, I took the

lesson on the Ruling planets since they can be used even without much

knowledge of KP. I did some examples from my case files, but decided

to do more LIVE examples as and when the opportunity arose. The next

week on Nov7th 2000, Alan, a student of the same classes, called up.

While I was on the phone with him, my sister from USA called me on

the mobile. I told Alan to call back after 10 minutes. But the

conversation with my sister lasted for more than one hour since it

turned out to be quite an important call. I realized that Alan would

have probably tried during that one hour a couple of times. So I

called him on his phone. But the answering machine was on. I thought

that he would be with a client of his or something. So I left a

message on his machine. Someone suggested that I should do the Ruling

planet and predict when Alan would call back. I noted the time. It

was 10:57 am. The place Wollongong, New South Wales. Daylight saving

one hour. The Lagna was 5 degrees 34 minutes Capricorn. Moon was in

Cancer 15 degrees 1 minute and the weekday Tuesday. So the Ruling

planets are:

Saturn (lagna lord)

Sun (lagna nakshatra lord)

Mercury (Lagna sublord)

Moon (Moon sign lord)

Saturn(moon nakshatra lord)

Mars (Weekday lord)

Are any of the planets in the nakshatra of a retrograde planet? Sun

in Jupiter's nak as well as Moon in Saturn's nak are to be

eliminated. Saturn, Mars and Mercury are left. Saturn is a very

strong significator as it appears twice. Rahu can be added to the

list since it it in the sign of Mercury(Gemini). So the final list

has Saturn, Mars, Mercury and Rahu. Let us see how many points are

ruled by these planets. First consider the Signlord and

Nakshatralord.

1.Capricorn 23deg 20min to 30 deg is ruled by Saturn and Mars.

2.Similiarly Aquarius 0deg to 6deg 40 min as well as 6deg 40 min

to 20deg also.

Then Aries is ruled by Mars. But Saturn or Mercury or Rahu don't

have any nakshatras in this sign. Gemini ruled by Mercury can be

considered.

3. Gemini 0deg to 6deg 40min ruled by Merc and Mars

4. Gemini 6deg 40 min to 20 deg ruled by Merc and Rahu.

Similiarly you get points in Virgo and Scorpio.

We have an option between Capricorn, Aquarius, Gemini, Virgo or

Scorpio. Since our Ascendant was Capricorn a movable sign, we should

prefer the earlier signs. The earliest point will be that ruled by

Saturn(sign lord) Mars (nak lord). It will happen either in Capricorn

or Aquarius. In Capricorn ruling planet subs can be either those of

Rahu or Mars. In Aquarius it can be only Mercury since no other

ruling planet has a sub in Aq in Mars nakshatra. We have already used

Mars. Moreover it is not a very strong contender. Mercury the Asc

sublord is the strongest of all the three. So we will clinch Saturn

sign Mars Nakshatra Mercury Sub. It is 0deg to 1deg 53 min 20 sec of

Aquarius.

When can I expect Alan to call back? After a year? Or a month? No.

Commonsense tells me that he will call me back he will call back

within 24hours on the same day. So we have to see the transit of the

lagna in this point of the zodiac. The lagna will be in this point

from 12hrs 57 min to 12 hrs 59 min for Wollongong the place of

judgement where I will receive his call. So I noted it on a paper and

continued my discussion with the other person. It was 12.57. The

other person was getting excited. Would Alan call back according to

the predicted time? Right at 12.59 the phone rang. I picked it up.

Sure enough it was Alan. I asked him the time on his watch. It was

either 12.58 or 12.59. I explained the example to him in 5 minutes.

Next week I repeated it as an example in the class. Another student

wanted to know the birth time of a lady whose chart she was doing.

The person gave a range of 2 hours as she didn't know exactly.

But

she promised to verify from her mother and the birth certificate. Two

different ascendants would rise in this range of 2 hours. So in the

class the student asked me what degree would be rising. After

checking the ruling planets I gave Libra sign, particular nakshatra

and sub. Later when the lady got the information from her birth

certificate it turned out to be just 5minutes different from what I

arrived at. Needless to say we agreed that what we calculated was

correct. Often birth certificates could be wrong by that much. Many a

time I have rectified charts with the help of ruling planets. Many

times I had anticipated the Birth lagna and nakshatra even before

calculating the birth chart. When it was calculated the client or

student would be surprised that it was exactly the same. Let me add

that I am not boasting of my abilities here. I am just writng about

how reliable the ruling planets are. I am nobody. Occasionally every

astrologer has to go wrong. Nobody is infallible. But the astrologer

has to answer himself before giving a prediction. Has he been

intellectually honest? Has he learnt the best techniques with no

prejudices? Has he been open minded enough? Has he done his job

sincerely? If he has, he should give the prediction boldly without

any attachment to the result. It generally will come true. Ruling

planets is one of those very few techniques which give more

confidence to the astrologer by increasing the precision and

accuracy. For those who are new to this technique, one last word. The

judgement of finding the correct 3 significators will come from

applying the principles and analyzing the results. After 3 months of

regular and sincere study, anyone can come 80-90% of the time

accurate. In fact to the precise moment. Sometimes we may be wrong in

our judgement of the sublord. We are still around the time. We learn

from experience. Still even the best astrologer can be wrong

sometimes. What's there to complain about this? Are we playing

God?

We are just insignificant tiny beings try to fathom the unfathomable.

The enigma of Karma will not reveal itself to any of us in its

entirety, especially to us who are still bound by ignorance. If we

know what Karma is, we are no more part of this rat race, this cycle

of births and deaths. In fact the knower does not exist anymore. All

distinction between the knower and known ceases. Sarvam kalvidam

Brahma.

PS: Remember that like in Prashna the urge has to be genuine, not to

just test the theory. It will work in all genuine cases when you are

doing a chart seriously.Please try this method sincerely without any

bias for a few weeks at least before forming any opinions. Then tell

me what you think.This is just a very brief introduction to the RP.

It is just the tip of the iceberg. I am not trying to popularize any

system here. I am not even connected to anyone of KP followers. I am

just honestly sharing my experience here. I have tried many methods

in the past 12 years. This is one among what works. I have also given

Satyaachaariyar's theory for comparision if any die-hard

traditionalist wants to use a similar idea. Even if one doesn't

use KP subs, still the ruling planets can be used with considerable

accuracy, at least in rectification methods. Anything that binds us

is against Truth. Truth has to be liberating, not binding. Tradition

has its role to play. But if it becomes an obstacle to truth, it is

no more divine. Wasn't Sri Ramakrishna advised to cut the vision

of Kali with the sword of discrimination by Tota Puri? We should have

a healthy respect for the sages and their teachings. A lot of their

teachings are lost now. But if we hope to reclaim even a part of it,

we should be open to the truth in any form. Trying more methods in

the light of what the sages taught, is what we should do. May the

truth set us free.

May astrology truly illumunate our lives,

Satya

June 24, 2001

Dear Satya,

An astrologer I used to know, from Sri Lanka, Mr Arulprakasam, who died

recently, used to use KP extremely successfully. I have explored it before,

but have never seen it so clearly set out before.

Do you use the KP ayanamsa as well to calculate the charts for the prashna?

Regards,

Nimmi

-

<satyaketu

Sunday, June 24, 2001 10:58 AM

[vedic astrology] Ruling planets