Parampara is a succession of teachers and disciples (guru-shishya paramparā). It is the tradition of passing down knowledge through generations. An individual does not own the Parampara’s wisdom, it is owned by the entire succession of Gurus who devoted time and energy to teach and encourage their shishya (students). In our Vedic Astrology tradition the Parampara mantra is so powerful that the simple act of reading it helps absorb the ocean of knowledge from the tradition.

The SJC Jyotish Parampara is like a giant tree with infinite branches continuously growing, passing down Vedic knowledge as it has been passed down before for hundreds or thousands of years. If one breaks away from the source of one’s tradition, it will be like a broken branch from a tree; it will dry-up, rot, and disintegrate very soon without the support of the tree. A branch is not a seed; it is a broken limb! Therefore it is bound to die. Even if we are spiritual with an ego the size of a mustard seed or if we are misled to believe to be a reincarnated god, as humans we are all fallible and we will make mistakes. Disrespect to the Guru is a big mistake and a true Jyotishi should very well know the consequences of such mistake.

The tradition I belong to traces its lineage to Mahapurush Achyuta Dasa, the disciple of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, all the way down to Sri Jagannath Rath and Kasinath Rath. I give my respect to the Parampara through my Guruji Visti Larsen and my Parama-Guruji Sanjay Rath (my Guru’s Guru) for their unconditional care and selfless teachings.

At SJC we use Jyotish to heal, not to harm.

I support SJC.

Not by a long shot. The most common mistake made by astrologers is the fact that many ignore Panchanga. Such mistake will lead to miss out on the “big picture”. A broader view could clearly show flaws or blessings in a chart, saving lots of time when it comes to predictions in chart interpretation. A tattva conflict at the very core of a natal chart must not be overlooked.

Many astrologers are taught to believe that panchanga is just another (Indian) calendar system or a Vedic planetary almanac, which provides the day of the week, the lunar day, etc. Most people are only familiar with the Gregorian calendar, but many ancient cultures have developed very detailed and sophisticated calendar systems; the Egyptians, the Mayans, and the Vedas. The Vedic calendar follows the movement of the stars with extreme precision and creates timescales used to determine the auspiciousness of a particular moment in time.

Panchanga means the five limbs or parts. These five parts are the most popular of the Vedic calendar and have been successfully used to measure time.

The five limbs and areas of use are: Continue reading...

Instead of the traditional "what life has in store for me" or “am I going to be rich?” approach to astrology, Jyotish (Vedic Astrology) could be used to give direction and support; helping improve our personal life, therefore making it more meaningful.

With Jyotish we can discover our behavioral tendencies and repetitive patterns we might be reproducing from previous lives. Sometimes we struggle with the same issues over and over again, but if we can understand our past, we can act in the present to better our future.

The proper guidance and instruction from a competent Vedic Astrologer should be able to help change those patterns of behavior. We should be able to find answers to the “why me?” type of questions by understanding our own birth chart, our karma, our own Purva Punya (past life credit due to good actions). Once we are familiar with the roots of our own suffering, then we can start to heal ourselves and become more capable of understanding others and their behavior in regards to the role they play or represent in our lives. Continue reading...

हरे राम कृष्ण

Many years ago, after my Buddhist Vajra initiation, I was taught some very interesting meditation techniques which included mudras, invocation, and visualization. These techniques helped me a great deal back then and even today, as I meditate and chant my mantras on a regular basis.

About a year go I had a conversation with my Jyotish Guru in regards to the order in which mantras should be chanted, particularly the Guru Parampara mantra and those mantras used for daily practice or as a long-term remedy for certain doshas. The following is an extract from that conversation, which adds more understanding to my meditation practice.

Some people do the Parampara mantra before getting out of bed, even before touching the ground. The order of the mantras is based on chakras:

Ganesha, sitting in the Muladhara chakra at the root or first chakra. Following is Swadhisthana chakra where Krishna can be worshiped in one particular form, but most people skip this chakra, Kamadevata sits here. Continue reading...

An accurate TOB is absolutely necessary to make accurate predictions. The easiest way to deliver an inaccurate reading is by using incorrect birth information. Weather it is your mother’s recall, a hospital record, birth certificate, data from a family member, or any other source, in general, even this data needs to be confirmed with life’s events and be rectified. For predictions, Navamsa or D-9 is one of the most used divisional charts and its lagna changes every 12 -13 minutes approximately depending on your location, and for higher Vargas (divisional charts) time changes are even more critical.

I really appreciated those of you who have contacted me for help. For those whom I haven’t been able to help I want to emphasize that a birth time or at least a date is most important for predictions. I can try to find out your DOB/TOB if you provide me with a set of important life events, tithi, etc., but it will be impossible for me to make a prediction if you don’t know for sure on what year you were born.