Vedic Astrology Blog

What is Jyotish

Jyotish means The Science of Light. Jyotish is Astrology according to the ancient astrological traditions from India. Jyotish is the science of reading a number of charts, listings, and other mathematical formulas

What is Jyotish?

Say it right: Joe, Teesh

Then, slip in the “y” after the “J” in “Joe” and you will have it pronounced correctly!

Jyotish means The Science of Light. Jyotish is Astrology according to the ancient astrological traditions from India. Jyotish is the science of reading a number of charts, listings, and other mathematical formulas, tables and grids, all of, which are based on the movements of the Planets in our solar system.

Jyotish works. If you have doubts, do not. I personally guarantee you right now that Jyotish works to a very significant and obvious degree. This will be seen by anyone who spends enough time to learn it. If you do not, you will never know why I can be so sure. If you do, you will be just as sure.

To do Jyotish, you take the moment and place a person was born, and using scientific methods you calculate the positions of the Planets in the Zodiac at that time, then draw them in a chart, which has as its starting reference point the Sign rising on the Eastern horizon for the place of the birth at the birth moment, and with that Sign known, the Houses of the chart can be known and the Planets correctly placed in them. Then, along with other calculations and items or astrological objects are created by the astrologer (or software program). The basic chart is formed mainly of the 12 Signs, 12 Houses, and 9 Planets.

By reading the various charts and other items of Jyotish, you can tell much about a person:

Their bodily propensities

Mental propensities

Personality traits

General flow of life

Events too if you’re good enough

Compatibility with other persons

Onset and outcome of diseases

And everything else!



Jyotish is most meant for helping with the final stages of enlightenment for those Souls who are approaching liberation. It is a study, which helps the Soul, who is at a certain stage very close to the highest things available in this world, to fully understand the mysterious spiritual reality of Achintya Bhedabheda Tattva, which is a statement, which summarizes reality in a nutshell. (More on that later.) The proper study of Jyotish strengthens faith in God, by giving concrete knowledge and evidence of the ways and means of the concretely obvious presence of Divine Control in every aspect of life, side by side with the appearance of free will and freedom, and the resultant mixture being gradual elevation of the Soul to liberation.

Jyotish is a science, allowed to appear in this world by the Lord, as part of His loving plan to liberate all Souls. Jyotish proves the statements of Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita:



(Excerpts taken from the Bhagavad Gita As It Is by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Founder and Acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness)



sadåçaà ceñöate svasyäù

prakåter jïänavän api

prakåtià yänti bhütäni

nigrahaù kià kariñyati


Chapter 3 Verse 33

Even a man of knowledge acts according to his own nature, for everyone follows the nature he has acquired from the three modes. What can repression accomplish?



ye yathä mäà prapadyante

täàs tathaiva bhajämy aham

mama vartmänuvartante

manuñyäù pärtha sarvaçaù

Chapter 4 Verse 11

As all surrender unto Me, I reward them accordingly. Everyone follows My path in all respects.



bhoktäraà yajïa,tapasäà

sarva,loka,maheçvaram

suhådaà sarva,bhütänäà

jïätvä mäà çäntim åcchati

Chapter 5 Verse 29

A person in full consciousness of Me, knowing Me to be the ultimate beneficiary of all sacrifices and austerities, the Supreme Lord of all Planets and DemiGods, and the benefactor and well wisher of all living entities, attains peace from the pangs of material miseries.



mattaù parataraà nänyat

kiïcid asti dhanaïjaya

mayi sarvam idaà protaà

sütre maëi,gaëä iva

Chapter 7 Verse 7

There is no truth superior to Me. Everything rests upon Me, as pearls are strung on a thread.



éçvaraù sarva,bhütänäà

håd,deçe
rjuna tiñöhati

bhräMaya n sarva,bhütäni

yanträrüòhäni mäyayä


Chapter 18 Verse 61

The Supreme Lord is situated in everyone’s heart, O Arjun, and is directing the wanderings of all living entities, which are seated as on a machine, made of the material energy.



Astrology is the science of the effects of the Planets movements on our lives and all things. Astrology is based on astronomy in that astrologers need to know the correct positions of the Planets at any given time, as well as the correct positions of the zodiacal fixed Star Signs in relation to any place on Earth at any given time. Once the correct positions of the Signs and Planets are known, the astrologer then constructs charts representing these positions, and using the astrological science, studies the charts and can make quite a wide range of conclusions about the moment the chart was cast for.

Charts are cast based on an exact moment at an exact place on Earth. Therefore, the moment you were born and the place you were born has a chart, or can have a chart, and that is called your "birth chart" or "Natal Chart". By reading the chart of the heavens for the time and place of your birth, we can know much about you. That is the claim of astrology. It can be used for other things such as the chart of a question asked (called "Prashna" astrology) or for planning when to do some certain action (called "Muhurtha" or "Electional" astrology).

Primarily, astrology is used to understand our own selves, or our Karma for this life.

What does the word "Vedic" implies about this type of astrology?

Vedic astrology differs from Western or Tropical astrology mainly in that it uses the fixed Zodiac as opposed to the moving Zodiac. Because of the gradual tilting of the Earth in space on its axis, the Zodiac, if you calculate it from the Sun's relationship to the Earth, appears to be moving at the rate of a little less than 1/60th of a degree per year. Currently, the relative or movable Zodiac is off or out of alignment with the fixed or real star based Zodiac by roughly 23º, which is almost one whole Sign of the Zodiac.

So, 1st and foremost you should know that Vedic astrology sticks with that original, star based Zodiac and thus another term to describe Vedic astrology is that it is "Sidereal Astrology", which simply means that the real Zodiac is used to locate, which signs the planets are currently located in.

The Signs the Planets are in are one important part of astrology. Because the two systems are skewed from each other by nearly one whole Sign, most people's "Sun Sign", that, which you can get from the paper each day, is usually one Sign back when the chart is refigured using Vedic astrology.

So, the first surprise using Vedic is that you are no longer the Sun Sign you always thought you were. This happens with many charts. However, if you were born in the last 5 days or so of the Western Sign month, then you will probably still be that Sign in Vedic since the difference is 23º currently, and Signs are 30º long in space (12 Signs X 30º each and each a 360º circle surrounding the Earth).

Vedic astrology also has a great number of techniques for studying the charts once they are cast, which give Vedic a predictive edge. For example, the "Dashas" or "planetary ruling periods" system, which is a part of the Vedic system give Vedic astrologers a tool for quite accurately predicting the trends, changes and events in your life with good accuracy regarding dating when things will take place. Therefore, Vedic astrologers are less limited to talking about your general overall self and can get more deeply, into what is going to happen in your life.

These two things are the primary, immediate things you should know about Vedic astrology.

Vedic Astrology is called Jyotish. Using Jyotish, or Vedic Astrology, means to recognize that God does His and Her work of controlling the upbringing of all the children of the Universe through a complex interactive system of energy rays, or “light”. The focal points of this energy is the balls we know as Planets, which the Vedic Books of Knowledge teach us that they are actually personal “DemiGods”, and it is through these focal points, in their ever, swirling dance around our solar system, that we can read the unfoldment of the plan of God for us all, a small part of, which is planned for us as individuals and is frozen in and readable from our birth charts, which are simply maps of the heavenly bodies at the moment of our birth in relation to our place of birth. Simply Wonderful!

First of all, let me guarantee you that Jyotish works! But, it is after all, the science of reading the control system of nature. Imagine for a moment exactly how complex and interactive that must be. It is very complex indeed. The task of reading the complexities of the interactions of natural forces is a very tall order. The astrologer must study real charts for years, and build up a wealth of knowledge, and then on top of that base of realized knowledge must also apply a large helping of spiritually broad intuition. The Vedic astrologer must indeed be like a conduit of reception and speaking on behalf of the natural forces of nature read through the planetary chart.

The saintly sages of ancient India received this science from God, and passed it down through the generations of their disciples. Eventually, starting around 5,000 years ago, it began to put into the written form and has been recorded and passed on that way ever since then. Now, in modern times, we have the advantage of the accuracy of modern astronomy and computers, but the reading of the chart remains something that is limited to the openness and spiritual receptivity of the astrologer, the “chart reader”. We have made the science of calculation perfect, but nothing in science can help us with our appreciation and reading of, the chart. That part remains something that must be developed in the individual astrologer.

And here we are in the present. I, like a few others, have written a very astronomically precise chart calculating software program. Into that program my assistants and I have entered many readings from classic and modern astrologer authors for the “meanings of” or “the readings of” the planetary positions in the chart. Later in this book, you will see “your readings”. You have to, right now, grasp the fact that these readings are for each of the specific placements of the Planets in your chart, but they are somewhat “unblended”, in that they are each for a specific placement by itself. Now, a human astrologer, with the above mentioned ability to really see and read the chart as a whole, will be able to give interpretations for the chart, which are blended, from all the placements. A computer program, such as the one I have written, which produced this printout for your chart, cannot do the kind of intuitive blending a good human astrologer should be capable of.

However, there is another, different kind of value inherent in the type of printout you now have in your hands. Namely, that it blindly and selflessly gives the interpretations for the planetary positions present in your chart as they are spelled out in the classic Jyotish books. This has value because from these fundamental readings the more complex blended readings take form. You make a blend from raw ingredients. These are the raw ingredients of your Karma. The blending of these is your real, actual life.

Therefore, as you read the readings given for your chart herein, remember that they are unblended, and therefore will cancel each other to some degree, and otherwise balance each other out. For example, in one reading it might say that you have a strong negative quality, but in another reading, it may assuredly say that you have the strong opposite positive quality. which is right? The truth lay in the middle of the two, and also that at some points you will be one way, and at other times you will be the other way. This is where the human astrologer, hopefully bringing a vast base of experience in judgment, can sort it out to the real truth. But, knowing the “pullings”, or baseline effects, of your various planetary placements is important if you want to really enter into your chart, your life plan, more deeply. In other words, to really understand yourself through astrology, you need the information contained herein.

Here is another reason why this chart you hold can be very helpful: In Vedic Astrology, one of the most important facets of the science is what we call the Dashas. The Dasha is essentially a dateline of when the Planets will give their effects in your life. It is primarily using the Dashas planetary rulership periods that the Vedic Astrologer is able to predict when things are going to happen. The chart shows all the things contained in the life span, but the Dashas show us when each thing is going to happen. Using the Dashas, the Vedic Astrologer can predict when life events such as marriage, children, changes in career, difficulties in wealth, and much more, will take place.

Your Dasha planetary dateline is contained in this printout. Now, the way you can make best use of it is by knowing, once again, the raw effects your Planets create. Then, using that information, you can best understand what the Planets will try to do during their periods as spelled out in the Dasha dateline. If you did not have information such as the readings contained herein, you would not be able to make your own decisions about the coming effects of the Planets in their coming periods. In other words, this printout gives you the tools to begin to enter deeply into your own chart, and start learning how to read your Planets effects in the past and coming planetary periods.

Let us take an example: In my chart, I have Jupiter in the 9th House in Sagittarius. This placement is said to bring a strong connection with religion, and priests or gurus. I also have Saturn there too. This placement bodes ill effects for my father, and Saturn rules base jobs and hard work. Now, the Dashas say that I was under the period of both Jupiter and Saturn when I was around 10 years old. That means that my Dashas say that when I am around ten years old, both Jupiter and Saturn will be active. Not Venus, not Mercury, not the other Planets. I was in the Dasha period of Jupiter, Saturn

So, what happened then you’re probably asking, right? Well, when I was around ten, my father became seriously mentally ill, and my mother sought help from the Church leaders in our area, being a staunch Catholic. One day, my siblings and I were brought to the Church, where the Priest explained our father’s condition to us, and our father was sent away to a hospital shortly thereafter. He was, at the time, doing a nighttime second job as the janitor of the Church in our parish. I then took that job over after my father’s departure. So here I was, having lost my father, working for the head priest, as the janitor of the Church. In other words I experienced quite classically what exactly the Planets in my chart spelled out, contact with religion and priests, loss of father, and a base job with hard work. This is exactly how predicting is done with Vedic Astrology. You see what effects the Planets are supposed to give according to the classic works on planetary effects, whose readings are contained herein, and then you look to the Dasha periods to determine when the effects will take place in the life.

So, in this printout you have some pretty potent tools for putting together some of your own understanding of what and when things will happen in your life. Unfortunately, it is not easy, because after all, again, we are talking here about reading the immensely large and wonderful piloting system divinity has built this Universe upon! So, take it easy, and do not be in a hurry or easily turned off. It takes some time to get the hang of it.

Now, if you weren’t looking for work when you ordered this chart, and just wanted some instant gratification in terms of finding out what stuff you got coming, then don’t worry, I think you’ll get at least some of what you’re looking for. Usually we are looking for reassurement from our chart of something that we hope is really going to be a part of our life. Often what we want is coming and the chart will probably mention it.

However, in our lives there is much coming that we don’t want. I have had numerous clients and acquaintances that have received gifts from Divinity into their lives, which were or are, unwanted things, such as horrible diseases. It is a fact that the negative side is there. All of uses have to face the gradual decay inherent in old age, disease, and death, and some of the readings are going to mention these kinds of things. Some of us are going to face these challenges earlier than others, and some of us are not going to have our dreams fulfilled. So, do not fall prey to the folly of expecting your Vedic Horoscope to cater to only your dreams.

On the other hand, the beauty of knowing that Divinity has a plan for us is indeed a source of bliss in itself. We can, after surrendering to this fact, go through our life, with all its ups and downs, in a happy state due to detachment. What happens, in the end, is not up to us, and is beyond our control. We are players in an already written play, we generally do not know the script, but there is one, and it comes from a purely benevolent divinity. Our dreams, hopes and wishes are generally self-centered and based on a vision of ourselves as these bodies we temporarily inhabit. But that is not the vision of Divinity, who sees us instead as gradually evolving Souls learning lessons in each life, which are retained, though the possessions and material attainments of each life are not. The aim of life is the emotional lessons we learn, and those, the Vedas say, are carried forward to our next destinations. Our dreams, hopes, and wishes however are usually focused in the material realm of our current life.

Therefore, it is important when approaching Vedic astrology, to understand that it is not our servant, but rather, we are its servants. It is a small reading of Divinities plan for our spiritual evolution in this life. It is not so concerned with whether our illusory understanding of our lives shall be catered to and fulfilled. Rather, a plan of lessons is already in place, and the chart reveals the unfoldment of that lesson plan.

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