Namaste friends,
> > >
> > > Here is the promised article on chara karakas. I have no
> pretensions that I got it correct. But this is based on an honest
> attempt to purge all preconceived notions from the mind and approach
> Parasara's verses with a fresh and unbiased mind.
> > >
> > > In my view, neither the 7 chara karaka school nor the 8 chara
> karaka school got Parasara correct. Parasara taught that 7 chara
> karakas should be used in some charts and 8 chara karakas in some
> charts and clearly described when to use what.
> > >
> > > I am trying to share whatever I was able to understand by reading
> Parasara's exposition on chara karakas with an open mind and then
> experimenting. If you think my interpretation has some worth in it,
> please use it, experiment, benefit and spread the knowledge. If not,
> just leave it.
> > >
> > > I have uploaded a detailed article on chara karakas on my
> website. It describes the calculation with 16 examples, covering
> various cases. Apart from defining chara karaka calculation, this
> article also defines and uses a dasa called "Karaka dasa" that was
> taught by Parasara for the purpose of timing events using chara
> karakas. Please download the following PDF file if interested:
> > >
> > > http://VedicAstrologer.org/articles/c_karaka.pdf> > >
> > > If you find the article useful, please feel free to forward this
> link to those who may be interested.
> > >
> > > Krishnaarpanamastu,

Let us take a step back. Some of the SJC gurus and some other people at SJC were once using 7 chara karakas and arudha padas as taught by Sri KN Rao. Some of them were happy and found them working. When they came to SJC, they switched and found things working better. The bottomline is that their knowledge was incomplete before, but contained some useful stuff nevertheless.

I am pretty sure there are a lot of mistakes in our understanding even now. The bottomline is that our knowledge is incomplete now, but contains some useful stuff nevertheless.

One more thing: Not all knowledge is equally critical in our practical predictions.

Suppose I predict someone's marriage or promotion. Whether I see D-9 or D-10 for marriage is critical. Whether I see D-10 or D-12 for promotion is critical. Whether I use TA dasa with TP charts or not is critical. Whether I take the 6th or 7th house for marriage is critical.

But, if I evaluate the argalas on 7th house or UL incorrectly, it may be masked off in the other things I consider. If I use a wrong planet as DK or AmK or PK, again it may be masked off in the other things I consider. After all, we consider multiple factors and make a prediction when there is an agreement between several factors.

Thus, we use a lot of knowledge and techniques and some of them critical and some of them are less critical in our predictions. Our predictions are due to multiple factors and not just one.

Bottomline on the negative side: We have some incorrect knowledge. Though this may make some uncomfortable, this is the truth.

Bottomline on the positive side: We have a decent body of knowledge with a good degree of reliability and, when we combine multiple techniques, we are in a good shape a good percentage of times! The same is true with others outside our parampara also (like Sri KN Rao's followers), though the degree of correctness may be different with different techniques used by them.

> And relatedly, note that all this suddenly puts a lot of parampara
> knowledge in question. An average person like me treats parampara
> knowledge with respect because one naturally assumes that this
> knowledge has been tested over the generations.

Apart from knowledge in a parampara getting corrupted in time, there is another issue - knowledge not from a parampara may be misunderstood to be from a parampara.

I subjectively found a lot of difference between some of Sanjay ji's initial teachings like Tithi Pravesha and Narayana dasa and some of his later teachings. The initial teachings were simple, logical and beautiful, but I was not convinced by several teachings later on. I had a strong suspicion that some of those teachings were Sanjay ji's own research/extrapolations. It seemed to me like several teachings that were not identified explicitly as either research or parampara knowledge may actually be his research.

I did not hide my suspicion from him. I mentioned it privately to him. On several occasions, I privately requested him to acknowledge whether a specific teaching was strictly from parampara or his own research/extrapolation. On each occasion, he just smiled and evaded the question. I told him that it is important to me and perhaps others to know which knowledge is from parampara and which knowledge is his own research and requested that he should clarify when teaching new things.

From his reaction, my subjective judgment was that he was mixing up the two, though some people may be assuming that anything from him not explicitly identified as research is from parampara. As a seeker of knowledge who has a good level of belief in the knowledge coming from Sri Achyutananda, this ambivalence from Sanjay ji made things particularly challenging for me.

> replacement (and earlier Drig Dasa calculation), into the trash can,

Regarding drigdasa calculation, Sanjay ji privately told me several years back that he was taught drigdasa along with so many other dasas in one afternoon and that he just took very brief notes on so many things at once. He said there could have beem confusion or mistakes in drigdasa. Given this uncertainty, it is not impossible that what he finally taught is different from Achyutananda's teaching.

Parasara's verses on drigdasa were translated the same way by all translators I saw. And I have not deviated from Santhanam etc. I only supplemented it with a small rule related to interpretation. Thus, what I shared on drigdasa calculations is not just my own independent interpretation, but an interpretation of Santhanam and Sharma too.

Krishnaarpanamastu,
Narasimha

Dear Sanjay,

Hope you are doing well. Happy Deepavali! It is always nice to hear from you.

Maharshi Parasara said "We use 7 or 8 planets. When X happens, THEN we use 8 planets. THUS, we use 7 in some and 8 in some".

As you said, it is obvious when X happens that 8 are to be used. However, it is also fair to conclude that 7 are used when X does not happen.

This would be a fair conclusion normally. Moreover, the use of the word "evam" seals it here.

The word "evam" means "thus" or "in this manner" or "like this". By using this word, he is indicating that what he has said before is sufficient to see when to use 7 and when to use 8. It implies that there is no other guideline and *this is how* we figure out. If there is some additional guideline to choose between 7 vs 8, the word "evam" would not have been used. Thus, one can reject the notion that there are more unspoken crtiteria.

Best regards,
Narasimha



Subject: Re: [sjc-guru] Parasara on Chara Karakas: An Independent Interpretation

|| Om Gurave Namah ||

Dear Narasimhaji,

I had a thought about the first few stanzas,

Ch. 32. Karakatwas of the Grahas
athA.ahaM sampravaxyAmi grahAnAtmAdikArakAn.h |

saptaravyAdishanyantAn.h rAhvantAn.h vA.ashhTasaMkhyakAn.h || 1||

aMshaiH samaugnahau dvau ched.hrAhvantan.h chintayet.h tadA |

saptaiva kArakAnevaM kechidashhTau prachaxate || 2||

This can be translated literally as: "Now I am speaking about seven planets from Sun to Saturn or eight planets upto Rahu,
acting as the significators of self etc. If two planets are equal by degrees, then planets upto Rahu should be thought of.
Thus, only seven significators [in some] and eight in some are considered."

This may also mean that

USE Rahu IF there is two planets in same degrees, "aMshaiH samaugnahau dvau ched.hrAhvantan.h chintayet.h tadA |"

But this may not mean that NOT TO USE EIGHT Kaarakas when there is no grahas in same Degress

Let me put it this way

SET 1 : USE Rahu when grahas in same degress 8 Kaaraka systems.

THE REMAINING SET : YOU can still use both 7 and 8 kaarakas.

I hope I am bringing out my thoughts accurately. The stanza never says "FOR THE REMAINING" USE ONLY 7 KAARAKAS.

Warm Regards
Sanjay P

Oh you finished post on the arguement? It seems like mystic book from heaven, I recognize little familiar astrology words in it as I thought. Maybe others can understand it. Thanks again for your help.

Its good article