ASTA MANGALA PRASNAM

Procedure for doing Astamangala prasnam

Sit facing east. Sit on a neat place. Place a plank of wood to the north . Take 108 cowries and place them on the plank.

Sprinkle them with holy waters and cover them with sandal paste, flowers, etc Then worship Siva in them .

Then do the navagraha puja invoking the Sun in the east, Mars in the south-east, Jupiter in the south, Mercury in the south-west, Venus in the west, Saturn in the north-west, Moon in the north and Rahu in the north-east, and repeat the Mantra 108 times.

Repeat Panchakshari and other mantras derived from Guru and invoke the Guru and the nine planets.

SANKALPA

May it occur to me through your grace to find out the real truth, good and bad, regarding the person born in such and such a nakshatra and bearing such and such a name, and happenings about him in the past, present and the future in respect of money, children and house affairs.

ASHTAMANGALAM

Then call the girl or boy not conversant with astrology who has just bathed and is well-dressed. He or she should worship the lamp, Ganesha and the planets with flowers. The astrologer should then place the gold piece along with flowers, etc., in the right hand. He or she should then go round the Chakra and then stand near it facing the east, in the meanwhile the questioner should be meditating on God. Then the astrologer reflecting on the problem of the querist should touch the cowries repeating the mantras thrice and at the end ask the boy or girl to place the gold piece in any one of the signs.

DETERMINING THE ARUDHA RASI

Then the astrologer should divide the cowries which he has before him into three groups, placing one on the left hand side, another in front of him and the last one on his right hand side. The omens also should be taken into consideration. Note this time also. The nature of the breath too is to be noted. Then one may be asked to go out and measure the Sun's shadow. That Rasi where the gold piece is deposited by the boy or girl is known as the Arudha Rasi. The astrologer should carefully observe the lay of the gold piece amidst the flowers in the Chakra and point out some effects from its position.

After finishing the worship, the astrologer should give the predictions.

He should solemnly take the cowries kept in three places one after another. Count each separately and expunge all multiples of 8 and keep the remainder. This forms the third digit, second digit and the unit (respectively) of a number he is making.

The remainder in the left hand is ' hundred', in front ten and on the right hand side one unit. Thus a number containing three digits is obtained. This number is technically termed the Ashtamangala Number.

THINGS TO BE NOTED

Note carefully the Arudha, the lay of the gold piece, the shadow of the Sun measured in feet, ashtamangala number, deepa lakshana and other lakshanas perceived at the time. The nature and number of the betel leaves, year, month, date, week-day, the name of the questioner, his house name, his nakshatra and sankalpa (object of the Prasna) must also be noted.

Introduction to Astamangala Prasna

The name Astamangala Prasna is derived from the eight auspicious articles named Astamangala which are kept in the place where the Prasna is conducted

The eight auspicious articles are gold com, mirror, betel leaf with areca nut, rice and paddy mixed, fruits, white flower, holy book and new cloth

Astamangala Prasna starts from the first meeting between the astrologer and querist or between the astrologer and messenger sent from the querist and it is called as Duta Daivajna Samagama. There are certain points which astrologer has to keep in mind in Prasna.

Before interpreting a horary chart, the astrologer strictly must follow certain procedures. Astrologer must assess the auspiciousness of the time of query on the basis of Muhurta Sastra. Astrologer must assess the nature of the place where the question is asked. Astrologer must assess the nature of flow of breath, according to Svara Sastra , the science of breath. Astrologer must keep m mind the direction occupied by the querist, the body limbs touched by the querist, movements of the querist, his own mental disposition, dress and personality of the querist, the letters and words uttered by the querist, the omens etc. Omens have great importance in astamangala prasna and one of the special feature of Astamangala prasna is that six ascendants are considered. The astrologer will predict taking into account all these ascendants.

Arudha sign which means the sign where the gold com is laid Udaya sign the sign arising at the time of query, chatra sign, Sprstanga sign, navamsa, sign of ascendant and Moon sign These are the six ascendants considered in astamangala prasna. In this system of prasna, the results of past, present and future are explained separately

Like other grahas Rahu-Ketu have a prominent place in astamangala prasna. In astamangala prasna there will be 108 cowries and  it is divided into three groups-left, middle and right. The cowries m each group will be divided by 5. The remainder numbers m these three groups are astamangala saiikhya or astamangala numbers. These 3 number added together gives a total of 4 or 12 or 20 only The digits of astamangala is one, ten and hundred The left digit indicates 100, middle 10 and right 1 The numbers m each digit represent many things so also the digits Among these the number 8 represents Rahu.

The grahas indicated by astamahga saiikhya are 1 Sun 2. Mars 3. Jupiter 4. Mercury, 5. Venus 6 Saturn, 7 Moon and 8. Rahu. If the astamahga graha is Rahu then it indicates eye diseases, diseases m the leg, fear from poison, enmity with low people, skm diseases, leprosy etc.

Generally Rahu-Ketu indicate the diseases related to legs.

The weak grahas and the grahas in undesirable houses, indicate the diseases assigned to them. Rahu-Ketu always indicate the diseases related to legs. The twelve houses m a chart also mdicate different parts of the body. This classification of body m the houses also must be kept m mind. Varahamihira23 has clearly explained the body parts indicated by twelve houses. Prasnanusthana Paddhati26 refers to the diseases indicated by Rahu-Ketu, when they are m unfavorable houses like 6th, 8th or 12th. The native will have problems like blood pressure, leprosy, chances of poisoning, black magic, fear from serpent, diseases related to legs, troubles created by the spirits etc. Native will have insanity27 if Moon, Venus and the lord of eighth houses have relationship with Rahu, Ketu or mandi. Moon is the mdicator of mind. If moon is badly placed, the native always has the chances of mental problems. Mandi is the satellite of Saturn, and it has a prominent place in horary astrology. When Moon or Venus or lord of eighth house have any type of relationship with Rahu, Ketu or mandi. The native has the chances of insanity. The relationship stated before may be m the form of a conjunction or aspect.

When Rahu and Saturn are in eighth house or when the malefic grahas sun, Mars and Ketu are powerfully placed m 5th or 9th houses, they indicate the disease of eplilepsy. Two set of combination explained here, which indicate epilepsy. When Rahu and Saturn are m eighth house, it indicates epilepsy. Eighth house is a unfavorable house. The placement malefic grahas eighth house indicates diseases. When Rahu and Saturn are placed m this house, without any aspect of benefics, then it clearly shows the chances of epilepsy. If the malefic grahas Sun, Mars and Ketu are placed in 5th and 9th houses, it also indicates epilepsy Fifth house indicates mind of the native. Ninth house is the fifth house from fifth house. So it is also related to the mmd When these houses have the malefic grahas Sun, Mars and Ketu, native has all the chances of epilepsy. If these grahas have the aspect or conjunction of powerful benefics, then the chances of diseases will be cancelled

We have seen how Rahu-Ketu become the reasons behind diseases and problems. Let us see, how the anger of gods affect the people. To know this, firstly we must know about badhasthana i.e. the houses of trouble or obstacles and the badha morthi i.e. trouble creators indicated by the grahas.

All the movable signs -Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn have their 11th sign as the sign of badha (obstacles). Aquarius, Taurus, Leo and Scorpio are badha signs of Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn respectively. All the fixed signs have 9th sign from them as the badha sign. So, Capricorn, Aries, Cancer and Libra are the obstacle signs of Taurus, Leo, scorpio and Aquarius respectively All the common signs have their 7th sign as the sign of badha. So, Sagittarius, Pisces, Gemini and Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces respectively. Some scholars say that each sign has its angular signs as its sign of obstacle. So, according to this opinion, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn are the badha signs of anes. All the movable signs have the remaining movable signs as their badha sign. All fixed signs have other remaining fixed signs as their badha signs And, all common signs have remaining common sign as their sign of obstacle There is another type of opinion on the obstacle signs, i which is found in Prasnamargam

This verse tells us about mahabadhaka sthanas i.e. powerful obstacles. According to this verse, Aquarius m the mahabadhaka sign to all the movable signs. Scorpio is the obstacle sign to Scorpio, Sagittarius, Leo and Virgo signs. Capricorn is the badha sign to Taurus. Cancer 392 is the badha sign of aquarius. Sagittarius is the badha sign of Gemini and Sagittarius is the mahabadhaka sign of Pisces. If one of the movable sign i.e. Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn comes as the Arudha ascendant m a Prasna, then Aquarius becomes the obstacle sign. In the same way we have to understand other signs also. Thus we can see that three types of badhaka signs are explained Among these the first and the last are the most followed. Let us see the results of Rahu-Ketu in these badhaka signs.

If Rahu is m badhaka sign, it indicates serpent group and if Ketu is there, it indicates cruel demons, spirits etc. When Rahu is in badhaka sign, it indicates the wrath and cause of serpents. When Jupiter is the lord of badhaka sign and it is m 6th or 8th or 12th house, and if that Jupiter occupied house is an angular house to the Rahu occupied house then it indicates serpent troubles. In this particular combination, Jupiter is the lord of obstacle sign and it is placed m one of the unfavorable houses and Jupiter and Rahu are m angular houses to each other. If Rahu has relationship with Sun, then it indicates the troubles from higher serpents (uttama sarpabadha) and if Rahu is having relationship with Moon, then it indicates the troubles from lower (adhama) serpents. Let us try to know the reason behind these serpent troubles. If Rahu is with mandi or Rahu is m the fifth or seventh or ninth house from mandi, it indicates the wrath of serpents. If mars is m an angular house from Rahu, then it indicates that the serpent curse is due to the destruction of the trees at localities of serpent. If Saturn and mandi are m an angular house from Rahu, then it indicates that serpent wrath is due to the entry of spirits m serpent locality or due to the impurity done at serpent locality If only mandi is m an angular house to Rahu, then it indicates that serpent trouble is due to impurity and intercourse, Mandi and Saturn always indicate lower caste people, spirits, wicked people, wicked deeds etc All the above details can be known only through Prasna.

Let us know about different Gods, spirits, evil spirits indicated by Rahu-Ketu m different signs. When Rahu is in Aries, it indicates pasanamurti and if Ketu is in Aries, it indicates ksudra dhumavati Rahu in Taurus indicates serpent and Ketu in Taurus indicates bhairava. Rahu in Gemini sign indicates mahabhuta and Ketu indicates madanayama. Rahu and Ketu m Cancer sign indicates water serpent and ksudra Gods near watery regions respectively. Rahu in Leo indicates maha bhairava and Ketu in Leo indicates the God of hilly regions. Rahu in Virgo indicates ucchistha candali and Ketu indicates ucchistha kanmka When Rahu is in Libra it indicates kuksi sasta and Ketu m Libra indicates black magic spirits. Rahu m Scorpio sign indicates serpent and Ketu m Scorpio indicates God of hills. Rahu m Sagittarius indicates naga and Ketu indicates brahmana devata. When Rahu is m Capricorn, it' indicates evil spirits and when Ketu is in Capricorn it indicates nica candala devata Rahu and Ketu m Aquarius indicate the bhadrakali devoted by potters. Rahu m Pisces indicates brahmanaga and Ketu indicates jala ksudra devi.

In a horary chart, if Moon is under malefic influence, it will indicate the death of the querist. If Sun, Mars, Saturn and Rahu are m second, fourth, eighth and twelfth house from Moon, it indicates the death of the querist. But, if these malefic grahas have the influence of powerful benefics, then the death will be checked and the querist may have diseases. This verse is very important one m ayu prasna and roga prasna

The setting was lush with many fruit-bearing coconut and banana trees as well as the heady and intoxicating aroma of Champaka and Jasmine flowers. Incense wafted in the breeze outside as everyone in attendance: the temple managers, brahmanas (priest caste), pujaris (temple priests), and local congregation waited for the astrologers to begin the Ashtamangala Deva Prasna (hence forth ADP), a specialty of what could be called the Kerala school of astrology. Ashtamangala refers to two things: first of all it refers to a method of numerology which will be referred to later on; secondly it refers to eight (ashtha) auspicious (mangala) items that are used in this type of divination. These items are: ghee lamps (brass lamps with a wick in clarified butter), mirror, gold, milk, yogurt, fruits, book, and white cloth. Deva Prasna is a special kind of Prasna (Prasna--question, horary astrology) specifically dealing with temple matters. Both are explained in that encyclopedic treatise Prasna Marga "the path of horary astrology." However, as I was soon to discover, successful ADP required more than knowledge of these two subjects. Success depended on a thorough knowledge of all the principles of Prasna Marga , plus a high degree of intelligence, great powers of observation, and keen intuition stemming from spiritual practices and an austere, pure godly lifestyle. Because the subject of Prasna was a temple and the presiding devata (deity), only the very best astrologers were called upon to conduct the Prasna. By having several scholarly astrologers present it was expected that mistakes would be minimized, and that what one astrologer might miss another would pick up on. This was not my first ADP. On my previous stay of 18 months, in 1977-78, I had begun my study of astrology in Hyderabad and was then asked to take it up as my full-time service to my guru. I had first began to study Prasna in this, my second, sojourn in India (1980-83). I had been studying Jataka (natal astrology) in Calcutta with Harihar Majumder, a leading, elderly, scholar and the author of Hindu Science of the Future (as well as many books in Bengali). I strongly desired to become a well rounded astrologer and I knew from my studies that there were six limbs to astrology, not just Jataka, but unfortunately I had found no astrologers in North India who knew Prasna. I knew, from my reading, that Prasna and other branches of astrology were well preserved in South India. Thus after I finished my studies with my teacher and gave him his dakshina (donation for teaching me) I headed south to Bangalore in May of 1981 armed with a letter of introduction from Y. www.ShyamasundaraDasa.com 2 Keshava Menon (president of the Calcutta astrological association and regular contributor to The Astrological Magazine) to Dr. B.V. Raman. I had just read Dr. Raman's translation of Prasna Marga and I hoped that he would be able to guide me to a good teacher of this art. Dr. Raman kindly consented to see me but threw a wet blanket on my dreams by telling me that it would be practically impossible for me to find a good teacher of Prasna. "Good scholars of astrology are rare," he said, "of these, those that could teach were rarer still; and of these, those who had time to teach a neophyte like me were even more rare. And out of all of these astrologers one who could speak English was the rarest of them all." I was undaunted and determined to prove him wrong but I soon found that he had not spoken lightly. Eventually, after many months of tireless searching and meeting countless astrologers I finally found two sources for in-depth knowledge of Prasna-a family of Jain astrologers in Bangalore headed by the late B.G. Sasikantha Jain, who practiced Bhrgu Prasna. And Krishnan Potti the scholar of Prasna Marga. Convincing Sasikantha Jain to teach me took me over 10 months, but that's another story. And while Krishnan Potti readily agreed to teach me there was a little problem, actually two-he lived in a very beautiful, but rather remote, hilly area, outside of Thiruvananthapuram with no access by bus or taxi; and he didn't speak English. The first problem I solved by learning to drive a motor-cycle. A simple feat you may think but considering that there are practically no enforceable traffic laws in India and that road obstacles include, but are not limited to: chickens, hogs, dogs, camels, asses, goats, cows, buffaloes and the occasional elephant (and their dung, chicken dung is no problem but I once ran into a soccer-ball sized lump of elephant dung, at twilight, at about 30 mph, it was like hitting a big lump of grease, I'm lucky to be alive), what to speak of throngs of people, buses, lorries (big trucks), cars, plus terrible road conditions, etc. Going for my astrology lessons meant to take my life in my own hands and I would fervently pray to Lord Nrsimhadeva (half-man, half-lion avatara of Lord Krsna) for protection. The second problem was a bit more tricky. He didn't speak English and I didn't know Malayalam, the language of Kerala. However, though no Sanskrit scholar, I had a rather large Sanskrit vocabulary from studying Bhagavad-gita, Srimad-Bhagavatam and other Vedic literatures; ayurveda, and of course my in-depth study of astrology in India. I found that as long as we spoke in Sanskrit about astrology I could readily follow what was being said and thus I passed more than a year studying with Krishnan Potti. Though he lived in a remote area away from the city he had a steady stream of people who would show up for his advice. I wasn't his only student, he had several including a policeman, but I was special because I was a foreigner who had come so far, had taken up the Vedic lifestyle and was struggling so hard to learn astrology. We handled all kinds of Prasnas but ADPs were special because these Prasnas necessitated that several scholarly astrologers gather at a venue away from their normal place of practice. Aside from this, ADPs required the use of nimitta (omens) and other special procedures that we shall presently describe. Because the ADPs involved many persons aside from my astrology guru the discussions were all in Malayalam, thus I arranged for a translator to accompany me for this day long affair, for I knew it would take up the whole morning and most of the afternoon with a break for lunch. www.ShyamasundaraDasa.com 3 What follows is directly from my notes of that day (I urge all students of Prasna to keep notes and records of all Prasnas they do, I still keep notes). It would be impossible for me to include everything that was said and done in the (approximately) seven hour period necessary to conduct the Ashtamangala Deva Prasna, however we hope that the reader will be able to appreciate the mystical nature of the experience which, even for many students of Vedic astrology, will seem to border on magical. Countless experiences like this destroyed in my mind the mechanistic world view of modern science and permanently established the Vedic, God-centered, world view of Krsna Consciousness. As astrologers we are sometimes bound up in thinking that everything revolves around symbols drawn on a piece of paper. Or that the planets somehow act on an individual. This limiting paradigm is shattered when we realize that everything in existence is a message from Sri Krsna if we only knew how to read them. The grahas (specific planets used in divination) are only part of a larger language. An astrologer must always keep his eyes and ears open and be prepared to read everything that is happening during a crucial moment such as a Prasna. The Ashtamangala Deva Prasna Begins To begin the Ashtamangala Deva Prasna the astrologers first prepared a small, clean area of land and tidied it up and then covered it with a layer of raw rice. The questioners were asked to adorn it with a ghee lamp, white flowers and other ornaments as well as offerings such as Tambula (Pan leaves and Betel nut) that the congregation of the temple offered. They then performed puja (worship) with devotion on all the articles that would be used in the process of divination and invoked Lord Sri Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead for His blessings. They then meditated on their istadevatas (personal patron deity, Lord Krsna or one of His avataras like Narasimhadeva or Lord Rama) for the ability to predict correctly. The astrologers then called on an official of the temple with little or no knowledge of astrology to come forward. They showed him a Cakra (diagram of the zodiac) as it is drawn in typical South Indian style and ask him to duplicate it on the prepared ground. Using a stick he carefully prepared the diagram by first drawing the Western line, then the Southern line, then Eastern and finally the Northern line. (In Prasna the directions of the diagram are such: the side that has Aries and Taurus is East, Cancer and Leo is South, Libra and Scorpio is West, and Capricorn and Aquarius is North. Western astrologers should also note that in the S. Indian chart format the signs of the zodiac are stationary and the ascendant is drawn into the chart with a slash or letter. This is unlike the Western or North Indian system in which the ascendant is stationary and the signs arranged around it.) The panditas noted down very carefully the order that he drew them. One stated that because the priest drew the Western line first it was a highly inauspicious omen indicating that diseases (or general harm) would increase. And this was made worse because he had drawn the other lines in a counter clockwise order which indicated many serious obstacles ahead. In general these two things were looked upon as unfavorable omens. They then www.ShyamasundaraDasa.com 4 looked for any irregularities in the way the lines were drawn, that is, if they were thick or thin, broken, etc. But none were observed. The astrologers then called on any young child not conversant with astrology who was recently bathed and well dressed to come forward. The adults pushed a child forward, the astrologers directed the child to worship the ghee lamp and other divinatory paraphernalia with flowers. They then placed in the child's right hand a piece of gold, along with flowers, water, sandal wood paste and aksata-rice mixed with turmeric. The child was then instructed to go around the Cakra (wheel) of the zodiac and then stand near it facing east. In the mean time the questioner, the person who had called this convocation of astrologers, was instructed to be meditating on Lord Krsna to reveal His will. All the astrologers then reflected on the problems of the querist and repeated their mantras for inspiration, and the one astrologer who would do the Ashtamangala was touching his cowry shells. At the end they asked the child to deposit the gold in any one of the signs that had previously been drawn by the priest. The child placed the handful in the square designating Virgo. It should be noted that the above two processes, that of drawing the Cakra and choosing the Arudha Lagna, would be impossible using the North Indian (or Western) format for drawing a chart. The North Indian format is based on houses not signs. For this and other reasons we recommend to students to strictly use the South Indian format, which evidence suggests is the original Vedic format. There is evidence to suggest that the North Indian format was introduced by Muslim invaders who dominated North India for nearly 800 years. This Swarna Lagna ( swarna-gold, lagna-ascendant), as it is also known, became the Arudha Lagna for the ADP. The Arudha Lagna, as we have seen, is chosen through a divinatory omen process directed by the will of Sri Krsna, much in the same way as other well known methods of divination such as Tarot and the I Ching. There are other ways of finding the Arudha Lagna, such as noting which part of the body the questioner is touching, the first letter of the first sound they make, what spot on the ground (of an imaginary zodiac projected onto the ground) they are standing on when asking the question, etc. The exact time the Swarna lagna was chosen was noted as 8:45 AM, thus the Udaya Lagna, the Lagna based on time, was Leo. The planetary positions at the time were fixed and the chart filled in with all the planets including Mandi, who is very significant in Kerala astrology and South India in general, but not much used in the North (planetary positions found at the end). It should also be noted that there are some authors who never use Mandi in their practice of astrology but have put forward academic arguments concerning the proper way of calculating Mandi . Most modern computer programs that I have seen adopt these methods of calculation. However, when I wrote the Jyotisha Vedic Program for Matrix Software, back in 1987, I used an algorithm that duplicated the methods of Prasna Marga and the Kerala tradition as I saw it practiced. This seemed more logical to me because these astrologers actually use Mandi on a daily basis, Mandi is not an academic abstraction to them. www.ShyamasundaraDasa.com 5 The exact degree of the Arudha lagna was calculated by noting the degree of the Udaya Lagna. Since the Udaya Lagna was 12LE13 thus the degree of the Arudha Lagna would be 12VI13. Therefor the Arudha navamsa would then be the fourth navamsa corresponding to Cancer. (Navamsa is an arc of 3 degree 20 minutes, one ninth of sign.) The position of the Swarna Lagna was then examined. The piece of gold was located in the middle of the square designating Virgo, however it was face down, on top of the aksata and flowers, it was also tilted and slanted toward the South. The astrologers declared this to be another bad omen indicative of death and other evils (if it actually meant death would have to be judged according to the whole picture). In the mean time, while the Swarna Lagna was being chosen the head astrologer of the group, Krishnan Potti, did the first part of the Ashtamangala numerology. This requires a little explanation: a major instrument for divination in Kerala are cowry shells which have been specially selected, cleaned, sanctified (generally by chanting of mantras and bathing in the waters of the Ganges or other sacred rivers) and used only for divination. In less complex types of Prasna, that is, other than Deva Prasna, the Arudha lagna is often found by manipulation of the cowries alone. For divination 108 cowries are used. To do the first part of the Ashtamangala the astrologer first touches the cowries while meditating on his mantra and asking for spiritual guidance. Then the astrologer arbitrarily divides the shells into three piles, one to his left, one in front of him and one to the right. After examining the Swarna Lagna Krishnan Potti did the second part of the Ashtamangala by going to each pile of cowries and counting off multiples of eight (asta) and keeping the remainder, if the remainder is zero then let it be eight. You will now have a three digit number in which no digit is greater than eight. The digits represent past, present and future respectfully from left to right. 1=Sun, 2=Mars, 3=Jupiter, 4=Mercury, 5=Venus, 6=Saturn, 7=Moon, 8=Rahu. (This is very simplified, they also represent other things as well.) Odd numbers are considered good, even numbers bad. The Ashtamangala number that was obtained for the Prasna was 8-3-1 ruled by Rahu, Jupiter and the Sun respectfully. Though it seemed clear to me that 8-3-1 indicated that the past was bad, the present and future looked good. However the assembled scholars claimed that this was not actually the case. They said that because the numbers were in a descending order from left to right and other special circumstances, this indicated that the past was good, the present was bad and the future would be worse. Other parts of the reading seemed to confirm this observation on their part. After this the ghee lamp was lit and the flame was observed to lean toward the South, this was again declared to be an evil omen. Just then one of the astrologers stated that the deity must have been moved at least twice before being established in the present temple. The temple managers replied that this was true and wanted to know why he had said that? The astrologer said this was so because he had noted that the ghee lamp had been placed near the worship area but then picked up and moved twice before the Prasna started. The astrologers then examined the Tambula (Pan leaves) that was offered for worship. These Tambula represent the 12 houses of the Deva Prasna chart and the conditions of these houses can be determined by the condition of the leaves. Before we interpret the www.ShyamasundaraDasa.com 6 meaning of the leaves we will take opportunity to give, in synopsis, the special meaning of the 12 houses in Deva Prasna: 1: Temple building, murti (likeness of the deity ), and divine presence of the deity in the murti. 2: Wealth, income, temple treasures and guardians. 3: The naivedya (offerings made) and servants. 4: All buildings and land connected with the temple as well as temple vehicles. 5: Murti and divine presence (again). 6: Pollution of the temple, enemies and thieves. 7: The people (congregation) and deity ornaments. 8: Divine presence, offerings, servants, and good and evil matters. 9: Nature of the temple authorities and the state of merit and piety. 10: Daily ceremonies (puja), special festivals and devalakas-persons involved in making garlands, and performance of musical entertainment, etc. 11: Piety, merit, prosperity and income. 12: Nature of the priests, expenditure and waste. In this case since there were only three "Pan leaves" only the first three houses of the Deva Prasna chart could be examined by this method. The first representing the lagna had marks and cuts thus things have not been good up till now. The second was smaller than the others and had cuts, thus there were financial problems. The third was in much better shape so it declared those who served the temple were capable of doing good. The number of leaves were now used to determine the Tambula Lagna which is arrived at by the following formula (T x 10 + 1)/7 where T is the number of Tambulas. Since T=3 when we substitute we get a remainder of three which represents Mars in the normal order of planets. (Western astrologers should note that in Vedic astrology the order of planets is Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, Rahu, Ketu. This is the same as the days of the week.) Since Mars is in Libra this becomes the Tambula Lagna. Mars itself indicates that there have been strife and conflicts, and because it is Mars in Libra they deduced that the deity of the temple was the goddess Kali. Now that the preliminaries were over the readings and predictions based on the planetary positions started. Since Rahu ruled over the first Ashtamangala number and he was in the 10th with Venus one astrologer declared that the temple must have been towards the East of the present www.ShyamasundaraDasa.com 7 place in a location occupied by a naga (special race of serpent gods endowed with mystical powers and often irritable). This was admitted by the temple mangers. Since Mars had only just transited into Libra one astrologer dared to say that in the past there must have been an accidental fire in the temple. Affirmative was the response. They were now on a roll. Another astrologer pointed out that Rahu and Venus in the 10th also indicated that someone must have died from poison nearby and the ghost was still lingering in the vicinity. We were told that in the past a child had taken poison and died in the compound. It should be noted that up to this time we were not informed why the ADP was taking place, of course we could surmise there was trouble but had no details. But as the ADP proceeded the details started to come out. At this point the original question of the querist is finally revealed by the astrologers. One astrologer said that because Saturn is in the Arudha Lagna they want to know why has Durga devi (goddess of the material world) left the temple? The people agree that indeed, this is their question. The reason she has left, the astrologers say, is because the rules of conduct were not properly observed--entry into the temple of impure people such as person's who had a recent death in their family or women during their period, etc. Since the Arudha Lagna is Virgo it was deduced that the land is owned by the ladies of the family by special arrangement. This was also confirmed to be true. The astrologers agree that since Mars is the maha-badaka and Jupiter is the samanyabadaka (badaka means doer of harm, the two different prefixes refer to the great and general doer of harm respectively) for Virgo (Raman, 1980 pp. 545-547) are in the 2nd house and since Ketu is in Virgo navamsa, this same Virgo being the Arudha Lagna, then

CONCLUSION

Draw a chakra and scatter coloured rice over it. Perform the puj'a with devotion. Worship the cowries for ashta-mangala. See that a piece of gold is asked to be deposited in one of the squares of the chakra and find out the ashtamangala number. For puja purposes, white flowers (especially tumbe) alone should be used.