Esoteric Astrological Combinations

• Connection of 5th and the 9th lords (PAC) is the upward sublimation of the Life
Force.(Auspicious)
• Connection of the 6th and 9th lords/houses is ingratitude. (Inauspicious)
• Benefic association of the 2nd house lord (the place of ethical conduct in Astanga Yoga) gives
moral support. (Auspicious)
• Malefic concentration in the 2nd house or with its lord gives birth to a liar and a
cheat.(Inauspicious)
• If the 5th lord has no aspect or conjunction of any planet it is good for meditation on the
Supreme. (Auspicious)
• Aspect of a malefic on a retrograde 5th lord gives birth to a villain. (Inauspicious)
• A good Jupiter without any aspect or conjunction gives stable idealism. (Auspicious)
• A badly aspected Jupiter converts concealed lack of idealism into hypocrisy. (Inauspicious)
• Detachment giver Saturn is best when alone. (Auspicious)
• " Saturn associated with or aspected by planets is bondage as in my case", he said once.
(Inauspicious)
• The 11th house which is the house of gains is also the house of bondage. It is good if the 11th
lord is afflicted as it increases spiritual thirst. (Auspicious)
• An auspicious 11th house or lord being a strong kama trikona is the illusion of or the Maya.
(Inauspicious)

My Jyotish Guru, Yogi Bhaskaranandji, often discussed with me, when I found him alone in Ahmedabad,
the spiritual combinations in a horoscope and insisted that the purpose of astrology is cosmic
delineation of human destiny, and not fortune-telling.

The purpose of astrology is true and cosmic guidance and, is most helpful to sadhaks. He was always
pleased when he saw a rare horoscope, but was also clear in his mind that astrology had its own
limitations, which could perhaps be overcome, if we knew the secrets of nadi-amshas.
The data to be prepared

The data to be prepared for any sound prediction, particularly for Sadhakas, is:

(a) As usual, all the sixteen vargas, but specially birth, navamsha and vimshamsha horoscopes, together
with trimshamsha, which has some secret uses.

(b) All Jaimini's karakas with Karakamsha marked prominently.

(c) Vimshottari dasha, a less-used navamsa dasha of Jaimini, (which I have not discussed yet in any
article) and, accurate Kala Chakra dasha.

(d) The strength of Jupiter, Mercury, fifth and ninth lords, and association of Ketu with them, must be
marked out.

(e) Then watch the movements of Saturn and Jupiter in transit, noting down which navamshas they
happen to be in when important events take place.
Combinations

(a) First notice how Ketu is positioned in the horoscope. Ketu-Jupiter inter-connection with twelfth
house is always excellent.

(b) Then see the conjunction of Jaimini's Atmakaraka and Putrakaraka, in at least two out of the three:
birth horoscope, navamsa and dashamsha.

Examples of His Predictions Ketu

(a) He took up my horoscope and discussed it on some occasions thus: Ketu in the twelfth house with
Mercury in its house of exaltation with my atmakaraka was the combination of the ninth lord with
Ketu and atmakaraka.

This according to his rating was the best.

(b) The second best was Ketu in the eighth house aspected by Jupiter or with a benefic, preferably
Mercury. He praised Mercury in the eighth house, next to Jupiter.

(c) The third best was Ketu in the fourth house with the conjunction of the fifth or the ninth lord or with
Jupiter or aspect of Jupiter on it.

(d) He called the fourth house as the "esoteric" house in the moksha (salvation) triangle, good for
astrological pursuits and allied astrological sciences; the eighth house was the "occult" house which
would enlarge an astrological vision, with high intuitive gifts and clairvoyance.

I give here the horoscope of Edgar Caycee, the famous American psychic-healer which illustrates it.

(e) Ketu in the fifth house with Jupiter aspecting it, preferably from the ninth house or Jupiter in the
third, aspecting the ninth house was a case of extra-sensory perceptions, as in the case of Cheiro.

(f) Jupiter, Mercury and Ketu's association in any house was good.

(g) Jupiter, Ketu and tenth lord's association with Jupiter aspecting the second or the tenth house was
very good for astrological pursuits.

(h) Jupiter aspecting Ketu and ninth house helped deep and original astrological research with hard
work.

Jupiter

(a) He always preferred untainted Jupiter in the tenth house as the best. "Adviser to royal families" was
the classical astrological meaning of it, according to him, a person whose house will be like a temple.
Aspect from here to the second house (speech) and the fourth house (heart, according to Sarvartha
Chintamani) lent idealism to karma, speech and heart.

(b) Next position for Jupiter was the fourth house. From here he aspected the eighth and twelfth
houses, the occult and spiritual houses.
(c) Jupiter in the twelfth house similarly covered the esoteric house and the occult house.

But did he prefer untainted Jupiter? His answer was any malefic associated or aspecting Jupiter (Ketu
was not malefic for spiritual or astrological purposes) created occasions for terrible ego-clashes.
Why did he condemn afflicted Jupiter?

He gave an instance of Jupiter and Rahu, the guru-chandalyoga, a case of ruined idealism, lack of
gratitude, religious perversion, misreading and distortion of religious and astrological classics. If Saturn
or Mars aspected the combination, it would be a case of extreme guru-chandal yoga.

Then the house where it occurred mattered most. If in the ninth house, the place of Guru, or in the
third, from where it aspected the ninth house, it would be a double combination of an ungrateful man
who was a scorpion perverted.

Mercury

Briefly, the best was the fourth house for Mercury, second best the eighth, the third best the tenth. (In
my case Mercury was more favourable for spiritual pursuits than for astrology.)

He preferred the kendra positions for Mercury. What about the fifth house for Jupiter and Mercury? His
answer: good for writing books, business, accumulation of wealth etc. Such persons need not be good
predictors.

Saturn

Planet of concentration, Saturn in the third, fifth or ninth was capable of conferring detached view in
most matters. But again, he insisted an untainted Saturn, like Jupiter.

Saturn in the eighth was the worst, as it made one caustic in speech, aspected the tenth house from the
house of intrigues, the house of speech (the second) and the fifth house, the intelligence which
harboured malice.

Then he told me that Saturn in the eighth house gave a prolonged disease, brought on the astrologer
the curses of his consultors which would fall on his children.

The Lagna

(a) He preferred Mithuna, Tula and Kumbha the intellectual rashis for quick grasp of subtle astrological
principles, provided other conditions were fulfilled, as stated in the case of Ketu, Jupiter, Mercury and
Saturn.

But these people should have malefics in the third or sixth house or both or more planets in fixed rashis,
to make them work hard.

(b) His second preference was Kanya lagna which had Mercury's rashi, Mithuna as the tenth house or
Dhanu for similar reason.
(c) What about other lagnas. He said all lagnas could be good provided the four planets, Ketu, Jupiter,
Mercury and Saturn were well placed.

Benefics in Kendras

Sometimes, it appeared that he gave topmost priority to benefics in kendras: one, two or three. A
horoscope without any benefic in kendra would get compensated to some extent, if benefics aspected
kendras. The Vishnu sthanas (quadrants) showed nobility and benefics reinforced such noble approach
to the divine subject of astrology.

An astrologer with only malefics in kendras was a malicious, ill-equipped, dishonest and poor scholar
with either no sound knowledge or ill-digested knowledge, in which he would combine inferior siddhis
more, and astrology less. This is known as shoola (thorn) yoga. They have unhappiness in their families
with their children and wife etc. revolting against him and create enemies, out of sheer malice. If there
was one of the malefics in such kendras without a single benefic, it was the shoola yoga at its worst.
Aspect of a benefic on any of the malefics in kendras could at most slightly reduce it, but they are born
astrological frauds.
Benefic Rashis

He preferred, whatever be the lagna or position of Saturn, Jupiter, Ketu and Mercury, the rashis of
Jupiter and Mercury for the placement of planets most. He would count how many planets were in
Mithuna, Kanya, Dhanu and Meena. Next, in preference were the rashis of Venus, Tula, in preference to
Vrisha and that of Moon, Karka.

He insisted that the moolatrikona rashis had a deep influence Mesha, Kanya, Tula, Dhanu, Kumbha.
Planets in these or lagna in them had their own strength and vigour.

Navamsha

He told me some secret rules and asked me never to disclose them, as without examination of
navamsha, the bare analysis of the horoscope could be misleading.

Some general principles are:

(a) Benefic influence on the fifth house, fifth lord or preferably of Jupiter, next, of Mercury and then, of
Venus.

(b) He praised sky high Mercury influencing the tenth or the tenth lord.

Nakshatras

He singled out Mercury's nakshatras as the best. It had to be either the tenth lord in the nakshatra of
Mercury or a planet in the tenth house in this nakshatra. In my case, he pointed out my tenth lord in the
nakshatra of Mars kept me more busy in office while, my Jupiter in the tenth in the nakshatra of
Mercury would turn my hobby of astrology into a serious pursuit, not though full time pursuit. It is true,
as during my entire service career, I had to stop astrology for some months in a year, when the pressure
of office work increased. In 1990 when I authored two non-astrological books, I could not contribute a
single article to the Astrological Magazine.
He told me that he encouraged me because of my tenth Jupiter, twelfth Ketu with Mercury aspected by
my fifth lord and aspect of Jupiter from Kumbha in my navamsha (Mesha) on the fifth lord (Sun) in
Simha.

Dasha Sequence

Doing astrology in the dashas of benefics in kendras or malefics in the third, sixth or eleventh would be
fruitful. Withdrawal from astrology in the dasha of benefic in the twelfth, and spiritual pursuits gaining
precedence, was inevitable and would happen in my case. It is why I would stop my astrological
consultations, he predicted. I have already reduced my astrological consultations down to ten percent
and on the advice of Mauni Baba of Ujjain I am concentrating only on writing, research and week-end
teaching. This has given me tremendous relief.
Similarities

The spiritual combinations told by my Guruji and by my Jyotisha Guru were more or less common. Why
they stressed on these they explained in their own way. An astrologer had to have idealism and
spirituality. Malefics in kendras or guru-chandal yoga, were ruinous both for astrology and
spirituality. The dasha of a malefic in the tenth house, or a malefic in the eighth house was the beginning
of disgrace, aggressive malice and self-ruination.

My Testing

I have tested these combinations on more than hundred horoscopes of astrologers who themselves
passed them on to me and wanted me to give them predictions. My own addition to them are:

(a) All the combinations given by Yogiji work hundred percent in the birth horoscope.

(b) Navamsha reveals much more or confirms it. But he asked me not to disclose them.

(c) The dasha an astrologer is running is important, as an astrologer in bad dashas would commit more
mistakes.

(d) But all this has to be combined with intense worship. The advice of saints to astrologers has been:

(a) My Guruji insisted on sattwick life, with sattwick food and japam.

(b) Yogiji stressed it, along with hard work on hundreds of horoscopes and vargas.

(c) Mauni Baba insisted on giving consultations to minimum people as, it was a waste of tapasya.

(d) Moorkhanandji said that every astrologer must worship the God Sun, through a Surya Mantra.

(e) But Yogiji advised me to examine navamsha to find out the antarayas or yoga-vighnas (obstacles),
whether for astrology or spiritual life. What he taught me has proved brilliant. When foreign disciples of
Indian gurus come to me, I pinpoint, what exactly is going wrong with them, when, and they are
surprised.
To sum up; breathing rhythmically deeply with your guru mantra is eighty percent your sadhana and can
be done anytime, anywhere.