[To Narasimha-ji] Divisional longitudes, chara karakas, and samasaptaka

[Guest guest]

Namaste Narasimha-ji,

 

I have immensely benefited from your selfless sharing of jyotish knowledge

through your audio lectures and writings on the world wide web. I send my

heartfelt gratitude while I write my first lines to you.

 

I read your recent writings on finding houses from a reference and seeing

deities from the 12th from AK in D-20. While trying to gain more clarity, I

encountered some ambiguity. Kindly clarify on the following:

 

1. Chara karakas:

It is clear that chara karakas are calculated based on the advancement of

planets in their sign of placement. However, reckoning planets (and other

mathematical bodies) by longitude in all charts - whether Rasi or divisional -

and limiting chara karaka calculation to the Rasi chart alone do not seem to be

in harmony. A compelling reason is necessary to make them agreeable.

 

Just to make sure, I checked your translation of relevant verses of Parasara (in

your independent interpretation of Parasara's teachings on chara karakas). In

that, Parasara talks only about longitude (degrees, minutes, and seconds) but

does not make any mention of Rasi chart for the purpose of chara karaka

calculation. In the widely-accepted view, where planets are mapped to longitudes

in the Rasi chart and to signs in the divisional charts, whenever Parasara talks

of longitude his implicit reference to the Rasi chart is understood. This is not

the case anymore with the introduction of longitudes in divisional charts also.

 

Without a compelling reason, logic seems to suggest that using divisional

longitudes should naturally give way to the scenario where each divisional chart

has its own list of chara karakas.

 

2. Strength determination in Narayana dasa:

One of the rules for determining the stronger of two signs/planets in Narayana

dasa calculation involves checking which lord/planet is more advanced in its

sign of placement. With divisional longitudes in mind, is this checking to be

performed in the Rasi chart or the divisional chart for which Narayana dasa is

being calculated; and why?

 

3. Samasaptaka:

With your suggested approach for finding houses from a reference (0 to 30

degrees from reference being the first house and so on), doesn't samasaptaka

become a rare phenomenon? For two planets to be in samasaptaka they have to be

exactly 180 degrees apart (like Rahu and Ketu); Jupiter at 14Cn and Mars at 15Cp

will not be in mutual 7th.

 

Regards,

Ken