Fundamentals of Astrology

Hindu astrology takes cognizance of nine Graha or Planets. The term planet used here is in the context of the celestial body which has the property of attraction. Sun (a star), Moon (a satellite of earth), Rahu, and Ketu (two imaginary points) are considered as Grahas. 

Uranus, Neptune, Pluto are considered to have no influence on human life/affairs so they are not considered Grahas. 

The quality of each sign is not equally spread, but every degree io a sign has its own peculiar qualities. The zodiac, known as the Bhachakra in Sanskrit, revolves on its axis once in a day from east to west. 

As inhabitants of the earlh, we are concerned with tbe influences of these celestial bodies on our planet. All the planets perform the double function of not only revolving on their own axes once in a day (from west to east) but also round the Sun, According to Suryasidhanta, Saturn is the most distant planet from the earth. Jupitor, Mars, the Sun, Venus, Mercury and the MOON come next in the order of their distance from tbe terrestrial globe. Thus we see that the nearest planet to our own orb is the MOON. The velocity of each planet diminishes as its distance from the earth increases.

The SUN moves at the rate of roughly 1 degree of this Circle of Light (zodiac) in one day composed of 24 hours or horas, and takes 365 days and 6 hours to complete a circuit round the zodiac.  The MOON takes the average rate of 4 1/2 ghatis or I hour and 48 minutes to traverse through a degree of this space. Mars moves at the average rate of 45 days for 30 degrees. Mercury moves at the averagc rate of 1 1/2 degrees a day; but on account of his closeness to the Sun and due to the solar influence, he is very unsteady. He completes his average run in 27 days. He gets into forward and backward motions from tbe SUN and attaina wbat is called astam or combustion. He hardly takes a day to move in each degree, but moves on more rapidly for some time gets in front of the Sun and then begins to move slowly and goes backwards from the Sun. 

These two states of combustion, viz., moving forwards and backwards from tbe position of the SUN, are designated in the astronomical works . s pragasthambha and paschadasthambha - prag indicatina towards the East of the Sun, and paschad indicating towards the West of tbe Sun. In these double motion of backwards and forward, Mercury never gets away more than 28 degree in either direction from tbe Sun. 

Though the time allotted to Jupiter in one year in each sign of 30 degrees, there is also sOme variation and the Jovian year or Ba'MS- pathyanulna will be, a little lelS than 12 years in tbe 12 signs; VCUUI moves at the rate of I desree per day. Saturn is the  slowest moving planet of the orb. He takes about 2\ years or 30 month. to move in a sign of 30 degrees and thus he talces 1 month to move in a degree. Rahu and Ketu wbich revolve in tbe Apo$O'YO order, i.e., from east to west, take 18 montbs

to travel through each sign of the zodiac.
All the planets, excepting the Sun, tbe MOOD and tbe

shadowy planets Rabu and Ketu, undergo retrogression or 10kra and tbis will be fully explained in a future chapter. This much of tbe explanation of the solar system seems to be nCcessa~y to facilitate comprehension of the astrological terms described in tbe subsequent chapters. For further details about tbe astronomical peculiarities. 

Zodiac

Zodiac is divided into 12 signs or Rasis of 30 degrees each. It is an imaginary circle of 360 degrees and tbe ancients divided this zodiac into 12 equal parts of 30 'degrees each, each being named after the constellation. 

 

 

UPA's vote security bill

Cornered on multiple corruption cases; UPA is working on a food security bill which seeks to covers 67.5% of India's population. The bill proposes monthly entitlement of 7kg food grain per person (Rs3 per kg for rice, Rs2 per kg for wheat and Rs1 per kg for coarse grains).

Well, the bill sounds good but intentions behind this are not so genuine and its fiscal implications will be even more dangerous. Intentions of UPA becomes obvious by understanding that its meant for 75% of rural Indians. Yes, here is the catch. And its because these are the people who matter most in elections.  They deserve applaud for participating religiously in the democratic process. But right intentions needs to be complemented with equally right intentions, which seems to be lacking from Congress. 

Congress popularity chart is heading southwards steady due to countless scandels. In such situation, this bill could be a game changer. Also, if passed, it will become fully operational only around next election. So timing part is also well calculated by Sonia. If the bill gets tabled, chances of it not being supported by other parties are remote as every party needs "Aam Aadmi" support. So this is a desperate attempt by Congress to regain some of the lost grounds to other parties.

India needs food security, but is this the only feasible solution? Has congress considered the huge fiscal burden to implement this bill?  Is congress so serious about aam aadmi ? 
Congress is only playing this final card to retain power. Their intentions to fight corruption, terrorism and latest one, inflation is now an open secret to all of us.

Whats more important at this point of time is, to empower rural India by channeling resources on basic things like education, infrastructure, health care and most importantly implement existing plans (like NREGA) properly. But instead of that, Congress is planning another bill just to garner support of "Aam Aadmi" for next general election. Time will tell if this formula works for UPA or not but considering its sheer size it will definitely give more opportunities for Sonia and co to make money!!!

long live ANNA!!!

Its been pretty long since my last blog. May be i didn't get so excited and thrilled as I am today. Well, that's sounds like a good excuse. Never mind, I think this is a very apt moment to pen down my contemplations on such a burning issue.

For last few days i have been actively following news in all possible formats; TV, news paper, blogs, twits. No points for guessing; its coz of Anna  movement. We can use any metaphor or adjective to describe this  but Anna himself puts its best; second freedom struggle. The whole country is witnessing an unprecedented atmosphere filled with laurels for Anna (and team) and criticism of the government about the whole drama which  took place on16th Aug and also its inability to curb such a menace, corruption.

I strongly believe that there is no substitute of a strong law. Our laws have been tweaked and made weak for personal goals of our leaders and rulers.  Mughals and East India company did it before independence and then legacy was inherited by our leaders post independence. And this plague has become so profound that it has destroyed the faith of people in the system itself. We take great pride in our democracy but it seems that its just a modified version of monarchy. That's how its been mostly run in last 64 years. Accept it, we all break laws according to our convenience. Be it jumping a traffic signal or bribing someone. Its has become so commonplace that we take it for granted. No body is born offender of law but we evolve with the system and start accepting things. But does it mean that any one has legitimate right to justify corruption in any form. If not, then no one has right to question Anna's quest. We need strong laws to curb corruption. The person who has no qualms in breaking laws occasionally in India mends his way once he lands in US or Europe. Its not that there is a sudden transformation in one's heart. There is just one change, the fear of strong laws, which mends our behavior. 

So we might give countless arguments to counter Anna style and methodology to make a strong law. But the fact is that our country has history of doing great things, through only such mass movements. Only then these insane and corrupt people will mend their way and do what they are supposed to do. 

Its a proud moment for each one of us to witness and be the part of the change. We are lucky to have such a strong persona to lead us to a more brighter future. Long live Anna.

Acknowledge that there is a problem

Right from the day one of our existence we start facing problems. And i assume that each and every problem has a solution or at least some clue of the same. We love to give a try to puzzles, in quest of satisfaction we get after solving it. But there are bigger problems in our life which we don't want to even acknowledge. By acknowledging here i mean sincere acknowledgement; as part of solution lies in accepting that there is a problem. These problems could be as big and sensitive as terrorism and climate crisis or as trivial as problems in our day to day life. Well, no matter how big the monster is, but first step is to identify the monster. I may be exaggerating by comparing our so called tiny day to day problems with a real monsters. But the bottom line is that problem is a problem, we can use any adjective to describe it.

Our tiny problems affect us and people around us, so it might not sound very critical but on individual level i fill these problems affect as adversely as real monsters. These problems are personal and subject to our own introspection. Pragmatically i can't do much to solve problems like terrorism, so for me real problems are my own problems, no matter how tiny and unimportant it may sound to others. And what makes it really big is that there is no any other governing body like UN or any superpower country whose acknowledgement is a stepping stone to curb or solve it. There is no elected government or body whom we can blame for our problems.

What really compounds the problem is that we don't even sincerely introspect. So are we right in blaming some one else for terrorism? Well the good news is that now world is realizing that terrorism and climate crisis are grave threat to our existence. It has taken more than a decade to acknowledge terrorism and uncountable decades to accept climate crisis. So the obvious question is, do we really have so much time to solve our personal problems? Well the answer is undeniably, NO. Acknowledge the problem so that you can enjoy the fruits of the same in your life time. Happy introspection :)

I envy her!!!

Its not that my life was boring but still, her grand entry has made lots of differences. I was content to be alone but still I felt her absence in my life. I was bit skeptic initially but finally resigned to her. I felt its time to go for some kind of a change, as I was bored with the mundane life in US. So she finally made entry couple of weeks back and I must confess it’s worth having her. She is hot and adds extra charm to my life. I get excited and my heart starts pumping at a speed of 100 mph with just her thought. I envy her power and love to watch her roaring. I spend some time with her almost everyday. We don't leave together; I just need to step out of my door to witness her elegance. She is parked right across my door. I am proud owner of Ford Mustang as my first car.

Journey da SFO oops San Jose

The moment i heard that i had to go to San Francisco by BA(British Airways), i got terrible concern for the safety of my baggage. Couple of my friends got their baggage after 1-2 months...BA is notoriously famous for missing baggages. Its hard to survive in different country without most of your stuffs for so long...i had no choice than to travel by BA. All i had in my control was to plan..keeping in mind worst. I kept pair of cloth in my cabin bag and also some important stuffs.

BA welcomed me on Bangalore airport with regretful announcements of delay for an hour. This was enough to make sure that i was going to miss my connecting flight from London to SFO. So BA routed me from London to Denver and then to SFO. One extra routing increased my concern for baggage further.

I landed to Hithrow airport and was amazed to see the sheer size of airport..indeed its one of the biggest airport. Flight got delayed again for an hour due to some problem in engine. This means i was going to miss my connecting flight again from Denver to SFO as there was gap of only 2 hours. Any way, i had no choice than to resign peacefully to my destiny. I was so much concerned about my luggages that i was doubly checking the status of my luggage before entering flight every time..thankfully i was getting reply, on the way :). I got one more surprise from London to Denver flight but luckily it was very pleasant. God or rather say BA smiled on me and gave business class ticket...just out of courtesy. I will never forget this part of journey until offcourse i travel again in business class. But, first experiance will remain first. The kind of hospitality i got was royal and very personalised...thanks to BA for this incredible experience. They offered a wide range of food and quality was on par with 4* hotel. After tight meal i unfolded my seat completely and slept tightly for 4-5 hours.

I landed on Denver airport and completed my US custom formalities. Then i went to BA officials for planning my last leg of journey..Denver to SFO as i had missed the flight which was originally booked for me. It was around 9pm local time. BA offered voucher for one night stay in hotel and meal as there was no flight for SFO until next morning. I was so much irritated with all these delays, that i wanted to reach home somehow the same night. I gave them option to book for San Jose which is closer to Cupertino instead of SFO. There was a flight for San Jose the same night. So i persuaded BA officials to talk to United airlines and arrange for my ticket to San jose. It was not so straightforward as my original ticket was to SFO. But lastly United airline agreed for the same. But i got one more shock when security found that my boarding pass was actually of Apoorva Kumar...i had failed to notice as last name was same. United airline official had issued my ticket on wrong name.

So this means i was again going to miss this flight as there was not enough time. I ran back and forth between BA and UA officials. I any how wanted to go on the same night. UA finally issued boarding pass for San Jose. My urge to travel the same night had increased further thinking my luggage would have gone by the previous flight. UA some how managed to get a standing ticket for me. This was like news to my ears...standing ticket in flight :D. Though the journey was just of around 2 and half hour but i had never heard the concept of standing ticket till now. So my boarding pas had number S03...third standing passenger. But when i entered the flight some how they managed to get a seat for me. Thanks to God...i finally landed to San Jose. Later i came to know that this was the same flight which i had missed due to wrong name. It was again delayed due to some reason...but for the first time for my good. I called my roomie after reaching to San Jose to pick me up. And lastly everything went fine as i received both of my checking bags.

It was indeed a power packed journey... bollywood masala movie can be made on this journey. It had all the elements of a masala movie..suspense,thrill, and a good ending. Got so many experiences to take home from this journey.

Life is complicated so play it simple

Well, there are countless definitions of Life and i am quite sure this random thought will not fall outside the purview. I thought to start my first blog on this simple but complicated title "Life".

There are countless factors which control our present and shape the future. We are today what we chose to be some time back. There are factors on which we don't have any say, so its better we ignore them. These factors are luck, fate etc. But there are things which are in our hand and we don't care. Consciously or unconsciously we ignore and let things go out of our hand and at the end of the day we find ourself with empty hands. I believe our life shapes in a fixed pattern. This pattern again can be streamlined if we find the underline factors.

We are part of this nature and nature loves symmetry so we should try to learn from nature. What i mean here by symmetry, is that we complicate our life because we don't behave in same pattern in the same situation. One of the biggest puzzle is to understand people around us, so just imagine how things will change if we start behaving in a pattern. How easier life will become if i know that my friend x will "always" help me if required. I understand it's difficult to always behave in a pattern but again if we give proper thought then its not difficult to understand that we can still follow a pattern when we break another one. I am stressing here on the bigger picture of our life.

Our objective should be to understand our life in totality and try to find the good pattern which define us and try to stick to these patterns.