Hi,
I have not been into astrology for a while and I had a reading with Laura Bharat recently.
Is there a new ayanamsa I need to know of? How do I set this in my current Kala software?
Laura is experimenting with putting krittika on the vernal equinox and so using a type of tropical ayanamsa. If you want to try that, you need to set the custom ayanamsa to the persons birth day and then put 333:20 into the other box. You have to change the birthday for each chart you look at.
@mona Is using a different ayanamsa that's causing my vimshottari dasa to be slightly off? On different forums I see that my dasha periods are 6-8 months off even with using Kala software. I was wondering why would is generally used/
@arjstere yes, it will change your Vimshottari dasa depending on the ayanamsa you use since your first Dasa is determined by your moon’s Nakshatras lord. I believe most Vedic astrologers are using Lahiri ayanamsa and Ernst uses Dhruva Galactic center, middle of Mula (I think), and some are experiencing with the Krittika Ayanamsa (user-defined / 333:20). Personally, I use Lahiri but it seems to be a never-ending debate from what I gather 😉
@mona absolutely. The reason is that one of my close friends, who happens to be an astrologer, mentioned that the strongest possible time for me to get married based on the 9th house factors is when I am running the ME/JU/SA Maha/Antra/Prat Dasha (Ernst ayanamsa for this is ME/RA instead). Right now I am Me/Ma or Me/Mo (depends on the ayanamsa). So I am thinking now which one to follow 🙂
But one thing to note though, I feel more like ME/MA now instead of ME/MO. My ME/MA changed mid-Dec and I could feel an immediate shift in my willpower and competitive attitude. Until mid-Dec I was unmotivated and slightly depressed owning to ME/MO maybe
@mona hmm... I am not able to find that option, maybe it has defaulted. My BD is 16/10/85; 06:24 AM; Bangalore, India. though. ME/MA change on 14/12/2020 seemed appropriate for me.
@arjstere
When you say "am not able to find that option", are you referring to finding how to change the Ayanamsa on Kala? If this is what you mean: you go to "options", then "calculation options", "Ayanamsa" tab, you will find all the ayanamsa options.
Otherwise, the default/recommended by Ernst is Dhruva Galactic Center, middle of Mula, then "Use Dhruva Equatorial longitude for Nakshatra position" is checked (as well as the use of tropical rasis). I checked your data and with the defaulted/recommended, it looks like Me/Ma dasa is on July 25, 2021 and, that you are now on Me/Mo as you mentioned. Not sure which option would place Me/Ma on Dec 12, 2020 indeed. Lahiri places it in April 2023... As you can see on Kala, there are a LOT of options;)
For marriage and best timing, maybe you can look at Jaimini's dasa. Am not an expert at this, I only dabbled into it but it sounded quite effective and a good way to double-check/back-up Vimshottari.
@mona Got it. I was using Astrolada to get the Dasa, not sure which Ayanamsa is being used behind the scenes, but that timeline seems to be relatable based on the current Dasha I am going through.
Thanks for the tip on using the Jaimini technique for marriage and best timing. Super helpful
What is the astronomical basis for the krittika ayanamsa besides orienting krittika to the vernal equinox? Would this orient the whole nakshatra sphere to precession? It is not a tropical ayanamsa exactly?
The krittika ayanamsa is an experimential ayanamsa of putting krittika on the vernal equinox, so yes, it becomes a tropical ayanamsa. The basis of this is that in the vedanga jyotisha which is the oldest dated written astronomical book they say that the dhanishtha nakshatra is on the winter soltice, so yes, that book uses tropical nakshatras. It does not use rasis at all. Everything is done with nakshatras and its for the purpose of calculating tithi, nakshatra, season, karana for muhurta purposes which was the oldest documented use of astrology. When we put dhanishtha on the winter soltice we get the result of the last pada of bharani being on the vernal equinox. I tried this, and it really didnt give remotely good results. So then i thougth of what could have happened when changing from 28-27 nakshatras... with 28 nakshatras when we put dhanishta on the winter soltice we get krittika on the vernal equinox. Then lets say they decided to go to 27 nakshatras and used dhanishtha on the winter soltices as reference when they should have used krittika on the vernal equinox as reference. So i tried krittika on the vernal equinox and it gave suprisingly good results that I thought were worth testing. Somehow laura bharat found out that I had thought of that and she tested it and decided to use it. I am not that hasty when it comes to nakshatra tests and feel it needs A LOT of testing to see if it really has any merit. Personally, I hope it fails, as I don't like some of the things it does in my life, haha. Its been something i have been testing when i have time over the last 18 months. What i like about it as well is that then bharani, yama, death, is the last of the nakshatras, and krittika, the sukra that starts life is the first nakshatra as measured from the vernal equinox. I fail to see the rational of asvini being the first nakshatra as it is the army protecting the village and then we have death as the second nakshatra. Also, in all old books, the naksahtras always were listed starting at krittika. Scholars say, Because krittika was on the vernal equinox at that time. well, maybe it should always be on the vernal equinox... nakshatras are very difficult to test, they are much more multi faceted and adaptable in how they will reveal themselves than the concrete rasis so extensive testing is really needed when it comes to nakshatras. So look at your moon nakshatra and see if you identify with it more as that or with a sidereal nakshatra. I like to use the Taitreya sutras for that.
Thanks for the thorough response. I have found that the ayanamsa you have as default works well.
Yet, if the stars move in there sidereal way via procession of the equinoxes, then why would a tropical ayanamsa fit that? Even if the stars don't exactly line up with the nakshatra spaces. It makes sense that astrology would have at least some component that is sidereal since we do see the stars at night (its observational) and the sidereal sphere moves slowly due to procession. And then we see dudes like KN Rao using the common Lahiri ayanamsa and doing AMAZING predictions off of vimshottari....
I am somewhat inclined to believe that the Vedanga Jyotisha using Danishta on the winter solstice is there because at that time dhanishta was at the winter solstice? Indians lost knowledge of precession and had didn't account for processional cycle to slowly move the sidereal sphere. Speculation...
@scott-m-19 yes, its possible, but its a s uprise that a text from that age would not mention precession. Its also a very hard thing to loose if it was something that was ever actuallyused.
Also, just wanted to add that I have always sense that Nakshatras are a more higher age form of astrology. That our understanding of them is perhaps very miniscule compared to other aspects to astrology at this time.
@ernst Interesting.. Krishna stated as Rohini Asc.+Moon in the scriptures... I don't know.. just a thought.