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The Eternal Moment

Horary Astrology in the Kerala Tradition

by Kenneth Johnson

In India, there are two schools of horary astrology or prasna. The style primarily associated with the northern regions of the nation is fairly well known to the Internet community or the world at large; it is by definition a branch of Tajik or �Persian style� astrology, founded principally on a Western model. The other style of prasna is characteristic of the province of Kerala in southern India and much less widely known. While Kerala has historically been an important entr�pot of the spice trade and has played host to a variety of cultural influences, its style of prasna has roots which lie deep in Classical India. The tradition of Kerala Prasna owes its allegiance to the teachings of Varaha Mihira and his son Prthuyasas, who authored the foundational text of Sanskrit horary astrology called the Satpancasika.

Still, it is easy to wonder why anyone should have need to cast a prasna or horary chart at all, whether in the northern or the southern tradition. If, as so many of the classics assert, the entire spectrum of a human life and its karma can be seen in the natal chart, and if the dasas and the transits map the way in which that karma unfolds, then what is the use of horary astrology? Why should we bother?

This is precisely the question raised by the author of the Prasna Marga, the great compendium of horary astrology written in Kerala in the 17th century. The author quickly answers his own question as follows.

Sometimes, human experience simply doesn�t match what we see in the birth chart. Every astrologer who has been in practice for a considerable length of time has seen it: The woman who just landed the world�s best job during the darkest dasa, the darkest bhukti, and the most troublesome transits you can imagine, or the man in a dasa-bhukti combination of exalted benefics with Jupiter sailing through his Ascendant who is experiencing the biggest mountain of misery in his life thus far.

How, then, can we account for the times when the system seems to fall apart and the standard rules of Jyotish just don�t seem to work?

The Prasna Marga reminds us that karma comes in many forms. Many of the events that shape our lives are the result of dridha or �fixed� karma, powerful patterns from previous lives which are destined to manifest themselves with great intensity in our present incarnation. These patterns tend to be very clearly shown in the birth chart. And yet there are other kinds of karma which are adridha or �unfixed,� echoes and suggestions from our incarnational past which, being less firmly established, provide us with the opportunity to engage in spiritual work and shape new and more positive karma � or, alternatively, representing possibilities which we sometimes fail to grasp or situations which we handle badly, creating new karmic difficulties rather than new karmic merit.

And it is precisely such actions, whether for good or ill, which sometimes cause results that seem to run against the grain of the birth chart and the cycles which currently impact its essential nature. And thus it is precisely such actions which reveal themselves through the medium of the prasna chart. We are never altogether separate from the sky above us. The answer to any question we may ask lies in the stars; they are waiting to speak to us. If the practitioner of Kerala Prasna sees benefics placed in favorable signs and in kendra or trikona houses while the malefics are weakened in dusthanas, we may safely conclude that the individual is shaping her or his adridha karmas with meritorious results. If, on the other hand, the malefics are glowering at us from the angles while the benefics are hidden and weak, it is clear that the client is blundering badly and needs a helping hand.

It is, of course, part of an astrologer�s destiny to deal primarily with individuals whose fortunes seem dire; few people bother to consult us when everything is going their way. It is far more likely that we really will see those powerful malefics acting out with energy and intensity. And in this event, the prasna chart may even tell us where the client has strayed from the path of her or his birth chart � for as the old saying goes, it is better to follow your own dharma, no matter how imperfect, than to follow someone else�s dharma, no matter how appealing.

Here again, Kerala Prasna has an answer. Karma arises from three basic causes: what we think (manasika), what we say (vachaka), and what we do (kayaka). The astrologer will therefore carefully examine the Fifth House (what we think), the Second House (what we say), and the Tenth House (what we do). Which ones are afflicted? There lies the answer as to whether the client has lost the flow of her or his dharma through thoughts, through words, or through action.

Of course one may wonder how or in what way the prasna chart differs from the study of gocara or transits. After all, when the client in distress comes to us with a burning question in mind and we cast a chart for that very moment, are we not therefore merely studying the transits which are impacting the individual at that time?

This is why the Ascendant or Lagna is of such vital importance. The �magical moment� when the client poses the question is of great significance; it is part of the eternal synchronicity of the universe around us. The moment of the question will often place the planets in houses quite different from the ones they are presently impacting in the birth chart; this helps the astrologer to assess the ways and means by which the client is shaping new material (for better or worse) from the adridha karmas which provide us with a field or ksetra upon which we may exercise our own free will.

And there is more. The Prasna Marga urges the astrologer to go beyond the horoscope altogether, to take cognizance of omens (nimitta), of body language (sparsa), and of the very breath in our nostrils (svara), as detailed in many yogic texts. The client who is shaping her or his destiny is not separate from the totality of the world that surrounds us all. Everything is important.

Kerala Prasna even introduces an astrological factor of great importance which is also quite unique to the art. This factor is known as the Arudha Lagna, but should not be mistaken for the Arudha Lagna as it is defined in, for example, Jaimini astrology, which is a very different thing. In Kerala Prasna, the Arudha Lagna is a factor which is based seemingly upon pure chance � or to put it more correctly, upon pure synchronicity. In the ritualistic practice of the art or astamangala still performed in Kerala itself, an eight-year-old child randomly places a gold coin on a large diagram of the horoscope. The rasi or sign which is thus chosen by chance becomes the Arudha Lagna. When the client visits the astrologer in an office, the Arudha may be known by the direction in which the client chooses to sit. In an era when so many readings take place over the phone or the Internet, one can always ask the client to choose a number between 1 and 12 without thinking about it; the number of the rasi so chosen becomes the Arudha Lagna. The entire horoscope is examined just as carefully from the Arudha Lagna as it is from the astronomical Ascendant, and the answer lies in the blending of the two.

In Western astrology, the horary art is sometimes known as �the astrology of the moment.� In prasna, which encompasses the entire span of one�s karmic experience, the moment extends infinitely and eternally in all directions, into timeless time.

Kenneth Johnson Biography

Kenneth Johnson holds a B.A. in Comparative religions from California State University Fullerton. He obtained his Master of Arts in Eastern Studies (with an emphasis in Classical Sanskrit) from St. John's College, Santa Fe. A leading figure in the study of myths and archetypes and their importance to the art of astrology, he is the author of numerous books and magazine articles, including the well-known Mythic Astrology series (with Ariel Guttman), and Mansions of the Moon, a study of the lunar zodiac of India. A close student of both Western and Vedic astrology, he has been a frequent contributor to The Mountain Astrologer. Kenneth has spent many months with indigenous Maya teachers in

remote parts of Guatemala; for his writings on the Mayan Calendar, visit www.jaguarwisdom.org. For his astrological work, visit www.kennethjohnsonastrology.com.



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