Jyotish Star of the Month

A Conversation with Penny Farrow

by Juliana Swanson Interview Date: August 12th 2013 Juliana Swanson: Hello Penny! On behalf of Jyotish Star, I want to thank you for granting this interview. Tell us, please, when you first became interested in Jyotisha. Penny Farrow: Back in 1971, my husband and I were initiated into the Transcendental Meditation (TM) technique and fast tracked to becoming teachers. We became faculty members of Maharishi International University, which was founded to bring out what has been called �The Science of Creative Intelligence,� essentially translating core principles from the Vedas and retranslating them in contemporary terms. As the University grew and developed, the great kalas (ancient skills) of India were introduced, with Jyotisha being the king of them all. Juliana: Had you ever studied much of Western astrology before this? Penny: Though I had a very brief flirtation with Western astrology, I never practiced it and consider myself to be purely a Jyotishi. Juliana: Your website states that you have a B.S. and M.S. degree from Cornell University in the Biological Sciences, and have had extensive career experience as a teacher, researcher and business woman. How has your professional background informed your work as an astrologer? Penny: The teacher and researcher part of my life easily segued into my astrological work. My mom reports that as soon as I could talk, I would pass on whatever I learned to whomever I could find to listen to me! I am as much a teacher of Jyotisha as a practitioner. I love nothing more than to pour through the shastras (aided tremendously by my teacher�s insistence that I learn and teach Sanskrit). I have a wonderful study partner and we constantly research shlokas, find and apply charts and assemble powerful teaching materials. That research is applied to readings as well, as there is no substitute for getting out there and testing your principles. Juliana: Ah, interesting� and so then, how do you integrate your business background? Penny: The business woman piece is less obvious. I remember many times looking in the mirror during those years and asking myself what the heck I was doing, as it was such a departure from my life up until then. Had I known astrology at that point, it would have been a piece of cake to explain it! However, the business experience turned out to be pivotal in my practice, since I was exposed to a huge variety of real life situations, as opposed to the rather sheltered ivory tower of school and the subsequent pathways of a spiritual seeker. I had to deal with all kinds of people and find a way to communicate effectively and problem-solve. My business experience gave me the ability to be very grounded and real in terms of framing what I see in charts in a practical and down-to earth manner. Juliana: Where did you grow up? Penny: Nothing about my growing up years could have predicted what my life was to become! I grew up in Brooklyn, New York, in a working family above my dad�s store on a busy street. I never met someone from the subcontinent of India until I went away to university. Juliana: Can you say more about what personally drew you to Jyotisha? Penny: My interest in astrology was always inspired by the deep knowledge of the laws of karma and the evolution towards higher consciousness. I was taught that it is possible, through understanding and aligning to the laws of nature (i.e. following dharma) that we can bring more grace into our life and work out the difficulties. An astrology chart is the pictorial representation of what you came here to work on and where you can find the help and support. Juliana: How beautifully and succinctly you just summed up the essence of this divine science! What was your process as you came to be more involved with it? Penny: The actual trigger for turning to Jyotisha above everything else in my life came when there was a traumatic incident in my family that I did not see coming and could not account for in any logical way. Around this time, the TM movement was introducing the beautiful vidya of Jyotisha and I sought a consultation. I felt like I was taken from a dark room into the light. More profoundly, the minute I physically saw a natal chart, something woke up. I quite recall making a pronouncement to myself that if I could help one person the way this helped me, I would have lived a worthwhile life. Juliana: What teachers inspired you, mentored you, or have been your strongest support along the way? Penny: Hard to know if I should answer this chronologically or by citing the greatest impact. I think I will go chronologically. As stated above, the first rays of the light of Jyotisha came through Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and the TM movement. However, the time quickly came when I knew I had to study Jyotisha more deeply rather than simply have consultations, as helpful as they were. Juliana: Who was your first Jyotish teacher? Penny: I came to know of Mr. K.N. Rao and met him in a small group at the house of a friend. Through him, I could see the operation of what he called �the atomic level� of Jyotisha, and witnessed the power of the confluence of a developed discrimination, a traditional training (his mother) and a clear cognitive ability. At an international Jyotisha conference, Mr. Rao suggested that I attend a particular session with him as he was interested in hearing a panel discussion that included Hart deFouw. He told me that he believed this was a person well worth listening to based on the clarity and power of his book Light on Life. I attended that session and the rest is history. Juliana: It sounds like hearing and meeting Hart was a pivotal event for you. Could you say more about him and his role as your primary teacher? Penny: I wrote the following on Hart�s website many years ago and I think it most clearly represents how I think of Hart as a teacher: �From the very first encounter with Hart, something very precious woke up in me. Jyotisha is a living, oral tradition that requires the Shakti of the teacher. I experience a very powerful and pure transmission of that from Hart as he is an amazing combination of a brilliantly insightful Western mind with the heart and soul of an Indian mystic.� Hart was carefully and completely cultivated by K. L. Mantri, who had immigrated to Canada. Mantri and Hart engaged in a time honored traditional relationship of guru and shisya that went on for over 15 continuous years. They studied not only Jyotisha but also the subjects that are the very foundation of the Vedic tradition�the Shad Darshanas, six systems of Indian philosophy including Yoga Shastra, Vedanta etc. They also went deeply into other sister vidyas and divination systems like Hasta Samudrika Shastra (hand analysis), Vastu and so on, and of course, Sanskrit was a constant presence. Everything I knew and experienced from both of these extraordinary men was confirmed by no other than the great Swami Dayananda Saraswati at a satsanga he graciously did with my Jyotisha students. He told them to be very appreciative of how they were being taught because my teacher was a totally brilliant Jyotishi and his teacher was a very great swami. Juliana: How long have you studied with Hart, and has it been an �exclusive� relationship. Penny: I have studied with Hart since 1994. In 1999, he started a program where he committed to train a group from the ground up in ongoing seminars. At this point, I decided to stay one-pointed on his vision of unfolding this knowledge because in Hart and his guru Mantri, I honestly found everything I was looking for in a teacher. Though I was pretty good at citing this principle and that Jyotisha combination, I lacked what was necessary to connect the dots. As I studied with him, I quickly realized that the role of a teacher in this tradition is not passing on information though obviously that is a necessary piece. The major emphasis was and must always be bringing a student to full maturity through practices that cultivate exquisite discrimination as well as compassion and open heartedness. This kind of training is best suited to the more traditional and personal student/teacher relationship developed over a prolonged period of time, free of the confusion that arises from piecemeal studies here and there. How unlikely that a girl from Brooklyn would get the gift of this powerful lineage. And I am totally cognizant of the responsibility of this gift and ask each day to be guided so that I may act in a way that honors my teachers and benefits those whom I serve. Juliana: What advice would you give that could be helpful for other students of Vedic Astrology? Penny: This may not be a popular opinion, but the most helpful advice I could give especially to a new student or one who has been around the block but is still not comfortable handling a chart interpretation is to find a teacher who has been traditionally trained and knows or teacher knew Sanskrit. That teacher should be comfortable with how the ancient texts are put together and serve as a guide to steer the aspirant away from doubt and confusion toward clarity and insight. Understand that this is an oral tradition based on conversation and cultivation and not on books. Books are an aid to memory *after* you have been properly introduced to the right sequence of principles. A book will never be able to tell you that you didn�t understand something properly or give you example after example of how a combination morphs in meaning depending on the context of the chart. Get off the Internet. It will introduce doubt and confusion before you are ready to reconcile the inevitable contradictions. If your teacher has proven worthy, stay with that teacher until you are established enough to navigate the wider Jyotisha community and discriminate the gold nuggets from the lumps of coal. If possible, learn Sanskrit. Do not depend on �skinny� one-word-for-another translations that rob you of the depth and richness of what is given in the texts. Besides, it is the best anti-Alzheimer's drug on the market! Find a likeminded study partner to memorize and drill what you are learning. Juliana: You are describing an ancient system for learning Jyotisha that is tried and true and has obviously worked well for you, and I assume for your students, as well. Please tell us about your work as an astrology teacher. Penny: The teacher in me came out very early. Quite fortunately, I have been consistently blessed with wonderful students. Since my teacher has impressed upon me the importance of direct transmission, my favorite teaching is in person, one-to-one. This allows for the maximum development of the student as I have the chance to directly cultivate judgment with example after example in charts. It is a dynamic and yet relaxed exchange. Juliana: Do you tutor students over a distance? Penny: I do tutor one-on-one or at the most, one-on-two, via video conferencing. This still gives me the ability to directly interact, grill, assess, correct and enjoy my students. There is no hiding in such an intimate interaction; so again, this simulates at a distance, in the best way possible, the traditional transmission and relationship between a teacher and student. Juliana: What is your teaching format? Penny: My teaching is directly from the shastras. When I introduce a principle, I show where it is in the texts and provide many examples so the shloka (verse) can be unpacked. The texts are succinct and leave it up to a teacher to properly show how a particular astrological principle is to be applied in the local conditions of individual charts. In this way, the students learn not only principles and how to apply them, but how to navigate through shastra properly. Juliana: Do you also teach in a group setting? Penny: I have a monthly study group with my private Florida students so we can work together on drills as well as new topics. My favorite seminar venue is at the beautiful Arsha Vidya Gurukulam in Saylorsburg, PA. It is the U.S. ashram of Swami Dayananda Saraswati, a world renowned Vedanta master. I teach there several times a year and love the opportunity to immerse in the rhythm of the Gurukulam including attending satsanga with the eminent swamis who are in residence year-round. The ashram draws from the large Indian populations of New York, New Jersey, DC etc. So this gives me the very special opportunity to teach a varied group of Indians and Westerners. My most advanced group has been meeting twice a year for four day camps since spring of 2009. Juliana: Do you have a preference for teaching versus doing consultations? Penny: They are intimately interrelated for me. Readings provide such a direct experience of the magic of Jyotisha and of course fulfill the purpose of learning it. This very point is brought out in the exchange between the sage Parashara and his student Maitreya in the opening chapter of Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra. He responds to Maitreya�s request to be told about this highest of the Vedangas (six limbs of the Vedas) by saying that Jyotisha is auspicious for promoting the welfare and prosperity of mankind. Teaching Jyotisha is a way of honoring the love and trust of my teachers in giving this knowledge to me in the expectation that I would do all I can to pass it along in a way that does not vitiate it and yet keeps it relevant for the time, place and people with whom I will interact. When I teach, I feel the wind in my sail from the generations of teachers who have come before me, and it is almost as if I just need to step aside and let that wave of knowledge come through me. It is a very powerful experience. Juliana: I want to backtrack a moment to these important points you made earlier about Sanskrit. Have you been studying it? Penny: I am always studying Sanskrit! Hart strongly urged his students to learn it and as soon as I studied it for a little while he made sure I would stick with it by asking me to teach it. He knew I would never stand up in front of a class unless I was prepared, so I had a great incentive. I have continued to work with wonderful Sanskrit teachers off and on and just recently decided to go back to all the basics with the vantage point of a deeper understanding of the overall structure. Juliana: Is it difficult to learn Sanskrit? Penny: Yes, in a way, but studying Sanskrit is like peeping into the reality of how all language was and is created. Sanskrit means �well polished,� and the validity of that name is exemplified in the incredible orderliness of everything about this language. In English, we have a, b, c, d �etc. Why this particular order? Is there any rhyme or reason? Not really. By contrast, in Sanskrit, every letter of the alphabet has a specific purpose and function. It starts with an understanding of the articulation points�where in the vocal apparatus the sounds are produced. Those sounds become the particles of meaning that form a consistent thread through the language. My experience when studying and teaching Sanskrit is that my whole nervous system is centered and serene. Juliana: Please explain more about the relationship of Sanskrit and Jyotisha. Penny: There is no way to overstate the impact of knowing Sanskrit with respect to the study, practice and teaching of Jyotisha. Reliance on the translations of shastra leads to unfortunate misunderstandings. Reliance on books that are someone else's digestion of those translations is even more unfortunate. It is like the game of Telephone. ( Also known as Chinese Whispers, the game of Telephone involves passing on a message in a whisper, by each of a number of people, so that the final version of the message is often radically changed from the original; thus, it connotes any situation where information is passed on in turn by a number of people, often becoming distorted in the process (The Free Dictionary: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Game+of+telephone) Even if one cannot accumulate enough expertise to easily translate, there is still much to be said for some effort in that direction. It is also worthwhile to learn how to read the texts because even reading the words can reveal mistakes in the translations. I remember how that was dramatically pointed out to me by my teacher Hart. He showed us the same verse in two different editions of the text and the translation in one talked about the lagna lord forming an auspicious combination and the other said it was formed by the ninth lord. With just a rudimentary skill of reading, it was clear that the actual text was referring to the ninth lord because the word was bhagesha, not lagnesha. Even if someone is not drawn to reading the Devanagari script, anyone aspiring to learn these Vedic subjects should properly pronounce the words. For teachers of these subjects, it is imperative. When correctly intoned, the glorious knowledge of this tradition is enlivened, and that knowledge blesses the speaker and all those who are fortunate enough to hear these profound truths. Juliana: Are you still teaching Sanskrit? Penny: Yes I am, and I enjoy it very much. Since I don�t have as many Sanskrit students as I do for Jyotisha, I try to at least introduce the proper Sanskrit terms and pronunciation for all the Jyotisha concepts to my astrology students. Juliana: Please tell us a little bit about your own writing. Do you have books, either that you have written, or that you recommend to help the aspiring student? Penny: Based on my previous answers, it probably won�t be a surprise that I have not emphasized writing books. It is not that I don�t think they are useful. I have some books that are falling apart because I pore over them so much. That would include the above mentioned Light on Life by Hart deFouw and several of the traditional texts such as Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra and Phaladeepika. However, for me personally, I don�t think it is the best use of my time. I want to spend my time in live interactions with my students and clients. Juliana: I understand you have produced a series of podcasts. Where are they available? Penny: I have done a series of podcasts that appear on my website as well as a site called Puja-net. I plan to do more of them in the near future. These podcasts are introductory in nature and serve more as an invitation to go more deeply for those who are interested in studying rather than a serious teaching and training platform. Again, in what may be a minority opinion, I believe teaching an online group of students in a context where you have no firsthand knowledge of the people and their qualifications for this subject is not in concert with how a serious student and teacher come together. It also may not be a sustainable way to perpetuate this tradition. Juliana: In regard to your writing, I have read one of your articles called �Principles of Exegesis� which may have been published in an ACVA Journal if I am remembering correctly. Penny: I have written a few articles in the past and am rekindling an interest in writing more, perhaps regarding aspects of Jyotisha that distinguish it from the Western astrological tradition. Topics like how retrogression is viewed in the two traditions, how strength is evaluated, and the use of the nakshatras in addition to the solar constellations would all be interesting to write about. Juliana: What do you consider to be the most important distinguishing feature of Jyotisha? Penny: Jyotisha is unique in the realm of astrological traditions not only for its great longevity, but because it is both implicitly and explicitly an integral part of the culture from which it arises. My teacher�s guru Mantri likes to say there are three things you cannot remove from the blood of an Indian�the Bhagavad Gita, the Ramayana and Jyotisha. To study or practice Jyotisha without understanding the tradition that informs it and gives it its power and majesty is like thinking you can treat an area of the body without understanding the larger system of which it is a part. The great compassion of this tradition is that, far from simply identifying problem areas in a chart, it asks for the informed Jyotishi to use that very chart to devise the methods by which that person can improve his or her situation or come to terms with it in a constructive and evolutionary way. Juliana: These ideas are commonly understood among Vedic astrologers, but you express them so elegantly. Please go on. Penny: Since the very first thing that Parashara says to Maitreya is that this knowledge of Jyotisha uplifts the world, it is important to study at least some of what a traditional Jyotishi would have studied before embarking on the more specific subject of Jyotisha in order to be able to carry out that vision. The rishis of the texts assumed that key terms like �dharma, manas, the three gunas� etc. have been deeply assimilated and are therefore not redundantly redefined in Jyotisha texts. Simply relying on the brief descriptions for these terms that appear in these texts leaves a student with a two-dimensional idea with which to work rather than a multifaceted jewel of understanding. Perhaps even more importantly, the deep philosophical traditions of Yoga Shastra, Vedanta and so on give the Jyotishi the tools for helping the client understand the flow of their karmic current for this lifetime, and with that understanding, how to navigate those waters in the most productive way. May it be so. Juliana: Yes, may it be so! Thank you very much for illuminating us with all this precious wisdom, Penny! Penny Farrow's Biography Penny Farrow has a B.S. and M.S. degree from Cornell University in the Biological Sciences and has had extensive career experience as a teacher, researcher and business woman. She has been involved in the study of the Vedic tradition since 1971 as part of a long-standing commitment to her spiritual practice. She has studied Jyotisha intensely primarily under the tutelage of Hart deFouw and has taught Jyotisha and Sanskrit at the Vedic Vidya Institute in San Rafael from 2003 to 2008. She is also an approved tutor for the American Council of Vedic Astrology. Penny was honored with a certificate from the Institute of Astrology (Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan) in New Delhi for promoting Jyotisha in the USA. She is the author of three articles for the Encyclopedia of Astrology second edition as well as several articles which have been published in journals such as The Mountain Astrologer and the ACVA Journal (American Council of Vedic Astrology). Her ability to integrate and clearly explain the principles of Jyotisha make her a popular presenter at many conferences and seminars. In 2008, Penny joined the summer staff at the Arsha Vidya Gurukulam in Saylorsburg PA to teach Jyotisha as Vedic Heritage both as an outreach program and part of the residential program. Penny has continued teaching at Arsha Vidya running an ongoing training program which has been meeting twice a year since 2009. She starts new cycles for beginners at regular intervals. Florida is home base for Penny where she teaches and practices Jyotisha and Sanskrit full time in addition to a full schedule of readings. Penny is available for readings and individual tutoring in both Jyotisha and Sanskrit. Her website is www.vedicchart.com She can be reached at [email protected] or by phone at 415-497-2014. Juliana Swanson's Biography: Juliana Swanson is a registered nurse (RN), healer, astrologer, mother, and wife. She runs her astrological consulting and holistic healing practices, which combine polarity therapy and rebirthing-breathwork, from her home office on Hawaii's Big Island. In addition, she tutors Vedic astrology students both individually and as an online instructor for the American College of Vedic Astrology and the International Academy of Astrology. Juliana qualifies as an ACVA and CVA Level II certified Vedic Astrologer, receiving two titles of excellence: the Jyotish Visharada, CVA and the Jyotish Kovid, CVA. Additionally, in 2012 she was awarded the Jyotish Kovid from the ICAS, Bangalore, India. Juliana may be reached by email at [email protected] or through her website www.AstralHarmony.com. You may reach Juliana at her Hawaii office at 808-430-5989.

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