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Jyotish Star of the Month

An Interview with Souvik Dutta

By Juliana Swanson
Interview Date: 2/03/2015

Juliana Swanson: Thank you Souvik for meeting with us for the Jyotish Star today! Let's begin by talking about where you were born and grew up.

Souvik Dutta: Thank you for taking time out to interview me, Juliana. It is indeed an honor. I was born in Kolkata (aka Calcutta) in Bengal, India � the land of Tagore, Swami Vivekananda, Paramhamsa Yogananda (ed. also spelled �Paramahansa� by some sources), and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

My childhood home was just a few blocks away from where Swami Vivekananda was born. So, I grew up deeply admiring Swamiji and attending some of the lectures of the monks in the evenings.

Juliana: What a rich cultural and spiritual heritage you have being from Bengal! And how were you introduced to Paramhamsa Yogananda?

Souvik: I had acute asthma from the age of four and no healing methods seemed to work since it was hereditary from my paternal side. It was then that my mother took me to the �Ghosh Yoga College� which was established by the late Yogendra Bishnu Charan Ghosh, younger brother of Sri Sri Paramhansa Yogananda (website http://www.ghoshsyoga.com/), and so I practiced yoga all through my school years. My mother would wake me up at five in the morning and make me practice yoga � surya namaskar, pranayama, and asanas.

She made it a habit like brushing my teeth and it worked. After 12 years of age, I didn�t have asthma. Yoga cured a hereditary issue in me. So right from my childhood Vivekananda and Yogananda had a huge role to play in the tuning of my mind and body.

Juliana: You had a wise mother indeed, and you were her very lucky son!

Souvik: My mother is a classical dancer and so, dance, music, and art were part of my growing up too. You will hardly find a Bengali who doesn't grow up surrounded by Rabindra-sangeet (songs of Tagore). I was no exception. My mother would choreograph plays and dance based on the plays of Tagore and I would be in them. In later years, I also choreographed dances in college. The aptitude of dance is one of the many things I inherited from my mother. So, Tagore was part of my cultural growth.

Juliana: Your story now becomes richer and richer. Am I correct to imagine some other very important adults in your early life?

Souvik: Yes, actually the person I am closest to in my family is my paternal grandmother. I spent most of my childhood in my ancestral home with her and in later years would often vanish from my home in Kolkata to my ancestral home in suburban Bengal to be with her. She taught me the power of mantras. It is through her I came close to the form of Shiva. Her influence on me runs at the level of my atma (soul).

Juliana: And speaking of atma, you were first initiated into Jyotish at the ripe young age of 8. Please tell us about this.

Souvik: There is a tradition in our family that runs unbroken for 200 years � worship of the Mother Goddess on the New Moon in sidereal Libra, popularly called Diwali or Kali Puja. When my grandfather migrated from present day Bangladesh (then East Pakistan), our Kula Guru (family advisor and priest) came with us.

He used to live in the attic chamber and it was he who had given diksha (spiritual initiation) to my parents.

My mother is born Christian and to this day is a practicing Christian. My parents fell in love in 1970s and such a love story between a Hindu boy and a Christian girl was unheard of then. My mother accepted Hindu religion but never left her belief in Christ. When she was initiated into Hindu spiritual life by Gurudev, she had some serious questions on the religion. It was with utmost compassion, kindness, and wisdom that Gurudev removed all my mother�s doubts and encouraged her to follow her heart and her strong belief in Christ. I have inherited the same questioning nature of my mother and view the world with the same expansive view of Gurudev.

Juliana: Such a heterogeneous family background has undoubtedly contributed to your great facility for communicating Eastern spiritual traditions (like Jyotish) to Western minds. And now, please go on about your initiation into Jyotish.

Souvik: During Kali Puja every year, I would visit my ancestral home and watch Gurudev do Jyotish readings for the villagers. On the Kali Puja when I was eight years old, Gurudev called me and blessed me and gave me my Guru mantra with permission from my parents and grandparents. It is my personal belief that he did more than just give me the mantra. My health improved (I used to be a very sick child) and my brain started functioning like a machine. I still remember that in just over one semester, I topped in all subjects. This pattern continued ever since. I was never a

very hardworking student (in fact quite lazy) but I could just remember everything I heard or read. Gurudev passed away when I was 12 years old but in those four years that I sat with him, I learned everything I could and he patiently explained everything to me � mantras, Sanskrit, Jyotish, especially samhita and prasna, and most importantly, Tantra.

His initiation started a process of life-long curiosity and study of my passion for Jyotish.

Juliana: Are there any other astrologers in your family?

Souvik: No, none in my family are astrologers. However, from childhood I have seen my grandparents always having the highest regard for wise men and saints.

Juliana: Which teachers have inspired you, mentored you, or have been your strongest support along the way?

Souvik: Numerous teachers have inspired me. After Gurudev passed away, I felt a void in my life but I didn�t leave his teachings. I would do my school homework and then, before going to bed, would surely pick up a book and read. Gurudev always insisted I read Ramayana and Mahabharata first, then the Puranas, then the Upanishads, and then at last the Vedas. Today I understand the value of his teachings and, without this background; I would have found Jyotish interpretation difficult.

However, soon my 10th grade and 12th grade exams caused my Jyotish learning to move at a slower rate. It only picked up after my 12th grade when I began my engineering studies.

Juliana: A fated meeting with your next guru perchance?

Souvik: Certainly! I met my second Guru at a Shiva temple in a place near Pune, where I spent four years of my life studying Computer Engineering and Naadi Jyotish. Communication was a problem since he only knew Marathi and I didn't know the local language, so in three months I picked up the language enough to communicate with him. With him, I learned a lot of techniques and norms of Jyotish which I couldn't have learned elsewhere. It was he who had prescribed some real remedies to me that I follow until now. His knowledge on practical remedial measures was very deep.

Juliana: Were there more teachers after this?

Souvik: I met a third great teacher in Bhubaneshwar during my first job. He was a 70-year-old retired Merchant Navy officer but with a very deep knowledge of Jyotish. I studied with him for almost two years.

I consider these three unknown teachers as my three Gurus. I have always been attracted to Gurus who are generally hard to find and don't seek the limelight.

In addition, I consider myself an eternal student and over these years I have been exposed to the teachings of many modern scholars and appreciate all their wisdom. Various scholars have their own individual perspectives in jyotish and it is always enriching to see their viewpoint.

Juliana: Have you written any astrology books?

Souvik: Books � no, but magazines and articles � yes, numerous ones. On my Scribd account there are close to 50 odd articles including my jyotish e-zine AIAC Times. AIAC Times is a nine-column e-zine started by my senior students and me. I have received great feedback on the magazine from scholars and leaners of Jyotish alike. It is quite an exhaustive magazine. The recent issue turned out to be 99 pages. Here is the link to my Scribd account with my articles and magazine (AIAC Times) - https://www.scribd.com/aia_classes

Due to my very busy schedule, I couldn�t devote time to compile my audio classes into books yet. However, some of my students will soon come out with some great books on Jyotish.

Juliana: You own a school of astrology? Please tell us all about it.

Souvik: I was teaching Jyotish right after college. In India the teaching was informal and not structured. After I came to the US, I wanted to develop a program around Jyotish. It wasn�t till after marriage, due to the encouragement of my wife Amrita, that I formally started teaching Jyotish and formed my school � AIAC (Ancient Indian Astrology Classes). The school has seven levels of extensive Jyotish training and is very exhaustive.

Most of my senior students are scholars and astrologers themselves and are now training students in Level 1 and Level 2. I just finished a Level 3 course at the end of last year and plan to start Level 4 in the summer of this year. This is the link to the Facebook page of my school:
https://www.facebook.com/Ancient.Indian.Astrology.Classes

Juliana: Are you also in private practice as an astrological consultant?

Souvik: Yes, I do client consultations. I have never advertised about it, and I take new clients only through references of my present clients and friends.

Juliana: And do you do private tutoring?

Souvik: I personally tutor only a small group of senior scholars studying in my school. With my busy schedule, I cannot tutor beginners any more. However, I am invited to speak in various places in the US (Houston, Seattle, San Francisco and San Diego are just a few) and I love doing those seminars and sessions on Hinduism (Sanatan Dharma) and Jyotish.

Juliana: Is astrology your main profession or are you also involved in another career at the same time as doing astrology?

Souvik: No, astrology is not my main profession. I am also a computer engineer by profession and work as an IT manager in a firm.

Juliana: When and how and why did you immigrate to the US?

Souvik: I moved to the US a decade ago. Actually the move was totally based on my job. I was working at an IT firm in India then and there was a challenging situation in the client location (US) which demanded a skillset which I had. I was just given two weeks� notice and was asked to pack my bags and leave. I left, came here to a small village in Virginia, and completed the assignment. However, my employer was so happy with my work that he didn�t want me to go back. Thus began an endless cycle of assignments which finally led me to Chicago, the city I fell in love with and decided to call my home.

Juliana: How have you adjusted to living in America?

Souvik: Many of friends and colleagues ask me the question on adjustment. Since this is a Jyotish interview, I can be more candid. I have Ketu in my ascendant and so from my very childhood, my expectations from life in material terms were minimal. As long as I had a library to go to and some food to eat, I was satisfied. Many immigrants have food issues, I had none. Many friends felt home sick, I did not. It is not that I didn�t miss my family; it is just that I knew that I was here to accomplish a task and had to do it before going back. In the eyes of Jyotish, I saw that once you remove the cover of culture, people in this country are no different than people in the country I was born in, all sharing similar emotions, feelings, and reactions. Jyotish was truly �my eyes� and I really didn�t face any major challenges.

Juliana: Are there significant differences between practicing astrology in America versus in India?

Souvik: Yes, there definitely is. In India, I couldn�t get my students to ask questions; but in America, I couldn�t get some of them to stop� and I loved it! I have always been a questioning student. I have always questioned everything until it made sense to me. This was the reason that I avoided going to very popular teachers in India, since I feared that my questions would offend them. Most Asian cultures look at questioning as a form of rebellion, and they are not very sympathetic toward it. Obedience to them is grace. However, I learned questioning from my mother, so it was in my blood.

Juliana: It sounds as if you have found a true home in America.

Souvik: Well, I found practicing Jyotish in America much more personally fulfilling. After I broke the initial ice, I saw the excitement in the eyes of my first students and there came a shower of questions and we all grew as a group once we really understood the answers to them.

Even in my client readings, some clients with astrology background would ask me why I gave them a certain remedy. I love that they do and once they have the explanation, they follow it and receive the benefits from it.

Juliana: What was your growing edge?

Souvik: There was one thing about teaching Jyotish in America which I did not understand in the beginning and took me a while to get it. In America, there is a craze about certification and certificates. I found that interesting and different from my experiences as a Jyotish student. I initially thought wisdom of a subject as sacred as Jyotish was beyond certification. However, over the years, I did see the pragmatism around this topic. I today understand that Saraswati (true wisdom which is immeasurable) needs validation from Vidya Lakshmi (certification which can be measured) in the US.

Juliana: What a lovely marriage of words, and goddesses! Is your wife Amrita also an astrologer or a student of the science?

Souvik: Amrita has an extremely keen sense of intuition. She knows more Jyotish than she claims. However, she is also one of my biggest critics. For me, personally, if I get her approval on a Jyotish article, then I know it will be close to foolproof. For all my important presentations, I run my papers by her. She is also my PR guide. As I tend to be obsessive about my work and forget relationships and social life, so she keeps me at check. Most importantly, she makes my house a home.

Juliana: Once again Souvik, you are revealing your auspicious karma. And in that regard, congratulations are in order to you and Amrita on the recent birth of

your first son Hridaan (pet name Hrid). When will you begin teaching him Jyotish, assuming that is part of the plan?

Souvik: Thank you so much, Juliana. Hrid is a wonderful blessing to Amrita and me. I strongly believe that one can be a wise and kind person without the knowledge of Jyotish, and so there will be no pressure on Hrid to be a Jyotishi. He can hardly escape Jyotish with a huge library of Jyotish books in his home, but only if he is interested will I teach him this sacred wisdom of the sages.

Juliana: What are some of most difficult parts to navigate and balance in the role of a �householder Jyotishi�?

Souvik: Being a �Householder Jyotishi� is the biggest challenge for me every day. We all know that the answer is balance, but to achieve that balance is very difficult. I have some very strict rules around it to keep me from being obsessive about my passion: no Jyotish classes or practice on weekends. Left unchecked, I could do Jyotish 24/7 without a blink of an eye.

Juliana: And as you already indicated, Amrita is the greatest support to you for finding and keeping balance.

Souvik: Oh yes, the biggest support I have in being able to survive the �Householder Jyotishi� role is from my wife Amrita. She fills in the blanks I leave in mundane life and draws my attention to the things that need to be addressed. So, if even I have miniscule success in playing this role, I would gladly give the credit to her.

Juliana: Do you have any advice for students of Vedic astrology?

Souvik: Yes, humility and a sense of service. There were 18 seers of Jyotish and to know the deep wisdom from the numerous works of each of those sages is a mission of lifetimes, so there can be absolutely no scope for pride or ego.

Juliana: And how about speaking to the importance of sankalpa (intention and goal) for the Jyotish student and practitioner?

Souvik: Everything one learns in Jyotish needs to be used for the welfare of humanity. If my knowledge cannot be used for the welfare of society, according to me, it is useless. I urge all Jyotishis to have this sense of service for their clients. A Jyotishi (like a doctor) has to deal with the negative karma of their clients. If one is not ready to get his or her �karmic hands dirty� in the process of analyzing and recommending remedies to cleanse the client�s karma, one should seriously think twice before becoming a Jyotishi. Jyotish is another name of the Sun God, who burns himself to light the world. A Jyotishi needs to do the same for his/her clients with a sense of service.

Juliana: You have truly graced us here today with your compassion, humility and profound wisdom. Deep gratitude and pranams to you, dear Souvik!

Souvik: My heartfelt and humble pranams to you too, Juliana!

Souvik Dutta Biography

Souvik Dutta is a practicing Vedic scholar in Aurora, IL. He was initiated into spiritual life at the age of eight by his Guru in India. Souvik has learned Jyotish from three distinct lineages � Tantra, Vedic, and Naadi. He conducts a Seven-Level certification program in Jyotish through his school, named AIAC (Ancient Indian Astrology Classes). Souvik conducts seminars and client consultations in various locations in the US.

Email - [email protected].

Website - http://ancientindianastrologyclasses.com/

Juliana Swanson 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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