Srila Prabhupada and the Archer at Birth
BY: CHAKRESHWAR GOSWAMI, M.A.
Jan 08, INDIA (SUN) — It would seem that Sri Puri's garden of speculation regarding Capricorn lagna is growing weeds. As a general consensus, Indian pandits who actually know something about the science of the stars—and Krishna consciousness—have accepted Dhanush lagna for over a generation now. That means His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada appeared on this earth when the constellation of the bow-wielding centaur was mounting the Eastern horizon.
That Srila Prabhupada was a paramhamsa sannyasi and he cared little for his own personal astrology is accepted fact. That is why when one Jaya Krishna Thakur wrote to the Founder Acharya of ISKCON about his rashi, Srila Prabhupada replied "Methuna rashi" denoting Gemini. Since Srila Prabhupada's rashi or Moon sign was Vrishabha or Taurus, his response to Jaya Krishna Thakur indicated that some other mistaken pandit had prevaricated the matter, as is common, and Prabhupada likely could have cared less about it.
The position of Srila Prabhupada's planets at birth was a subject for wranglers like us. Those from the misguided Makara lagna cantonment, who attribute the sign of the Saturn-ruled sea monster to his ascendant, argue along the lines that if "the paramhamsa said 4:00 pm, then only 4:00 will do". Do these absolutists from the Makara faction really surmise that a new-born baby appreciates what time it is? Many older Indians, even some educated ones, do not know what YEAR they are born. When the paramhamsa says "ABOUT 4:00" there is ample latitude for cogitation, and that is why Lord Krishna in His kindness gave some of us intelligent power of examination. Back in 1896, pandits calculated accurate times according to ghatikas and dandas based upon the moment of sunrise. Clocks, what to speak of accurate ones, were a rarity and—unlike today's age of the atomic clock—the correct hour was often a subject for deliberation. Hence, mistakes in timings were more common than not.
Since the past three decades in India, many authoritative books and astrological magazines have published hard evidence from various perspectives demonstrating Dhanush lagna as the legitimate rising sign for Srila Prabhupada. Look again at the neecha-bhanga Shukra in the karmastan kendra with the planet of communication Budha in uccha. Does this not point to "books are the basis"? What about uccha Shani as the lord of the house of speech in the mitrastan? Does that not open your eyes to vak-siddhi and the uncanny ability to influence anyone—rich of poor, educated or unlettered—with the jurisdiction of speech? Observe Ravi-Guru in the dharmastan and consider Srila Prabhupada's prevailing quotation, "Godhead is light".
I'm afraid Mr. Puri's idea of misfiling a beclouded Sun conjoined devaguru Brihaspati in the shadowy eighth house (ruling: tamas guna, sex, mental instability, evil propensities, death) only demonstrates the opposite argument, "Nescience is darkness." That is a demonic position and not befitting a shaktyavesh avatara.
Learned pandits are therefore left with the conclusion that those who mistake Capricorn rising at the Great Advent of the Jagat Guru know neither Srila Prabhupada nor even astrology itself. Ignorance is revealed through suppression of the opposing view, and—like the evolution-happy Darwinists in their tirades against intelligent design—the Makara lagna crowd chooses to abrogate the opposing teams with a similar lack of dispassionate openness. As it is said of preconceived contemptuousness, "Beware of one hand clapping." It seems the Makara lagna crowd would rather flex an option to hurl obloquy in the direction of sensible argument concerning verifiable prognostication, and thus mislead and misinform the abecedarians from amongst their shaking hierarchy. For example, Shri Sanjay Rath, a leading astrologer of India, published in one of his books the obvious Sagittarius rising conclusion. As a result, one astrologer of ISKCON, whose willy-nilly paper has stood as the diaphanous platform for the Capricorn congeries, issued the following statement on Indiadivine.com alleging Mr. Rath is a "fraud" based upon what he justifies as stellar misreckoning. Here then is one of many such soapbox pontifications from one unelected leader of the Makara swarm:
"While I could appreciate (Sanjay Rath's) mild nature I had many doubts about his knowledge of Jyotish especially in regard to his wrong assignment of Dhanus Lagna to Srila Prabhupada's horoscope... It seems that I was not the only one who harbored such doubts as is testified by the opinions of some others who have followed SR's career but would prefer to remain anonymous: ..."‘Thus I concluded about 2 years ago that he may have some knowledge but is primarily a fraud.'"
In response to the aficionados of such flimsy denouement, we respond with a few tidbits of our own astrological acumen. Srila Prabhupada's physical stature is not at all the bony, lanky, pronounced-knee, high-cheek-boned type that would correlate to Makara lagna. His very physique and nature was as one wielding a bow, and a very powerful one—hence he is called the current Sena-pati of Mahaprabhu's army. Furthermore, the ordering of planets in the eighth house, the worst of the dustans, amounts to a divergence of rectitude. The great imposter Gurus who charm the world with concocted philosophies of their own imagination commonly have this eighth house combination which in various forms goes under the name of Asura Yoga. No, Srila Prabhupada was the personification of the Dharmatma, and neither he nor his horoscope should be dragged down to a bromidic level to suit the mundane mentality of idle wranglers.
It is said that only those with the eyes to see can recognize a pure devotee or even the Lord Himself. Others fall victim to the Lord's all-powerful deluding potency. As we have witnessed, apparently the same holds true even for the very stars under which a paramhamsa advents himself.
