Your Moon Sign
From the foregoing discussion about your Lagna, it must have become clear to you
what your Sun-sign (Hindu) is.
But in Hindu astrology you must know your Moon-sign also.
Degrees of the Moon
Your Moon will be at certain degrees in some rashi hence in some nakshatra, say of Ketu, Venus, Sun, Moon, Mars, Rahu, Jupiter, Saturn or Mercury (one of these nine). Moon Sign, Lagna and the Sun Sign can be different Your Moon-sign is your rashi as distinguished from your lagna. If a specific question is put to you, tell me your lagna, the Moon-sign and the Sun-sign, you now know that they are three different points in your horoscope to be made use of for predictions.
So the answer can be.
(a) Lagna is Mesha, Moon-sign or rashi is Mithuna but the Sun-sign is Kanya, all the three at three different places.
(b) They can also be at two points if the Lagna or the Moon or the Sun or the Lagna and the Moon and Sun are in only two signs.
(c) All the three can be in one sign only.
Your may have sometime or the other read about your life on the basis of Sun-signs or the Moon-signs and may even have been reading daily, weekly, monthly or even yearly forecasts. Now can the patterns of destiny of the entire mankind be divided only in twelve signs, since there are only twelve rashis? Have you seen the absurdity of the situation? So do not get addicted to such prediction.
Your Janma Nakshatra
On the basis of your Moon, you can see what was your Janma nakshatra (or birth
constellation). It has to be one of the twenty-seven constellations mentioned earlier.
1. Your janma-nakshatra is important for calculating the time-cycle described as the Vimshottari dasha of 120 years. Depending on your janma nakshatra what period of which planet your are passing through is the most vital factor for predictions.
2. If you were born in the nakshatra of Ketu (7 years) it will be followed by that of Venus (20 years) etc. See the chart on nakshatras.
3. These are called mahadashas. Each mahadasha is sub-divided into nine antardashas or sub-periods. and each antar-dasha is sub-divided into nine pratyantar dasha, each prayantar dasha is divided into nine sookshma dashas, each sookshma dasha is divided into nine prana dasha. This five-fold division of dasha is the most extraordinary and unparalleled system of timing events in the history of astrology.
4. Do not be surprised if I tell you that though the Vimshottari dasha is the most popular, in Hindu astrology there are forty-five Jaimini dasha-systems and another fifty-four nakshatra dasha systems of Parashara, the greatest astrological genius the world has ever produced.
Divisions of Dashas for Timing Events
We will be using only the Vimshottari dash in the book and all our illustrations will refer to
(a) The Mahadasha (the major period)
(b) The Antar dasha (the sub-period) and
(c) The Pratyantar dasha (the sub-sub-period) only.
No use of the fourth division (sookshma dasha or the fifth division prana dasha) is being made use of here. But in two cases when I made use of where I was absolutely assured that the birth time noted was without any error and the calculation of the horoscope was cast hundred percent correct.
Warning
1. Do not jump to any conclusion, generally pessimistic or optimistic, only on the basis of the dasha-antardasha etc. But rest assured the sixty percent of correct predictions are based on it. This is the best ever method of timing events ever devised by mankind.
2. After you have become familiar with the use of the dasha system, use transits of planets. Those who over-emphsise the role of transit of planets without first examining the promised results of dasha, are like people who are measuring the size of an elephant on the basis of the length its tail. But first revise what you have been taught so far, step by step.