Bhavartha Ratnakara (Original Sanskrit Text, Transliterated Text and English Commentary)

“Bhāvārtha Ratnākara” is an ancient text by Rāmānujācārya on Vedic astrology, based on bhāva lordships, combinations for individual ascendants, as well as numerous yogas and results of Daśās. Though a relatively small book, it has many hidden gems on principles of astrology. The very name, “Bhāvārtha Ratnākara”, means interpretation of various planets divined from the vast ocean of numerous texts on Vedic astrology. There are a few commentaries on this text including a notable one by the venerated Dr B. V. Raman. Need for this commentary was felt as many of the commentaries were in the form of a translation of the Sanskrit ślokas, with some example charts, but had not commented about the logic behind the slokas. Thus, this commentary attempts to delve deeper into the logic behind various yogas and results of different placement of planets, as well as when they are likely to fructify, as outlined in the slokas. I hope this commentary will be a good adjunct to my commentary on “Laghu and Madhya Pārāśarī” which is already available to those interested in Vedic astrology.

Chandrashekhar Sharma is an engineer by training. He has been learning Jyotish for more than 67 years, starting when he was 8 years of age, initially from his father and later from many classic texts, including those of his paternal grandmother, who too was an astrologer of note, who learnt the divine science from her ancestors. He has delivered many lectures on Astrology at various astrological conferences in India and abroad. He has written “Vedic Astrology Demystified” and its Hindi version “वैदिक ज्योतिष एक रहस्योद्घाटन" and provided a commentary on “Laghu and Madhya Pārāśarī”. He has a website jyotishteachings.com where he writes on various aspect of Jyotish and has a YouTube Channel by the same name where his lectures (in English and Hindi) are available. His thrust is on delving deeper in the classic texts and having a sound foundation in the science of Vedic astrology.

I used to wonder why my father told me that it is difficult to time events unless one not only reads but also understands (the principles used) “Bhāvārtha Ratnākar” and “Laghu Pārāshari”. I first wondered why he said so, when these were small texts and I had read most of the classics which were pretty big, some running into two or three parts. So, I read the two texts again and realized that unless one is well versed in principles and logic of Vedic astrology, it is difficult to understand the results attributed to certain planetary and dashā combinations and also to understand which action of a jātaka can reduce the negatives in his life.

I have already written a commentary on Laghu and Madhya Pārāshari, which has been published by Saptarishis publications. I also then wanted to write a commentary on Bhāvārtha Ratnākar but was a bit reluctant to take this work on as my task was onerous being that there already exists a commentary on Bhāvārtha Ratnākar in English language by no less a towering personality, in Vedic astrology of modern times, than the venerated “Bangalore Vyankata Raman” who is known as the modern day Varāha Mihira. My father was enamored of the astrological writings of B. Suryanārāyana Rāo (grandfather of B.V. Raman) and B. V. Raman, both on account of the fact of their having brought to light many ancient astrological texts and their command over the English language which helped them to convey the correct meaning of Sanskrit shlokas (aphorisms) in English. So, from the time I started reading texts on Vedic astrology, I can be said to have been, literally, weaned on their writings. The readers can, therefore, understand my hesitation in accepting to write a commentary on this jewel of astrology text as I was, and still am, not certain if I shall be capable of even approaching their knowledge of both Jyotish and Sanskrit as well as English language, if not equaling or bettering it. However, I finally decided to do my best, as “Bhāvārtha Ratnākar” is one of the two texts that despite of not being voluminous (the other being Laghu Pārāshari and Madhya Pārāshari), my father had told me to try to master if I want to be able to time events with any degree of near accuracy.

""Bhāvārtha Ratnākar” is authored by the learned “Rāmānujāchārya” who seems to have authored it in a period that appears to be post “Varāha Mihira”. This is easy to understand as one finds “Rāmānujāchārya” talking of some of the shlokas written by him being from “Brihajjataka” written by the much venerated “Varāha Mihira”. Besides giving details of functional malefics and effects of dashās, Bhāvārtha Ratnākar gives many yogas and how to find traits of the jātaka from the natal charts. This can become extremely important when one wants to ascertain if the ascendant of the jātaka as calculated from data given by him is correct, as the entire structure of interpretation of chart is based on the reference point of the ascendant. I have tried my best to try to divine the astrological principles that form the basis of the shlokas and yogas given therein, so that the readers can understand the science behind Vedic astrology. My dear student, Allyson Jane Bunting, has helped read through the manuscript and gave her valuable inputs as to whether my commentary is easy to decipher even for those who are neophytes in the science of Vedic astrology. Allyson has also formatted the entire book and, I would be failing in my duty if I do not acknowledge her contribution to this commentary. My wife Sulakshanā, daughter-in-law Sonāli, grandsons Amrit and Ashutosh, as well as my companion Spy, the dog, also helped in completion of this work by tolerating my being too immersed in this work and many a times becoming somewhat unapproachable at that time.

In the course of my life's journey in this great field of astrology, I have had the good fortune to either meet and interact personally, or through various yahoo groups, mail interactions etcetera, with astrological friends or through reading their valuable books on the subject. These include the doyens of astrology like K.N. Rao, Sanjay Rath, C.S. Patel and other astrologers like Pearl Finn, Swee Chan, Hemant Bhat, Sunil John, Juliana Swanson, Phyllis Chubb, Anurādhā Shārdā, Pradeep Chaturvedi National Vice president of ICAS, and many more whom I consider to be my friends. I would therefore like to express my gratitude to named and unnamed astrologers from whose interaction, I learned much during this journey of mine in this vast field of study of Vedic astrology, of about 65 years or more.

I would also like to express my gratitude to Parimal Joshi of Parimal Publication who volunteered to publish this book when I mentioned it to him. Parimal has also published my first book “Vedic Astrology Demystified”, which was my first book on astrology, and “Vaidik Jyotish Eka Rahasyodghātan” the Hindi edition of the same book and has always been very fair to me.

**Contents and Sample Pages**