Predicting Through Karakamsha and Jaimini's Mandook Dasha

K.N. Rao's first book predicting through Jaimini's Chara Dasha is the most notable landmark in the application of Jaimini astrology. There never existed any books to show how Jaimini astrology could be made use of for predictions. In Jaipur where the book was subjected to severe testing, they declared in September 1995 that the book represented the greatest advance in Jaimini astrology in the last two thousand years. Rao was given a gold medal for the work.

The present work, Predicting through Karakhamba and Jaimini's Mandook Dasha is another revolutionary landmark in the advance of Jaimin's predictive systems. No book on Jaimini astrology has illustrated any feature of this dasha. All writers on jaimini only land you in a confusion without showing how a dasha should be used actually for predictions. The author is justified in saying that those who are writing themselves understanding the meaning of the sutras they have translated.

The author shares with readers his findings in the practical application and uses of the Mandook dasha with the usual confidence of the best astrologer researcher of India who can challenge his readers to test his research first before criticing or accepting it.

More than thirty worked-out examples have been by the author to prove the validity of his research. He had it tested faculty of the Bhartiya Vidya Bhawan where the research was blind-tested on a horoscope.

The book starts with a discussion about Karakamsha and Swamsha and the totally erroneous understanding of padas by all writers of Jaimini astrology. The author provokes you to think, and test his research.

Do that and you will have learnt another effective predictive method to become an intellectually efficient astrologer

K.N. Rao (Kotamraju Narayana Rao) retired from the Indian Audit and Accounts Service as Director General in November 1990. He is the second of the four sons of the famous journalist of the pre independence era, K. Rama Rao, the founder editor of the National Herald and, editor of more than thirty journals in his long journalistic career. Rao was initiated into astrology by his late mother, K.5araswani Devi, at the age of twelve in 1943. He regards her as the best astrologer he has known in two areas, marriage and children and prashna (horary).

Rao was a lecturer in English before joining the government service through an all-India competition in 1957. He joined the Indian Audit and Accounts Service from which he retired as Director General in November 1990. More interested in games and sports than in astrology in his youth, Rao won brilliancy prizes in chess competitions and two state championships in bridge competitions. He played ten other games which is why in his astrological writings also there are references to games often

During his service career, he was the planner, organizer and teacher of three international courses on Audit of Receipts as a joint director once and director twice. His interactions with foreigners have been both on professional and astrological levels for more than two decades which is why he has, as an astrologer, a large international network of friends. He went on doing all his fundamental researches in astrology during his service career because of which he went on collecting horoscopes systematically in thousands. He has in his possession more than 50,000 horoscopes with ten important events of each individual noted with him. It is perhaps, the largest individual collection of horoscopes any astrologer in the world has.

The strain of doing astrology as a mission, not charging any fee, except on foreign tours almost made him give up astrology many times. But in December 1981 he was forced out of his shell to participate in a three-day seminar on astrology in Delhi. After this ground breaking speech, there has been a persistent demand for his astrological articles. From then onwards he has been sharing with his readers his original researches for which he has won worldwide praise.

Between 1993 and 1995, Rao has visited the USA on five lecture tours. He was the Chief Guest at the Second Conference of the American Council of Vedic Astrology in 1993. He was requested to be present in the Third Conference also in 1994 on the opening day because of the crowds he would draw. His name was advertised till November 1995 also for the Fourth Conference though he had made it clear that he would not be available anymore for the American conferences.

Since June 1998 he has visited Moscow five times where he taught astrology through interpreters. It was a great success every time as reported by the Russian sponsors part of those reported is produced here.

As a result of his academic approach, he has now more than a thousand students in India and more than five hundred in the USA and Russia. He is the Director of Astrology Courses in the Bharatiya Vidya Bhawan, New Delhi. The teachers on the teaching faculty of the astrology course in the Bharatiya Vidya Bhawan have, like him, never charged any fees for teaching which they do in an honorary capacity. What impelled Rao to do it is well explained in his own horoscope where the lagna and the 10th lords get combined in the lagna, with an exalted Jupiter in the 10th house. All this was foreseen by his Jyotish Guru, Yogi Bhaskarananda of Gujarat whom Rao describes as the last of the Rishi astrologers in the purest classical mould. He had told him that he would have to visit many foreign countries to give to Hindu astrology the honour, recognition and dignity which it did not have till then. An American summed up the impact of the first ever foreign visit of Rao to the USA in 1993 as, .• Vedic astrology before Rao and after Rao”.

What different yogis have said about astrology as a Vedananga which he must not give up has been quoted in his book, Yogis Destiny and the Wheel of Tlme. Astrology is ill-reputed as a profession because of its mercenary and exploitative nature. Rae's desire never to turn into a professional astrologer, has won him thousands of admire and also some enemies from the community of professional astrologe who felt threatened, when around him there grew up a fine team 0 more than two hundred academic astrologers like him, for whom astrology is not a source of living, but a super science to delve into the meaning and purpose of human life, which is what astrology as vedanga, should and has to be.

Both his mantra guru, Swami Paramananda Saraswati, and his jyotish guru, Yogi Bhaskarananda taught him some secrets of spiritual astrology which are not given usually in any book of astrology. Rao has revealed some of these secrets in his book, Yogis, Destiny and the Wheel of Time. Among Rae's recent fundamental and most original researches are his two books Predicting through Jaimini's Chara Dasha and Predicting through Karakamsha and Mandook Dasha. It has been possible for him to produce such researches because he was told by his jyotish guru that what was in parampara (tradition) was much more than what was contained in books of astrology which are translated literally and are without illustrations generally. His own mother, who was his first jyotish guru, knew many such traditional secrets, parts of which Rao has revealed in his three books, Ups and Downs in Careers, Astrology; Destiny and the Wheel of lime and Planets and Children.

It was the mantra guru of Rao, Swami Paramananda Saraswati, who first asked Rao not to give up astrology as it had to be an integral part of his sadhana. Later a great yogi, Swami Moorkhanandji, prophesied in 1982 that he would be the architect of a great astrological renaissance. Whether that is already fulfilled or not can be gauged from the impressive list of his research published.

This interview was conducted at the 3rd Annual Symposium for Vedic Astrology, held in San Rafael, CA in November 1994. The Mountain Astrologer (TMA) : Mr. Reo, would you start by telling us how you became interested in astrology?

KNR : At the age of eleven I was down with typhoid. In those days (early 1940s) there was no hope of a child surviving, particularly in a place like India. I was nearly given up as dead. How I survived was almost a miracle, and my recovery almost a rebirth. I was six months without food, on a liquid diet, convalescing in bed after being in the hospital. My mother put a picture of the goddess Saraswati before me, and everyday she taught me numerology, palmistry, and astrology.My mother was a very great astrologer, the greatest astrologer I have known in my life. And in certain areas she was absolutely unparalleled, such as prashna (horary) and female horoscopy. She had a very original, dazzling mind, always looking at everything in a very modern way, but she was a pure orthodox Brahmin from South India.

My father was against astrology. I don't have to go to any scientist or critic to know the arguments against astrology. My father had two very strong reasons. He was a famous journalist or his time. The first Prime Minister of India had a newspaper and my father was the founding editor. At that time the independence movement was going on and my father used to say, "When we have decided to jump into fire, why do you have to askany question about our future?' Mahatma Gandhi never consulted an astrologer. No revolutlon an ever consulted an astrologer, because they knew freedom fighten never bothered with astrology. My father was a freedom fighter. The second objection of his was that astrology turned people into fatalists Indians believe in fate very easily suppose the astrologer is a fraud which most of the astrologers are. The majority of astrologers in India are frauds

The reception given to my book Predicting through [elrnini's Chara Dasha was very heart-warming as both in India and in the USA friends told me that they got results accurately and very fast compared to the Vimshottari in which searching specific events was more difficult.

In the meantime the new batch of research students of July 1995 numbering over 20 decided to opt for researches in Jaimini astrology in preference to any other branch. They had read my book for their second year examination in astrology and felt confident that they could handle jaimini's dashas well and enthusiastically.

There must be revival of this great branch of astrology for astrology to be the most effective science of counselling along specific lines and in specific areas.

In this book which I have called Predicting through Karakamsha and Jaimini's Mandook Dasha I have also dealt with some confusions in Jaimini astrology without knowing which, students cannot proceed along scientific lines. It must be remembered that while no disrespect is meant to other writers, it is necessary to know that the English translation of Jaimini Sutras by B. Suryanarayana Rao was helpful only in knowing about this branch of astrology as he created an. awareness about it. But he was no researcher and produced no research at all in any branch of astrology. The result was that the confusion his translation created had to be understood. That book should be read with a sense of discrimination as it will be clear he had no illustrative examples with him to lift the fog of uncertainty that still covers many branches of Indian astrology, particularly Jaimini astrology. As in the earlier book, so too here, all that I am claiming is that it is an original and fundamental research which I can present confidently after the tremendous success of the earlier book of mine on Jaimini.

No one should be treated as a final authority on Jaimini. Yet unless it is discussed along some tested lines, as I always do, the secrets of this branch of astrology, the greatest in the world, will remain hidden, it is with that intention that this book has being written.

Readers are requested not to treat it as the final product of research but as a piece on which they can rely for their predictions and general horoscope reading.