By Abhaya Mudra Dasi

Let us glance at the astro-data of Raghava das Brahmachary and Ratnavali devi dasi. From the correlations between them, we will see that these two are in fact the same person who has transmigrated from one body to the next.

Raghava das’s birth chart
14 May 1954, 7:20 pm in Glasgow, Scotland

What is clear from Raghava’s chart is that we are dealing with a devotee. Jupiter is nicely positioned in the house of dharma (the 9th). But Raghava has an extremely good 8th house of death with 2 friendly planets there: Venus in his own sign of Libra and friendly Mercury. Venus also rules the 1st house or atmastan (house of self) where we find an exalted Saturn in Libra. Saturn is also retrograde and moving towards the 12th house of loss in Virgo. Virgo is ruled by Mercury who, again, is found on the 8th house of death with Venus the lord of atma. Mercury here gives a good timing of death according to a system that is attributed to Brighu Muni.

Nonetheless, such a good 8th house should have been responsible for a long and happy life. After all, Venus lord of the 8th in the 8th confers a nice sarala yoga for “easy life.” What planetary culprits are there that could have caused his premature death? At the time of his death, Raghava das Brahmachary was undergoing Rahu mahadasha. Rahu, according to some astrologers, is in debilitation in Sagittarius. In any case, Dhanush rashi is an unwelcome place for the shadowy graha. Rahu is with the destructive Mars, a maraka or death-inflictor as 7th lord. Both Rahu and Mars are in the house of short distance travel the 3rd. Therefore, we conclude that it was the planetary period of an afflicted Rahu that had the ability to override the other good points of the horoscope and caused his death while traveling.

The punya chakra (time of death) of Raghava das Brahmachary.
Died: 20 October 1973 at 8:45 am in Morpeth, UK

20th October 1973 must have been an ordinary day for many people but not for Raghava das Brahmachary. The first coincidence we notice in this chakra is that Rahu is at the exact same position by house and sign as at the time of Raghava’s birth, namely in third in Sagittarius. The quota of his life was therefore one round of Rahu. But since the degrees are not the same in both charts, there must have been other coincidences for the fatal incident taking place. Note that the rising sign at the time of death is Libra, same as at Raghava’s time of birth. In fact the lagna position between the two charts is almost exact; there is a difference of a mere 2 minutes. Note that the two planets of the 8th house of his birth chart, namely Sun and the fatal Mercury, are also in the rising sign of the chart for the time of death. Those were the circumstances as seen from the vantage point of external circumstances or punya chakra.

From the natal chart, which gives us the internal circumstances of the time of death, we can ascertain that Raghava was also running not only Rahu mahadasha but he was in Venus bhukti dasha and Saturn pratyantara dasha. As the main planetary period of Rahu created the backdrop of events, the bhukti gives the flavor of events playing on the foreground. The pratyantara dasha gives the reaction to the events set by mahadasha and bhukti.

Both bhukti lord Venus and prayantara lord Saturn have a strong connection to the 8th and 1st houses dealing with one’s physical body and it’s time of expiry. In his birth chart, both Saturn and Venus are strongly positioned in the 1st and 8th houses respectively. Saturn is in lagna in exaltation in Libra, ruled by Venus, while Venus is in Taurus. Venus is in his own sign and is the atma karaka or “significator of the self.” The wily outcaste Rahu, as the lord of the main planetary period, has played these two friendly planets into his malefic favor, i.e. incurring death. If we go deeper into the planetary influences of periods and sub-periods, etc., we find the same theme repeated. Rahgava das was in Rahu / Venus / Saturn / Venus / Rahu. Despite the fact that the death came quickly, its seed was planted in the very time of birth just waiting for the right cluster of planets to occur. It all came together on 20 October 1973.

On the day of the accident three features of the panchang, namely tithi, nakshatra and wara were inauspicious. The lunar cycle was navami, a rikta or “hollow” tithi in the krishna paksha or waning lunar phase. The nakshatra was Ashlesha which is never deemed favorable for travels. The day was Shaniwar, Saturday, ruled by malefic Saturn. A look into the drekkana kundali, or three-part divisional chart for the time of death, reveals that the stronger of the two luminaries, the Moon, is in the drekkana of Sagittarius. Since Sagittarius is ruled by the righteous Jupiter, the drekkana indicates a spiritual future for the departed soul of Shri Raghava das Brahmachary.

There are still other clues to a violent departure in Raghava’s birth chart. The past life is ruled by the 5th house which is therefore called the purva-punya-stan. In Raghava’s janma chakra we can see that Saturn (one of the inflictors of death) is the ruler of the 5th house. The shasha mahapurush yoga formed by Saturn in the first house of self is spoiled by him being retrograde and moving toward the 12th house of loss. As indicated by the powerful Saturn bad choices must have been made in past lives using a position that had been attained to by good karma of an even earlier life.

Nonetheless, although Raghava lived for only one round of Rahu, we cannot say that he was in any way unfortunate. He passed on as a devotee and he was reborn as a devotee. Rather than being a cause for regret, the death of a devotee is a time for celebration despite his material circumstances. We now turn our attention to the birth chart of Raghava’s future life as Ratnavali devi dasi.

Ratnavali devi dasi, Born: 9th August at 2am in London, UK

Since Raghava das Brahmachary was absorbed in thought of an Indian girl, he found himself re-born as one. We recall that Venus, the significator of women, played a very strong part at the time of his death. Venus was the lord of the rising sign in the punya chakra as well as the lord of 8th house of death. Since Libra rises in both instances, Venus’ dual role holds true for both the birth chart as well as the chart for the moment of exit. Ominously, Venus was also the lord of the sub-period or antardasha at the time of death. The overpowering influence of feminine Venus planet caused the soul to accept the body of a woman.

In this life time we see that Ratnavali’s 5th house ruling past life is in Libra and is therefore also ruled by Venus. The indication is clear. The “self” of Raghava (first house or atma) has become the fifth “house of past life” for Ratnavali. Her fifth house is aspected by Jupiter revealing her devotional past life connection. The position of Jupiter in her 11th mitrastan or “house of friends” indicates her coming in touch with Krishna Consciousness via the media of another person. Note that Jupiter rules the 7th house of partners, the jayastan. Ironically, in her case the other person is one’s very self from a previous lifetime as further explained in the next paragraph.

Mars, lord of the 11th house where Jupiter is positioned, is lost in the 12th, again in sign ruled by Venus. Her devotional link can be seen also in the drekkana chart where the stronger of the two luminaries, the Sun, is again positioned in Sagittarius ruled by Jupiter and indicates a devotional link to the past. In fact, this is the same position where we found the Moon, the stronger of the two luminaries at the time of Shriman Raghava Prabhu’s death. Here is a subtle yet indisputable proof that we are dealing with the same individual in two different embodiments.

Mercury, who was also positioned in the 8th house in Raghava’s birth chart and promised a good timing of death, has become the ruler of Ratnavali’s first house. In other words, Ratnavali’s house of self in Gemini was Raghava Prabhu’s ninth house of dharma. This is yet another indisputable proof for time travel of the same soul from one body to another.

Ratnavali’s main revelations about her past life have come in her major planetary period of the Moon, the manasakaraka or planet of the mind. Just see that her Moon is with Venus, the ruler of the 5th house of past life. Lord of the fifth house of past life Venus is also retrograde indicating a sense of returning or going back. There is also a nice exchange or parivartana yoga between the Sun and the Moon in her chart. Indeed, her early revelations came in 1994 during Sun dasha. True, Ratnavali first felt the influence of her previous life during the dasha of the 5th house lord Venus. However, Sun and Moon as lords of the houses of communication (2nd and 3rd) have given Ratnavali devi dasi the means to illuminate the facts of her previous birth. Hence the exchange of houses between the luminaries Surya and Chandra allows her to relate her revelation to others during the periods they rule.

One feature that immediately attracts the astrologer’s eye is that Ratnavali’s lagna is hemmed in by two malefic planets on either side. Violent Ketu and Mars are in the 12th and enemies Sun and Saturn are in the 2nd. Hence she had to undergo a horrible torture at the hands of a crazed lunatic due residual effects of lingering karma. The blind and explosive rage is seen in the Sun-Saturn conjunction, the violence and bloodshed are from Mars, and Ketu is seen in the nails. This trauma occurred in her Venus major / Mercury minor planetary periods. Both planets are strongly linked to the 5th house of past lives. At the same time transiting Rahu happened to be in Sagittarius, the same sign from where he began and ended her previous life. In this life since backwards-moving Rahu has moved one sign away to Scorpio this indicates a moving on, a divesting of the past karma. This violent attack was a brutal reflection sent from the past life and transported into this life.

Interestingly, at the time of this writing Rahu is at present moving through Sagittarius (till 6 June 2011) and as an example of Rahu’s influence it is during this period that she has decided to share her story, and divest of the karma of the past. As a side note, she should be especially wary of traveling with tired or careless drivers, fierce dogs, angry strangers etc. till Rahu enters Scorpio in the middle of next year.

What can she expect from this lifetime? Saturn’s lordship over the 8th house of death reveals that this life could not be as short as the previous one. Karma has been paid for and now is the time to fully manifest the activities associated with devotional service. The deep regret for the past is expressed by the weak position of Rahu / Ketu axis dealing mainly with the issues coming from the past and leading to future decisions. The weakness of Ketu is compensated by the strength of Rahu who does very well in a malefic house like the 6th. Theketu-caused regretfulness will be brought into focus at time of the present Mars planetary period running from June 2010 until June 2017 since Mars stands alongside Ketu in the 12th house of loss. It is good that Ratnavali has dedicated herself to fully spiritual activities because such stars are unlikely to produce any satisfactory results in their period.

An 18-year Rahu mahadasha (the same dasha that was running during her previous death) will follow Mars planetary period. Then Ratnavali devi dasi will have the full opportunity to eradicate all the regrets emerging from the past and establish a strong ground for her wonderful 16-year Jupiter period which follows Rahu. Her next time of death will certainly come in Saturn’s planetary period. She will pass on as an old lady, one who has told many a story about a life of fascinating events. ·

from the Astrological Newsletter
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