8.3 Tajika
By Shyamasundara Das
The Tajika system is
basically a cross between Vedic and Greco-Arabic astrology introduced into
India by the Turk and Persian, Muslim invaders. According to the
dictionary Tajika or Tajik is a variant
of Tadzhik:
“One of a people
of Iranian descent inhabiting the
Tadzhik S.S.R. [presently Tadzhikastan], Afganistan, and neighboring regions.”[1]
It is decidedly
alien to India and the Vedic system. Tajika is somewhat popular in Northern
India (which was under Islamic hegemony for about 800 years) amongst the
eclectic astrologers who don’t strictly follow the Vedic tradition.
In the middle ages a
few Hindu astrologers such as Nilakanta,
wrote a text and commentary on this system. There have been a couple of
translations into English of the Tajika system, for example Prasna Tantra and their method of “yearly horoscope” called Varshaphala. This Varshaphala is nothing but the “solar return” that is used in
western astrology with a few Vedic twists added. To better understand Tajika
system one should study the works of William Lilly (17th century English
astrologer) for Prasna, and other Western texts on Solar returns.
Tajika system is
hardly known in East India and practically unheard of in South India where
Vedic traditions are more carefully preserved from foriegn influences such as
Tajika. It is unfortunate, that without finding out its antecedents, some
Westerners and North Indian astrologers have introduced Tajika to the West.
This is the danger of mimicking whatever Indians do and assuming it is Vedic.
You have to research and dig for the truth.
We can take it then
that Tajika is basically a foreign system of astrology which has a thin Vedic
veneer. Any tyro with even a minimal understanding of Parasara system will
quickly see how much Tajika has deviated from Parasara. As B.V. Raman has said
about the Tajika system:
“. . . a definite departure from the canons of
Parasara . . . ”[2]
How to tell if
someone is using Tajika system? Generally the give away clue is that they
advertise “yearly readings.” Vedic astrology is also capable of doing yearly
readings, or readings for any length of time. But the “yearly reading” is a
Tajika specialty. If you are not certain whether the yearly reading is Vedic or
Tajika find out how the astrologer bases the reading. If he answers that it is
based on the Sun returning to the same position as it was at the time of your
birth, that is, from one birthday to the next, then that is a clear indication
of Tajika.
It has been
suggested by some that the Tajika system of the yearly chart (solar return)may
be good for pin point predictions. They say:
In Vimsottari
Mahadasa (120 year cycle of planetary periods) some Bhuktis (planetary
subperiods) may be three years long and
the transits may trigger the sensitive natal combinations a few times
during one Bhukti (say, Sun over natal Rahu in the Sani-Rahu Bhukti).
Transits of the
slow planets do not seem to help with precision. Saturn or Jupiter have their
influence over 2.5 or 1 year.
And using suksma
and pratyantar dashas (smaller planetary sub-periods)is risky due to their
extreme sensitivity to the birth-time mistakes (Tajika, they say, seems to be
much less sensitive in this regard).
I object to the use
of Tajika system for a number of reasons:
1. It is inconsistent with the Vedic
system, being of Middle Eastern orgin. Many of the relationships taken for
granted in Vedic astrology are not found in Tajika. It is basically a different
divinatory language. Whereas Vedic astrology is tightly interwoven with Vedic
thought, this integration is absent in the Tajika system. For example the
Puranas explain the relationship between Soma, the Moon god, and his
illigitimate child Budha, Mercury. As the father, Soma is affectionate to the
son, but because he is the product of an adulturous affair Budha is inimical to
his father. This is mirrored in Vedic astrology where the Moon is friendly to
Mercury but Mercury is inimical to the Moon. In Tajika there is mutual enmity.
This small example is just one of many which show that the Tajika system is not
synchronized with the Vedic literature. The ultimate purpose of the Vedas is to
bring us back home, back to Godhead. Thus you will find that all Vedic
literature and science are well integrated and consistent with each other. When
we use Vedic science, in direct and indirect ways, we become situated on the
ascending path because we always get reminded of Lord Krsna because of all the
interconnections and integration between all the branches of knowledge. It is
all really one homogenous body of knowledge. Thus to become expert in Ayurveda
or Astrology or Music (Gandharva Veda) one must be completely conversant with
the Vedic philosophy and culture of which it is an inseparable part. But this
is exactly where Tajika (and other systems of astrology like ancient or modern
Western Astrology) is inconsistent. And for this reason I find it unappealing.
As a person aspiring to become Krsna Conscious I want to dovetail my life in
such a way that everything I do reminds me of Krsna. This is the scientific
process of Yoga for attaining God conciousness, that is, always being conscious
of Kåñëa. Thus I have a certain lifestyle, eating habits, etc. Everything
should be done in such a way to surround my mind with Krsna Conciousness, this
also carries into my work with Vedic astrology. Why then, would I want to
employ a system of astrology which diverges from the Vedic system which is
specifically designed to remind both the astrologer and the seeker of Lord
Krsna? This is no small point considering that the real goal of my life is not
to be an astrologer but a pure devotee of Lord Kåñëa. To be an astrologer,
Vedic or otherwise, is just another material designation, that is, it is
temporary and based on identification with my material body. It is illusory.
However, I use Vedic Astrology as a medium through which I serve the Lord and
His devotees. I call it the yoga of astrology, or yogic astrology. Because it
is used to serve Lord Kåñëa and His devotees my practice of astrology becomes
purified and spiritual.
2. Aside from the fact that it is
philosophically and spiritually incompatible with Vedic astrology I have doubts
about the system from a strictly divinatory stance. The Tajika Varshaphala
(yearly chart) is based on what is known as the solar return. That is, a chart is calculated every year for the
time that the Sun returns to the exact position that it occupied at the time of
birth. In 1984 I wrote a software program that did Varshaphala calculations. It
always bothered me that in every chart the Sun was located in exactly the same
place. Of course that is the nature of solar returns. But something felt
intuitively wrong with such a system. Astrology is a language with many
variables which are constantly permutating and it disturbed me that this
variable didn’t change. It seemed very artificial and unnatural. What was
worse, because the Sun is always closely accompanied by Venus and Mercury they
would often be near the same positions occupied at birth, further decreasing
the variability.
3. After experimenting for a year or two
with Varshaphala I found it did not deliver the goods and was inconsistent with
my horoscope. They would often contradict each other, the natal chart giving
bad results the yearly chart saying it would be good or vice versa. Invariably
the natal chart would turn out correct. I thus gave up on Tajika system finding
it useless and found better methods to get yearly update readings, that is,
methods that were Vedic and also intellectually satisfying because of their
consistency and lack of artificiality. We will briefly discuss them later.
4. Aside form the fact that I was
disturbed because the Sun in all my yearly charts was in the same position I
came to realize the following: In this world today there are 6.5 billion
people. Even if you divided the zodiac into minutes instead of degrees, there
being 21,600 minutes in 360 degrees, that would mean that there would be about
300,926 people alive today with the Sun in exactly the same minute of arc. The
planetary position in their Varshaphalas would be identical every year for all
of them. This totally ignores the differences that exist in their birth charts.
The only similarity between the birth charts was the position of the Sun, one
factor. But in the yearly charts all the factors are the same except for the
Lagna. How can 300,926 people with radically different charts have the same
Varshaphala? The traditional system of Tajika only measured the Sun to the
nearest minute of arc, but with computer technology you can get it to the exact
second of arc. Even if you measured the Sun’s position to the exact second
still over 5000 people would have identical Varshaphala planetary positions
every year. Would they all share the same fate? This is a serious inconsistency
in astrological theory which makes it a very intellectually unappealing system.
So far in our
objections we have not answered the points raised by those who advocate the use
of Tajika, namely that the predictive methods of traditional Vedic astrology, a
blend of Mahadasa (planetary periods) and Gochara (planetary transits), is not
sufficient for making what might be called pinpiont predictions within the span
of a year. Let us take on the first two points because they are both related,
Transits and Mahadasa, whereas the third raises the question that Tajika is not
so sensitive to inaccurate birth time. The first two points are not accurate
for the following reasons:
1. Vedic Astrology is the science of time.
Just as a clock has three hands which can measure finer grades of time,
similarly the horoscope has ten hands which can do the same.
2. When reading a chart for any period of
time, not just one year, the Vedic astrologer uses the various planetary
periods and transits like differing grades of finess in a filtering system. For
the sake of argument let us assume that the period to be examined is one year.
(We should note however that the Vedic system is more flexible and can start
the one year scan at any point in time and go forward for one year. The Tajika
system, however, is tied to the Solar return, so if you were between birthdays
and wanted to get a one year update you would need to do two solar returns to
cover the needed interval.)
3. First the astrologer must consider the
main planetary period that is ruling, then examine the sub-period(s) that span
the year in question, and finally the sub-sub-period. This is as far as I
generally go regarding planetary periods but one could go further down. The
planetary periods are the most important. The transits or any other method
(Tajika) cannot yield what the chart and the planetary periods do not promise.
4. Then we examine the ongoing transits.
With transits the tone of the year will be determined by the major planets
Saturn, Rahu-Ketu, and Jupiter. If Mars goes retrograde that year he will also
have a major role. Otherwise, he, along with the Sun, Venus and Mercury
indicate monthly trends. To narrow it down futher to weeks or even days look to
the position of the Moon.
5. In conclusion the Vedic astrologer must
then coordinate the various results given by the planetary periods and transits
in a similar way that you determine the time by considering the position of the
three hands on your watch. In astrology it is more complex because the number
of hands has greatly increased along with the addition of planetary periods.
6. At this
point we can address the objection that in a long Bhukti the Sun may hit
a point three times is not very strong because in the really long Bhuktis of 2
or 3 years the other planets such as Saturn, Jupiter, Rahu-Ketu will have moved
significantly, and the role of Mars as an igniter of events should not be
forgotten. Thus each time the Sun hits the same point the rest of the planets
would have a significantly different configuration.
7. Now it may be argued that the methods
of Vedic astrology are much more laborious with all the weighing of various
data than Tajika which needs only do a solar return chart. This is not true.
First of all the Tajika system requires more than simply casting a chart of the
solar return. There are intricate calculations determining relationships
between the planets in that solar return chart. Of course these days with computers
the calculations are automated, but there is still the task of analyzing the
charts. Aside from that most practitioners of Tajika say that the solar chart
can’t be studied independently but is thoroughly tied to the birth chart. This
means that they also go through the steps I just mentioned (or they should),
but in addition they use the Tajika system as well. One might say this is
over-kill and unnecessary especially considering it is not consistent with the
Vedic system. Using the methods of the Vedic system is much simpler and can
usually be done in one’s head without having to calculate a separate chart. And
in the end one gets very good results without resorting to an extra step.
Let us look at the
third point namely that solar return is less sensitive to birth time errors and
because of this it is to be favored. (To consider this we have to assume that
the astrologer will use modern software which is assumed to be able to calculate
the Sun’s position to within 1 second of arc. If it were the old days when 1
minute of arc was the general situation the result would be much worse.) It is
first of all assumed that there is an error in the birth time of say 5 minutes.
1. In the Vimsottari Mahadasa a 5 minute
mistake would, on average, cause the Moon to be off by about 0° 2' 44" of
arc. This could cause an error of between 7 to 24 days in the Mahadasa
depending on which naksatra the Moon fell in. If it fell in the star ruled by
Venus the commencement of the planetary period would be off by +/- 24 days depending
if the time was off by -/+ 5 minutes. This would be the most that it could be
off. Even though there may be a slight error in the number of days the order of
the periods would not be affected. It would also be possible to rectify the
time of birth if it became noticeable.
2. In Tajaka this length of time would
introduce an error of about 12" of arc in the Sun’s position. Thus when
the Varshaphala chart was calculated it would also be off by 5 minutes. This
would only really affect the position of the Lagna and the Moon in the Solar
chart. In 5 minutes the Lagna could change by more than a degree, this may not
seem like much but considering that in the Tajika system the Mahadasa for the
year takes into account the degree of the Lagna as well as the Moon this could
have a serious effect in the length and
order of the Mahadasa[3]. It could be even more serious if the Lagna is at the edge of a
sign thus yielding a wrong Lagna. This of course would be less likely, but any
mistake in the birth time will definitely affect the order and the length of
the planetary periods in the Tajika Varshaphala chart. Naturally this would
throw off predictions. It should also be considered that all computer programs
do not have the same degree of accuracy, thus here again an error in the
position of the Sun could throw the Lagna out even further, magnifying the
previous error in birth time and making matters worse.
3. Considering that the error in time only
affects when the Vimsottari Mahadasa commences by a few days, but does not
effect the order, it seems that it is the Varshaphala system which is more
sensitive to a mistake in the birth time. Perhaps this is why one advocate of
Tajika personally told me that he will only use Varshaphala if the birth time
is accurate within 5 minutes otherwise he says it is too dubious.
One final note. The
first person to advocate Varshaphala in the English language was Dr. Raman, yet
we note that in his editorials he never mentions or uses the technique. It
would seem that if this method works with humans it would also work with
nations. Yet in the 20 odd years I have read Dr. Raman’s editorials he has
never used them in mundane astrology or the charts of men and women.
Next I would like to
give some anecdotal evidence regarding the Vedic method of “pin pointing”
events. I do not propose to give a detailed worked out example but simply a
part of a report that I gave to a client of mine dated 9 March, 1990. The birth
details of the person are as follows: Male born December 27, 1952, at 6:30 PM,
Lake Grace, Australia. The accuracy of the birth time is uncertain. The report
was to cover the remaining 3.5 year period of Rahu that he was in. The
following paragraph dealt with the month of April 1990. I wrote:
“Around April 4-7th
would see you in a rather creative mood, you could do many things with grace
and flourish; the danger is that it could degenerate into dissipation and out
and out sex and lust. From 9-12 of April it will seem like millions of ideas and
realizations are pouring into your brain; you see the big picture--be sure you
take notes! A great time for business deals. Peaking on April 14th will be a
momentous occasion as Rahu conjoins your natal Rahu, the effect will have a
very long lead time lasting weeks not days. This is always significant of
unexpected events and happenings, but since Rahu is a tamasic planet we are not too thrilled by this occurrence. I would think that the few days after it
would be worse especially the 16-18th. Beware of health problems; if possible
avoid making important decisions or business moves at this time; don't travel;
don't sign papers; don't surf--sharks are nasty! Whatever the major tamoguna storm was about things will
have died down by the 25th, unless you did something real foolish when I told
you to be careful.”
The reference about
surfing refers to his favorite sport which he indulged in whenever he visited
Australia. I point this one out because shortly after this period he called me
and said that he chose to ignore my advice about the dangers of the 16–18th of
April 1990 and went surfing anyway. He got caught in a bad wave, had a serious
tumble and very nearly broke his arm. He escaped with only a dislocated
shoulder. Still he was out of commission for a couple of weeks and learned to
take astrological advice more seriously. If you are interested you can
calculate the chart and see what periods and transits he was undergoing at the
time.
This is by no means
an isolated case. I will here quote a letter dated March 6, 1998 which I just
received. It is a little embarassing because of all the praise but it gets the
point across about accuracy. They write (italics mine):
“Hare Kåñëa
Shyamasundara Prabhu,
I would like to take
this opportunity to express my gratitude to you for the guidance you have
provided with each year’s yearly update. I always follow your advice precisely.
I listen and mark my office mat calendar accordingly. There have been two different occasions when I felt a rather malefic
influence upon me and yet when I checked the calendar there was no indication
of such—but upon listening to your audio information again—I had missed marking
that particular occurance. Along with your divine intuition and accuracy I
also appreciate the humor you impart to each update.
I had requested as
early as October 1997 that KD engage your much appreciated services for 1998
because I know they must be so much in demand. Once again I thank you for
providing me with the transcendental oars on this storm-buffeted surface of
life’s ocean.
For guidance and
support I appeal to Kåñëa and His angelic agents and you are certainly His
agent.
Sincerely a devotee
of the Lord
Ldd”
These two anecdotes
illustrate the precision attainable in Vedic astrology without using Tajika or
any other system.
As I said earlier, I
had experimented with this system for a few years but didn’t like the fact that
it was foreign and incompatible with the Parasara system. I also found that it
was not very effective. Whatever is claimed for Tajika, Parasara could do better.
Apparently my experience was not unique. The late, noted scholar, H.R. Shankar
said:
“. . . features of
Tajika . . . are also found incorporated in Persian astrology as original
equipment of its predictive mechanism. [Indicating the source of Tajika.] On a
close scrutiny, it is further seen that there is a significant variation in the
end application of these predictive tools between the two systems. This
necessarily means that the results obtained by practitioners of the respective
systems differ vastly and substantially. Considering
that even serious scholars of Tajika appear to have given up the system as
unworkable . . . An answer had to be found as to where Hindu Tajika faltered as
to fall into disuse?. . . ”[4] [Italics mine.]
V.K. Choudhry is
even more emphatic:
“There are certain
limitations also. The concept of Varshaphala [main Tajika technique] . . .
cannot mitigate weakness of weak and afflicted planets in the natal chart and
hence renders the usefulness of this concept to futility. Any planet which is weak
and afflicted in the natal chart and has become a functional [temporal]
malefic, in its operating sub-periods will only cause sufferings to the native
irrespective of the promising combinations in Varshaphala . . . ”[5]
In summary we
suggest that the student not incorporate the methods of Tajika sytem for
Varshaphala (yearly horoscope) or Prasna because:
It is inconsistent
with the Vedic system and thus not conducive to the higher purpose of the Vedas
which is to attain Krsna Consciousness.
There are serious
concerns about the philosophical soundness of the Tajika system of divination.
Vedic astrology
already has in place methods which give very effective predictive results. Thus
there is no compelling reason to go outside the system of Vedic Astrology.
There is a steep
learning curve to Tajika system. It is not a simple system to learn, and being
incongruous with traditional Vedic astrology, doesn’t make it easier, but
worse.
Even those who use
the Tajika system say it is totally tied to the Rasi chart and all the
considerations that an experienced Vedic astrologer would apply must also be
considered anyway before predictions can be made. Thus Tajika becomes an extra
step to be applied.
This extra step
which is difficult to learn and inconsistent with the rest of the system
doesn’t give superior results which warrant all the extra time and effort that
go into applying it.
It is even more
sensitive to errors in the birth time than Vedic astrology.
According to H.R.
Shankar: “Many serious scholars of Tajika have given it up as unworkable.”
It gives
contradictory results to the extent that V.K. Choudry insists that it is a
“limited” and “futile system.”