Politics 9

Mohandas Karamchand "Mahatma" Gandhi

1869 - 1949

Guru of Satyagraha

Liberator of India

~~ Albert Einstein 

"Only God is truth. I am a human being. Truth for me is changing every day. My commitment must be to truth, not to consistency."   

~~ Mahatma Gandhi

Signature from: www.binscorner.com/pages/a/autograph-of-indian-legends.html

The Jyotisha nativity of M. K. "Mahatma" Gandhi might be reviewed in the spiritual, vocation, parenting, or education categories with equal relevance.

This page evaluates the nativity from the career-political point of view.  

Prominent Features of the Nativity

Arudha of Karma Bhava - "Karmaa Pada"

public imagery or associations = yuvati bhava, contains Guru, lord = Mangala-Thula in lagna [body] = solicitor-attorney-barrister, negotiations, contracts, crafting agreements, diplomacy, agency of the physical body

• Public glamour is expanded due to Guru in Karma pada. Mangala lord of Karma Pada achieves strength in radix lagna

• The public illusion - Arudha = Karma Pada = Yuvati bhava = the house of legal resolutions (legal argument or dispute = domain-6)  

• Lord of Karma Pada = L-2/L-7 Mangala, association with death and the constant threat of death as a tool for gaining contractual alliance agreement.

• Lord Mangala enjoys strong company (swakshetra Shukra + articulate Budha) and Kuja casts drishti upon His own house-7

•  receives drishti of the problematic L-3/L-6 Guru - Gandhi was famous for association with constant disagreement (6), and constant publishing of his message (3)

• Karma pada = L-10 from Chandra, see below for the extraordinary unimpeded strength of Chandra-Rahu

•  Karma Pada is quite strong in this nativity.

Drishti to the L-10, atma-karaka Chandra

• L-10 Chandra = yuti the great amplifier Rahu, located in domain-10 (very powerful for public leadership, association with foreigners, affiliation with Mother-homeland)

• No drishti upon L-10 Chandra  (= no distractions from career performance)

• drishti upon L-10 Chandra [Mesha] = Kuja, Surya, Budha = strong emotional attachment to the role of public leader, and to the public illusion generated through that role (L-10 from Chandra = the arudha of karma bhava)

Fasting

Shani = karaka for deprivation and austerity = L-4/L-5 Yogakaraka  for  Thula lagna.

Shani occupies domain-2 the house of food-mouth-values. Shani's lord Mangala is also lord of karma pada, the public illusion which surrounds one's social leadership performance. In Gandhi's nativity,  fasting and voluntary poverty, austerity behaviors of domain-2, become powerful tools in Mangala' quest to fulfill the public expectation that Gandhi will be that great alliance maker who achieves large-scale social balance. (yuvati = karma pada)

Kuja rules domain-2 and domain-7, creating a single-ruler relationship between *control* (Vrischika) over food/intake behaviors + the task of achieving balanced social contracts.

Through the auspices of L-2/L-7 Kuja in lagna,  Gandhi's social personality (lagna) was strongly associated with Kuja's houses:

1. Shani in domain-2  = food/fasting/poverty/the masses

2. Guru domain-7 = youthful optimism/ agreements, balance, social equity

Gandhi's skillful use of fasting as a method of ending social conflict has been imitated by many, but it has rarely been so effective as it was for the Mahatma. Gandhi had the magical combination of planets which empowered him to use near-death personal fasting into a magnificent tool of social control. 

The ancient principle that one can only control others by controlling oneself is quite well known. However Gandhi was able to demonstrate this awesome truth with unique effectiveness, due at least partly to the power of yogakaraka Shani and a major maraka L-2/L-7 Kuja, in lagna.

Attitude toward Marriage

Mesha = navamsha lagna = marriage is a primarily physical, even athletic, relationship between the two partners.

The native's behavior in marriage = Kuja/Thula/1. Kuja is with His lord swakshetra Shukra and with Budha lord of dharma and vyaya bhava. 

The native is most acutely aware of the primitive animal-sexual level of marriage. Yet Kuja becomes refined in company of elegant and diplomatic Shukra, and religious-meditative Budha. 

Although marriage starts out on a rather crude practical basis, there is much sensual and aesthetic improvement in maturity.

Ketu in D-9 Mesha lagna = profound ambivalence toward moral codes and devaluation of marriage promise. With Ketu, results can go either saintly or debauch, and often both at different times of the life. A saintly undertaking of brahmacharya would certainly be an excellent and hard-won result in this case. 

Behari says of Chandra/Karka/10: 

"With the Moon in this sign, peace descends on you. There is no tension, and whoever comes in contact with you feels specially charmed. You do not command, but you are so pious and sympathetic that your wish becomes more compelling than any direct order could be. 

Your associates are of high intelligence, moral conduct, and purity of intention. Those who are of shady character fall out with you. 

Professionally, you go through changes; your output is variable; you travel extensively. You may write beautiful poetry blending mysticism and romance."

Das says of Rahu/10"

"Your mission in life is for furthering some special cause in the world. Depending on your status in society and the planetary combinations, this special mission may be predicted; but the real impulse of this shadowy planet will be to make you dedicated to a cause which you will want to carry forward even at the risk of life, status, or health. 

Undaunted by any difficulty, undeterred by any impediment, you will persist with a sense of dedication, whether you are waging a war of complete annihilation, reconstructing a social order, or composing verses of celestial beauty and harmony. 

Rahu achieves its objective despite whatever hardships it has to undergo. Its impulse produces persons of great merit, devotion, and religious susceptibilities... "

Vimshottari Dasha Narrative

Ketu Mahadasha - age 0-8

Traditional childhood, the mother is somewhat detached, perhaps ill or unavailable, and the home may be un-rooted or not clearly defined. 

• The mother and her roots are somewhat weak or disenfranchised. 

• By contrast the father's social position and leadership role = Chandra/Rahu = extremely strong. 

• Chandra + Rahu in domain-10 = prominent father, and the native becomes also very well known.

  Father's position: according to Wikipedia, M. K. Gandhi's father "was the diwan (Prime Minister) of the eponymous Porbandar state, a small princely state in the Kathiawar Agency of British India."

• Ketu in domain-4 gives the effect of yogakaraka L-4/L-5 Shani

• Shani in domain-2 = scarcity of resources within the family. 

• Yogakaraka Shani sustains cultural values supporting education (4) and personal intelligence (5). 

• Ketu in navamsha lagna suggests a strong period of development of the spiritual personality through practice of detachment amounting to abandonment. 

• The early childhood does not appear to have been easy or much supportive.

L-1/L-8 Shukra Mahadasha

•  age 8-to-28

• 1878-1898

Shukra is exceptionally strong in swakshetra Thula and in kendra-1 indicating a charismatic, attractive, and well-balanced social personality.

Age 8-28 = the period of accumulating (Shukra) the traits and historical personal  experiences which shape the social personality. The native establishes one's "look". The native and those who look to him as an exponent and exemplar of a particular set of values (Shukra) will refer to the personality-defining experiences and traits again and again, in the quest to define a particular variety of social awareness through the appearance, behaviors, and history of a single influential individual.

Most nativities which feature a rising Shukra belong to people who are pleasant to gaze upon, and the native finds that one's image is often distributed for public pleasure. (cf. Angelina Jolie, Hillary Clinton, Tom Cruise). When the radix lagna is also the karakamsha, as for Gandhi, his image becomes iconic for many generations, throughout the entire world.

The native will develop an iconic appearance due to his ability to materially represent the most diplomatic, gracious, agreement-seeking, and "architectural" values of social organization.

• Shukra/Chandra - traditional arranged marriage - determined by the father's position - 1883 (age 13); birth of first child, 1885 (age 15)

• Shukra/Rahu - 1885 death of father. Sudden change in family dignity, Rahu in domain-10.

• Shukra/Guru -  Sept-1988, departure for England to study for barrister's diploma. L-3 Guru = job training. L-6 = illness, penury, and social discomfort.

• Shukra/Shani - under L-4/L-5 Shani in domain-2 for money & family, Gandhi's business fails in Bombay; in 1893 under financial pressure, goes to South Africa & asserts Bharati rights to British (citizenship L-4) privilege. Leads strikes & protests (Shani's lord Kuja in lagna).

• Shukra/Shani - much resistance to justice in So Africa under L-6 Shani for enemies and hate crimes; but Shani is also L-7 for law-courts & he makes legal progress.  Yet Shani is also L-5, and he gains intelligent political presence.

• Shukra/Ketu - 1897 - attempted lynching by white mob. Ketu gives effect of maraka L-2/L-7 

L-1 Surya Mahadasha

• age 28-34

• 1898-1904

Ravi = karaka for politics.

L-11 = community activism and large networks of association

• L-11 Ravi in domain-12 = achieving one's goals through the agency of exotic people (outside one's tribe) and foreign lands

Gandhi spent most of the Surya Mahadasha organizing the South African Indian community into a coherent political entity.  

Surya as L-11 gives the period of ego-driven social activism and community development. L-11 = large associations and mass movement.

Surya is rather weak in Virgo and in domain-12, indicating 6 years of slowly and carefully developing passive-aggressive strategies of nonviolent resistance and civil disobedience.. 

Surya occupies 3rd-from-Moon, making Ravi period a time of intensive planning, communication, business administration, and teamwork. 

L-10 Chandra Mahadasha

• age 34-44

•  1905-1915

L-10 Chandra is a very powerful graha for Gandhi:

• swakshetra

• in kendra-20, karma bhava

• Chandra = atmakaraka; domain-6 for Social Conflict, Poverty, and Exploitation becomes the Karakamsha

• amplified by the power of Rahu = outsiders.  

L-10 = Ashlesha Chandra in domain-10 Karkata.    Gandhi's charismatic leadership message with super-strong L-10 swakshetra Chandra in karma bhava + Rahu = "be like me". Ashlesha embroils and entwines a person with endless manipulation &  intrigue, and so was Gandhi's career.

Rahu + any graha brings an exotic quality to the graha, but when Rahu is with Moon, the pattern of challenging cultural boundaries becomes exceptionally strong.

Under the auspices of the atmakaraka, Gandhi established with certainty the nature of his life's work. His style was emotionally responsive and firmly parental. His soul affinity was deeply connected to "outsiders": the smoky dark outcast classes upon whom Gandhi shone shine the soft bright light of the loving, nurturing Moon.

Gandhi's mother was afraid of foreign pollution; yet she must have known that her son born with  Chandra + Rahu  would have a great deal of interaction with underclass folk and foreigners.

• Chandra/Rahu - Sept. 1906  - Satyagraha ("the weight of truth") platform publicly established

Gandhi remained in South Africa until the outbreak of World War I, working steadily to promote the dignity of South African Bharati outsiders (Rahu) into recognized citizens of the British Empire (Moon = domain-10, public respect).

Gandhi realized only modest material success in the immediate cause, but his experience in South Africa laid the foundation for later, more intensive political leadership work during Rahu mahadasha. 

L-2/L-7 Kuja Mahadasha

• age 44-51

• 1914-1921

Upon returning to India, Gandhi was invited into the broad-based national movement to get better British rulership practices in place. 

Appreciating the Raj's persistent use of violence as a method of social control, Gandhi joined the struggle to obtains the rights, duties, & privileges of Empire citizenship for native Bharati. 

This was a violent time in India with terrible British oppression marked by beatings and severe taxation. Appropriate to the warlike, death-inducing energy of maraka L-2/L-7 Mars.

• Mars yuti Venus indicates that Gandhi will always temper his pro-justice aggressions with Shukra's taste for good design and balanced relationships..

Radix Shukra/Kuja receives the benefic aspect of Guru, guaranteeing that even during periods of extreme violence, Gandhi will have access to heroic optimism.

• Kuja/Budha- 1918 L-9/L-12 Budha = organizing village improvements, cleaning up rural filth and degradation, urging return to religious purity. 

• Kuja/Ketu - 13-April-1919 Amritsar Massacre, massive national horror. Though his non-violent commitment persists, Gandhi realizes the his homeland (domain-4, Ketu) has been traumatized: British rule in India needs to end.

• Kuja/Shukra - April 1920 elected India Home Rule party leader - where Shani is L-1 for social identity, and L-8 for hidden processes.

Rahu Mahadasha

• age 51-69

• 1921-1939

Rahu/Rahu  

 independence movement makes gains, huge increase in participation. Feb 1922 - arrested and imprisoned.

Rahu/Budha

 Mar-April 1930 = Salt March. L-9 Budha in lagna, identifies the physical body as a socially recognized icon of religious purity. Gandhi leads thousands on pilgrimage to the sea.

Rahu/Shukra

In the summer of 1934, there were at least three attempts to murder Gandhi.  Shukra = L-8 for hidden activities, plots & schemes, sudden forced changes, conditions of death. Gandhi quits the Congress party as a protest over internecine schisms and splits (domain-8).

Rahu/Surya-Chandra-Kuja

Gandhi returned to lead the Congress party under L-11 Surya = mass movements. Powerful leadership although extremely volatile conditions during Rahu/Chandra, and more fighting with more fasting and constant internecine struggle during Rahu/Kuja.

L-5/L-8 Guru Mahadasha -  age 69-85 - 1939 - 1955

• Guru/Guru = 1939 as WWII breaks out in Europe, and India gets dragged into the war by its ruler Britain, without a national vote of its own.  Gandhi designs and asserts the Quit India platform as the only remaining solution to the extensive problems created during centuries of British colonial injustice.

  L-3/L-6 Guru brings massive arrests and evil violence, on both sides. L-6: Hindu-Muslim War.

  • Guru = lord of "karakamsha" Meena (the rashi occupied by Atmakaraka Chandra in navamsha = Meena). Radix Meena = domain-6 = social conflict. During Gandhi's daunting Guru mahadasha, every variety of illness, poverty, and fighting manifested around him. 

  • Despite the horrors of violence and human evils induced by thee virulent L-6 Guru, the period of karakamsha denotes the native's finest hour, spiritually speaking. Thus, Gandhi achieved his spiritual objectives for the current lifetime through much suffering both mental (L-3) and physical (L-6) in his final years.

• Guru/Shani:  Aug 1942 - Gandhi and entire Congress Working Party arrested & imprisoned. Gandhi's close personal secretary and his wife die during imprisonment. Gandhi himself nearly died of malaria during imprisonment. 

  • Shani in rashi of L-2/L-7 makara Kuja in domain-2, in 6/8 angle from mahadasha-pati Guru,  is a deadly maraka graha. 

• Guru/Budha - release from prison, return to religious icon, negotiation via fasting L-9/L-12

• Guru/Ketu -- partition. Ketu in domain-4, trauma to the nation.

• Guru/Shukra -- 

  • Aug-1947 partition with massive upheaval verging on civil war 

  • 30-Jan-1948: assassination, death by gunshot in the period of L-8 Shukra.

  • Both Shukra and Budha can carry out the agenda of L-2/L-7 maraka Kuja, because Kuja holds the superior degree in Thula. Here L-8 Shukra during the mahadasha of ill, conflict-ridden L-6 Guru, carries out the maraka agenda of L-7 Kuja - lord of Guru..

"Morality is contraband in war."

~~ M. K. Gandhi. Non-Violence in Peace and War, vol. 1, ch. 268 (1942) www.gandhiserve.org 

"An unjust law is itself a species of violence. Arrest for its breach is more so." 

~~ M. K. Gandhi.  Non-Violence in Peace and War, vol. 2, ch. 150 (1949) www.gandhiserve.org