Wendy and Vedic jyotish

In India, astrologers are everywhere, but when you hear of a Roman Catholic who has mastered Hora Shastra Down Under, you are sure to be curious, says Balaji Narasimhan

Wendy and Vedic jyotish

In India, astrologers are everywhere, but when you hear of a Roman Catholic who has mastered Hora Shastra Down Under, you are sure to be curious, says Balaji Narasimhanu00a0

Many years ago, while learning jyotish, I came across a nice site called jyotishvidya.com and joined the associated group jyotish-vidya on Yahoo groups. Since then, Wendy Vasicek, who owns the site and the group, has been my jyotish guru. I have learnt more about jyotish from her than from anybody else.

At a time when many in India are saying that jyotish is nothing more than superstitious mumbo-jumbo, it is nice to see a foreigner mastering this ancient and esoteric art. But how did she get interested in jyotish? "It was sometime during April 1988, a few months after I'd returned to Australia from Africa, that I was first drawn to study Western astrology," recalls Wendy. After this, she met Pundit Navaratnam, who initiated her first jyotish reading. Later, she enrolled for the Maharishi Jyotish course that was held in-residence at a Jesuit monastery in the Adelaide hills.u00a0

Mastering jyotish takes decades and since Wendy has spent 20 years studying this field, I wonder what she feels about concepts closely tied to Hinduism. What does she think of the concept of purva punya, which is critical for rebirth? "The Bible has openly referred to reincarnation several times," she says. As an example, she quotes Matthew 17:1-3 "And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, and was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him."u00a0

Wendy says, "Jyotish has deepened my understanding of Christianity. I appreciate more the significance of Christ's crucifixion. I see this as the supreme sacrifice (yajna)."u00a0

A hut in Rishikesh

Naturally, after studying so much about an Indian science, India is close to Wendy's heart. "I had a burning desire to visit India for many years but something always got in the way and it never came to fruition." With a twinge of regret she says "I fear the time has passed now for this body to make such a journey." But this doesn't stop her from visualising India. "My desire was to find a small dwelling, a little hut of some sort, somewhere near Rishikesh and just 'BE'u2026nothing more than that!''u00a0

Any discussion on India or Hinduism, invariably leads up to the question what is moksha? Everybody sees this differently. "For me, moksha (enlightenment) is the permanent conscious awareness of 'self'...self in all, self as all, omniscient and omnipresent," Wendy observes. "I believe I've had brief flashes of this whilst on meditation retreats. I bemoaned to one of our meditation teachers some years ago that that experience seemed so far from me now. She smiled softly and said, 'It's closer than you can imagineu2013always!"

What makes Wendy religious?u00a0

In jyotish the 12 houses can be classified as dharma, artha, kama and moksha houses. A religious person will have strong links between dharma and moksha houses. Let's see these links in this chart:u00a0

>>1st lord Sani is in the star of 4th lord Kuja
>>5th lord Sukra is in the 8th
>>9th lord Budha is in the 9th
>>4th lord Kuja is in the 5th
>>8th lord Surya is in the 8th
>>12th lord Guru is exalted in the star of the 9th lordu00a0

Special mention needs to be made of Rahu, who is placed in the star of Budha, the lord of the 9th house of wisdom. Rahu rules foreigners, and so she has knowledge about a foreign subject, jyotish. Rahu's conjunction with the 12th lord Guru increases the desire for moksha. As she herself said, thanks to Rahu, the desire for moksha will always be there, "no matter what the obstacle or how many times I might slip and fall."