Krishna's BTR Technique

(Originally Published in Saptarishis Astro Magazine)

Last update May 17,2009 (Added 'Samagama')

This page will be maintained to reflect the latest approach in this methodology

"A child is born on that day and at that hour when the celestial rays are in mathematical harmony with one's individual karma…"

- Swami Sri Yukteswar, Guru of Paramahansa Yogananda

This is an endeavour to find the mathematical harmony that Swami Yukteswar is talking about, in the above statement. It is widely understood that the individual karmas manifest through the influence of the nine ‘grahas’ on the native. And, in a horoscope, Lagna or Ascendant in a horoscope acts similar to the needle that is pointing to North in a compass. It is very likely that the Lagna in a horoscope also points exactly to a specific ‘graha’ or planet in the chart. If we are able to determine what it is pointing to, it would be possible to accurately align Lagna to that planet and in the process we could rectify the birth time recording errors and arrive at the actual time of birth. This is the philosop hy behind the research undertaken. This author strongly believes that for a human birth to take place there has to be some well defined relationship between the position of Lagna and that of one of the planets in the chart. The search for an answer began with this assumption and the result is presented here.

After assuming that Lagna is aligned to one particular planet in the chart, a question arises as to what are the criteria to determine that particular planet. Obviously, this planet should standout on some important ground. In Astrology, we have many parameters and many different scales to compare the relative strengths of different planets. After some study, it has been observed that how well a planet is placed in a chart emerges as the determining criteria. When a planet is most comfortably placed as compared to other planets, that planet is regarded as the best placed planet. And, Lagna gets aligned to that planet.

As each sign is owned by a certain planet and the state of another planet placed there depends on how it relates to the owner of that sign. Hence, one should look at the nature of friendship between planets to determine whether a planet is placed well or not.

Determination of Compound Relationships between planets

One should go by the compound relationship between the planets. BPHS[1] states that all planets placed in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 10th, 11th and 12th houses from a planet are its temporary friends. If we think about the reasoning behind such a proposition, it is apparent that planets become temporary enemies when they are very close to each other (as their rays interfere with each others) or when they are far away from each other (as their rays oppose each others). It appears that this rule is purely based on simple Physics rather than anything else. Normally, astrologers look at the houses mentioned above and take all planets present in those relative positions as temporary friends. Keeping the spirit of the concept, this author humbly proposes a slightly different interpretation of what has been said in BPHS as against what is commonly followed. It is proposed that, if two planets have a longitudinal distance greater than 15 degrees and less than 105 degrees between them (irrespective of the signs they occupy), they should be considered as te mporary friends. Here, there is no violation from the essence of what is said in BPHS. The definition for permanent friendships followed here is exactly same as what is given in BPHS. The compound relationship is the resultant of permanent and temporary relationships:

Permanent	Temporary	Compound
Friend	Friend	Close Friend (CF)
Friend	Enemy	Neutral (NU)
Neutral	Friend	Friend (FR)
Neutral	Enemy	Enemy (EN)
Enemy	Friend	Neutral (NU)
Enemy	Enemy	Bitter Enemy (BE)

Order Of Importance

From the above table, we can conclude that a planet placed in the sign of a Close Friend is better placed than a planet placed in the sign of any other compound relationship. However, there are even better placements for a planet than this. Following is a list of placements ordered from best to worst:

Vargottama (VG)
Exalted (EX) (Not the entire sign, within 15 degrees approaching the deepest point)
Moola Trikona (MT) (Not the entire sign, look for actual degrees)
Own (OW)
Close Friend (CF)
Friend (FR)
Neutral (NU)
Enemy (EN)
Bitter Enemy (BE)
Debilitated (DB) (within 15 degrees approaching deepest point)

Treating for Planets in Parivartana/Srinkhala[2]

There is one very important concept that affects the determination of how a planet is placed in a chart. It is very important to check if a planet is either in Parivartana or in Srinkhala and apply necessary adjustments. In the experience of this author, a planet which has undergone Parivartana/Srinkhala behaves as if it is placed in its own sign (the sign that has participated in Parivartana/Srinkhala). Except for considering combustion and effects of other conjunctions and aspects, for other purposes, such a planet should be treated as if it is in its own sign. As a result of Parivartana/Srinkhala a planet is entitled for two different placements, one in the house actually placed and the other the resultant own house. That planet should be assigned the better of the two placements. Hence, a planet debilitated but in Parivartana should be assigned a ‘GO’ (Goes to Own) placement while a planet exalted and in Parivartana/Srinkhala should be assigned ‘EX’ placement.

However, one should note that more the planets in Srinkhala, less the effectiveness of Parivartana. A three planet Srinkhala should be definitely considered while a Srinkhala involving more than three planets could be ignored.

Strength of Vargottama

It is a well known fact in Jyotish that a planet gets special strength when it is a Vargottama (occupying same sign in Rasi and Navamsha). However, it has been observed that even when a planet is Vargottama based on the above definition, the planet may not necessarily have sufficient strength to act like a Vargottama. It has been observed that the strength is highest (or 100%) when a planet occupies the same degree in the same sign both in Rasi and Navamsha. If the difference is more, the strength is less. For the purposes of this methodology, a planet should have at least around 40% strength to be considered as a Vargottama. Otherwise, its Vargottama status may be ignored. Following formula may be used to calculate this percentage:

%Vargottama Strength = (30 – (diff in longitudes in Rasi & Navamsha))*100/30

Samagama

When a planet is within 1 degree from the Moon, it is said to be in Samagama (union) with the Moon. A planet in samagama becomes very strong. This is probably because Moon fully relays all the rays on that planet on to the earth. Though it is still being conteplated whether such a strength would place such a planet above or below an exalted or vargottama planet, the purpose of putting this up is to remind the astrologers to keep this planet also in the reconning as one of the strong contenders, unless otherwise that planet is weak due to other conditions that makes it weak.

Checking Some Important Conditions

1. Planets placed in a Rasi Sandhi or Gandanta are considered to be weak (except wehn Vargottama) irrespective of their placement status. Even the planets disposited by planets in Rasi Sandhi should be ignored unless they are extremely strong like being Vargottama.
2. If a planet is debilitated (either in Rasi or in Navamsha) or closely conjunct a debilitated planet (within an orb of about 6 degrees) or even if it disposits a debilitated planet (either in Rasi or in Navamsha), then one should not take it into the reckoning (unless the debilitated planet is under Parivartana/Srinkhala). Only Exalted or Vargottama planets should be kept in the reckoning even if they are tainted by debilitated planets.
3. A planet exalted in Navamsha that has a lesser status in Rasi should be given a status EXN. Entire sign in Navamsha is fine, no need to look at specific degrees.
4. Those planets which are more than 50% combust should be ignored. One should not disqualify Mercury even when it is deeply combust. And, the planets that are disposited by such combust planets should also be ignored.
5. Ketu by default should be left out as its placement depends on placement of Rahu. Hence, there are only eight planets in the race including Rahu. For Rahu, Taurus should be considered as the sign of exaltation and Scorpio should be considered as the sign of debilitation. Rahu owns Aquarius and Ketu Scorpio. This comes handy while checking Parivartana/Srinkhala.

Care should be taken to verify all such conditions that make a planet weak and ensure that the planet considered is well placed in all respects.

Determining The Best Placed Planet

After filtering the planets for all their negative qualities, one should look for the planets in the following categories (in that order of importance) rejecting the others and also rejecting those with other blemishes (as described in the above paragraph):

1. Vargottama (VG(EX), VG(MT), VG(OW))
2. Exaltation (EX)
3. Moola Trikona (MT)
4. Vargottama VG(Others)
5. Exalted in Navamsha (EXN) (not in DB, BE or EN in Rasi)
6. Own (OW)
7. In CF
8. In FR
9. In NU
10. In EN
11. In BE
12. DB
13. In Rasi Sandhi
14. Severely Combust

One should first look for planets in the number 1 category, if none found, then look for the next best category etc., and reach the best placed planet. Some points to note before finalizing the best placed planet:

• If there are two or more planets in the same top category, the best of them should be determined by comparing their Shadbala.
• If none of the planets fall in the qualifying categories, then look for planets closely influencing lagna.
• When a planet’s Shadbala is relatively much higher as compared to that of any other planet, this planet also becomes a contender.
• When a planet's shadbala is below Par (below 100%), it should be disqualified unless it is very strong otherwise.

• When two planets are in Graha Yuddha[3], there is no consensus on the resolution of the criteria to determine the winner. As a result, there could be some errors in the calculation of Shadbala of those planets. Also, Graha Yuddha should be considered only between the five non-luminous physical planets. There are other considerations which could affect the Shadbala calculations. In such conditions, relying fully on the Shadbala could cause problems.
  

All such cases should be studied carefully as it is difficult draw a clear line.

Aligning Lagna with the Best Placed Planet

Here comes hitherto unknown bit. This might appear a bit strange to some. But, this has been proposed after testing numerous charts for the accuracy of birth time.

This step can not be easily done without using software as this is a highly iterative process. This author has used JHora. It could be performed using any software that gives nakshatra-lord, sub-lord, sub-sub-lord…. table for all the planets like the one in JHora. In JHora, this is found by clicking the ‘KP’ tab at the right bottom on the default screen. One will see the information like below:

Body/ Cusp	Nak- Lord	Sub lord	Prati- Sub	Sooksma- Sub	Praana-S ub	Deha- Sub
As	Ju	Sa	Ve	Ma	Ju	Sa
Su	Ju	Mo	Mo	Ju	Ra	Ve
Mo	Ma	Ke	Ve	Mo	Mo	Ma
Ma	Ju	Mo	Me	Sa	Sa	Ke
Me	Me	Ra	Mo	Me	Sa	Ju
Ju	Mo	Ve	Su	Ra	Ke	Ju
Ve	Mo	Sa	Ve	Mo	Su	Me
Sa	Ju	Ve	Ju	Mo	Ke	Mo
Ra	Ve	Sa	Me	Ra	Sa	Ve

Assuming that Rahu is the best placed planet, one could focus only on the relevant information of this table as below:

Body/ Cusp	Nak- Lord	Sub lord	Prati- Sub	Sooksma- Sub	Praana- Sub	Deha- Sub
As	Ju	Sa	Ve	Ma	Ju	Sa
Ra	Ve	Sa	Me	Ra	Sa	Ve

Now, in an iterative process, adjust the birth time such tha t both ‘As’ and ‘Ra’ have identical lords from ‘Sub-lord’ onwards in the above table. Stop adjusting the birth time once the following configuration is reached:

Body/ Cusp	Nak- Lord	Sub lord	Prati- Sub	Sooksma- Sub	Praana- Sub	Deha- Sub
As	Ju	Sa	Me	Ra	Sa	Ve
Ra	Ve	Sa	Me	Ra	Sa	Ve

The adjusted time to reach this alignment is the rectified birth time of the native.

Other than the above suggested alignment, two more alignments are possible which also involve the Nak-lord of either Lagna or that of the planet in question. These alignments are demonstrated below:

Alignment-2

Body/ Cusp	Nak- Lord	Sub lord	Prati- Sub	Sooksma- Sub	Praana- Sub	Deha- Sub
As	Ju	Ve	Sa	Me	Ra	Sa
Ra	Ve	Sa	Me	Ra	Sa	Ve

Here, Sub-lord level of the Lagna is aligned to Nak-lord level of the planet in question.

Alignment-3

Body/ Cusp	Nak- Lord	Sub lord	Prati- Sub	Sooksma- Sub	Praana- Sub	Deha- Sub
As	Sa	Me	Ra	Sa	Ve	Ve
Ra	Ve	Sa	Me	Ra	Sa	Ve

Here, Nak-lord level of the Lagna is aligned with Sub-lord level of the planet in question.

The time that gives an alignment that is closest to the given/recorded birth time should be considered as the rectified birth time.

Normally, in case of well documented births, such an alignment is seen within a couple of minutes from the recorded birth time. If not, following three situations are possible:

a. There is an error in identifying the best placed planet, or
b. The given birth time is grossly erroneous, or
c. Could be a rare case that fails this theory (needs a closer look)

The truth of this fact is demonstrated taking examples of some of the well recorded birth details of famous personalities. The given examples could be studied to understand the procedure better as well as a proof that Lagna always points to the best placed planet in the chart. That is the time when the celestial rays are in mathematical harmony resulting in a human birth.

Applicability & Advantages of this method

• This method is applicable for the final fine-tuning of the birth time when birth time is available within a range of few minutes from the time of actual birth, or when a hospital record is available which invariably would have some variation due to recording errors.



• The advantage of this method is that there is no need to cast a Prashna chart, or there is no need to know some important events in the life of the native, and there is no need to drill through many divisional charts and fine-tune them based on the events in the native’s life. The method of fine-tuning poses inherent traps as it calls for a very good knowledge of delineating divisional charts. This method uses the available birth details and looks for the mathematical harmony between Lagna and another entity in the chart. Hence, is prone to less errors.



• Use of incorrect Ayanamsha could create problems. It should be noted that in some charts, the Navamsha placement of planets when on the border are sensitive to small changes in Ayanamsha and this could hijack the end result.

More than 150 charts with well recorded birth times have been tested to see if such an alignment between the Lagna and the best placed planet exists around the given time of birth. There were only handful of misses and the success rate is exceptional.

Examples

Those who would like to study this approach in detail are urged not to miss the last example of Jawaharlal Nehru. That example clearly demonstrates the power of this approach. The Ayanamsha used is “True Chitrapaksha Ayanamsha”.

1. Client Eastwood[4]

Birth Date: 05/31/1930 (May 31, 1930)
Birth Time: 17:35 (05:35 PM) PST (+8:00)
Birth Place: San Francisco, CA
Latitude / Longitude: 37 N 47 / 122 W 26
Rodden Rating / Source: AA / BC/BR in hand
Source Notes: B.C. in hand from Steinbrecher, obtained by Bob Garner. (Same Contemporary American Horoscopes and Gauquelin Book of American Charts)

Planet	Comments on the placement of the planet
Sun	NU
Moon	OW
Mars	OW
Mercury	In Rasi Sandhi
Jupiter	Dispositor in Sandhi
Venus	Dispositor in Sandhi
Saturn	EN
Rahu	BE /td>

There is a tie between Moon and Mars. However, Mars has a higher Shadbala than Moon. Hence, Mars is the best placed planet in this chart.

The relationship between Lagna and Mars is as follows:

Body/ Cusp	Nak- Lord	Sub lord	Prati- Sub	Sooksma- Sub	Praana- Sub	Deha- Sub
As	Ju	Me	Sa	Ra	Ra	Ma
Ma	Ke	Ra	Ra	Ra	Mo	Ra

The birth time is adjusted to have the alignment in the following manner:

Body/ Cusp	Nak- Lord	Sub lord	Prati- Sub	Sooksma- Sub	Praana- Sub	Deha- Sub
As	Ju	Ke	Ra	Ra	Ra	Mo
Ra	Ke	Ra	Ra	Ra	Mo	Sa

The birth time that gives the above alignment is 17:37:0.94 (as against the recorded time of 17:35 hrs.)

2. Pablo Picasso[5]

Birth Date: 10/25/1881 (Oct 25, 1881)
Birth Time: 23:15 (11:15 PM) LMT (+0:18)
Birth Place: Malaga, Spain
Latitude / Longitude: 36 N 43 / 04 W 25
Rodden Rating / Source: AA / Quoted BC/BR

Planet	Comments on the placement of the planet
Sun	DB
Moon	VG(EN) 72%
Mars	Disps DB Sat & DB Rahu
Mercury	VG(OW)45%
Jupiter	BE
Venus	Disps DB Sun
Saturn	DB
Rahu	DB

Mercury is under Parivartana/Srinkhala both in Rasi(Mer-Mar) as well as in Navamsha(Mer-Moon-Ket), as a result behaves as a Vargottama planet in own sign. Mercury is the best placed planet in the chart.

The relationship between Lagna and Mercury is as follows:

Body/ Cusp	Nak- Lord	Sub lord	Prati- Sub	Sooksma- Sub	Praana- Sub	Deha- Sub
As	Sa	Ra	Sa	Sa	Ra	Mo
Me	Ju	Ra	Sa	Mo	Ke	Mo

The birth time is adjusted to have the alignment in the following manner:

Body/ Cusp	Nak- Lord	Sub lord	Prati-Sub	Sooksma- Sub	Praana- Sub	Deha- Sub
As	Ra	Ra	Sa	Mo	Ke	Ra
Me	Ju	Ra	Sa	Mo	Ke	Ra

The birth time that gives the above alignment is 23:15:47.2 (as against the recorded time of 23:15 hrs.)

3. Queen Elizabeth II[6]

Birth Date: 04/21/1926 (Apr 21, 1926)
Birth Time: 2:40 (02:40 AM) GDT (+0:00)
Birth Place: London, England
Latitude / Longitude: 51 N 30 / 0 W 10
Rodden Rating / Source: AA / Quoted BC/BR
Source Notes: Fagan quotes official announcement AA 3/l976

Planet	Comments on the placement of the planet
Sun	EX
Moon	OW
Mars	EX
Mercury	DB, Dispositor in Sandhi
Jupiter	In Rasi Sandhi, Disposits DB Mercury
Venus	NU
Saturn	GO(NU)
Rahu	VG(FR) 28%

Here, there is a tie between Sun and Mars. However, Mars has higher Shadbala than Sun. Hence, Mars is the winner and is the best placed planet in the chart.

The relationship between Lagna and Mars is as follows:

Body/ Cusp	Nak- Lord	Sub lord	Prati- Sub	Sooksma- Sub	Praana- Sub	Deha- Sub
As	Su	Ma	Ra	Ve	Ve	Ra
Ma	Ma	Sa	Sa	Ve	Ke	Me

The birth time is adjusted to have the alignment in the following manner:

Body/ Cusp	Nak- Lord	Sub lord	Prati- Sub	Sooksma- Sub	Praana- Sub	Deha- Sub
As	Ra	Ma	Sa	Sa	Ve	Ke
Ma	Ma	Sa	Sa	Ve	Ke	Me

The birth time that gives the above alignment is 02:40:29.5 (as against the recorded time of 02:40 hrs.)

4. Albert Einstein[7]

Birth Date: 03/14/1879 (March 14, 1879)
Birth Time: 11:30 (11:30 AM) LMT (-0:40)
Birth Place: Ulm, Germany
Latitude / Longitude: 48 N 24 / 10 E 00
Rodden Rating / Source: AA / Quoted BC/BR
Source Notes: Ebertin quotes B.R.

Planet	Comments on the placement of the planet
Sun	CF
Moon	GO(BE)
Mars	FR (far away from deep exaltation point)
Mercury	DB
Jupiter	Disposits DB Mercury
Venus	EX
Saturn	VG(MT) 80%
Rahu	CF

Saturn has undergone Parivartana both in Rasi (Sat-Jup) and Navamsha (Sat-Ven) and as a result behaves as a Vargottama. It also overcomes the blemish due to close conjunction of debilitated Mercury because of that.

The relationship between Lagna and Saturn is as follows:

Body/ Cusp	Nak- Lord	Sub lord	Prati- Sub	Sooksma- Sub	Praana- Sub	Deha- Sub
As	Ra	Ma	Ju	Ra	Sa	Sa
Sa	Sa	Mo	Ve	Me	Ju	Ju

The birth time is adjusted to have the alignment in the following manner:

Body/ Cusp	Nak- Lord	Sub lord	Prati- Sub	Sooksma- Sub	Praana- Sub	Deha- Sub
As	Ra	Mo	Ve	Me	Ju	Ju
Sa	Sa	Mo	Ve	Me	Ju	Ju

The birth time that gives the above alignment is 11:28:24.7 (as against the recorded time of 11:30 hrs.)

Here are some famous Indian personalities for whom the birth details available are believed to be accurate.

5. Swami Vivekananada

Planet	Comments on the placement of the planet
Sun	VG(CF) 85%
Moon	NU
Mars	Disposits DB Rahu
Mercury	GO(EN)
Jupiter	NU
Venus	EXN, (NU in Rasi)
Saturn	GO(NU)
Rahu	DB

Sun is a clear pick.

The relationship between Lagna and Sun before rectification is as follows:

Body/ Cusp	Nak- Lord	Sub lord	Prati- Sub	Sooksma- Sub	Praana- Sub	Deha- Sub
As	Ve	Ke	Ve	Ju	Ju	Ju
Su	Su	Ra	Ra	Ve	Ju	Me

The birth time is adjusted to have the alignment in the following manner:

Body/ Cusp	Nak- Lord	Sub lord	Prati- Sub	Sooksma- Sub	Praana- Sub	Deha- Sub
As	Su	Su	Ra	Ra	Ve	Ju
Su	Su	Ra	Ra	Ve	Ju	Mo

Aligning Lagna with Sun, the rectified birth time will be 6:36:13.3 as against the recorded birth time of 6:33:00 (from Sri Sanjay Rath’s book)

6. Sri Satya Sai Baba

Planet	Comments on the placement of the planet
Sun	NU
Moon	NU
Mars	OW
Mercury	NU
Jupiter	Dispositor Combust
Venus	Combust 50%
Saturn	Combust 50%
Rahu	NU

Though Mars is placed in the debilitation sign in Navamsha, it has undergone Srinkhala with Moon, Jupiter and Mercury. Hence, it has no blemish of being debilitated in Navamsha. It is the only planet that qualifies. However, considering that the Srinkhala involving 4 planets is not very effective and disqualifying Mars on that ground, yet Mars qualifies as the best placed planet by virtue of having higher Shadbala than all other planets.

The relationship between Lagna and Mars before rectification is as follows:

Body/ Cusp	Nak- Lord	Sub lord	Prati- Sub	Sooksma- Sub	Praana- Sub	Deha- Sub
As	Sa	Me	Ju	Ra	Ve	Ju
Ma	Ke	Me	Sa	Sa	Ke	Me

The birth time is adjusted to have the alignment in the following manner:

Body/ Cusp	Nak- Lord	Sub lord	Prati- Sub	Sooksma- Sub	Praana- Sub	Deha- Sub
As	Sa	Me	Sa	Sa	Ke	Me
Ma	Ke	Me	Sa	Sa	Ke	Me

Aligning Lagna with Mars, the rectified birth time is 6:26:07.1 as against the recorded birth time of 6:26

7. Indira Gandhi

Planet	Comments on the placement of the planet
Sun	VG(MT)89%
Moon	GO(EN)
Mars	GO(CF)
Mercury	FR
Jupiter	GO(BE)
Venus	GO(EN)
Saturn	GO(BE)
Rahu	BE

This is a strong chart with three pairs of Parivartanas. Sun undergoes Parivartana with Mars in Rasi and is in its own sign in Navamsha. Hence, Sun is a clear pick.

The relationship between Lagna and Sun before rectification is as follows:

Body/ Cusp	Nak- Lord	Sub lord	Prati- Sub	Sooksma- Sub	Praana- Sub	Deha- Sub
As	Me	Ju	Ra	Su	Ve	Ra
Su	Sa	Sa	Ve	Ve	Ke	Ju

The birth time is adjusted to have the alignment in the following manner:

Body/ Cusp	Nak- Lord	Sub lord	Prati- Sub	Sooksma- Sub	Praana- Sub	Deha- Sub
As	Me	Sa	Sa	Ve	Ve	Ke
Su	Sa	Sa	Ve	Ve	Ke	Sa

Aligning Lagna with Sun, we have the rectified time as 23:13:45.9 as against the recorded time of 23:13 (From Sri BV Raman’s book)

8. Jawaharlal Nehru

This is a very interesting case to study using the proposed method of Birth Time Rectification. The reason being that there are different views on the correct birth time within a narrow range of about half an hour and it would be interesting to check what the result of rectification indicates.

Following are the different birth times available for Nehru:

From Sri B V Raman’s book (How to Judge a Horoscope Vol. II) – 23:03 hrs. (LMT)
From Sri Sanjay Rath’s book (Crux of Vedic Astrology) – 23:21 hrs. (IST)
Astrodatabank – Rodden Rating ‘A’ (from Memory) 23:36 hrs. (LMT)

The second of the above three times is used cast the chart as it is the near average. In any case, nothing much changes in Navamsha for all the three times except Navamsha Lagna which is not relevant to the method being used.

Planet	Comments on the placement of the planet
Sun	IN Rasi Sandhi
Moon	VG(OW) 80%
Mars	NU
Mercury	NU
Jupiter	VG(OW) 94%
Venus	OW
Saturn	Dispositor is in Rasi Sandhi
Rahu	NU

Jupiter and Moon both are in their own sign in Rasi and they are in Srinkhala in Navamsha (Moon-Jup-Sun). Hence, they both behave like Vargottama planets in their own sign. As there is a tie between them, Shadbala comes into picture. Clearly, Moon has a much higher Shadbala than that of Jupiter and hence Moon is picked as the best placed planet in this chart.

The relationship between Lagna and Moon before rectification is as follows:

Body/ Cusp	Nak- Lord	Sub lord	Prati- Sub	Sooksma- Sub	Praana- Sub	Deha- Sub
As	Me	Ju	Me	Ju	Me	Ve
Mo	Me	Me	Ju	Ju	Ra	Ke

Looking at the above combination, one can see that out of the three possible alignments, only one is likely if the given time-frame is +/- 30 minutes from the assumed time, which is aligning Nakshatra lord of Lagna with Sub-lord of Moon. For any other alignment to take place, the rectified time undergoes a drastic change.

The birth time is adjusted to have the alignment in the following manner:

Body/ Cusp	Nak- Lord	Sub lord	Prati- Sub	Sooksma- Sub	Praana- Sub	Deha- Sub
As	Me	Ju	Ju	Sa	Ve	Ke
Mo	Me	Me	Ju	Ju	Sa	Ve

Aligning Lagna with Moon, we have the rectified birth time as 23:18:00 hrs (LMT). This is equivalent to 23:20:00 hrs (IST). This is very close to the time used by Sri Sanjay Rath (23:21 IST). It appears that his source is the authentic in this particular case.

It is clear from this example that in case of small errors in recorded birth time, this approach shows the way to narrow down to the likely correct birth time.

Conclusion

The above examples demonstrate that there is a clear affinity between Lagna and the best placed planet in the chart. Hence, it is appropriate to conclude that the correct birth time is when the Lagna is perfectly aligned to the best placed planet in the chart.

Extending the scope of this study

It is always challenging to apply any Jyotish principle to a twin’s chart and verify it. As the news of octuplets birth was breaking, it was indeed interesting to see how to apply this theory for such births. The birth details are as follows:

January 26, 2009 between 10:43 and 10:48 hrs, at Bellflower, California, USA.

It was highly exciting to see that 8 alignments (one with each of the 8 planets) were available in a span of just 5 minutes, roughly between 10:39 and 10:44! It is really very rare to get so many alignments in such a short span of time. Anyone who looks into this would understand that availability of 8 alignments to the Lagna in a span of only 5 minutes is not just a co-incidence. Though this theory has not been tested over a large number of twins’ charts yet, this author believes that the principle given above could be successfully applied to twins’ (multiple births) charts as well.

[1] Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra
[2] http://astrokrishna.blogspot.com/search/label/Srinkhala
[3] Graha Yuddha = Planetary War, when two non-luminary physical planets are less than a degree apart.
[4] http://www.astrodatabank.com/NM/EastwoodClint.htm
[5] http://www.astrodatabank.com/NM/PicassoPablo.htm
[6] http://www.astrodatabank.com/NM/QueenElizabethII.htm
[7] http://www.astrodatabank.com/NM/EinsteinAlbert.htm

© Krishnamurthy Seetharama