Check bad yogas in your horoscope: Astro Yoga Calculator

     In hindu culture there is a tradition that has been going on for ages called Pitru Shradh. There are sixteen days from Full Moon (Purnima) to No Moon (Amavasya) in Bhadra month of the hindu calender. Normally devout Hindus offer food to a brahmin, crow, cow and a dog so that it may reach their forefathers. In vedic astrology some concepts are associated with the Pitru (forefathers). Many auspicious and cursed yogas in horoscope are counted as blessings or sins by the forefathers. Obviously dead people don't bless or curse people but the concept being propogated is not far off both in offering pitru shradh and astrological yogas associated with pitru's(forefathers).

     From an astrological perspective pitru dosh arises in horoscope when Jupiter and Rahu, Saturn and Sun, Saturn and Rahu, Mars and Rahu, Saturn and Moon, Moon and Ketu, Saturn and Ketu and other such combination of planets occupy a single house of horoscope. Well astrology has all kind of aweful names for them like Visha Yoga, Shraapit Yoga, Vipra Chandal Yoga, Grahan Yoga and so on. That is enough to send shivers down the spine of many who put faith in astrology. But fear not cause they are not as bad as they are made out to be. All of them contain hidden deep meaning which is just waiting to be deciphered to open path to success. Knowing is believing and believing leads to change. But first we need some light on how a pitru dosh is born. The associated story is not further off from the reality.

     There is an old story regarding King Bhagirath who did severe penance(tapasya) to Lord Brahma in order for river ganga to flow down on earth. His forefathers had insulted sage Kapil and done several austerities which made the rivers dry up and life impossible on the land. When Lord Brahma finally appeared Bhagirath asked that including himself his three generations had been performing severe penance to bring holy water of Ganga down yet Lord Brahma wasn't pleased. Lord Brahma replied that his forefathers had done a great sin and wronged a noble sage in Kapil. So that wrong couldn't be undone so easily.

To those of you who think it is a folktale the story might actually be very close to real event. There was a mighty river in India called Saraswati which flowed from himalayas to desert of kutch in Western India. One of the first world civilizations prospered on this river. But tectonic shifts stopped the flow of Saraswati and it dried up. There is sufficient evidence to suggest this theory and satellite imagery does show a great river flowed in India prior to 4500 BC. Also there is mention of this great river in vedic texts. So Saraswati dried up and made life miserable for people of that era. There is not much mention of Ganga in early vedic texts which provides some evidence to further substantiate the old story of King Bhagirath. 

     From an astrological perspective the key thing to note is that a wrong was done by forefathers and the correction was only possible by penance(tapasya) of sons and grandsons of those who wronged the great sage. In similar manner Pitru Dosha arising in horoscope is not due to a curse by forefathers but wrong done by forefathers which needs to be corrected by children and grandchildren. The important thing is for person born with such a yoga to do it voluntarily. Otherwise nature has its way of settling karma by a thing called prarabdha. You can't escape from bad karma no matter how smart you think you are. It catches up eventually.

     Vedic astrology is not just a means to know the future but also to know the wrong done in the past which results in present day misery. Any sort of pitru dosha is a good measure to know what wrong has been possibly done in the past and what are corrective remedies done in present which can ensure a bright future. This was part 1 of the 3 part series on Pitru Dosha. Check for future posts to see more on this. If you have any question or views feel free to share it in the comments section.