24 September 2005 Another beautiful day at the Dayananda ashram in Rishikesh, and Swami Brahmavidyananda is explaining some basic principles of Vedanta⦠Thinking covers a broad spectrum, he tells us. Just as there are shades of grey between black and white, so thinking can vary in its quality. Certain objects give us pleasure. Therefore, we […]
Muhammad Ali: noble warrior
âIâd like to be remembered as a man who won the heavyweight title three times, who was humorous, and who treated everyone right,â Ali wrote before his death. âAs a man who never looked down on those who looked up to him. As a man who tried to unite humankind through faith and love.â For […]
Prince: Are we gonna let de-elevator bring us down...
“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today 2 get through this thing called life.” Prince was hailed as an innovator, and known for his flamboyant stage presence, vocal range and guitar virtuosity. His music integrated a wide variety of styles that included rock, R&B, funk, soul, psychedelia and pop. He was a singer, songwriter, record […]
Karma: dridha vs adridha
Karma: dridha vs adridha As astrologers we often grapple with notions of fate versus free will. The very premise of astrological prediction implies weâre capable of reading something in a clientâs chart that says: this will happen, this wonât. Whether we call that fate, destiny or karma is just semantics. The tacit understanding of Jyotish […]
David Bowie: the starman who fell to earth
David Bowie: the starman who fell to earth âThereâs a starman waiting in the sky, heâd like to come and meet us, but he thinks heâd blow our minds.â From the moment he first appeared as Ziggy Stardust, David Bowie was the beautiful alien we fell in love with. In one swoop he made extraterrestrial […]
Indira Gandhi: Parivartana power!
Indira Gandhi was a remarkable woman on two scores. On a mundane level, she is Indiaâs only female prime minister to date. On a stellar level, she has three Parivartana Yogas in her chart. How rare is that? Although 40% of the general population has one Parivartana Yoga, only 3% has two, and only 0.03% […]
The Ashley Madison affair: Venus & Mars are not al
In 1975 Paul McCartney sang, âA good friend of mine follows the stars: Venus and Mars are alright tonight.â But as of this week when a hacker group made public the customer database for the Ashley Madison website, Venus and Mars are not alright. In fact, theyâve been up all night fighting⦠For those who […]
Club 27 rockstars: “Hope I die before I get old…”
âI hope I die before I get old.â ~ Pete Townshend, The Who. Sadly, half of people donât get what they want, and the other half donât want what they get. Death is like that for some. They flirt with it, dance with it, lie down with it at night, and sometimes they just donât wake up. […]
Swami Prabhupada: a choice of ascendants
 Swami Prabhupada Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada was a guru and the founder of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), commonly known as the âHare Krishna Movementâ. His mission was to propagate Gaudiya Vaishnavism, a school of Hinduism taught by his guru, throughout the world. A charismatic leader, he emerged as a major figure of […]
My Practice of Vedic Astrology
This article describing my consultation process first appeared under a slightly different title in the May 2014 edition of Jyotish Star. Thanks to Juliana Swanson for encouragement and guidance, and Christina Collins for publishing. Thanks also to my teachers, Hart DeFouw and his guru Mantrji, without whom I’d never have seen the light of the […]