The Nostalgic Lanes of C.S. Patel by R.G. Krishnan
Article by R.G. Krishnan, USA
I met late Mr. C.S.Patel for the first time in the year 1982 at Ahmadabad, India at an Astrological Convention, where we both were honored with the award of “Jyotish Maha Mahopadhyaya” title. At the convention Mr. Patel’s speech made a big impact on me and I told him that after returning to Bombay I will meet him on a regular basis to learn more from him on finer points of astrology. Thereafter a good friendship and a Guru- Shishya relationship developed between us. I was eager to learn more astrological knowledge from him and he was eager to part with his specialized knowledge. In the year 1982 onwards until 1988 I lived in Bombay and made it a point to meet him on every Sunday and in each meeting I learnt some thing new from him.
He had a good collection of books on astrology written by several eminent astrologers. Many of the books in his library were books which were out of print and were difficult to get. He had preserved these books carefully and would refer to them occasionally to make his point. He had a very good habit of recording brief notes at the back page of his books, which helped him to swiftly retrieve any information he needed. He continued this wonderful habit until his last breath.
In our weekly meetings we discussed mainly the verses from Nadi astrology. He used to maintain a big chart showing the position of transiting planets with dates on which these planets will be in retrogression and the dates in which they will be direct, dates on which they will enter each sign etc. He also kept notes of important events and the dates on which such events occurred along with the astrological reasoning.
During the year 1982 through 1984 he discussed with me the various verses from Chandra Kala Nadi (aka Devakeralam). One particular verse which he referred to ran thus;
Lagnese Nidhanamsaste Moode Shashtagathe athava
Shudhvadaya cha Maranam Bandhu Heene Mahitale
Meaning that when the lord of the ascendant is posited in the Navamsa chart in the 8th house with ref to the ascendant of the Rasi chart or is eclipsed by the rays of Sun or is posited in the Navamsa chart in the 6th house with ref to the ascendant of the Rasi chart, then the native will die of starvation or on the bare ground with no blood relations by his side.
To make his point he used to refer to the chart of the great Mahatma Gandhi (chart given below)
It will be seen from the above natal chart that Mahatma Gandhi had Libra Ascendant in the Rasi chart and that the lord of Ascendant Venus was adversely placed in Taurus sign in the Navamsa chart which was the 8th house from Libra Ascendant of the Rasi chart. As we all know Mahatma Gandhi was shot dead on Jan 30 1948 at Delhi by some assailant. At the time of his sudden death no blood relations were near him as mentioned in the verse.
Around this time on Oct 31 1984 the then Prime minister of India Mrs. Indira Gandhi was assassinated and was shot dead by one assailant.
It will be seen from her natal chart that she had Cancer Ascendant in her Rasi chart and lord of ascendant Moon was adversely placed in Aquarius sign in the Navamsa chart (8th sign with ref to ascendant in her Rasi chart).
Later Mr. C.S.Patel had written an article on this verse elaborating the two natal charts discussed above in an article entitled ‘Search light on Navamsa’ which was published in the Astrological Magazine in Jan 1986.
In the year 1985 while discussing some astrological points he referred to a verse on Mars which described Mars as “Vrshti Kruth Vrushti Hartah Cha” meaning that Mars is the planet which can cause rainfall and which can also deny rainfall. In Bombay we generally have Monsoon commencing in June which will last until August. In that year in July Mars transited an enemy sign namely Gemini in July that year. Mr. Patel told me that the rainfall in July is likely to be much less although it is one of the monsoon months during which one expects heavy downpour. I was surprised to observe that first two weeks of July were full of dry days without rain which is rather unusual for a place like Bombay. He also mentioned that when Mars moves over to watery sign Cancer there will be heavy rains. This was also observed to be holding true. Incidentally during the current year 2008 in June, Mars transited cancer sign (a watery sign) and we had seen news paper reports stating that heavy rainfall occurred in Bombay in that period. In USA also we had heavy floods in Midwest & in Mississippi river in the month of June which was unusual.
In the year 1987 we had organized annual convention on Astrology under the banner of Indian Council of Astrological Sciences. Dr.B.V.Raman and other eminent astrologers like Mr.K.N.Rao, Justice Kapoor Ghanashyam Joshi, Parasmani, V.A.K Iyer, Raman Thakkar etc attended. The function was presided over by a Deputy Minister of Maharashtra Govt. Dr. Raman had personally appreciated Mr.Patel on the Reasearch in Nadi astrology by him and the articles published in Astrological Magazine of India. This convention gave opportunity to eminent astrologers like Mr.K.N.Rao to meet personally Mr.Patel & discuss with him the finer points in Nadi Astrology etc.
The convention went off very well and it gave immense pleasure and happiness to Mr.Patel. He had expressed to me then that this was one of the landmarks in his life.
Mr.Patel’s visit to USA in 1998
The American Council of Vedic Astrology had invited Mr. Patel to be the Keynote speaker at their Annual Symposium on Vedic Astrology, due to be held at Sedona Arizona. Mr.Patel had accepted the invitation and decided to come to USA with his daughter Kailasben. He informed me over the telephone and I invited him to come early and stay with me at Dallas prior to the symposium and that I will accompany him to the symposium from Dallas. After overcoming many challenges which he had to face to get a visa for self and daughter he could make the trip to Dallas in Oct 1998 and he spent with us about 15 days in that month. Those 15 days were very precious to me as we had daily one-on-one meetings in which we discussed many finer points of astrology. It was in one of those meetings he told me that he had met many top-level astrologers in his life and in his opinion what made them great was not their book knowledge but their intuitive knowledge. He explained further stating that repeated readings of the verses in “Chandra Kala Nadi” made him understand more that what was superficially conveyed by these verses. At some stage every Astrologer gets some revelation and that was what he got by repeated readings of the verses of Chandra Kala Nadi. He also stated that if one is a good astrologer with intuitive knowledge the horoscope will reveal to him more information than what others will see on the surface. Thus there can be two different interpretations on the same horoscope by two different astrologers but the one with intuitive knowledge will have an edge over others.
He used to say that it is enjoined in the classics of Astrology that an astrologer should be a man of good moral character, should do his daily prayers to his ‘Ishta devata” and before venturing to make predictions he should worship the Nine planets aka “Nava Grahas”. He himself was a devotee of “Lord Subramanya” (whose picture he used to carry with him always). He used to quote some verse to make his point that an astrologer must worship the Nava grahas before venturing to make predictions.
Similar points were made to me years ago by Shri Ghanashyam Joshi, a famous astrologer/Palmist of Bombay in the 80’s .He told me then on one occasion that there are three kinds of Knowledge namely “Gyan” meaning knowledge,”Vigyan’ meaning scientific knowledge and “Pragyan” meaning intuitive knowledge and the astrologer who has “Pragyan” or intuitive knowledge will have the ability to give more accurate predictions.
Similar views were expressed by Yogi Karveji who had stayed with us at Texas for 15 days in the year 1993. He had also told me that any astrologer with a spiritual bent of mind is likely to be endowed with intuitive knowledge and for such astrologers the horoscopes will reveal more information than what can be seen superficially on the surface.
Over the years I have my self experienced that when I focus on the natal charts after doing prayers to “Nava Grahas” they appeared to reveal more information than what is available on the surface.
With these few words I conclude this article by stating that the best homage we can pay to the memory of late Mr. Patel will be by following the advice given by him.
About Author: Mr. R.G. Krishnan is a renowned International Astrologer. After predicting the Stock Market Crash of Jan 2008 as published in Dr Raman’s Magazine, he was pressed by many to write his yearly stock market report for India. In this, he predicts the stock market performance through planetary movements from June to Dec 2008. Astrology is one of the tools which a serious investor could use. It provides a solid reference for predicting the stock market performance.
He has reached the heights of Astrology by even predicting the victory of Honorable Moraji Desai to be the Prime Minister of India.
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