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Individual & Group Dynamics in Vedic Astrology


We are always required to think about the positioning of the individual relative to society or the nation. There is always an interplay between the universal and the particular.  In Vedic astrology the horoscope of the individual is very important and as far as I am concerned we are to view the projection of the individual horoscope into a larger climate such as the family, a partnership firm, nation, region or even the world, and not vice versa.

It is true though that Deśa/ Desha, Kāla/ Kala and Pātra/ Patra furnish the context in which individual life exists.

How do we use this premise.

Let us consider an individual going through the period or Daśā/ Dasha of a very positive planet in the Vedic horoscope. Say, the planet is a great benefic like Jupiter/ Gurū/ Guru or Venus/ Śukra/ Shukra which are great Brahmin preceptors and expend great advice and instruction or Upadeśa/ Upadesha.

This individual can then pour oil over troubled waters, if there be any, first in his own life and then in the lives of those connected through a larger group. He has the perspective and understanding especially with passing years in the Daśā/ dasha where the benefic beautifully eclipses life (Graha causing Grahaṇa/ Grahana/eclipse) and the person becomes an embodiment of esoteric and mundane wisdom respectively.

In spirituality and religion, it is the esoteric and the high which informs and precipitates the mundane and so Gurū/ Guru/ Jupiter is the greatest benefic in our system of Vedic astrology. Venus is the greatest ascetic himself though standing for all the material bounties, since the planet is exalted in Mīna/ Mina Rāśi/ Rashi/ Pisces ruled by Jupiter.

Groups of importance such as the family are bound by shared Karma and connections. When the Karma of one individual is such that wisdom pervades then the group (could be a pressure-group in politics) benefits with the insights. The direction changes and the activities change. The thrust and focus changes. Perspective and restraint come into life and one can finally see in an opaque world.

Contrariwise, it will be found that a challenging period in life whether through Daśā/ Dasha or otherwise will bring events and developments which entail grappling and struggle not only in the life of the individual but in that of the members of the group as well, for is it not their Karma to be proximate to someone who is going through this or that quality of metaphysical time in his life.

This is somewhat at variance with the position which emerges when we look at the horoscope of the individual itself without reference to the outside, the latter connoting a proximate group, small or large or very large.

In the horoscope of the individual the Lagna chart or the Rāśi/ Rashi Chakra may be taken to be indicating the self and the will of the person and the Varga Chakra/ divisional chart shows the area of life in which this will is being exercised. We should not think (usually) then we as individuals are exercising  will in these areas such as marriage and career and children, though we always like to believe this. We should instead think that these life areas are moulding us and changing us, which will appear at least equally true, now that I have actually put it in black and white.  

Lastly, for the purposes of this short synopsis, I wish to briefly outline the topic of connections with others comprising some sort of a group. This is a very elaborate subject and usually found to be extremely useful in deciphering group dynamics and then structuring or restructuring the group based on that. Since we are taking of the group in specific context of a corporate initiative or in the context of a project where roles have to be assigned to the participants or indeed in a family arrangement or settlement involving considerable assets, the Moon/ Cañdra/ Chandra becomes crucial and so does the Jañma Rāśi/ Janma Rashi.

The question of inter-relationships is the guiding propositions in this advisory.

It is in this kind of specified methodology that Vedic astrology has devised paradigms to study the individual  in his group setting. These can be very valuable in the settings indicated above in this paper.

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