Sri guru charana saroj raja, nija mana mukuru sudhari, bharano raghuvara vimal jasu, jo dhayaka PHAL CHAR
Happy 2011 to all my readers 
The above two lines from the first doha of the Hanuman Chalisa point to the four purusharthas (goals of human life or objects of human desires) that we each will realize with the blessings of Sri Rama. Sri Tulsidas begins the Hanuman Chalisa by highlighting the purusharthas in order to remind us that all our actions and prayers are to acquire the strength of body and fortitude of mind to meet these four purusharthas.
Last year I provided each Rasi with their 2010 transit analysis. This year, I have tweaked my approach. I will adopt this simple framework of the four purusharthas and help you better align your 2011 resolutions with the support of the graha transits as related to these four purusharthas.
First let’s understand what these four purursharthas are: The four goals for human life are Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha. In brief, I will borrow the explanations given by Robert Svoboda and Hart de Fouw in their book ‘Light on Life’ for the four purusharthas:
Dharma is doing what best fits your individual aptitude in the context of your familial and societal responsibilities. Dharma comes from a Sanskrit root that means ‘to establish’ and hence is the path through life that establishes an individual as a stable, productive, satisfied human being.
Artha stands for resources or more commonly wealth. It includes all our intentions around the acquisition of adequate means for self-support to live life fully. Both money and knowledge when used for self-support falls under Artha.
Kama is the innate urge to relate to others. Commonly interpreted as lust, Kama is actually much broader than that and relates to how we build and nurture relationships with other human beings.
Lastly Moksha or freedom is the quality of being able to free oneself from the mirage that dharma, artha and kama are able to provide enduring satisfaction.
Everything we do in our life (ie, the sum total of our desires) rolls up to meeting one or more of these four purusharthas. Look at your 2011 resolutions and see how they map to these four goals. Perhaps you might find that much of your resolutions are really focused on one of these purusharthas. If this is true, then spend some time reflecting on the other purusharthas and asking yourself what you can do to help address those in 2011. This is because almost all humans will need to achieve all purusharthas to at least some degree if they hope to achieve a life well lived.
Our horoscopes help us understand the nature and intensity of these four purusharthas at an individual level for ourselves. It can help highlight why we spend a bulk of our efforts shopping for a diamond ring as compared to spending Boxing Day feeding the homeless. Regardless of where our current energies are focused, it becomes easily apparent that we need to address all four purusharthas in order to realize the best in ourselves.
Let us begin this process of understanding how our actions can help us meet these four purusharthas with the Graha Transit Analysis for 2011.
Here is how I will structure these in the upcoming posts:
As always, the graha transit analysis for 2011 will be by Rasi – IE, the constellation that your natal Moon occupies. If you are not aware of your Moon sign, please use this tool on Pandit SP Tata’s Astrojyoti site: http://www.astrojyoti.com/5in1
Next, I will divide the year into four segments: In the first segment, we will follow the Sun’s transit from Makara to Meena. The second segment will follow the Sun’s transit from Mesha to Mithuna. The third segment will follow the Sun’s transit from Karka to Kanya and the fourth and last segment will follow the Sun’s transit from Tula.
Each transit analysis will contain a Purushartha rating for each segment that looks like the following:
I have adopted the traffic lights rating system to highlight how the graha transits in a particular segment favor or ill favor the pursuit of each purushartha. Reds and Oranges protray a more difficult path to realize a particular purushartha while yellow and green project an easier path.
Here’s an example of how you can apply this:
Suppose one of your intentions this year is to buy a car. This primarily falls under Artha – ie, acquiring material possessions / wealth for self-support. Look for the green light for Artha across the four segments for your rasi. If you plan to buy your car during a green Artha period, it is likely that the transaction will be an effortless and deeply satisfying one. However, if you choose to buy your car during a red Artha period, the transaction could bring its share of delays, roadblocks and/or mental anguish.
As with all new frameworks it might be initially hard to slot an intention or desire in one of the four purushartha buckets. To get you started, I have made a list of some of the popular Jyotish reading requests I received this year and tried to slot it to the best of my ability in the four different buckets.
Remember the more you qualify your intention the easier it is to pick the predominant bucket for that particular desire. For example, if the reason for buying a car is so that you can go from being an Auto driver to a Taxi driver, then this desire falls somewhere between Artha and Dharma. However if this is a car that you’d like to gift to your daughter for her 18th birthday, then it falls more in the Artha – Kama space. Predominantly though, buying a car falls within Artha.
Desires that fall within Dharma:
Change jobs / Seek a career change.
Start a family / Have a child / Have a second/third child
Run a marathon / Get fit / Lose weight
Desires that fall within Artha:
Get employed / Find a job / Start a business
Do a degree / Take an exam
Improve my financial prospects / Investing in property, shares etc
Desires that fall within Kama:
Get married or seek a long term relationship with someone
Get a promotion / Get voted into office.
Make new friends.
Engage with Government policies / activities.
Desires that fall within Moksha:
Be more proactive.
Adopt positive thinking.
Recycle regularly.
Give to charity.
Provide free service.
Develop one’s spiritual strength.
Practice Yoga.
Lastly remember that what happens to you in this next year is also colored based on your purushartha lens. If your shares are not doing well, viewing them from an Artha lens will surely bring disappointment – However viewing them through a Moksha lens will help in your spiritual growth. So use the purusharthas not only to decide on your actions but also as a tool to help you accept what is happening to you.
Enough said, let’s now move into the Graha Transit Analysis for Mesha Rasi.
