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Kala Sarpa Yoga
Narrated by Madhushri Mukerjee
Kala means Time in the cosmic sense and Sarpa means Serpent.
Kala Sarpa, therefore, means the Serpent of Time. Many astrologers
dread this as an evil yoga.
Interestingly, the ancient astrological texts, from Parashar to
Varahamihir, are silent about it.
This Yoga is said to exist if all the planets are between Rahu
and Ketu. When that happens in one s birth chart, the person
experiences many ups and downs throughout life. The suffering
increases during transits when the nodes come close to their natal
positions. Kala Sarpa Yoga is considered to be the main reason for
a person s downfall from a high position.
In Indian Puranic tradition, the she demon Singhika had a mighty
son whose name was Swarbhanu. He performed severe penance and Lord
Brahma was pleased. When he wanted to grant him his wish, Swarbhanu
wanted to have the same status in the heavens as the planets. The
boon was granted.
Subsequently, the gods and the demons joined hands to churn the
ocean in searchof nectar. The mountain Mainak was the churning
stick and Vasuki, the king of serpents, was the churning cord. A
problem arose. Mainak was slipping off to the o
cean floor whenever churning was started. To prevent this, Lord
Vishnu took theform of a tortoise (His second Incarnation) and
Mainak was placed on its back. The churning started and many things
started coming out but those need not attract our attention because
that is truly another story. We are interested in the finale when
at last Amrit (Nectar) came up. Amrit (literally translated means
No death makes one immortal.
Naturally, gods and demons were in a mad scramble for it and
before anything could happen, Lord Vishnu, in the guise of a
beautiful woman (Mohini) took it in her custody and asked gods and
demons to sit in two lines, so that she could distribute Amrit to
them.
The gods knew what was going on and the demons who did not, were
so captivated b
y the enchantress that they readily agreed to do her bidding.
The gods sat in aline on one side and the demons on the other side.
Mohini started with the gods. The demons charmed as they were,
failed to see the trick. But Swarbhanu, son of Singhika, with his
huge head and body, ending in a serpent like tail, was smart enough
to smell a rat. Taking no chances, he broke rank and went to sit
with the gods.
Amrit was served and Swarbhanu was about to take it when Sun and
Moon found outthat there was an imposter among them. They alerted
Vishnu who severed Swarbhanu s head with his divine discuss
(Sudarshan Chakra).
But alas! Nectar had already touched his lips and did it s job.
The discus had separated the head and the tail and both had, by the
drink of the nectar, become in
destructible.
Now Lord Brahma s boon was remembered - and the head and the
tail were given the status of planets and placed in the heaven. It
is a kind of double and quits or rather the other way round.
There were many other fall outs astrologically. Sun and Moon,
the snitches, became Swarbhanu s hated enemies. The names were
changed the head was called Rahu andthe tail Ketu. Rahu swallows
the luminaries on particular stellar configurations
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(the eclipse) but since it has no body, the Sun and the Moon
soon emerge through the hole in the neck. Thank God!
To distinguish this from the other planets, their motion was
also different from the planets. While all planets move anti
clockwise, Rahu and Ketu move clockwisethrough the skies. Further,
the fact that they are closely related has been authenticated by
the relative placement one is always in the 7th house from the
other i.e.: 180 degrees apart or in other words, in perfect
opposition. They alwaysmove in synchronism to keep the 180 degrees
difference between them.
In Rigveda, Rahu and Ketu are mentioned not as planets but as
demons. On a new Moon day the luminaries becoming conjunct leads to
solar eclipse and Rahu is at work. So, Rahu is spiritually dark
while Ketu creates the eclipse on a full Moonday (Lunar eclipse),
which makes it the spiritual planet.
In the Vedic tradition, Lord Vishnu is the Sun and his discuss
is the elliptic.Rahu and Ketu are the lunar nodes, which intersects
the elliptic.
In astrology, when the two nodes hem all the planets within
their semicircle, Kala Sarpa yoga is said to be in operation. It is
considered to be the main factor for a man s downfall.
The subject is not free from controversies. Some say that the
Yoga should take in all planets including Uranus, Neptune and
Pluto. But then the Yoga will become
very rare indeed. It is therefore more meaningful if we take the
other point of view where only the 7 main planets are considered
for the Yoga. Even then the following points should be kept in
mind.
Planets must be between Rahu and Ketu and not between Ketu and
Rahu. How do we ensure this? If we find Rahu first as we move
anti-clockwise from the Ascendant and all the planets (not counting
Uranus, Neptune and Pluto) are between Rahu and Ketu, then the Yoga
exists.
Care should be taken to ensure that no planet is outside the
semicircle by even1 degree. For example, if Rahu is in 15 degrees
of Cancer and Moon is in 16 degrees of the same sign, there is no
Kala Sarpa. Rahu moves clockwise. It will go to
Cancer 16 degrees soon, but right now, at the time of birth,
Moon is outside the Rahu Ketu bracket. Hence there is no Kala
Sarpa.It is debatable whether Kala Sarpa is an unmitigated evil.
Many great men had this Yoga in their horoscopes. Some have been
Presidents and Prime Ministers and others have been conquerors. It
is said that Genghis Khan had it. One thing is clear. With Kala
Sarpa, you may climb very high. But one day there will be a
downfall. And the higher you climb, the harder you fall.
