Vedic astrology has stood the test of time. The ancient Vedic principles are now over 5,000 years old, and can be made even more relevant in the new millennium, in helping us empower our lives. More so today than ever, astrology can help point the way, it can give us more awareness and a tool to make proper choices in life.

Here we demonstrate how the ancient Ashtakvarga techniques of Vedic astrology can be used effectively  for the purpose of predicting future events and also how it can be used conclusively to analyze past events in the life of an entity.

The entity could be anything- a human being, a country or a corporation. It is of course imperative that it has a date of birth, place of birth and time of birth, based on which a natal horoscope can be casted and Ashtakvarga of the natal horoscope can be computed thereafter.

Ashtakvarga is a unique tool in Vedic Astrology,  which quantifies the benefic and malefic influences of each planet in precise numerical terms. It is unique in that it combines the effects of different planets and can integrate the effects of different planets with respect to each other. It is also unique that it integrates the natal effects of planets with their transit status in a very simple and elegant manner, compared to very difficult progression techniques of Western astrology or "Dasha Vichaar", or "Varshaphal techniques" of Vedic astrology.

Further through Ashtkavarga, a dynamic model for planet's effects can be built up, whereas, all the other techniques mentioned above are essentially a static model which depends on the horoscope at a specific time, be it the natal chart or the yearly chart or monthly chart.

Since the planets are in perpetual motion, a dynamic model is always preferable over a static model. Further, it is a totally integrated close loop system, where the effects of all the planets are simultaneously considered. It is universal and internally consistent and it also is least dependent on an individual astrologer’s judgement. This is because the parameters are very well quantified. Each  planet has a universal constant of 8 dots of destiny  (benefic and malefic combined).

A chart has universal constant of 337 or 386 or 429  dots of destiny depending on whether one includes or  excludes Lagna (Ascendant) or Rahu. Probably, this is the reason why Maitreyee says to Parashara in the introduction to Ashtakvarga:

At a later stage, Ashtakvarga techniques somewhat  lost its importance. The author believes that primarily due to the immense calculations that are demanded, astrologers stopped using it. Not everybody is as fluent in fast computation as Shakuntala Devi.

However, with the advancement of information technology in the last decade, and with enormous computing power now being available at the hands of an astrologer,  there is bound to be renewed interest in Ashtakvarga,. More and more astrologers will start using Ashtakvarga, with vengeance for working out their predictions. Ashtakvarga, will also take its rightful place in prediction technique and will not be yet another tool for Gochar or transit prediction. One can then truly appreciate the significance of Parashara ‘s statement:

With this preamble, we would now like to describe a new software program called "Vjyotish". This software exploits the power of Ashtakvarga, and has been developed by us for the very first time.

The Vjyotish first computes the standard Ashtakvarga from a horoscope chart. Presently we use a 337 model that is without considering contributions of Lagna (Ascendant) and Rahu. The input required for this is the Date of birth, Time of birth and Place of birth. We then compute an average natal benefic and malefic coefficient of every planet on the basis of shadbal, natal Ashtakvarga strength of each planet, based on the number of benefic dots received by each planet in their natal sign as per their individual Bhinnashtaka varga, and some other astrological parameters. We then compute the "strength" and "inclination" of each planet based on the status of benefic dots received by the planet in the particular sign from its Bhinnashtak and Sarvaashtak status and contribution status of individual planets.

The values are suitably modified based on whether  they have received any benefic dots with reference to the Kakshya lord that they are transiting at any point of time. The values are further modified with the dignity of the planet with reference to the Kakshya lord, sign lord as well as the sthanbal, combust and retrogression status of the planet with reference to the sign it is transiting at any given day. The whole value is then further discounted with respect to the average natal coefficient of each planet to arrive at  the Net positive or Net negative index value representing the net benefic or malefic effect of the particular planet for a particular day. The program also takes into cognizance of several other related factors at the minutest level.

The algebraic sum of the daily index value of each of the 7 planets (Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn) represents the "Net aggregate Vjyotish Index" value for the particular day. For computing other indexes, representing individual aspects of one's life, values of concerned planets (described below) are summed togather. The positive and negative inclinations and strengths, of all concerned planets, are all rationalized and expressed in mathematical terms.

Apart from "Net aggregate Vjyotish index", in this model we define several other indices (in fact several hundred) created through hundreds of combinations between 12 houses and 9 planets in the horoscope chart, as described in our astrology classics. For the "net aggregate Vjyotish index", we consider all seven luminaries and the twelve houses, but while calculating the index for a particular aspect of life, we consider the following planets and houses only:  

Remark: We consider aspects in Vedic astrology sense and not in the sense of Western aspects.

Thus, if a planet in a particular chart fulfills more than one criterion for a particular house, it will be considered that many times in calculating the index value for the particular house.

An in-house software, The "Rishi", also developed by the author of "Vjyotish", creates a database, which consists of daily index value of each planet and 12 individual houses. Besides that, the database also contains several other required astrological information. This database is given to the user with "Vjyotish" software.

The "Vjyotish" software automatically computes the cumulative values of all relevant constituents which are required to be looked into the chosen aspect of life. These relevant constituents are chosen from the twelve houses and nine planets. The analysis of an aspect of life may need to look into several houses and several planets, simultaneously. Each planet is again tested for various portfolios it may acquire (as described above).

Hundreds of astrological queries can be made on this database based on any selection criterion. Vjyotish program is the compilation of several hundred such queries on various aspects of your life, which you may ever wish to be answered. Vjyotish indexes can be created for wealth, sudden-gains, speculation, honours, sexual behaviour, education, journeys, intelligence, personality traits, health and many-many more (in fact, several hundred) subtle areas of your life. And all these indexes are produced by yourself using your own personalized Vjyotish report program.

Vjyotish indexes can be used to predict the future of any entity be it a person, a country or the stock market. We urge you to see various Vjyotish indexes created for Diana, the Princess of Wales, for the last month of her life. You'll be surprised to see that how Vedic astrology can predict about the minutest things of our life. These indexes are available on this site on page "Real life incidents".