Posing as a Devotee


"After the time of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, those faithful to Him kept apart from nondevotees, to avoid contamination. Seeing this, the personality of Kali sent his representatives in disguise to pollute the Vaisnava sampradaya. Posing as Vaisnavas, they spread their wicked doctrines, and appeared so intelligent and devoted that only pure devotees could detect their real identity. Most devotees -- not only the most neophyte -- were enchanted by their tricks. In this way Kali's agents expertly introduced karma, jnana, and anyabhilasa in the Vaisnava sampradaya and caused suddha-bhakti to vanish from the world."

Sajjana Tosani 18.2.13-14 (1915); probably written by Siddhanta Sarasvati, provenance Bhaktivikasa Svami.

This is an interesting text by Sarasvati Thakura who was not only a pure devotee but also an astrologer. I posit that it would be possible to detect such aberations via astrology because I have already come across suspected cases.

Below I will give links to different charts. I have purposely blocked out the names and birth data to hide the identity of the person as much as possible.

The charts that I will put forward fall in different categories.

  • Some are of devotees in "good standing"

  • Others of those who have fallen for now and who may revive themselves in this life or the next.

  • Some of those who are in "good standing" may be considered by others to be in various grades of maya

  • Or may even be "posing as a devotee." It is not so easy to tell.

Then of course there is subjective opinion. Someone whom you may consider to be a good devotee others may assert is in maya or worse. It becomes difficult to judge if we are biased negatively or positively. That is one reason I have hidden the identities of the persons involved. By not knowing the identities you will have the advantage of being unbiased.

Below we give some of the indicators that various devotees have suggested as guidelines for detecting whether someone may be "posing as a devotee" but is actually an agent of Kali.

Yadu Srestha said:

Usually I look to Rahu's influence to indicate possible perversions. A person having Rahu strongly influencing the lagna or lagna lord may struggle to live a straightforward life. Rahu's influence on Jupiter the Lord of Dharma, the ninth house or the 9th lord may also have difficulty accepting spiritual instructions as they are .

However I would stress that these are tendencies but there is also free will and if anyone reading this has any of these combinations please do not be discouraged rather recognise these tendencies and make proper use of your free will.

Bhanu Svami suggested:

Many malefics in trikona, fourth house, or with moon.

Someone who preferred to stay anonymous said:

Rahu with Sun gives a somewhat inflated ego in my experience.

My comments:

What kind of things should we look for in those posing as a devotee?

First we must consider the description given by Bhaktisiddhanta Saravati Thaura.

This suggests the following:

  • They must appear to be devoted and be able to fool most devotees.

  • They should appear to be intelligent and educated.

  • They are charismatic and enchant others especially with their oratory or writing.

  • They are in positions of power and influence.

  • Since they are secretly working for Kali there should also be some element of secrecy indicated in their chart.

Thus their charts should at least on the surface have some indication toward dharma and spirituality. It should also indicate intelligence and education. It should also indicate popularity, charisma and communication skills. And finally it should indicate if not power at least influence.

So these positive qualities which cloak Kali's agent have to be indicated.

Deviation from the sampradaya, that is, heterodoxy, would be indicated by afflictions to the lagna, 5th and 9th their lords and significators, that is the Sun and Guru. As noted by others we should pay particular attention to Rahu whom as we recall was clever enough to disguise himself as a devotee when Mohini was passing out the amrta.

Rahu represents heterodoxy, kutarka (false logic), poison -- in this case injecting poison into the philosophy. Thus if he afflicts the lagna lord, lagna, Moon, 9th lord, Guru, etc., then they will have allergy to following real dharma but will have tendency to religious hypocrisy or even attacking their guru and diverting from him.

Rahu + Guru = Guru Chandala yoga. An appropriate name. Same with affliction to 9th lord.

Rahu in Dhanus the natural 9th house is also problematic. All planets except Rahu do well in Dhanus.

Rahu afflicting important planets in a gupta-sthana: house of secrecy should also be considered. Gupta-sthanas are the 4th, 8th and 12th.

Ketu on the other hand while possibly afflicting the health is often associated with spirituality and is known as a moksha karaka (if he is not afflicted).

However we would have to be careful to see if there is an over all pattern pointing in a certain direction. And above all do their words and actions undermine Vaisnava Dharma. Of course to determine that one would have to be very well versed as they are expert at fooling even intelligent devotees.

Devotees as a whole have a tendency to be "faithful" that is to have the tendency to put their faith in others. So when a person assumes the role of being a Vaisnava they would fool an unsuspecting and credulous devotee.

Hence Lord Jesus Christ warned his disciples when he sent them preaching "To be as cunning as serpents but as innocent as doves." (Mathew 10.16) And thus not become a victim of atmavat manyate jagat "as I am so I think the world to be." Because you are honest doesn't mean everyone else is.

Of course not everyone with such placements will be "Posing as Vaisnavas" for some it will have more of an effect on the body than on their world view. Thus they will be physically sick rather than spiritually sick. There should be multiple indications before one can come to a conclusion.

For others who deviate they also may not be "posing" but rather just falling from spiritual life as stated in the Gita 6th chapter. They are faced with a test and fail. This has happened to all of us in previous lives otherwise we would not still be here.

One thing I have noticed about Rahu is that when he affects the chart in dasa/bhukti or by transit is that the person will be presented with some temptation(s) for Rahu knows what the weak spots of the person are and dangles the appropriate item to temp them. It could anything: sex, money, power, position, fame whatever their weak spot is. If the person goes for it then it can create serious problems for them, but if they resist temptation then they can get a blessing instead.

The original text indicated that these "posers" would be seen as popular and intelligent and in so many ways attractive to people. So this has to be taken into account as well. Being grossly fallen would be too obvious. They are subtly fallen. Their deviations are not gross but more subtle.

I have not given every possible combination just the more obvious ones. When analyzing we should see a pattern pointing in the same direction not just one instance. There should be many indicators not just one.

We should try to get as much out of the Rasi chart before going to other vargas. The navamsa would then be most important, other varga charts can also be helpful particularly vimsamsa. For guidelines on how to use multiple varga charts see the article on judging wealth.

Another point the charts that I have given have accurate times of birth and were supplied to me by the person themselves.

Though I have shown Vimshottari Mahadasa in some of the charts other mahadashas are applicable as well. However in this study Dasas are not so important because we are trying to identify charater traits that more or less follow a person through out life.

Test charts

I will not put out many charts at once maximum 2 or 3.

Chart 1

Chart 2

Chart 3

Chart 4