Kurmarupa Prabhu
Blessed by the Cows of Vraja
an Astrological Analysis
of His Death Chart
Shyamasundara Dasa
Copyright © 2015
I did not have the good fortune of knowing my god-brother Kurmarupa Prabhu but I have read with interest what others have written especially The Passing of Kurma-rupa dasa and this text by BB Govinda Swami. (For background information visit the Care for Cows website.) It was reported that this mahatma had left his body on Sunday, June 28, 2015 at 8:45 hours during Padmini ekadasi, in Purushottama masa in Vrndavana. I didn’t have his horoscope but I thought - let me at least check what was happening astrologically at that moment like a prasna chart.
This will not be an exhaustive treatment only touching the salient points because the main readership of this text will be non-astrologers, and even this light treatment may have too much technical jargon, for that I apologize before hand but since it is an astrological analysis such cannot be avoided. Just ignore the jargon and get the essence. Click to see a larger image.
At the moment he departed the Lagna (rising sign) was Karkata 24° 06’ very closely conjoined by both Venus and Guru. Even a beginning student of jyotish would recognize that is highly favorable as they are both natural as well as functional benefics for this Lagna and they cause Raja yoga as well as a Mahapurusha yoga (Guru exalted in the Lagna). Venus suggests felicity, love and harmony. While Guru (Jupiter) by his natural significance as well as ruling the 9th (house of dharma, guru, and God) suggests, sattva guna, divine presence, enlightenment, spiritual purity and protection. Guru is also in svamsa (own navamsa) multiplying his strength. In fact in shadbalas (six fold sources of strength two planets are strong while the other five are very strong). And it is a dictum of Jyotish that Guru in the Lagna or aspecting the Lagna removes 100,000 blemishes from a horoscope. Venus has similar qualities but not as powerful as Guru. So this placement is very excellent.
I also noted that Moon and Venus were involved in a parivartana yoga, exchange of houses, in this case Moon lord of 1st had gone to the 4th and Venus lord of the 4th has gone to the 1st. Since both of these houses are considered favorable then an exchange between their rulers is considered very advantageous. And Moon in the 4th and Guru in Lagna both get digbala (directional strength) and being in kendras from each other forms a Gajakesari yoga. And in the navamsa chart Venus whose is the raja yoga karaka (planet who helps the person progress in life) for Kumbha lagna in the navamsa chart is in the Lagna and aspecting Sani the ruler of the lagna; this is very good. And I also noted the condition of the Vimsamsa chart, which is specifically for upasana – spiritual matters. Here again Venus as 10th lord is in the Lagna, while Sun ruler of the Lagna is exalted in the 9th house of dharma, a highly fortunate position, and also Mars the raja yoga karaka is also exalted in the 6th where he is very powerful (natural malefics are strong in the 3,6,10 and 11) and from there aspects the 9th and the Lagna thus fortifying the spiritual aspect of the moment. The very strong position of Sun and Mars in Vimsamsa is important because in the Rasi chart they are in the 12th and while the 12th is a mokshasthana (not to be confused with Advaitik misconceptions of the term) it is also vyayasthana (house of loss) and natural malefics in the 12th unless otherwise strong can have very negative connotations, but since they are very strong in Vimsamsa this indicates that not only do they not harm the spiritual dimensions of the 12th house (mokshasthana) but actually strengthen it. Even in the Dasamsa, Venus and Jupiter are both in the Lagna while the Moon is in the 7th exalted. And, I am sure if I did a very detailed analysis I could find even more.
So to me all of this looked quite good, even remarkable, that it was such an auspicious moment. Then something caught my eye, and that little voice said that this chart had something very bovine about it. By that I mean the Moon represents cows and milk, and I seemed to recall that so did Venus and the 4th house. So I checked in a reference book I have called Significators in Astrology, in which the author combed through various classic texts to find out which astrological symbols where associated with various items.
Doing a search for “cows” it said that the following where karakas (significators) for cows: Moon, Jupiter, the nakshatras Makha and Jyestha as well as the sign Taurus, and the fourth house.
And for bulls the significators were: Taurus, Venus and Rohini.
And “milk, milk products and milk men” were associated with the sign Cancer, Taurus, Moon, and the 4th house.
And Venus represents cow dung.
Most of these significators (who I have put in bold) were very strong and prominent in this chart: Cancer (ruled by the Moon) is rising, with Venus and Jupiter in it. (It should also be noted that Venus rules Taurus bringing that factor in as well.) And that the Moon has gone to the 4th house, while Venus ruler of the 4th house has come to the Lagna Cancer. So my intuition was correct, this chart is about bulls and cows and everything related to them.
“One should follow the cows, feed them sufficiently, and circumambulate them. If the cows are happy then Lord Gopala is understood to be satisfied.” Hari-bhakti-vilasa 17.244
As I was pondering the ramifications of this the first thought that came to my mind was that Kurmarupa Prabhu was literally blessed by the cows of Vraj to be spiritually elevated. That because they loved him so much he was going back to Godhead.
(I recall an incident about a cow's ability to love told to me by HH Bhaktirasamrta Swami about an agriculture minister trying to encourage an Indian farmer to get rid of his cows and get a tractor instead. To which the simple farmer refused and when asked “why not?” he replied, “because a tractor can’t love me.” The minister was speechless.)
Subscribe to our mailing list. And get our intermittent newsletter and updates to this site.
Then the next thoughts that came to me were that because his mind was absorbed in Krsna’s cows that he would either be a cow or bull in Goloka or a gopa helping Gopala.
The difficulty with such observations is that unlike other astrological predictions I have made it is impossible for any of us to verify if is true or not. But after almost four decades of practicing jyotish I have learned to put my faith in this instrument which is the “veda cakshu” – eye of the Veda, rather than in pratyaksha – empirical evidence.
Thus I am inclined to think that Kurmarupa Prabhu was dearly loved by the cows of Vrndavana and because of their love for him, Krsna became pleased with him and that as a result he went back to Goloka and is serving Krsna in some capacity related to cows; either as one of Krsna’s beloved cows whom Krsna personally takes care of, or as a gopa assisting Krsna in such pastimes.
dasa dasa anu dasa
Shyamasundara Dasa
krsne matirastu
Reference:
Chadha, Shiv Kumar, 1995, Significators in Astrology, Delhi: Manorama Occult Publications.
