The Sun (Surya)
Light of the Soul: Surya in signs, houses and conjunctions
About the book. "The Sun (Surya)" — Light of the Soul: Surya in signs, houses and conjunctions. A book for astrologers on Vedic astrology (jyotish). Author — Andrey Drobotin, Atma School teacher. Preview excerpt free; full book and PDF after purchase, from $5.
A book for astrologers
Introduction
This book is about the Sun. In Sanskrit it is called Surya, and in our school I often simply say: the king of the horoscope. All the planets revolve around the Sun, and it is the same in the chart: all the grahas, one way or another, serve the task the Sun shows.
Why do you need this book? When you start studying jyotish, you read everything about the Sun at once. One place says the Sun is the significator of the soul. Another says vitality. A third says the father. A fourth, the state and the bosses. And your head turns to mush: so what is it really? I want the mush to be gone after this book. I want you to understand which layer of the chart you are looking at right now, and to clearly tell the Sun apart from Mars, from the lagna lord, from Rahu and from Saturn, because all of them also seem to speak about "the task".
The book is written for astrologers, for those who already know the signs and houses and can open a chart. But if you are just starting, read it too: a lot will become clear about yourself as well.
What you will get in practice:
- you will understand what main task the Sun sets before you and through which sphere of life it must be fulfilled;
- you will learn to assess the Sun's strength with the twelve-point plan we use on the course;
- you will go through the Sun in each of the twelve signs and in the houses — where it gives light and where it asks the strictest questions;
- you will see how the Sun behaves next to the other grahas;
- you will learn how to harmonise the Sun in everyday life: through responsibility, your attitude to your father and to authorities, your daily routine and simple practices.
The main thing I want to convey: the Sun is not a ball of fire and not an abstract energy. It is a person, and in the chart it shows how I — a soul in a body — express my will in this world. Once you understand this, the Sun turns from "one more planet" into the centre from which you will read the whole chart.
Chapter 2. The Sun among the other grahas
Planets are the soul's instruments
When the soul comes into the material world, it enters a body and acts through instruments. These instruments are the grahas.
- Jupiter — ether, the space I am placed in. Wisdom, higher knowledge, expansion of consciousness.
- The Moon — the mind: emotions, thoughts, how I perceive the world and react to events.
- Mercury — the intellect: logic, analysis, communication, decisions.
- Venus — the senses: perception, pleasure, attachments.
- Mars — action: strength, energy, determination.
- Saturn — limitations, discipline, trials, the places of maximum effort.
- Rahu — material ambitions, what can lead you astray.
- Ketu — renunciation, freedom from attachments.
And the Sun is how I express my will and my inner light through all these instruments. Without planets, the soul in the spiritual world acts directly; it needs no intermediaries. Here, under the influence of maya, illusion, we act through the body, mind and senses, and all the grahas are our teachers. Vimshottari dasha shows the order in which they teach us: first one teacher, then another.
The Sun and Mars: the goal and the struggle
Beginners often confuse the Sun and Mars. The difference is simple: The Sun is the goal, Mars is the struggle for it. The Sun comes from within; Mars is the energy that is realised in the outer world.
A car example. There is a battery and there is an ignition key. Without a battery the car will not start. The Sun uses Mars: Mars shows how I act, how I make efforts, how I fight to achieve what the Sun sets.
In my chart the Sun is in Gemini: the goal is communication, information, knowledge. And Mars is in Libra: my strength is in partnership; I prefer to solve problems through compromise rather than aggression. Even if the Sun and Mars stood in the same sign, you would still need to separate them inside: where is the goal, and where is the energy for reaching it.
The Sun and the lagna lord
Lagna is the assembly point, our instinctive behaviour, the automatism we brought from the past. The lagna is not a task; it simply is. Lagnesh, the lagna lord, shows how I as a soul use the body to interact with the world, how I manifest energy and through which house. The lagnesh carries the strength of Mars: how long our "battery" will last.
The Sun and the atmakaraka
Atmakaraka — the planet with the highest degree, the temporary significator of the soul. It is karma, the key lessons of this incarnation. The Sun is the permanent, natural atmakaraka. They are connected, but they are not the same thing.
So, four similar meanings that need to be sorted out:
| What | What it speaks of |
|---|---|
| the Sun | goal, will, self-awareness, inner leadership |
| Mars | physical energy, how we fight for the goal |
| Lagnesh | how I manifest through the body, how much strength I have |
| Atmakaraka | the key karmic lessons of this life |
The Sun and Rahu
Rahu is also called a task — for the second half of life. But it is a different task. Rahu is connected with material ambitions: it lures, creates illusion like a magnet, throws dust in your eyes. These are temptations you have to go through to understand that none of it brings happiness.
The house where Rahu stands is not a forbidden zone. You can and should live there, but in the affairs of that house you need to be two or three times more careful not to slide into the negative. The Sun is not a temptation but the essence, what I came here for.
The Sun and Saturn
Saturn is connected with time, karma, debts and discipline. It is long, patient, monotonous work. If the Sun is the goal, Saturn is the method of gradually realising the goal. It makes us responsible and disciplined on the path, through overcoming obstacles. It gives limitations so that life does not seem all honey, and so that we grow.
The royal court: friends and enemies of the Sun
To easily remember the Sun's relationships with the other grahas, imagine a royal court. The Sun is the king.
- The Moon — the queen. A friend. Mind and emotions support authority, giving a strong, confident mind.
- Mars — the commander-in-chief, the king's protector. A friend: action, will, determination.
- Jupiter — the king's teacher and adviser. A friend: wisdom, morality, justice.
- Mercury — the crown prince. Neutral: on the side neither of his father nor of the enemies. Mercury itself is friendly to the Sun, while the Sun is neutral to it. The Sun wants to solve global tasks rather than mercantile trifles, but together they strengthen each other.
- Venus — an enemy. She is about comfort, pleasures, flexibility and diplomacy, and the king does not like this. Venus tries to set the king against the people: "Everything should be fair and equal, the king takes too much upon himself."
- Saturn — an enemy. These are the people, the workers. The Sun strives for power and freedom, while Saturn brings limits and structure and dislikes a high ego.
- Rahu — rebels; they raise a revolt against the king.
- Ketu — the hermit, the monk: "Why do we need this king and this society at all?" Also an enemy of the Sun.
When everything is in harmony — the king is friends with the people and the people respect the king — all is well. But in the Kali Yuga it is not always so.
Besides the permanent relationships, there are temporaryones. Put the Sun in the first house and look: planets in the second, third, fourth, tenth, eleventh and twelfth houses from the Sun are its temporary friends. In the others, temporary enemies. If it is hard for you to turn the chart around with your eyes, especially when the Sun is in the sixth or eighth house, mentally put it in first place and draw these little circles. From here you can see which periods and sub-periods will be easier and which harder.
You have read the introduction and one chapter of the book (about 16% of the text). The full text and PDF are available after purchase.
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