Karma

The planetary combination at the instant of our birth will determine the quantity and quality of what we will experience in this life. The Karma we are born with-which is the product of our past actions-determines what we will experience and what we will have to experience willy-nilly. In the same way that DNA will determine the ways in which our body-psyche system will develop as we grow; there is information in the universe that records the order and manner in which the fabric of each and every moment we will experience on this earth will be woven. We can call this phenomenon 'destiny.' This does not exclude the concept of 'freedom' which is simply limited by 'destiny' and never denied by it. In any case, this 'destiny' forces us to live a conspicuous part of our lives of which we have no control, of which we are merely absorbed observers.

Astrological Code

The purpose of astrology is not to know one's destiny (or Karma) in order to resign ourselves to our imprisonment, the purpose is instead to know destiny in order to make the best use of our freedom, to become even freer. We can change our Karma.
In the Jyotiṣa, the Vedic Astrology, this information is encoded in the combination of several factors: the 9 planets (graha); the 12 Signs (rāśi); the 27 Constellations (nakṣatra) and the 12 Houses (bhāva). The positions of these elements determine 'fate' and 'freedom'.
For example, we are obliged to be born into a certain family, we are obliged to meet certain people, we are conditioned or limited by our strengths and weaknesses, we are guided by our tastes and instincts. We are constantly under the influence that others have on us, and we are constantly influencing the people around us. Isn't this limiting and frustrating? We often get stuck in situations or entangled in unhealthy relationships that we would like to get out of but don't know how to, precisely because the threads that bind us are invisible. Wouldn't it help us to be able to see the walls of our prison, to be able to figure out where the door is to get out?

Invisible threads like cobwebs

We might compare ourselves to little insects that have fallen into a spider's web. We wriggle in that web all our lives, looking for the comfortable position for us or trying to regain our freedom. But the wires are invisible. The more we struggle, the more we are caught. Until the spider of time comes to devour us. Because time devours everything.
Vedic Astrology is the science that allows us to see what threads bind us, block our potential, hinder our success, and make us dependent on things, situations and people. They help us turn the spider of time into a friend. Time is a friend to those who grow because it gives wisdom and serenity.

This destiny is nothing more than the setting in which to carry out our actions. Our life is a theater, and we are staging a particular character. It is the 'law of Karma' that forces us to play a particular part in our life story.

Periods of Life

This story periodically changes its plot according to the weather. From an astrological point of view, these phases are marked by Daśā (literally periods, states or conditions of life) that correlate the planetary influences of the chart to well-defined periods in the individual's life. The periods take the color of the planet representing them and 'activate' in the right timing the various karmike zones that the person is to experience in his or her life.
Sometimes we experience a comedy; sometimes it's cabaret; sometimes it's a romantic story; sometimes it's a boring routine TV show; or it's an adventure and a journey; occasionally it's a mystery-filled murder mystery; and sometimes it's a drama. With the Daśā we can know what kind of theater we are experiencing right now, what we have experienced in the past and what we will experience in the future.

Knowing for Change

What is the purpose of this? To know and get to know each other. What's the use of knowing? The past has the power to lock us into grudges, regrets and guilt. The future locks us into fear and expectation. And whether we are stuck forward or backward, the result is that the present slips from our grasp.
The present is the only reality (the past no longer exists and the future does not yet exist) and is the only time when we can act and exercise our freedom. It is important to know and realize one's past in order to learn and to free ourselves from all the experience that blocks us in the present. Knowing the future serves us to prepare for the new stories ahead, learning to cooperate with the director. Planets explain to us the subtleties of time.
Our 'free will' is the way we move in this representation and the choices we make in the possibilities of our character.

Free Will

We can say that in this theater we have a certain degree of improvisation. This degree of freedom can drastically change the course of the work. In the extreme case, the director may give little room for our creativity and thus force us to follow the script meticulously. Conversely, the director may give us complete freedom to improvise as long as we respect the character of the character we are staging. All this happens as an agreement between the director and the actor. Of course, there is also a director. When one understands how to communicate with the director, one's spiritual journey begins. But that is another matter.
In any case, we are forced to live stories, but we are still free to decide with what attitude to do so.

Success is managing resources to the best of your ability

In life we are forced to experience dramatic moments, here our freedom is to get depressed or learn to overcome obstacles. We are forced to experience romantic or passionate moments, so our choice is to be captured by the temptation of superficiality or to develop deep and sincere relationships. We have moments of success and moments of failure, again, it is how we manage our resources that determines the quality of our future. Knowing how time acts on us, through the Christmas Card, helps us face it with the right attitude.
Karma is action and reaction. In fact, just as we have created the present 'destiny' by acting in previous plays, our present play is inspiring the creativity of the director who, at this very moment, with pen in hand, is writing in the planets A new chapter in our future.

Premakumar Das