Interview with Vedic Astrologer James Braha

An interview with Vedic astrologer James Braha, where we talk about his life and work in astrology.
James is the author of 6 books on astrology, including Ancient Hindu Astrology for the Modern Western Astrologer, and The Art and Practice of Ancient Hindu Astrology.
For more information about his work visit:
www.jamesbraha.com
Our original discussion topic for this episode was supposed to be dasha techniques, but we ended up talking about a bunch of other things instead, because James has had such an interesting life story with astrology.
This is episode 196 of The Astrology Podcast. For more information about it see the podcast website:
theastrologypodcast.com/2019/0...
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#TheAstrologyPodcast

[@golnazmoradiani9802]

James Braha is my favorite astrologer

[@philyria358]

One of the best episodes of the Astrology Podcast, IMHO. Chris Brennan has a great talent as an interviewer. It's wonderful that he "went with the flow" instead of trying to stick to the initial plan. Bravo!

[@amandafullerton3453]

Chris is great interviewer and a very good listener.

[@BlueSky-qk5ex]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/aXO7kqOripKSnJo

[@tiavu7606]

James Braha exudes passion for astrology. I enjoy listen to him very much.

[@melindastclair]

I quite adore him. He is so easy to listen to, so knowledgable and personable. I learned a lot from this interveiw. Thank you

[@indranidasgupta8982]

I really love how he bases his take on Jyotish on his broad and long experience, not just what he learned from his Gurus. I feel like I can trust his garnered knowledge!

[@ScreenJem]

Please have him on again! I feel he has so much more to share. I enjoyed every word of this interview thoroughly! Great job once again, Chris. You Sir, are BRILLIANT!

[@alaypatel6050]

James Braha is the boss. Most enjoyable astrologer to listen to. His approach is very simple and easy to grasp.

[@pat557]

Thanks for having James on! Fantastic. he just tells it like it is, coming from a place of practice in the field. If "cherished" techniques fail, he tosses them. I respect that in any Astrologer. Rude? No.

[@tractordriver8950]

In his interviews he mentions getting married in 1993 and couldn’t see aspects for it. But in 1993 he was 42 years old that means his 7th house was activated in profection system. It was also a personal 2 year in numerology. 2 is partnerships. 42 years of age activates Rahu too and brings sudden change.

[@crownofgoldenlight9342]

Always a pleasure and wave of wisdom when listening to Mr. Braha. And an astute, insightful interview. Thank you both!

[@Diro_Nikhil]

He is so brilliant .....

[@bella-pt6ow]

Thankyou for this great interview with James Braha, he is so entertaining and interesting, I could listen to him all day, Great video.

[@ak7443]

This was such an entertaining and informative chat! Love the whatever works theory too.

[@MaryMartin-ry7ww]

Thankyou....I luv James Braha, luv his stories, always learn so much from him.

[@ashishmishra2391]

Great Astrolger James Braha Sir🙏🏼

[@ross9681]

Excellent... pls continue with him...

[@tina9108]

Love all your videos Chris ! Thank you for bringing out all this great knowledge on astrology 🙏

[@sairahola]

I really enjoyed this discussion. Probably my favorite episode so far. Thanks to you both, this really came into my life at the right time

[@Kate-hh8yi]

... this is like candy for my brain 💜 What an awesome introduction to astrology!

[@williamweir4494]

Thank you both, love listening to you your life story James. ! Brenda

[@BlueSky-qk5ex]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/aXO7kqOripKSnJo

[@JKB25]

Great interview!

[@RoyalKatz]

I loved this discussion. ❤❤❤

[@cb8079]

Love James Braha - great interview 👍 👏

[@hellohello4689]

I really enjoyed listening to this. 🙂

[@spiraldaddy]

Absolutely terrific episode

[@Neteralchemy]

great discussion, nice work.

[@anstoi-va5250]

Thank you for wonderful interview, if it's possible it would be wonderful to ask him to join you again. P.S. Love to listen to your teachings thanks to you I am hooked to astrology, you bring to understandable level and allow many people to take it bite at a time and to learn and observe it at their own time. Your contribution for creating astrology society is greatly appreciated.

[@sallyh2156]

Great podcast once again

[@enicehaasmr2459]

I hope Sir James can came again to give knowledge about astrology 🙂🙂

[@lovelight1792]

Wonderful interview. James Braha is truly a master in his field. I could only wish that all people who give council or education to the public would do the extensive research that he has. It is also most uplifting to see an expert in their field to admit they do not know something. To commentator, Chris, you are fantastic.Too often the one who interviews chats a bit too much, which is usually the case when they know very little. You seem highly knowledgeable, & obviously educated in the field, yet you spoke only with intelligence & grace to keep the perfection of the flow.

[@VJ_7137]

Great session 👍 hope you do a follow up with James again 🙏

[@firebird1354]

As always, a really good podcast, very well guided by Chris. I take issue with James Braha on one or two of his remarks, particularly the way he characterizes a Vargottama planet. It is true that this is a planet which resides in the same sign in the D1 and D9, but it doesn't "act like it's in its own sign". What Vargottama does is it gives a planet solid, underlying strength to act according to its own nature. So a vargottama Jupiter is a really strong Jupiter, for good or ill. If you expect it to act like it is in Pisces or Sag' when it is in Leo then no wonder it "doesn't work".

[@cielciel1535]

Chris, I started watching with the interview you did with Steve Forrest. Steve was my astrologer for a good while. I like how you allow the people to really talk and let their true personalities shine through and reveal their gifts. This interview was very informative, too.

[@kabrakabra]

Superb 👍👍, thanks 🙏🏻🙏🏻

[@siddharthsiddharth7106]

Problem is with the language . James Braha is a good man . You are doing good work . It is Hindu astrology .

[@ashokmehra4901]

Superb.

[@jessaabraham]

How different this interview with the Indian interview. So many in-depth questions.

[@melhartsings]

love this one, go for 5 hours next time

[@ExaminerCross]

Make him a regular

[@FeistyChic]

What a great video! Thank you both so much...Im not a professional astrologer I'm a lifetime student but hoping you can answer. Wouldn't looking at Saturn be very telling in a chart rectification?

[@ariondys]

Rahu Saturn Dasha now. Kind of makes me wonder. It never seemed to work so well, certainly nothing even close to well enough to rectify with, but things went from OK to Sucky somewhat in line with Rahu Jupiter going to Rahu Saturn... I gained weight in Rahu Jupiter, which I lost rapidly after going into Rahu Saturn. That's undeniable. But how do I think any previous time went? idk. not a clue. Perhaps my Dashas will work while I pay attention though, like, from now on.

[@artivedi3887]

I have this moon in3rs the mars in4thand them rahu5th..and saaturn retro in 7th which cud mean it is giving 6th house results ..does it give. Me any such thing like you said for urself

[@martianmoongdds]

I really enjoyed listening to James aswell, but after half of the time I got a bit puzzled about his rude attitude. But I enjoyed it, so thank you Chris. Thank you for giving us this wisdom. And about the ”very cold, clinical and bored”-comment below, no, you're wonderful the way you are. We’re all different, right? And the way you listen and are willing to understand, and the amount of respect you seem to have and give makes you special. Even when it feels like it becomes too much for you, and that is rare. I recently discovered your channel and will probably go back and listen to more of your episodes. / ♊️♏️♏️🇸🇪

[@MBT372]

Diana rude???? How????

[@imaginationland474]

Does anyone know what the "Great Year of the Planets" that he mentions is?

[@rikghosh5279]

57:50 Vargottam planets

[@madhuyadav4356]

Mathura is a birth place of lord Krishna....vrindavan is nearby holy place in India

[@jeniwood9927]

Does anyone know if James is still doing readings? All of his websites seem very outdated

[@JB-3794]

I always thought it rather doubtful that I was getting the best reading when it was obvious the astrologer did not study my chart before our appointment.

[@MSTROLL-fc3sg]

I'm trying to find astrology ppl in Minnesota to get together with and share ideas. Do you know of any ppl doing this??

[@promisespleases]

Vrindavan

[@beatdizzy]

I did not vibe with this episode, I found Braha's orientation to be 'of the colonizer', I found the Vedic episode from Freedom Cole so much informative and humble.

[@artivedi3887]

I feel we need to chant for all.planeta I see all planets gone to the dogs for many pple..they don't have the sense of dashas especially when pple don't have access to software nd dashas and degrees understanding

[@TheDarshanProject]

All respect to MR. Braha and his experience, but just a couple notes here. For those getting introduced to Vedic systems, please note that his pronunciation is not always correct, for example "Ashtotarri" and "Jaimini". In terms of the dasha systems, "chara dasha" is not a "Jaimini" technique per se. It is covered clearly in the version of Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra we have, along with many other things people call " Jaimini" techiniques. It is claimed these were inserted into BPHS, but there is not solid scholarly evidence to support this and is an assumption. A note too on his use of divisionals. He was looking at 6th in the career chart for medicine and finding it didn't work. There are techniques wherein we do not use the same house meanings across all the divisional charts. So 6th houe in D10, would be house of service. More planets there merely means person is more orientated towards service than business, which is a 7th house thing there. Like this, divisionals are not simple, unless you are of course looking at the rising of each one adn the significator house for that area of life, but there is a LOT more to see there. Another point to his presentation of neech bhanga, and reversals. It does not mean the problems represented by that yoga is canceled whatsoever. Nothing is ever canceled. It just suggests that there are some problems which can be overcome and that depending on what the thing is that is cancelling it, which would be specific to those rules. This too it is usually triggered by a supported dasha which would need knowing argala and other techniques Mr. Braha probably does not use based on what he speaks about in his book.

[@ak7443]

Re the neecha bhanga - J Braha has written in one of his books that it isn't cancelled but instead of an amputated limb, you get a prosthetic to replace it.

[@Neteralchemy]

I'd only pick up on BPHS being exactly what it advertises itself to be, ‘a compendium’. I’m not sure if anyone has really done a decent amount of work on this text, is there any scholarly work either way? My big problem with this ‘gospel’ (a term also appearing on its cover) is that, prior to the early 80’s little was known about it in the west. While there appears to have been an historical BPHS, how much the current version reflects the original, remains debatable. I’ve seen a few western Jyotish teachers place its 2 volumes on an alter, and worship it - what’s all that about? :-)

[@TheDarshanProject]

Just because it wasn't well known prior to the 80's doesn't mean much. Even Patanjali's yoga sutras was not a prominent text for many years either. I think the key thing here is that there is a Rishi named Parashara and he is guiding the knowledge. It makes perfect sense to call on the Rishi to guide one in such subjects in terms of propitiation. Even if things have been added over time, which no doubt appears to be the case, it is still within this Parashari line of thought and inspiration that the text is held, not to mention much of the philosophy in that text is indeed very old and goes back to the pancaratra which is the earliest forms of tantric Vaishnava philosophy. Even Varahamihira references Parashara and Garga as the main older authorities in this field so it did not just come out of nowhere int eh 18th century even if that is when we have the *latest* written version. The Vedic paradigm does not just take linear history into account in these regards either, that is a much more western concern which has a partially validity when investigating such texts and approaches.

[@artivedi3887]

If you cud write the .mantra ..this didn't help..property stuck divorce stuck is it mercury dasha ..or subdasha. Or if it's capricorn in 4th house we shud chant this mantra that you said

[@artivedi3887]

Nasargika (natural...I think)

[@geetavohra91]

Sir you are such a learned astrologer so can you please make a video that what will happen if rahu and ketu dispositor are in conjunction .... Sir many astrologers are saying that this is a rare and great and maha yoga which makes a person rise in life and that undefeated rise and so I'm not able to understand this combination in my chart sir ... Sir I have rahu ketu dispositor conjunction with ketu in 2 house in Virgo ascendant sir my birth time is 19/11/2004 ( 2:57 A.M ) dehradun .... So sir can you please make a video on rahu and ketu dispositor as you are an astrologer with whom I can mentally relate ! ....

[@tractordriver8950]

I have 2nd house lord in the 11th house and 11th house lord in the 11th house and I’m not wealthy

[@artivedi3887]

Pls give egs. What you call a strong and absolute hopeless charts o mediocre ..because pple get their guD karma result only after 50..and many die mediocre lives nd suffer mentally or otherwise

[@erinhammill8255]

Really enjoyed listening to James. I know it it's your persona, but you seem very cold and clinical in your reactions to him. Almost bored.

[@TheAstrologyPodcast]

I was having a hard time initially because originally we were going to focus on doing more of an intro to dashas episode, and I was nervous that we were straying from the outline for that too much, but then eventually I let go of that and got more comfortable having a more free form conversation. Later in the episode the interview started to run long, and I was about to miss my electional window for releasing the zodiacal releasing episode last month, so I started trying to get that ready in the background. I otherwise really enjoyed the conversation though, despite my nervousness and being distracted.

[@lakeishakent5139]

I think you did good...

[@naoma5]

@@TheAstrologyPodcast MR in Pisces hehe great interview nevertheless

[@zaine8476]

This was an awesome conversation, sidetreacks and all totally fit with the subject matter. Navamsa and D charts, I feel like many similarities were drawn out in this episode with the episode on Zodiacal Releasing. Thanks again!

[@kp34325]

Why bother with personhood

[@61757]

The western is wrong but James is not hmto denigrate all those western listener's

[@sonyak9879]

I JUST COULD NOT follow.. this man may very well be brilliant, but gosh he talks in never ending circles,.. so scatterd🤔

[@GaryLet]

Great interview!