Inside the Mysterious & Ancient Vedic Astrology with Vish Chatterji

Vish Chatterji 0:00
What is your next level soul existence? And I believe in Vedic Astrology to really say, Okay, what is the challenge you're facing, and can I root cause it to a planetary, Planet system that is out of balance for that person?

Alex Ferrari 0:12
Is this a time where humanity is awakening?

Vish Chatterji 0:15
For them to finally feel so desperate that they look up in heavens and try to connect to the divine. That's what happens for a human being. You get torn down. Everything you relied on gets pulled away, and you finally get pushed in the corner. You have nowhere to look. We want to walk the earth in such a way that no matter what's happening, our center remains grounded and we're true to our center. Now, if I can do that without any intuition, without any woo woo abilities, and I layer in those woo woo abilities, then it's next level. Then it is a time for us to have a reckoning and figure out, what do we really stand for. And in four or five years, when we look back and said, You know what, that's when we really discovered who we are.

Alex Ferrari 1:08
I like to welcome to the show Vish Chatterji, how you doing Vish?

Vish Chatterji 1:11
I'm doing great, Alex. I'm really looking forward to our conversation, and I was just so impressed with your background. It brings so many things to bear for me. It's almost like a predictor of our conversation.

Alex Ferrari 1:22
Oh, thank you so much. I appreciate that, my friend. Well, you know we've had astrologers on the show before, but we've never had a Vedic Astrologer on the show. And your book astrology decoded the the secret science of of Indian sages. I'm curious to hear because there's Chinese astrology. There's every every culture has a version of astrology. But I'm kind of versed in a bit more than the usual person, in Vedic philosophies, Vegas understandings, the yugas, you know, I read the Holy science, very difficult, you know, but it's a deep, heavy text to read, but I kind of went down those roads. So I understand it a lot, at least, I try to understand it a lot. And I'm really looking forward for you to kind of fill in all the gaps that I obviously didn't figure out yet. So my first question is, I love your background as well as an engineer, which of course, leans itself to the woo, woo. When you're an engineer, you think you hear engineer. You're like, oh, yeah, an astrologer. So what? What caused you to what was the inner shift that happened to you that led you to make the shift to a Vedic teacher, Vedic Astrology, all that kind of stuff.

Vish Chatterji 2:40
Yeah, it's interesting. I mean, you talked about all these different astrology systems. There's the the Greeks, the Babylonians, the Chinese and I guess yoga is becoming like that, right? There's American yoga is completely different to what Indian yoga truly is. And, you know, we're talking about like, like the book, The Autobiography of a Yogi. Was this a book about somebody who is a gymnastics master on a mat, you know what is a yogi? Right? Right, right? And so in America, Yoga has become this very physical, focused exercise, but beyond, behind it, there's this amazing, sophisticated, elegant system for human development. And that's what Yogananda was teaching right through autobiography, Yogi, it was this superhuman, developing himself. So Jyotish, which is the Sanskrit word for Vedic Astrology. Jyotish means the science of consciousness, science of our consciousness. So it's a system that predates any religion, any system, any one way. It's literally understanding our human consciousness, our human journey, our soul's journey, and it was cognized by people that looked very much like what's in your that painting behind you of your right shoulder, right there are these ancient rishis, the rishis, the Enlightened sages of you know, maybe 8000 years ago, that would sit in deep, deep states of meditation and start to understand and cognize the nature of our human consciousness. And through those insights, they started to codify a system of how to perfect the human condition, the human soul. And that spawned the yoga tradition, the Vedanta tradition, the whole philosophy, philosophical system of India and Jyotish, this understanding of the planets and the stars and how to use those to understand ourselves better. So Vedic Astrology is is the oldest system, and completely integrated with yoga and Vedanta and Ayurveda, the mind body medicine system, and it's a system for us to understand our human condition in a better way. That's the purpose of it. But over time, obviously, now there is Western astrology, just like there's Western yoga, and it developed a system that became more approachable for everyday people and more pop culturally. You know, you can be. A dinner party and say, Hey, what's your sign? And you figure out what month you're born, you say, Oh, this is my sign. And people have a chat about it, right? And it's kind of a casual conversation, what kind of yoga Do you practice? Oh, I do this type. But then we divorced it from the original sort of rich tradition that it came from, and the sophisticated intelligence that it came from. So I started out my life as an engineer. I worked in the auto industry as an engine engineer, like literally designing engines for cars. Then I went to MBA school. I became in the management ranks of the auto industry. I rose up the management ranks. I went into the tech industry, and I was like, you know, it's all about the data. Show me the data, show me the science, show me the numbers. Then we'll make a business decision. And if somebody said to me in those days, hey, Vish, I have a friend who's an astrologer, I would have said, I don't believe in that stuff. That's kind of Woo, like there's no science there. I don't believe in that. That's kind of made up. Maybe it's a psychic pretending to be an astrologer. I don't know what it is, but whatever they're doing, I'm scared of it. I want to stay away from that. But, you know, before, like when I when I finished my university studies, I went to India to find myself as as many young people do you strap on a backpack, and I hitch hike across northern India, and I finally ended up in the Himalayas at an ashram, an ashram, a place of yoga learning, and I met a Teacher there, whose name happened to also be Vish. His name is yogurthi Vish, vaketu. And I started learning yoga from Vish and became a student of yoga. So I came back from my into travels from this Ashram, I started my corporate career, and every morning I would wake up and I would do my chanting, my oming, my meditation practice, my asana practice, and then I go forth to the world and try to conquer and be a, you know, a corporate executive. So for 20 years of my corporate life, I maintained a daily morning yoga and meditation practice. And at some point my business career started to have some rural challenges, and I went to my old friend, Vish, the yoga teacher, and I said, you know, Vishwa. Ketu, Vishwa, what do I do? My my having trouble in my business. He looked at me. He said, Oh, Vish, you do more yoga business. Your business will be okay. I was like, what does that mean? What does it mean with yoga business? I I'm not a yoga business person. I run companies. I run divisions. I start company, you know, I start businesses, but along the way, those words try to become true. Where I started bringing the teachings of yoga beyond the mat to leadership. And so about eight years ago, I started an executive coaching practice. And what I would do is I would work with executives who want to be better leaders and use the philosophy of the yoga system to help them be more conscious and more balanced in their leadership. What if you are a corporate executive impacting all of your employees, plus all of the people in the market that buy your product? What if you're just a little bit more conscious? Wouldn't that be a good thing, doesn't that help our world? So I thought my my role in the world is to bring a more conscious yogic way of thinking to leadership. And of course, today, leaders meditate. Leaders think about their impact on the world. Leaders think about themselves as a spiritually intelligent being. We went from IQ to EQ, emotional intelligence to spiritual intelligence, right? So along the way, as anyone studying yoga in a deep way, they were, they're going to come across Ayurveda, right? You've heard about Ayurveda, the mind body system. So Ayurveda is a system of mind body medicine healing, where you basically study somebody's mind body constitution, and you give them prescription or remedy to improve a disease situation in their life, how to fix disease. But what I did was I took Ayurveda and applied it to leadership. So in Ayurveda, there's a fiery type of Mind, Body constitution, an airy and an earthy. And I could basically give a questionnaire to my client. They'd fill it out, and I figured out they're a fiery leader, airy leader, or earthy leader, and based on that, give them a whole set of lifestyle remedies, like how to balance your lifestyle in such a way that makes you a better leader. But in corporate America, people cheat on assessments, right? So if you've ever worked in a corporation, you get this, Myers Briggs task or DISC profile or strength finder. You take these quizzes and you sort of based on how you've conditioned yourself, you sort of almost cheat to be more of a better leader, right? And so all my clients were coming out as this fiery executive type that I was seeing in front of me was something different. So I went by Ayurvedic mentor, and I said, you know, Dr Suhas. I said, Dr G my clients are cheating on the quiz. What do I do? He said, Oh, Vish, you just look at their vedic astrology chart. I was like, astrology. I don't believe in that. You, first of all, you're a doctor. I'm an engineer by training. You want me to look at an astrology chart? I don't believe in that. You. He says, no, no, no, not the Western astrology thing, not that newspaper horoscope thing. Look at their vedic astrology chart. It's accurate. It's accurate to the sky. I didn't know what that meant at time, but a few clients, I started to ask, hey, hey, Alex, would you share me with me your birth time? And Alex said, Yeah, sure, I will. I put down the birth time. I'd look at the chart. And I say, You know what? This is what I see in your leadership style. And clients over and over again were stunned. They're like, how do you know this about me? Like, how do you know what I've been trying to hide all these years in my career? And then we can have a conversation about, what are the strengths you really want to lean into? Who are you really and how do you bring that authentic self to your leadership? And of course, then that opened up a whole world, and I started realizing this Vedic Astrology system, this connects back to the original yoga system that I trained and studied in, and it became, in of itself, a spiritual path for me. So Jyotish, the Vedic Astrology system is a spiritual evolutionary path, just like yoga is just like Ayurveda is, and that's the conclusion I came to.

Alex Ferrari 11:05
Tell me the difference between Vedic Astrology versus Western astrology. Now I understand the newspaper that's kind of ridiculous kind of astrology, and kind of gives astrology a bad, bad, bad name, but traditional astrology, meaning Western astrology, when done correctly, is very accurate to my, from my my personal experience, and also having some guests who who follow that, that kind of astrology, which is exactly what you said, What's your birth time, exactly what's your birthday, and they could just read your chart and just go to so is that similar to Vedic Astrology? Or how does it differ from that version of astrology?

Vish Chatterji 11:46
Yeah, so, so yeah, the newspaper astrology or the cocktail party astrology is basically what month were you born, and then there's a sign that you're assigned to, and that's predicated on the fact that the sun is in a certain section of sky with a zodiac constellation behind it. So when they say, Oh, your son is in Taurus, they mean the sun is in the sign where Taurus was out in the sky. Then you go to a real astrologer, a working astrologer, Western astrologer, and they'll say, Tell me your birth date, birth time. And then they'll generate a birth chart, and based on that, they're going to zoom in on what they call a rising sign, and that is sort of the marker of your personality, and it changes every couple hours. Now what was interesting for me is the Vedic Astrology system uses calculations of the stars and the planets that are actually consistent with what you see in the sky. So this is important.

Alex Ferrari 12:34
It differs. It differs from the Western. Okay!

Vish Chatterji 12:37
It differs. So in the Vedic system, if I look at a birth chart, and I take my eyes away from the chart, and I look in the sky and use a telescope, or even in my naked eye, what I see, what I see in the sky, is consistent with what's in the chart. Because, again, the yoga system, the Vedic system, is about the truth. So what do I see in the sky? So we don't even call it a sign. It's a constellation. It's an actual thing that's there. What happened with Western astrology around the time that, I believe it was developed, let's say, 2000 years ago or so. They picked a point in space that was consistent with the Vedic system, but the western point in space that became zero degrees, Aries over time drifted every 72 years, it drifted by about a degree. So here we are sitting today, and that you know, in our time now, in 2025 and the system has drifted about 24 degrees of space. So what you thought was your sign is that could be one sign over. So that's what is tough in the Western astrology, the math to the sky is not accurate to the actual sky. But I believe Western astrologers are very intuitive, and so they use their intuition to sort of make up for the mathematical gap. But as an engineer, I'm like, let me start with good math first, and then hopefully I can apply some intuition to that and get something even more accurate. So that's, I think, the first thing. Now, some Western astrologers are correcting the math. They're using what's called sidereal calculations, and they're correcting the math. And what's interesting is, for Vedic astrologers, and you're a fan of Yogananda, a student of that lineage, we use a calculation that Lahiri developed. So yoganan is Guru that Lahiri calculation is what many Vedic astrologers use to map the accurate positions in the sky. Lahiri was credited with getting those positions right for all Vedic colleges.

Alex Ferrari 14:25
That's amazing. Yeah, he's, well, he's also the one that brought Korea yoga back, yes, to to just brought it back period, brought it back exactly. Yeah. When Baba G, when Baba Ji told him, Hey, you got to do it. And I was Lahiri, is one of my favorite of the saints, because I think it was Ram Dass, who's like, said, if you feel enlightened, go spend time with your family at the holidays. And I always, I always said the same thing. I'm like, you know Yogananda is super easy to find enlightenment when you have no kids or. Yeah, you know, but Lahiri was had children, and Baba Ji's like, we want to show people that you can find this kind of enlightenment spiritual path with children, with the responsibilities of being a parent and a family man and so on and so forth, and a householder as well. He was an accountant, if I wasn't mistaken, right? I think so he was, if he was an accountant or bookkeeper or something along those lines back then. But yeah, he's one of my favorite we could I can go on and on about.

Vish Chatterji 15:30
But that's what I found is in India, many of the astrologers are doctors, engineers, accountants, finance people by training, and so they have a household resistance, but they're also astrologers, and so they really understand the householder condition, like, what are the challenges? Because, you know, the yogi sort of runs away into the cave and kind of moves away from society. But I believe that a yogi should be part of society. It depends on your timing, right when is the right time? When is the right time in your life and when is the right lifetime to really move away from it all. And what is it helps us understand that, that's what I found.

Alex Ferrari 16:09
Yeah, it's the thing is that, and I've said that as well, and many have said that, that to you know, to go off to the Himalayas for 30 years and meditate in a cave, that's awesome, and that's definitely a path to go down, but in the world that we live in today, we need those Yogis to come down from the mountaintops and integrate themselves into society and influence leaders and people of power and start to spread these teachings in a way that is not So monastic as it used to be, but there was they were also waiting. And it's not just yogis, all mystics in general, from all walks of life. They they had to wait when, until society was ready to kind of accept and integrate these teachings. Because, you know, you're looking back even when Yogananda showed up doing what he was doing in the in the early 1900s I mean, he looked he was basically an alien. I mean, it was essentially having a predator walking around, not a predator like the alien predator, not a predator.

Vish Chatterji 17:11
People terrified. I mean, I mean terrified. Yeah,

Alex Ferrari 17:15
They never seen a yogi with a turban and in the dress and the way he spoke the way he looked, there was no they'd never seen it. Didn't even heard of India, let alone seen someone from India. So is it? It was? It was very terrifying at his time, and he had a lot of challenges, as did Jesus, as did Buddha, as did many of the prophets and the saints of their day. But in today's world, I think society has now gotten to a place where we're kind of ready and hungry for this information. You know, from the success of what you've been doing, the success of what we've been doing, there's obviously a hunger. People are very, very curious. Would you agree?

Vish Chatterji 17:52
Yeah, I think people are, well, there's a hunger, but there isn't a lot of discipline to do the work. Right? Absolutely right. So, you know, you go to the old guru of old times, and they say, Okay, do this exercise every day for 15 minutes. Stand on this leg, Do this, do this. And then you're like, why? You know, you do it for a week. And then at day seven, you're like, why am I doing this? Is this really the right one? Maybe there's a better one. Let me ask this other teacher. Wait, let me try this other style. You're sort of jumping around, and you never really make any progress because your your mind isn't satisfied. Like, at the end of the day, as Westerners, I'm Western, you know, I grew up in Hong Kong, but in western mindset, it's this questioning, like, why is that? Is that the right thing for me? So it's beautiful. About astrology for me was it became much more tailor made, like based on my birth circumstance, based on what the stars were doing at the moment I was born, it gives me much more fidelity and what's the right practices for me. So what I find is is for my clients, their intellect is satisfied to go on a spiritual path. And these are all spiritual paths, like yoga is a spiritual path, Jyotish, Vedic, astrology is a spiritual path in and of itself. Just like in yoga, you get overly obsessed with the body. You just work on your asana on the mat, and you forget about everything else. Same thing. Astrologers get caught up in the intellect, and this planet means this, and this sign means this, and they get they get lost in the intellectual and they lose a spiritual piece of it. So whether it's a yogi or a Jyotish or an Ayurvedic idea. Either way you have you cannot divorce from the spiritual part of it. Yoga has become so corrupted in the Western world, it has divorced itself from the spiritual connections, right? You go to yoga class, nobody's chanting anything. There's barely a namaste at the end. They skip shavasana these days, like it's like what's happened. But Jyotish, because it hasn't been as adulterated. It's still very pure. So most Jyotish have a mantra practice. They have a spiritual practice. They, you know, have an altar that they're making offerings to every morning. And when they look through the chart, they see the divinity of of the deities coming through the manifestation of that individual. So that. Where I feel like Jyotish is still quite pure as a system and still very connected to the ancient, ancient way of things being done.

Alex Ferrari 20:08
So what is the spiritual aspect of this Vedic Astrology? What I mean, other than the chanting and maybe an altar things like that, what are the spiritual components of astrology? Because that's something I have really never run into, like with astrology in general. It's a it's a snapshot, and it's kind of a guide, and it's kind of like what's been laid out for you in your in your soul plan and your life's plan are based on where you were born and timing and so on and so forth. But the spiritual concept of the spiritual aspect of that is, I've never really heard of that. So what exactly is a spiritual aspect of Vedic Astrology?

Vish Chatterji 20:47
Yeah, so like you said, the Western astrologer is looking at a snapshot in time, right? They've taken a snapshot, and they're trying to help you understand where your mind is at, right? Now, what's your personality? Just what's going on? Like, let's that's what people want to know. Why am I this way? Right? The Vedic Astrology system is much deeper. It goes into understanding what is your soul trying to do, right? So you could say Western astrology to look at the mind and psychology. Vedic Astrology look at the soul. And when you get down to level, Soul we're seeing, how does the soul then show up in the personality? Right? Because the personality can be corrupted with your ego. The more ego you have, the more you drift from your true soul nature. So the Western astrology, in a way, because it's a seasonal zodiac, it helps you understand where you're at right now, whereas the Vedic system helps you understand Who are you to begin with. How far have you drifted, and how do you get back to the truth, right?

Alex Ferrari 21:40
And when you say true, what do you mean by What do you mean by truth?

Vish Chatterji 21:43
So that's the truth. So the word soul is important, right? In Vedic system, it's called the Atma, and the soul is considered to be immortal. The soul cannot be cut by a sword, cannot be wet by water, cannot be burned by fire, cannot be dried by air, as per the Bhagavad Gita. So the soul is this, you know, enduring immortal entity that takes on different manifestations, different incarnations, right? And as you read in Yogananda book, this is like all around him, right? And so when the soul incarnates into particular lifetime, it shows up with a bunch of karma, a bunch of karma that has to be worked through. So the you know, the baby takes its first breath, it begins this journey. And it's going to be this journey of karma, you know, teenage years, middle school, marriage, kids, disease, strife, accidents, blessings, financial windfalls, all sorts of things, promotions, demotions, firings, all of that karma, right? And so the soul is about to go through this journey to learn whatever it needs to learn. And because the soul is divinely connected, whatever is in the soul is reflected in the heavens. In Sanskrit, we say Aham brahmasmi means I am the universe. So when you incarnate and you take your first breath, if an astrologer can paint a map of the heavens and look at the stars and planets, we're basically getting a reflection of your soul, and what is your soul trying to do this time around. So the Vedic astrology chart is basically a map of karmas that you will face in this lifetime based on whatever you've done in previous lifetimes. And so then you're like, Oh man, I got this roadmap, I got this syllabus, this lesson plan, of what my life is going to be, but can I do anything about it? And that's where yoga comes in. Yoga is one of the ultimate remedies to purify karma. So when you see a challenge in a birth chart, the best thing you could do is start doing serious spiritual practices, because those spiritual practices start to modify karma. How that makes sense? How does it so let's say somebody has a very aggressive Mars in their chart, and Mars a planet of violence and war and conflict and accidents, right? So you can see the person has strong Mars, the person is likely going to be accident prone, right? The more temper they show in their life, the more rash and aggressive they are, the more chances they're going to get into some kind of an accident that happens, like people like, Oh, I was rushing. I wasn't thinking, I hurt myself, right? That's a Mars energy. Well, how do we calm down? Mars energy, right? Mars is a planet that, likes needs to be cooled down. So if that person does some cooling activities, that person, let's say, goes to anger management training, some kind of therapy to understand where their anger is coming from, that automatically is going to reduces Mars energy, which will automatically reduce the chance of that accident. Now, from a yogic point of view, Mars is in Ayurveda, is called Pitta. If they eat a cooling diet that cools their system, automatically, the Mars energy will come down and they'll start to have less of extra prone, or from the Vedic Astrology side, you tell them, start worshiping a Fierce Deity, right, like Hanuman, very strong warrior. You start singing Hanuman Chalisa, and you're starting to attenuate that Mars energy, which reduces that karmic load that you had of of an aggressive Mars, and you won't have as many. I. Sense. So, so we're trying to attenuate these energies through Ayurvedic practices, lifestyle choices, yogic practices, spiritual practices, all of those things, because at the end of the day, we're here to manage our karma. You have karma. Do something about it.

Alex Ferrari 25:15
Vish I have to ask you, you know, you coming from a place of an engineering, you know, very logical, very, you know. And I know many engineers have engineers in my family. They're very like, dig the teeth math, it has to fit in a certain little thing. They're wonderful, wonderful people. But how did you wrap your head around all of this? You know, you're talking about karma and burning, you know, burning off karma and lightning, it then there's this, what's in the stars and, and this is my birth chart, and all the, how did you wrap your head around all these woo, woo concepts with an engineering and scientific background? Like, what was the thing that convinced you that this wasn't just a whole bunch of, you know, like, you know, snake oil, essentially, right?

Vish Chatterji 26:05
Yeah, it makes sense. So I think the first thing is that, as an engineer, I love to solve problems, right? Like, that's, that's what engineers get high on. So to solve a problem, first, you have to understand what is the problem, right? So you're driving down the road in your car, and there's a rattle, right? Is it the engine? Is it the ball joints? It's the suspension. You know, great mechanic, the fixing the suspension, but it turns out to do the brakes. So you got a root cause, right? So first you got a root cause. And so a lot of the problem solving technique of an engineer is, let me get to the root problem. Like in Toyota and the assembly line, they used to ask five, Whys something breaks? They'd say, why did it break? Why did it break? They'd ask five times to get to the root of it. So that kind of inquiry is very important. And I believe in Vedic Astrology is to really say, Okay, what is the challenge you're facing, and can I root cause it to a planetary, Planet system that is out of balance for that person? So root causing step one. Then, in car mechanics, you fix something, you're like, Okay, it's the ball joint. I figure out it's a ball joint. I need a new ball joint. I need to stick it in there and repair it, and hopefully it'll be better. And then when I put the new ball joint in, if the rat is still there, I know it didn't work. The rattles gone. I know I got the right problem. So that mindset applies to astrology, where somebody would tell me an issue they're having, I would root cause it for the planet, tell them to do a remedy for that planet. And three weeks later, I'd say, hey, has the problem improved? And they said, Oh, my God, this shifted. So when they would say, yes, it worked, I just got a feedback loop that this woo thing of this planet connecting to this, connecting this person's problem, something improved, but maybe I just got lucky, right? Hey, I just got lucky. So then it happens for somebody else and somebody else. And now, like, after 50 people have told me an issue, we've root caused it, and out of those 50 people, I gave them all these remedies, and 40 of them, things really shifted in the life and improved. I'm like, wow, that's a pretty good this system's working. So in a way, as an engineer, I'm constantly checking, am I making this up? I don't know how many times in reading, I'll say, Am I making this up? Like something happened to you back in 1995 it seemed to be like sexual in nature. And I don't know, I'm hearing myself, I'm making this up. And the person be Oh, my God. How do you know about that? I never even told my therapist about that, and I'm sitting there going, how did I know that? How did that happen? You know? So, so you start to get this reassure, this almost feedback loop that says, You know what? There is some logic here. There is some science here. There is some system. It's just we can't measure it, because there's so many variables, right? There's a planets, there's a sign, there's a person, but what are they doing about it? Like people, you know, human beings, we sometimes we make bad choices, right? We don't always try to prove ourselves.

Alex Ferrari 28:46
So it's basically very evidential, like you are you're getting that's how you basically got sucked in. As you say, if this world is, is that you just continuously got feedback like, this is working? I don't believe it, but let me keep trying. I don't believe. Okay, well, it's obvious there's something going on, and you just kept testing it, as a good engineer would continue to test, to test the structure, to see where the faults were, to see where the where the structural integrity is it solid, and you just kept testing and testing it to the point where, like, it's solid, it's it's working,

Vish Chatterji 29:21
And can it be replicated? Because when I started my astrology work, I didn't, I didn't have the intuition that other people have, right? So, you know, you go to Western astrologer and they're like, they're not only looking at the chart, but they have this incredible intuition. So they're adding things up, and they're coming up these incredible insights. I'm an engineer. I just need the data like, I want this to work. I want to be able to look at your chart without applying any intuition and make an accurate assessment of who you are. Now, if I can do that without any intuition, without any woo woo abilities, and I layer in those woo woo abilities, then it's next level, and that's what I believe, like a solid what Vedic Astrologer has this accurate playing. Field, in addition to their intuition, that makes it remarkable, and that's why there's this sort of ability to really predict things to a date and a time in somebody's chart, in the Vedic system, very, very powerful for predictive, but also very powerful for remedial. What can I do about it? All right, you're saying, you know, somebody's saying, Look, I've been trying to have a relationship. Every relationship I get into is disaster. They never last more than a year or two. What do I do? How do I improve my relationship? Please. Vish, I want a partner in my life. And then I'll look in their chart, and I'll say, Oh, well, partnership is usually Venus. Venus is love. Oh my gosh. Their chart has some challenge with Venus. It's low in degrees, or it's impacted by another planet. They've got a problem with Venus. They're telling me that problem with Venus. I'm seeing a problem with Venus. Let me tell them to start doing some Venus remedies. Now, for instance, start worshiping a female goddess, a beautiful, gentle female goddess like Lakshmi. Start worshiping that. They start doing some mantras. They start doing some practices randomly, quote, unquote, randomly. They meet somebody a few weeks later, I'm like, Well, how did that happen? Or they say, you know, Vish, I'm not really comfortable with this whole Lakshmi thing. I don't know, Vedic Indian system. Oh, well, you grew up Catholic. Okay, well, what about going to church and lighting a candle to Mother Mary and doing a round of Hail Marys on your rosary? Oh, yeah, that's what I grew up with. I'm okay with that. They do that same energy, same energy. So that that's the thing is, I'm as an astrologer, looking at energetic patterns and trying to adjust certain energies that are out of balance in that person's life. How you adjust those energies? Pick a system. It doesn't have to be the Indian system. Pick a system. They all lead to something.

Alex Ferrari 31:39
That's what I was going to ask you is like, well, a lot of people might have a problem with mantra chanting and that kind of stuff, but you're absolutely right. If, if you're doing prayer, prayers to Mary the energy is that the intention is the same. It's just the the the rapper that you were brought up with, the programming that you were brought up with, that's what you're just comfortable with, you know, and same goes for every other walk of life. So if you can take the ideas of what you're learning in Vedic Astrology and apply it to your own system, it could work for people who have a problem with going down what we just talked about with, like, the chanting and this definitely, you know, or praying to a to a Hindu God, they might like, ah, you know, I don't feel real comfortable talking to Vishnu, but I do feel comfortable talking to, yeah, Jesus or Yeshua, you know, or Buddha or something along those lines.

Vish Chatterji 32:29
Exactly, right! So I think there's a combination of energetic shift and placebo effect taking place. So in a remedy, you start, let's say, praying to Vishnu, there's a placebo effect and an energetic effect both taking place. So if you're already not believing it, you just lost the placebo part of the effect. You just got spiritual or the energetic part of it, right? So if you pick something that you're comfortable with, you get both the energetic shift and that sort of faith and belief part of it, or placebo, whatever you're not call it. But I also believe, in addition to having the faith for the remedy to work and committing to it and doing the work, if you do something that you're did in your childhood, it gives another point of activation. If you do something that your ancestors used to do, it's even more powerful, right? So if five generations your ancestors all did this similar kind of ritual, and then you don't do it anymore, and you want something to fix in your life, when you do that ritual, you have a multiple effect more than adopting somebody else's

Alex Ferrari 33:35
Why? Why is that?

Vish Chatterji 33:38
So there's in astrology The principle is, is Rahu and Ketu, which are these very powerful activating points. But when you do something that's been done for generations, it's like the energy signature is already there. Like, I had a client who was Italian and knew that his ancestors worshiped the planet. The Romans, the ancient Romans, worshiped these deities the planets. So I'm like, just do that, because it's in your DNA. And those Roman gods are sitting there twiddling their thumbs, going, God. Everyone forgot about me. Nobody remembers me. And then you just all of a sudden show up, and you're like, and then the Roman god is like, Oh yeah, you're one of mine. Like, I remember your grandfather. And great grandfather, great great grandfather, used to do this. Now you're doing this. Okay, I'm gonna give you a boon. So there's sort of this tapping in to forgotten traditions that were of your lineage and ancestry that really activate in a big way more so than if you adopt somebody else's. So I would always say, combine like do, always honor your traditions with whatever you're adopting your own life.

Alex Ferrari 34:39
When you said, when you said that, you start praying to the Roman gods, the planets, you know, like that, that thing, and they're just sitting around twiddling their thumbs. A lot of us thinking about that, and this is where I think there might be a stumbling block. And I love to hear your thoughts about it, going back, let's say I'm Greek, and I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna go to Zeus. Okay, I. I'm going to pray, pray to Zeus, or Aphrodite, or any of the 1000. They almost gave it. They almost gave the Hindus a run for their money with the amount of gods they have. Though Hindus still are the kings of the amount of gods.

Vish Chatterji 35:13
Have a lot of gods, but big lines, very long lines. You you want to talk to Bishop, getting lions, exactly. Very busy right now, right?

Alex Ferrari 35:21
But my point is, when we think about Zeus, we think about a deity that was basically conceptual, not a human person, not a like you know, Jesus was someone who walked the earth. Buddha was someone who walked the earth. Yogananda was someone who walked the earth where Zeus is more mythical, more story. There's nothing great there. So we're, If I would to pray, let's say I'm Greek, and I start to pray to Zeus. Is it to the energy of a Zeus, because there wasn't an actual Zeus on a Mount Olympus? Or am I just overthinking it?

Vish Chatterji 35:55
It's such a great question. Alex, so in India, many, many deities, right?

Alex Ferrari 36:02
What is this like 5000

Vish Chatterji 36:04
Like 30 million?

Alex Ferrari 36:06
I mean, there's so many. There's everything. Yeah, there's one of everything.

Vish Chatterji 36:11
But how many gods are there in Hinduism? Yeah, is it polytheistic or monotheistic? Hinduism is actually a monotheistic tradition. There's only one God. There's one god with many, many forms. So the idea is that, and this is the Vedic system, which then Hinduism derived from Vedic system. The concept is that God is beyond our understanding, too complicated, too esoteric and abstract for our mind to comprehend, right? But that's who so it's like, if I want, let's say I want, I want my stock to go like, I invest in the stock, and I want to do really well. So I would never do this myself, but let's have a pray to God and say, Hey, God, please make my stock price go up, right? So, but I can't figure who that God is. I'm just like, it's this entity, big, omnipresent, everywhere I like who. So now make this finance God that's like, covered in dollar bills and stock, and maybe has a bowl it looks like stock market, and now I start worshiping that, because it's this representation or archetype of money and stock. Sure, good, good or bad. Let's suspend judgment. That's an archetype. So each of the Hindu gods, or each of the Greek gods, are an archetype that allows our mind to kind of focus in on something like, I want love in my life, I worship Lakshmi, and she's gives that kind of love energy. So when you worship the Deity, you're using the deity as a stepping stone for your mind to concentrate, but eventually you go beyond the deity. So even if I worship Ganesh, when I worship Ganesh, the goal is to go beyond him and realize he's just a form. Beyond him is the true without form.

Alex Ferrari 37:55
Okay, so what you're saying, so what you're saying is these gods that we are focusing our attention on if they're basically a tool for us to focus, so, like a zoom, for us actually leapfrog right to focus first, then go beyond afters. But without the without them, it's too difficult to go somewhere else. You need their doorway to kind of go beyond them, but you need them to go and whatever that flavor is, for you

Vish Chatterji 38:20
To focus your energy right now. Who are you really focusing on? The idea is you're actually activating the energy in yourself, right? Because, as the Vedic tradition understands that God is within you, the Divine is within you, the super being is within you. So when you're worshiping this particular stock market, you know, archetype, or whatever we came up with, you're actually worshiping that archetype in yourself. You're activating that energy signature at your soul level, which, when your soul level gets activated, it shifts the circumstances your life to make that change happen. Now, then you bring in somebody like Buddha or Yogananda or Jesus. These are humans, right? That walk the earth, but they had this god connection divinity. So by worshiping them alone, they become the vehicle to the Divine, their vehicle, right? So, so, you know, Jesus is like a guru. He says, like, I will suffer for your sins. That's what a guru does. Like, you have a bunch of bad karma, I'll take it on for you, all suffer and you'll be be better. So if you just pray to that, that human that walked the earth, who has divine connection, that being clears up your karma as well. So it doesn't really matter what path you pick, the religious traditions, the spiritual traditions, they all get you to the same place. And as an astrologer, what I'm doing, I'm saying, okay, here are the challenges in your chart, and there's different levels of remedies. If you're open to your religion, if you're open to spirituality, those remedies are very effective. If you're not open to those there's other things, like, you know, like you let's say you were very violent in a past life. You were a warrior, and you destroyed and killed a lot of people you that's coming back on you. You may have a lot of challenges with with Mars energy in your life. Start donating to veterans projects. Start volunteering and helping warriors. I have a very difficult Mars in my chart. I do a lot of work for, you know, ex combat soldiers. I help them and help them through their PTSD. Help them through their you know, managing everyday life. I make donations to veterans organizations, and that way I'm sort of paying off the karma that I owed. It's not a spiritual thing. I'm not, you know, I could be sitting there worshiping a warrior deity, but instead, I'm just doing active volunteer work and donations in that area of life. So the remedies are really quite a range. It doesn't have to be a spiritual thing.

Alex Ferrari 40:36
So I have to ask you this question I've asked a lot of times on the show, and you've because you've mentioned past lives. To my understanding, there is no such thing as a past life or a future life. All lives are happening at the exact same time, which is very difficult for our little brains to compute, to compute when you're saying past and this comes from mystics. I've spoken to channels and many other people. This concept kept coming up, and I get it, and they use the analogy of like, like a stack of records or a stack of plates or something like that. And you can kind of jump back, they're all playing at the same time, but you can kind of jump back and forth between them, if you will. It's a weird it's hard for us to understand, because we have to, it's a lot, yeah, we have to have in our, in our in our minds, there has to be a beginning, there has to be an end. Because that's all we know when we hear the concept of God like he's always been, or it's always been. Source has always been and will never not be. Your soul has always been and never has there was no creation of the soul. The soul has always been. This is just a different expression of it, and so on and so forth. So have you heard of this? Everything's happening all at once. And if you did, how do you how do you wrap your head, or your engineering head, around it?

Vish Chatterji 41:50
Well, I mean, first of all, is your past life happening right now, or is it happening in the future? Has it not happened yet? That's also not known, right? And your future life could have already happened, so you don't quite know. And just like a deity like the reason we pick a statue and a form is to give our human mind something to grasp on to activate our deeper soul at the end of the day, we're using the intellect that is a God given gift of ours, right? We have the intellect, the ability to process and think in order to activate a deeper soul level. So same thing with with lives. If I say, hey, in your past life, this happened, your mind can kind of wrap around it and understand, therefore this life, I have to do something about it. And at the end of the day, we're talking about this life right now. Does it matter if the past life is happening simultaneously, if it's going to happen the future or happen before it doesn't? Because the remedy of what you have to do is right here and now. Like, like, Rhonda said, Be here now. That's all that matters. So when people say, oh, I need to do a past life regression. I need to know what I was in a past life, it's like, Be here now. Is the answer. Be here now. But because our mind is so curious, the framework of the past life was in the past, the future life is to come, allows you to then do something with your life, right now, right? So, so even sometimes people ask me about the you guys, what you got, are we in? I'm like, I don't know. It's like, you know my my role is to help counsel people and find a way to improve their life situation, improve their karmic situation. Whatever explanation I have, if it works for that mind, then that's what I'll use. But I don't have to get into the sort of the debate of, you know what Yuga and what life is, when, and all that. It's not so relevant.

Alex Ferrari 43:27
Well, since you brought, since you brought the yugas up, which, to my understanding, the yugas were presented to us by Yukteswar in the holy science. Is that correct?

Vish Chatterji 43:37
That's what I understand. Yeah, yeah.

Alex Ferrari 43:39
So that he brought this. And for everyone listening, Yukteswar was the guru of Yogananda, the direct guru of Yogananda. So according to the yugas, we start off here in enlightenment. There's a circle. Here's enlightenment, here's the dark ages at the bottom. So at 12 o'clock, it's enlightenment. We're as close to source as possible. At six o'clock. We're in the dark ages. And it's a 26 or 24th I always get them confused, 26 or 24,000 year cycle, we are now, to my understanding, on our way back up, which kind of makes sense. The Dark Ages was basically those 500 years that nothing got done, like it was just literally the Dark Ages, until the Renaissance came, and then everything started to come back up. So we're on our way up. I wanted to hear what the Vedic Astrology, or what you've seen in Vedic Astrology, in regards to humanity's lifeline, humanities, where we are, where we're going, because it seems, and I talk about this a lot, because I think it's really important to allow people to understand what's happening right now. We are going through a very chaotic time, and it seems to be speeding up. Time seems to be speeding up. Things are happening so much faster. Technology is growing very fast, everything and things that worse old systems, old. Institutions are cracking and failing and showing the weak points that they never did before. I always use the Vatican as an example. When I was growing up, you know, you couldn't. There was Rome. It's like the Roman Catholic Church. You couldn't that didn't know wrong. Obviously, since then, there's been a couple of hiccups along the way, and people are and people are leading organized religion in by the by the millions, looking for something deeper, something that doesn't have the dogma, doesn't have the fear base. Yeah, so while the world is going through so much a little bit of, not a little bit, but a lot of chaotic things, I love to hear what astrology has. A vedic astrology has to say about humanities, where we are, where we're going, where where we are in its cycle right now, and where we're going to be going over the next 50 years, 100 years. Because I do believe that there is a shift in consciousness. There is absolutely a shift in consciousness throughout humanity. Or else, you and I wouldn't be having this conversation in a public forum that could possibly be seen by millions of people. So I'd love to hear your thoughts on it, what you've come across?

Vish Chatterji 46:01
Yeah, so the the argument of you guys is debated by scholars, right? Some scholars say we're in the middle of the darkest time right now. Some people say, No, we've come out the other side. We're getting out of it. And you know, because, again, I'm focused on the individual and the individual's journey. What really matters for you is the most important thing, right? Where are you in the cycle? Are you rising to consciousness? Are you in the depths of darkness? Because we each go through our micro yugas in our own being, in our own life, sure. And you know the US which is, which is where you and I are based. At this point, there's a birth chart for that. There's a birth chart for the Vatican. And so as an astrologer, I will pull up a birth chart of any company, individual country, and look at that birth chart and see what is it going through. And if I pull a birth chart for the US, which is, I pick the date, July 4, 1776 around 5:30pm in the evening, I figure that's when the last signature and the document was ratified as a birth time. And based on that birth time, we are in what's called sad desati, which means Saturn going over the moon. And what happens in a human being? It's all the foundations and structures they believed in are being torn down for them to finally feel so desperate that they look up in the heavens and try to connect to the divine. That's what happens for a human being. You get torn down. Everything you relied on gets pulled away, and you finally get pushed in the corner. You have nowhere to look but up. And if I apply that to a country, could I say that at the US right now, we have lots of things being torn down. We're starting to question who we really are, and we're starting to look up and say, Please give me an answer. I need to know something. I think it describes it quite well. And so if that's an accurate, you know, understanding of the US birth chart, then it is a time for us to have a reckoning and figure out, what do we really stand for as a nation, but also as an individual. Who are you? Because if you're born in this country, you're living in this country, in this Yuga, then it's a question to you as well, based on what's happening in your country that you live in, what does that mean for you? What choices are you making that are moving you towards wholeness, and what choice are you making individually that are moving you away from wholeness, away from your soul? So you know this idea of like, what is your next level soul existence? That's what's coming down to, how far have you deviated from who you really are? And it really doesn't matter what side of the political spectrum you are, it's everybody's having that question, what do I really believe in? What do I really stand for? And so that's the whole point of this Vedic Astrology system. Is to try to discover your soul. And what is it truly trying to do? And losing. Forget about judging. Oh, they did this bad. They did this good. What does it mean for me? What does it mean for my journey?

Alex Ferrari 48:47
It's official. It sounds so you said something really interesting, that it's like that you that people are starting to ask themselves, what do I stand for? Who truly am I? And it sounds like the reason that we're having these deep contemplations on a mass level now, hence why you know this kind of work, these kind of shows are becoming more and more popular, is because earlier in in human history, we were told who we are. We were told by institutions, by politicians, by leaders, by business, by medicine, by every institution around the world told us what to do. But now the belief in those systems are starting to fail, because we've seen the cracks. We've seen the we've seen the wizard behind the curtain in like in Oz. So we're starting to question everything. Now, I mean, when you and I were growing up, you and I are of similar vintage, you know, the news was the news. Didn't question the news. That was just never a thing. You just watched the evening news, and whatever they said was pretty much what it was. Now, there's fake news, there is skewed news, there's skewed mass media. Even Hollywood films, even music, even book. There's, it's, it's all skewed now to different political or agendas and things like that. So now we're it seems like there's a lot of chaos, because we're not being told what to do anymore. We're trying to figure it out. Because now that the institution that you believed in is starting to crumble, as you were saying that these institutions are starting to fall, then you need to look inward, which is scary. We don't want to look inward. We a lot more, lot. Most people just want to be told, Hey, what I don't want to do throughout history humanity is like always looking for someone else to give them the answer. Because if they look inside themselves, they have to take responsibility. If I'm following a leader and they screw up, you can blame them and, you know, and hang them or burn them at the stake. But when it's inside, it's different. So is that what you think is happening right now with people? Because it seems like there's just seems to be a lot of like, you know, chickens without heads around there.

Vish Chatterji 50:58
So let's say your truth is here. Your truth is right here, and you never want to look at it. So you take in all the influence of the outside world, and you drift to here. So now you're way far out, right? You've formed an identity and a being that is completely removed from who you really are because of what everything told you to be. I believe our purpose of human life, every lifetime, is an opportunity for us to come back to our true center. Whatever that is, your center, my center are going to be different, but your job has come back to your center. My job has come back to my center. And because of family conditioning, media conditioning, the world around us, our teachers, our friends, our we drift from who we really are. And the more you drift, the more the planets start to try to correct you, especially Saturn. So Saturn is the course correcting planet. Saturn wants everything to be in line with truth. Saturn is a planet of almost the cruel truth. So the more you drift, the more Saturn comes in and starts tapping on your shoulder, saying, Hey, you're a little far off. Come back in. You ignore it. So now the tab becomes more of a pounding. You keep ignoring it. Then Saturn puts you in a hospital bed. That's how Saturn works. And finally you're like, Oh, this is who I am. And then you come back. So the more that you automatically come back to your own truth, the less pounding Saturn has to do on you, the less misery it has to inflict on you. So in all situations in life, whatever time of history we're in, it's always about you as an individual, finding your true soul purpose, your true soul truth, and the more you drift from it, the more pain you're going to feel around you, and all the stuff happening, whether it's in your state capital, your country's capital, another nation, in your family's home, in your neighbor's house, whatever it is, everything happening around you are all like in a way, the universe communicating with you, and the way you're reacting to it tells how far you are from your own truth. The more inflamed you're getting, the farther you are from your truth. You know Yogananda, if he's walking the earth today, he's not bothered by any of that. He's not he's living in his truth. Jesus, when he walked, he lived in his truth, right? So that's in a way, these beings that walked like Buddha or Jesus or Yogananda or Krishna, or any of them, we're trying to become like them. We want to walk the earth in such a way that no matter what's happening, our center remains grounded and we're true to our center, and the planets are just serving their purpose in helping you discover that they're not. They're trying to inflict evil. The end of the day, the planets are there to help you find your truth. And so Vedic Astrology is a practice to try to help somebody connect to their true soul being live in accordance and harmony with your soul.

Alex Ferrari 53:49
So if the US, as you pulled the US chart, and we use the US, for example, but this could be applied to any, any chart for any country, if you can find the date of its, you know, birth, if you will, close to it, according to your chart that you pulled in the US you're saying right now, things are being pulled down, destroyed. There's a reckoning with what we are going to figure out who we are as a nation, who we are as individuals within that nation, and what part in the world do we want to really play, as far as the the play that we're playing or the movie that the movie that we're playing in the earth. So where does this go according to the chart, in the next 10 years, in the next 20 years, next 40 years, where does the US is chart, since you brought the US up go and then how does that interact with other did you pull charts for other, other countries, other things like that. I'd love to hear that if you did.

Vish Chatterji 54:44
Yeah, so there's a whole branch called mundane astrology, which is the astrology the mundane world. And those astrologers pull charts all the time of countries. You know, I focus on individuals, like people, and then based on what I know about people, I'm trying to apply it to a country's chart. And see if it sticks or not, right? I don't spend a lot of time analyzing the US charter, just for my own sometimes just my own comfort. I'm like, okay, it seems crazy. And then I look, I'm like, Oh yeah, it is crazy. Okay, good few I have to worry about it. We're just supposed to go through this, right? And you know, the way I look at it is, you know, where we are now is the best serve to deliver the karma that we all deserve. You know, as as a nation, you know, I'm an immigrant here, but I'm an American now, like I became an American citizen. So for me, this is my adopted country. This is this is where I am. And so I've tied my karma to it. So whatever America has done in the past, good or bad, it's tied to me now, because I've made this my home. And so for all the bad things America has done. We have to suffer. And so I'm going through that suffering in my own way, as we all are so but when I look at the US chart, this sadasati, the Saturn over the moon, when it's happened for people, I remember this client I had who kind of the first sadhsati I really zoomed in on? I said, Wow, February of 20. What? I think it's 2016, or 17. I said to him, you're gonna go through some really, really trying times. Gonna be some challenges. How are you gonna stay sane through it? How are you gonna stay happy through it? Was the question I'd asked him, and he didn't believe me, but he came up with some things. I like to do this for fun. I like to do this for fun. So I put him on some homework to do all these fun things for that amount of time so he can get through the period. And I never heard from him again. I was like, I wonder what happened to the guy. Two years later, he shows up, and two years about that span of that crazy time, he said, You'll never believe it. Vish, my wife served me divorce papers on the date you said, She kicked me out of the house, I became homeless and my job fired me, all within the same three weeks, and I literally didn't know what to do with myself, except for that list of fun stuff that we came up with. And that's what I leaned into, and that's what got me through the time. And I thought, That's horrific. You lost your home, you lost your wife, you lost your job, you lost everything. That's gotta be the lowest, like, you know, crushing. And then he said to me, yeah, but I looked back, and it turned out that it was the most powerful time in my life where I really found myself that stuck with me. It's like he had to go through that pain to find himself. Is that where we are as a country now? Do we have to go through some pain now and in four or five years, will we look back and said, You know what? That's when we really discovered who we are. Maybe?

Alex Ferrari 57:25
Isn't that what happened during World War Two, like we we decided, as a country, who we were going to be, before, after, before, during and after World War Two. I mean, the power of the United States was based around winning and winning World War Two and all the things that we established around the world, the petro dollar, all that, all that was created basically because we won, and we were the great liberator and all that stuff. But we decided that was a very tough time, many a lot of lost lives and the greatest generation and all that kind of stuff. But that was a turning point for the US, as was the Civil War, as was the Revolutionary War. These were moments in time that we were challenged as a nation. Yeah, and I think we're, I think we're ramping up. I don't think it's gotten as bad as it's gonna get. I think we're ramping up for some, for a little bit of trying times. Wouldn't you agree?

Vish Chatterji 58:22
I feel like that the peak of it was actually around Covidtime, based on the chart, around that timing was really the peak, and we're sort of coming down from it. So, you know, it's hard to say, because, you know, what do we see on the news? Is it? How accurate is it? What is the rhetoric and what's really the truth behind it? But from an astrology point of view. I think we're on the just past the peak and hopefully improving. I'm a little bit more hopeful than that, but I feel hopeful. And the US also has a very blessed chart. It is a very blessed land. It's very blessed nation and and I think that, you know, in the long run, we're moving towards good. In the long run, we're moving towards, you know, where Sagittarius rising is the chart that I have, which is ruled by Jupiter. And Jupiter is a very powerful benefic planet that is a good, generous kind planet. And I think we'll move towards that. But, you know, it's a, it's a correction, like you it's like, you know, you have to think of the long span of time, like, what will things be like in 20 years? What would things be like in 10 years? Right now, we're just stuck in, what's it going to be like next week? And I, you know, that's,

Alex Ferrari 59:28
I mean, listen, listen, right now. I mean, 2025, started off with a hell of a bang already. So there's a lot of stuff that happened in the first in January, and it's been, it's like, holy crap. This just started this year. Just started as of this recording. So we're, like, really interested to see where it all goes. One thing I wanted to ask you about humanity's awakening of consciousness, what is from your studies in the Vedic traditions? Is Is this a time where humanity is awakening? Is it that it is raising its consciousness, as if you go with the yugas, we're moving towards a higher level of consciousness? Hence why we're able to access so much more technology, much more knowledge, the internet's connected us like this. I mean, this is pretty magical, if you if either of us would have told, told the story to ourselves when we were 10, we were like, you're out of your mind, or this, for God's sake, that's right, it would have been sci fi complete. But look, this is the world where. So we're accessing a lot more information now, and we're becoming, I think we're becoming more conscious, but I'd love to hear your thoughts,

Vish Chatterji 1:00:40
Right! But that consciousness is also susceptible, right? So, you know, technology is the domain of mercury and Rahu these are kind of the two energies. And you know, Mercury is a teenager energy, so it doesn't always know what to do with its knowledge and information, like Jupiter is the wise teacher that has the wisdom, but may not be very tech savvy. Mercury is very tech savvy. Has a lot of information, but not a lot of wisdom. So, and that's kind of where, you know, are we raising consciousness becomes the question and the story. And, you know, Vedic Astrology is full of mythology. The mythology was that Jupiter ran an ashram, a learning center, and Jupiter was kind of the Guru, the teacher and his wife kept saying, hey, come, come, let's make love. And he's like, no, no, I don't I don't have time for that. I need to do my rituals. If I do all the rituals, then our marriage will be fine. So she kind of, like got bored of him and ended up eloping with the moon. So the moon and Jupiter's wife eloped, and they had a kid called mercury. And Mercury was really bright, shining, smart kid, but this legitimate son of Jupiter. And so when, when they returned to the ashram, Jupiter is very upset, but he found the boy so charming, he adopted him and said, You know what you can be, my own son, because the moon, who was the guy who had the affair already flipped off to the next relationship. So we always remember that Jupiter and Mercury. Mercury is like an adopted son of Jupiter. Jupiter is the wisdom of the ages, but sometimes not very practical, and can let his wife kind of drift away because he's too busy doing rituals. And then Mercury is full of information, full of knowledge, very charming, but doesn't have the wisdom of the years. And so when you think about consciousness rising, yes, we're getting very tech smart. We have aI now, right? But how do we use it in the right way, without the Jupiter grounding? So you don't want to get so caught up in religion and rituals that you forget about practicality, practicality. But you also want to be so into tech that you forget about the grounded use of it. So this, you know, the Jupiter has to adopt mercury in a way, and we have to have a way to ground ourselves in our spiritual practices, so that when we access technology and all this information, we use it in a wise way. Now, is that happening on a global scale? People get wiser, more conscious, they love technology, and they stop their spiritual path, and they get lost in the tech that's the challenge. So yes, I can see a little bit of consciousness rising, but keeps falling into over intellectualization and a lack of the wisdom stuff. So my advice to everyone listening is, you know, yes, embrace technology. You can't ignore it. You can be like a Luddite, but the same time, don't forget your spiritual grounding and spiritual practices. Like, if you're going to use AI, fine, but have a good, solid morning practice of your spiritual work, the SI, like the spiritual intelligence. Get that working, get the human intelligence working. Then employ the technology. But don't get so lost in the technology that you've forgotten the humanity. I read the other day that somebody made a boyfriend on AI and was spending 50 hours a week with their AI boyfriend. It's like you you lost your basic human consciousness there, right? So it has to be basin. So I believe is consciousness rising. I can see it bits and spurts, but it comes up to our responsibility if we continue the consciousness rising, or we get tricked by our own innovations.

Alex Ferrari 1:04:03
I think that the curiosity and the searching has definitely ramped up. But I agree with what you're saying that people, because people can get addicted to just watching spiritual podcasts or reading spiritual books or taking spiritual courses, but they don't do anything with it. They just by listening to it, it's or watching it is enough for them, but they actually have to listen to what is being said in these shows or in courses or in books and actually put it into practice. And that's where I think a lot of people like you said at the very beginning, they lack the discipline to do that because it's hard. You know, it's a hard waking up every morning, being, being, you know, being, doing your spiritual practice every single morning, without fail, it takes, it takes a lot of of, you know, energy. To do that and discipline to do something like this, you know, unlike like the yogis on the other side, when they went into a cave for 30 years, you know, and barely ate and met and meditated for 10, 1215, hours a day, that's another level. But there was no balance. There was so far off the spiritual they were disconnected, essentially from the earthly plane at that point, you're disconnected from the earthly plane, where masters, like Yogi like Yogananda and Jesus and Bucha, they balance the two so beautifully. And that's where I think we're supposed to be here, because if you go so far into the spiritual well, why are you here? Like, what's the point of you enjoying this third dimension, right? Does that make sense?

Vish Chatterji 1:05:41
If you're born into buloka, buloka means the earthly plane. To me, it's like the Disneyland of karma. You're in a Disneyland to work through your karmas, so you can't bypass it, right? Like if you're born into bulaca, if you're born into Disneyland, you got to go on all the rides. You got to go on all the rides to burn off the karma. So if you try to bypass it, won't work. The Karma will catch up. If you are a serious spiritual aspirant, you can transcend all that karma and burn it off and purify it and then, of course, go into enlightenment. But even if you're trying to learn right, you're listening to podcasts, you're listening to teachers, you're reading books, you're not really getting the information. If you don't have your spiritual practice, like even in the Vedic Astrology books, when you read the texts, they're very cryptic. Information is not in the words, even Patanjali, Yoga Sutras, right? You read the word like even the first one you read yoga, chitta, Vritti, nirodha, number two, right? It's like yoga is a cessation of the fluctuation of the mind. You could spend a lifetime just trying to know that one sutra. It's just one line, but to really get the information from it, you have to open up the spiritual channels. So when you do your morning sadhana, it's called sadhana, your morning disciplines where you're connecting the divine, your yoga practice, your pranayama, Asana, Gyan meditation, all the right. Yama Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Dharana Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana Samadhi. You do it all together. You open up certain channels that when you hear somebody speak, you're capturing the information that isn't communicated in the words. When you read a text, you're capturing information that isn't written in that line. You're able to see and absorb between the lines. So whatever is happening in the world, you can better deal with it and read between the lines if you have that disciplined practice and that every yoga through Yogi through the ages has preached morning sadhana. That's the most important thing.

Alex Ferrari 1:07:36
So Vish, if anybody wants to get into Vedic Astrology, what? What would be the first steps, besides obviously buying your book astrology decoded, what would be the first steps that someone could go, go down the rabbit hole?

Vish Chatterji 1:07:50
Yeah, so when I first came across Vedic Astrology, and I was getting more interested in it, I started picking up the books that were out there, and I got confused very quickly, like I just found them really complicated. And even when I started having clients ask me, Hey, how do I get into it? And I'd give them, you know, the beginner, beginner book, they'd be like, Oh my God, there's too much chapter one, I'm lost. So my goal with astrology decoded was to put a book out there that is really an on ramp, a basic, basic understanding of how to just get your dip your toes in the water. So I just covered the basic Here are nine planets that we use in Vedic Astrology, and here are their personalities. Mars, the fiery warrior, Saturn, the disciplinarian. Mercury, the technology, you know, technology whiz. Understanding those planetary energies is the first step, and then noticing how they're showing up in your life, right? So my assignment would be read about each planet, and then notice, oh, there's this really techy person come my life. That's mercury. Oh, this really angry person, red face. Okay, there's a Mars energy. Oh, there's somebody who's very full of love and harmony and wants, but, okay, that's a Venus energy. So notice these energies showing up in your life? Oh, there's a wise teacher speaking. It must be Jupiter energy speaking, right? Then in my book, I get into the signs, which are just expressions of the planets. So Sagittarius is one expression of Jupiter. Pisces is another expression of Jupiter, and that becomes a little more subtle. So it's about observing the world around you and noticing the planets are constantly playing with you every step of the way. They're always there, showing up in different ways. Then if you start to feel like, okay, this is working, this communicating, you can obviously pull your chart right? I have a chart calculator on my site, Vish chatterjee.com you just put in your birth info, and it'll generate a birth chart for you, the accurate position to the sky, the real positions in the sky. And I'll tell you, this is your rising sign, and this is the planet that rules your rising sign. That planet becomes the most important thing for you start to honor that planet. I've got a bunch of remedies in there, of things you should do, like, if Saturn is the rule of your chart, you must be walking every day Saturn likes so. Low walking movement. If you have Mars as the ruling planet, start doing exercise every day. It's vigorous exercise, simple things, right? So just start to develop a relationship without getting lost in intellect and this sign means this and this prediction this, start to, like, develop a relationship with this family of karmic agents.

Alex Ferrari 1:10:21
Beautiful, beautiful. Now I'm going to ask you a few questions. Ask all my guests, what is your definition of living a fulfilled life?

Vish Chatterji 1:10:28
I would say living in alignment with your soul karma. So you could say your soul karmic blueprint. So when you understand your astrology chart and you live to that, you start to find fulfillment automatically. And you can do that either by understanding your chart, living to it, or just doing yoga. If you're truly doing yoga, in it full sense, you automatically get there. You don't need a chart. That's that's the point.

Alex Ferrari 1:10:52
If you had a chance to go back in time and speak to little Vish, what advice would you give him?

Vish Chatterji 1:10:56
I would say, don't worry about it. So don't worry about it. Don't Don't worry so much. Don't sweat all the details. Don't sweat. The small stuff would be one of the things I would say, and the other is, everything that's happening to you is happening for a reason. It's all moving in the right direction. Don't let it trip you up.

Alex Ferrari 1:11:13
How do you define God or Source?

Vish Chatterji 1:11:15
Beyond definition.

Alex Ferrari 1:11:16
What is love?

Vish Chatterji 1:11:17
God

Alex Ferrari 1:11:20
And if you could ask God or Source one question, what would it be?

Vish Chatterji 1:11:25
Would it be a question or a request?

Alex Ferrari 1:11:29
Go for it. Either one.

Vish Chatterji 1:11:31
The request would be to just be more apparent every day, every moment that would be the request. Can you be more apparent and more obvious every moment. And the question would be, why aren't you more obvious, more apparent every moment? But then he, she, it becomes very apparent and very obvious every moment. So it's like constantly getting answered.

Alex Ferrari 1:11:55
And what is the ultimate purpose of this life?

Vish Chatterji 1:11:58
To connect to your soul, to connect your your divinity in your soul.

Alex Ferrari 1:12:04
And how do we find out more about you and the amazing work you're doing in the world? And pick up a copy of astrology decoded.

Vish Chatterji 1:12:09
Yeah, astrology decoded is available worldwide. Everywhere books are sold. You can also go to vishchatterji.com, V, I, S, H, C, H, A, T, T, E, R, J, I.com, and there's links to the book, there's links to calculate your own chart, and if you want to find me, you can find me through there.

Alex Ferrari 1:12:25
Vish, it has been such a pleasure talking to you, my friend, I had a ball talking to you. I learned a lot about Vedic Astrology today, and hopefully this will help some other people go down the road of Vedic Astrology and help them, help them awaken and find what they're looking for. So I appreciate you and everything you're doing to help awaken the planet, my friend. So thank you again.

Vish Chatterji 1:12:43
It was a pleasure, Alex. I love this conversation with you, and I'm sure by now you understand it is part. It is fully a spiritual system to your question.

Alex Ferrari 1:12:53
Yes. Thank you, my friend.