Monday, August 23, 2010

Lal Kitab Predictions - How to get accurate Lal Kitab predictions?

We all know that Lal Kitab is excellent system of astrology. It is among very few systems of astrology that can not only foretell accurately but also give remedial solutions to the problem. For predictions, Lal Kitab method is quite similar to some of the Nadi texts of South India. Lal Kitab predictions are mostly based on inter-relation of planets and signs are given almost no importance.

There is a caveat though. Knowledgeable Lal Kitab astrologers are in scarce. There are lots of astrologers who pretend to be Lal Kitab astrologers with good Lal Kitab predictions knowledge, but have limited knowledge when it comes to actual Lal Kitab application.

So, the question is how to get quality Lal Kitab predictions. I can offer few suggestions -

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Which is the best Lal Kitab Book?

Long back I had written an article by the name of "Which Lal Kitab Book" to tell Lal Kitab students which are the good and the bad books available on this subject. The article was written in year 2004 and since then, much water has flown through the Ganga. One very important development is that now almost all five editions of Lal Kitab are available in Hindi, which gives Hindi readers more options. Today, somebody asked about Lal Kitab reference books in my Lal Kitab discussion forum and this was my answer (with some enhancements) -

Lal Kitab is not a name of one single book. There are five books published during year 1939 to 1952 written by Pt. Roop Chand Joshi. One need to read all those books to understand Lal Kitab fully. In my opinion 1952 edition is the most exhaustive and must be the first book to be read by all Lal Kitab enthusiasts. 1952 edition also covers most of the content in previous editions and hence kind of super-set of all Lal Kitab editions. The best transliteration for 1952 edition is available from Pt Beni Madhav Goswami published by Himanchal Publications. It can also be obtained from Sagar publications. In case it is not available, one can go for "Arun Samhita", published by Hare Krishna Trust, Chandigarh. It is not as good as 1952 edition by Pt Beni Madhav Goswami, so can be taken as only secondary substitute.

Due the nature of language used in Lal Kitab, it is very difficult to understand in one single reading. My suggestion to Lal Kitab students is that one need to read and reread Lal Kitab to understand it. Also it is important that you make your own notes while reading the book.

For further reading, I would suggest reading books in following sequence -
  • 1942 edition (Lal Kitab - Tarmeem Shuda): Hindi transliteration of 1942 edition by Pt. Beni Madhav Goswami is available from Durga Pocket Books.
  • 1940 edition (Lal Kitab ke Armaan): Hindi transliteration by Pt. Beni Madhav Goswami available from Himalaya Publications/ Sagar Publications
  • 1941 edition (Lal Kitab - Teesra Hissa, also known as Gutka): Hindi transliteration by Yograj Prabhakar available from Rahul Computers, Patiala
  • 1939 edition (Lal Kitab ke Farmaan): Hindi transliteration by Pt. Beni Madhav Goswami available from Himalaya Publications/ Sagar Publications. This is primarily a book on Palmistry aspect of Lal Kitab.
Two other recommended books are -
  • Lal Kitab Prishthabhoomi Aur Vyakhaya by Pt. Krishna Ashant
  • Lal Kitab Aur Kashta Nivaran by Sumat Prasad Kalka
Both of the above books are good introductory books, but have some serious shortcomings. For example, reasoning behind remedies is flawed in both the books. So wherever these authors have explained the working of Lal Kitab remedies, those sections should be ignored. Also Pt. Ashant book's section on background of Lal Kitab does not seems to be correct where he questions the authorship of Pt. Roop Chand Joshi. Probably both the books -Krishna Ashant's book and Arun Samhita - questioned the authorship to avoid copyright issues. Sumat Prasad Kalka's book has listed remedies for all nine planets in twelve houses. That is not only incorrect but also risky, in my opinion. Remedies should always be suggested by analyzing the overall chart and should not be given for individual planet position. Lal Kitab has given detailed grammar (rules for analyzing chart) and the cause of problem should be identified using the grammar and the remedies should be suggested to solve that particular problem. In other words, last two books should be used with caution.

Note:
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Monday, February 16, 2009

Lal Kitab in Hindi

As we know, Lal Kitab is originally written in regional Punjabi-Urdu language in Nastaliq (Urdu) script. During the time of writing, Urdu script was among the most popular scripts. Though as we know that Hindi language has taken over the language and Devnagari has become standard script for Hindi in India. There are quite a few Hindi transliterations available in market and more details can be obtained from my other post - Which is the Best Lal Kitab. Here I would like to write about online Lal Kitab in Hindi.

Update: July 31, 2012 - Recently, AstroSage.com has also published Hindi translation in Devnagari/ Unicode format online. Check it out - Lal Kitab in Hindi | लाल किताब हिन्‍दी में

A Hindi transliteration of 1952 edition of Lal Kitab (last and the most detailed edition of Lal Kitab) is available at Scribd at -
http://www.scribd.com/doc/3926068/1952vol1
http://www.scribd.com/doc/3926454/1952vol2
http://www.scribd.com/doc/3926313/1952vol3
You can read it online or download it in PDF format.

1941 Edition of Lal Kitab is available in Hindi to download from -
http://www.archive.org/details/LalKitab1941

Apart from this, two other editions of Lal Kitab books can be found in Lal Kitab Yahoogroup's file section (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lalkitab/files/). Here are name of two files -
  1. lal-kitab-in-hindi.pdf
  2. Lalkitab-Hindi.pdf
Please note that you need to be a member of above forum for downloading these two books.

I would generally advise to buy the printed books rather than online books, as now a days good transliterations are available in Hindi. Most of the online books are having too many errors or not good in terms of quality. Lal Kitab 1941 book mentioned above is an exception which is as good as the print edition of 1941 edition.

Sunday, February 01, 2009

Free Online Lal Kitab Book

A free online book on Lal Kitab can be found at -

http://www.astrosage.com/lalkitab/LKintroduction.asp

This book in English serves a good introduction and reference.

Monday, December 29, 2008

What is Lal Kitab?

Lal Kitab is one of the branches of Vedic Astrology like KP System, Jaimini Astrology, Tajik Astrology, Nadi Astrology etc. I mean you can judge a kundli (birth chart) using various different methods and Lal Kitab is one of them. Lal Kitab method of birth chart assessment has been developed by Late Pt. Roop Chand Joshi. He has written five books all by the name of Lal Kitab and hence the name. The first book was written in year 1939 and the last & the fifth book was written in 1952. Lal Kitab is famous primarily because of its easy remedial measures. Lal Kitab talks in details about the remedies (upaya) that one can perform for various problematic planetary positions in a birth chart.

The language used in Lal Kitab is Urdu/Hindi popular during 1939-1952 period and written in Urdu script (Nastaliq). The language of the book makes it difficult to understand and that is the reason there are not many astrologers who understand Lal Kitab. Most of the astrologers use name of Lal Kitab just to make money without any in-depth knowledge of this system.

Lal Kitab remedies if correctly suggested and performed can be very useful. Though as I mentioned not many astrologers have the knowledge of this subject and they suggest remedy based on their half-baked knowledge. Mind you that the remedies of Lal Kitab can also backfire if incorrectly suggested or performed.


References:
http://www.astrosage.com/lalkitab/

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Lal Kitab Free Astrology Resources

Free Lal Kitab Books Download
Download Lal Kitab (in English)
Download Lal Kitab - Arun Samhita 1952 Edition (in Hindi)

Free Lal Kitab Software
http://www.astrosage.com/
http://www.mykundali.com/

Discussion Forum/ Mailing List
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lalkitab/

Other Resources
http://www.AstroSage.com/lalkitab/

If you know any other resource on Lal Kitab, please leave a comment with the information and I'll update this article.

Sunday, July 06, 2008

Which Lal Kitab Book?

Which Lal Kitab to Refer?
Which one is the original Lal Kitab?

Above questions are raised again and again in our Lal Kitab discussion forum. So I decided to give answer of the question a permanent URL. I'll try to give some definite answer to the best of my knowledge. There are many books by the name of "Lal Kitab" available in the market and it is really difficult for a new student to get the right one.

My answer depends upon what language you can read best. There are five editions of Lal Kitab written during the period of 1939 to 1952 by Pt. Roop Chand Joshi. Details are as follows -

1. Lal Kitab Ke Farman, 1939, 383 pages
2. Lal Kitab Ke Arman, 1940, 280 pages
3. Lal Kitab third part, 1941, 428 pages (Also known as Gutka)
4. Lal Kitab Ke Farman, 1942, 384 pages
5. Lal Kitab, 1952, 1173 pages

First four editions were published by Sharma Girdhari Lal (cousin of Pt. Roop Chand), at Hazi Press, Lahore. Last edition i.e. 1952 edition was published at Narender Press, Delhi.

As you can see the last edition i.e. 1952 edition is the most exhaustive one and sufficient for start learning Lal Kitab. You can get more editions after becoming acquainted with Lal Kitab basics.

Photocopies of original Urdu editions are available in market. If you can read Urdu well, there can be nothing better than that. Go get the photocopies of original Urdu editions. But if you cannot, it becomes more difficult and depends upon which language you can read better.

ENGLISH
1. The best choice in English is available in the form of Lal Kitab translated by Goswami and Vashishta and published by Sagar Publications. It is mostly a translation of 1952 edition with some additions from 1939 edition. It is a well proofread and neatly printed. Right now, it is the best (and probably only) choice available for English readers. Though, in my opinion, the quality of translation is not very good and so this book must be used in conjunction with any other book.
2. Lal Kitab (The Exposition & Background) by Pt. Krishna Ashant. It is not the recommended book by experts. But as not many options are available, it is not a bad idea to take help of this book. Mr. Ashant has left out many important topics without which you will find yourself guessing. Also he has created few of his own hypotheses that may or may not be true.

HINDI
1. There are four Arun Samhits available from Arun Publications, Chandigarh. It is not mentioned which Arun Samhita is translation of which edition of Lal Kitab. Details are as follows -

I. Arun Samhita (Lal Kitab) Jyotish, Rs. 549/-, Translation of 1952 Edition
II. Arun Samhita (Lal Kitab) Hast Rekha Vigyan, Rs. 275/-, Translation of 1941 Edition
III. Arun Samhita (Lal Kitab) Samudrik, Rs. 149/-, Translation of 1939 Edition
IV. Arun Samhita (Lal Kitab) Chaturth Bhag, Rs. 270/- , Translation of 1942 Edition

I found all above four editions useful. In my opinion, 1952 edition (Arun Samhita Jyotish) is more than sufficient to start with. 1952 edition is well translated but not that well proofread. Quality of printing is also not good in comparison to English Translation. But remember beggars are not choosers. It is direct translation (rather transliteration - only change of script) from Urdu, it is quite close to the original Urdu edition. For example, I have seen loss of meaning at some places in English (Goswami and Vashista) translation but you will not find this problem with Arun Samhita. Here you can apply your own mind, if you have basic knowledge of Hindi. Quality of other Arun Samhitas is even worse but again you don’t have many options other than to apply your own common sense.

2. As mention in English section, Hindi version of Lal Kitab (The Exposition & Background) is also available in market by the name of "Lal Kitab (Prishthaboomi aur Vyakhya). As options are available in Hindi, I don't think it is a good book anymore.

Other than above two options, highly priced photocopies of Hindi translations are also being sold in market claiming the 'original translation' in Photostat format. Personally, I was never able to believe whatever written on these photocopy editions due to misprints and errors. Please go for them on your own risk.

These three books are also worth noting -
1. Lal Kitab Aur Kashta Nivaran By Sumat Prasad Kalka
Publisher:
Arun Publication House Pvt. Ltd.
SCO 49-51, Sector 17C, Chandigarh - 160 017 (INDIA)
email: nebaaph@sancharnet.in, arunpublishing@hotmail.com

2. System Of Progression and Curative Measure By R.S.Chillar.
Publisher:
SAGAR PUBLICATION, 72,Janpath, Ved Mension, New Delhi-110001(India)
Phone No. 91-11-23320648, 91-11-23328245 Email: sagarpub@del3.vsnl.net.in

3. Horoscope Reading Made Easy and Self-Learning By U.C. Mahajan
Publisher:
PUSTAK MAHAL
Fax: 91-11-23280567, 91-11-23260518 Email: pustakmahal@vsnl.com

Other than our Lal Kitab group, It is all what you require to learn Lal Kitab. Please refrain from various other translations and helpbooks available in market.

Lal Kitab Aspects (Tewa Ki Drishti)

What is difference between 100% and 7th aspect

I had not long written any post for this blog. So I decided to revive this blog with my aspect posting in Lal Kitab group. I hope it will be useful for learners of Lal Kitab. Here is my answer -

Every planet can aspect 7th from it's house. Also there is 100% aspect which is applicable only in case of 1st to 7th house and 4th to 10th house. IMO 100% aspect is given precedence over 7th aspect of planets.

In case of 100% aspect -

1. We will take the result as complete mix of both the planets in aspected house.
2. If the aspecting planet is giving good result in the house occupied, it will give bad results for aspected house. But this good or bad effect will be applicable only to the relative signified by aspected planet.

In case of 7th aspect -
1. It will not be a complete mix but it will be seen as a location shift for aspecting planet.
2. Again the aspecting planet will give the result as it is situated in aspected house for the aspected planet.

More details can be found under the heading of "Graha Drishti" in Lal Kitab. As few examples are already there, I din't find it useful to repeat them here.

What you need to learn Lal Kitab?

When I started learning Lal Kitab, it was not easy. Understanding Lal Kitab is difficult task due to untraditional Urdu language. And moreover it is difficult to know that out of many books, which one is the true Lal Kitab. There was no one to help me.

But now I can say precisely what resources can help you in learning Lal Kitab. You need only two things, one is Lal Kitab and other is Lal Kitab discussion group. If you can understand Urdu, go for Urdu Lal Kitab. Otherwise you can use Arun Samhita (Hindi Translation by Dr. Arun) or English Translation by Goswami et al. In fact, for learning any subject you need to study the theory of the subject and need some practical. Theory or practical alone will not be much useful. Now the Lal Kitab forum can assist learners of Lal Kitab very well. There are many astrologers who have good command over Lal Kitab. I have seen some good discussions are going on. So if you are interested in learning Lal Kitab, join the group and read the achieves.

Here I want to salute the expert Lal Kitab astrologers (we call them Lalkitabists in the forum) who are selflessly helping others in learning this great branch of astrology.

Download Lal Kitab

One Lal Kitab in Hindi can be foudn here on Lal Kitab yahoogroup -
Download Lal Kitab (in English)
You will have to be a member of this group to download any file. A Lal Kitab student will find many useful resources at this location. So go get it.

Lal Kitab in Hindi can be downloaded from here -
Download Lal Kitab - Arun Samhita 1952 Edition (in Hindi)

If any visitor of this website knows about other Lal Kitab download links, please let me know. I'll publish it here.