Vedic Astrology and Mental Health Part 3: Using the ‘tarabalam’ for a quick scan

Hari Om Namo Narayana!

The previous part of this series was all about leveraging the power of planetary placements for a quick analysis. This time we go deeper into the ‘tara‘ concept. Why ‘tarabalam‘ before ‘nakshatras‘? Well these are quick techniques. So moving in order of speed. In the order in which I personally analyze a chart as soon as I start a session.

Tarabalam can be absolutely amazing when being used to help understand what a particular planet is really capable of doing.

I know, the ‘avasthas‘ and the degrees, placements etc. all get a lot of attention and focus from astrologers around the world. However, the single thing that gives me the best idea with just a quick scan about what a planet is really capable of doing or not, is looking at the taara that it sits in.

Understanding the Tarabalam concept

What is the tarabalam now?

So the tara is a natural progression of co relation between the planets and the natural ‘vimshottari dasha‘ system.

Let me explain how this works.

See, in the ‘vimshottari‘ system, the order of the ‘mahadashas‘ is fixed. Which ‘dashas‘ a native goes through or doesn’t in this lifetime depends completely on which nakshatra they are born in.

This is why not everyone will long enough to go through let’s say, ‘rahu mahadasha‘. This is also why some people will undergo a particular ‘mahadasha‘ early in life and learn important lessons related to that planet and some people will have tough lessons to learn towards the end of their life.

Vimshottari Mahadasha order & significance

So the order is as follows:

1. Surya mahadasha (A planetary time cycle lasting 6 years corresponding to the Sun)
2. Chandra mahadasha (A planetary time cycle lasting 10 years corresponding to the Moon)
3. Kuja mahadasha (A planetary time cycle lasting 7 years corresponding to Ketu)
4. Rahu mahadasha (A planetary time cycle lasting 18 years corresponding to Rahu)
5. Guru mahadasha (A planetary time cycle lasting 16 years corresponding to Jupiter)
6. Shani mahadasha (A planetary time cycle lasting 19 years corresponding to Saturn)
7. Buddha mahadasha (A planetary time cycle lasting 17 years corresponding to Mercury)
8. Ketu mahadasha (A planetary time cycle lasting 7 years corresponding to Ketu)
9. Shukra mahadasha (A planetary time cycle lasting 20 years corresponding to Venus)

The purpose of each mahadasha

Is to indicate the alternating currents of priority and expression corresponding to the energy of that ‘graha‘.

For example Venus mahadasha is a time period corresponding to themes of luxury, beauty, relationships and aesthetics etc.

Ketu mahadasha is a time period corresponding to themes of Ketu which are introspection, reflection, spirituality, withdrawal past life karma etc.

Similarly each planetary time cycle corresponds to the attributes of that planet’s energy.

• Now, if let’s say you are born in the nakshatra of Sun i.e. any of the 3 that it rules which is ‘Krittika‘, ‘Uttaraphalguni‘, ‘Uttarashadha‘.
  • So according to this specified order, it means that the first mahadasha the native will undergo in life will be Sun’s mahadasha. After that, following the natural progression, the native will go through Chandra period, Kuja period and so on.
    • Why? Because the first mahadasha or planetary time cycle, is always going to correspond to the planetary ruler of the nakshatra of the Moon.

• Let’s say the native is born in the nakshatra of Saturn i.e. any out of the three nakshatras Saturn rules which are ‘Pushya‘, ‘Anuradha‘ or ‘Uttarabhadrapada‘.
  • This means that the native will first undergo ‘Shani‘ period and after that following the natural progression, the native will go through ‘Buddha‘ period, ‘Ketu‘ period, ‘Shukra‘ period and then, since there are only 9 planets, the cycle continues from the top i.e. ‘Sun’ period, ‘Chandra‘ period and so on.

How the Tarabalam system works

• The nakshatras ruled by the same planet as the one ruling your Moon’s nakshatra will be for you, the first tara i.e. the ‘janma taara‘.
  • For example, let’s say you were born when Moon was in ‘Ashlesha nakshatra‘ and you have your Venus in ‘Revati‘.
    • Then we will say that Venus is in your ‘janma tara‘. Why is that?
      • Because ‘Revati‘ and ‘Ashlesha‘ are both ruled by Mercury.

In the same way, as we progress, we view the planetary placements wrt the ‘vimshottari mahadasha’ progression as I showed above in points.

• So let’s say you have Moon in ‘Ashlesha‘ and Mars in ‘Rohini‘.
  • Then which tara is Mars in? What is the tarabalam of its placement wrt the native’s Moon?
    • Well, since ‘Ashlesha‘ is ruled by Mercury and ‘Rohini‘ is ruled by Moon, you count from Mercury to Moon following the ‘vimshottari mahadasha’ progression.
    • Which means that Mars is in the 5th tara. Fifth tara means tarabalam = ‘pratyari’ i.e. the creator of obstacles.
      • This means that expressing qualities associated with Mars as indicated in the individual’s jyotisha blueprint will correspond to themes of struggle and overcoming struggle, obstacles.

Just scan for the ‘Naidhana Tara’: The 7th tara

The tarabalam basically tells you what planetary energy on a basis of perception, gets more force and what is perceived as struggle or difficulty.

• Now, every tara has a different meaning and I will go into that when I do a separate series on the taras.
  • For the purpose of this article, I shall cover only the most important and relevant concepts that can quickly help you understand the chart better by looking at the taras.
• So out of the 9 taras, the 7th tara is the one most prone to giving health issues and even causing death sometimes but mostly I have seen mental health issues. It forces a death of identity more often than actually ‘death-like’ situations.
  • In fact, it comes as little surprise since the 7th tara is called the ‘naidhana tara‘, ‘naidhana’ meaning ‘death’.
  • In major periods of the planet placed in the 7th or the naidhana tara and let’s say if the ascendant itself is placed in this tara, then the native can experience a lot of anxiety, depression and mental health related issues.
  • This is like, I have seen this with 100% strike rate till now. I’m not joking. I’m dead serious. I am yet to come across a chart where a key planet is placed in the ‘naidhana taara‘ and the native doesn’t seem like they’re carrying a burden they can’t speak about.
    • So if you’re ever looking at chart and the client has issues with mental health, by all means refer to a trained psychologist yes, but also know that it is the planet sitting in the ‘naidhana taara‘ that is causing the problem and that’s the one you need to find the remedy for.
    • If it’s the ascendant then most probably this is a general theme in the native’s life and the native possible has encountered all sorts of mental health issues, obstacles, health problems and/or accidents and conflicts that have given them mental health problems in some way or another.

So that’s that.

Now, the second part of this article is about understanding a very important aspect of the tarabalam concept that actually you know, revolutionized my way of looking at chart once I read it.

Two planets in the same tara may be considered as conjunct.

• You know how when there is a ‘parivartana yoga‘ and we consider those planets in a tighter conjunction than even a proper conjunction?
  • I hope you knew that. If you didn’t, now you do.
• When two planets are in ‘parivartana yoga‘, you can consider them more tightly conjunct than even an actual conjunction in a single house if it occurred between them.

• In the same way, two planets in the same taara actually behave like a conjunction to a huge degree.
• And watching out for this, when you’re reading a chart, can give you such amazing clues within like, 5 seconds!

Hari Om Namo Narayana!

Vedic Astrology is not superstition. It is a vast, layered system of pattern recognition and human psychological interpretation emerging from Vedic, Upanishadic, and Puranic insight.

Over 8 years, working across time zones with thousands of individuals, I’ve integrated this system with behavioural science, psychology, NLP, and CBT — creating a structured method that delivers clarity and impact far beyond symbolic chart reading.

If you want to learn astrology not as information, but as applied transformational practice, join the Astro Life Coaching Practitioner Program.