How to read dashas

Introduction

The Dashas are the most fascinating aspect of Vedic astrology because you can predict which life events are likely to unfold. You can also ascertain a time window when it's going to be a good time or a bad time for you. That is the beauty of astrology: you can make better decisions. You can ascertain the best time for marriage, your career, travel or education. You can figure all that out from the Dasha table.

When you read the Dashas, you'd like to know which aspects of life are going to be affected, whether the time is going to be good or bad and how the Dasha is going to be felt. Is it going to be a quick, sudden life event, or is it going to be a prolonged phase of suffering or good fortune? We can answer those questions with the help of Bill Gates's birth chart.

Begin with Moon and Dashas

This is the birth chart of Bill Gates, and I'm going to go straight to the Dasha table. Here you'd find time period one, two and three. As per Vedic terminology, the first time phase is Mahadasha, the second is Antardasha and the third is Pratyantardasha.

This is determined by the exact position of the Moon. If you go back to his chart, the Moon is in the Nakshatra of Uttara Bhadrapada. The ruler of that Nakshatra is the starting Mahadasha. How far you have gone through the Mahadasha will be determined by the degree.

Saturn's Mahadasha is of 19 years. That's for everyone. But given the exact position of the Moon, he had already gone through a certain section of that 19-year phase of Saturn at birth. So you'll see that he did not go through the entire 19 years after birth.

After Saturn, he entered Mercury's chapter, which would last for 17 years, and thereafter he entered Ketu's Mahadasha. When I talk about Mahadashas, I'm referring to time period one changing.

Chapters, stories and subplots

Let's step back. Let's look at the Dasha table as a book on your life. In this book, several chapters are written. Those chapters are the Mahadashas. So earlier, he was born under the remaining part of Saturn's chapter, then Mercury, Ketu, Venus and Sun in this order. And within those Mahadashas, think of the Antardashas as the stories unfolding.

I always look at the Antardasha more keenly than the Mahadasha because the Mahadasha can range anywhere between 6 years to 20 years. So it's a long period of time. Very important life events happen in our life which last for just a few months.

If you're getting married, it's likely to happen over a space of maybe a month or a year at most. If you are going to get promoted, for example, you'll get to know a few months in advance and it'll happen very quickly. Antardashas are very important. Most of your important life events will be determined by which planet rules the Antardasha.

Then the Pratyantardasha: think of this as a subplot. We have a main chapter, which is the Mahadasha; then we have the stories unfolding within that chapter; and then we have a subplot going on on the side, which is the Pratyantardasha. The Pratyantardasha can also help you narrow down a specific time phase.

Narrow the marriage window

His most important life event in this example is marriage. He was married on 1 January 1994. At that time, he was going through Venus, Jupiter and Venus's chapter: Venus Mahadasha, Jupiter Antardasha and Venus Pratyantardasha.

Jupiter in his chart is the Darakaraka, the planet holding the lowest degree, and that represents our life partners.

If a person is going through the Antardasha of the ruler of the house of marriage, the seventh house, or the Darakaraka, the probability of marriage is quite high. When specifically would the probability be high within Jupiter's chapter? When the Pratyantardasha is also promising, which Venus is. Venus's chapter is always going to be promising for a man when it comes to marriage, as Venus represents a man's life partner.

Jupiter is the Darakaraka and Venus is the Pratyantardasha. The point I'm trying to highlight is that when specifically a certain life event could take place can be narrowed down through the Pratyantardasha. Jupiter's Antardasha creates the possibility of companionship, and Venus's Pratyantardasha creates an even greater possibility. He was married at that time.

He was always meant to marry after his mid-thirties, given Saturn's strong influence on the marriage house. Saturn rules the marriage house in both charts.

The 120-year cycle

The Dashas of different planets rule our life, and the sequence is common for everyone. Your starting point can be Mars. If you have your Moon in a Mars-ruled Nakshatra, you would be born under the Mahadasha of Mars.

After Mars, the sequence is Rahu, Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury, Ketu, Venus, Sun, Moon and back to Mars. That is a 120-year cycle. Ketu's Mahadasha lasts for 7 years, followed by Venus for 20, Sun for 6, Moon for 10, Mars for 7, Rahu for 18, Jupiter for 16, Saturn for 19 and Mercury for 17.

Once again we come back to Ketu. This entire span is of 120 years. That's how the Dasha table is. Your starting point is determined by the Moon's Nakshatra, while its exact degree determines how much of the starting Mahadasha remains at birth.

Identify affected houses

Once you determine from the Dasha table which Mahadasha, Antardasha and Pratyantardasha planets are currently ruling your life, which aspects of life are going to be affected by these planets? Let's start with the Antardasha.

As a methodology, first look at the houses occupied by the Dasha planets. If, for example, Saturn's Antardasha is going on, Saturn is found in the marriage house and you are in your twenties, there's every chance you're going to face some difficulty in getting married. That's the inherent nature of Saturn, and the aspect of life that's affected is the seventh house.

You must also look at the houses ruled by these planets.

Judge nature, sign and Nakshatra

How is the Dasha going to be? Is it going to be a good Dasha or a bad Dasha? That would be determined firstly by the nature of the planet. Planets like Saturn, Rahu, Mars and Ketu are known to create complications in our life.

With Saturn there can be frustrating delays. With Rahu and Ketu, we can go through significant life events which happen suddenly and change the course of our life. On the other side, Venus and Jupiter are linked to growth opportunities. The understanding of planets is therefore important.

The other very important exercise is to look at the Dasha planet and its position in your chart: the house, but more than that, the sign and the Nakshatra it occupies.

The Sun's Mahadasha

For example, in the case of Bill Gates, he has the Sun in the Nakshatra of Swati. If you have been a student of Vedic astrology, you would know the Sun is debilitated in this constellation. I dislike using the words debilitated and exalted for academic reasons. In readings, I never use them because then we start having an extreme view of planetary positions. In any case, Sun-Swati isn't a strong position.

When he was about to enter the Sun's Mahadasha in March 2002, eighteen to twenty months before the beginning of the Sun's chapter, while he was under Ketu, he began to move away from the role of CEO. He stepped down from that role.

By the time he entered the Sun's chapter he was no longer the CEO. During the entire Sun's Mahadasha, given the Sun is weak in his chart, he was not the CEO. Steve Ballmer, who he hired in a different time phase, became the CEO, and Bill Gates was actually kind of reporting to him.

The Sun symbolises the position of power we are meant to occupy. Since the Sun is weak, during the Sun's Mahadasha he did not remain a CEO.

Read the Moon chapter

In March 2008 he moved into the Moon's Mahadasha, and the Moon in his chart is in the Nakshatra of Uttara Bhadrapada. If you analyse Moon in Uttara Bhadrapada and its position, you'd understand this is a combination belonging to social workers. Whenever the Moon and Saturn have a relationship in your chart, you're going to be very inclined to serve society, and Uttara Bhadrapada is ruled by Saturn.

In 2008 he started taking his first active steps towards the social welfare sector. He started a foundation and fully transitioned out of his role at Microsoft to work for society.

Do you see how perfectly his life is aligning with the change of chapters? I'm referring to the Mahadasha change taking place from Sun to Moon. From the beginning of the Sun's chapter, he lost his position as CEO. He chose not to be in that position. Circumstances created the need for him to step down. Then, under the Moon in Uttara Bhadrapada, which is linked to social welfare, he started a foundation and invested his time on a full-time basis in serving society.

Combine D1, Navamsha and Dashamsha

You can determine which effects the Dashas are going to have on you based on the nature and position of the planet in your chart. When I'm referring to the position of a planet, please also take into account the positions in the Navamsha and Dashamsha charts. Have a holistic picture.

These are the houses that can be affected, and this is the position of a planet in all three charts. I always take into account the main chart, Navamsha and Dashamsha and then anticipate: these houses are likely to be affected and this is the likely effect. I know it can be a bit complicated. If your basics are strong, you can determine what might unfold in your life.

Harvard break in Ketu Mahadasha

In 1975, right at the beginning of Ketu's Mahadasha, he decided to step aside from his educational programme at Harvard to start an IT firm. Ketu is linked to letting go of things, and Ketu's Mahadasha was going on when he let go of his educational programme.

Educational programmes, in my view, are linked to Jupiter and Mercury, and Mercury and Ketu share a relationship in the Navamsha. He was meant to break the status quo and do something significant and sudden.

When you give up on your educational programme, it's not a prolonged exercise. It happens suddenly, and that is what Rahu and Ketu's chapters or Dashas are known for.

Steve Ballmer in Ketu–Saturn

Within this chapter, Ketu's Mahadasha and Saturn's Antardasha, he hired Steve Ballmer, the one who would later become the CEO of Microsoft.

Why is this important? The seventh house is all about partnerships, and the seventh house in this chart, in both the main chart and the Navamsha, is ruled by Saturn. Whilst you are going through the Antardasha, the story section of your life linked to the seventh house, there's every chance of starting a relationship or business partnership.

He hired Steve Ballmer somewhat as a partner, as he later became a partner.

Read the Venus chapter

An interesting life phase followed in Venus's Mahadasha. He had success after success, and Venus in his chart is in Vishakha in the fourth house.

His idea was to come up with a product which can be used in the household, to bring computing power into the household essentially. Household products are seen from the fourth house, and the fourth and the money house are jointly ruled by Venus.

During Venus's chapter, Venus is super strong in his chart, in Vishakha and in its own sign. During Venus's Mahadasha, he made money by selling a household product. That's how I see it.

Check all three levels

One particular Antardasha that I'd like to highlight is Mercury. During Venus's Mahadasha and Mercury's Antardasha, Mercury is ruling the third and twelfth houses in his chart.

If you combine all of this, you'd find the person to be a creative storyteller or someone who likes to express an opinion in the public domain. A Mercury-Chitra kind of person is someone who has an art of storytelling.

During Mercury's Pratyantardasha, he wrote one of his best-selling books, Business at the Speed of Thought.

What I'm trying to say is that under Mercury's Antardasha, given your life stage, it depends what might unfold. If you're a young person in your teenage, for example, Mercury's Antardasha can lead to you starting a learning programme. If you are in your 20s, you could be starting your master's programme. Later in your life, you can, under Mercury, take up a certification programme.

Alternatively, if you have combinations and some artistic talent, you can also publish your views or write a book, for example. This was a good time for him to convert his ideas into a story and publish that book. You can again link that life event with the Dashas.

Read the 2021 chronology

His life can be perfectly explained by the Dashas. In May 2021, he was going through Mars, Saturn and Rahu. If you do a generic analysis, Mars, Saturn and Rahu's chapters can be a very difficult time, as all three planets can create complications. That's their general effect. The most important among them is Saturn, as that is the Antardasha. I have always stressed that I look very closely at the Antardasha planet.

Saturn is ruling the house of marriage in both charts, the main chart and the Navamsha. Rahu, incidentally, is also ruling it in the Navamsha. If this time was difficult, it was meant to be difficult for his personal life. Unfortunately, he separated from his wife. He could have had a difficult time in his marriage even under the Moon and Saturn's chapter. If you have Saturn ruling the marriage house, the Antardashas of Saturn can pose some challenges in your marriage.

Rahu and detachment from money

Recently he entered Rahu's Mahadasha, and Ketu in the house of money in the main chart is detaching him from money. Every time Rahu's Mahadasha is going on, Ketu is also having an impact, as Rahu and Ketu are one and the same energy, opposite sides of the same energy.

He has now made a pledge to give away all his money in the next fifteen to twenty years.

Under Rahu's Mahadasha, we always tend to do things which are extraordinary, unconventional and do not conform to societal norms. He is doing that now under Rahu. He has started a new chapter.

Nakshatra progression

The other interesting thing I should have mentioned previously is that the Moon is in Uttara Bhadrapada. The Dasha table is based on the progression of the Moon. This is important for you to understand.

When I said he moved into Ketu's Mahadasha in 1975, around that time his Moon had progressed from Uttara Bhadrapada to Ashwini. Since Ashwini is ruled by Ketu, he's going through Ketu's seven-year time phase.

It goes on from there. After having spent seven years in Ketu, the Moon is now progressing through Bharani, which represents the twenty-year Mahadasha of Venus. If you see his life, he invented something. An invention is directly linked to Bharani.

What I'm trying to say is that when you're looking at the Mahadashas, keep in view through which Nakshatra your Moon is progressing. That would naturally depend on the position of the Moon in your chart.

Summarise the career pattern

If you do a very basic analysis of his chart, Mars is ruling the fifth and tenth houses, in Hasta Nakshatra in the third house. This planetary position is an indication that the person can be an entrepreneur. Firstly, Mars is directly linked to entrepreneurship. The third house is linked to entrepreneurship, and even Hasta is directly linked to entrepreneurship.

With Hasta, you also get the individual being highly skilful and like an inspiration to people, like a technocrat of some kind.

Chart summary

The Sun isn't very strong. Saturn is exalted. It's in a super-strong position, which highlights that he's a highly resilient person. Saturn is also the ruler of his rising Nakshatra, Pushya, which makes him a wise, old-man kind of person.

With the Moon in Uttara Bhadrapada, I also see something similar. Mercury in Chitra and Venus in its own Libra sign in Vishakha are read as signs behind his ability to come up with innovative ideas.

Rahu is there in Jyeshtha, which could possibly be why he's a bit disliked. A Rahu-Jyeshtha kind of person can be a self-proclaimed leader of some kind and quite forceful with one's views.

That's just a summary of his chart. The idea behind this example was to learn how to read the Dasha through his life. I'm hoping the life events taken from his life made sense from the Dasha table.