How to Read Dashas and Predict Life Events: A Real Example

Introduction

I'm going to explain to you how to read the Dashas, and we are going to do so with the help of an example. I'm going to be taking the birth chart of Bill Gates. The Dashas are the most fascinating aspect of Vedic astrology because you can actually predict which life events are likely to unfold. You can also ascertain a time window when it's going to be a good time for you or a bad time for you. That is the beauty of astrology: you can make better decisions. That's one of the greatest advantages. You can ascertain when is the best time for marriage, for your career, when is a good time for travel or education. So you can figure all that out from the Dasha table.

My aim is to be able to answer some basic questions. When you read the Dashas, you'd like to know which aspects of life are going to be affected. So that's something we're going to learn. Whether the time is going to be good or bad, that's the other thing and how to determine that. And how is the Dasha 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 a prolonged phase of good fortunes? This is astrological interpretation, not financial, career or relationship advice; a Dasha does not guarantee an event.

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.

Now 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. The reproduced balance ended around 12 March 1958.

After Saturn, he entered Mercury's chapter, which would last for 17 years, and thereafter he entered Ketu's Mahadasha. So let's pause there. 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. So Antardashas are very, very important. Most of your important life stories will be determined by who the Antardasha planet is.

And 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, that's the Pratyantardasha. The Pratyantardasha can also help you narrow down a specific time phase, but it does not guarantee the event.

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.

Now Jupiter in his selected chart is the Darakaraka, the planet holding the lowest within-sign degree under the seven-classical-planet convention used here, with the lunar nodes excluded. In this method, 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 in the source's framework. When specifically would the probability be high within Jupiter's chapter? When the Pratyantardasha is also promising, which Venus is. Venus's chapter is promising for a man when it comes to marriage in this reading, as Venus represents a man's life partner.

So 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.

The source reads him as meant to marry after his mid-30s, given Saturn's strong influence on the marriage house. Saturn rules the seventh whole-sign house in both the selected D1 and D9 charts. That is an astrological interpretation, not a rule fixing anyone's marriage age.

The 120-year cycle

Let's talk a little bit about the basics. The Dashas of different planets rule our life in this method, and it's 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.

Always, as a methodology, follow these guidelines. Always firstly look at the houses they occupy. So if a planet, for example, is Saturn, its Antardasha is going on, and Saturn is found in the marriage house, and you are in your 20s, the source would examine whether you face some difficulty in getting married, because that's the inherent nature of Saturn in this reading and the aspect of life that's affected is the seventh house.

You must also look at the houses ruled by these planets. Those placements are not guarantees.

Judge nature, sign and Nakshatra

And then 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 in the source's method. Planets like Saturn, Rahu, Mars and Ketu are known there 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. Whereas, on the other side, Venus and Jupiter are linked to growth opportunities. So the understanding of planets is important, but it is not a verdict.

You'll find more information on every planet in the first related article below. The other very, very important exercise you need to do is to look at the Dasha planet and its position there in your chart: the house, but more than that, the sign and the Nakshatra it occupies. Read the whole context.

Separate the CEO and Sun dates

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 Libra. The debilitation belongs to the Libra sign, not to Swati. I dislike using the words debilitated and exalted for academic reasons. In readings I never use them too literally, because then we start having an extreme view of planetary positions. In any case, Sun-Swati isn't a strong position in the source's reading.

When he was about to enter the Sun's Mahadasha in March 2002, in that time phase prior to the Sun's chapter, he began to move away from the role of CEO. He stepped down from that role. Ballmer became CEO on 13 January 2000, in Venus-Mercury-Rahu; Sun Mahadasha began around 12 March 2002.

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.

The Sun symbolises the position of power we are meant to occupy in the source's framework. Since the Sun is weak, during the Sun's Mahadasha he never remained a CEO in this reading. The chronology does not establish that the Sun caused the change.

Read the Moon chapter

In March 2008 he moved into the Moon's Mahadasha, and the Moon in his selected 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 the source links with social workers. Whenever the Moon and Saturn have a relationship in your chart, the source reads an inclination to serve society, and Uttara Bhadrapada is ruled by Saturn.

The foundation did not begin in 2008: its roots include the William H. Gates Foundation formed in 1994, and two Gates foundations merged in 2000 to form the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

In the source's telling, in the year 2008 he started taking his first active steps towards the social welfare sector. More precisely, on 27 June 2008, in Moon-Moon-Jupiter, Gates left Microsoft's day-to-day role for full-time foundation work; he remained connected to Microsoft.

Notice how the source reads his life as aligning with the change of chapters. I'm referring to the Mahadasha change taking place from Sun to Moon. Under Moon, Moon-Uttara-Bhadrapada is linked to social welfare and he started investing his time on a full-time basis in serving society. This is interpretation, not proof of cause.

Combine D1, Navamsha and Dashamsha

So you can determine which effects the Dashas are going to have on you in my method based on the nature and the 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 the Dashamsha chart. Have a holistic picture.

These are the houses that can be affected. 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 this method, without treating it as a guarantee.

Harvard break in Ketu Mahadasha

Let's take a few examples from his life. In the year 1975, right at the beginning of Ketu's Mahadasha, he decided to step aside from his educational program at Harvard to start a software company. Gates left Harvard in 1975 and co-founded Microsoft with Paul Allen. Ketu is linked to letting go of things, and Ketu's Mahadasha was going on at the time when he let go of his educational program.

Educational programs, in my view, are linked to Jupiter and Mercury, and Mercury and Ketu share a relationship in the selected Navamsha: both calculate to Leo. The source reads him as meant to break the status quo and do something significant.

When you give up on your educational program, it's not a prolonged exercise. It can happen suddenly, and that is what Rahu and Ketu's chapters or Dashas are known for in the source. This is interpretation, not advice to leave education.

Steve Ballmer in Ketu–Saturn

Now within this chapter, Ketu's Mahadasha and Saturn's Antardasha, he hired Steve Ballmer, the one who would later become the CEO of Microsoft. Ballmer joined on 11 June 1980, in Ketu-Saturn-Ketu.

Why is this important in the source's reading? The seventh house is all about partnerships, and the seventh house in this selected 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, the source sees a chance of starting a relationship or business partnership.

Ballmer was Microsoft's first business manager, later CEO, not a co-founder. I use that working relationship as the broad partnership story.

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.

Notice the pattern. During Venus's chapter, Venus is super strong in his chart, in Vishakha and in its own sign, Libra. During Venus's Mahadasha, the source reads him as making money by selling a household computing product. That's how I see it: an interpretation, not a business guarantee.

Check all three levels

But one particular time phase, one Antardasha, that I'd like to highlight is Mercury. Venus's Mahadasha and Mercury's Antardasha: what happened there? Mercury is ruling the third house and the twelfth house in this Cancer-rising chart. Mercury is in Virgo, in the third house and in Chitra Nakshatra.

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, someone who has an art of storytelling, in the source's interpretation.

The transcript says that during Mercury's Pratyantardasha he wrote one of his best-selling books, Business @ the Speed of Thought. The publisher dates it to 1 March 1999, by Bill Gates with Collins Hemingway. The exact stack is Venus-Mercury-Venus, not Mercury Pratyantardasha.

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 program. If you are in your 20s, you could be starting your master's program. Later in your life, you can, under Mercury, take up a certification program.

Alternatively, if you have combinations and some artistic talent, you can also publish your views or write a book, for example. So this was a good time for Gates and Hemingway to convert ideas into a story and publish that book.

Read the 2021 chronology

His life can be explained through the Dashas in the source's method. Let's talk about May 2021. 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 in this framework. The most important among the running levels is Saturn, as that is the Antardasha. I have always stressed that I look very closely at the Antardasha planet.

Saturn is ruling this house of marriage in both the charts, in the main chart and the Navamsha. The source says that if this time was difficult, it was meant to be difficult for his personal life. If you have Saturn ruling the marriage house, the Antardashas of Saturn can pose some challenges in your marriage, in this reading.

But the dates calculate differently: 3 May was Mars-Saturn-Mars; Rahu began around 19 May; 2 August was Mars-Saturn-Jupiter.

The chart does not explain or cause the divorce.

Date the 2025 pledge

And now recently he's entered Rahu's Mahadasha, and Ketu in Taurus in the eleventh whole-sign house, the house of money in this reading, is detaching him from money. Every time Rahu's Mahadasha is going on, Ketu is also having an impact, as Rahu and Ketu are opposite sides of the same axis.

What he's done now is make a pledge. Announced on 8 May 2025, it commits virtually all his remaining wealth through the Gates Foundation over the next 20 years, with more than $200 billion expected through its 2045 close.

Under Rahu's Mahadasha, the source says we tend to do things which are extraordinary, unconventional and do not conform to societal norms. So he is doing that now under Rahu; he started a new chapter. Both source and pledge dates calculate to Rahu-Rahu-Rahu. This is interpretation, not financial advice.

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 starting position 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 in the transcript's symbolic sequence. The Moon is progressing through now to the Nakshatra of Ashwini, and since Ashwini is ruled by Ketu, he's going through Ketu's seven-year time phase. This is not a literal lunar transit.

And it goes on from there. After having spent seven years of Ketu, the Moon is now symbolically progressing through Bharani, which represents the 20-year Mahadasha of Venus. If you see his life, he invented something. An invention is directly linked to Bharani in this reading.

What I'm trying to say is that when you're looking at the Mahadashas, keep in view through which Nakshatra the Moon is symbolically progressing. That would naturally be dependent on the position of the Moon in your chart. It is a Dasha mapping, not literal astronomy.

Summarise the career pattern

If you do a very basic analysis of his selected chart, Mars is ruling the 5th and the 10th, in Hasta Nakshatra in the third house. This planetary position is an indication in the source that the person can be an entrepreneur. Firstly, Mars is directly linked to entrepreneurship there. The third house is linked to entrepreneurship, and even Hasta is linked to entrepreneurship.

With Hasta, you also get the individual being highly skillful and like an inspiration to people, like a technocrat of some kind. This is retrospective interpretation, not a universal career test.

Chart summary

The Sun isn't very strong in the source's reading. Its debilitation belongs to Libra, not Swati. Saturn is exalted in Libra. It's in a strong position, which highlights that he's a highly resilient person in this reading. Saturn is also the ruler of his rising Nakshatra, Pushya, which the source connects with a wise, old-person quality.

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. The transcript asks whether Rahu in Jyeshtha 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 in this reading. That speculation is not established.

That's just a summary of his chart. The idea behind this real 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.