About
The name; Garuda, is that of the celestial half-man, half-bird figure, who acts as a protection for his worshipers against snakes and poison. Garuda is also heavily symbolized as a figure of the Sun, hence images of the Sun or temples of the Sun (as seen in the logo) characterize this website.
Why Garuda?
 (click to see image) |
I chose the name for this site, as it was the same name that a father prayed to back in the year 1509, to gain a son who ended up changing my life in the present. This son was Sri Achyuta Dasa, one of the five disciples of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (said to be a partial incarnation of Sri Krishna/Sri Vishnu). As a disciple he acted as head astrologer/Jyotisha, and taught 12 students the aspects of seeing the past present and future. The village Kakatpur in Orissa still continues the work of Sri Achyuta Dasa, by offering readings to all those who come. The reader is said to speak the words of the 12 students by worshiping and reading of copper plates imbibed by the knowledge of the 12 students. |
 (click to see image) |
These students in turn taught their students, and somewhere along the line, this was taught to Sri Jagannath Rath, who later went on to become the Jyotish Ratna (highest title of an astrologer) of Orissa (May 11th 1935). Jagannath Rath was a very serious worshiper of Shiva, to the extent that he kept his pennance secret and later became a Shaivite Sanyasin. His knowledge of Ganita (mathematics and astronomy) was superb and he would calculate the Vimshottari dasa down to the sixth level of Deha-antaradasa for predictions using no more than his finger tips and the ephemeris. All this done with a slate and chalk only, as paper was very expensive for them in those days. He has authored a few books both about Jyotish and about the benefits of being vegeterian, which today are not easily available to the public. The Ratha’s belong to the lineage of the seer Atri, and besides being renowned for their mastery in worshiping Shiva, Atri is also one of the three seers of the AUM or OM, and the fifth mandala of the Rgveda is dedicated to his lineage. The Ratha’s originated from Bihar where they worshiped Shiva at the Somanatha Jyotirlinga. They later left Bihar and came to Orissa where they stayed in Bila Balabhadra Pur Sasan. For more information on the Rath lineage click here: Rath Lineage. |
|
|
Jagannath Rath, then taught his eldest son: Kasinath Rath. Kasinath Rath worked in the government service and was the eldest son of Jagannath Rath. He would conduct informal classes on Jyotish with his close students and in these his nephew Sanjay was among the best in the class and caught alot of jealousy from his peers. Kasinath Rath initiated Sanjay into the Gayatri Mantra, which Kasinath took very seriously. Sanjay remembers his uncle as very strict, and very meticulous. He often remembers how his uncle would spend an entire day calculating and preparing a chart for a consultation. He would prepare the astakavarga in detail using mantras to remember each dot placed in the chart by each planet. He could recite the entire Brhat Parasara Hora Shastra from memory and would qoute slokas from it to justify examples. His main contribution to Sanjay Rath was the Jaimini Upadesa Sutra. |
 |
Pt. Sanjay Rath is my Guru and founder of Sri Jagannath Center (1998). He is one of the first to bring the knowledge of vedic astrology from the tradition and into the public scene, just as his Grandfather did before him in Orissa. Sri Jagannath Center teaches a Bachelors course in Jyotish through the KKSU University in Nagpur, as well as teaches a large number of students across the globe, through informal online correspondence and in-person conferences and workshops each year. To teach the same knowledge to others, i made this website. This is why i chose the name: Garuda… |
Who am I?
 |
My name is Visti Larsen, I live in Denmark and was born and raised in Kenya by a Danish father and Kenyan Mother, and at the age of nine we moved to Denmark. I have been studying Astrology since my 17th year in 1998, begining with Western Tropical Astrology and in the year 2000 i started Vedic Astrology also known as Jyotish. In 2001 i joined Sri Jagannath Center to learn astrology as taught in the lineage of Sri Achyuta Dasa. I was asked by my Guru to begin teaching others in August 2002, and was given the Guru Mantra to help me do so. |
“I pray that you will find this site as a useful tool to guide or improve your life towards a better one. ”
Yours faithfully,
Visti Larsen, Guru of Sri Jagannath Centre.
Posted in Front |
RSS 2.0