Originally published on skywebsite.com/hollow/astrovedica/id13.html (2002-04-25), a page of Dean De Lucia's website; recovered from the Internet Archive.
An Excerpt from Astro Vedica by Dharmapada
The sun is titled the Atma-karaka, the planetary indicator of the soul. When the Sun is prominent in one's chart and other combinations are sympathetic, one beomes concerned with self-realization and topics concerning the soul. It is for this reason that the sun is indicative of one's ego, instincts, basic personality and character.
In fact, even one's spiritual evolution may be largely judged from the Sun for this reason. The Brihat Jataka gives a " method " for gleaning an idea about one's past birth. One determines the decante occupied by the more powerful of the Sun or the Moon. The ruler of this decante suggests from which plane of existence one has come ( for example, earthly, heavenly, infernal ) and whether one's position in life was high or low. The point is that the Sun is indicative of one's soulful journey from one body to the next.
As a negative definition, it may be noted that the Sun doesn't have the same significance, or shall we say that it isn't treated the same in Vedic astrology as it is in the Western system. In Western astrology, the horoscope and planetary arrangement is basically judged from the Sun. In Vedic astrology, the horoscope is judged from the rising sign and the Moon although the sun may be given tertiary significancce in this regard. The rationale for the Vedic stance is basically the following: that although the Sun is representative of the soul, the soul is covered in this world by the subtle mind and the body. Since the Moon corresponds to the emotional mind and the ascendent to the personality, these two become more telling in terms of everyday, mundane events such as marriage, children, finances and work. But again, subtle indications which come from a soulful platform, such as one's spiritual advancement or instinctive things, would have to incorporate the solar situation to be properly judged.
As far as the more exterior indications of the Sun are concerned, know that it is considered to be a fiery planet of warrior ( kshatriya ) caste. This is why kings, the government, politics and authorities in general have all been ascribed to the Sun. The royal qualities such as pride, dignity, loyalty, honor, a sense of duty and such all correspond to the solar influence. The sun is a satvic ( goodness, lack of ignorance ) planet, so the concept of a chivalrous warrior corresponds to the Sun in full.
It has long been recognised that the Sun relates to healing. The Sun's rays are antiseptic, they purify a clean polluted and make it clean. Along these same lines, doctors, medicines, and hospitals are indicated by the Sun. The Sun stands for sharpened blades, so surgery corresponds to the Sun.
The Sun is the natural indicator of the body, so it is entitled the " Tanu-karaka." The skeletal structure corresponds to it.
Since the Sun is a satvic planet concerned with self-realiZation and the soul, it makes sense that temples are indicated by the Sun.
Vision, optics and photography are also his domain.
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