The Divine Forces of the Lunar Naksatras: as Originally Portrayed in the Vedas

I had almost given up looking for a book which would give me some sort of orientation amidst the jungle of myths concerning the Nakshatras. Then, I heard about this book and thought I would give it a chance. I've only read a couple of chapters so far but it is exactly what I was looking for. I would highly recommend it if you are interested in feeling deeply into the personality of the Nakshatras. It goes beyond the usual "list of facts" type of Nakshatra books, which I was growing weary of. Excellent book!!!

Superb book!!! Much deeper knowledge compared similar books.

Quite different than any other book in the market. Must buy

Great Book on Nakshatras. Origins etc. Useful if you wish to dive deeper into Indian texts like the vedas etc.

It is a westerner's learner's view of Indian mythology through nakshatras & a good treatise, with extensive cross referencing to hindu scriptures. The essence of Indian nakshatra system has been captured to an extent. A good book for beginners & it is comphrehenisve. The book has detailed narration of mythology from a westerner's view i.e. in pre-test tube baby invention, unless male-female engage in physical initimacy, then only babies are born. With advent of test tube babies - thoughts, concepts & views change. yet the book in verbatim repeats western view of Indian sciences, it fails to reflect the Superior realms of cosmic working principles, probably the author's understanding or teachers or both were ordinary.A critical view point by an intensely devoted, non-commercial, vedic astrologer with vast knowledge & experience.

Great research and citations of original texts. This is one of the best books on the subject. It’s not a traditional sequential review of nakshatras but goes many layers deeper discussing the mythology behind all of these. Wonderful research.This book is not meant for those who just want bullet points or summary on nakshatras, but is meant for those who want to have a deep understanding on the meaning of each. I have gone through this book cover to cover multiple times, and every time I read I again, I learn something new.

I give the author credit first that she is sincere and actually friendly and sympathetic to the Vedic tradition. And that she has accumulated in one place many references to the nakshatras that would be useful for future researchers.Now the negatives, while sincere she was grossly naive in thinking that Western academics understand the meaning of the Vedas just because they know Sanskrit, they don’t.One must be very qualified to study the Vedas. The Vedas themselves state what the qualifications are: One must get upanayanam - initiated into savitri gayatri and live in the Gurukula and serve the guru (Bhagavad-gita 4.34) and practice tapasya such as brahmacarya – celibacy, rising early, bathing in sacred rivers, eating only yajna sista, practice chanting the Holy Name of Krsna, perform yajnas etc. As Krsna says in the Gita that He is revealing the Gita to Arjuna because Arjuna is a devotee and friend of Krsna. One must be devoted to both God and Guru to understand the Vedas as this verse from the Upanishads explains:yasya deve parā bhaktir yathā deve tathā gurautasyaite kathitā hy arthāḥ prakāśante mahātmanaḥ“Only unto those great souls who have implicit faith in both the Lord and the spiritual master are all the imports of Vedic knowledge automatically revealed.” Śvetāśvatara Up. 6.23The author naively lauds persons like Jan Gonda as if he were a rishi. This mundane academic never even stepped on the holy land of Bharatvarsha. He didn’t follow the method prescribed in the Vedas to understand the Veda. Rather he did all the opposite things including but not limited to eating meat including beef, drinking liquor, illicit connections with women and generally living a tamasic, yavana and mllecha, lifestyle. He was a typical Western academic scholar like Edward Dimock who admitted in the introduction of one of his books that the idea for the book came to him while at a cocktail party. There is nothing, holy, sacred, or saintly about any of these men’s lives. They are members of or inheritors of the tradition of Christian orientalists whose whole purpose for studying Sanskrit was to learn how to destroy Vedic culture and spread Christianity in India. Thus it is very painful for a person actually following the Vedic tradition to read this book and see the offensive things these dry academics say about the Vedic tradition. They may know some Sanskrit but have no understanding of the tradition and culture. They are like a person who licks the outside of a bottle of honey but never tastes the honey.To understand more why western academics are not friends of Vedic culture see "The Battle for Sanskrit"https://www.amazon.in/Battle-Sanskrit-Political-Oppressive-Liberating/dp/9352641817/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1522660256&sr=1-1&keywords=the+battle+for+Sanskritand "Invading the Sacred"https://www.amazon.in/Invading-Sacred-Analysis-Hinduism-Studies/dp/8129111829/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1522660391&sr=1-2-fkmr0&keywords=invading+the+secretInfluenced by these dry scholars she spreads their views like the supposed difference between the Vedas and the Puranas but the Vedas themselves describe the puranas as the “pancama veda” the fifth veda, and the Mahabharat near the beginning tells us that the Vedas are afraid of those persons who approach them without going through the Puranas. You cannot understand the Vedas without the Puranas, that is why the Puranas exist - for explicating the Vedas. But these ignorant bottle licking scholars don’t know that and she perpetuates this ignorance. There are many more erroneous views but I do not want to dilate this textAside from that her writing style could have used a better editor. What kind of editor allowed her to use such awkward phraseology as “godheads” when referring to the devas. They are demi-gods, assigned by Visnu to act as universal administrators. She doesn’t know this. And she uses word like “pap-offerings,” which you will be hard pressed to find the meaning of, in reference to what is offered in various types of homas and yajnas. I suspect she just repeated the words of the academics she is relying on. What exactly is “pap?” This and her irreverent and overly familiar writing style I found painful, offensive and cringe worthy. Some of her style was just plain over the top such as a heading entitled “Mordacious Serpents” when she could have used simpler language like ferocious serpents.Describing the incidents in the Vedas with pejoratives like “myths and legends” is highly offensive. Christian missionaries used such pejorative terminology to try and convince followers of the Vedic culture that the Vedas are not true but just full of fanciful stories and that they should instead become Christians. No real follower of Vedic culture would ever use words such as “myth” or “legend” to describe the Vedas and Puranas. The Vedas describe ultimate reality, not fictions. They are not metaphorical. When metaphor is used it is clearly stated as such. But to understand the reality taught in the Vedas requires a guru. The Puranas while histories are not mundane histories like those of Herodotus or modern historians. Rather they contain carefully chosen historical incidents from other yugas, manvantaras, kalpas, upper or lower planetary systems or even other universes for didactic purposes. I repeat, they are not myths or legends. To think so would constitute sastra-ninda, blasphemous offence to the Vedas, Puranas etc.Her astrological acumen is sub-par and is seen in her attempts to explain how to use the nakshatras. They are not very helpful.If you are Westerner who knows nothing about the Vedas and Vedic culture and think that atheistic academics who are antagonistic to the Vedas can reveal the true meaning of the Vedas, then this book is for you. But if you an actual follower of the Vedic culture and not Vedic in name only (VINO) then this book is of very limited value. It is valuable in that it has collated in one place many references to the nakshatras and this can be used for further research but you will feel dirty if you read the commentary and will require doing some self-purification afterwards.In short this book is dry, mechanical and with no feel for the Vedic tradition.