Guru
गुरुभक्तिसमायुक्तः पुरुष्ज्ञो विशेषतः।
एवं लक्षणसम्पन्नो गुरुरित्यभिधीयते॥
गुशब्दस्तबन्धकारः स्यात् रुशब्दस्तन्निरोधकः।
अन्धकारनिरोधित्वात् गुरुरित्यभिधीयते॥
gurubhaktisamāyuktaḥ puruṣjño viśeṣataḥ|
evaṁ lakṣaṇasampanno gururityabhidhīyate||
guśabdastabandhakāraḥ syāt ruśabdastannirodhakaḥ|
andhakāranirodhitvāt gururityabhidhīyate||
___ Advaya Tāraka Upaniṣad

Translation: He who has devotion for his guru and in particular, has knowledge of the Puruṣa, the Supreme Self, holds the signs of a guru. The syllable gu signifies darkness. The syllable ru signifies the elimination of darkness. Since he possesses the ability to remove that darkness, he is called guru.

There are many types of gurus such as śikṣā gurus and dīkṣā gurus. Śikṣā gurus teach a vast array of subjects pertaining to different branches of knowledge related to parā vidyā or knowledge that does not necessarily lead one to mokṣa. Every subject has a separate śikṣā guru. These gurus are variously known as adhyāpaka, upādhyāya and ācārya. Some merely impart textual knowledge, while others, namely the ācārya, provides commentaries and analyses.
Yet there are others, those elusive beings, those much enlightened souls who teach us about dharma. These are the venerable dikṣā gurus, whose task is to show us the way, unlock doors leading to mokṣa, unfurl the petals of the lotuses within us and kindle us with the spark that is glowing eternal within them. Their mere presence causes a magical shift in our lives; their mercy having the ability to remove the burden of sins accumulated through past lives.
Dikṣā can be of many types such as mantra dikṣā, whereby a guru gives instructions on specific mantras or rituals. It is a limited role, and in this case he is not a purveyor of spiritual paths nor the beacon who shows higher realms within and without. The dharma dikṣā alone is the highest dikṣā and the guru who imparts this is one’s true spiritual guru or master.

The Ninth House
The ninth house or the Dharma Bhāva is known as Lakṣmī sthāna. It is the real protector of the individual, controlling his past, present and future, his conduct and principles, and thereby his fortunes. It signifies religion, dharma, principles, norms, conduct, temples, father, teacher, guru, higher studies and knowledge, long distance travel and pilgrimages amongst a variety of significations. It has argalā on most of the houses in the horoscope, as a result of which it is an important controlling house, especially because it is the bhāgya sthāna and signifies fortune. It holds the entire karma of the past life and hence remedies for the atonement of past life karma are rooted through Mūlā nakṣatra, inherent in Dhanu rāśi, the 9th house of the Kālapuruṣa.
The happiness of the 9th house is in sadgati – as the 12th house is the 4th from the 9th _ the feet will go towards that which is good and true, towards the paramam padam of Viṣṇu. The 9th and the 12th houses are ruled by Jupiter indicating two major deities – Śiva and Viṣṇu. Śiva is dharma and Dhanu rāśi has the dharma of upholding truth. Dhanu does not welcome anything inauspicious. Only Jupiter is welcome as Jupiter alone can uphold the dharma of Śiva. All houses follow the 9th house and are under its control. It is the abode of Śiva, the parameṣṭhi guru. The purging of our miseries and the atonement of past life karma can only be possible through dikṣā at the feet of one’s guru. Souls indicated by the 9th lord: father, teachers, spiritual master – are gurus, without whose blessings, our life remains locked; rajju bandha, as if tied in chains and ropes, till the guru shows his mercy and whispers the magic words in our ear.
It is thus crucial to examine the planets in and associated with the ninth house from the lagna and the kārakāṁśa and the ninth lords from the lagna and kārakāṁśa. The ninth lord represents divinity and the planets associated with it have an overpowering impact on the direction of the fortune of the native. The 9th lord is not only the carrier of dharma but the carrier of our past life karma.

Śikṣā Guru
To determine one’s guru for a particular subject, one must see the 9th house from the kāraka of the said subject. For example, if the subject is mathematics, one must see the 9th house from Ketu in a chart to see the guru who will teach mathematics. For a poetry guru, one must see the 9th house form Venus. For a yoga guru, one must see the 9th house from Saturn.

Planets in trines to the navāṁśa lagna, smoothens the process of receiving and digesting the knowledge of the concerned subject. If this trine is an Agni trikoṇa, then the knowledge shall be imbibed easily. Planets in the navāṁśa lagna or the kārakāṁśa or the two houses flanking them, that is the 2nd and 12th houses, have the strongest impact of imparting the knowledge of the subjects it represents. A Venus in the 1st, 2nd and 12th from the navāṁśa lagna, will give a person an artistic bent of mind, a strong inclination and aptitude for the arts, poetry, for visualization.

Gati
The soul has a gati which is given by the dikṣā guru. Dā means ‘to give’ and kṣi means ‘to destroy’. Dikṣā gives divine knowledge and dissolves the collective pāpa or sins of the initiate. It is a spiritual initiation which marks a new beginning in a person’s spiritual life; a journey embarked on an unknown path for the ultimate quest, as directed by a guru or an enlightened master. The aim of each jivātmā or born soul is to liberate itself from this worldly cycle of death and re-birth and be one with the Absolute, the path to which is long and arduous and may be attained, if at all, after many births. The journey for this liberation often commences during a person’s lifetime with the dikṣā or the initiation, wherein a mantra is whispered into the right ear of the initiate by his spiritual master. The regular and constant repetition of this mantra furthers one in his spiritual path and brings him closer to the Paramātmā, depending on the rigour of practice and the spiritual development of the person. Millions take dikṣā, with variable impact on their lives and unaware of its true goal. It plays the significant role of launching the individual onto his spiritual journey which may or may not terminate in this life.
The 9th lord from kārakāṁśa will bring the dikṣā guru. If it is Venus, then the dikṣā guru will come through the wife. If it is Jupiter, then it will come through the husband. The kāraka here is the determining factor. The appearance of the dikṣā guru in one’s life is timed on the basis of the 9th lord, both from the lagna and the Ārūḍha Lagna. The guru gives dikṣā not only by whispering mantras (vāg dikṣā), but can awaken the spiritual consciousness merely by touching (sparśa dikṣā) or by gazing intently at the śiśya (dṛg dikṣā). This awakening of the spiritual consciousness, which eventually leads to our liberation, and the direction of the gati, is at the mercy of the guru. If he decides to have mercy, then merely by a touch he can alter our lives, as Śrī Ramakrishna did to Swami Vivekananda.
Guru kṛpā is everything, whether one is seeking to learn material knowledge through various subjects, such as music or poetry or physics or whether one is being initiated into dharma through a spiritual guru.

Chart 1: Jyotiṣa Guru

In Chart 1, Saturn is the ātma kāraka and the kārakāṁśa is Kanyā. The 9th lord therefrom is Venus, indicating that the guru will come through the wife. Ketu is conjunct Venus, hence the dikṣā guru is a sadhu of a high order. The spouse’s family has been associated with this order for five generations and the spouse herself has been close to the guru since her childhood. Interestingly, in the spouse’s chart, the 9th lord from kārakāṁśa is Jupiter in its own sign. Although she was closely associated with this spiritual organisation since her birth and knew her guru at close quarters, she did not take dikṣā. Dikṣā came about through her husband (Jupiter), who took the initiative and eventually they took dikṣā together.

Mokṣa
The 4th and 12th houses from lagna are the giver of mokṣa. The 4th house gives the gati and the 12th house gives the goal. A single natural benefic in these houses, whether from the rāśi, the Ārūḍha, the navāṁśa or the kārakāṁśa lagnas, can lead to mokṣa.

Chart 2: Swami Vivekananda

In Swamiji’s chart, Venus is the natural benefic in the 2nd house having rāśi dṛṣṭi on the 12th house. By this dictum, Venus holds the power to grant mokṣa. It is in the 6th house form Ārūḍha Lagna with Mercury, indicating he will denounce material and sensual pleasures. Bhrātṛ kāraka Saturn and Mercury, as 2nd and 10th lords, are in a parivartana and Venus and Moon are involved in this powerful relationship. The Saturn-Moon conjunction in the 10th house shows the strong śakti lineage of his guru. Venus is also the 12th lord of navāṁśa exalted in the 4th house from the kārakāṁśa. This too indicates śakti mārga.

Gati is based on the 4th house. Planets in the 4th house indicates the place where you need to go; the shelter one needs to take – like the mother. Mother is the shelter and the gati. The link between the 4th from the kārakāṁśa and the 4th from the navāṁśa lagna shows the strength of the gati. If the link is prominent, it will show a strong gati. If it is the same planet it indicates the manifestation of the gati. The 4th from the kārakāṁśa is the gati of the soul. People born in the lagna indicated by the planets in the 4th house will help one in finding the gati. Gati comes with guru kṛpā, as he sows the gati which leads one to mokṣa.

In Swamiji’s chart, the 4th house from navāṁśa lagna is Kumbha, which is the lagna of his guru, Śrī Ramakrishna. The 4th house from his kārakāṁśa has exalted Venus, which is another significant planet in Thakur’s chart. The 4th lord from navāṁśa lagna is Saturn who is in Venus’s sign. Venus therefore, shows a strong gati as it links the 4th houses from the navāṁśa lagna and the kārakāṁśa. It is this gati, which has come from the kṛpā of his guru and being placed in the 2nd house of his rāśi chart and looking at the 12th house, surely guarantees mokṣa through the śakti mārga as demarcated by his guru.

Chart 3: Śrī Ramakrishna

In Thakur’s chart, the significance of the same Venus may be observed. Venus is the 9th lord of the rāśi and the lagna lord of the navāṁśa, exalted in the 2nd house of the rāśi as a natural benefic. It is in the 12th house of navāṁśa, indicating the śakti mārga. Moon in 4th house form kārakāṁśa confirms this. Venus is in the 9th house from the kārakāṁśa indicating the guru. Venus, therefore, is the mārga and the guru through which mokṣa is attained. To him, God and guru were one. He has said, saccidānanda is guru; the ever blissful, eternally truthful consciousness is guru. To him saccidānanda appeared in a female form as he says, Kāli is the Brahmaṇ. When the Brahmaṇ moves, it is Kāli and when it is still and unmoving, it is the Brahmaṇ.

Guru Pādukā Mantra
The 9th house thus is the body of the guru and he transmits the magic words in our ears in the 11th house. In the Kālapuruṣa, the 11th house depicted by Kumbha rāśi, is the land of the high mountains where ṛṣis dwell. It sways to the rhythm of Bṛhati chanda, a realm abounding with high philosophy, a place hallowed by the presence of devaguru Brihaspati and devādidev Mahādeva. The 11th house is the controller of our hopes and dreams and is activated by the guru’s mantra. The upadeśa thus transmitted is received in the 3rd house, the 8th from the 8th; that which transforms the karmas of the 8th house.

The 8th house is the house of debts. It is the feet of the guru, being 12th from the 9th house. The slippers of the guru are to be worshipped if one wants to get rid of the debts one has accrued over the past lives. These debts of multiple lifetimes are difficult to wipe out even if one strives life after life but can be erased in a single life, in one, stroke, if one has guru kṛpā.