How to Determine your Dosha  (Prakriti / Prakruti) from your Birth Chart

Prakriti is one’s unique constitution, an inborn metabolic pattern. Prakriti also means Nature, the set of tendencies that was set up at the time of our conception.

Prakriti is an individual combination of Vata,Pitta, and Kapha qualities for this particular person. It is important to realize that there is no such thing as a good or bad constitution. Exactly this set of qualities was meant for an individual for this particular life cycle in order to implement its purpose.

Besides Prakriti (which doesn’t change) Ayurveda speaks of Vikriti – a constitution of the moment, one’s current state of health. Vikriti reflects any aspects of diet, lifestyle, emotions, age, environment, etc. that are not in harmony with one’s Prakriti.

How are both Prakriti and Vikriti determined? A qualified Ayurvedic physician can calculate the difference between your ideal state-Prakriti – and your current state – Vikriti – and create a program to restore the balance.

If  you try to find it out by filling out a ‘What is your dosha’ quiz, you most likely will learn about your current stage of Vata – Pitta – Kapha ratio (Vikriti). Since the  standard (Prakriti) is missing, this knowledge is of little use.

There is, however, an easy method of finding out your Prakriti if you know the date, time, and place of your birth.

There are plenty of computer programs that can produce a map of where the planets were at the moment of your birth.

I use Barrishh.com, which provides a free Jyotish  table of planetary positions for the given time and place. It is essential to use the Eastern method of calculation, which differs from the Western horoscope (the one that can be found in every magazine). If you use the Western birth chart, planets might occur in different signs than in the Eastern horoscope, which will  affect the calculation.

After you fill in the date, time, and place of your birth, the computer will give you a lot of information about different aspects of your destiny, such as planetary periods, planetary influences, ect. The only thing we need is a table called Planet’s position at the time of birth (in the lower right-hand corner on the very first page of a birth chart made by Barishh.com).

Planets in Indian tradition include Sun, Moon, Ascendent – the rising sign (in Jyotish, the ascendant is the most individual and defining element in the chart) plus  Rahu and Ketu (Rahu is the ascending node of Moon, which is known as the North Node, and Ketu is the descending node of Moon, which is known as South Node).

Let’s take a random calculation for a person born on May 27, 2016 at 10 pm in Berkeley, California, US

Below is what the web site will provide us with:

Planet’s position at the time of birth

Planet Sign Degree Lord Asc Sagittarius 04.24 Jup Sun Taurus 13.12 Ven Mon Capricorn 26.56 Sat Mar(R) Scorpio 05.41 Mar Mer Aries 21.27 Mar Jup Leo 19.41 Sun Ven Taurus 10.35 Ven Sat(R) Scorpio 19.28 Mar Rah(R) Leo 23.59 Sun Ket(R) Aquarius 23.59 Sat

 

According to Jyotish wisdom, every planet has a different degree of influence on our dosha. Represented numerically, it looks like this:

Sun, Moon and the Ascendent “cost”       5 points

Mars, Mercury and Venus                        3

Jupiter and Saturn                                    2

Rahu and Ketu                                         1

In addition to that, the zodiac signs can be divided into three groups:

Vata is represented by    Gemini, Libra, Aquarius and Virgo

Pitta –                              Aries, Sagittarius , Leo and Scorpio

Kapha –                           Taurus, Cancer, Pisces and Capricorn

Knowing that, looking at the two first columns of the table, we can calculate how many points each dosha collects in our example:

Vata:
Gemini (no planets = 0), Libra (0), Aquarius ( Ketu = 1), Virgo ( 0) total of 1.

Pitta:
Aries ( Mercury = 2), Sagittarius ( Ascendent = 5),  Leo ( Rahu = 1, Jupiter = 2), Scorpio ( Mars = 3, Saturn = 2) total of 15

Kapha:
Taurus ( Sun =5, Venus =3), Cancer ( 0), Pisces ( 0), Capricorn (Moon =5) total of 13

In this way this particular person has 1 point for Vata, 15 for Pitta and 13 for Kapha,

In procent it shows as Pitta 52%, Kapha 45% and Vata 3%

What can we do with these numbers?

First of all, we have learned that his/her dosha is a Pitta – Kapha one with predominance of Pitta. Thus, while out of balance, this person will be prone to Pitta imbalances such as inflammations, ulcers, rashes on the physical level as well as anger and short temper on the mental one. To cure disbalances one have to observe a Pitta pacifying diet and lifestyle.

Completing a “What is your dosha?” test will give you the dosha proportions for the current moment of life (Vikriti). Comparing your Prakriti (ideal) and Vikriti (real) ratios, you will be able to work towards increasing or decreasing a particular Dosha if needed.

If your Prakriti and Vikriti are about the same, then you should choose the diet and daily routine for your strongest dosha (the one you gained the most points for). If your Vikriti shows more points for certain dosha than your Prakriti, you should go for diet and daily routine for pacify the aggravated dosha. (See diet and daily routine for Vata, Pitta and Kapha; Food list for the Pitta, Kapha and Vata).

In difficult cases an Ayurvedic physician can recommend some herbs and Ayurvedic procedures.

TODAY’S TIP: It sounds more complex than it is. Knowing ones Prakriti, a person can learn how to prevent health issues and how to deal with them when they arise. One can understand why other people act the way they do and find a way to interact with them to everyone’s benefit. One can plan meals, as well detoxification and rejuvenation programs that work best for them and their family members.