In ancient times, there used to be a powerful demon king known as Bali who had

conquered the three lokas known as Prithvi, Swarg and Paatal lok, with his power.
Indra the ruler of heavens or Swarg lok went to Lord Vishnu along with other gods
and praed to him to put Bali!s misdeeds to an end and get the Swarg lok back to the
gods. "n request of the gods, Lord Vishnu incarnated on earth as a Vaaman which
in literal translation means a #warf and accordingl this $vatar of Lord Vishnu is
known as Vaaman $vatar in Indian mtholog. Lord Vishnu took the form of a short
statured Brahmin and went to the place where demon king Bali was performing a
%aga. Bali was known as a person true to his word and Lord Vishnu decided to take
advantage of this good qualit of Bali. "ne of the rituals of the %agas said that Bali
should present offerings and donations to all the Brahmins attending the %aga and
as the %aga completed and Bali started asking the Brahmins about what the
wanted as donation, the Vaaman rose up and said that he also wanted something for
himself. Bali, amused at the fact that what can this short statured Brahmin possibl
want from him, asked him to go ahead with his wish and upon this the Vaaman said
he wanted all the land that he could measure with his three steps. Bali was
astonished on hearing this demand as he thought that the Vaaman cannot measure
much land with his three steps and accordingl he will not gain anthing significant
and so he asked the Vaaman to reconsider his wish and ask for something else that
suited the status of Bali as a powerful king and which at the same time offered
something of significant value to the Vaaman. But when Vaaman refused to take
anthing else but the land which he could measure with his three steps, king Bali
gave his consent to fulfill the seemingl strange wish of Vaaman.
Shukrachara, the preceptor of king Bali saw through the &aa or
trick of Lord Vishnu b virtue of his immense powers and he immediatel warned
king Bali that he should not grant the wish of this Vaaman as granting his wish will
mean the end of the rule of Bali. 'pon hearing this, king Bali told Shukrachara that
even though he ma lose his kingdom and power b granting the wish of the
Vaaman, but he will still grant this wish as he had given his word to the Vaaman and
he cannot back out of his promise. $fter this he asked the Vaaman to measure the
land with his three footsteps. (earing this, the Vaaman started growing in si)e and
ver soon he grew so big that his head vanished in the skies and then he took his
first step and measured *arth as well as Paatal lok and in his second step he
measured the Swarg lok or heavens. $fter measuring all the three lokas, the Vaman
said to king Bali that he has alread measured all the three lokas and everthing that
king Bali possessed, in his two steps, so where should he put his third footstep. +ing
Bali, who b now knew the trick behind Vaamans demand, bowed himself humbl
and said that it is a great honour for him that Lord Vishnu has himself come to him
and has asked for something and that he should put his third footstep on his head as
this was the onl thing left in his possession. ,he Vaaman put his third footstep on
king Bali!s head and sent him down to the some lower loka but at the same time Lord
Vishnu was ver happ with the devotion of Bali towards his word and due to the fact
that he was the one who donated three lokas to the Lord who onl knows to give and
not to take. ,herefore he granted Bali with a special status and with his blessings
and told him that he will alwas be closer to Lord Vishnu and that he can call him
antime he is in need of something.
,hrough this stor we can get an idea of cleverness of this
nakshatra b considering how Lord Vishnu disguised himself as someone who
seemed to be completel incapable of causing an kind of harm to anone while in
realit he made king Bali lose all of his kingdom and power b means of a trick,
though the whole trick was plaed for a universal benefit. ,his cleverness and trick
nature of Lord Vishnu is relaed through this nakshatra and accordingl the natives
under the strong influence of this nakshatra can be the cleverest among all the
nakshatra tpes and whether the will use their cleverness and the abilit to trick
others for a good or bad purpose will depend upon the overall tone of the horoscope.
-etting back to the topic, some Vedic astrologers associate the smbol of an *ar
with this nakshatra and this smbol of *ar renders man characteristics to this
nakshatra. $n *ar represents the power of hearing and accordingl the power of
learning and preserving. It should be noted that in ancient times, the knowledge was
transferred b means of "ral teaching, listening to it carefull and then preserving it
in the mind. ,herefore Shravana is directl related to the abilit to learn and preserve
whatever it has learnt. Vedic astrolog assigns Lord Vishnu as the ruling deit of this
nakshatra and much has alread been mentioned about the kind of influence Lord
Vishnu imparts on this nakshatra. ,he qualities of Lord Vishnu like cleverness, the
abilit to organi)e things in a good manner, the abilit to wait patientl for the right
time to do something and the abilit to take right step at the right time are e.hibited
through this nakshatra which make this nakshatra, one of the cleverest and best
organi)ed nakshatras. Vedic astrolog also assigns -oddess Saraswati as the ruling
deit of this nakshatra and the influence of -oddess Saraswati brings qualities like
the abilit to gain knowledge, great listening power, great speech power and a good
sense of music and other arts, to this nakshatra.
Vedic astrolog assigns &oon as the planetar ruler of this
nakshatra and the influence of &oon brings qualities like gentleness, receptiveness
and the abilit to connect to masses and influence them, to this nakshatra. $ll four
parts of this nakshatra fall in the sign of /apricorn ruled b Saturn and the influence
of Saturn and /apricorn brings qualities like great organi)ational skills, connecting to
masses and influencing them, the abilit to wait patientl to achieve the ob0ectives
and the abilit to put long, hard and sustained effort to achieve the ob0ective, to this
nakshatra and accordingl the natives under the strong influence of this nakshatra
are ver good at organi)ational skills and accordingl the can be seen practicing in
fields which require organi)ational skills. ,he natives under the influence of this
nakshatra are usuall wise and clever and the use their wisdom for achieving
success in their lives. Shravana natives are usuall ver patient and persevering and
the can keep on working towards their goals until the achieve them but it should be
kept in mind here that Shravana natives are most of times wise enough to separate
realistic goals from unrealistic goals or hopes as is the case with Poorvashada
natives. (owever it should be noted that the natives under the strong negative
influence of Shravana are likel to use their cleverness and wisdom for selfish
means instead of working for some universal cause. Shravana is a ver persevering
nakshatra and the natives under the strong influence of this nakshatra tr their level
best to reach their goals and ob0ectives and therefore such natives become ver
hard to handle, selfish and sometimes even dangerous when their goals are selfish
and immoral or illegal which happens due to strong negative influence of this
nakshatra in their horoscopes. Since Shravana natives are masters of disguise like
the Vaaman, it becomes ver difficult to deal with them when the choose to become
criminals as most of the criminals under the influence of this nakshatra are white
collared and ver shrewd criminals and the have the abilit to successfull run their
illegal businesses for man ears without getting caught or without even getting
recogni)ed as criminals b the law of the countr.
In a positive sense, the natives under the strong influence of
this nakshatra are ver good at learning and gaining knowledge and then appling
that knowledge for the welfare of the people around them. Shravana natives are
generall ver social in nature and the have good networking of friends who can be
used in various organi)ational activities b these natives in order to achieve bigger
goals. Shravana natives are ver good at influencing and charming people and then
using them to get some kind of benefit from them. Vedic astrolog assigns man
kinds of professional fields to this nakshatra and accordingl the natives under the
influence of this nakshatra can be seen practicing as teachers, preachers, students
and other similar kind of people dealing with some kind of education, people working
in 0obs which require good organi)ational and management skills, actors, comedians,
stage artists, radio artists, ,V artists and other people dealing in similar kind of fields,
doctors, counselors, pschiatrists, pschologists, advisors and other people dealing
in similar kinds of fields, singers, musicians, artists and man other kinds of people
dealing in man other kinds of professional fields. 1atives under the strong negative
influence of this nakshatra can be seen practicing as smugglers, mafia people, drug
paddlers and other people dealing in drug business, mone launderers and man
other kinds of people engaging in man other kinds of criminal activities.
,alking about some other facts associated with this nakshatra
which are considered important for making certain calculations like gun &ilan for the
purpose of horoscope matching for marriage, Vedic astrolog considers Shravana as
a male nakshatra and man vedic astrologers e.plain this gender classification of
Shravana on the basis of association of this nakshatra with Lord Vishnu who is
considered as a &ale god in Indian &tholog. Shravana is considered as fi.ed in
nature and balanced in functioning and both of these classifications can be easil
understood from the functioning of this nakshatra. Vedic 2otish assigns Shudra
Varna to this nakshatra and there is no convincing e.planation available so far, for
this Varna classification of Shravana. Vedic astrolog considers Shravana as #ev in
-an and 3a0asic in -un. ,he -an classification of Shravana is e.plained on the
basis of the fact that Lord Vishnu is the presiding god of this nakshatra and the -un
classification is e.plained on the basis that the functioning of this nakshtra has a lot
to do with materialistic and worldl affairs. 2otish assigns the element of air to this
nakshatra.
B
(imanshu Shangari