The 27 CELESTIAL PORTALS [Paperback]

Prash Trivedi (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 8, 2005

It is common knowledge that the 12 star-signs map the sky and set the stage for the drama of life. This book expands this awareness manifold by revealing that it is the 27 constellations, and not the 12 signs, which truly map the ecliptic and provide the celestial backdrop for affairs on earth. Instead of taking away from the widely recognized meanings and significations of the 12 signs, they enrich them with a whole new depth of perspective and interpretation.

Product Details

• Paperback: 471 pages
• Publisher: Lotus Press (March 8, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0940985845
• ISBN-13: 978-0940985841
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 7.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #332,518 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Light On Lunar Mansions, September 3, 2005

By 

Dr Robert Elliott (Minnesota) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The 27 CELESTIAL PORTALS (Paperback)

My sincere and humble thanks to Mr Prashant Trivedi for a most absorbing and deeply occult work. This book is an oasis in a veritable desert of information on the lunar mansions or nakshatras (their sanskrit name), an area of Astrology which has always fascinated me.

I found this work to be of unusually high calibre in terms of its erudition, originality and sheer informativeness. It is packed with excellent insights which require many, many hours to digest. All due credit to the author, that he has managed to imbue his masterpiece with some of that ubiquitous spark that distinguishes the classics.

The book carries excellent presentation on each nakshatra or lunar mansion, with their attributes and qualities laid out in a very organised, detailed and easy to read fashion. It is evident that utmost care and scrutiny has gone into it. Mr Trivedi's ability to marry logic, complexity and lucidity enable these often contradictory attributes to be fairly elucidated. The meanings of some of the nakshatras differ from other contemporary works, but none of those authors have tried to back up their views with the same intelligence and careful dissection as Mr Trivedi has achieved.

He evinces an understanding of Jyotish that is steeped in a very advanced and broad understanding of Vedic and metaphysical subjects in general. I found this to be not only a work on Astrology and Cosmology but a commentary on life, death, universal politics, spiritual enlightenment, civilizations - ancient and modern, history, mythology, mystery, psychology, day to day existence, culture and refinement.

What I liked was Mr Trivedi's treatment of profound topics in an unpretentious manner. He applies a no nonsense approach when advising on the pitfalls and disadvantages of more challenging nakshatras in our present climate, but balances this with appropriate remedial measures and suitable courses of action.

The coup d'etat are the highly pleasing colour illustrations which really do convey the essence of each nakshatra in a vivid and exciting way. A great asset to students and professionals of all systems of Astrology. Not for the fainthearted, this is a serious work for dedicated scholars.

In my opinion it raises the standard for other Jyotish works to emulate, and justifiably so, because the diminished quality of Vedic Astrology books by Indian authors is notorious and there are virtually no advanced works by Western authors to set any kind of precedent.

I am deeply impressed and looking forward to Mr Trivedi's future writings.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Demands time and attention...but its worth it., November 6, 2007

By 

M. Miller "evescaduceus" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The 27 CELESTIAL PORTALS (Paperback)

This book takes a very different look at the nakshatras, one that is far more extensive but less balanced than interpretations found in the more popular books by Hart de Fuow and Dennis Harness.

In many ways, this book is more accurate. Trivedi calls a spade a spade. If he feels a nakshatra almost always manifests negatively (Ashlesha and Purva Bhadrapada, for example) he unapologetically tells it that way, and doesn't really try to provide a more positive assessment. This makes the book less useful for those who must counsel people born under those signs, or those who are born under those stars themselves.

The book heavily emphasizes caste, professions, esoteric meaning, auspicious and inauspicious activities. On the one hand, this can be frustrating for the novice who is solely interested in the meaning of each nakshatra, and how each planet manifests in each of the padas (no Vedic book currently on the market has really done an in-depth exploration of how every planet manifests in every sign or pada).

On the other hand, this book is meant to be used on multiple levels. When Trivedi writes in the afterword that the esoteric sections are "signboards pointing toward unknown levels which nakshatras encode", he wasn't kidding. Applications for the esoteric side of each nakshatra could fill a second book. Essentially, the esoteric sections of each chapter amount to a collection of good hints, and there is a rather impressionistic feel to much of his writing in general. There is also the sense that the author's choice of material is intended to cover all the bases - the reader will need to do some work to figure out underlying connections on their own.

Despite these weaknesses, the book gets five stars because it is a seminal work. Its probably a good idea to read this book and re-read it, and then read it a third time. More ideas become clear each time you take another look due to the impressionistic nature of the writing. A novice who reads this book and takes an extensive set of notes may absorb more information about the nakshatras than many of the folks who have written exams for Jyotish certification courses.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply Magnificent - The Final Word in Astrology, May 14, 2005

By 

Linda Lee (Brisbane, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The 27 CELESTIAL PORTALS (Paperback)

If astrology were a religion, this would be its Bible.

A finely crafted work which finally lifts the viel off the
27 constellations used in Hindu ( Vedic) astrology.

There is no astrologer from any background who would
not want to incorporate the 27 constellations
in their work after reading this book.

The highly intricate hand-drawn images for the 27 constellations
are excellent and enlightening in ways which
go beyond the common symbology used for the 12 signs.

All in all the best astrology book I have laid my hands on!