When a person establishes any business or corporation, what does he look for? The first thing is what business or profession he or she should enter, second his or her capability to handle and then gets down to finding a good location; and finally goes on to find an auspicious time of laying the foundation, inauguration and so on so forth.

It is not my case that those who do not consult astrologers have not been successful and those who consult have always earned fortunes for them. There are no scientific studies available to buttress the claim that those who consult astrologers and take steps before doing so are more successful. But look at some of the most successful persons world-over including industrialists, businessmen, politicians, film stars and whosoever is anybody, go deeper into their personal lives and you will have the answer.

Amitabh Bachchan for example is a moving industry worth Rs 500 crores. He wears two heavy diamonds in one finger. Why? He does nothing before going into the astrological consultations. Why the Ambani always have with them a 24-hour astrologer? Not everyone who works at a petrol bunk becomes a business giant like Dhirubhai Ambani and not everyone who works at a sugarcane juice stall becomes Gulshan Kumar. It is all about right people at the right time at the right place in the right environment!

Quite often people suffer due to bad investments. Few succeed at stock market while others fail miserably. Few face problems while investing in property while hundreds never make it in business. It is all part of the divine plan. Astrology gives an insight about where, when and how can an individual invest his hard earned money to make it multiply effortlessly. Astrology is a good means of finding out many financial patterns, which are not visible and sometimes even to yourself.

Astrology today has diversified into many branches of specialization. Among them is the use of astrology in financial management. It is the domain of a good astrologer to decipher the planetary influences and appropriately advise a native. Financial management is broad based. A horoscope has to be studied in depth to know one’s personality, strengths and weaknesses and his field of expertise. What we normally call it SWOT (strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats). Therefore, we call it astrological SWOT. If one does that it is bound to enrich him. He or she may take decisions based on intelligence, resources, environment and likings. But is there anything wrong if one gets astrological SWOT as well.

There are many examples of people whose birth chart speaks by itself. The birth chart of Kumar Manglam Birla makes one believe in astrology when we find that his planetary combinations speak louder than words about his life & career. Jupiter the lord of his 9th house of luck is in ascendant with lord of the 4th house Venus indicating the bagful of fortune Mr Birla was born with. Aziz Premji one of the richest businessmen is regarded as one of the 20 most powerful men in the world. He joined his father’s vegetable oil business at the age of 21 due to sudden demise of his father in the year 1966. Wipro his flagship company has grown to an unimaginable extent and today is ranked among the 100 top technology companies globally. He has Leo as ascendant. His 10th house of profession is occupied by Mars & Venus aspected by Jupiter. He has Saturn in his 11th house in conjunction with Rahu, which helped him to amass billions of dollars through his workforce whom he nurtures like a father figure. India needs many more of the likes of Premji to occupy a leading position in the world of business in the years to come. It may be mentioned that an astrologer told him at the very tender age that if he deviated from his family business, he will earn a fortune, preferably technology. But he didn’t know what business and neither the astrologer could pinpoint at that time the specified business. But he kept thinking that he has to enter a new business and he kept looking for one. Finally, he got one and earned a fortune.

London-based Laxmi Niwas Mittal recently became the world’s biggest steel maker. How come a man born on June15, 1950 born in Sadulpur, Rajasthan without any apparent advanced Technical knowledge rise so high in life, which baffles human intelligence & imagination. Let me inform you that his father threw him out after he failed in his business and looking for new opportunities. An astrologer told him that if he focused away from his family and do something in South India, he may succeed. But he must deal only in the metals and his rise will be outside India. He began again as a scrap dealer. His ascendant is Libra which placed in his 7th house gives him prosperity. He has Saturn in his 11th house of gain aspected by Jupiter. Saturn representing the metal Iron is the secret from which LM Mittal benefited in major period of Saturn. For Rahul Bajaj also, Saturn is the planet, which is the gift of God, which occupies a pious place in the 11th house of gain. It is interesting to point out that Saturn has a similar placement in both horoscopes. Unraveling the mysteries of a horoscope is like decoding the entries in the cosmic Diary. A top industrialist of India Nusli Wadia has Mars & Saturn in Taurus ascendant, which forms a Rajyoga in his chart.

It is an established fact that Vedic astrology is the best where the horoscope of a person is the key. If you are forming a corporate house in collaboration with others, then there should be some kind of matching –like the one done by matchmakers for marriage. Every person’s horoscope is a mirror of his career and future. It also reflects what profession he should chose, where he will progress and prosper and what he should not do. Therefore, before going ahead with the corporate setting up, one should do some groundwork.

Vaastu
A person must get the vaastu done of the premises or the land and also while making a building, the person and promoter should take care of the vaastu angles. Commercial complexes, which are made in accordance with the principle of Vaastu shastra become popular, prove to be beneficial & profitable to the business that is carried on from that complex. Business Vaastu is necessary to increase productivity, performance & efficiency and create positive environment to attract more business & higher targets. Goals of vaastu shastra is to enhance the physical, mental and emotional well being of the occupants of a building. It is done by ensuring that the plot is fully energized and the building is in harmony with the cosmic elements. However, vaastu does not claim that you will have no problems at all. It ensures that by creating a harmonious space you will be able to face the difficulties in life without negativity. Vaastu cannot supersede the indications in a horoscope, but can minimize the damage and optimize the positive signals and reduce the impact of depressing indications.

Next thing is the utility of auspicious time or Muhurta for commencing any business. Time is also the carrier of fruits of destiny. The time when a life starts contains in its womb infinite information about the auspicious or inauspicious moments through which the life will progress. Like time of commencement of life, time of commencement of any activity will contain certain favorable and unfavorable promises for that activity. Muhurta is the selection of the best date and time for performing any work. It helps in concentrating the energy of the planets and other astrological factors in an auspicious way so as to nullify negative factors. Logically, one should choose the best time available within a particular "window of time" to get the best results. This is called Muhurta. Basically it is the science of timing, choosing the best time to start something in order to get the best result. Once these basic things are taken care of, corporate astrology begins.

Analyzing horoscopes of top executives

The first lesson of management science is to choose wisely & utilize scarce resources optimally. During the curtain raiser before the Mahabharat war, Duryodhna chose Sri Krishna’s large army for his help while Arjuna selected Sri Krishna’s wisdom for his support. This episode gives us a clue as to the nature of the wisdom - the former chose numbers, the latter wisdom. One may also take care of persons being hired for key positions—if their horoscopes can be analyzed before being inducted, nothing wrong. There are growing numbers of corporate houses who are resorting to this practice. They have their internal astrologers who analyze the horoscopes of top executives. Its importance is being accepted gradually and there are reputed universities, which have introduced astrology as a full-fledged course. The demand for good astrologers is growing at a faster. But one must also remember at the same time that astrology cannot in itself be a business. Persons, who make astrology a business, fail. Because astrology is divine science as well. It’s like getting a right doctor for the right treatment of your disease. It’s also like you don’t stop consulting doctors if you do not get relief from one doctor. You keep trying for another good doctor.

Also, a most important point to take into consideration is whether the candidate for an executive position in your company is born Lucky or not. One may have an experienced person, very efficient, even honest to the core. But he has to be lucky as well. To start an industry or business or launching an expansion programme with an adverse financial aspect showing in the horoscope of the company or its chief executive or the owner, is courting disaster. On the other hand, when the planets indicate a period of abundance, only then the company should go ahead with confidence, increasing turnover and planning future expansion, thus eliminating any possible uncertainty. The horoscopes of these key persons become of paramount importance for its smooth running operations and its growth prospects. If these aspects are taken care of at the time of appointment of the key managerial people then there will be very good chances of success of a body corporate.

The use of astrology in business is still very much in the closet as is its use in the financial markets. Financial astrology can be of great help to corporations, both in a macro and micro sense. Terrestrial changes are the reflections of the celestial occurrences. These are more visible in the field of mundane matters, like the political, and commercial activities of nations, Trading and economic affairs.

In the horoscope of India, the advent of Mars’s period in 1986 saw the age of computers and Information Technology in a big way. The Mars period started in July 86. In the sub period of Rahu, things began to move positively for Indian Information Technology & software wizards of Young Indians entered into fray. Also Mars is in conjunction with the Ketu the planet, which gives unconventional studies like Computers. Mars & ketu are significators for electronic and digital technology Placed in 7th house of partnership. Therefore, many IT giants from the western countries began to show interest in India’s upcoming computer professionals. Mercury the planet signifying communication placed in 10th house of profession gives India an edge in Information Technology. In India’s horoscope of Independence, there are 5 planets in 3rd house. 3rd house in a horoscope indicates areas like communication, transport, railways film, media & IT industry. This shows the popularity of Bollywood all over the world. Today, India is leading in the software revenue of about 40 billion dollars, which is going to rise substantially in the coming years. With the advent of Rahu Major period horoscope in 1993 and sub period of Jupiter in 1996 onwards, economic reforms were introduced in a big way opening the door of foreign investors. It is largely because Rahu is considered a foreign planet. In the year when BJP came to power it also continued to encourage information technology, communication & electronics etc. In BJP’s horoscope also Rahu is placed in 3rd house of communications.

At present India is running period of Rahu-Venus. Venus is a planet signifying womanpower. It’s because of this very reason that India has a first women President (Pratibha Patil), a women as the chairperson of UPA (Mrs Sonia Gandhi) and even Chief Minister of UP, Ms Mayawati. After this, there will be Rahu-sun, Rahu-Moon& Rahu-Mars period till July 2011. We can expect more profitable & powerful collaborations with foreign investors.

Vedic Astrology can deal with the corporate astrological field by analyzing the chart of a company and may be used to bring out the strong and weak points of the company, favorable and unfavorable periods of the company. A great deal of thought is being given to organizational behavior. Management gurus, theorists, academia are all trying to design solutions and models for studying and analyzing organizational behavior, devising motivational and interpersonal programmes to create thoughtful leaders and global strategic managers. Astrology is a powerful tool though it may sound unimaginable to try to relate astrology with organizational behavior. But an astrologer can give a better solution – better than even a HR manager, as he may understand the psyche of the individual better than a HR manager. Psychology can be best studied through astrology. All big corporate and multinationals have waken up to the fact and have started taking help of corporate astrologer for picking up the right person for the right job.

Recently, a brokerage house, which was doing the rounds of some of Mumbai’s B-schools asked the short listed candidates to submit their horoscopes for evaluation by a renowned astrologer. Initially, it was the usual stuff, which comprised of personal interviews and group discussion. After the successful completion of these, they were asked to submit their horoscopes, which they were told would be evaluated by an astrologer.

From our point of view it becomes relevant that the key persons have the appropriate combinations in relation to the business carried out by the body corporate. For example the head of finance and accounts should have good mercury and Jupiter. Similarly quality control head should have good mercury and Venus and so forth. Mercury is the significator for investments and if there is a strong influence of Saturn on mercury then that person is cautious, careful and averse to risks. Power and esteem comes from power planets like sun and mars, status conscious Jupiter. A well-placed Sun gives name and fame, a powerful Mars enormous power, a strong Jupiter respect and honor, a good Venus luxury, contacts and connections and a well-placed Rahu again a lot of power.

To my mind employing a corporate astrologer is a necessity not a luxury in this Age of competitions. Hiring an astrologer can be as important as a lawyer, chartered accountant or an IT professional. The trend of hiring a doctor has also gained momentum. A large number of firms and companies have started hiring sociologists, psychologists and social scientists. Firms have also started hiring detectives just for gathering information about the conduct and doings of their top management personnel. There is a famous case of a top executive of a multi-billion company being fired for hiring detectives to check the mails and telephones of the executives. So why not take precaution at the outset? Hire an astrologer, put a condition that one has to provide his time, date and place of birth and then get it astrologically analyzed.

Apply these yardsticks and see the result.