Arudha - the real you and your image in the world
The Arudha Lagna is a concept in Vedic astrology that sheds light on an individual's perception in the external world and society. It reveals how others perceive you and which image you project in the world. Arudha means arisen and is a reflection or shadow that has arisen from you. It is not you but what others perceive of you. If someone is close to you, they don’t know who you are but will see you according to your Arudha Lagna or image point. In the birth chart, the image point can never reside in its house of origin since it represents a shadow cast and cannot prevail in the light of the truth. Thus, in our reality, the image of a person will always be different to his actual personality. If similar planets connect, associate or lord the Arudha, the image will be similar to the person, yet it will always be different. In the case of vast differences in planetary association, the image has to be taken as 50 per cent true since there must be at least some reason in us that makes others think the way they do.
The image point becomes very important in career analysis since our employer rarely sees us for who we are but only sees our image reflected in the world. Studying the Arudha Lagna reveals how far we can rise in society. Will we be popular? For what will we be known? And what allows us entrance into popularity? Which acts will maintain our image, and what will cause our image to fail? All this can be seen from the Arudha Lagna.
Most people know that Steve Jobs started Apple because both his Arudha Lagna and his Darapada (the reflection of the 7th House of Business) are strong. They are allowing both his brand and him to be known. Few people would know, however, the name of the founder of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, because his Darapada is stronger than his Arudha Lagna.
The position of the Arudha Lagna is vital in partnership and marriage. We take our partner to social functions, meet family, friends or colleagues and introduce our partner, hopefully, with great pride. From the Vedic point of view, long-term relationships have a big social component, which is seen in the relationship between the Arudha Lagna (your image in the world) and the Upapada (Your partner's image in the world). It is interesting to note that the image of your partner can be read from your birth chart. It is thus vivid that destiny (karma) impels us to be attracted to partners who exactly resemble the lessons that we have to experience.
A negative placement between the Arudha Lagna (your image point) and the Upapada (your life partner’s image point) will reveal conflict and quarrel that is visible and seen by society. If other factors in the chart coincide, it will hurt the relationship, and remedial measures should be undertaken. The opposite of the Arudha Lagna is the Atmakaraka, which represents our Soul’s nature. The Atmakaraka is the tightest and finest covering over our soul and expresses how we feel on a deep soul level. Even our friends might not know this depth of ourselves. It is the polar opposite of our Arudha Lagna. The Darakaraka represent the soul of our spouse, and the relationship between the Atmakaraka and Darakaraka will reveal how we relate to our spouse on a soul level. Thus, some couples are seen to be constantly fighting externally while still being connected and harmonising on a deeper internal level, which is much better than couples who are seen to harmonise externally while being completely separated on a soul level.
The human psyche and social appearance are very vast and often contradictory. It is not rational and fluctuates throughout our life. Our soul, the filter of mind, our actual personality and our image reflected in the world, all this can be seen and understood from the time of our birth and the natal chart. Self-actualisation, reflection, and the science of the stars can help us create balance and harmony within ourselves and with others, make the most out of our human experience, and transform the world into a better place.
