Prof K.S.Krishnamurthi of Chennai, India is the founder of the system popularly known as Krishnamurthi Padhdhathi.

Subsequently many astrologers who have followed Krishnamurthi Padhdhathi, have brought out a few additional theories like Four Step heory of Sarvashri Sunil Gondhalekar. We shall discuss the four step theory as written by Sarvashri Sunil Gondhalekar in the following lines:

Four Step theory Now it is well known fact that the best Astrological method for predicting timing of any event accurately is rishnamurthi !addhati" or !" in short. #t is a gross misunderstanding that this is a very difficult system to grasp. #n fact$ because of very simple rules which are easy to understand$ many astrologers have opted to shift to this system. #f someone has a basic knowledge to work out correct longitudes of planets and erect a cusp chart$ this is the easiest method to understand. Now%a%days even this much skill is not necessary because many computer software are available to do these mathematical calculations. #t is assumed that the readers are conversant with basic rules of !. #n !$ the measure deviation from &raditional Astrology is that the !lanet gives the result of the house where its star lord is situated in the horoscope. &hat is why it is known as Stellar Astrology. 'owever !rof. rishnamurthi observed that predictions based on planet and its star lord were not so accurate. So he divided the arc of each star in nine parts in proportion to period allotted to each planet in (imshottari )asha. 'e called this as Sub. According to !$ this Sub has power to decide whether the planet shall give favorable or unfavorable results. Sometime during *++,$ # read articles titled &he Sub lord speaks" written by -r. . -. Subramaniam. 'e suggested that the star lord of the sub should be given importance while predicting. # immediately recalled that !rof. rishnamurthi had also taken the star lord of the sub into consideration in some articles in his .eaders. So the thought appealed me and # started my research in that direction. /ased on research and

e0perience$ # formulated a theory with specific rules using basic principles. &o distinguish it from ! it was given a

!age No 1 name 2our Step &heory". # am glad to state that many have welcomed this theory and are practicing it. ! Astrologers

3et me put forward the rules 4and its interpretations wherever necessary5 of 2our Step &heory" for the benefit of the readers.

!ule "o. # a5 As per !$ a planet becomes a significator of the house where it is deposited. And also becomes the significator of the house4s5 or cusp4s5 owned by it. 'owever if the Stars owned by such planet are$ i5 occupied by some planet4s5$ ii5 not occupied by any planet or iii5 occupied by the same planet its signification should be different. &his is differentiated in 2our Step &heory as !rimary 4or strong5 signification and Secondary 4or weak5 signification as given below: a#$ #f there are no planet4s5 tenanted in the star4s5 of a planet$ it is a !rimary 4or strong5 significator of the house it is deposited 4even if there are other planet4s5 in that house5. a%$ #f there are no planet4s5 tenanted in the star4s5 of a planet$ it becomes the significator of house4s5 owned by it. 'owever$ if there are no planet4s5 tenanted in house4s5 owned 6e0cept 7ranus$ Neptune and !luto8$ #t becomes !rimary 4Strong5 significator otherwise it becomes Secondary 4weak5 significator of the house4s5 concerned. Interpretation&

!lease refer the chart attached on !age 9 :. 3et us consider ;upiter. &here are no planets in the star of ;upiter. ;upiter owns house 1 and house **.

As per .ule a*5$ ;upiter is !rimary 4strong5 significator of 'ouse *1 which is occupied by it. 4<ven though there is another planet (enus deposited in that house5 As per .ule a15 /ecause of ownership$ ;upiter is significator of houses 1 and **. 'owever it becomes Secondary 4weak5 significator of house 1 since Sun and -ercury are stationed there. While there are no planets in house ** so ;upiter becomes !rimary 4strong5 significator for house **. a'$ #f there are planet4s5 6e0cept 7ranus$ Neptune and !luto8 tenanted in the star4s5 of a planet$ then the said planet becomes weak significator of the house tenanted by it$ as well as$ house4s5 owned by it. a($ When the planet is in its =WN star it becomes !rimary 4strong5 significator of the house tenanted by it 4even if there are other planet4s5 in its stars5. 'owever it will be !rimary 4strong5 significator of the house4s5 owned by it only if there are no planet4s5 6e0cept 7ranus$ Neptune and !luto8 tenanted in that house. =therwise it becomes Secondary 4weak5 significator. )*nly Primary +strong$ signifi,ators are powerful to give resultis most important rule of 2our Step &heory. Secondary 4weak5 significators are like mirage$ and do not give results. &his is 2irst Step. 3et us move on to Second Step$ now. !ule "o. % !lanet is supposed to give results of the house where its star lord is deposited. &his is famous ! rule. #n 2our Step &heory also$ the planet will give results of house where its star lord is deposited 4even if there are other planet4s5 in that house5 i.e. it will be a !rimary 4strong5 significator of that house.

'owever it becomes !rimary 4strong5 significator of house owned by its star lord only if there are no planets 6e0cept 7ranus$ Neptune and !luto8 in that house or else it will be a Secondary 4weak5 significator. &herefore signification of planet at Star level is Second Step. Interpretation& i5 Since we are working out the signification of the planet at star level$ here we need not consider the star lord 4or the sub lord5 of the star lord in this step because we are not working out signification of the star lord of the planet. !lanets con>oined with$ aspecting?aspected by star lord within an orb of @ degrees 1, minutes shall only be considered in this step. !lease refer .ule No. A &o e0plain clearly$ suppose the star lord of the planet is -ercury. &hen the planet4s5 con>oined with -ercury 4within the orb5$ aspected by -ercury 4within the orb5 and aspecting -ercury 4within the orb5 shall only be considered in this step. #t is not necessary to include the star lord of -ercury. #n case of .ahu? etu appearing on this step please follow .ule No. :

ii5

iii5

iv5

!ule "o. ' Now we come to this third step. &hat is signification of planet at the sub level. As per ! the Sub has the deciding power to declare whether the result will be favorable or unfavorable. &his implies that this sub acts like a planet 4though in fact it is not a planet but it is mere sub division of the star5. &aking this clue from !$ the .ule No. * stated above is applied for the sub 4in 2our Step &heory5. &his signification of a planet at sub level is the &hird Step. !ule "o. ( #n ! we have accepted the fact that any planet gives the results of house deposited and owned by its star lord. And we have seen that the sub in Step No. @ acts as a planet. Naturally this sub should also

give the result based on its star lord. So$ the .ule No. 1 applies here. &his is signification of the planet based on star lord of its sub lord. &his is 2ourth Step. # call this as a step of success. Step no. @ and Step No. B are very important in 2our Step &heory. #n my e0perience many unsolved Cueries are solved by use of these steps. !ule "o. . !rof. rishnamurthi advocated use of !laucidus System of house division. #t gives importance to starting point of houses. )uring my studies$ while forming this &heory it$ was e0perienced that the planet4s5 near the cusp 4within the orb of @ degrees 1, minutes5 are capable of giving results of that cusp as a !rimary 4strong5 significator. #t is further observed that the orb can further be increased up to D degrees based on the e0perience of the Astrologer. 'owever$ such planet cannot act as !rimary 4strong5 significator for the house4s5 owned by it. #n my opinion$ there is a scope for research in this matter. !ule "o. / #n 2our Step &heory$ an orb of @ degrees 1, minutes is considered for con>unction as well as aspects. When !lanet is !rimary 4strong5 significator$ any planet con>oined with it$ aspected by it or aspecting it 4of course within the prescribed orb5 will also become !rimary 4strong5 significator of that house. Secondly$ if any planet aspects any cusp 4not the house5 within prescribed orb$ it will act as !rimary 4strong5 significator for such aspected cusp. !ule "o. 0 .ahu? etu have been given more importance in !. !rof. rishnamurthi has said that .ahu? etu will first give results of the

planet4s5 con>oined$ secondly the planet4s5 aspecting them$ ne0t of their star lord and lastly that of the sign lord where they are stationed. #n 2our Step &heory$ whenever .ahu? etu appear as star lord 4i.e. on steps 1 and B5 similar results are e0perienced. #f .ahu? etu are con>oined or aspected by any planet$ the sign lord where .ahu? etu are deposited will not be effective in offering results. #n fact$ as per my e0perience$ .ahu? etu give results in any of above order. At least till today # could not come to any conclusion about this order. 2urther research is necessary in this respect. !ule "o. 1 -any times it is observed that a planet becomes !rimary 4strong5 significator of favorable as well as unfavorable houses. 7nder such circumstances one gets confused whether such planet will give favorable or unfavorable results. #n my studies$ # observed that when a planet is significator of favorable and unfavorable houses$ it gives favorable results. 'owever if such planet$ =N &'#.) AN) 2=7.&' S&<!$ becomes !rimary 4strong5 significator of unfavorable houses only it will not give result of that house. #f such planet is one of the )/A lords$ it will not give result in its period. &his # call as Adversity of Sub. !ule "o. 2 #n connection with any Cuery$ as in !$ we analyEe main house and two supporting houses. /ut in 2our Step &heory$ the event will fructify only when chain of all such house signification is completed by )/AS lords. Sometimes additional supporting houses need to be considered viE. D and F for marriage$ : and D for going abroad etc. !ule "o. #3 After fi0ing the )/AS for an event$ transit of planets must also be favorable. #n ! the transit of luminaries are given more importance. /ut in 2our Step &heory$ transits of )/AS lords along with luminaries are considered. 2or checking transit$ we have divided the

planets in two parts. *5 Slow moving planets such as ;upiter$ Saturn$ .ahu and etu. #n case of these planets we have to check the sub they are transiting. 15 2ast moving planets such as Sun$ -ars$ -ercury and (enus. 2or these planets we have to check the star they are transiting. #n case of -oon when it appears as one of the )/AS lords$ we have to check araka planet for the Cuery. 2or e0ample$ in case of marriage if -oon appears as one of )/AS lords we should consider transit of ;upiter and (enus. #n case of ;ob one should study transit of Sun and Saturn. #n case of sell or purchase of house we have to consider transit of -ars. &hese Subs for slow moving planet4s5 and Star lords for fast moving planet4s5 must be !rimary 4strong5 significator of favorable house4s5 on 2irst and Second Steps only for the event to materialiEe. 4#t does not matter even such planet signifies unfavorable house4s5 along with favorable house4s55 #f such Sub or Star lord is !rimary 4strong5 significator of only unfavorable houses on first two steps$ then event cannot happen in this period. #n such case we have to e0amine ne0t period. .ules of retrograde planets are e0perienced while checking transits. 2or e0ample$ assume that one is running )asha$ /hukti or Antara of Saturn. And if &ransit Saturn is retrograde it will give the result. 'owever if the transit Saturn is in the star of a retrograde planet it cannot give the result in its period.

Planet D Sign Sun Pisces Moon Scorpio Mars R "ir#o Mercury Aries *upiter A+uarius "enus A+uarius Saturn R .eo Rahu Pisces !etu "ir#o %ranus 1e2ini 3eptune R "ir#o P'uto R 4ancer 5ortuna "ir#o Cusps 2 3 4 5 (

Deg Min Sec Star StarLord 22 30 ' 23 '' Revati (2) Mercury 05 44 ' 39 '' Anuradha ( ) Saturn 03 50 ' 4$ '' %ttar&Pha' (3) Sun 0 53 ' 4( '' Ash)ini ( ) !etu 05 0, ' 53 '' -hanishtha (4) Mars 0( , ' 0, '' -hanishtha (4) Mars 20 4, ' 54 '' Purva&Pha' (3) "enus 40 ' '' %ttar/hadra (4) Saturn 4 0 ' '' 0asta (2) Moon 0$ ' 55 '' Ardra ( ) Rahu 22 5( ' $ '' 0asta (4) Moon 22 49 ' 03 '' As'esha (2) Mercury 2, 0, ' 30 '' 4hitra (2) Mars H.Lord Saturn *upiter Mars "enus Mercury Moon StarLord Rahu Mercury "enus Moon Rahu Saturn

Sub Moon Mercury Saturn "enus Sun Moon *upiter Rahu *upiter Rahu Sun Moon *upiter Sub Mercury Sun Saturn !etu !etu Moon

SubSub Rahu !etu "enus Rahu *upiter Mercury Mercury Mercury *upiter "enus *upiter Saturn "enus SubSub Rahu Sun Rahu Mercury Mercury Mercury

Sign Deg Min Sec A+uarius 3 53 ' 5 '' Pisces 2 34 ' 30 '' Aries 23 35 ' 45 '' 6aurus 20 22 ' 2, '' 1e2ini 5 ' 9 '' 4ancer 42 ' 0 ''

, $ 9 0 2

.eo 3 53 ' 5 '' "ir#o 2 34 ' 30 '' .i/ra 23 35 ' 45 '' Scorpio 20 22 ' 2, '' Sa#ittarius 5 ' 9 '' 4apricorn 42 ' 0 ''

Sun Mercury "enus Mars *upiter Saturn

"enus Moon *upiter Mercury "enus Moon

"enus "enus Saturn "enus "enus Mars

Moon *upiter Rahu Rahu Mercury "enus

G==) 37G Sunil Gondhalekar