Juliana: Have you taught your son Julian astrology?
James: Oh boy, this is a fun story. Julian has always been strong willed and I can’t force him to do anything he doesn’t want. But I was dying for him to learn astrology at a young age, so it would be a natural, ingrained part of him. When he was about eleven or twelve, he asked me to buy him yet another expensive electronic gadget, so that gave me some leverage. I said, “You can have that thing you want if you give me seven weekends — one hour a day for seven Saturdays and Sundays."
He agreed, and I taught him as many Jyotish principles as I could. We looked at horoscopes of the family and friends on the computer screen, and he learned quite well. The kicker, which was totally unexpected, was that after the seven weekends were up, he kept coming to me on Saturdays saying "Daddy, what about astrology. We have to study."
This was quite a thrill. What wasn't so great was that every night for the next two years when he was getting into bed, the astrology questions would start. Just when we wanted him to settle down, he would ask Julian Braha
questions about the varga charts, neechabhanga, Chandra lagna, intricate stuff that so many students ignore for years and years. I used to wonder "Where is he getting these intricate questions from?" I guess it's inherited.
Oh, by the way, Julian started learning Hindu/Vedic astrology first and had no interest in Western. At some point, he began asking questions about his Western chart. Now whenever he comes up and says “I have an astrological question,” it’s a toss up as to which system he will ask about. That makes me quite happy, especially because his initial resistance to Western was pretty strong.