Your Birth Star and the Sahasranamam

In Jyotisha, the 360 degrees of the zodiac are divided into 27 nakshatras, the lunar mansions, and each nakshatra into four equal quarters called padas. Twenty-seven nakshatras of four padas each make 108 padas in all.

The thousand names of the Sahasranamam are set in 107 shlokas, and with the closing shloka, "vanamālī gadī śārṅgī…", the stotram has 108 verses. A popular devotional practice pairs the two in order: the first pada of Aswini with the first shloka, the second pada of Aswini with the second shloka, and so on, until the fourth pada of Revathi, which is paired with the closing shloka.

This pairing is a devotional practice that has grown up around the stotram; it is not part of Sri Parasara Bhattar's commentary. It is offered here as an aid to daily prayer for those who wish to follow it. The verse numbers are the same as in the rest of this book, and the names in each verse are explained one by one in the chapters of the thousand names.

To use it, find your birth nakshatra and its pada from your horoscope (jātakam). Turn to the chapter for your nakshatra, where each of its four padas is given with its verse and meaning, and chant your verse with devotion, 11, 21 or 108 times a day.

The nakshatras and their verses are as follows.

1. Aswini: verses 1 to 4

2. Bharani: verses 5 to 8

3. Krittika: verses 9 to 12

4. Rohini: verses 13 to 16

5. Mrigasira: verses 17 to 20

6. Ardra: verses 21 to 24

7. Punarvasu: verses 25 to 28

8. Pushyami: verses 29 to 32

9. Aslesha: verses 33 to 36

10. Makha: verses 37 to 40

11. Purva Phalguni: verses 41 to 44

12. Uttara Phalguni: verses 45 to 48

13. Hasta: verses 49 to 52

14. Chitra: verses 53 to 56

15. Swathi: verses 57 to 60

16. Visakha: verses 61 to 64

17. Anuradha: verses 65 to 68

18. Jyeshta: verses 69 to 72

19. Moola: verses 73 to 76

20. Purva Ashadha: verses 77 to 80

21. Uttara Ashadha: verses 81 to 84

22. Shravana: verses 85 to 88

23. Dhanishta: verses 89 to 92

24. Satabhisha: verses 93 to 96

25. Purva Badra: verses 97 to 100

26. Uttara Badra: verses 101 to 104

27. Revathi: verses 105 to 108

May the Lord who wears the vanamālā remove every obstacle on your path, and may your chanting of His names grow into the love for Him that the Sahasranamam itself teaches.