1.What Astrological system is followed during the consultancy?
The predictions made by Vijay are based on the Parasharic system of Vedic Astrology and also sometimes Jaimini hora shastra and KP system techniques are used. Vedic Astrology is not a black magic nor is it based on pure intuitions. The predictions as based on various rules, configurations and exceptions put-forth by the Astrological system. These were written out by the enlightened seers and it could also be considered as that, they could have done their own statistical researches before they came up with these rules.

2.What is a horoscope and what is required to construct it?
Your horoscope is a snap-shot of a configuration of planets in its stellar constellations, at your birth date and time. The main reference point in your horoscope, namely Lagna/Ascendant, is based on the exact time and location of your birth. So, if the time or the place is not accurate, the interpretations from this chart are not going to be accurate either. Assuming, all the data given is accurate, the readings will provide a guideline to various aspects of you and your life such as health, finance, education, career, marital life, progeny (child-birth), relationships, gain/loss, karma, spiritual life, remedies, etc. Only few aspects will be dealt in detail depending on your queries.

3.What techniques are used to predict?
The predictions are consolidated from various aspects/techniques that are too technical and long to list here but two of those important aspects that are considered are Gochara influences(day to day movement of planets and their effect with respect to your lagna/chandra rasi) and your horoscope specific Vimshottari desa bukthi influences. These two major time elements will be seen with respect to your horoscope specific yogas (good), doshas (bad), good/bad sensitive points and other important astrological configurations. At times, the Gochara timing is good while desa-bukthi timing is bad or vice-versa. One could compensate the other's effect but if both are bad, it could be worse or if both are good, it could be really good. So, it is all relative and consolidation has to be done based on experience and careful analysis. Various technical aspects of the astrology are mostly explained along with the real predictions so as to keep it real and for future reference.

4.Is Vedic Astrology fatalistic? What are the roles of karma and free-will in it?
We go through good and bad times due to our previous actions/karma. We cannot escape the fruits of previous karma, but only through the realization of the root cause of that bad karma, not repeating it again in this Janma(birth) and doing other good karmas in that context to counteract it or reduce its effects. There are two types of karmas: A-dhruda or weak karma, which can be counter-acted by simple pariharas and good deeds such as homa, virata, charity(dhana), etc by an individual, while the powerful karma namely 'Dhruda' cannot be *easily* counteracted. We can only perform several good deeds, severe viratas and hope that it will reduce that karma and produce a cushioning effect. If not performed well or with an inner realization by that specific individual, the past karmas will continue to give their results.

Inspite of many doshas and bad karma, we have been blessed with a human-form of birth, only because we still had done other good deeds in the previous janma either to counteract, after realizing the bad deeds we've done or just without meaning to counteract. So, don’t be taken aback by the fact about the doshas mentioned in the horoscope, since there is always one or many other yogas or favorable grahas that bless us with good times too. Last note, do not take any prediction literally since free-will also has a role/effect in our current life; even though, we cannot change our destiny in its entirety (unless you are a yogi or spiritually enlightened), with our hard-work/self-realization, we do have the ability to change the "lanes" in our travel towards our destination and live a harmonious life.

5.How long does a horoscope reading session take?
A general horoscope interpretation session over phone or person takes approximately 45 minutes to 1 hour for an adult. If this is for a couple, it would approximately take one and a half to two hours.

6.What are the possible areas of prediction from a given horoscope?
Health, longevity, education, career, business, finance, quality of married life, diseases/accidents, progeny and children, house (real-estate), inheritance property related matters, partnership in business, legal issues due to government/immigration, relocation, spirituality, mental well-being, etc.

7.Do you teach Vedic Astrology/Jyotisha besides practising?
I do teach and have had handful of students in the past. Students that pickup fast or shine well in astrology usually are very curious, passionate, analytical, mathematical, creative, eidetic, believes in karma theory, interested in various cultures/astronomy/history, spiritual/philosophical, already exposed to vedic/non-vedic astrology, or a combination of some/all of these attributes. I usually study the student's chart to advise on their prospects of becoming an advanced astrologer as well.

8.What kind of astrological tools do you use?
I use professional Vedic astrology softwares namely Parashara Light (http://www.parashara.com/, Kaala (http://www.vedic-astrology.net/), and my own research software tools during my analysis.

9.Do these astrology softwares produce horoscopes based on Vaakya or Thirukanidha system?
These softwares base their calculation purely on Thirukanidha system which is widely used by astrologers nowadays. Vaakiya kanidha system is based on empirical set of formulae that were used by the astrologers in South-India that could be used mostly for specific regions within India.

10.If my child is born in US and if I convert that birth time to Indian time and write a horoscope, will it be correct/valid?
Converting just the time from US timezone to Indian timezone is not correct since the birth location is of prime importance and the lagna calculation is based on latitude/longitude values. Also, remember that many astrologers in India tend to forget or ignore the Day light savings (DST) information. It is advisable to either give the exact local US time and place to an astrologer in India who can use that data without converting and write the horoscope or I will be glad to write the horoscope for you.

11.If I get a muhurtha/auspicious date-time for any specific event (say marriage, grahapravesha, new project) from an astrologer living in India and then convert that time to US time, is that going to work well?
If the astrologer used an advanced software that takes into consideration all the underlying facts such as Muhurtha's location(foreign city location, day-light savings) and the person's horoscope (who could be born in India or foreign land), then, that should work fine.
If the astrologer in India calculates an auspicious date/time specific to that event as per India's time and then you convert it by manipulating the time difference, that will not work. This is because, the sun-rise and day-light savings time at your local city in US or foreign land could be different and that could change the lagna/rasi/nakshatra calculations even if you do the exact time difference calculations.

12.If I get a time from you to deliver a baby through C-Section surgery, doesn't that mean anybody can arrange to have a baby at a pre-meditated time and thus the baby to have an excellent horoscope and life?
Not exactly. First, we need to understand that, celestial space is not like a super-market, where you could expect to get fresh fruits everyday. The planets constantly move with respect to each other and it takes 60 years for a specific configuration of all the 7+2 planets to return to that same exact position/configuration. Thus, when you give an astrologer, say one month of time to get a good date/time for the baby's delivery, the astrologer is constrained by what he can do best with those 30 days (or lesser). Even if you get lucky (i.e.) your baby is lucky to have the best grahas in best positions for that period range, in that month, the lagna/navamsha which move fast with time are decided by the exact moment when the baby is born (within seconds at times). So, even if I provide you with a date/time range (say 10-20 mins), it would be upto Mother nature to allow you to really have the baby at this time. The doctor could delay it or there could be complications or doctor could finish it earlier than you expected due to the ease. So, you would ask, then why do I bother picking a date/time for the surgery? I would say, if you even had 3 days and few hours range in choice to have the surgery, it is best to pick the best out of whatever you have in hand. The whole purpose of Vedic astrology (or) Jyotish is to help you walk through the uncertainty with some spiritual help, if you wish. It could make a big difference sometimes. The same applies to any auspicious date choosing for any given event such as Graha-pravesha (house-warming), starting a new project, doing spiritual rituals/poojas, travelling, etc. At the same time, we should not try to micro-manage our life which is almost impossible practically and astrologically.

13.I know my date of birth but my time of birth is approximately known. Can you still see my horoscope?
It is critical to have the correct time of birth to make an accurate prediction. If you have an approximate time of birth (say within one or two hours), it might be possible to do a "Rectification" of time by cross-verification of various details and events. This could sometimes be really easy or get complicated depending on multiple factors. This is like an interpolation exercise with an existing data and extrapolating your future with the horoscope arrived at from the rectification.

14.I do not know my date or time of birth. But I just like to know an answer to a question. Is it possible to do this?
This could be done through a method namely Prasna (or) Aarudam. This can be applied to find answer for a specific question (not multiple) based on the theory that the date/time approached by the client to an astrologer was "meant to be" and that specific time itself has attributes that say whether the effort put-forth by the client is going to be successful or not.

15.What kind of remedial measures do you generally prescribe? Do they work?
I do prescribe remedial measures based on the doshas/bad-karmas seen in the horoscope. They could do charity towards causes related to health/education/etc, volunteering for some kind of social-work, providing free-food for people in need(Anna-dhAnam), poojas, practise meditation or a specific style of yoga, chanting manthras, doing yajnas(homam or offerings through sacred fire), maintaining yantras, wearing gem-stones, etc. If the prescribed remedial measures are done by yourself (not by others or you doing on behalf of others) and you realize the reasoning behind it everytime you do it, the remedial measures will definitely work or subside the issues you have or will have.

16.Do planets intend to do harm or bless us with prosperity based on our karma?
No. Physically, the planets do not have any harmful or favorable effect on each individual based on their karma. The planets are a part of God's creation in this universe and play their role in going in an orbit and hosting their own environment. The occurrences of good and bad events for each individual born during a certain planetary configuration were being studied in conjunction with the day-to-day movements of these planets and they seemed to have a repeatable pattern. The planets were chosen as a reference since they are naturally existing, have predictable movements and span orbits that take anywhere from 30 years to 1 month. This gives a good way to document events with respect to various time-space patterns of planets. This is pretty much the basis for most of the theories in astrology. One could say that this is close to the "Chaos theory" which tries to "find an underlying order in apparently random data".

17.Recently Pluto was taken off the planet list and degraded as a "Dwarf planet". Does this affect your analysis/predictions?
Vedic astrology only considers planets upto Saturn (Sani) eventhough it does not restrict the astrologers from using the outer planets. For most of my analysis and predictions I only use Sun(Surya), Moon(Chandra), Mars(Ankaraka/Sevvai), Mercury(Budha), Jupiter(Guru), Saturn(Sani) and the North/South Nodal points of Moon or so called the "Chaya/Shadow Grahas/Planets" Rahu and Kethu. Plus, even for western astrologers who use Pluto as a planet in their astrology, they will still continue to use it even if the Astronomical community now considers it as a "Dwarf" planet and not a real planet.

18.Why do different Vedic astrologers differ in their predictions for the same chart?
This could be because of many reasons: a) Not all Vedic astrologers have learnt all the core rules and exceptions systematically. b) Some of them have learnt the bare basics and then come up with their own set of theories as they practise and this could be as good as a "half-baked cookie" compared to a compendium of knowledge that has already been compiled by enlightened seers for centuries together. c) Some of them are lazy to apply all the possible rules and just stick to the minimal methods which may produce the right result but not at all instances. d) Not many have the advanced tools that the current technology has made possible to us, in order to avoid mathematical and analytical errors. e) There are few branches within Vedic astrology such as Jaimini, KP system and other undocumented ones which are followed by some in stand-alone mode or consolidated mode. It is their personal choice to do so and their success/failure depends on their approach in consolidating the result. So, sometimes it is really not "apples to apples" comparison.

My advice to people is that you should go by referral from clients, who have consulted with a specific astrologer before, check his academic and analytical abilities, his origin of knowledge (i.e.) his Gurus and lineage, and finally stick to an astrologer who has predicted well for you before.

19.Have you been 100% successful with all your predictions?
In this context, I would like to quote from the own words of the maestro of Astrology, late, Dr. B.V. Raman, "Those who know Astrology can only indicate in a way what will take place in future. Who else, except for Creator Brahma, can say with certainty what will definitely happen?". Like mentioned before, Astrology is a "probabilistic art" and the predictions are a consolidated result of various rules and exceptions. Every horoscope is unique in its own way. Note that the accuracy of the prediction also depends on the accuracy of the birth details provided. Even the rectification of a horoscope at times could be misleading if not done extensively.

I have been mostly accurate in providing an overall direction of a person's life but when it comes to the minute details, I would say, I have been approximately 75% accurate. I have had many moments where I was thrilled to know that I was right "on the dot" and few moments where I wasn't quite right. When the results dont match up well, it only makes me research more on this subject since I definitely believe there is always a meaningful sign for what is to come. Finally, as the name "Jyotisha" (Vedic Astrology in Sanskrit) stands for "The guiding light", astrology is to be used as a guideline in your life to lead a harmonious life and not in a literal-sense.

20.What languages are you comfortable for this consulting?
I can speak Sourashtra, Tamil, English very well and read/write in Tamil/English. I can manage to read Hindi and converse with Hindi speaking clients also. Note that I can provide horoscopes in both North Indian (diamond/diagonal style Kundli) and South Indian (boxy/square style) horoscope style formats.

21.Do you charge for additional questions if asked after the general reading session?
Depends. If it is simple and does not require a deep analysis in a certain area, it will be for free. Mostly such questions will be entertained through email.