ਕੇਤੂ ਮਹਾਦੱਸ਼ਾ: 7-ਸਾਲਾਂ ਦਾ ਮੁਕਤੀ ਕਾਲ — ਅਧਿਆਤਮਿਕਤਾ, ਨੁਕਸਾਨ, ਅਤੇ ਮੋਕਸ਼

Ketu as Moksha Karaka: Classical Definition and the Liberation Period's Deeper Purpose

Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra, Chapter 3, identifies Ketu as the severed tail of the demon Svarbhanu — the part of the asura that consumed the amrita of immortality before Vishnu's Sudarshana Chakra severed the body. Parashara characterises Ketu as intensely spiritual, naturally aligned with Kuja, and powerfully associated with moksha, the liberation from cyclical existence that represents the ultimate aim of Vedic spiritual life. Unlike Rahu's outward-reaching hunger, Ketu operates through inversion and withdrawal: it does not seek new experience but rather processes, integrates, and ultimately transcends the residue of many accumulated janmas. The 7-year Ketu Mahadasha, while the shortest among the Vimshottari dashas, is often experienced as among the most profoundly transformative — and most bewildering — periods in a native's life. Ketu governs the domain of prior-life mastery: wherever it sits in the natal kundali, the jivatma arrives with exceptional accumulated competence, yet experiences a paradoxical inability to find satisfaction or continuity in that domain. This is the soul's recognition that certain karmic arenas are complete, their lessons fully learned, and further investment yields diminishing spiritual returns. Ketu Mahadasha functions as a divinely choreographed clearing process: stripping away identities, attachments, relationships, and career structures that no longer serve the soul's evolution, creating the interior spaciousness necessary for genuine moksha awareness to emerge.