What the text says it is
Lord, astrology (jyotiṣa) is supreme, holy and secret, the best limb of the Veda, with three branches: horā, gaṇita and saṃhitā.
Bṛhat Parāśara Horā Śāstra 1.2
Of these three, horā is said to be the best, O sage. I wish to hear it from you; kindly tell me, lord.
Bṛhat Parāśara Horā Śāstra 1.3
How did this creation arise, and how is the world dissolved? Tell in detail the relation between the beings in the sky and those on earth.
Bṛhat Parāśara Horā Śāstra 1.4
Well asked, O Brahmin, you who do good to the world. Now I, bowing to the supreme Brahman and to its power Bhāratī (Sarasvatī), and to the Sun, lord of the planets and cause of the world's origin, shall tell the eye of the Veda as I heard it from Brahmā's mouth.
Bṛhat Parāśara Horā Śāstra 1.5–6
How it begins: creation
Parāśara answers the question of creation first. The world comes from Viṣṇu, one and unmanifest, through three powers; the planets are among the beings in whom the supreme Self is greater.
Viṣṇu is one, unmanifest, without beginning, the master and lord, of pure sattva, lord of the world, beyond the guṇas yet endowed with the three guṇas, the maker of the world, glorious, the efficient cause, mighty; with one part of himself he creates and protects the whole world in play.
Bṛhat Parāśara Horā Śāstra 1.9–10
With Śrī-śakti, Viṣṇu always protects the three worlds; with Bhū-śakti, Brahmā creates; with Nīlā-śakti, Śiva consumes.
Bṛhat Parāśara Horā Śāstra 1.20
The supreme Self shines in all beings; all this, O Brahmin, rests in the supreme Self.
Bṛhat Parāśara Horā Śāstra 1.21
In all beings two portions are present: in some the jīva-portion is greater, and likewise in others the paramātma-portion. All the planets from the Sun, Brahmā, Śiva and others — these and many more have the paramātma-portion predominant.
Bṛhat Parāśara Horā Śāstra 1.22–23
The planets and the avatāras
Chapter 2 ties the planets to the incarnations of Viṣṇu, and gives the reason a chart is read at all: the planets are how the results of karma reach each being.
The unborn supreme Self has many incarnations. Janārdana, in the form of the planets, gives beings the fruits of their karma.
Bṛhat Parāśara Horā Śāstra 2.3
Rāma is the Sun's incarnation; Kṛṣṇa the Moon's; Narasiṃha Mars's; Buddha Mercury's; Vāmana Jupiter's; Paraśurāma Venus's; the Tortoise Saturn's; the Boar Rāhu's; the Fish incarnation Ketu's.
Bṛhat Parāśara Horā Śāstra 2.5–7
From their jīva-portions humans and others were born; they too merge there (into the planets), and those (planets) merge into the unmanifest.
Bṛhat Parāśara Horā Śāstra 2.10
What it says it cannot do
The book is plain about its limits. Maitreya asks for a method simple enough for his age because results are mixed; Parāśara gives the aṣṭakavarga, and says even then that no one can be certain. horoAstro follows this: it shows what the text says, marks the lines the text leaves open, and never calls a reading certain.
I tell the knowledge of the life-span, which is hard to know even for the gods.
Bṛhat Parāśara Horā Śāstra 43.2
Because those results are mixed together, and the planets' motions are mixed, not every man can know them and say, 'it is exactly so'.
Bṛhat Parāśara Horā Śāstra 66.2
Since in the Kali age the understanding of men given to sin is dull, tell me a śāstra that even those of small understanding can grasp — by which, from the positions of the planets at each time, men's happiness and sorrow can be known clearly, and their life-span determined.
Bṛhat Parāśara Horā Śāstra 66.3–4
All this I have told following the earlier teachers. The life-span and the course of worldly life are the purpose of this śāstra — but even Vasiṣṭha or Bṛhaspati cannot ascertain it with certainty; how much less can men, especially in the Kali age.
Bṛhat Parāśara Horā Śāstra 66.10–11
Getting the sky right
The text asks that the planets be computed so that calculation agrees with what is seen. horoAstro takes the positions from NASA JPL's DE440 ephemeris, which is fitted to observation, and applies the birthplace's own clock history before anything else.
At any time, the planets should be made true by whichever method brings observation and calculation into agreement; the knower should also make direction and time exact.
Bṛhat Parāśara Horā Śāstra 3.8
Whose word comes true
When a reading is weighed by a person, the text names the learning it expects of them.
One who is skilled in calculation, has laboured in grammar, knows logic, is intelligent, knows place, direction and time, has mastered the senses, skilled in reasoning for and against, and approved for his learning of the horā branch — his word comes true, O Maitreya, without doubt.
Bṛhat Parāśara Horā Śāstra 27.39–40
Who the text is for
The book opens and closes with the same request: that it be taught with care, to people who will use it honestly.
It should be given to one who is calm, devoted to the teacher, always truthful and a believer; then the teacher will attain good. It should not be given to another's pupil, a non-believer or a deceitful person; if given, sorrow arises daily, no doubt.
Bṛhat Parāśara Horā Śāstra 1.7–8
It is not to be given to one who is envious, or fond of reviling others, nor ever to the dull, the ill-mannered or one unknown; it is to be given to one of good conduct, devoted and truthful.
Bṛhat Parāśara Horā Śāstra 97.2–3
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Questions
Who wrote Bṛhat Parāśara Horā Śāstra?
The text presents itself as the teaching of the sage Parāśara to his disciple Maitreya, as Parāśara heard it from Brahmā (1.5–6). horoAstro follows the standard edition's Sanskrit and verse numbers, with our own translation.
Does the text claim to be certain?
No. It says the life-span is hard to know even for the gods (43.2), and that even Vasiṣṭha or Bṛhaspati cannot be certain of results (66.11). horoAstro reports what it says and does not add certainty.
Why does a birth chart show results at all, in the text's own view?
Because, it says, the supreme Self in the form of the planets gives beings the fruits of their karma (2.3).