About Steven Highburger — Teacher of Jyotisha & the Vedic Sciences 

In my earlier years I  studied philosophy at university, had a real estate business and traveled extensively in search of adventure and answers. I was away for years at a stretch and visited some 70 countries, including India and Nepal, before the age of 30, living abroad for many years.

One consequence of the living and eating in the wilds of the bush of Africa and in the huts of Himalayan families, is that my digestive health suffered. After returning from traveling to my home in Europe I knew that I must find a way to heal myself. Western medicine had failed to diagnose or treat my conditions and so I turned to natural medicine.

After studying and experimenting with various natural medicine systems, one day someone gave me a copy of Dr Vasant Lad’s beginner book on Āyurveda. I knew within the hour that this was it, this was a mother of healing systems, that somehow the wisdom of the ages had been coalesced into a science, an art of healing, that could help me heal and that I was called to learn. Studying Āyurveda on my own for some years, while I also practiced yoga, was instrumental in changing the direction of my life. Finally, I decided to formalize my study and immigrated back to the US to study at the Ayurvedic Institute with Dr. Lad. This was the beginning of a wonderful new chapter of life.

However, I had no idea of what was to come. Within a month of starting my Ayurvedic studies I was asked if I wanted to be first in line to get an appointment with the famous Hart deFouw for a Jyotish reading. Jyo-what? I had never even heard of Vedic Astrology, nor could I understand why my friend was so excited that Mr. deFouw was coming to the Institute.  I had forgotten the appointment until the day it came and I sauntered in not really knowing what I had gotten myself into, nor what to expect.

One hour later, sitting there with wide, white eyes and a lump in my throat, I realized that for the first time in my life someone truly saw me, understood me, and on top of all that, also probably knew me better than I knew myself. The shock of meeting a total stranger who seemingly had his finger on the pulse and direction of the river of my life, without ever having seen me before, was inspiring to say the least. All I could muster was something like, “How can I learn this!?”.

And so, my studies with a great master of Vedic traditions began. Hart deFouw is without question, as one venerable scholar and swami said recently, “The best jyotishi outside or inside of India!”. But more than that, he is part of an unbroken lineage which embraces not only Jyotish, but the whole of the Vedic Saṃpradāya, or tradition, as taught to him by his venerable guru K.L.Mantri–a man who is no doubt the most intelligent, spiritual and mystical man I have ever met.

Having moved to California some years later I helped the deFouws in their founding of the Vedic Vidya Institute here in San Rafael. Vedic Vidya Institute was a non-profit educational organization for the benefit of all who wanted to learn, support and uphold sacred traditions.

I have been teaching and consulting in the Bay area and abroad ever since. I continue to watch the lights of the heavens above, knowing that these sacred subjects are as vast as the sky above and that I will be on this journey as a student for life!