Dhruva as Dhanishtha: The First Fortune is a Red Herring
To me, it seems Dhanishtha is simultaneously over-hyped and under-valued... It's generally diluted to the fame, wealth, fortune, etc. it's associated with, as if it has no depth and no meaning beyond that. It's associated with the Ashta Vasus for a reason! The life of Dhruva is a good example. It is not necessarily work or labor that brings bounty to Dhruva, but his reclaiming renunciation after experiencing scorn and neglect, at a very young age. His humility as a boy, in sacrificing his birthright for the sake of determining his purpose, and his prostration to the divine after his being denied love and status, these qualities are what leads to his being crowned king as a child, yes, but that's not the actual point of the story. His true reward is being gifted with intrinsic knowledge of/the voice to sing the hymns of Vishnu, and to reach Druvapada, becoming one with the cosmos, out of reach of true destruction even at its most powerful.
Obviously, this is a story about an unusually holy figure, the brightest and healthiest form of Dhanishtha, so we don't expect all natives to reach these spiritual heights, but putting aside the ending for a moment, to look at the beginning and middle, we see depth rarely mentioned when looking into Dhanishtha.
Dhruva is born into privilege, but explicitly made to understand that he is unworthy of this privilege. Thus, he has to retreat from the source of his privilege, he has to fast, he has to devote himself to something higher than his desire for love, comfort, security. Only after giving up, disowning the fortune of a prince, does Vishnu offer him the true, great fortune of the holy figure elevated and eventually deified, a boy-king and a god.
This speaks to a theme I've seen repeatedly in Dhanishtha natives. Princess Diana was born into a nobility which afforded her the role of wife and mother to future kings, but she had to forgo that role, the security of it, to become the woman sanctified in popular culture to this day. The problem with those lost famous Dhanishtha figures like Diana and Marilyn Monroe and Yoko Ono — and this is particularly true for women — is when their fame or hunger for fame becomes so intense that they no longer have the option of withdrawing, of renunciation. Who with Dhanishtha placements had this result? Well, Princess Diana, Marilyn Monroe, Yoko Ono... and Bob Marley, Sharon Tate, James Dean, Paris Hilton, Jennifer Aniston, Justin Bieber, Kristen Stewart, Mary Queen of Scots, Elvis Presley, Whitney Houston, Ariana Grande, Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp, Arthur Conan Doyle, Jimi Hendrix, Aaliyah, Shia LaBeouf... all of these figures had Dhanishtha placements, and have had their lives, reputations, and properties over-publicized. (This is not a comment on whether any of the listed figures are good or bad people, btw.)
This isn't to say that Dhanishtha is more tragic than another nakshatra, but that an underexplored aspect of Dhanishtha is the need for absense, rest periods, and periodic fasting, whether literal or metaphorical. The sense of rhythm that Dhanishtha is famous for, it isn't just about knowing when to hit, it's about knowing when and how long to wait before you do. That's what rhythm is — not just the beats themselves, but the spaces in between. That's why the happiest and most consistently successful Dhanishtha natives are the ones who don't allow the pressure of the public, those around them, or duties that are attached to supposed fortunes they've received, to overload their plate until they're hitting out of sync, or simply have to stop all together. Whether fast or slow, these natives need discipline in setting and keeping pace.
The depth to Dhanishtha is that, as with all Dharma-motivated nakshatras, its natives yearn for purpose and meaning — but on a distinctly cosmic scale. They're told and feel that they've been blessed, but to what end? They spend their whole lives trying to figure it out, because it simply isn't enough to have potential, they also have to use it to whatever end makes them matter. It depends on their other placements how this internal struggle manifests, but throughout their lives, yearning for significance permeates everything they feel and do.
And this yearning can propell them to ignore their greatest asset: their sense of timing.
Underdeveloped Dhanishtha natives will use their blessing however they are told to, in the form that's convenient to those around them. They never leave the palace; they stay prince forever, and thus never grow enough to even be a particularly good prince. Natives who do develop somewhat will leave the palace, but they may return after an insufficient amount of time, expecting that their experience of fasting, of loss or struggle, in and of itself, will be enough to enlighten them. Dhanishtha at its truest and most enlightened form will not only fast until they understand hunger, not only fast until they can SEE 'god' — they will fast until they MEET 'god', until Vishnu returns their voice to them, and reserves a place for them in the heavens.
