Debilitated vargottama

            Recently I was studying the vargottama concept, especially regarding the effects of debilitated vargottama planets. My guide, Vishal Aksh ji, said me that a debilitated vargottama gives very bad results when nīchabhanga or other special yogas like viparita rāja yoga is not present in the chart. He also said that if the planet is involved in dainya parivartana yoga[1] his results will be worse. Some astrologers take a different view from a debilitated vargottama, they say that a debilitated vargottama gives results like that of nīchabhanga rāja yoga, others that although it does not give full benefic results, it is better than just be debilitated in D1 (rāśi-chakra). However, these two approaches are misleading if you study a good number of charts with this conditions.

            Now, let me explain what I understood regarding the reason behind the bad results of a debilitated vargottama, it is very logical and simple: a planet that is debilitated in D1 and D9 will have 0 points of viṁśopaka strength in this vargas, so how can it give good results? Unless it gets a good amount of strength in other vargas, forms a viparita rāja yoga or have the support of nīchabhanga yogas its improbable that it will give good results, or the results of a nīchabanga rāja yoga per se as some says.

Sun in 12th for libra lagna: a long life of 100 years?

            In Bṛhat Parāśara Horā Śāstra, there is a śloka which says that for tula (libra) lagna, if the Sun is in the 12^th house it will give a long life of hundred years[1]. Yes! This is clearly the śloka, but… when we go through some examples we see that it does not function. Why? Is Parāśara wrong? No… Parāśara is not wrong, he is only teaching us how to think astrologically. The principle behind this statement is a matter of discussion, but the most considerable is that the Sun is a bādhakeśa (obstructor) for libra lagna, so his position in 12^th is good, as the obstruction will be destroyed in the 12^th of losses. But if we assume that this is the principle behind this śloka, any bādhakeśa in 12^th will be good, and this need to be researched. But the question here is more simple, I’m focusing only on 11^th lord Sun in 12^th house virgo for a libra lagna. I did a research on this, with at least 30 charts and my findings was:

(1)  No one lived for 100 years.

(2)  Some even lived for less than 40 years, but they were few.

(3)  The persons which lived more, lived for 80 to 90 years.

(4)  70 to 85 years appears to be the most normal age limit for those with this combination.

Disposition: never forget it!

            Disposition is a very important factor in astrology. It implies that when a planet is in a sign other than his own, the lord of the sign in question will be his dispositor. The dispositor of a planet which we can call planet A is like the lord of a house who rented it to a certain person living there, which is the planet B. Based on this we can put here some important points about disposition and his effects in prediction:

(a)  If a benefic planet is the dispositor of malefic planets, his good results will decline.

(b)  If a malefic planet is the dispositor of benefic planets, he will give growth and good results in the house it is positioned.

(c)  If two planets are disposing each other, it is a parivartana yoga and this kind of relationship can give full results for good or bad. The parivartana will depend on the houses involved. If a dusthāna (6^th, 8^th, 12^th) is involved, there will be very bad results, other cases will give good results, and if 3th house is involved, mixed results will be there.

(d)  In daśā, if a certain planet is activated and if he is the dispositor of a certain planet, he will give the results of this planet, including his lordship. Like, if Jupiter is the dispositor of Venus, and Venus is the 7^th and 12^th lord, so Jupiter in his daśā will activate the results of Venus as 7^th and 12^th lord as well.

(e)   The nakṣatra occupied by a certain planet is very important. Like, if Sun is in revatī, which Mercury rules, Sun will give in his daśā the results of Mercury. Mercury also, in his daśā will give the results of Sun due to be his dispositor. 

Rāśi & graha dṛṣṭi, how it works?

         Although in jyotiṣa there are two kinds of dṛṣṭis (aspects): rāśi and graha dṛṣṭis, astrologers generally utilize only graha dṛṣṭi. One of the reasons is that some think that the rāśi dṛṣṭi is to be used only in Jaiminī astrology. However, there is a view, – which I agree – that Jaiminī just continued what Parāśara taught. The prove of this is that Parāśara also gave to us rāśi dṛṣṭis, argalās, ārūḍhas, cara kārakas, rāśi daśās, including a whole chapter teaching how to predict using cara daśā and other rāśi daśās. Therefore, there is enough proof that Jaiminī only developed more some of these techniques in his Upadeśa Sūtras.

         

         Now, coming back to dṛṣṭis, I will put here my understanding of this question:

(1)  Rāśi dṛṣṭis are sign aspects, in this the movable signs aspects the fixed signs, and the fixed signs the movable signs. The dual signs aspects only the dual signs.

(2)  Graha dṛṣṭis are graha aspects, in this all the planets look the 7^th from them, and Mars, Jupiter, Saturn have special dṛṣṭis known among all the students and scholars of jyotiṣa.

(3)  Rāśi type of dṛṣṭi is a fixed dṛṣṭi, yogas formed in this way will work through the life and their variations will occur according to daśā and transit, but it cannot stop to work as it connects circumstances, environments (rāśis).

(4)  Graha dṛṣṭis are temporal, they need to be achieved through daśā, so they are not fixed and they connect entities.

(5)  This is the best way to understand this dṛṣṭis: one is temporal and the other is fixed, one connects circumstances and the other entities.

How to use many daśās at the same time?

             In BPHS many daśās was given by the sage Parāśara. As I learned from my guruji Vishal Aksh, when reading a chart many daśās has to be used at the same time, as is only in this way that we can see the big picture of the life of a person. But how to do this? Well, for applying many daśās, basically, we have to look for alignments between them. Here is an example of this:

            The man of this chart is from Brasil, his name is Alexandre Piccini and he travelled to Europe in september of 2013 to realize his doctorate on philosophy. Some months before, he asked me if it would really occur, as it was not confirmed yet at this time. I said yes, he would do it. Now see the mahādaśās which was going on when he did the travel:

Exalted benefics as lords of dusthānas

            There is a dictum, which says:

If a benefic planet happens to own a dusthāna (6^th, 8^th or 12^th), it will destroy the house occupied by him even if he may be occupying his sign of exaltation… – Śloka 24, Cp. 23 of Phaladīpikā

I did a research on this, focused on benefics as lords of dusthānas posited in their exaltation signs. I’ll share here some of my findings on it:

(1)  The twelve lagnas will have one or even two benefic planets having lordship of dusthānas.

(2)  For leo, sagittarius and aquarius Moon will have lordship of 12^th, 8^th and 6^th respectively.

(3)  For aries, cancer, libra, scorpio, capricorn and aquarius Mercury will have lordship of 6^th, 12^th, 12^th, 8^th, 6^th, and 8^th respectively.

(4)  For taurus, gemini, libra, scorpio, sagittarius and pisces Venus will have lordship of 6^th, 12^th, 8^th, 12^th, 6^th and 8^th respectively.

(5)  For aries, taurus, cancer, leo, libra and capricorn Jupiter will have lordship of 12^th, 8^th, 6^th, 8^th, 6^th and 12^th respectively.

(6)  So based on this we have 21 possibilities of benefics owning dusthānas.

The importance of the Sun in a chart

        Yesterday i wrote about Moon’s strenght and how important it is for the general prosperity of the chart. After this I read two ślokas of Horā Sāra, written by the son of Varāhamihira, Pṛthuyasas which says:

Should the Sun and the Moon be exceedingly strong, all other planets, though weak, will yield good effects in their periods. – Śloka 34, Cp. 3           

The Sun gives vitality to the daśā effects, while the Moon regains the same. All other planets are known as starry planets and remain under the influence of the Sun and the Moon. – Śloka 8, Cp. 8

            This ślokas clearly shows the importance of the Sun and the Moon in a horoscope. It is from the strengths of them that the Grahas derive their own strengths. Vishal ji, my jyotiṣa guru says that Sun and Moon shows inspirations, and without this inspirations how can we live? And how can we succeed?