BPHS Ch.15 Verses 1–7 — 4th House: Home Happiness, Vehicles, Relatives, Mother & Multiple Karakas (Moon/Mercury/Venus/Mars/Ketu)

BPHS Chapter 15 — Results of the 4th House, Verses 1–7

Chapter 15 in Santhanam's edition. The class stops after verse 9 and picks up at 15.10 next time, to leave room for an example.

Opening Verse

"Uktam tritiya bhavasya phalam sankshepato maya, sukha bhava phalam cha atha kathayami dvijottama"

• Parashara to Maitreya: the results of the 3rd house have been told briefly; now the results of the 4th house.
• Sankshepatah = briefly. The verses are short instructions. The student has to extend them (see "Building Blocks" below).

Verse 1: 4th Lord or Lagna Lord in the 4th + Benefic Aspect → Full Happiness from the Home

"Sukhese sukha bhavasthe, lagnese tadgate pi va, shubha drishte cha jatasya, purnam griha sukham vadet"

• 4th lord in the 4th house, OR lagna lord in the 4th house
• and that planet is aspected by benefics
• → purnam griha sukham = complete comfort from the house one lives in

The lord of any house in that house is good for it: 2nd lord in the 2nd, 3rd lord in the 3rd. The new factor here is the lagna lord.

"Lagna is your body. It's your very existence. It's the core of your existence. So lagna lord being in the 4th house of comfort, that can also give comforts. Just like the 4th lord in 4th house."

Shubha drishti, the aspect of benefics, is asked for again and again in every chapter.

Verse 2: 4th Lord in Own Sign, Own Amsa or Exaltation → Land, Vehicles, House, Musical Instruments

"Svagehe svamshake svocche sukhasthanadhipo yadi, bhumi yana grihadinam sukham vadya bhavam tatha"

• Svagehe = in own sign. Svamshake = in own amsa. Svocche = in his exaltation sign.
• Sukhasthana adhipa = the 4th lord.
• The 4th lord need not be in the 4th house. Virgo lagna: the 4th is Sagittarius, the lord is Jupiter. Jupiter in Pisces is still in own sign. Jupiter in Cancer is exalted. Jupiter in Sagittarius or Pisces in the amsa also counts.

Which amsa? Navamsa (D-9), or more likely Chaturthamsa (D-4), because D-4 is the chart for enjoying a good home.

The 4th house also shows mother and learning: the place where you learn, what you learn, which subject.

Adapt the verse to the varga. If the 4th lord of the rasi chart is not in own amsa in D-4 or D-9 but is in own Siddhamsa (D-24), apply the result to education, not to the house of residence.

The teacher's own chart: Virgo lagna, 4th house Sagittarius, 4th lord Jupiter. In his D-24 the lagna is Gemini and Jupiter is in Pisces: own sign and a quadrant. The 4th lord of the rasi chart well placed in D-24 makes the person good in studies.

Verse 4: 4th Lord Joined by the 10th Lord in a Kendra or Kona → A Mansion

"Karmadhipena samyukte kendre kone grihadhipe, vichitra saudha prakarair manditam tad griham vadet"

• Karmadhipa = 10th lord. Grihadhipa = 4th lord.
• The 10th lord joins the 4th lord in a quadrant or a trine.
• Vichitra saudha = a strange, beautiful, big building; saudha is a palace or mansion, not an ordinary house. Prakara = walls. Mandita = endowed with.
• → Not just comfort from a good house. An opulent house.

Why the 10th lord? Any house can be taken as lagna, as the 9th was for father. Count from the 4th: the 10th house is the 7th from the 4th.

• The 7th is desire and interaction with the rest of the world. So the 10th shows the desire and the interactions relating to the house.
• Lagna lord and 7th lord together = excellent interaction with the world. Here the lords of the 1st and 7th counted from the 4th are together.

"I may have a really nice house, I may be very happy in that house, but nobody else may basically even look at the house. Whereas if there is a really beautiful palace, every walker-by will look at it and say, oh my God, what a house."

The 7th as the other lagna

• The 7th house is what you project to the world. The world judges you by how you interact with it.
• This is why Jaimini, when he gives results for arudhas, speaks of the lagna or the 7th. Either can be the reference for any matter.

"The lagna is the normal introvert lagna and the 7th house is the extrovert aspect of you."

• Strong influences on the 7th, and the 7th stronger than the lagna → the person is more extrovert than introvert.
• For a house: the 7th from the 4th is its visibility. It has to be big to be visible.
• Planets with strong influence on the 10th house influence the house of residence to some extent. In the dasha of a strong planet in the 10th there can be a good house and happiness from it.
• The verse itself is narrower: 4th lord and 10th lord together, especially in a quadrant or trine.

Verse 5: 4th Lord a Natural Benefic, With or Aspected by Functional Benefics, Mercury in Lagna → Honoured by Relatives

"Bandhusthaneshvare saumye, shubha graha yutekshite, shashije lagna samyukte, bandhu pujyo bhaven narah"

• Bandhu sthana = the house of relatives = the 4th. Wife is the 7th, siblings the 3rd, children the 5th; relatives in general are the 4th. Friends are the 11th, not the 4th.
• Saumya has two meanings: Mercury (son of Soma), or gentle, flower-like (suma = flower), meaning a natural benefic.
• The next line names Mercury with a different word (Shashija, son of the Moon). Parashara would not use two words for the same planet in one verse, so saumya here is "natural benefic".
• Shubha graha yute ikshite = joined or aspected by a functional benefic.
• Shashije lagna samyukte = Mercury in the lagna.
• → Bandhu pujya = the person is respected by relatives.

Parashara's terminology

"That is the terminology Parashara uses almost consistently."

Natural benefic 4th lord here = Jupiter or Venus, Mercury if he is not afflicted, the Moon in Shukla paksha.

Why Mercury? A student answers: Mercury is trading, adaptive, flexible. The teacher adds the main reason: Mercury is the karaka for bandhus. The 3rd-house verses kept naming Mars because Mars is the karaka of the 3rd. Here the matter is relatives, so the karaka is Mercury.

Multiple Karakas for 4th House Matters

"So like this for each house, there can be multiple karakas."

(Under verse 8 the Sun is named as the planet for animals.)

Building Blocks — Extending a Verse

The verse on relatives is a clue, not the whole rule.

• Same 4th lord (a natural benefic with functional benefics), but Venus in the lagna in place of Mercury, or an exalted Venus aspecting the lagna → happiness from vehicles. He has beautiful vehicles and the world sees him as a man with beautiful vehicles.
• Parashara said he would explain briefly. Extend each verse with what the other chapters teach.

"This is basically one building he has constructed with the building blocks. Now this is not the only building. You can take those building blocks and construct more buildings out of them."

Verse 6: Functional Benefic in the 4th + 4th Lord Exalted + Karaka Strong → Mother Long-Lived

"Sukhe shubhayute, tadishe svoccha rashige, karake bala samyukte, matur dirghayur adishet"

• Sukhe shubhayute = the 4th house is occupied by a functional benefic
• Tadishe svoccha rashige = its lord is in his exaltation sign
• Karake bala samyukte = the karaka is endowed with strength. The karaka here is the Moon.
• → Matur dirghayuh = the mother is long-lived

A weak or afflicted Moon by itself casts doubt on the mother's longevity, or at least on happiness from her.

Three things are fortified at once: the house, its lord, the karaka.

Why svoccha and not uccha? It is only usage. "Exaltation sign" leaves open whose; sva-uccha = "his own exaltation sign". It does not mean "own sign or exaltation sign". Parashara uses svoccha everywhere.

Verse 7: 4th Lord in a Kendra + Venus in a Kendra + Mercury Exalted → Full Happiness from Mother

"Sukheshe kendra bhavasthe, tatha kendra sthite bhrigau, shashije svoccha rashisthe, matuh purnam sukham vadet"

• Sukheshe kendra bhavasthe = the 4th lord in a quadrant
• Kendra sthite bhrigau = Venus (Bhrigu) also in a quadrant, not necessarily another one
• Shashije svoccha rashisthe = Mercury in his exaltation sign, Virgo
• → Matuh purnam sukham = complete happiness from the mother

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