BPHS Ch.17 — 6th House Disease Indicators: Body Part by Planet, Disease Type by 6th/8th Lord + Planet, Leprosy Combinations

BPHS — Shashta Bhava Phaladhyayam (Disease Indicators)

The recording starts in the middle of the chapter. The verse before it has already said that the native gets a wound or ulcer when the 6th lord is afflicted: PVNR sums it up later as "for the person, the 6th lord should be either in the 6th house or 8th house or lagna".

Which Part of the Body — the Sign of the 6th House

• The area of the body is judged from the sign containing the 6th house. If the 6th house is Virgo, the body parts of Virgo: lower abdomen, liver.
• PVNR's objection: read this way, the verse says each lagna is prone to one area of the body. "You don't expect that kind of pattern."
• So it is conceivable that the sign occupied by the 6th lord should be seen instead. But Parashara's words (ṣaṣṭha-rāśi-samāśrite) say the house, not the lord. PVNR leaves it at that.

Relatives — House Lord with the Karaka

evaṁ pitrādi-bhāveśās tat-tat-kāraka-saṁyutāḥ … teṣām api vraṇaṁ vācyam

• Pitrādi-bhāveśa = the lords of the houses of father, mother, brother, son, wife and so on.
• Tat-tat-kāraka = the respective karaka: Sun for father, Moon for mother, Mars for brother, Jupiter for elder brother and for son.
• Santhanam translates "the karaka or the lord of the house". PVNR: Parashara says the lord of the house is with the karaka — 9th lord with Sun, 4th lord with Moon, 3rd lord with Mars.
• The affliction has two alternatives:
  1. they are conjoined by the 6th lord, in any house; or
  2. they are in the 6th or 8th house — the 6th lord need not join them.
• Result: teṣām api vraṇam — "for them also" a wound, an ulcer, a cancer, some big problem in health.

Body Part by Planet

This list serves both verses — the native's and the relatives'.

• For the native: judge by the planet that is in the 6th house.
• For the father: 9th lord and Sun together, in the 6th or 8th or afflicted by the 6th lord. Which planet decides the body part?
  • One way: the 6th lord who afflicts them. If the 6th lord is Sun, the head.
  • Another way: the planet that dominates the bad combination. If Saturn aspects the whole combination and makes it more potent, Saturn gives the problem.
• The house lord and the karaka need not even be together. If the 9th lord is afflicted by the 6th lord and Sun is in the 6th house, find the common planet troubling both.
• The same reading works in Dwadasamsa. Take the lagna that shows father in D12. If the 6th lord from there is in that lagna, take that planet: Mars as that 6th lord suggests throat problems for the father.
• Dashas and antardashas trigger it.

"Don't convert this into a thumb rule, but this rule is a hint at what kind of areas of the body different planets like to afflict."

Lagna Lord in a Mars or Mercury Sign, or Aspected by Mercury — Face

lagnādhipaḥ kuja-kṣetre budha-bhe yadi saṁsthitaḥ, yatra kutra sthito jñena vīkṣito mukha-ruk-pradaḥ

• Lagna lord in a sign of Mars or a sign of Mercury — Aries, Gemini, Virgo, Scorpio — or, wherever he is, aspected by Mercury.
• Result: health problems of the face.
• Why Mars signs: Mars is the karaka of diseases.
• Why Mercury signs: in the natural zodiac Gemini is the 3rd house and Virgo the 6th. Mercury is a functional malefic for the natural zodiac, and above all its 6th lord.

Leprosy (Kuṣṭha) — Lagna Lord Mars or Mercury with Moon, Rahu and Saturn

• The lagna lord is Mars or Mercury, and he is conjoined by Moon, Rahu and Saturn → kuṣṭha.
• PVNR: we learn these but will hardly get to apply them, having few charts of people with leprosy. For worked examples he points to the Medical Astrology book by Jagannatha Rao of Bangalore, written with guidance from Dr. Raman, and the books of Dr. K.S. Charak.

Can Astrology Treat a Disease?

A student asks. No. Medicine treats it — Ayurveda or allopathy. A combination in the chart cannot cure a disease already diagnosed. What the chart can do is warn before the disease comes, so that the person avoids the risk factors.

• Someone prone to pitta roga, with the dasha coming up soon: tell him to stop eating spicy food. He may still get the disease if the chart says so, but it may be a small problem instead of a big one.
• People with strong pitta like spicy food, and it is poison for them. Kapha people like bland food, and spicy food is good for them.

"Unfortunately, the way we are created is we tend to like things that are bad for us. We don't tend to like things that are good for us."

• A student adds: tell them to go for a check-up — cancers are often found only at stage 4. PVNR agrees. Leprosy the person sees every day. A cancer of the throat or of the blood he does not.
• Look at the Shashthamsa (D6) and the running dasha. Saturn and Rahu together in the 6th or 8th house, with that dasha running: suspect a health problem and say so, so that it is checked early.
• Cancer is the disease of this age, and PVNR expects it to grow: artificial chemicals in packaged food, household cleaning chemicals, hot or microwaved food in thermocol and plastic, dishwashing liquid lodged in porous cups.
• Strong tamasic influence in D6 and in rasi: do not scare the person. Say gently that there is a chance of some kind of cancer, especially in this dasha, and that regular checks are needed. Example: Saturn and Rahu in Scorpio in the 6th house of D6 → a chance of colon cancer.

Three Kinds of Leprosy — Moon and Rahu in Lagna without the Lagna Lord

• Moon and Rahu in lagna, and the lagna lord not there → śveta kuṣṭha, white leprosy. (Tamas in the verse is Rahu.) If the lagna lord were there too, he would keep them in control.
• Santhanam renders it "Moon in the ascendant, which is not however Cancer". PVNR corrects: it is not about Cancer. It means the lord of the sign is not with them.
• With Saturn → black (kṛṣṇa) leprosy.
• With Mars → rakta kuṣṭha, the reddish kind.
• Bottom line: Moon, the karaka of blood, is the key planet. He has to be with the lagna lord or in lagna, afflicted by Mars, Saturn, Rahu.
• PVNR says he does not know the disease well. His understanding of kuṣṭha is discoloration and loss of touch in the part. Students add that the fingers deform.

Disease Type — 6th or 8th Lord in Lagna with a Planet

lagne ṣaṣṭhāṣṭamādhīśau raviṇā yadi saṁyutau …

• The verse says "the 6th and 8th lords in lagna". It can be read as "and" or as "or". PVNR reads it as one of them.
• If the 6th lord or the 8th lord is in lagna, the planet with him shows the danger:

"So even if 6th lord or 8th lord is in lagna, if Jupiter is also there, he will rescue. That is the bottom line."

• Saturn: the text PVNR reads from has śaśinā (Moon) here. Moon is covered later in the same verse, and windy complaints fit Saturn. Santhanam corrects it to Saturn, and PVNR accepts the correction.
• Rahu and Ketu: PVNR first reads the two together — either trouble from a caṇḍāla or a problem in the navel — and is not sure why the nodes should give the navel. Santhanam splits it: Rahu gives danger from low-caste men, Ketu gives diseases of the navel. PVNR allows that too.

The Same for Father and the Rest

evaṁ pitrādi-bhāvānāṁ tat-tat-kāraka-yogataḥ

• In the same way, for the houses of father and the rest: when the lord of the house joins its karaka and they are joined by one of these planets, declare the same danger for that relative.
• It applies to the native and to the parents, and can be tried in Dwadasamsa, Navamsa, Saptamsa — for father, mother, children.

A Student's Question — Mars as 8th Lord in Lagna

• For Aries lagna Mars is the 8th lord. But he is the lagna lord, so that is the exception.
• For Virgo lagna Mars is the 8th lord. In lagna, he is a problem.
• Virgo lagna, Mars in lagna with Sun: Sun's result or Mars's? The verse gives the result of the planet joining the 6th or 8th lord. PVNR: also look at the lord himself. See who dominates, and whose dasha or antardasha is running.
• Mars the 8th lord in lagna with Moon: in Moon dasha it is the time for kapha problems. Mars's own results can come later, in Mars dasha.

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