Abhijit Muhurtha, Transit Analysis in Muhurtha Charts & Amavasya Rules

Abhijit Muhurtha

A student asked: why not use Abhijit Muhurtha for everything?

• Broad definition: Sun in the 10th house.
• Exact definition: Sun in the 10th house at the same degree as the lagna. Lagna at 28° Cancer needs Sun close to 28° Aries; Sun at the start of Aries is not a proper Abhijit.
• Some hold that in Abhijit all other doshas are gone. PVNR does not take this at face value: the Puranas exaggerate — atiśayokti is a favourite alaṅkāra of the classics. Something that powerful cannot be open-ended. The dictum may be perfect only when Sun is exactly on the cusp of the 10th, to the second. A degree away, some of the impurities may still trouble you.
• His own book muhurtha was within 1° of exact Abhijit, yet the weak Vāreśa left the fire low and the book took three years. Abhijit could not help that.
• What Abhijit does give: the blessing of Sun, of Mahavishnu, on whatever is started in it. His book muhurtha had that blessing.
• Use Abhijit if you can as extra protection against a weakness you did not see — and still do justice to the other elements.

"There is no magic pill."

"Never rely completely on any one factor."

Transit Analysis in Muhurtha Charts

Example: PVNR's Book Muhurtha (May 13, 1997)

Data: Tuesday, May 13, 1997, around noon EDT (the class notes give 12:01:30 PM, which casts lagna 28°02′ Cancer), Andover, Massachusetts (71°W08′15″, 42°N39′30″). Cancer lagna 28°, Sun 29° Aries in the 10th. The moment he began writing Vedic Astrology: An Integrated Approach, chosen for a time he would be at the office.

What happened: He began with enthusiasm, then met Sanjay Rath and felt he knew nothing. About 10 pages in the first three years. A second muhurtha in 1998 gave two more pages. In April–May 2000 he decided to finish, left the mailing lists, wrote the book in the second half of May and June 2000, gave finishing touches in early July, and wrapped it up on Guru Purnima — one and a half months of writing after three years.

Vara — Agni (weak)

• Tuesday. Mars is the yogakaraka for Cancer lagna (5th and 10th lord): scholarship and karma for society. The agenda is right.
• But Mars is in the 2nd house: a maraka sthana, and the 12th from the 3rd house of initiative, of which Mars is karaka. Parashara: malefics in the 2nd are marakas.
• Mars is with Mandi and Gulika — afflicted.
• Result: the fire was there at first and then almost died. "I became lethargic. I lost the fire."

Nakshatra — Vayu (strong)

• Moon in Ashlesha. From his natal Moon (Purva Bhadrapada): Jupiter's stars are Janma, Saturn's Sampat, Mercury's Vipat → at the level of the mind, wavering and weakness: "why did I start this, can I do it or not?"
• From his natal lagna nakshatra (Hasta), Ashlesha is Sadhana Tara → the intelligence stays firm and gathers the strength to achieve.
• Nakshatra lord Mercury is in the 10th house — a karaka of the 10th, and the 3rd lord (writing, communication) placed in the house of doing something for society. Mercury is at 6° Aries, Sun at 29° — not combust.
• Vayu is not the problem. Only Agni is.

The Sun–Mars parivartana (a student's point; PVNR: "I missed it")

• Sun in Aries and Mars in Leo exchange signs, so Vāreśa Mars acts as though in the 10th with nakshatra lord Mercury. Vayu fans Agni.
• When this parivartana is triggered, the fire suddenly burns bright. He has no formula for what triggers a yoga in a muhurtha chart — he does not know how to use dashas there, so he reads transits.

Tithi — Jala (the strongest)

• Saptami, a good tithi for most things. Its lord Saturn is in the 9th house, a trine.
• Saturn is the 7th lord, joined with Ketu (co-lord of the 5th) and in parivartana with the 9th lord Jupiter. Raja yogas between Saturn, Jupiter and Ketu.
• The creative element and the sense of well-being were never lacking.

Karana — Bhu (very strong)

• Vanija karana, ruled by Venus. Good by nature.
• For him: his natal paka lagna is Aries (lagna lord Mercury there); Venus is the 2nd and 7th lord from it and sits in it with Mercury. Good.
• In the muhurtha chart: paka lagna is Cancer (lagna lord Moon in lagna); Venus is in the 11th in Taurus. The 11th is good for any planet, from lagna and from Moon.
• So something will get done, even with the fire low.

Yoga — Akasha (strong)

• Vriddhi yoga — "growth". The harmony between the forces behind the effort grows with time. Lord Mercury: his natal lagna lord and 10th lord, vargottama in his chart (Aries in rasi and navamsa), and in the 10th house here.

The 11th house

• The 11th is the key house in any muhurtha — the fructification of the desire. Here the 11th lord Venus is in the 11th: he safeguards it, and the desire is fulfilled.
• But for Cancer lagna the 11th lord is the badhakesha in the badhaka sthana: prolongation and struggle, and at the end you do not know why you had to struggle.
• Gulika and Mandi are happy in the 11th, but their agenda is bad — when they are happy, others around them are not.

Arudhas

• What the arudha padas mean in a muhurtha chart he does not know. They mean something; he does not read them.

Transits of Jupiter

• Pisces (9th house): he met Sanjay Rath in person and received a great deal of knowledge. Ketu (parampara) is in the 9th, and Jupiter acts as though there through the parivartana with Saturn → a Guru–Ketu yoga in the 9th: a learned guru from a parampara giving guidance. Jupiter is also the bhratrukaraka here.
• Aries (10th house, second half of May 2000, with Saturn and Venus also in Aries): the writing. Jupiter crossed Mercury — yoga lord, nakshatra lord, the planet of writing — and Sun, who stands in for Vāreśa Mars. This may be what triggered the Sun–Mars parivartana.
• Taurus (11th house): the book was finished, went to the publisher, and was released.

Why Jupiter? It is hard to know which planet will trigger — in another muhurtha it may be Mercury or Venus; in one valid for a few days, Moon. Look at the natal chart: in PVNR's D-24, Jupiter is in the 10th house.

How long? The strength of the fire and the vayu in the muhurtha chart tells whether the matter takes weeks, months or years.

General Muhurtha Principles

First Muhurtha Is the Most Important

• When the book stalled he chose a second muhurtha to revive it. Such secondary and tertiary muhurthas matter less; the original one rules.
• The first muhurtha of a kind stays in force: the first book muhurtha may hold for later books too. So with the first job and the first marriage — "hopefully the only marriage".

Intention and Prayer

• Three years was no loss: his knowledge was shallow in 1997 and much better by 2000. A muhurtha with a weakness may be chosen for a reason.
• When the wish to help is sincere, God sends someone to help with the rest. Have no expectation, least of all in sattvik work like spreading astrology — any rajas in it is a disaster.
• Even with a perfect Abhijit muhurtha, pray first: to your Ishta Devata, and to the deity of the planet that shows the activity in your natal chart (for a book, the 3rd house and its lord).

Panchanga Lords in the Tithi Pravesha Chart

A student asked whether vara, nakshatra, yoga and karana strength can be read in the annual Tithi Pravesha chart. Yes.

• The Hora lord is the king of the year.
• The lords of the five panchanga elements head five departments — well-being, fire, strength and so on.
• Their own strength matters, and their placement from the Hora lord matters more. Well placed from him, they have the king's ear and things get done.

Amavasya Rules

• Amavasya is inauspicious for most people and most things, though for a particular person it may be a good tithi. Conventions differ by region — some parts of India hold it good for everything, which may not be correct. (So too with a solar eclipse: the worst of times in India, yet said to be favoured elsewhere.)
• If something must be done on Amavasya, make sure Rahu — the lord of Amavasya — is well placed in the muhurtha chart. Then the dosha of the tithi subsides.
• Rahu in the 8th house: no peace; the work gives headache and frustration. Rahu in the 11th: some happiness.
• Amavasya is very auspicious for starting certain pujas — tantric pujas, Kali sadhana.