Argala — Planetary Intervention

Argala (Intervention)

Meaning

A student guessed from "anargala speech" — smooth, continuously flowing speech — that Argala means a break. A good guess. The literal Sanskrit meaning is the bolt on a door. Anargala speech is speech with no bolt put on it: free and open.

Modern English texts translate Argala as intervention. It is a conclusive intervention.

"A planet intervenes in the matters of a house and decides a particular aspect of it formally. Each house is like a room. You put a bolt on that room, you take control of that room. So planets with Argala take control."

Three kinds of influence

• Graha Drishti — a desire. Whether the planet can do anything about the house is not known from this.
• Rashi Drishti — an influence on the house's matters. Small, big or conclusive, we do not know.
• Argala — conclusive. A planet with Argala on a house will give results relating to that house.

The Rule

Count from the house (not from the planet). Planets in the 2nd, 4th and 11th from it cause Argala on it.

• The 11th is found faster by counting backwards: the 11th is the 3rd counted in reverse.
• Argala can be worked out for every house. Argala on Lagna intervenes in the body and physical existence. It says nothing about dharma, which is the 9th house.
• Parasara and Jaimini also give an Argala from the 5th. It is a very secondary Argala.
• Each of these Argalas has a specific meaning. That is left for a later class.
• An Argala may be shubha or papa, depending on the planet causing it.

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Sri Rama's Chart: Argala on the Lagna

The Chart as Used in Class

Cancer Lagna. The chart is the traditional one; Valmiki records five planets in Uccha.

Mercury's sign was questioned by a student against an earlier handout. PVR said he would have to check. The class was told the later version, used here, was the corrected one.

Who has Argala on the Lagna?

• 2nd from Cancer = Leo: empty.
• 4th from Cancer = Libra: Saturn.
• 11th from Cancer = Taurus: empty.

Only Saturn has Argala on the Lagna.

What Saturn does

• Saturn owns the 7th and 8th. The 6th, 8th and 12th are dusthanas.
• The lord of a dusthana should be weak. If someone who wants to give you trouble is excited, you have trouble. If he is in Neecha he is too depressed to give it, which is good for you.
• Saturn is exalted in Libra. An exalted 8th lord promises trouble and hard work.
• Many planets in Uccha is not automatically a lucky chart. PVR has seen a chart with three exalted planets whose owner "suffered like hell" — a broken marriage, a false accusation, loss of his property in court. "What if a bad guy is excited? That is not good news." Always see which houses the planet owns.
• Saturn's Argala on Lagna means the trouble lands on the body: physical suffering.
• Rashi Drishti on Lagna? No. Libra and Cancer are both chara. So the suffering is not lifelong. With Rashi Drishti he would have worked hard always, whatever the dasha.
• Graha Drishti on Lagna? Yes. Saturn's 3rd, 7th and 10th aspects fall on Sagittarius (Rahu), Aries (Sun) and Cancer (Lagna, Moon, Jupiter). So Saturn not only has the conclusive influence, he desires to use it. Argala without the desire would give a weaker result.
• Saturn is a krura graha, so the trouble comes in a crude and rude way. A saumya graha owning the 8th with Argala on Lagna would still give trouble, but nicely.
• Saturn sits in the 4th house — comfort, home, vehicles, mother, education. Wherever Saturn sits he deprives. Venus there would give houses, vehicles and happiness. So the physical suffering came through displacement from home: the vanavasa.

When: the dasha

• Argala and Graha Drishti give their result in a particular dasha.
• Vimshottari is the popular dasha of Kali Yuga. The name means 120: the paramayush, the full span of human life in Kali Yuga. The nine planets' periods (Ketu 7 years, Venus 20, and so on) add up to 120, and each planet's length is fixed — Saturn always 19 years, Mercury always 17.
• The Maharshis did not use it for Sri Rama's chart. Moola Dasha, taught by the Maharshis and by Varahamihira and Kalyanavarma, shows the phases of life more crisply. Its dasha lengths vary from person to person with the placement of the planets.
• In Sri Rama's Moola Dasha, Saturn's dasha is exactly 14 years. Those were the 14 years of vanavasa.

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Brahmana Shapa in Sri Rama's Chart

What a shapa is

Just as there are Raja Yogas, there are Shapa Yogas — curses. Every chart has some. Nobody has to throw water and pronounce a curse. If you make somebody unhappy or angry, cheat or disappoint somebody, it shows in the next life's chart as a shapa. Even a fair act that offends a very powerful or learned person shows up. "You made somebody unhappy, so somebody else will make you unhappy."

Parasara lists Matri Shapa (mother), Pitri Shapa (father), Matula Shapa (maternal uncle), Dara or Kalatra Shapa (spouse), Brahmana Shapa and others.

The rule

Jupiter stands for the Brahmana. Jupiter is the intellect of the Paramapurusha and the teacher of the gods. Within a person he is intelligence. In a society he is the learned and priestly people. The meaning of a planet changes with the sample set: universe, society, kingdom, family, person.

• Two krura grahas having Graha Drishti on Jupiter = Brahmana Shapa.
• If the krura graha is Saturn, you made the Brahmana sad. Mars: you made him angry. Rahu: he felt cheated.

In this chart

• Saturn in Libra has his full 10th-house Graha Drishti on Jupiter in Cancer.
• Mars in Capricorn is 7th from Jupiter and aspects him.
• Rahu has no Graha Drishti on Jupiter.

So Sri Rama made a Brahmana sad and angry. The story: Narada wanted to marry a beautiful woman. Vishnu made Narada look like a monkey to her and she ran from him. Narada cursed him: your marriage will suffer for what you did to mine. Vishnu did it to keep a great tapasvi out of trouble, and paid the price in the Rama avatara.

How strong is the curse?

Jupiter is exalted in Cancer and is with Moon in own house. Moon and Jupiter in mutual kendras is Gajakesari Yoga, which gives fame; together in one sign is a stronger version. Here both planets of the yoga are very strong. So the Brahmana who cursed was no small one — it was someone of the calibre of Narada, and the curse is very hard to overcome by any puja.

Because a shapa is also involved, the suffering shown by Saturn's Argala and Graha Drishti on Lagna becomes two or three times stronger.

Which area of life?

Look at the houses associated with the krura grahas causing the shapa.

• 4th: home. 5th: children. 10th: karma — for him, kingship; his coronation was delayed.
• The 7th is common to both planets. So the main suffering is through the wife: he had a wife and had to live away from her for a significant part of his life.
• His abilities were not reduced.

Other shapas and remedies

• Venus afflicted this way is the spouse's curse, Sun the father's, Moon the mother's.
• For father, mother and spouse the house and its lord must be afflicted too. For the spouse's curse: the 7th house has Graha Drishti from at least one krura graha, the 7th lord from at least one, and Venus from at least two.
• Parasara gives a remedy for each shapa. Doing it removes or lessens the curse. Whether a person will do remedies and when they will work can also be seen from the chart; in some dashas they work better.
• A shapa is not simply bad. It may lead to good for the society. Unless it troubles you greatly, it is good to go through the karma. Sri Rama became an ideal for us by going through his.

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Sri Rama's Dharma: The 9th House and Its Argalas

Venus in the 9th

The 9th house is Pisces, with exalted Venus. Venus is Kalatra Karaka or Dara Karaka, the natural giver of marriage.

• Pisces is owned by Jupiter. Venus in a sign of Mars or Saturn would show a little corruption in the attitude to marriage. Not here.
• Pisces is the sign of Vishnu; Cancer is the sign of Brahma — it is said Cancer was rising at creation.
• Pisces is the feet of the Kalapurusha. The learned look only at the supreme feet of Vishnu, as the Vedic mantra says. So Pisces is the rashi of the Maharshis, a very sattvic sign.
• The planet of marriage, exalted, in a sattvic sign, in the house of dharma: the dharma Sri Rama establishes relates to marriage and is sattvic. He established Ekapatni Vrata in an age when men had many wives; his own father had three.

Argala on the 9th house

Counted from Pisces, not from the Lagna and not from the planet:

• 2nd = Aries: Sun, exalted.
• 4th = Gemini: Mercury and Ketu.
• 11th = Capricorn: Mars, exalted.

Sun — Raja Dharma. Within a person Sun is the soul; in a society he is the king. Exalted Sun with Argala on the 9th: he must follow the dharma of a king, which can mean giving up his own comforts for the people. Because Sun is exalted he does it happily. A debilitated Sun with this Argala could also make a ruler, but one who is sad about what the duty costs him.

Mars — Veera Dharma. Mars is the Kshatriya graha, the fighter; in a society the soldiers and policemen. His dharma is also to fight and kill the wicked. Mars is exalted, so again he does it happily.

No Rashi Drishti. Neither Aries nor Capricorn aspects Pisces. So these two dharmas are not discharged all through life, only when the dasha comes. In his Moola Dasha, Mars dasha (about three years) followed Saturn dasha: he fought the demons. Then came Sun dasha, a short one: he returned to Ayodhya with Sita, became king and established Rama Rajya.

Mercury and Ketu — lifelong. Gemini aspects Pisces by Rashi Drishti, so these two have Argala and Rashi Drishti on the 9th. Their dashas never came, but their influence did not need a dasha.

• Mercury is the learner. Sri Rama learned from Vasishtha, from Vishwamitra, from every Maharshi he met. Learning is another dharma of his.
• Ketu is Moksha Karaka: detachment (Rahu is attachment). Whatever dharma he follows, he follows without attachment, like a water drop on a lotus leaf. He is a sthitaprajna.

"If you look at anybody's chart, if you look at the dharma, if you look at all the Argalas, you will see what dharmas he will follow. And if you look at the chart in conjunction with the dasha, you will know when what dharma is followed."

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Virodha Argala (Counter-Intervention)

Virodha Argala is the opposite intervention: another planet tries to undo an Argala.

Easy way to remember: count the same number of houses in the reverse direction.

Which one wins

• Count the planets. "The more the merrier." Three planets causing Argala dominate two causing Virodha Argala.
• It is a thumb rule and does not always hold. Two planets on the same side may be enemies and spoil each other's work.
• One planet against one: no clear winner. The Argala can still work when its dasha comes.
• Only one of the two prevails. When Virodha Argala wins, the Argala is cancelled and does not happen.
• All four combinations occur: a good planet can cancel a good or a bad planet's work, and so can a bad one.
• If Rashi Drishti is also present, the result is there always. With Argala or Virodha Argala alone, the time has to come.

In Sri Rama's chart

• Saturn's Argala on Lagna (from the 4th) is opposed by the Sun in the 10th. Strong Sun in the 10th gives rulership; in a politician's chart it brings power in Sun's dasha. In Saturn dasha the physical suffering came. In Sun dasha it ended: he returned to Ayodhya and became king.
• Sun's Argala on the 9th (from the 2nd): the 12th from Pisces, Aquarius, is empty. Nothing came in the way of his Raja Dharma.
• Mars's Argala on the 9th (from the 11th): the 3rd from Pisces, Taurus, is empty. Nothing cancels the Veera Dharma.
• Mercury and Ketu's Argala on the 9th (from the 4th) is opposed by Rahu in Sagittarius, the 10th from Pisces. Whenever Ketu has a 4th-house Argala, Rahu causes the Virodha Argala; it always happens. Rahu tries to cancel the learning and the detachment. But Ketu is with another planet: two against one, and Mercury and Ketu are friends. Ketu prevails.

A hypothetical: Venus against Saturn

Cancer Lagna, Venus in Libra, Saturn in the 10th.

• Venus is 4th lord in own house and Moolatrikona — duty-minded about his job, which is to give comforts. He gives a good house, cars, luxuries.
• His Argala on Lagna means those comforts reach the body. The person physically enjoys them. Some people own fine cars and still walk.
• This happens in Venus dasha. When Saturn's dasha or antardasha comes, the counter-intervention works: Saturn is 8th lord, so setbacks, loss of car, house or money, and the enjoyment is taken away.
• If Saturn is joined by other planets, Saturn wins. Venus still gives the house and cars from the 4th, but the person cannot enjoy them physically.
• With Saturn alone it is one against one: no clear winner.

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Summary: Three Layers of Planetary Influence

Karakas and the Project Analogy

Karaka comes from the root "to do": the one who gets it done, the causer. English textbooks say "significator", borrowed from Western astrology.

• Each house has a naisargika karaka whatever the Lagna and whoever owns the house. Moon is karaka of the 4th: the mind, not the intellect, is interested in comfort. Venus is karaka of the 7th: the spirit of enjoyment is in charge of desire.
• There are three kinds of karakas: naisargika (natural, 9 in number), chara (variable, 8) and sthira (fixed, 7). Within a house, each sub-meaning has its own karaka.

Each house is a project — the 4th the project of being happy, the 6th of overcoming obstacles, the 7th of getting desires.

Whether the work gets done also depends on office politics: if the group manager is a bitter enemy of the project manager, he blocks you until your own time — your dasha — comes. How friendship between the planets plays into this is for the next class.

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Practical Examples Discussed in Class

Sri Rama's chart carried the whole second half of the class: Argala on the Lagna, the Brahmana Shapa, the 9th house of dharma and its Argalas, and the Virodha Argalas on both.

Exercise set for next class

Dharma is what he is supposed to do. Karma is what he actually did. Take Sri Rama's 10th house, the karma sthana. Find the Rashi Drishtis, the Graha Drishtis and the Argalas on it, and work out what kind of karma he performed in society. Do not use the project-manager friendships yet.

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