BPHS Ch.9 Balarishta Verses 17–30 (Complete), Apoklimas Explanation & Viprit Rajayoga + Dignity

BPHS Chapter 9 — Balarishta Verses 17–30 (Continuation)

The class had finished verse 16 of the Arishta chapter (Chapter 9 in Santhanam's edition) and resumed from verse 17.

Verse 17 — Malefics in Lagna and 7th + Moon Afflicted

Combination:

• Two malefics in lagna and the 7th
• Moon is also conjoined by a malefic
• Moon is not aspected by any benefic

Effect: very quick death, meaning premature death.

Grammar:

• "Papau" is the dual. Papah = one malefic, papau = two, papaah = more than two. So exactly two malefics.
• Two in either house, or one in each? "Not obvious what exactly he means… both the avenues are open", whatever Santhanam's translation says.
• The word for "not aspected by benefics" is singular, so it applies to Moon alone, not to lagna and the 7th.

PVNR's reading: "Lagna having a malefic, 7th having a malefic, and also Moon also having a malefic. All the three basically afflicted by malefics. That is how I would interpret it."

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Verse 18 — Waning Moon in Lagna + Malefics in Kendras and 8th

Combination:

• Waning Moon in lagna
• Malefics occupy the quadrants and the 8th house

Effect: death. "O lord of the Brahmins, there is no doubt in it."

What a waning Moon in lagna implies: Sun is within 0–180° ahead of Moon (measured from Moon to Sun), in the invisible half from Moon.

"Kendras and the 8th": all five houses holding malefics, on top of Moon in lagna, is close to impossible, so he cannot mean that. One malefic is too weak. "Probably 2 or 3, at least 2 out of these 5 houses." The Moon condition is specific; this one is "a fuzzy guideline" that needs judgment.

Points he drew out:

• The verse says nothing about relief from a benefic aspect.
• It says malefics occupying (samsthita), not aspecting. Malefic aspect alone "is not a big deal" here.
• Quadrants are what support your existence and the 8th is longevity. Malefics there are a fundamental problem.
• Whether Moon is waxing or waning comes up again and again in these verses. Paksha bala is very important for Moon's strength, and it also decides whether he is a benefic or a malefic.

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Verse 19 — Moon in Papakartari in the 1st, 7th, 8th or 12th

Combination:

• Moon hemmed between two malefics (Papakartari yoga)
• Moon is in the lagna, 7th, 8th or 12th house

Effect: death before long.

Why these houses:

• Lagna and 7th: lagna is your essence and the 7th is how you interact with the rest of the world. "Those two things define who you are." They are often interchangeable; in many places the 7th is taken instead of lagna if it is stronger. Moon there defines the personality strongly, and afflicted he weakens it. Moon in the 7th by itself is not bad; Moon in the 7th hemmed by malefics is.
• 8th house: already Marana Karaka Sthana for Moon, and then hemmed as well. Moon is the life force, the pranas. With the mind and pranas that weak, a long life is unlikely.
• 12th house (he offered this as speculation): the 12th is the house of letting go, of compromise. Moon there means some loss of prana, and Papakartari makes it worse.

Prana: crudely, the oxygen carried by the blood. That is the gross picture. The subtle one is the life force moving through the channels of the subtle body. Moon is the key planet for it.

Other houses: Moon hemmed by malefics in, say, the 10th is still bad, and Moon is important for health, but it may show trouble in conducting one's karma rather than a threat to life. For a threat to life the houses are 1, 7, 8 and 12.

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Verse 20 — Moon in Lagna in Papakartari + Malefic in 7th or 8th

Combination:

• Moon in lagna in Papakartari
• A malefic in the 7th or 8th. The word is singular, not dual, so "or", not "and".

Effect: "Along with the mother, the baby dies." Inauspicious for both.

Why the mother ("I am not fully sure. Many of these principles we can only speculate"):

• A planet in the 7th or 8th from lagna has argala on the 4th house (it is in the 4th or 5th from it). With Moon in lagna this is the 4th from lagna and the 4th from Moon at once.
• In general, if Moon is seriously afflicted, and especially if the maraka sthanas from Moon are badly afflicted, the mother can suffer too.

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Verse 21 — Saturn, Sun and Mars in the 12th, 9th and 8th Without Benefic Aspect

Combination:

• Saturn, Sun and Mars in the 12th, 9th and 8th
• No benefic aspect

Effect: again a problem.

Parashara does not use "kramat" (respectively). So probably not Saturn in the 12th, Sun in the 9th, Mars in the 8th in that order, but the three spread over those three houses in any arrangement.

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Verse 22 — Waning Moon in Vilagna + Malefic in Lagna's Drekkana and in the 7th

"This is actually tricky to interpret. It can be interpreted in many ways."

PVNR's reading:

• Waning Moon in the lagna ("vilagna")
• A malefic in the drekkana of the lagna: if lagna is in the third 10° of Virgo, a malefic in the third 10° of Virgo
• And a malefic in the 7th house of the rasi chart

Santhanam translates "in the 7th house or in the rising decanate". PVNR: "I don't know why he said 'or', because cha means 'and'."

"Vilagna": literally the special lagna. Parashara uses the word for the plain ascendant in several places, and that is the normal reading. But keep in mind it may mean one of the lagnas that matter for longevity: Lagna, Hora Lagna, Varnada Lagna, Pranapada Lagna. "That is my guess."

A common theme: Moon in lagna with Papakartari, and waning Moon in lagna, keep turning up. Whether there is death depends on the other conditions, but both are bad combinations in general. If you see either, be cautious, especially in Moon dasha.

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Verse 23 — All Planets in Apoklimas and Powerless

Combination:

• All planets in apoklimas (3rd, 6th, 9th, 12th)
• All of them without strength

Effect: longevity of "2 months or 6 months". These are given as examples, not absolute figures. He means longevity is low.

The three classes (an arithmetic progression in steps of 3):

Why (asked by a student; "I am not fully sure", but his way of seeing it):

• Take the three trines. The 1st is what you are now, the 9th what you were before, the 5th what you will be later: present, past, future.
• The quadrants from each are the effort supporting it.
• Kendras = quadrants from the 1st = current effort. Results come with effort.
• Panapharas = quadrants from the 5th = they support future blessings. Results come more easily.
• Apoklimas = quadrants from the 9th = effort of the past. Some of those results have already been experienced. They still give, but need more effort.

"You can look at them as a bank account that has been withdrawn to a considerable extent, whereas first house is a very active bank account."

The 5th and its quadrants are like a retirement account. The 9th is an account you already used up, say for your children's education.

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Verse 24 — Moon Aspected by Three Malefics

Combination:

• Three malefics aspect Moon
• No benefic aspect to relieve it

Effect: "the mother will be destroyed". A bad combination for the mother.

The verse does not say which drishti. "Probably graha drishti."

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Verse 25 — Father Already Dead + Certain Planets in the 2nd

Combination:

• The father died before the birth, during the pregnancy
• The child is born with Rahu, Mercury, Venus, Sun or Saturn in the 2nd house

Effect: the mother also dies. He gives no period. "Of course, everybody dies. Obviously he means early", probably within a couple of years.

PVNR note: one of five planets in the 2nd is common, almost 5 in 12. The limiting factor is the father's death. When that has happened and you see this, be careful: do a Mrityunjaya Homa or something similar for the mother.

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Verse 26 — Moon with a Malefic, 7th or 8th from a Malefic, Aspected by Strong Malefics

Combination:

• Moon is conjoined by a malefic
• Moon is in the 7th or 8th from a malefic, which means a malefic is in the 6th or 7th from Moon. One is enough.
• Very strong malefics aspect Moon

Effect: "he kills the mother". Not literally. He proves a bringer of death or suffering to the mother; the child is inauspicious for her.

The first two conditions are not uncommon. The third is what narrows it.

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Verse 27 — Sun in the 7th, Exalted or Debilitated

Combination:

• Sun in the 7th house, exalted (Libra lagna, Sun in Aries) or debilitated (Aries lagna, Sun in Libra)

Effect: he has no drink and lives on goat's milk. "Drink" means mother's milk.

Meaning:

• Not to be taken narrowly: cow's, buffalo's or formula milk would do as well as goat's.
• It need not mean the mother dies. The native lacks motherly happiness: mother and child are separated, or together but she does not feed him. "Some kind of orphaning is indicated."
• It is more than a mother simply choosing formula, which is common today.

Example from the class: a student has this combination. His mother had a heart problem when he was born and could not feed him. He was fed buffalo milk and kept away from her.

Method: when a principle is stated, check it at once against your own chart and the charts you know. Or go the other way: think who you know that the result happened to, and look at that chart.

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Verse 28 — Malefic in an Inimical Sign in the 4th from Moon, No Benefic in Kendras

Combination:

• The 4th from Moon holds a malefic in an inimical sign
• No benefic in any quadrant (so Moon is weak)

Effect: the mother dies. "If mother does not die, at least there is some problem to mother."

The 4th from Moon, like the 4th from lagna, is important for the mother. A malefic there who is himself unhappy in an enemy's sign afflicts it strongly.

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Verse 29 — Malefics in the 6th and 12th; or in the 4th and 10th

Combination A: a malefic in the 6th and one in the 12th. The verse says "cha" (and), not "va" (or). One malefic in each is enough. Combination B: the same in the 4th and 10th.

Effects:

• 6th + 12th → fear for the mother
• 4th + 10th → fear for the father

PVNR's derivation:

• 6th and 12th are the 3rd and 9th from the 4th house: the mother's 3rd, the house of vitality, and the 7th from it.
• 4th and 10th are the 8th from the 9th house and the 7th from that.
• So the 3rd is taken for the mother and the 8th for the father. Both show vitality and longevity. Why one for each: "I am not fully sure."

A student's question: are these combinations seen in the rasi chart or a divisional chart? PVNR: the ones about the child, or child and mother together, are obviously in rasi. Those specifically about parents could be in the Dvadashamsha (D12). "Experiment, get some chart, get some examples and experiment, that is the only way to learn."

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Verse 30 — Decay of the Family

After the native and the parents, the family.

Combination:

• A malefic in the lagna
• A malefic in the 12th
• A malefic in the 7th
• A saumya planet in the 2nd

Effect: "parivara-kshayam-karah", one who causes the decay of the family and brings it misfortune.

On the 12th: a benefic in the 12th is also loss, "but it is a very nice loss. You give a big charity, that kind of loss." A malefic there is forceful loss.

On "saumya":

• PVNR's guess: since the other houses are given "krura", saumya is its contrast, any benefic.
• Santhanam takes it as Mercury: Mercury in the 2nd with malefics in the 1st, 7th and 12th destroys the whole family. "That is also a reasonable interpretation… Maybe he is right."

Why a benefic in the 2nd should harm the family: "This is actually not very intuitive to me." A benefic in the 2nd alone is probably not bad; it is this configuration with malefics in 1, 7 and 12. "Just remember the formula."

The class stopped at the round number 30. A few verses of the chapter remain, and after them the houses: "We want to do something good, something auspicious."

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Viprit Rajayoga — Planet Dignity Interaction

Question from a student: if the planet giving Viprit Rajayoga is strong (exalted, in Moolatrikona), does it still give the yoga?

PVNR's answer: Yes. The yoga is not conditional on dignity.

"Irrespective of whether it is a benefic or malefic, irrespective of whether he is exalted or debilitated or in Moolatrikona or whatever, Viprit Raj Yoga is intact. It does work in all the cases."

The one condition he gives: the dusthana lord must be alone. "If he is with somebody else, then problem. If he is alone, 6th lord is in 8th alone, no problem."

What dignity changes is the magnitude (his example: 6th lord in the 8th):

• 6th lord in 8th by itself: many obstacles, a struggle, then you overcome and things become easy. A big reversal.
• 6th lord exalted: many obstacles to overcome. Put in the 8th, exaltation exaggerates both ends. The obstacles are more serious and the luck that turns things round is also extreme. The reversal is more dramatic.
• 6th lord debilitated: the obstacles are weak, so the reversal is weaker.
• A student added that an exalted malefic 6th lord gives a lot of energy to fight. PVNR: you may judge the manner of the fight from the planet, but benefic or malefic, the 6th lord gives many obstacles.

How long the struggle lasts before things turn, and how good they become afterwards, depends on the state and nature of the planet. The yoga itself does not.

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