BPHS Ch.33 Karkamsa: CRITICAL = Do NOT Default to Navamsa (Each Result Implies Specific Amsha); AK in Aries=Fear; Taurus=Animals+Wealth; Gemini/Virgo=Skin; Cancer=Water Danger; Leo=Wild Animals; Scorpio=Snakes+Mother Trouble; Sagittarius=Fall/Accident; Pisces=Moksha (D20); Benefic/Malefic Aspect = Negates Result

BPHS Ch.33 — Kārakāṁśa Introduction

Chapter 33: "Effects of Kārakāṁśa". The class covers verses 1-11 (page 328 of the edition used) and stops there; verse 12 is for the next class.

What the opening verse says

• Kārakāṁśe phalam = the result given by the aṁśa (division) occupied by the kāraka.
• Meṣādi rāśige svāṁśe = when the svāṁśa falls in Aries and the other signs. Sva can mean lagna or the Ātmakāraka (AK = self). Since he has just said kārakāṁśe phalam, svāṁśa here is a synonym of kārakāṁśa.
• He does not say which kāraka. He said "sva" (own), not Amātya or Bhrātṛ or Mātṛ, so it is the Ātmakāraka.
• The results are given "as told by Brahmā earlier".

The suffix "ka": aṁśa and aṁśaka are the same

One verse says Meṣāṁśe, the next says Vṛṣāṁśaka-gate. Some schools, as Sanjay Rath taught, hold that "ka" changes the meaning: lagnāṁśa is the lagna in the divisional chart, lagnāṁśaka is that sign carried back into the rāśi chart. The teacher rejects this.

• In Sanskrit "ka" adds nothing. Bāla and bālaka both mean boy. Kanyā and kanyakā both mean girl.
• Parāśara uses aṁśa in one verse and aṁśaka in the next, in one stream of results. He is not switching technique from line to line.
• When only the sign is being named, carrying it to the rāśi chart changes nothing, so "ka" would have no work to do.
• "Ka" does not mean the lord of the sign either.
• Ga does mean something: "one who has gone into". Lagnāṁśa-ga = one occupying the lagnāṁśa.

"In my judgment, aṁśaka means nothing. Kārakāṁśaka, lagnāṁśaka means kārakāṁśa, lagnāṁśa. Ka has no meaning."

Which aṁśa? Not navāṁśa by default

A student asks which aṁśa is meant. The teacher's answer:

• So far Parāśara has only said "aṁśa". People normally take it as navāṁśa. Parāśara never said that an unnamed aṁśa means navāṁśa.
• He did say which aṁśa is seen for which matter: one for bhāgya, one for sukha, one for career, one for upāsanā, and so on. That is the only guideline he gave.
• So deduce the aṁśa from the kind of result: learning → D-24, spiritual progress → D-20, vehicles → D-16, career → D-10, suffering and punishment → D-30.
• Navāṁśa became the default because for a few hundred or a couple of thousand years people cast only rāśi and navāṁśa. Then every rule that said "aṁśa" was read as navāṁśa.

"When he doesn't say which aṁśa, there is no need to assume it is navāṁśa. There is absolutely no need."

"Based on what kind of result he gave — is the result relating to learning, then the aṁśa must be D-24. Is the result relating to spiritual progress, it must be D-20."

• Parāśara cannot give a reading for all 16 charts and all 12 signs. He gives examples, each possibly from a different aṁśa. He is showing how to see.
• The results in these verses cover mother, gains, mortal danger and profession. They cannot all belong to one chart.

K.N. Rao and Sanjay Rath

• K.N. Rao: take the sign the AK occupies in navāṁśa, treat that sign as the reference in the rāśi chart, and read from there. (The teacher's own AK is Moon, in Gemini in navāṁśa; by this method Gemini in his rāśi chart is the reference.)
• Sanjay Rath: use the navāṁśa only, and read from the AK's sign inside the navāṁśa.
• Each is sure he is right. Going by the readings Parāśara gives, neither may be right.

"Nobody really understands Parāśara today. What people understand is a small percentage of what Parāśara spoke."

Later in the class he softens this: each may have seen something that works in some charts, and neither sees the full truth. The same thing could be done with viṁśāṁśa, daśāṁśa, caturthāṁśa and so on.

Aṁśa itself, or the aṁśa sign carried to rāśi? Both are tenable

• Parāśara talks about aṁśa, so take the AK's sign in that aṁśa.
• Carrying that sign to the rāśi chart and seeing which planets are there is also tenable. Parāśara never said there are separate charts. There is one zodiac. The navāṁśa of Mars or the viṁśāṁśa of Saturn are abstract points derived from the physical planets, all on that one zodiac. We group them by division only for convenience.
• Example: AK in Cancer in D-20. If many planets sit in the 10th from Cancer in the rāśi chart, the person may do much work in society as part of his spiritual progress — teaching, performing rituals for people.
• The physical Moon, Jupiter or Venus can interact with the viṁśāṁśa of the AK, and so can their viṁśāṁśas.
• Divisional longitudes can be compared across charts (a planet at 21° Libra in D-10 closely aspected by one at 21°–22° Aries in D-4). The teacher expects much to be found here in the coming years.

Research is the only test

• A book compiled in the last hundred years may have errors. Intuition may have errors. Only practical research is reliable.
• Form a hypothesis, make it a little flexible (AK in the sign, or a planet in that sign aspecting AK, or the sign's lord aspecting AK), test it on many charts, and reject it if it does not work.
• For skin disease: take people who had it and see whether Gemini is linked to the AK in D-30. For animals and vehicles: see whether Taurus is linked to the AK in D-16.

"If it is correct, let's spread it. If it is incorrect, we gain nothing by spreading more confusion."

A student asks whether the AK has no relevance in D-1. The teacher: the AK is there in every chart. He is the king of the horoscope, the person's very sense of being, so he matters in all charts. Parāśara is only giving specific results here.

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Kārakāṁśa by Sign — Results

The nature of the sign the AK occupies colours an important part of the life. Each result is one possibility among many that the sign shows, not a certainty.

AK in Aries aṁśa

• The verse speaks of rats (mūṣaka) and cats in the house — many animals — and of fear.
• Life goes on under slightly fearsome, uncomfortable circumstances. More so if a malefic is with the AK.
• Why: Aries is a malefic sign ruled by Mars.

AK in Taurus aṁśa

• Four-legged animals (catuṣpāda) give happiness (sukha). Horses or cows in the house, and the person enjoys having them.
• Why: Taurus is a very fixed sign ruled by Venus, so comfort and happiness.
• Aṁśa: D-4 or D-16, not navāṁśa. Animals you own are property (D-4). Taken as vehicles, or as happiness in general, D-16. Cattle can also be wealth and fortune.

"If you are talking about a human being and you are talking about happiness from animals, it's not necessarily navāṁśa."

AK in Gemini aṁśa

• Kaṇḍu: skin diseases are possible.
• Why: Gemini is Mercury's sign and Mercury shows skin.
• Do not say that every such person has skin disease. Gemini shows many things; he may be a great communicator.
• Aṁśa: navāṁśa does not show disease. AK in Gemini in navāṁśa more likely shows someone diplomatic, knowledgeable and talkative in marriage and in relations with people. Rāśi is possible, since rāśi is the body. Most likely D-30, which Parāśara says shows the punishments suffered in this life. (Parāśara never mentions D-6, so leave it aside.)
• By the same logic the bad results of any sign can be read from the AK's sign in D-30.

AK in Cancer aṁśa

• Jala-bhīti: fear of or danger from water — drowning, death in water. Bhīti can be read as fear or as danger.

AK in Leo aṁśa

• Danger from wild animals such as lions and tigers.
• The sign gives problems or blessings from the things it stands for.

AK in Virgo aṁśa

Three results:

1. Kaṇḍu — skin problems. Mercury again.
2. Sthaulya — fatness. Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn are earthy signs. Virgo is an earthy sign owned by an earthy planet, the earthiest of all. Gemini is also Mercury's but it is an airy sign, so fatness is not given for Gemini.
3. Fear from fire (vahni … bhaya).

"I am actually not 100% sure why, but probably because the two fiery planets, Mars and Sun, happen to be malefics from Virgo. One is 12th lord, the other is 8th lord."

• A student suggests this is the rāśi chart, the physical level. The teacher: maybe. But fatness and skin trouble are also faults in the constitution from past sin, so they can be seen in a divisional chart; and since Parāśara said aṁśa he may not mean rāśi.

AK in Libra aṁśa

• Vaṇik — a businessman is born.
• Skilled (paṭu) in making clothes and the like (vastrādi): articles of use, luxury and decoration, jewellery. Venus in Libra. The teacher notes a grammatical error in the printed line and does not try to correct it.
• Why: Libra is the 7th house of the natural zodiac, the house of business. Libra is balancing, weighing, diplomacy. It is the most important sign for business.
• Aṁśa: D-10.

"Now he is talking about business, that is a person's profession. So that must be the daśāṁśa, D-10."

AK in Scorpio aṁśa

1. Danger from snakes (sarpa). "Snake" is generic: snakes, insects, scorpions, whatever Scorpio shows.
2. Pīḍā mātuḥ payodhare — trouble from the mother's breast. Payas = milk; the bearer of milk = breast. The infant is not nourished properly.

"The kāraka of mother, Moon, is debilitated there. It is a sign where mother is not really happy."

• Generalised: not being fed properly as an infant is one possibility; not having amicable relations with the mother is another.

AK in Sagittarius aṁśa

• A fall from a height, or a fall from a vehicle (vāhana) — an accident.
• Why: Cancer is the natural 4th house (vehicles). Sagittarius is the 6th from it, the house of accidents. Venus is the kāraka of vehicles, and Sagittarius is owned by Jupiter, his enemy.
• Caveat: Sagittarius may be the 4th or 9th house of the chart, and then nothing happens. Jupiter may himself be the AK.

"You can't just go by thumb rules, but the thumb rule is Sagittarius can show accidents."

AK in Capricorn aṁśa

• Gain (lābha) from animals born of water (jalodbhūta jantu) — crocodiles, fish, seals — and from those that move in the sky (birds).
• Gain from conch (śaṅkha), pearl (muktā) and red coral (pravāla): everything that comes from the ocean.
• "Definitely happens" (niścita).
• Aṁśa: the chart of career, or of fortune (D-4), or of wealth (D-2). With AK in Capricorn in D-4 the person gains by selling gems, water animals, birds. A student adds a travelling career; the teacher accepts it as possible.
• Capricorn is Makara, the crocodile. With AK in Capricorn in D-30 there can be danger from crocodiles and other water animals instead.

AK in Aquarius aṁśa

• One who makes taṭākas: ponds, lakes, big wells, reservoirs — things that store water. Business or work with water bodies.
• Could be a chemist, making liquids.
• Aquarius is a Rāhu-owned sign, so some philosophy or technology comes in: not someone selling pearls but someone creating watery things, such as an amusement park with a water theme.
• Creation because of Rāhu, water because of Aquarius.

AK in Pisces aṁśa

• Mukti-bhāk — one in whose fortune mukti lies. He gets mokṣa. Take it with a pinch of salt.
• Aṁśa: D-20.

"Definitely viṁśāṁśa, because he said that is the chart for spiritual progress."

• Extension by the teacher: the AK's sign in D-20 shows the attitude to spiritual progress. Scorpio — tantra. Cancer, a watery, emotional sign — bhakti yoga.

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Disclaimers (Verses 10-11)

The Sanskrit is garbled on the recording; the meaning as the teacher gives it:

• If a functional benefic aspects, the inauspicious results given above do not apply.
• If a functional malefic aspects (the verse says aspecting; conjoining may be included), the good results — profit from water animals and the rest — do not come. It may even be the reverse: losses.
• If a benefic is in the Kārakāṁśa, a benefic is in the Lagnāṁśa as well, and benefics aspect, the person "becomes a king": very successful, very fortunate.
• If functional benefics alone, with no functional malefic, occupy the quadrants or trines from the Kārakāṁśa, he has wealth, knowledge and so on. If mixed, mixed results.

Which divisional chart for the "king" result? The teacher does not know.

"I haven't really studied a lot of charts of kings or powerful people."

• Parāśara never said navāṁśa is bhāgya. Navāṁśa is dharma and marriage.
• Fortune is D-4. Career is D-10. Parāśara does not teach it, but D-5 is seen to show the political power of politicians.
• Try these charts on powerful people and see which works.

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Upagraha in 12th from AK — Kaivalya

Verse (literal meaning, as the teacher gives it): if an upagraha is in the 12th from the Ātmakāraka, in its own sign, its exaltation sign or a benefic sign (Jupiter's signs, for example), with no malefic aspect, declare Kaivalya for that person.

• This is not limited to upagrahas. It applies to grahas too.

"Even an upagraha, if it is well placed there, can give mokṣa. That is how I read it."

The difficulty: where is an upagraha exalted? Where is Māndi exalted, or Mṛtyu, or Ardhaprahara, or Yamakaṇṭaka? We do not know.

• One possibility: each upagraha belongs to a planet — Māndi/Gulika to Saturn, Ardhaprahara to Mercury, Yamakaṇṭaka to Jupiter, Mṛtyu to Mars, Kāla to Sun. Use that planet's own and exaltation signs.
• The other possibility: Parāśara defined them and the knowledge is lost. The teacher does not remember seeing a definition and will check when the upagraha chapter is read.

Kaivalya: from kevala = single, one, oneness. Not exactly mokṣa, but a kind of mokṣa.

• It can mean merging in Brahman.
• It can also mean oneness with a deity: going to Vaikuṇṭha and staying with Viṣṇu for the rest of that Viṣṇu's term, or to Śivaloka with that Śiva.
• Either mokṣa or something very close to it.

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