BPHS Ch.34 Lagna-Specific Functional Nature: Aries=Mars Benefic+Venus Maraka; Taurus=Saturn Yogakaraka+Jupiter Malefic; Gemini=Venus Only Benefic+Moon Maraka+Jupiter Max Kendrajatva; Cancer=Mars Yogakaraka+Jupiter Benefic(9L)+Venus Malefic(11L); Key: Natural Benefics Can Be Malefic Functionally

Aries Lagna — Functional Nature (BPHS Ch.34)

Maitreya has asked which planets are yogakārakas, which are auspicious and which inauspicious for each rising sign. Parāśara answers lagna by lagna. He gives four verses and names the lagna only at the end.

What Parāśara lists for Aries

• Order of maleficence: Mercury is the worst, Saturn is in between, Venus is the least malefic of the three.
• The Moon (4th lord) is not discussed in this class.
• "Saumya" in the verse: it can mean gentle natural benefics, but also "son of Soma", which is Mercury. Since Parāśara is naming specific planets here, it is Mercury. "Sita" (the white one) is Venus.

Degrees, not three boxes

The usual practice sorts planets into functional benefic, malefic and neutral. The teacher reads Parāśara differently.

"Even though he doesn't give a formula, it is almost as though he is saying there is a degree of maleficence and beneficence."

Recap of the opening verses of the chapter, as the teacher restates them:

• Trine lords always do good.
• Lords of 3, 6, 11 always do bad.
• Lords of 2, 8, 12 do not decide by themselves. They give results by the other house they own and by who they are with (sāhacarya).
• Lords of the quadrants 4, 7, 10: a natural benefic does not give fully benefic results, a natural malefic does not give fully malefic results. Parāśara does not say they are neutral and does not quantify how much.

Jupiter's uncertainty and the Saturn–Jupiter yoga

• Jupiter owns the 12th, so his result also depends on who he is with. Afflicted by a bad planet, the 12th lordship can make him do pāpa. Unless he is badly afflicted he stays a benefic, perhaps a lesser one. The Sun has no such uncertainty.
• Parāśara: the Saturn–Jupiter combination does not give auspicious results by "yoga-mātra", by merely being together, even though it is the 9th lord with the 10th lord.
• The next line says Jupiter can do pāpa "pāratantryeṇa", through the action of someone else. The teacher takes this as the reason for the weak yoga, and calls it a deduction to be tested against more examples.
• Whatever the reason: Saturn is a malefic anyway. One malefic and one benefic joining is not a great rāja yoga.

Killers for Aries

• Venus is "sākṣāt nihantā", directly the killer. He owns both killer houses, 2 and 7. (Houses of longevity are 3 and 8; houses of killing are 2 and 7.)
• "Manda etc." — Saturn and the other listed malefics — can also become killers. Parāśara does not say when. From the māraka chapter: malefics associated with the 2nd or 7th house, or with their lord, become killers. For Aries that means Saturn or Mercury linked to Taurus, Libra or Venus.
• Māraka-tva follows functional nature. Mars in the 2nd house is not automatically a māraka for a lagna where he is a benefic. Mercury in the 2nd house for Aries lagna can be, because he is a malefic there.

---

Taurus Lagna — Functional Nature

"By learned people, the results should be imagined like this."

• Order of maleficence as the teacher first gives it: Moon worst, then Jupiter, Venus least. He adds that this is not beyond doubt.
• Jupiter can swing. If he is with planets that are benefic for this lagna — say Mercury and Saturn — the 8th lordship can turn benefic and balance the 11th. He can end up neutral. "Forget what all other texts say, go by what Parāśara said."
• Venus is not called neutral. He is called a malefic despite being lagna lord, and gives troubles.

Why a quadrant + trine lord is a yogakāraka

• Houses 3, 6, 11 are houses of struggle: passion to gain, to overcome enemies.
• Quadrants are houses of effort. Effort and struggle are different.
• Trines are blessings, the fruits of previous good karma, things that come easily.
• A quadrant lord gives effort. Whether that effort is cruising or struggling depends on the planet and the lagna.

"If the same planet is controlling both effort and blessing, that means you are engaged in efforts and blessings also come. The same planet is in charge of both. So blessings will come in the efforts."

Why Mercury is only "alpa-śubha"

• He owns the 5th, and Virgo is his mūlatrikoṇa. Still Parāśara calls him only limitedly benefic. This differs from the standard books.
• The 2nd house does not vote; it defers to the other house and to the influences on the planet.
• The hidden lesson: association does not work equally on every planet. Jupiter with Saturn need not oblige Saturn. The Sun with Venus need not yield to Venus. Mercury yields to whoever is with him or aspects him. Even his inherent nature is undefined and follows his company.
• So for Mercury the "go by association" part of the 2nd lordship dominates more than it would for another planet. He is benefic, but other influences can become strong.
• The teacher's picture: a guest who stays a month in his house and watches the daily homa may take up homa and meditation, or may just watch and leave. Not everyone is changed by company in the same way.

Killers for Taurus

• "Jupiter etc." — the functional malefics Jupiter, Venus, Moon — become killers if associated with the 2nd or 7th house or their lords.
• Mars is named separately because he is the 7th lord.

Question from a student

Does the relationship between the planet and the lagna lord also change how benefic or malefic it is? Yes, that matters, and other factors too. Parāśara is giving the static factors here.

---

Gemini Lagna — Functional Nature

• Mercury, the lagna lord, is not discussed in this class.

Saturn is left out of both lists

• He owns the 9th, but also the 8th. With the 8th you go by the other house and by his company.
• A natural malefic like Saturn does not take on a benefic's nature easily even when he is with one. A malefic influence he absorbs better.
• So the 8th lordship is unlikely to produce beneficence for him. It stays neutral or turns malefic. Overall he is neutral.

"Benefic is blessed, malefic is struggle, and Saturn is the one who loves struggle. He doesn't want people to be so easily blessed."

• The Saturn–Jupiter yoga is "as for Aries": 9th and 10th lords, yet not powerful. Jupiter is a clear malefic here and Saturn only neutral. "It's okay", not great.

Killers for Gemini

• Moon is "mukhya nihantā", the main killer, as 2nd lord. He is neither benefic nor malefic by ownership; he goes by association.
• Jupiter owns the 7th but is not the main killer, because he also owns the 10th. The 10th is not a house of longevity, but to do work you have to be alive; a strong 10th supports longevity.

Question: Moon–Jupiter for Gemini lagna

• Jupiter is a malefic; under his influence the Moon turns malefic. It is a yoga between two killers, not a great rāja yoga.
• Gajakesari still gives fame. The teacher's suggestion: the person may be famous in death.
• Be careful in Moon daśā–Jupiter antardaśā and Jupiter daśā–Moon antardaśā.

---

Cancer Lagna — Functional Nature

Why Jupiter (6th + 9th) is benefic when Saturn (8th + 9th) for Gemini was only neutral

A student raised the comparison. The 6th is a bad house and the 9th a good one, so the arithmetic says neutral. Parāśara says benefic. The teacher's reasons:

1. The 9th is a very powerful trine and can offset the other house.
2. Jupiter is a friend of the lagna lord Moon. (Mercury and Saturn are friends too, but not as close.)
3. A natural benefic who owns the 6th gives mild struggle. A cricketer has to turn up for practice every morning either way; with a kind coach it is not much of a struggle, with a coach who yells at every dropped ball it is.
4. A natural benefic who owns the 9th gives his blessings sweetly. Saturn asked to give some struggle and some blessing would say "struggle itself is a blessing", so with him the bad house dominates.
5. Jupiter is the kāraka of the 9th house. Of two projects in his charge, he is also the project manager of this one, so it gets his attention and the 6th suffers. The same clue fits the earlier case: Saturn is the kāraka of the 8th.

The Sun and sāhacarya

• The Sun with Jupiter or with Mars becomes a benefic for Cancer lagna. With Venus and aspected by Mercury, the two malefics, he goes the other way. "It is all up in the air in the case of the Sun."
• Parāśara gives static results wherever he can, and those are modifiable. Where no static result is possible he says "sāhacarya" outright.

"Deciding the nature of certain planets for certain lagnas based on sāhacarya, based on the association, is a basic fundamental factor. It's not like an afterthought. It's a foundation factor."

• Most contemporary books ignore this and give one static list per lagna.

The class stops here; Leo lagna (verse 29) is for the next class.

Rāhu and Ketu

A student asked why the lists leave out the nodes. Their functional nature is not taken from the houses they own, because those houses act as houses of Saturn and Mars. It is decided by the lords they are with and the houses they occupy. If no planet is with them, take the planet aspecting them most closely.

---