BPHS Ch.34 Leo/Virgo/Libra/Scorpio: Leo=Mars+Sun+Jupiter Benefic; Virgo=Mercury+Venus ONLY Yogakarakas+Moon Worst Malefic; Libra=Jupiter+Sun Malefic+Mars Maraka+Moon-Mercury Raj Yoga; Scorpio=Moon Clear Benefic+Moon-Sun Yogakaraka; KEY: "Jeevadhyaha Papa"=Functional Malefics Kill, NOT Natural

Leo Lagna Functional Nature

Verse (as heard): "Saumya-śukrārkajāḥ pāpāḥ, kujejyārkāḥ śubhāvahāḥ… prabhaved yoga-mātreṇa na śubhaṁ guru-śukrayoḥ… mārakas tu śaniḥ…"

Points made in class

• Jupiter's one risk: under malefic influence he can act as 8th lord and turn malefic.
• Order of the list: a student asked whether the verse lists planets in order of maleficence. No. Checked against the earlier verses, the order follows no logic — it is whatever fits the metre.
• Mercury is the least of the malefics: 2nd, 8th and 12th lords become benefic or malefic on two factors — the other house owned, and sāhacarya (company). As 2nd lord Mercury listens to the planets he is with. With Sun and Mars he may become benefic.
• Māraka: Saturn. He is 7th lord, a natural malefic and an enemy of the lagna lord Sun. Mercury, though 2nd lord, is the lagna lord's friend and may sit with benefics, so Parashara does not name him.
• Moon: in one Leo chart Moon is with Mars, Jupiter or Sun and becomes a functional benefic; in another he is with Saturn and is a malefic.
• Jupiter–Venus yoga: "merely by being together, Jupiter and Venus give no auspicious result." Earlier Parashara said this of 9th and 10th lords; here it is the 5th and 10th lords — kendra and koṇa lords, so technically a rāja yoga. Jupiter and Venus are enemies; Jupiter, though benefic, is also 8th lord and himself on the border; Venus is a clear malefic. A rāja yoga between them is not powerful. Parashara says nothing of the kind about Mars and Venus.

"The way Maharshi has defined benefics and malefics is actually much more fluid and much more chart-dependent than the way all other texts that I have seen define it. All modern texts are defined in a static way. This is much more dynamic."

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Virgo Lagna Functional Nature

Verse (as heard): "Kuja-jīvendavaḥ pāpāḥ, budha-śukrau śubhāvahau. Bhārgavendusutāv eva bhavetāṁ yogakārakau. Mārako'pi kaviḥ, sūryaḥ sāhacarya-phala-pradaḥ."

Mars: 3rd lord against 8th lord

• The 3rd lord makes a person determined, gives fighting spirit and passion. That counts as malefic: things come with difficulty, he does not bless easily.
• The 8th shows sudden things — setbacks, but also sudden gains that come without trying.
• If Mars acts more as 8th lord and is with benefics, things come easily. With malefics who want the person to work hard, he too makes the person work hard.
• So Mars can be less of a malefic for Virgo lagna.

Order of maleficence (the teacher's view)

1. Moon — the worst
2. Mars — unless he is qualified
3. Jupiter

The teacher's own chart is the exception: Mars is in the 8th house (stronger than the 3rd, so he is more 8th lord than 3rd lord) with Mercury, Venus and Saturn — lagna lord, 9th lord and 5th lord, all three trine lords. By the verse he turns benefic as 8th lord. "In my case, probably Jupiter is more malefic than Mars."

Yogakārakas

• "Bhārgava-indusutau eva": Bhārgava is Venus; indu-suta, the Moon's son, is Mercury — not "Venus and Moon". "Eva" means only.
• Only Mercury and Venus are yogakārakas. A rāja yoga given by Saturn and Jupiter, or by Jupiter and Venus, is not much of a rāja yoga for Virgo lagna: Jupiter is a malefic and Saturn neutral.
• A yoga given by benefics shows blessing — success comes easily. A yoga given by malefics is not bad: success through effort, hard work, labour.

Māraka

• "Mārako'pi kaviḥ": Venus (kavi, the poet) is also the killer, as 2nd lord. He is yogakāraka and māraka at once.
• Jupiter as 7th lord can also be a māraka, though the verse does not name him.
• Sun is not a māraka; he gives results by sāhacarya.

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Libra Lagna Functional Nature

Verse (as heard): "Jīvārka-bhūsutāḥ pāpāḥ, śanaiścara-budhau śubhau… candra-budhau rāja-yoga-kārakau. Kujo nihanti; jīvādyāḥ pāpā māraka-lakṣaṇāḥ. Śukraḥ samaḥ."

Points made in class

• Mercury or Saturn, who is the better benefic? Mercury with Saturn is more of a benefic; Mercury with Jupiter or Sun becomes more malefic. If Mercury is ill-associated Saturn is the better benefic; if well-associated, Mercury is.
• Moon + Mercury = rāja yoga (10th and 9th lords). Moon is not a malefic for Libra and Mercury is a benefic, so their yoga counts.
• A student asked whether a waxing Moon changes this. Parashara does not mention it: waxing or waning, Moon is a neutral planet for Libra lagna.

Māraka

• "Kujo nihanti" — Mars kills. He owns both the 2nd and the 7th and is an enemy of the lagna lord: a clear killer.
• "Jīvādyāḥ pāpā māraka-lakṣaṇāḥ" — Jupiter and the other malefics have the marks of a killer. If they afflict the 2nd or 7th house or its lord they too can kill.
• In the māraka chapter Parashara says pāpa grahas associating with the 2nd and 7th house or lord become killers. Here he makes clear which pāpas he means: the lagna-dependent ones.
• People hold that Mars or Saturn in the 2nd or 7th becomes a māraka. What Parashara says for Libra lagna: Sun and Jupiter in the 2nd or 7th, or aspecting Mars, become mārakas.
• So the killers are the 2nd lord, the 7th lord, and any functional malefic associating with the 2nd and 7th houses or their lords.

"The words saumya and krūra were used by Parashara for natural benefics and natural malefics. The words śubha and pāpa are used for functional benefics and functional malefics. Parashara maintained a clear distinction, even though people confuse."

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Scorpio Lagna Functional Nature

Verse (as heard): "Sita-jña-śanayaḥ pāpāḥ, śubhau guru-niśākarau. Sūrya-candramasāv eva bhavetāṁ yogakārakau. Kujaḥ samaḥ; sitādyāḥ pāpā māraka-lakṣaṇāḥ."

Jupiter against Moon

• Jupiter acts as benefic or malefic as 2nd lord and as benefic as 5th lord: see which dominates. In the 2nd house with Saturn and Mercury he acts more as a malefic — "probably just 50 or 60% benefic", on the border, clearly inferior to Moon.
• With Moon in Sagittarius or Pisces Jupiter can become more benefic than Moon.
• A student proposed numbers: Moon 100% benefic as 9th lord, Jupiter 50% with the other half depending on company. The teacher: that is logical, and on that count Moon is always the more benefic. But do not try to quantify. Ask whether the planet is benefic, average or highly benefic. Between two benefics, strength and affliction decide who gives better results — that matters more than 80% against 100%.

Yogakārakas

• "Sun and Moon only become yogakārakas" — 10th and 9th lords.
• A single planet called yogakāraka owns a trine and a quadrant. "Yogakārakau", in the dual, is used here for two planets who give rāja yoga together: Mercury and Venus for Virgo, Moon and Mercury for Libra, Sun and Moon for Scorpio.
• Sun's yoga is not ruled out here as a pair is in some other lagnas, because a natural malefic's kendra lordship is not a blemish.

Mars and the māraka

• Mars is sama. A student: this should be worse than Venus for Libra lagna. Yes — there the second house was the 8th, here it is the 6th. An 8th lord with malefics would come to the same thing, but potentially this is worse.
• "Sitādyāḥ pāpā māraka-lakṣaṇāḥ" — Venus and the other malefics have the marks of a killer.
• Jupiter is not named as a māraka. He is the lagna lord's friend and the 5th lord of pūrva puṇya; a planet of pūrva puṇya killing is unlikely. "Killer is different, benefic is different. A benefic can kill you."
• Venus is clearly a māraka irrespective of association. The other functional malefics, Mercury and Saturn, can kill if associated with the 2nd or 7th house.

The remaining four lagnas are left for the next session.

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Parashara's Dynamic Classification

What the four lagnas show about Parashara's method, as applied in class:

1. 3rd, 6th and 11th lords are malefic.
2. Trine lords (1st, 5th, 9th) are benefic. The lagna lord is always benefic unless he also owns a dusthāna — then the two are balanced (Venus for Libra, Mars for Scorpio: sama).
3. Kendra lords: kendra shows effort; its lordship is neither benefic nor malefic. A benefic owning a kendra is not that benefic; a malefic owning one is not that malefic. Parashara does not say outright which way a given case falls — he clarifies through the lagna examples.
4. 2nd, 8th and 12th lords turn benefic or malefic on two factors: the other house owned, and sāhacarya — who they are with and who aspects them. Sun and Moon have no other house, so there only the influences decide.
5. A planet left out of every list is sama — Saturn for Virgo lagna.

So the same planet differs from one chart of a lagna to the next. That is the fluidity the modern static lists lose.

Śubha/pāpa against saumya/krūra: saumya and krūra are a planet's natural quality; śubha and pāpa are functional, by lagna. When Parashara says "pāpa" in this chapter and in the māraka rule, he means the functional malefic.

Māraka: the 2nd lord, the 7th lord, and the functional malefics of that lagna when they associate with the 2nd or 7th house or lord. Benefic and killer are separate questions — Venus for Virgo is yogakāraka and māraka together.

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