Chara Karaka Scheme (8 vs 7), Sthira Karakas & 12 Navamsha Sign Trouble Areas

Chara Karaka Scheme — 8 vs 7

The eight Chara Karakas

Atmakaraka, Amatyakaraka, Bhratrikaraka, Matrikaraka, Pitrikaraka, Putrakaraka, Gnatikaraka, Darakaraka.

Eight or seven?

Pt. Sanjay Rath's position, as the teacher reports it: both schemes exist, and Parasara himself gives both 8 and 7. Some authors prefer one — K.N. Rao uses the 7-karaka scheme.

Why "Dara" karaka?

• The 7th house is Kalatra bhava and Venus is Kalatra karaka. Kalatra is neuter in gender — it means spouse, so it serves both: the wife in a man's chart, the husband in a woman's.
• Dāra is a masculine word; bhāryā is feminine.
• So why did Jaimini say Darakaraka and not Kalatrakaraka? The teacher leaves it open: "just food for thought."

Sthira Karakas (Fixed Significators)

The next stanza gives the natural, fixed significators of relatives:

Two relatives have two significators each:

• Father: Sun and Venus. One carries the soul, the other carries the seed.
• Mother: Moon and Mars.

Which of the two to use

• Take the stronger one.
• Take the weaker one only if it is very weak and badly afflicted.
• If it is just weak, ignore it.

"If it is really strong, then you take that. And if the weak planet is weak and afflicted really badly, then you take the weaker. But if it is just weak, don't bother."

The teacher's comparison: you are noticed only if you are famous or infamous — Sri Rama for all the good he did, Saddam Hussein for all the bad.

Where they are used

Sthira Karakas are used with Shoola Dasa and the like: timing health problems, death and longevity.

Effects of the 12 Navamsa Signs

Chapter 1, Quarter 2 gives the effects of each Navamsa. Jaimini does not state where to apply them. The teacher: the application comes later, but they have definite use and are worth knowing.

A student asked why the first ten read as negatives and the last two as positives. Answer: each is an area, not a verdict. If the sign is afflicted, the problem comes from that area.

Notes on individual signs

• Aries — rat and cat. In one situation you are the rat, in another the cat. A smuggler hiding while the police hunt him is running a period where Aries Navamsa is in full effect.
• Gemini and Virgo. Both of Mercury's signs give weight problems and skin infection.
  • Mercury afflicted by Rahu → skin problems (skin peeling).
  • Mercury afflicted by Ketu → overweight.
  • When analysing a health complaint with a rasi dasa or Paryaya Dasa, a skin or weight problem should send you to Gemini and Virgo. The teacher has repeatedly found Mercury afflicted and Virgo active in the running dasa in such cases.
• Scorpio — shortage of mother's milk. The Moon, significator of mother and of milk, is debilitated there. Ketu afflicts the Moon very badly. And Scorpio is the 8th of the natural zodiac, so the Moon is in Marana Karaka Sthana. When a mother is very sick or cannot breastfeed, see how Scorpio figures in her chart.
• Sagittarius — fall from a height. A plane crash or a physical fall; equally a fall from position. In one of Pt. Rath's books a Dasa Pravesha chart of a king is analysed: Sagittarius dasa was running when he had to give up his throne and flee.
• Capricorn is called the graveyard of the zodiac — a very good sign for tantra. Spirits, possession, pishachas and psychic disorders belong here.

"Fall from height is not just a physical fall from height, but from a position."

Can it be used for rectification?

Yes, but it is not as clear as dictums that come later. If the chart shows one kind of problem and the native reports another, there may be an error.

One way to apply it

1. In the rasi chart take the Badhaka lord — or the planet that is most afflicted.
2. See which Navamsa sign it occupies. The sign matters, not the house.
3. Read that sign's area as the source of trouble — only if the planet is afflicted. Unafflicted and strong, the good side of the planet shows.

Badhaka house: the 11th for a movable lagna, the 9th for a fixed lagna, the 7th for a dual lagna.

Students' charts (quoted from memory in class)

• Sagittarius lagna. Badhaka lord Mercury is in Leo Navamsa → read Leo. More telling: his Sun is afflicted by Rahu in the rasi chart, and the Sun is in Sagittarius Navamsa. For Sun dasa: Sun = government, one's position; Rahu = the troublemaker, outsiders; Sagittarius = fall from position. Inference — not a certainty, and subject to everything else in the chart: trouble from outsiders and a loss of position or a change of job.
• Gemini lagna, Jupiter in lagna. Badhaka lord Jupiter is in Sagittarius Navamsa — its own sign, unafflicted. Nothing to worry about; the good side of Jupiter shows. The texts list mostly negatives; do not read them into an unafflicted planet.

Example chart: child with a skin problem

Born 30 August 2001, 12:29 PM. Libra lagna. A skin problem with many wounds; on medicine for three years.

• Badhaka lord. Libra is movable → 11th lord → Sun. The Sun is in Leo in the rasi chart and in Leo again in Navamsa: strong, not afflicted. The Badhaka lord is not the cause here.
• Rule for skin: Mercury must be afflicted. Mercury merely aspecting is not enough.
• Mercury is in Virgo in the 12th house.
  • Rahu sits in Gemini, Mercury's other sign.
  • Rahu (Gemini), Mars and Ketu (Sagittarius) all have rasi drishti on Virgo and on Mercury.
  • In Navamsa, Ketu is in Gemini, a sign of Mercury. The nodes have a role.
• Dasa. The teacher expected the dasa of Mercury or of a node. The child is in fact running Moon Mahadasa, from 2002; no conditional dasa applies to this chart. Then the Moon must be shown afflicted to explain the skin problem.
• D-6 (Shashtamsa) is the key chart for troubles and health, and these sutras apply there too. In the D-6 the Moon is in Scorpio, debilitated.
• The teacher's own verdict: "Here in this chart, it is not that clear." The common connections still hold — in many charts with obesity, Mercury is afflicted by Ketu.