Example Chart — Divorce Litigation (1971): Venus Karaka-Lagna for Marriage, 9th from UL Protects Marriage & Upanayana Guru Chandal Yoga Warning (Jupiter + Rahu in Debility)

Chart Analysis — Divorce Litigation and Reconciliation (1971 Chart)

The Question

• The native has been in litigation over divorce for about five years. His wife now wants to come back.
• Is getting back together a good move? If it is, what propitiation will make the second innings smoother?

Rāśi: 7th and 8th Lords Exchange

• A student, fresh from the 6th-lord verses, looks at the 7th house of the rāśi. It is the 8th lord Jupiter in the 7th and the 7th lord Mars in the 8th — a parivartana.
• The teacher: "It's actually quite bad." He sets it aside and goes to the Navāṁśa first, to test the birth time.

Step 1 — Does the Marriage Fit the Navāṁśa?

• Marriage came around 1996. The teacher first reads the period as Rāhu daśā, then sees the software was on an experimental daśā starting point and corrects it: it was Venus daśā (Venus–Mercury or Venus–Ketu; the date is not known closely enough to say which).
• In Navāṁśa Venus is in the 7th house, and he is the 3rd lord and the lord of UL (Libra).
• So Venus daśā giving marriage is logical, and the natal Navāṁśa lagna can be trusted. The time is still not fine-tuned inside the 14-minute window.

Step 2 — Why Moon Daśā Gave Litigation

• The fight began when Moon daśā began.
• In Navāṁśa Moon is the 12th lord of loss, so not conducive to marriage. He is in the 9th house of dharma — but for Leo lagna the 9th is the bādhaka sthāna. A 12th lord in bādhaka sthāna gives trouble.
• That explains trouble. It does not explain a 6th-house result, litigation (6th house and A6). For that the teacher changes the lagna:

"For marital relation, can you take the kāraka as lagna, like you take Moon for mother, Sun for father? So can you take Venus as lagna to see the relationship with spouse?"

• Parāśara gives it: for father take the 9th from Sun or from lagna; for mother the 4th from Moon or from lagna. So when Venus is strong, take Venus as lagna, in addition to lagna.
• Is Venus strong here? In Navāṁśa he is in a friendly sign, Aquarius, an air sign. The Navāṁśa lagna lord Sun is in the 6th in an inimical sign. Venus's dispositor Saturn is in Sagittarius — not a friendly sign, but Saturn is stronger than Sun. Venus lagna is the stronger one.
• From Venus (Navāṁśa): Moon is the 6th lord in the 3rd. Litigation relating to marriage in Moon daśā makes sense.
• A student adds that the native says the trouble started from his wife. Venus sits in the 7th of the Navāṁśa, so the same count is from the 7th house: Moon is the 6th lord from the spouse. The litigation was started by the spouse.

Step 3 — The Antardaśās (Navāṁśa)

• Jupiter antardaśā (just over): quite bad. Jupiter is the 8th lord, and the teacher places him in a māraka sthāna.
• Saturn antardaśā (running): from the Navāṁśa lagna Saturn is the 6th lord, but also the 7th lord, in the 5th house. Decent. From Venus he is the lagna lord in the 11th — very good. The other lord of Aquarius, Rāhu, is in the 8th from Venus, but the antardaśā is Saturn's. This period does not show the marriage breaking.
• Mercury antardaśā (starts in a couple of months): from the Navāṁśa lagna he is the 2nd and 11th lord in the 11th. The 11th does not break a marriage; it shows fulfilment. He is in the Ārūḍha lagna and has nothing to do with the 6th; he is 8th from A6, which shows the litigation breaking. From Venus he is the 8th lord, but also the 5th lord, and in the 5th — so more a 5th lord than an 8th lord: the lord of pūrva-puṇya in marital matters.

"The current antardaśā is good. The next antardaśā is good. So does it seem like this divorce will actually go through? No. Unlikely."

Step 4 — Confirm from Upapada

• Moon: in rāśi he sits in UL and is the 12th lord from UL. He wants to give loss of this marriage, but he is not a strong māraka. In Navāṁśa he is a quadrant lord from UL placed in the 7th from UL, a māraka sthāna. He tried to break the marriage.
• Saturn: in rāśi he is in the 9th from UL, and protects the marriage. In Navāṁśa he is in the 3rd from UL and is yogakāraka from UL. Neither is a māraka sthāna.
• Mercury: in rāśi he is with Saturn in the 9th from UL, and he is the 2nd lord from UL, the lord who sustains the marriage. In Navāṁśa he is again in the 9th from UL.

"The planet in the 9th house from UL, especially in rāśi and Navāṁśa — he cannot break the marriage. He will most likely protect the marriage and keep it going."

• Timing: if not in the next couple of months, then after March, when Mercury antardaśā begins. The next year and a half is conducive to getting back together.

Step 5 — The Rest of Moon Daśā and Mars Daśā

• Moon has given his negative results already. "Hopefully the worst is over." About three years of the daśā remain. Some strain stays as long as it runs: Moon is in bādhaka sthāna from the Navāṁśa lagna and is 6th lord from Venus.
• The antardaśās of Saturn, Mercury, Ketu and Venus are fine for the marriage.
• Sun antardaśā (2012 to the first half of 2013) needs care. Sun is the Navāṁśa lagna lord in the 6th. From Venus he is the 7th lord, in the 12th in Navāṁśa and in the 2nd, a māraka sthāna, in rāśi. "It will probably be just some quarrels."
• Mars daśā (next): in rāśi Mars is the 7th lord in the 8th, which shows some problems. In Navāṁśa he is yogakāraka — 4th and 9th lord — in the 3rd, where a malefic does well. He is in UL, with the 5th lord Jupiter. From Venus he is the 10th lord in the 9th. Mars daśā will be fine.

Verdict

"Overall, it does not seem like this marriage will break. It seems like they will patch up. Even though they had a litigation for such a long time, I think they will do okay if they get back together. So I will be comfortable advising them to get back together."

Propitiation

• Mercury is the coming antardaśā lord. Moon is the daśā lord. But the key planet for sustaining a marriage is the 2nd lord from the rāśi UL. That is Mercury — who is also in the 9th from UL in both rāśi and Navāṁśa. Propitiate Mercury.
• Which deity? Mercury is in his own sign Gemini in Navāṁśa, and with Saturn in rāśi.

"Saturn according to Parāśara can also show Viṣṇu. If you are looking at the Mother, then Saturn is Kālī. Especially the Saturn–Mercury combination is Viṣṇu. And this Mercury in Gemini is pakkā Viṣṇu."

• Remedy: Viṣṇu Sahasranāma stotram.
• Fasting: UL is in Leo, so fast on Sundays and pray to Viṣṇu at the end of the day. The stotram is good whether he fasts or not.
• Sampuṭīkaraṇa: put the Devī verse between the verses of the Sahasranāma — the verse, then the first verse of the Sahasranāma, the verse again, the second, and so on: sarva-maṅgala-māṅgalye śive sarvārtha-sādhike / śaraṇye tryambake gauri nārāyaṇi namo'stu te
• Why this verse: the matter is marriage and its māṅgalya, auspiciousness. Sampuṭīkaraṇa of Viṣṇu's stotra with a verse of Lakṣmī or the Devī is very powerful. It also takes care of Moon — the running daśā lord, sitting in UL.
• How often: every day if possible; at least every Sunday and Wednesday.
• "I think nothing else is needed."

Jupiter's Transit — Capricorn, Aquarius and Back

(Asked between the BPHS verses and the chart, while the recording was paused.) A student asks why Jupiter is leaving Capricorn so soon instead of spending a year there.

• Seen from Earth no planet moves at a uniform rate. It goes forward, slows, stops, goes backward, stops, goes forward again. This would happen even if every orbit were a perfect circle, because Earth and the planet move in two different orbits.
• Jupiter's "one year per sign" is the net of all that motion. At times he moves at about double that speed, at times the speed is negative.
• Sometimes the whole forward–back–forward loop falls inside one sign. Sometimes it stretches across a sign border. This time it happens on the Capricorn–Aquarius border.
• The teacher checks it in the software: Jupiter enters Aquarius on May 1, comes back to Capricorn on July 30, and leaves Capricorn finally on December 19.
• Effect: for those running Jupiter daśā, or for whom Jupiter matters, he does not give uniform results through the year. He is in a different house in each phase. "You have to split the year into different phases and see what is going on in each phase."

Muhūrta Analysis — Upanayana under Guru-Chāṇḍāla Yoga

A student brings a muhūrta fixed by someone else for an Upanayana: February 8, 8:31 AM, Mīna (Pisces) lagna, Venus in lagna. He had advised the family to do Gaṇapati homa, or at least Gaṇapati tarpaṇa, beforehand, and to propitiate Venus as the 8th lord in lagna. He asks whether that was sound.

What Is Acceptable

• The 5th house of mantra holds the 5th lord Moon with Ketu, close together. Ketu co-owns the 9th (Scorpio), so 5th and 9th lords are joined in the 5th. They are enemies and it is a tricky muhūrta, but for mantra upāsana it is decent.
• Venus, the 8th lord, in lagna is bad on the face of it. But the 8th is the house of sādhana, and learning a mantra is sādhana — struggle, overcoming an obstacle. For serious sādhana it is "a blessing in disguise."

The Problem — Lagna Lord Jupiter

• Lagna is weak because its lord is hammered by Rāhu. Jupiter is at 14°01′ Capricorn and Rāhu at 14°55′ — within 54 arc-minutes. Guru-Chāṇḍāla yoga, and Jupiter is debilitated as well.

"Jupiter is an important planet for any Veda mantra sādhana. Gāyatrī mantra is a Veda mantra. So Jupiter's strength is very important."

• The teacher had told another family, whose son was due for Upanayana this year, to forget it for the year: Jupiter is with Rāhu and in nīca.

The Alternative — Kumbha Lagna, 13 Minutes Earlier

The student suggests moving the lagna back to Aquarius. The teacher is cool at first, then grants it is not a bad suggestion.

• Jupiter is no longer lagna lord, so he is not such an important planet in that muhūrta.
• The 5th lord is in the 12th — not bad.
• The 6th house of siddhi holds Moon and Ketu: some siddhi in whatever the boy does.
• The 2nd house of speech holds Venus, who becomes yogakāraka.
• Lagna lord Saturn is in the 7th and gets dig-bala.
• The 12th house of mokṣa and giving up is extremely strong.
• He does not know the boy's chart, so he will not say whether it suits him. "But as a muhūrta, that is a good muhūrta."

Propitiation

• Whichever lagna is used, the ritual is being done under nīca Guru very close to Rāhu. Chant Āditya Hṛdayam three times before it. Propitiation of Sun is needed: Aruṇa Praśna or Āditya Hṛdayam, three times.

"Bottom line is, this is not such a good muhūrta, and some propitiation of Sun is needed."

What an Upanayana Needs

"All you really need is a sādhaka of reasonable calibre sitting there, meditate five minutes, and then at the exact muhūrta give the mantra. All the rest is just for satisfaction — a social event more than a spiritual transmission of power."

• Priests re-enact the earlier saṃskāras (nāmakaraṇa, akṣarābhyāsa and so on) as though none had been done. One theory: giving the mantra without them is not good, so do them to be safe. The other: the boy is leaving social life for years of sādhana, so let him have it all once more.
• More powerful than all of that: keep chanting Āditya Hṛdayam, or strengthen the lagna with some sādhana.
• Or let the priest or the father who will give the mantra sit from brāhma muhūrta chanting Gāyatrī until the muhūrta, stop, and impart it. "It is actually much more powerful than all the rituals that these people do."
• That is for the family and their priests to decide.