Muhurta Philosophy — Priority of Factors (Lagna > Tithi/Nakshatra > Month), Un-Used Muhurta Is Not Bad & Bhadrapada Masa

Muhurta Philosophy

The Student's Question

• A student had selected a muhurta in late September, in Bhadrapada masa. Tara bala, Chandra bala and the other factors were good. Only the month did not fit, and he gave that the least priority.
• The family then spoke to someone in India, who told them not to do it because Bhadrapada masa had come. They did it on the 7th instead, when neither Tara bala nor Chandra bala was good.
• His question: what did I miss, and how much priority should the month get?

An Unused Muhurta Is Not a Bad Muhurta

• First answer: "You may not have missed anything." They only missed the chance to do it in a good muhurta.
• The misconception (common in Andhra Pradesh, the teacher says) goes by the name muhurta balam: if a really good muhurta is chosen, the thing happens at that muhurta and nobody can stop it; if the muhurta is weak, the person cannot use it. So when a muhurta is not used, people blame a weakness in the muhurta. The teacher does not agree.
• The muhurta is a point in time that is auspicious for going forward. Whether the person can act at that time depends on their luck — their dashas and gocharas now. A person running a terrible time may not be destined to get good advice.
• When a good muhurta goes unused, the weakness is usually in the time when the astrologer sat down to select it, not in the muhurta chosen. The chart of that moment probably had a weakness in the lagna, the 11th house, the 10th house and so on, which made the muhurta selected at that time useless to the person.
• The reverse also happens. A muhurta with a big weakness can still be carried out:

"If the destiny becomes a gravity pulling the person towards that bad Muhurta chosen by a bad astrologer, he may surmount all obstacles and actually do it at that time and then suffer the consequences after it."

• The test of a muhurta:

"You judge whether a muhurta was good or bad based on what happens after the muhurta. If the person really starts the thing at that muhurta and how things unfold after that, that is basically the power of the muhurta."

Priests Who Go by Thumb Rules

• People decide that one factor — a particular tithi, a particular nakshatra, a particular lunar month — is such a big deal that nothing can be done then, and they go for a very poor muhurta instead. This happens with professional priests who are not much of astrologers and go by panchanga thumb rules.
• Example from the teacher's family circle: a very well-known priest fixed a marriage muhurta. The teacher's father saw the chart on the wedding invitation and at once called it a terrible muhurta for marriage. The marriage took place. Trouble started within six months to a year. The bridegroom had been a successful businessman with a turnover of 50 lakh a year who helped many people; his business went down and he now depends on his relatives for his livelihood.
• Something important like a marriage done in a bad muhurta shows its effect in the coming year or years.
• A student's objection: his chart may be bad too. Answer: of course — and the bad muhurta made it worse; otherwise things could have been slightly better.
• Such a person, if destined for a terrible married life, would not have used a good muhurta even if given one. Destiny pulls him away from it; he goes to another priest, gets a different muhurta and junks yours.
• The astrologer's part: give a muhurta when someone asks. Why they used it or did not use it is not your business.

Bhadrapada Masa and the Priority of Factors

• Typically things are not done in Bhadrapada masa. It is not considered an auspicious month. Avoiding it is one of the standard factors, but not a major factor.
• Shravana masa (ending a few hours after this class) is a very auspicious month — Shiva's month.
• But an auspicious month such as Shravana with a terrible tithi, terrible nakshatra bala and a terrible lagna is worse than doing it in Bhadrapada with those factors good.
• If there is no hurry — an upanayana, a wedding that can wait — wait a month or two and give a muhurta after the month has passed.
• If it must be done now, and the seven or eight days left in Shravana have no good tithi and nakshatra combination, it is not worth forcing it into Shravana. Go to Bhadrapada and make sure tithi, nakshatra and the rest are good. Those are more important than the month.
• How to think about priority: a rule that throws out a whole year (for example, "do nothing this year because of the sign Jupiter is in") has to be the lowest priority. A rule that throws out a whole month is the next lowest.

Priority, from most to least important:

1. Lagna and the planetary positions of the muhurta
2. Tithi bala and nakshatra bala
3. Other panchanga elements: karana, vara, yoga
4. All other factors — the lunar month low among them, the year lowest

• To the student: you probably gave a good muhurta. They went to someone who puts too much importance on that one factor. Ignore it.

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