Prasna Shoulder/Hand Pain (Sep 9 2009): Mars as Nerve Tissue Karaka Lagna — 7th Lord in 8th = Nerve Maraka; Pitta-Nerve Diagnosis (Sun Exalted Badhaka + Mars Maraka); Compressed Dasha 1-Year Timeline; Shankhpushpi+Brahmi in Milk = Pitta-Nerve Remedy

Prasna — Shoulder/Hand Pain (September 9, 2009)

Prasna Data

• September 9, 2009, 10:07 AM, New Hampshire, USA, 4 hours west of GMT (EDT). A student took the call while driving and noted the time.
• Lagna: Libra 6°42'. Moon: Aries 21°24' (7th house).
• Question: "Will my hand and shoulder pain reduce? Will I become normal?" The lady had had physiotherapy and was somewhat better. The student had no birth data for her.
• She later added a second question on her longevity. The teacher set it aside: a prasna should be one consistent question.
• The student had first read Mars as "2nd and 7th lord in lagna". That is the Drekkana (D3), not the Rasi. In the Rasi, Mars is in Gemini.
• The teacher uses the Jagannatha ayanamsa, which puts Saturn at about 0° Virgo. With Lahiri, Saturn is at the end of Leo (and in Aries in D3).

Validity Check

• Jupiter is in the 4th house (Capricorn), a quadrant. The student was comfortable with that.
• The teacher's point: more than being in a quadrant, Jupiter aspects the lagna lord. Venus is at about 22° Cancer, Jupiter at about 24° Capricorn, so the 7th aspect (graha dṛṣṭi) is nearly exact.
• Rule: Jupiter aspecting lagna or lagna lord → the prasna is genuine; there is an answer in it.

"Because Jupiter has an aspect on the lagna lord, we say this is a genuine prasna. There is an answer in the prasna."

Navamsa (D9) — Background of the Problem

• Sagittarius lagna. Lagna lord Jupiter is in the 9th house (Leo) with Ketu, aspected by Mars and Rahu from Aquarius. The teacher checked by longitude: Jupiter stays in the 9th bhava.
• Mars is 12th lord but also 5th lord.
• Venus (6th lord, in the 2nd) and Moon (8th lord, in the 11th) both have Argala on lagna.
• Conclusion: some bad indications, nothing disastrous. No serious background; not chronic.
• "If Navamsa was terrible, you could say this was a long-term thing — something that accumulated over a long period, whether she knew about it or not."
• Compared with Navamsa, the Rasi has more negative indications.

Rasi Chart — Why Is There a Problem?

• The 8th house is not involved. The Badhakasthana and the 6th house are involved with lagna "in a decisive way".
• Summary of influences on lagna: Gulika, the 6th lord, a Maraka, and the Badhaka lord. And the 6th lord aspects the lagna lord.
• A student suggested the Sun can show bones. The teacher: it can, but the description is a nerve problem.

Why a Nerve Problem?

First pointer — the roga pada (A6). A6 shows the tangible manifestation of the disease. It is in the 2nd house (Scorpio), a Marakasthana, and its lord is Mars. So the manifestation may be Mars-related: Pitta, nerves. (Mars is placed in UL, but UL does not show sickness.)

Second pointer — tissue karaka as lagna. Take the planet of a tissue as lagna and look for a major affliction such as a Duryoga. If there is one, that tissue is vulnerable.

Mars as lagna (15° Gemini):

• Jupiter is the 7th lord from Gemini. He is debilitated in Capricorn with Rahu, the 8th from Mars. By degrees too (Mars 15°, Jupiter 24°) he is in the 8th house.
• 7th lord in the 8th is a Maraka combination. "It's terrible."
• Lagna lord Mercury is with 8th lord Saturn in Virgo. Saturn is also 9th lord, but the 8th is so powerful that he acts more as 8th lord. That is a Duryoga.
• Conclusion: there is a problem in the nerve tissue.

"You can take Mars as lagna for nerve, Moon as lagna for blood, and see if there is any major affliction like a Duryoga. If you see a Duryoga, that tissue may have some vulnerability."

Drekkana (D3) — The Future

• D3 lagna is Libra. Mars — the planet of the troubled tissue, and Maraka as 2nd and 7th lord — is in lagna.
• Sun, the Badhaka lord, is exalted in the 7th house, a Marakasthana, and aspects lagna. "Exalted Badhaka lord is never a good feature."
• Lagna lord Venus is exalted in Pisces, the 6th sign. Lagna lord in the 6th, and a benefic at that, is not good for recovery from disease.
• By D3 longitude Venus falls in the 5th house, though in the 6th sign. That helps.
• Saturn and Jupiter in Virgo both aspect Venus closely. Saturn is Yogakaraka here but is also the roga karaka, the giver of disease. Jupiter is the 6th lord, lord of the roga sthana. "So is that good? Not really."

Pitta, not Vata

• Sun and Mars are Pitta planets, and they are the problem in both Rasi and D3. "A lot of fire in the nervous system."
• Nerves are like electric wires with a fluid inside that conducts.
  • Vata: the fluid dries up → poor conductance.
  • Pitta: nothing wrong with the fluid, but the nerves are too tense → a lot of electricity flows and the person cannot withstand it.
• Pitta people and Vata people both have to be careful with nervous problems.
• Diagnosis: nervous problem from increased Pitta rather than increased Vata.

Prognosis

• Not many redeeming factors. Sun-Mars axis on lagna, lagna lord not that strong.
• The problem may linger. "Even if it seems like it has gone away, it may come back. It doesn't seem like there is a perfect cure."
• The one hope is Venus: exalted lagna lord in the 5th house of D3, and in the Rasi the lagna lord who controls overall well-being — if he can resist the aspects of Jupiter and Saturn.

Remedies

• Lakshmi — the devata of Venus, the lagna lord.
• Hanuman — for Mars; Hanuman Chalisa every Tuesday. The student had already suggested both; the teacher agreed.
• Do not change the propitiation dasha by dasha. "That will be stressing too much." Fix it on the basic indication.

Herbs by dosha:

• Vata in the nervous system: Jatamamsi (valerian is the Western counterpart), Ashwagandha, Bhringaraj.
• Pitta in the nervous system: Shankhpushpi, Brahmi, Bhringaraj. This case.

How to take it:

• Shankhpushpi is powerful; it is not taken in spoonfuls. Between 1/8 and 1/4 of a spoon of the powder.
• A pinch of Brahmi powder, about 1/16 of a spoon.
• Boil in a small cup of milk — more milk, less powder — cool a little, and drink.
• In the morning before eating anything, when absorption is at its maximum.
• Continue for a few weeks.

"Her nervous system is basically too tense, so it needs to be soothed."

The Longevity Question

• The lady is about 80–82. A student asked whether Maraka Mars in lagna (D3) is a danger to life.
• The teacher: it is not a good combination for recovery, but do not judge fatality from this prasna. Longevity from prasna is difficult even as a standalone question, and here it is disjointed from the question asked. Use the natal chart.
• Nervous trouble in the shoulder or hand gives pain in the arm, hand, elbow; in the worst case paralysis. Death does not usually come from it.

A Second Question in the Same Prasna

• Some people take lagna for the first question, Moon for the second, Sun for the third, and so on. Others use other reference points. There are many approaches.
• Prasna Marga has its own approach. Pick one approach and stay with it (see Part 2).

Dasha Compression — 1-Year View

• A prasna has no natural time span. A swearing-in chart is compressed to 4 years, a lunar new year chart to 1 year, a lunar new month chart to 1 month.
• The software lets you choose the span; the feature is there for research. Many people treat a prasna as valid for 1 year and compress Vimshottari to exactly 1 year. The teacher tries that here.
• Venus dasha is running at the prasna.

Reading: fine till October 3; from October 3 till March 22 of the next year, not favourable — assuming the 1-year compression is right.