Example Chart — Sickness Analysis & Functional Malefic Rules (Parashara)

Example chart

Event: severe body pains through a whole day. The pain began about 11 AM on August 11, 2005.

The Daily Chart

• Day starting before noon of August 12 → August 11, 2005, 11:50:06 AM IST, cast for the birthplace. The next day began at 12:20 PM on August 12.
• The sickness began on the 11th, so the day of August 11 is the one to read.
• Weekday: Thursday. Hora lord: Moon.
• Rasi lagna Libra. D6 lagna Cancer.

Step 1 — The Hora Lord as Ruler of the Day

• Moon is in lagna. He is the 10th lord.
• The day falls in Shukla Paksha → Moon is a natural benefic.
• A natural benefic owning a kendra is a functional malefic (Part 6). A functional malefic in lagna: "overall it's not so good", but you would not expect sickness from it.
• D6: Moon is the lagna lord in a kendra (10th house, Aries). "Lagna lord is the ultimate functional benefic." In D6 he shows no problem at all.

The Hora lord gives some sense of the day but does not explain it. He is not the only important planet.

Step 2 — Vara Lord = Agni = Physical Vitality

The five limbs of the panchanga correspond to the five elements.

"The life within you is of Agni tattva. So any health problems, physical vitality issues, you can see from Agni tattva. What is the panchanga element for Agni tattva? Vara."

Thursday → Jupiter controls the fire within him on that day.

Jupiter in the Daily Rasi

• Jupiter is 3rd and 6th lord from Libra → functional malefic.
• He is in the 12th house (Virgo) with Ketu.
• A 3rd/6th lord in the 12th gives Vipareeta Raja Yoga only if he is alone or with other lords of 3, 6, 8, 12.
• Ketu is the 2nd lord (Scorpio) — a neutral planet. A student adds that the 2nd lord is a maraka.
• So this is not Vipareeta Raja Yoga. "It is actually a bad placement."
• The planet of the day's vitality owns the houses of sickness, struggling with disease and fighting the enemy — "which could be viruses and bacteria also".
• From Rasi alone you can only say there will be some struggle: disease, a fist fight, even a scholarly debate. To narrow it, go to the divisional chart.

Jupiter in the Daily D6

Houses of disease:

• 6th — falling sick, catching a virus or bacteria, being hit and breaking a bone.
• 8th — long suffering, long disease, tension, anxiety.
• 12th — hospitalization, or being confined to bed at home.

In the D6 (Cancer lagna):

• Jupiter is the 6th and 9th lord — neutral by ownership, but the 6th lord — in the 8th house (Aquarius).
• With him: Rahu, Ketu (5th lord) and Sun (2nd lord).
• No Vipareeta Raja Yoga, because the 5th and 2nd lords are involved.

"In D6 there is no Vipareeta Raja Yoga. If you see the 6th lord and 8th lord together in the 8th house in D6, alone, without any other planets, normally we would have called it Vipareeta Raja Yoga. But when it comes to D6, it only shows sickness, suffering."

• Jupiter and Sun are afflicted by Rahu and Ketu — Guru-Chandala yoga.
• As 9th lord Jupiter also wants to protect, so that he overcomes the sickness. That protection is weak: he is in the 8th and afflicted by the nodes.
• Conclusion: "This is a day when that fire will be struggling to burn."

The Day's D6 as a Whole

• The 8th house of this D6 is heavily occupied. Even if someone else were the weekday lord, you should be careful on such a day.

"Ruler of the day, the Vara lord, all these are important, but irrespective of them, if the chart itself is very weak on that day, that can result in some problem."

• When the Vara lord is also involved, the conclusion is stronger.
• A student asks whether moving the birth minute from 27 to 28 changes this. It can, if a D6 lagna sits on a border. Here it did not.

Functional Benefics and Malefics per Parashara

Raised in class when Moon turned up as 10th lord in the daily chart (Part 5).

A student says the 10th lord must be a benefic. PVNR: "That way everything is benefic" — the 11th is gains, the 3rd initiative, the 6th overcoming obstacles. What counts is Parashara's definition.

The Table

"Kendradhipatya is malefic if it is a benefic planet. But if the planet is a natural malefic, Kendradhipatya is neutral."

• For PVNR's own Virgo lagna Jupiter owns the 4th and 7th: "Jupiter is a functional malefic, period. That is what Parashara taught."
• Moon is a natural benefic in Shukla Paksha, a natural malefic in Krishna Paksha. Decide that first, then apply the kendra rule.

Why? — An Analogy, Not a Proof

"I don't know the rationale. Ask Parashara."

• Houses 3, 6, 11 need initiative, vigorous pursuit, destroying opposition. Kendras do not show that, but they still show a lot of work. Trines show blessing.
• Natural benefics are saumya — "softies". Make a softie lift weights and his energy is gone; he cannot do his own job.
• Natural malefics are krura — cruel, with fire and energy, able to bear things. Small loads make no difference to them. Heavy loads may even charge them up.
• So owning 3 and 6 may suit natural malefics, and kendras do not hurt them the way they hurt benefics.

"This is all intuitive analogy. It is not really rational — pseudo-rational. But the bottom line is, Parashara said that these are functional malefics and these are functional benefics."

A Planet Owning Two Houses

Judge both and add.

Mercury's Natural Status

• With benefics, or more benefics than malefics → natural benefic.
• With malefics, or more malefics → natural malefic.
• Alone → Parashara did not say. Many take him as benefic. It is a judgment call; the nature of the sign he is in may also be weighed.

Worked Example — A Student's Gemini Lagna

• Mercury, the lagna lord, is alone in Cancer → natural benefic.
• As 4th lord, a natural benefic owning a kendra → malefic. As lagna lord → benefic. Sum: neutral.
• Lagna is the more important house and may dominate: "somewhat benefic, but not a full benefic".
• Saturn owns the 8th (neutral) and 9th (benefic) → functional benefic.
• Venus owns the 5th (benefic) and 12th (neutral) → a very good functional benefic, better than Mercury.

Vipareeta Raja Yoga — Two Limits

• A lord of 3, 6, 8 or 12 in a dusthana gives it only when alone or with other such lords. A neutral lord (the 2nd lord) or a trine lord with him spoils it.
• In D6 it does not apply at all. D6 is the chart of suffering.

Side Questions — Makha or Magha, and Janma Tara

Two brief answers to students. PVNR is unsure of both.

Makha / Magha

• Many Telugu people say Makha; others say Magha.
• Makha means yajna, and the imagery, deity and mantras of the nakshatra do suggest yajna. "Magha really doesn't have any meaning."
• Much of this literature was preserved in Tamil script, where ka, kha, ga, gha are written with one letter. "Magha" could be a corruption. "I'm not 100% sure."

Janma Tara

• One school holds that Janma tara is good for certain activities and not for others. It is a grey area.
• Sampat, Mitra and Parama Mitra taras are good for everything. To say Janma tara is good for all activities in the same way "is not really the standard".