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yajvan
01 June 2008, 08:29 AM
Hari Om
~~~~~

Namaste


Satay asked in a recent post what could one expect from the positions of the grahas called out in the HDF Post:
I am curious to know how these new locations/movements of Guru, Mercury, rahu and ketu affect anyone's daily life.
I thought to post this regarding rahu and ketu would be a good place to begin.

In Jyotish there is a something called the gochara system; One measures the effects of transiting planets from the moon ( chandra), sun (Ravi or Surya) and ascendant (lagna) natal or janma position.
Gochara गोचर - being within the range of , attainable ; the distance of the planets from natal locations.

Many consider the measures from Chandra as most popular.The Moon signifies the mind and affects all we do So one looks to see the janma rasi or the position of the moon at birth.
Does that suggest then that everyone will have the SAME experiences? No. Well why not? Each person will have a different dasa period running , a different degree º of the moon's position in the janma rasi, hence the varga charts will be different… People will also have a different astakavaraga value for each bhava (house). Hense subha (beneficial) and papa (malefic) experiences will be had by all natives on this good earth with the transit of the grahas.

Yet the sages of this science have created general rules and we use their knowledge as guidance. As I have mentioned many times, I am a shisya of this science and hold no authorship over this knowledge, yet I take full responsibility for any errors in understanding or presenting the information here on HDF. I stand on the shoulders of others much wiser and more knowledgeable then me.

Lets start with Kāraka¹
Since we are talking of rahu and ketu we must first define what they ,as signficators or kAraka¹ represent:
Rahu - paternal grand father, maternal grandmother; research, harsh speech & arguments, false speech, skin diseases, gambling, hurting, snakes and snake bites, bad habits, sinking with ships or drowning, travel to foreign land, disease and amputation, eating of 'dirty food' aka drug use, accidents ( instantaneous grief as I call it)
Ketu - maternal grand father, paternal grandmother( opposite of rahu); moksha, poisonous speech (like rahu), spots on the body, chain smoker, smoky complexion, occult interests, philosophy, detachment and to an excessive degree mental disturbances ( lunacy), life or travels to a foreign land ( like rahu).

Transits
A simple view of this… a graha¹ occupying , aspecting or transiting a bhava (house) or sign ( rasi) influences the matters signified by that house and the grahas that reside in that house. That is why we have to paint with a broad brush. There is no hard and fast rule that one can apply for all people, as we (I) do not know each permutation of ones chart that is viewing this post.

Example
Lets say Mercury is transiting the 1st house of the janma rasi, Gemini. The 'rule' says quarrels, poor advice, and perhaps imprisonment could occur. Yet Gemini is the home for Mercury and will be strong in intellectually-oriented Gemini. So what can occur? Intellectual debates, some jalpa, arguments and the like. But what of the imprisonment? The person could be on a debate team, or a part of a university team that goes from place-to-place and is required to do the travel; He/she complies or is ~imprisoned~ to the commitment of the debate rules.

I think you get the point. This is also why reading a horoscope from the daily news paper will most likely give you less then expected results. Hence it is wise to use broad-brush stokes when talking of transits to a general audience as no one specific birth chart is in question.

Transits of Rahu and Ketu.
In general the transit (gochara) of the 3rd, 6th, 10th and 11th bhava's from the moon sign is considered favorable. Some authors do not include the 10th house. I can discuss this at another time, as the 10th house is the 'throne' of the sun. More on this latter.

Now if that was it, this would be the end of the post! Yet there is another rule called vedha (do not confuse this with veda or knowledge), or that which can spoil the favorable transit. Just when it was easy you say, things get complicated :) .

Lets say rahu is transiting the 3rd house from Chandra's natal position (birth chart position); this should be a favorable transit. Yet if there is a graha in the 12th house from Chandra's birth chart position then vedha occurs and favorability is cancelled.Simple eh?
Well, the vedha rule applies for each transit position… But for now let me offer the vedha positions that cancel favorability for the 3rd, 6th , 10th and 11th positions from the jani rasi ( Moon's natal position).

Favorable transit in:__________ vedha occurs when a graha is in the following:
3rd________________________ 12th
6th_________________________ 9th
10th_______________________ 10th
11th________________________ 5th

A side note for the Jyotishi's reading this… this vedha rule is different for each graha; and as you would expect there is the possible cancellation of vedha, this is called vipreet vedha, and gives favorable results back to the transit.

What is extremely interesting to me as a side note, Rahu and ketu's vedha positions are the SAME as śani's (Saturn). Why so? Both Rahu and śani both co-own Aquarius and have similar qualities is my assessment. More study is needed by me to find the root cause.

One last piece of info …What is an unfavorable position from Rahu's and ketu's natal ( birth) positions?

When Rahu transits the 9th from its natal position and Ketu the 2nd position ( bhava) these are also unfavorable. The favorable positions have been listed above e.g. 3rd, 6th, 10th and 11th.

Let me stop here… as I always say, no one likes long posts. I will extend the conversation and offer what the ācārya's suggest the influences will be for the transits.


pranams

1. Words used

kāraka (kAraka) कारक - the action making , doing , acting , who or what does or produces or creates; instrumental in bringing about the action . A kAraka is a significator or entity ( in this post a graha or ~ planet) that signifies various matters on this good earth;
graha ग्रह - we know as a planet yet a better definition is that which seized ; seizing , laying hold of , holding; The grahas have the influence to seize or hold the native to actions or karma.
śiṣya शिष्य - student some prefer the word chela

yajvan
03 June 2008, 01:46 PM
Hari Om
~~~~~

Namaste

We have been taking a bit about the chāya¹ grahas, Rahu and Ketu. Lets spend just a bit more time on these nodes.

Rahu
Rahu is also known by another name , ahi. Ahi means snake ,the serpent of the sky, a traveller and a few other names. Rahu is the upper part of the serpent. It has a head, eyes, can see and desire objects.
Rahu as I have noticed again and again acts suddenly, just as a snake would lunge to attack, the action is complete in seconds.
When things happen instantaniously, (IMHO) one can consider a rahu influence. Why so? Rahu is considered by many as an agent of the laws of karma. From this karma, rectification is brought out and manifests in ones life. Why so? We will cover this idea below.

Rahu is also considered a mountain of darkness; From a material standpoint it’s the metaphor for the accumulation of material things that are aroused by Rahu, that then will be destroyed.

This mountain of darkness can bring the overshadowing of the Sun (the atma-kArka) and the moon ( amatya-kAraka)¹ via eclipses; That is, overshadowing the light of the atman and light of the mind, as both the sun and moon are called the luminaries in Jyotish.
We also know that the material influence in a person's life is quite strong, so is rahu can have a firm grip (attachment).

On another level Rahu and Sun combination causes loss of profession and prestige. Rahu and the Moon without beneficial aspects can give one mental depression, religious mania (some may call is this over-zealousness) except for those with Scorpio lagna.

Excessive Rahu can bring sudden fits of depression, excessive drug use and disturbances. Again 'sudden' is key.

Rahu in the first house will gives unpleasant influences, yet in the 10th house (house of careers) gives good influences, especially with foreign affairs. Recall that Rahu influences and indicates foreign lands and travel. So a 10th house career with foreign matters (ambassador, travel agent, foreign guide, and even spying) would flourish with a strong rahu influence.

This Rahu gives excellent research abilities, speculation, working with medicines, lawyers, and those which are erratic or cruel nature (slaughter houses, hides and skins, and perhaps sewage plants, foul smelling locations or positions) etc. But note, to form a complete ahi,snake ,the serpent of the sky, rahu must have its other half, ketu.

Ketu
As mentioned, Rahu is the upper part of the serpent. It has a head, eyes, can see and desire objects. Ketu is without a head, without eyes and there for cannot give graha dristi ( it does not cast an aspect on to other signs on its own, as rahu can).

Ketu is a mokshakaraka, the significator of moksha. With no head, there is no mind, no desires, no attachment, hence ketu as mokshakaraka makes sense. Many associate ketu with Ganesha.
Recall Ganesha too lost his head and then was given the head of the elephant. More can be said on what the head represents, yet there are Ganesha HDF posts that call this out if interested.

Ketu has many qualities, some where mentioned in the last post. The one that I find appealing is Ketu's ability to bring about the dawn of intuitive comprehension. This intuition is the conduit, the faculty to unfold the SELF (Brahman) within the individual. for this to occur Rahu assists. Yet as Ketu grows, the association with, or the empathy for Brahman grows over time i.e. insight and appreciation.
Ketu's name (केतु) is defined as bright appearance , clearness, brightness , rays of light;intellect , judgement , discernment. It is based upon ketu's innate ability or influence for this intuitive comprehension or cognition.

Yet Ketu's behavior can be considered enigmatic. One Jyotishi ( Bepin Behari) uses Mona Lisa's smile as an example of Ketu. Her mysterious expression, where one is not sure what emotion or thought is being entertained by Ms. Lisa, so its hidden mysterious at best, like Ketu.

Ketu when associated with education graha's (Mercury for intellect, Jupiter for higher knowledge) gives that person the natural desire for the occult, philosophy, Reality, etc. Ketu and Mercury gives analytical intellect and the ability to pierce deeper into subject matter. Ketu with Sani (another moksha graha) gives more influence for ascetic tendency and spiritual pursuits.

As mentioned they are malefics, but why?
Rahu produces disenchantment with material attachments; that is, 'satisfaction' is never complete and wanting still continues.

When the sun ( the karAka of the 1st house, ones innate self) is obscured by Rahu it suggest a restriction or past action/events being considered of being worked out and equilibrium restored to the native.

One can experience this many ways; mental illness, frustration, unwanted circumstances that have to be endured, association with undesirable surroundings, restrictions and the like. It’s the push away from the material side of life as if getting ones nose rubbed in it. The person feels this perpetual imbalance.

Balance is the gift of the Sun, Ravi. He regulates time, its even-ness, sama. Rahu brings imbalance.

Rahu & Ketu function together - they bring out the hidden potential of the native. Rahu is on the material side, Ketu the spiritual. Rahu accentuates the material side of life where not all things can be achieved, yet desired. This excess brings frustration. Then ketu is there for the introspection and to assist to reveal the disillusionment that the material side brings.

Both Rahu and Ketu produce results by churning. When I think of churning I think of mixed-up, dis-order, etc. When there is difference, duality, there is churning.

We see this churning in the story of the Bhāgavad gītā and Arjuna's displacement of mind in the early chapters.
He is experiencing the churn, the despondency that occurs within the field of life. Yet it is by Kṛṣṇa that it all makes sense as He guides Arjuna from the churning to a more stable field of being and the yoga of action. Be without the 3 gunas ( the field of churning).

pranams,


1. words used

chaya छाय ( chAya or chāya) - shading or blending of colours; shadowy or granting shade.
amatya अमात्य (amAtya or amātya) - a companion (of a king) ; who is the King? The Sun, Surya or Ravi.
ātma - ātman आत्मन् - to breathe; the soul , principle of life and sensation; essence , nature , character; the sun.
kāraka (kAraka) कारक - the action making , doing , acting , who or what does or produces or creates; instrumental in bringing about the action . A kAraka is a significator or entity ( in this post a graha or ~ planet) that signifies various matters on this good earth.
graha ग्रह - we know as a planet yet a better definition is that which seized ; seizing, laying hold of, holding; The grahas have the influence to seize or hold the native to actions or karma.
sama सम - same , equal , similar , like , equivalent , like to or identical or homogeneous.
asama असम - uneven , unequal.

alphaquerist
22 October 2008, 12:55 AM
Dear Sir,
Namaste,

I am new to this forum and I was going through this post. I found that Rahu in Capricorn is transiting the third from my natal moon (Vrishchika). And I have Saturn in Libra. So, going by the rules posted by you, my guess is a vedha occurs.
I have my Mars in Capricorn and I was told that this transit would enable me to do better on the job front (Aries asc).
I left my job two months ago and have not been very serious about looking for a replacement. I have just started getting back into the job market again.
After reading this post my query is, what are the conditions for vipreeta vedha and are all good possibilities for career advancement cancelled in my case?
Would be grateful for any insight that you may provide.

Thanks and regards,
Lipi

Adhvagat
10 November 2010, 01:13 PM
Thank you very much for these descriptions!

Rahu and Ketu are indeed fascinating.

But Yajvan, I still don't get why is Ketu also malefic. Is it because of its natural imbalance?

yajvan
10 November 2010, 07:34 PM
hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~

namasté Pietro


I still don't get why is Ketu also malefic. Is it because of its natural imbalance?
Some say it is due the notion that ketu is like mars as it also co-owns scorpio. Mars is a hot planet and considered malefic. Yet what I have learned over the years, all the graha-s¹ have their beneficial & negative qualities.

It is when they are in excess they cause issues. Even Jupiter , an ideal benefic, in excess, causes excessive possessiveness excessive weight gain, excessive ...
due to over-expansion. Yet this is a sattvic planet.

Same with ketu - he has no head - meaning he is the kāraka of mokṣa. But also ~no head~ in excess suggests some mental concerns, unsteadiness.
Then take the combination with moon ( mind also) and that is where some issues may arise. But with Mercury one has excellent insight, analytical abilities.
When ketu is associated with the 12th house then we find the spiritual seeker pronounced ( stronger). Ketu in the 1st house causes issue, but in the 9th makes one spiritual.
Like that , there are the positive and negative sides to the graha.

praṇām

words

graha ग्रह- seizing , laying hold of , holding i.e. a graha ~seizes~ or influences the circumstances of the native
grāhaka - one who seizes or takes captive

PARAM
11 November 2010, 10:20 AM
Thanks Yajvan for this

kahanam
30 November 2010, 12:57 AM
Ketu in Lagna ie, first house does it have illeffects?

yajvan
30 November 2010, 01:25 PM
hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~

namasté kahanam.



Ketu in Lagna ie, first house does it have illeffects?

One grāhaka ( one who seizes or takes captive) does not make up the complexion of the chart. There are many more moving parts. First one would ask the influence of ketu ( one of my favorites , as ketu is mokṣa kāraka, and dual owner of the 8th, spiritual house of Scorpio):

Positive

spiritual pursuits
adaptable
creative with a bent to the ideasChallenging

do you find many changes / surprises in your life ?
do you find reckless decision making?
hypersensitive
illnesses that are difficult to diagnose
not open to advicePending the sign ( exalted or debilitated) these things may be accentuated or diminished. Who ketu associates with is also important.

To give a realistic answer based upon one position of a graha is like a doctor diagnosing a patient over the phone and asking him/her to cough just once.

praṇām

Mana
19 January 2012, 11:47 AM
Namaste yajvan, all,

Might I ask as to the likely hood of a noted effect as Rahu transits his original position in the birth chart of a native, especially if Chandra is also in conjunction with Rahu.

Might this combination be a strong participating factor in provoking disturbance of the mind at that time?

Thank you kindly.

praNAma

mana

yajvan
19 January 2012, 08:56 PM
hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~

namasté


Might I ask as to the likely hood of a noted effect as Rahu transits his original position in the birth chart of a native, especially if Chandra is also in conjunction with Rahu.

Might this combination be a strong participating factor in provoking disturbance of the mind at that time?

It all depends which house this occurs in; rāhu in the 3rd is favorable. Moon in 3rd can be favorable if 3rd from arudha lagna. You see it is like a picture. If we only look at one color or one brush stroke one will not get the full value of the picture.
Consider picasso's art. We look and say what is this art with two eyes on one side of the face... but the art is found when looking at the full picture. Jyotish is like this; rāhu in one place without the full picure ( ingredients) is lacking in clarity, only one color.


http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_j9VUmBswTWg/TQl9J06hICI/AAAAAAAAAKE/T9lle_3tExU/s1600/Pablo-Picasso-art-painting-Portrait-of-a-Young-Girl-2.JPG



praṇām

Mana
20 January 2012, 12:03 PM
Namaste yajvan,

Thank you for sharing your knowledge and wisdom on this, I am curious as to the effects of the current sky and its relation to birth charts, I still have so much to absorb and learn. Your description is superb I thank you for that.

I have Chandra in 10th Gemini and Rahu in 3rd Scorpio, I was feeling a little tense as Chandra passed Rahu these last few days (noticed after the fact). The position of the transit being very close to the position of Rahu at birth; I was wondering if there was any correlation.

I'm not at a level to look at dasa system just yet, so this is really just my idle wanderings, for this I apologise.

Such a fascinating topic.

praNAma

mana