functional nature and strengths

Other strengths
Introduction
When judging the results given by houses and planets, we have to judge their strength. Sometimes we have to compare the strength of two planets and see which one will dominate. For example, when finding the arudha pada of a house falling in Scorpio, we learnt that we have to take the stronger of Mars and Ketu as the lord of Scorpio. In several rasi dasas, dasas start from the stronger of lagna and the 7th house. We need to be able to compare them and judge which is stronger. A house may be influenced by several planets and they may suggest contradictory results. In such a case, we need to decide which influence dominates.
There are different ways of measuring the strengths of planets and rasis for different purposes. We will learn some of them in this section.
Why Different Strengths
Why do we need different strengths for different purposes? Why can’t we use the same strength? To understand this, let us consider an analogy.
Suppose X is an engineer. Suppose Y is another engineer with exactly the same background and suppose Y comes to the house of X for a few days. Suppose Y sleeps in the afternoon and X doesn’t. Suppose it is 1 pm and Y is ready for his afternoon nap. Suppose the two engineers have promised a charity in town that they would give a big donation together and suppose someone from the charity comes to X’s house. Because it is not his house and because he is sleepy, Y is probably not going to play a prominent role and X is probably going to talk pleasantries and then give a check on behalf of Y and himself. The money is both his and Y’s, but X is in a better position to handle it. Shadbalas are similar to this. When two or more planets take part in a yoga, the one that is stronger as per shadbala ends up giving the results.
Both X and Y may have to deal with contractors, workers and vendors for their professional work. If Y has better relations with the people he deals with, he will be more productive at his work as an engineer. Similarly, strength as per ashtakavarga shows the ability of planets to deliver their goods in harmony with other planetary forces at work in a chart. Even if a planet has good shadbala, it will be unable to deliver its goods if it is at odds with other planets in the chart, i.e. has a low ashtakavarga strength.
An engineer who has good relations with workers, vendors and contractors related to one project may not go along well with people involved in another project. In that case, he will produce excellent results in the former project and he may not be effective in the latter. Similarly, a planet may have good ashtakavarga strength in one divisional chart and poor ashtakavarga strength in another divisional chart. Then it will give its results more effectively in the area of life related to the first chart.
Despite good capabilities and potential to get work done, Y may be unable to get his work done if he is depressed about something or if he is absent-minded for some reason. If he is in a cheerful state, he may get his work done well. Thus the state one is in decides one’s final output. Similarly, a planet must be in a good “avastha” (state) to give good results. There are different kinds of states – states related to age, states related to alertness, states related to mood and states related to activity.
When one hires an engineer as an employee or when one assigns a project to an engineer, one is concerned about how effective he will be in the project. But suppose one is considering the same engineer as a partner in business. Then his effectiveness in a particular project does not matter much. What matters now is how well rounded he is. He should have good overall knowledge of various projects. Vimsopaka bala is analogous to this. When we consider the overall effectiveness of a planet in one’s life, we no longer look at its effectiveness to give results in a specific area of life. Instead, we look at Vimsopaka bala. It shows the overall strength of a planet and its ability to play an important role in one’s life (rather than a specific area of life).
If X and Y have to decide who eats a cake first or who gets to drink the only can of soft drink left in the refrigerator, they are probably not going to argue about it. Their qualifications or productivity at work or mental state or overall ability are not going to matter. For something so trivial, they will probably toss a coin or have a friendly arm-wrestling or simply do what their friends present in the room suggest. If Y has more friends in the room and they say “let Y have it”, then Y is going to have it. Similarly, for trivial things like determining who initiates dasas, antardasas etc, we have very simple rules that are different from shadbala, ashtakavarga bala, avastha bala, Vimsopaka bala etc.
As it has been emphasized many times in this book, Vedic astrology has a rich variety of parameters, tools and techniques. Attempting to use various techniques in an interchangable manner only leads to confusion. One should strive to understand the meanings of various parameters and tools and use the right set of parameters and tools for the occasion. Though we have different ways of measuring a planet’s strength, their meanings are different and accordingly they are used for different purposes. We will learn the most common ones in this chapter.
Shadbala and Astakavarga Bala
There are six sources of strength – strength due to placement, strength due to time, strength due to directions, strength due to aspects, strength due to motion and strength due to inherent nature. Shadbala is a measure of the strength of a planet based on these six sources of strength. Explaining the computation of shadbalas is beyond the scope of this book. For the details of its computation, one may refer to “Brihat Parasara Hora Sastram” by Parasara or “Graha and Bhava Balas” by Dr. B.V. Raman. Most computer software programs give shadbala, though there are minor differences between the definitions used by them.
When two or planets influence the same house or when they participate in a yoga, then the planet with the highest shadbala is the most likely give the results. The planet with the strongest shadbala is like a group leader who acts on the group’s behalf.
On the other hand, ashtakavarga bala shows how other planets support or oppose a planet. It does not show how capable the planet is of leading and giving the results of a group of planets, unlike shadbala. It shows how capable a planet is of giving its own results, in harmony with other planetary forces.

Functional Nature
We learnt that Jupiter, Venus, waxing Moon and well-associated Mercury are natural benefics. We learnt that Sun, Mars, Saturn, Rahu, Ketu, waning Moon and ill-associated Mercury are natural malefics. In addition, we have the concept of functional benefics and functional malefics.
The lords of trines from lagna are functional benefics. The lords of 3rd, 6th and 11th are functional malefics. The lord of a quadrant is a functional malefic if he is a natural benefic and functionally neutral if he is a natural malefic. The lords of 2nd, 8th and 12th are functionally neutral. Of these, the 8th house is more malefic than the other two.
Planet owning a quadrant and a trine becomes a yogakaraka (excellent planet).
In the case of planets owning two rasis, we need to judiciously combine the two indications. The list of yogakarakas, functional benefics, functional neutrals and functional malefics for each lagna is given in Table 10. Moon is not listed for movable rasis, because his functional nature depends on whether he is waxing or waning. Waxing Moon is a natural benefic and he becomes a functional malefic with quadrant ownership. Waning Moon, on the other hand, is a natural malefic and quadrant ownership makes him functionally neutral.
Table 10: Functional nature of planets
Lagna Yogakaraka FunctionalBenefics Functionalneutrals Functional maleficsAr — Sun, Mars, Jupiter — Mercury, Venus,SaturnTa Saturn Sun, Mercury, Saturn Mars Moon, Jupiter, VenusGe — Venus Moon, Mercury,Saturn Sun, Mars, JupiterCn Mars Moon, Mars, Jupiter Sun, Saturn Mercury, VenusLe Mars Sun, Mars, Jupiter Moon Mercury, Venus,SaturnVi — Mercury, Venus Sun, Saturn Moon, Mars, JupiterLi Saturn Mercury, Venus,Saturn — Sun, Mars, JupiterSc — Moon, Jupiter Sun, Mars Mercury, Venus,SaturnSg — Sun, Mars Moon, Mercury,Jupiter Venus, SaturnCp Venus Venus, Mercury,Saturn Sun Mars, JupiterAq Venus Venus, Saturn Sun, Mercury Moon, Mars, JupiterPi — Moon, Mars Jupiter Sun, Mercury, Venus,SaturnA functional benefic is a favorable planet in a chart. Placement of a functional benefic in quadrants (sustenance) and trines (prosperity) brings good results. Placement of a functional malefic in these houses is not good, unless it is very strong. A functional malefic placed in the 3rd house and dusthanas (6th, 8th and 12th houses) brings good results, by spoiling the significations of the bad houses.
If a planet aspects or conjoins or owns HL and lagna, it becomes a yogada (giver of yoga) in money matters. If a planet aspects or conjoins or owns GL and lagna, it becomes a yogada in the matters of power and authority. Irrespective of their functional nature, planets that become yogada bring goodluck. Similarly, planets involved in important yogas also bring good luck.
We should consider the inherent nature and the functional nature of planets. Whether a planet is a natural benefic or a natural malefic is analogous to whether a person is inherently good or bad. Whether a planet is a functional benefic or a functional malefic is analogous to whether a person does good or bad to one. Just as a nice person may harm one and a bad person may do good, natural benefics can become functional malefics and natural malefics can become functional benefics.
Baadhakas
For a house falling in a movable/fixed/dual rasi, the 11th/9th/7th house (respectively) from there becomes baadhaka sthaana (troubling spot). Its lord is called a “baadhaka” (troublemaker) for the original house. The list of baadhaka sthaanas and baadhakas corresponding to each rasi is given in Table 11.
For example, suppose lagna in someone’s D-10 is in Ge. Then Jupiter is baadhaka for lagna. The periods of Jupiter and planets in Sg can create some obstructions and troubles in career. Let us take another house. Aq is the 9th house and the 9th house in D-10 shows the guidance one gets in one’s career. It can show manager and elders giving guidance. Baadhaka sthana for Aq is Li. So the periods of Venus and occupants of Li can create some troubles related to the guidance one gets. There may be some troubles related to manager. Thus we can consider baadhaka from every house and arudha pada in every divisional chart.
Table 11: Baadhakas
Rasi Baadhaka sthaana BaadhakaAr Aq Saturn & RahuTa Cp SaturnGe Sg JupiterCn Ta VenusLe Ar MarsVi Pi JupiterLi Le SunSc Cn MoonSg Ge MercuryCp Sc Mars & KetuAq Li VenusPi Vi MercuryAnalyzing Charts
Basic Guidelines
When we analyze the charts, we should remember all the concepts we learnt in the previous chapters. The following factors must be remembered:
(1) Divisional Chart: Use the correct divisional chart for the matter of interest. Suppose we are looking at happiness from a vehicle. D-16 is the best chart. Suppose we are trying to analyze a criminal’s psychology. D-30 is the best chart. Suppose we are analyzing marriage. D-9 is the best chart. Suppose we are analyzing marriage in a culture where marriage is not a dharma (duty) and a union of souls, but it is merely living together of two people, then rasi chart may be better than D-9. Suppose we want to study one’s religious activities. Then D-20 is the chart. If we want to study one’s learning, D-24 is the chart. Suppose we want to study one’s career and achievements in society, D-10 chart is the correct chart. In this manner, we should choose the correct divisional chart.
(1) House: We should choose the correct house after choosing the correct divisional chart. Let us say that we are analyzing someone’s learning related activities and decided to look at D-24. If we want to see his education, we see the 4th house. If we want to see his intelligence, scholarship, academic reputation, academic distinctions/awards, students etc, we should look at the 5th house. If we want to see how one, in one’s pursuit of knowledge, interacts with others and what kind of people one interacts with, then we should see the 7th house. Like that, we choose the correct house for the matter of interest.
(1) Reference: We should choose the correct reference for counting houses. In the above example of D-24, academic reputation is related more to the perceived self (AL) than the true self (lagna). So it is seen from the 5th from arudha lagna (AL). Intelligence and scholarship, on the other hand, are related to the true self and they are seen from the 5th from lagna. When the relevant karakas are stronger, we can use them as references instead of lagna. So scholarship can be seen from the 5th from Mercury. Students can be seen from the 5th lord. Intelligence can be seen from the 5th from Jupiter. Academic reputation can be seen in D-24 from the 5th from Sun.
(1) House vs Arudha: Sometimes, an arudha pada is more appropriate to see a matter than a house. For example, we can see darapada (A7) in D-24 to figure out what kind of people one typically interacts with in one’s learning related activities. We can see one’s academic distinctions/awards in A5, because they are maya (illusion) related to intelligence and scholarship. The world forms an impression about one’s intelligence and scholarship based on one’s scores, ranks, grades, distinctions and awards.
(1) Influences: After we choose a house/arudha in a divisional chart to represent the matter of interest, the next step is to analyze the influences on it. Planets influence it with rasi drishti and graha drishti. We should also check for argala. We should judge the meaning of each influence. We can also judge the influences on a house by finding houses with respect to that house. Planets in the quadrants from a house sustain it. Planets in trines from a house let it prosper. Planets in upachayas let it grow. Planets in dusthanas bring obstacles. Suppose we are analyzing A3 in an author’s D-10. While the 3rd house shows one’s writing skills, it is A3 that shows one’s books. If a planet is in a quadrant from A3, its periods may result in book writing. If a planet is in the 8th house from A3, its periods may bring obstacles in book writing. If a planet is a baadhaka from A3, it can create troubles in book-writing.
(1) Standard Results: There are many standard results given in literature for various planets and house lords in various houses. These results should be mastered.
Attention should be paid to the strength and avasthas of various planets and ashtakavarga strength of various houses. The presence of yogas should also be noted.
Family Members
We can analyze the fortunes of family members from one’s chart. For parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts, we should see D-12. For children, children-in-law and grandchildren, we should see D-7. For brothers, sisters, brothers-in-law and sister-in-law, we should see D-3. For spouse and his/her family members, we should see D-9.
In each of these charts, we should look at the house that shows the person of interest and consider the rasi containing the lord of that house as lagna. We can consider the corresponding arudha pada also. For example, the 9th lord or the arudha pada of 9th house in D-12 shows father. The 4th lord or the arudha pada of 4th house in D-12 shows mother.
In D-3, we see siblings. The 3rd house shows younger sibling and the 11th house shows elder sibling. Being the 3rd from the 3rd house, the 5th house shows younger brother’s younger brother, i.e. second younger brother. Being the 11th from the 11th house, the 9th house shows elder brother’s elder brother, i.e. second elder brother. We take the 3rd lord, 5th lord, 7th lord etc as lagnas of first (immediate) younger sibling, second younger sibling, third younger sibling etc. We take the 11th lord, 9th lord, 7th lord etc as lagnas of first (immediate) elder sibling, second elder sibling, third elder sibling etc.
Similarly, the 5th house house shows children in D-7. The 7th house is the 3rd from 5th and shows one’s child’s younger sibling. So the 5th lord shows the first child, the 7th lord shows the second child, the 9th house shows the third child and so on.
When we count houses corresponding to siblings and children in D-3 and D-7, we count in the forward or backward direction based on whether lagna is odd or even (respectively). If lagna in D-7 is in Ge, Venus (lord of Li) shows first child, Jupiter (lord of Sg) shows the second child and so on. On the other hand, if lagna in D-7 is in Cn, Jupiter (lord of Pi) shows the first child, Saturn (lord of Cp) shows the second child and so on.
NOTE: After covering all the odd or even signs, we move from odd to even signs or even to odd signs, instead of coming back to where we started.
Marakas (Killers)
Each chart has some rasis and planets that are called marakas (killers). Since death is an event relating to the physical existence, rasi chart is of utmost importance in seeing death. Rudramsa (D-11) shows the forces of death and destruction and it can also give insight into death. D-30 shows one’s evils and punishment for the evils. Death can be a punishment for one’s evils and so we should look at D-30 also. However, the most important chart is the rasi chart.
The 3rd and 8th houses are the houses of life. The 3rd house shows the vitality of one’s existence and the 8th house shows the longevity. The 12th house from any house shows losses related to the matters signified by that house. So the 12th house from these two houses shows death. So the 2nd and 7th houses are the houses of death. For good longevity, the 3rd and 8th houses and their lords should be strong and the 2nd and 7th houses and their lords should be weak.
The rasis containing the 2nd and 7th houses are called maraka sthanas (killer stations). When we use rasi-ruled dasas that can show death, dasas of these rasis can bring death. Lords of the 2nd and 7th houses are called maraka grahas (killer planets). When we use planet-ruled dasas that can show death, dasas of these planets can bring death.
There are other maraka grahas too. If a malefic planet powerfully conjoins or aspects, using graha drishti, the 2nd and 7th houses or their lords, then it qualifies as a maraka graha. Let us look at an example. Suppose lagna is in Le, Saturn is in Sg and Mars is in Ge. Then Saturn is a maraka on account of owning the 7th house (Aq). Mars is a malefic and he is in Ge. He aspects the 2nd house (Vi, with the 4th house aspect) and the 7th lord (Saturn in Sg – with the 7th house aspect). Because of these two factors, Mars is a maraka. Let us take another example. Suppose lagna is in Pi, Mars is in Ge, Mercury is in Cp and Saturn is in Ar. On account of owning the 2nd and 7th houses, Mars and Mercury are marakas. Look at Saturn. He is in the 2nd house and aspects the 2nd lord Mars (with the 3rd house aspect) and the 7th lord Mercury (with the 10th house aspect). So Saturn is also a maraka and he may in fact be a stronger maraka than Mars and Mercury.
When we time one’s death using a dasa, we should look for the involvement of maraka sthanas and maraka grahas. We can also use marakas when timing death using the transits of planets.