A person’s life is a record of the Karma one has created for oneself over countless past lives.
The soul is encased under three bodies. The first body is called Karan Sharira or the Causal body, the second body is called Sooksham Sharira, or the astral body and the third is called Sthool Sharira, or the gross human body.
Any action that is performed with a will, an emotion, or a desire is called Karma. It gets recorded on the soul-Karan Sharira-Sooksham Sharira combination. Once written it cannot be erased until its results have been enjoyed or suffered on earth by the person who created it.
The soul, Karan Sharira and Sooksham Sharira are indestructible but the gross human body is open to decay and death. Vedic Jyotish is a tool to ascertain what will happen to this human body during its stay on the earth. This, it does by reading the Karmic record.
The Karmic record is huge as a great deal of Karma has been accumulated over countless lives we have had on earth. This accumulated Karma is called Sanchit Karma. It cannot all be expended in one lifetime of an individual. A small portion of this is therefore given to a human being and this body of Karma is called Prarabdh Karma. Vedic Jyotish reads this Prarabdha Karma to make predictions.
Getting yourself acquainted with the basics of Astrology will help you understand the Message better!
A horoscope consists of twelve segments or houses. Each house governs many areas of a person’s body. Depending upon the time of birth, there will be a zodiac sign rising in the east. This sign is called the rising sign or Lagna and forms the first house of the horoscope. Let us assume that Aries was the sign rising in the east so Aries becomes the Lagna and the rest of the eleven signs fall in the succeeding houses.
The first house stands for everything pertaining to birth.
The second house represents means of sustenance, food and nourishment, mouth and face, accumulated wealth etc.
The third house signifies ears, typically the right ear, shoulders, the respiratory canal, younger brothers, friends etc.
The fourth house tells us about the mother, mind, property and real estate, vehicles, comforts, etc.
The fifth describes the children, the power to advise, the emotional nature, the lady love or paramour, amusements and amusement parks, etc.
The sixth house helps us look into signifies enemies, diseases, hurdles, injuries, theft, vices, foreign elements of every description, intestines, violence, theft, etc.
The seventh house represents spouse, marriage or live-in relationship, divorce, reproductive parts of the body, trade, and business.
The eighth house is used to determine death, dishonor, adventures, foreign travels, sea, scrotum, destruction, longevity, etc.
The ninth house deals with luck in general, divine help, religion, spirituality, the Guru, higher knowledge, and one’s father, etc.
The tenth house is examined to answer questions about the profession, social status, government, and bureaucracy.
The eleventh house is seen for gains, left ear, injury, disease, the lower portion of legs, etc.
The twelfth house signifies feet, expenditure, wastage, overuse, loss, separation, luxury, and sexual enjoyment in particular.
These significations are the bare minimum and a complete list will make the article overly long. If our question pertains to career, we shall see the tenth house. If we are looking for financial status we shall examine the second and the eleventh houses. It is very important to find out the correct house to look for when answering a question. Once we know the house to examine, we look at the planet that owns the house. The strength of the ruling planet will tell us whether the results will be good or bad. For example, if the question pertains to the financial situation, if the lord of the second and the eleventh houses are strong one would be wealthy. We shall now look at the planets and their properties.
Sun : Father, profession, vocation and soul.
Moon : Mind, mother.
Mars : Siblings.
Mercury : Power of speech, education, maternal relations.
Jupiter : Wealth, progeny, husband, elder brother and sister, education.
Venus : Wife, vehicle, real estate, physical happiness.
Saturn : Longevity, service, servants.
First House : Sun
Second House: Jupiter, Mercury
Third House: Mars
Fourth House : Moon, Venus
Fifth House: Jupiter
Sixth House: Mars
Seventh House: Venus
Eighth House: Saturn
Ninth House : Jupiter,
Tenth House: Mercury, Sun, Saturn, Jupiter
Eleventh House : Jupiter
Twelfth House: Saturn, Venus.
Sun: Soul
Moon: Mind
Mars: Strength
Mercury: Speech
Jupiter: Knowledge and happiness
Venus: Sexual potency
Saturn: Grief
Sun and Moon: Royal status
Mars: Army chief
Mercury: Prince
Jupiter and Venus: Ministers
Saturn: Law
Because of their continuous movement around the Zodiac, planets pass through various Avasthas (states). There are total of five states and they depend on the degree of the planet in a sign.
| Odd signs | Avastha(State) | Even signs | Grade of results |
| 0º-6º | Infant | 30º-24º | ¼ |
| 6-º12º | Youthful | 24º-18º | ½ |
| 12º-18º | Adolescent | 18º-12º | Full |
| 18º-24º | Old | 12º- 6º | Negligible |
| 24-º 30º | Dead | 6º-0º | Nil |
When a planet is very near to the Sun his/her energy is overpowered by that of the Sun. The planet is then considered to be combust. Combust planets do not give good results and the house of which they are lords also suffer.
| Planet | Combust in direct motion | Combust in retrograde motion |
| Moon | 12º | — |
| Mars | 17º | 8º |
| Mercury | 14º | 12º |
| Jupiter | 11º | 11º |
| Saturn | 10º | 8º |
| Venus | 16º | 16º |
| Planet | Friends | Enemies | Neutral (Equals) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sun | Moon, Mars, Jupiter | Venus, Saturn | Mercury |
| Moon | Sun, Mercury | None | Mars, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn |
| Mars | Sun, Moon, Jupiter | Mercury | Venus, Saturn |
| Mercury | Sun, Venus | Moon | Mars, Jupiter, Saturn |
| Jupiter | Sun, Moon, Mars | Mercury, Venus | Saturn |
| Venus | Mercury, Saturn | Sun, Moon | Jupiter, Mars |
| Saturn | Mercury, Venus | Sun, Moon | Jupiter |
The planet placed in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 10th,11th, 12th house from another planet becomes a temporary friend. In rest of the houses he becomes a temporary enemy.
| First relationship | Second relationship | Resultant relationship | |
| 1 | Friend | Friend | Extreme friend |
| 2 | Neutral | Friend | Friend |
| 3 | Enmity | Friendship | Neutral |
| 4 | Enmity | Enmity | Extreme Enmity |
| 5 | Neutral | Enmity | Enmity |
Relationships in the above table will give results as given below.
Exalted: 100% good results.
Mool Trikona: 75% good results.
Own house: 50% good results.
Friendly sign: 25% good results.
Neutral sign: 12.5% good results.
Debilitation or enemy sign: No good results. Only bad results.
A karaka is a planet that signifies the characteristics of a Bhava or house. Each house is given one or more Karaka.
The Sun is the karaka of the Lagna, the 9th and the 10th;
Jupiter is the karaka of the 2nd, 5th, 10th and the 11th;
Mars is the karaka of the 3rd and the 6th;
Moon is the karaka of the 4th;
Mercury is the karaka of the 4th and the 10th;
Saturn is the karaka of the 6th, 8th, 10th and the 12th and
Venus is the karaka of the 7th house from the Lagna; these are also called the Bhava-karakas.
Whenever we examine a chart it is very important to gauge the strength of the Bhava, the Bhava Lord and the Karaka of that house. If all three are strong the results will be bountiful. Diminishing strength of these factors will bring proportional reduction in the results.
Shad Bala or the six fold Planetary strength gives us an extremely accurate idea of the strength of a planet and the tendency of that planet to give good or bad results.
Planets have six sources of strength and these are determined mathematically. There is no guesswork involved. We shall not go into the mathematics and the complex equations involved and will limit ourselves only to listing the sources of strength. The exact strengths are easily available in the computer software available to you.
Unit of planetary strength: The Bala of every planet is measured in Rupas. A Rupa is further sub divided into sixty Shashtiamsa.
East: Mercury and Jupiter are strong in the east, or when they are placed in Lagna or ascendant.
West: Saturn is strong in the west or in the seventh house.
North: Moon and Venus are strong in the north, or when in the fourth house. Planets get zero Digbala when they are 180º away from their place of maximum strength.
South: Sun and Mars are strong in the south or in the tenth house.
When a planet is strong in Digbala, he will benefit the native in his direction in his Maha Dasha or Antar Dasha.
Suppose, Saturn is situated in the seventh house in the west, he will benefit the native in his Maha Dasha or Antar Dasha from the western direction and all activities will be completed fruitfully and completely in that direction.
Planets also get strength during day or night. A day in this case will be from sunrise to Sunset, and a night will be its opposite.
The sum of all these five sub categories is called Sthanbal.
Planets which are strong during the day: Sun, Venus and Jupiter are strong only during the day. Planets which are strong during the night: Moon, Mars and Saturn are strong during the night. Mercury is an exception and is strong both during the day as well as the night.
Malefic planets like Mars and Saturn are strong during the Krishna Paksha (Dark fortnight) while the benefics like Moon, Jupiter and Venus are strong during the Shukl Paksha (bright fortnight).
What is Dasha and Bhukti in astrology?
Hindu Vedic astrology is a Moon-based system. Everything is centered around the Moon.
The Zodiac is a circle of 360 degrees and is divided into 108 segments each spanning 3° 20’. Each of these segments is called a Navamsha or Navamsa. The zodiac is also divided into twenty-seven segments of 13° 20’ each. Each segment is called a Nakshatra. Each Nakshatra will, therefore, have four Navamshas.
There are a total of twenty-seven Nakshatras in all starting from Ashwini and ending with Revati.
A Rashi or sign is 30° in extent and each Rashi will have two Nakshatras in it with 3° and 20’ of arc left. This one Navamsaha will be the starting point of the next Nakshatra.
For example, let us take the case of Mesh Rashi or Aries. There are thirty-degree in the Rashi. Ashwini Nakshatra which measures 13° 20’ will occupy it and Bharani Nakshatra which is the next Nakshatra and also measures 13° 20’ will also fit in completely. Now we have 3° and 20’ left and this will be occupied by the first Navamsa of Krittika Nakshatra. The rest of the three Navamshas of Krittika will spill over into Vrish Rashi or Taurus. This is the foundation of the Dasha Bhukti system.
We note down the time of birth and then make a horoscope based on it. The placement and the degree of the Moon are carefully noted.
Let us assume that someone is born on 29/12/2019 at 21.21Hrs in Delhi. The Moon is placed in Makar Rashi or Capricorn at 23° 46’ in Dhanishtha Nakshatra. Dhanishta Nakshatra starts in Capricorn at 23° 20’ and ends at 6°40’ of Kumbha or Aquarius.
| Dhanishtha | 293º20’-306º40’ | Makar23º20-Kumbh 6º40’ | Mars | 7 |
Dhanishtha Nakshatra is ruled by Mars which has a Dasha lasting seven years. If Moon was exactly at 23°20’ in Dhanishtha, she would have enjoyed a full Dasha period of seven years. Since she is placed at 23°46’ she has traveled 26’ beyond the starting point. Now it is a question of simple math. If 13°20’ are equivalent to seven years then 13°20’ minus 46’ or 12°34’ are equal to 6.47 years. Technically the extent already traveled by Moon is called the Bhukt or spent period. And the extent remaining is known as Bhogya meaning still to be experienced. This is often expressed as ‘Remainder of Mars Dasha at birth is 6.47 years.’ or six years ten months and twenty-four days.
Dasha period is measured in years, but the whole of that period will not be the same. There will be ups and downs in the life of an individual. We need smaller periods that can narrow down the focus. A Bhukti is exactly that. It is used to ratchet up the magnification. From years, we can focus down to months, days and right up to the time taken by a moment. These are termed as Mahadasha, Antardasha, Pratyantar Dasha, Pran Dasha, and Sooksham Dasha.
This is a very rudimentary explanation of the system, and I have deliberately not explained how to calculate the Antardasha and Pratyantardasha.
We recommend that people who are keen to get a horoscope based guidance for themselves , should be aware about the basic terms and facets of Astrology. This will help you get a better understanding of the guidance that you seek.
Understanding Karmic Record 
