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Shad Bala

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Shadbala – An Overview http://vijayalur.wordpress.com Jyothishi Om Gurubyo Namaha Shadbala – An Overview It is well known fact that the planets in the chart have to be strong to give good results. In order to assess the strength of planets we have a system called Shadbala which is in existence from the times of Sage Parashara Shad Bala as the name suggests means six-fold strength and is made up of the following components: Sthana Bala (Positonal strength) Dig Bala (Directional strength) Kala Bala (Temporal strength) Chesta Bala (Motional strength) Naisargika Bala (Natural strength) Drik Bala (Aspect strength) STHANA BALA Uccha Bala: Uccha means exaltation. When a planet is placed in its highest exaltation point, it is of full strength and when it is in its deepest debilitation point, it is devoid of any strength. When in between the strength is calculated proportionately dependent on the distance these planets are
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Page 1: Shad Bala

Shadbala – An   Overview

http://vijayalur.wordpress.com

Jyothishi

Om Gurubyo Namaha

Shadbala – An Overview

It is well known fact that the planets in the chart have to be strong to give good results. In order to assess the strength of planets we have a system called Shadbala which is in existence from the times of Sage Parashara

Shad Bala as the name suggests means six-fold strength and is made up of the following components:

Sthana Bala (Positonal strength) Dig Bala (Directional strength) Kala Bala (Temporal strength) Chesta Bala (Motional strength) Naisargika Bala (Natural strength) Drik Bala (Aspect strength)

STHANA BALA

Uccha Bala: Uccha means exaltation. When a planet is placed in its highest exaltation point, it is of full strength and when it is in its deepest debilitation point, it is devoid of any strength. When in between the strength is calculated proportionately dependent on the distance these planets are placed from the highest exaltation or deepest debilitation point.

Sapta Vargiya Bala: Rashi, Hora, Drekkana, Saptamsha, Navamsha, Dwadasamsha and Trimsamsha constitute the Sapta Varga. The strength of the planets in these seven divisional charts based on their placements in Mulatrikona, own sign, friendly sign etc. constitute the Sapta vargiya bala.

Oja-Yugma Rashi-Amsha Bala: Oja means odd signs and Yugma means even signs. Thus, as the name imply, this strength is derived from a planet’s placement in the odd or even signs in the Rashi and Navamsha.

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Kendradi Bala: The name itself implies how to compute this strength. A planet in a Kendra (1-4-7-10) gets full strength, while one in Panapara (2-5-8-11) gets half and the one in Apoklimas (12-3-6-9) gets quarter strength.

Drekkana Bala: Due to placement in first, second, or third Drekkana of a sign, male, female and hermaphrodite planets respectively, get a quarter strength according to placements in the first, second and third Drekkana.

DIG BALA

The planets gains full Dig bala in the following houses:

1st (Lagna Bhava) – Jupiter and Mercury 10th (Karma Bhava) – Sun and Mars 4th (Sukha Bhava) – Venus and Moon 7th (Kalatra Bhava ) – Saturn

When the planets are placed away from their Dig Bala position, their strength is proportionately reduced.

KALA BALA

Natonnata Bala: Natonnata is composed of two terms Nata and Unnata. Moon, Mars and Saturn are stronger at night, whereas Sun, Jupiter and Venus are stronger during the day. Mercury is stronger both during day and night. Hence, the Nata bala is seen for Moon, Mars and Saturn and Unnata bala is seen for Sun, Jupiter and Venus.

Paksha Bala: Paksha i.e.  Shukla Paksha & Krishna Paksha. The Benefics are stronger in the Shukla Paksha and the Malefics are stronger in the Krishna Paksha.

Tribhagiya Bala: Tribhaga means three parts. This strength hasderived its name from the fact that the day and night are divided into three parts each. The Planets gain strength during different part of a day like first third, second third or the last third part of the day.

Varsha (Abda) – Maasa- Dina- Hora Bala: o Varsha Bala: The Varsha mentioned here is the solar year or the Samvatsara,

which commences when the Sun moves to the first sign on the zodiac, Mesha. This is the weekday lord of the day in which the Sun has transited to Mesha.

o Maasa Bala: Like Varsha Lord, each Solar Month commences when the Sun enters each sign of the zodiac. Take the weekday lord on which Sun has moved to a new sign as the lord of the Masa.

o Dina Bala: Dina is weekday. The lord of the weekday is the lord of the day.o Hora Bala: Hora means planetary hour. Each day from sunrise to next sunrise is

divided into 24 equal parts of one hour. These Horas are ruled by the 7 planets from Sun to Saturn. At a particular time, the lord of a particular Hora gets the Hora bala.

o Ayana Bala: The Earth’s equatorial plane when projected on to the celestial sphere is known as the celestial equator. The planets which can be above, below or placed on the celestial equator at any point of time. The angle which they make with respect to the plane of celestial equator measured from center of earth is

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called the Declination or Kranti. The Declination of Sun is maximum, i.e., 23°27’ during the solstices where the Sunrises either on Tropic of Cancer or Capricorn, whereas during the equinoxes, the declination becomes zero. Planets position with respect to celestial equator gives them either plus or minus strength.

o Yuddha Bala: When two planets are placed inside each other’s orbs of influence, they are supposed to be at war or yuddha. Should there be a war between the planets, the difference between the Shad Balas of the two should be added to the victor’s Shad Bal and deducted from the Shad Bal of the vanquished.

CHESTA BALA

Chesta means to move / motion . This strength is attained by all planets by the virtue of their kind of movement. Sun and Moon are excluded from this strength. For Sun, the Ayana Bala becomes its Chesta Bala, whereas for Moon, the Paksha Bala becomes its Chesta Bala. There are eight kinds of motions:

• Vakra (retrogression) • Anuvakra (entering the previous sign in retrograde motion) • Vikala (devoid of motion) • Manda (somewhat slower motion than usual) • Mandatara (slower than the previous) • Sama (neither fast nor slow) • Chara (faster than Sama) • Atichara (entering next sign in accelerated motion)

NAISARGIKA BALA

Naisargika Bala is the natural strength of the planets. This strength does not depend on the specific chart but is fixed for all charts.

Naturally the planets are stronger in the order (ascending) of Saturn, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Moon and Sun. The seven planets  get relative strength according to their position in that order. Sun has the highest luminosity, Saturn is the darkest planet; other planets get portions of strength according to their position in that order.

DRIG BALA

This strength is gained by the virtue of the aspect (Graha Dristi) of different planets on other planet. The aspect of benefics is considered to be strength and the aspect of malefics is considered to be weaknesses.

For example, all planets have 7th aspect which gives full, Mars has 4th/8th which gives ¾ strength, Jupiter has 5th/9th which gives ½ strength and Saturn has 3rd/10th which gives ¼ strength.

Putting all together

By summing up all the six component values we get the Shadbala for a particular planet.

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Unit for measurement of Shadbala is Rupa/ Virupa One Rupa is equal to 60 Virupa For a planet to be considered strong it must have a certain minimum strength. 390, 360,

300, 420, 390, 330 and 300 Virupa are the Shadbala strength needed for Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn respectively.

If the strength exceeds the above-mentioned values, the planet is deemed to be very strong.

A strong planet shall protect its houses and Karakakatva and is more capable of giving good results.

o Jupiter, Mercury and Sun are considered strong, if each of their Sthana Bala, Dig Bala, Kaala Bala, Chesta Bala and Ayana Bala are165, 35, 50, 112 and 30 Virupa, respectively.

o For Moon and Venus the required values are 133, 50, 30, 100 and 40 respectively.o For Mars and Saturn these are 96, 30, 40, 67 and 20 respectively.

Use of Shadbala

Sthana Bala:This aspect of planet indicates the best position and status that suits you. Dig Bala: This shows the direction which is good for growth in the career or self

development. Kaala Bala: This shows the best time suitable for undertaking an activity. Chesta Bala: This shows what drives us, our inherent desires and purpose of our struggle

in this life. Naisargika Bala: This is of lesser consequence as this remains constant all throughout Drik Bala: This shows which planet shall be favourable all through the life of native as

this is based on the aspect of benefics on the planet.

Conclusion

I have tried to give an insight into the vast realms of Shadbala. Working out Shadbala involves lot of calculations and at times cumbersome. Manual calculations take anywhere between an hour or two for an expert astrologer.

However today computer can churn out the same in few seconds. This subject is several centuries old yet remains an under studied and less understood

aspect of planetary strength. Most astrologers use total Shadbala values to analyse the effects during Dasha & Bhukti

and rarely use individual components. I advise serious students to do more research to find the exact use of these components

and expand their horizons. The following classic / books are recommended for research and further studies.

o Brihat Parashara Hora Shastrao Graha & Bhava Balas by BV Ramano Shad Bala Planetary Strengths Calculation & Prediction by SK Duggalo Text Book For Shadbala Grahas & Bhava Bala by VP Jaino Shadbala: Planetary Strengths (Calculation and Application) by SK Duggal &

Neerja Taneja

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o Applications of Shadbalas (In Delineation of Charts & Judgement of Horoscope) by SN Tekur

 ==============================================

Strength of Planets: The Shadbala - I

1. INTRODUCTION As the name suggests Shadbala means six fold strength. Although these strengths are combinedly used for finding the effect of planets on the lives of the natives, there is more use of the strengths and we get the clue of those uses from their names. If they were to be used combinedly, then such specific names were unnecessary. Moreover, this is more logical to think that, a planet when strong, might not be so for influencing all affairs in our lives. A planet which might give good status might not be good to show the direction of your life. So we must construe, the special significance hidden in the names given to the six sources of strengths. These strengths need not be used only predicting the results of the dasa, however, can be used for normal horoscopic interpretation. For illustration, the kendradi bala is used in ayur calculation etc. One can understand their use more and more by understanding their name and their basis of calculation.

Shad Bal consists of the following strengths 1. Sthan Bal (Positional strength) 2. Dig Bal (Directional strength) 3. Kaal Bal (Temporalstrength), inclusive of Ayan Bal (Equinoctial strength) 4. Chesht Bal (Motional strength) 5. Naisargika Bal (Natural strength) 6. Drik Bal (Aspectual strength)

These strengths are computed for the seven Grahas from Sun to Saturn. The nodes are not considered.

2. STHANA BALA (Maximum: 480 virupa = 8 rupas) Sthana means place and hence the sthana bala is calculated based on the placement of the planets in different signs on various parameters, such as how far are they placed from their exaltation sign etc. More follows below:

2.1 Uccha Bal (Maximum: 60 virupa = 1 rupa) Uccha means exaltation. When a planet is placed in its highest exaltation point, it is of full strength and when it is in its deepest debilitation point, it is devoid of any strength. When placed at other places, it has middling strength proportionately dependent on the distance these planets are placed from the highest exaltation or deepest debilitation point.

Find the difference between a planet's longitude and the deepest debilitation point. Divide the difference by 3 and the result so obtained is the uccha bala in Virupas. When a planet is in highest exaltation point, the difference happens to be 180 deg and hence the uccha bala for such planet becomes 60 virupa (180/3). However, when a planet is placed in the deepest debilitation,

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the difference becomes zero and hence also the bala is zero.

2.2 Sapt Vargaj Bal (Maximum: 45*7 = 315 virupas = 5.25 rupas) Rasi, Hora, Dreshkan, Saptamsa, Navamsa, Dwadashamsa and Trimsamsa constitute the Sapta varga. The strength of the planets in these seven divisional charts based on their placements in moolatrikona, own sign, friendly sign etc. constitute the sapta varaj bala. The method of their calculation is as follows:

In the following rasis, the planets gets the corresponding Virupa of strength. Although maharishi gave the strength in terms of the avasthas they are place in, he gave the association of these avasthas with the placement of the planets in different rasis in the following chapter on the avasthas (Ch 45). The friend's, neutral and enemical signs are based on the compound relationship and hence the term, great friend and great enemy has been used in this context.

Moolatrikona Sign- 45 Virupas Swakshetra (Svasth) - 30 Virupas Great Friend's Sign (Pramudit) - 20 Virupas Friendly Sign (Shant) - 15 Virupas Neutral Sign (Din) - 10 Virupas Inimical Sign (Duhkhit) - 04 Virupas Great Enemy's sign (Khal) - 02 Virupas

2.3 Oja-Yugma Rasi-Amsa Bala (Maximum: 30 Virupa= 0.5 Rupa) Oja means Odd signs and Yugma means Even signs. Thus, as the name imply, this strength is derived from a planet's placement in the odd or even signs in the Rasi and Navamsa. Moon and Venus are female planets and get strength of 15 virupas each while placed in the even signs in the rasi or navamsa. Other planets gets this strength, while they are placed in Odd (Male) signs in Rasi or Navamsa.

The maximum strength which can be derived from this is 30 virupas (Venus/ Moon placed in Even sign in both rasi and Navamsa; other planets placed in the odd signs in both rasi and navamsa.)

2.4 Kendradi Bala (Maximum: 60 virupa = 1 rupa) The name itself implies how to compute this strength. A planet in a Kendra (Quadrant: 1-4-7-10) gets full strength, while one in Panaphara (Succedent: 2-5-8-11) Bhava gets half and the one in Apoklima(Preceedent: 12-3-6-9) Bhava gets a quarter or a rupa. One rupa equals 60 virupa, thus in virupas, the kendradi bala equals:

Kendra: 60 Virupa Panaphara: 30 Virupa Apoklima: 15 Virupa

2.5 Dreshkan Bala (Maximum: 15 virupa = 0.25 rupa) due to placement in first, second, or third dreshkanaof a sign. Male, female and hermaphrodite Grahas, respectively, get a quarter Rupa (15 virupa) according to placements in the first, second

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and third dreshkana.

From this we can infer that the male planets are stronger in the beginning of a sign, female planets are stronger in the middle part and neutral planets gains strength in the ending part of a sign.

3. KALA BALA: 3.1 Natonnata Bala: (Maximum 60 virupa = 1 rupa) Natonnata is composed of two terms nata and unnata. Unnata is the difference between midnight and the apparent birth time. Unnata when deducted from 30 Ghatikas gives Nata. Moon, Mars and Saturn are stronger at night, whereas Sun, Jupiter and Venus are stronger during the day. Mercury is stronger both during day and night. Hence, the nata bala is seen for Moon, Mars and Saturn and unnata bala is seen for Sun, Jupiter and Venus. Irrespective of day or night Mercurygets the bala of 60 virupa or 1 rupa.

At midnite, which marks the peak of night, the diurnal planets are weaker. Thus at that time the unnata bala of the diurnal planets Sun, Jupiter and Venus is zero, whereas the nata bala of the nocturnal planets Moon, Mars and Saturn is full 60 virupas. At the noon hr. when the day is at peak and the Sun is placed exactly on the meridian, the unnata bala of the Sun, Jupiter and Venus is full 60 virupas and the nata bala of Moon, Mars and Saturn is zero. At other time the bala is proportionate.

At Surise and Sunset, which marks the junction of the day and the night, the natonnata bala for all the planets (excluding Mercury, whose bala is always 60), is the same, i.e., 30 Virupas.

Also note the formula Nata Bala+ Unnata Bala = 60 virupas

The fluctuation of the Natonnata bala for the planets can be seen as follows: Diurnal Planet Nocturnal Planet Sunrise 30 30 Noon 60 00 Sunset 30 30 Midnite 00 60

3.2 Paksha Bal Paksha can be loosely translated as a fortnite. However in Jyotish term, Paksha is the duration between conjunction and opposition of the Luminaries. The duration from Conjunction to Opposition is the time when the Phase of Moon increase and is termed as Waxing Moon, which in Jyotish parlance known as the Sukla Paksha. Whereas the duration from opposition to conjunction, the phase of Moon decreases and is termed as Waning Moon, which in Jyotish Parlance known as Krsna Paksha.

The Benefics are stronger in the Sukla Paksha and the Malefics are stronger in the Krsna Paksha. This forms the basis for calculation of the paksha bala. The benefics are Jupiter, Venus, well associate Mercury, whereas the malefics are Sun, Mars and Saturn. The paksha bala of the Moon is 2 rupas (120 virupas) at the end time of Full Moon and New Moon. The Paksha bala of the

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Moon goes down to 60 virupas, during the middle of the pakshas.

Find the angular distance between Sun and Moon. If the angular duration exceeds 180 degrees, deduct the same from 360. The degrees so obtained when divided by 3, which will indicate the Paksha Bala of each of the benefic Grahas. The Paksh Bal of benefic should be deducted from 60, which will go to each malefic, as Paksh Bal.

3.3 Tribhaga Bala Tribhaga means three parts. This strength has gained its name from the fact that the day and night are divided into three parts each. The Planets which gain 1 virupa of strength during different part of a days is a as follows:

Mercury- First 1/3 part of day Sun- Middle 1/3 part of day Saturn- Last 1/3 part of day Moon- First 1/3 part of Night Venus- Middle 1/3 part of Night Mars- Last 1/3 part of Night Jupiter gets this Bal at all times.

3.4 Varsha (Abda) - Maasa- Dina- Hora Bal Varsha-Maasa-Dina-Hora Bal. 15, 30, 45 and 60 Virupas are in order given to Varsh Lord, Maas Lord, Dina Lord and Hora Lord.

3.4.1 Varsha Bala: The Varsha mentioned here is the solar year or the samvatsara, which commences when the Sun moves to the first sign on the zodiac, Mesha. This is the weekday lord of the day in which the Sun has transited to Mesha. If Sun has moved after 00:00 hrs of civil calendar, the previous weekday has to be taken.

3.4.2 Maasa Bala: Like Varsha Lord, each saurya masa (Solar Month) commences when the Sun transits each sign of the zodiac. Take the weekday lord on which Sun has moved to a new sign as the lord of the Masa. If Sun has moved after 00:00 hrs of civil calendar, the previous weekday has to be taken.

3.4.3 Dina Bala: Dina is weekday. The lord of the weekday is the lord of the day.

3.4.4 Hora Bala: Hora means planetary hour. Each day from sunrise to next sunrise is divided into 24 equal parts of one hour. These Horas are ruled by the 7 Grahas from Sun to Saturn. The first Hora of the day is ruled by the Lord of the week day. The 2nd one is ruled by the Lord of the 6th week day, counted from the first ruler. The 3rd Hora is ruled by the Lord of the 6th week day, counted from the 2nd Hora Lord. Similarly it proceeds in the same manner, till the first Hora of the next day is taken over by the Lord of that day himself. At a particular time, the lord of a particular hora gets the Hora bala of 60 Virupas.

From the strength of the Varsa, Maasa, Dina and Hora lord, we can see that Hora lord gets the

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maximum strength, i.e., 60 Virupas, highlighting the importance of the hora lord over the other lords at any time.

3.5 Ayan Bala The Earth's equitorial plane when projected to the celestial spehere (a hypothetical sphere which has shows the visible stars and planets), is known as the celestial equator. The planets which we see, can be above, below or placed on the celestial equator at any point of time. The angle which they make with respect to the plane of celestial equator measured from center of earth is called the declination or Kranti. The Declination of Sun is maximum, i.e., 23°27’ during the solstices where the Sunrises either on Tropic of Cancer or Capricorn, whereas during the equinoxes, the declination becomes zero.

The calculation of the ayana bala is complecated, however the same can be accomplished using a simple formula: Ayan Bal = 60*(23°27’ ± Kranti)/(46°54’) = (23°27’± Kranti)*1.2793. Now a days with the advent of computers, things have become easier for the Jyotishis.

When Moon or Saturn have southern Kranti (placed below the equitorial plane) or, when Sun, Mars, Jupiter, or Venus have northern Kranti (Placed above the equitorial plane), take plus and otherwise minus. As far as Merucry is concerned, it is always plus. Krantis can be ascertained from a standard modern ephemeris.

Sun's Ayana Bal is again multiplied by 2 whereas for others the product arrived in Virupas is considered as it is.

3.6. Yudhdh Bala When two planets are placed inside each other's orbs of influence, they are supposed to be in war or yuddha. Should there be a war between the planets, the difference between the Shad Balas of the two should be added to the victor’s Shad Bal and deducted from the Shad Bal of the vanquished.

4. DIK BALA The planets gains full Dikbala in the following houses: 1st (Lagna Bhava) - Jupiter and Mercury (Ethery and Earthy element) 10th (Karma Bhava) - Sun and Mars (Fiery element) 4th (Sukha Bhava) - Venus and Moon (Watery element) 7th (Jaya Bhava ) - Saturn (Airy element)

When the planets are placed away from the bhava where they get the full dik bala, there strength is proportionately reduced. The maximum strength attained here is 60 virupa or 1 rupa. To compute the dikbala find the angular distance of the planet and the 7th of bhava where they get the full dik bala. If the angular distance is more than 180 then, subtract it from 360. The result when divided by 3, gives the dikbala of the planets. The longitude of the bhava is same as the Lagna cusp as per the equal house distribution.

5. NAISARGIKA BALA

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Naturally the planets are stronger in the order of Saturn, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Moon and Sun in the ascending order. There natural strength is computed by dividing one Rupa by 7 and multiply the resultant product by 1 to 7 separately to obtain the strength of Saturn, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Moon and Sun respectively.

This happens to be Planet In virupas In rupas

Sun            60.00 1.00 Moon       51.43     0.86 Mars         17.14     0.29 Mercury 25.70    0.43 Jupiter    34.28     0.57 Venus      42.85     0.71 Saturn     08.57     0.14

6. DRIG BALA Drig is derived from Dris, which is the root of the verb "to see". So this strength is gained by the virtue of the aspect (Graha Drsti) of different planets on a planet. The aspect of benefics are considered to be strength and the aspect of malefics are considered to be weaknesses. For calculation of this strength, the partial aspects are also taken into consideration.

The aspects of planets are given hereunder

7th- All planet aspect with full sight 4th/8th- Mars aspects with full sight while others aspect with 3/4th of their sight 5th/ 9th- Jupiter aspect with full sight and others aspect with 2/4th of their sight 3rd/ 10th- Saturn aspect with full sight and others aspect with 1/4th of their sight

From the drik balas of a planet we can judge what is the strength of aspects of the benefics and malefics on it and their combined influences. Aspect of benefics promote the house owned by the planet, by rendering the lord strong. It also enhances the house of which the said planet is a karaka.

The calculation is cumbursome and shall be given in subsequent article. This might be of some academic interest.

7. CHESTA BALA Chesta means to move or to try. This strenth is attained by the planets, excluding the lumeries by the the virtue of their kind of movement. For Sun, the Ayana Bala becomes its chesta Bala, whereas for Moon, the Paksha Bala becomes the chesta Bala. For other planets, eight kinds of motions are attributed to they. These are:

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• Vakra (retrogression) • Anuvakra (entering the previous sign in retrograde motion) • Vikal (devoid of motion) • Mand (somewhat slower motion than usual) • Mandatar (slower than the previous) • Sama (neither fast nor slow) • Char (faster than Sama) • Atichar (entering next sign in accelerated motion) The strengths, allotted due to such 8 motions are 60, 30, 15, 30, 15, 7.5, 45 and 30 virupas.

8. OTHER CONSIDERATRIONS: 8.1 Shad Bal requirements: 390, 360, 300, 420, 390, 330 and 300 Virupas are the Shad Bal Pindas, needed for Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn etc. to be considered strong. If the strength exceeds the above-mentioned values, the Grah is deemed to be very strong. A strong graha shall protect its houses and karakakatva and is more capable of giving its results. However, the nature of the results shall be influenced by the ownership, placements and the yogas the planet involved in. However, it is important to know what is the strength of each of the elements of the shadbala, to know the exact nature of the result

8.2 Requirement of strength of individual elements of Shadbala Jupiter, Mercury and Sun are strong, if each of their Sthana Bala, Dig Bala, Kaala Bala, Cheshta Bala and Ayana Bala are, respectively, 165, 35, 50, 112 and 30 Virupas. The same required for Moon and Venus are 133, 50, 30, 100 and 40. For Mars and Saturn these are 96, 30, 40, 67 and 20.

9. USE OF SHADBALA The individual elements of the shadbala show different aspects in our life. They are as follows: 1. Sthana Bala: This planet is the giver of position and status. This also shows which positions are most auspicious for us and where shall we be most comfortable. 2. Dig Bala: This shows the direction which shall be good for us for growth in the career or self development. 3. Kaala Bala: This shows which time is best suitable for us for undertaking an activity. 4. Cheshta Bala: This shows what drives us, our inherent desires and purpose of our struggle in this life. 5. Naisargika Bala: This is of lesser consquence as this remains constant all through out. This is to be used in conjunction with other strengths. This indicate which planets are naturally more able to dictate their results. 6. Drik Bala: This shows which planet shall be favourable all through out in the life of native as this is based on the aspect of benefics on the planet.

10. CONCLUSION This is still a nacent area and require more researches to find out the exact use of each of the elements of the shadbala, rather than using the total values of the shadbala for analysing the dasas. We must understand that, each point of time is influenced by one or other planets with

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varying extents and we can judge these subtle influences, by analysing which planets are stronger at which point of time.

One good use I found with these balas is find the directional influences. For illustration, at this point of time while I am writing this article, Sun is having highest kala bala and highest chesta bala. In my rasi chart, Sun is the 9th lord placed in the 9th house with 10th lord, where as in the siddhamsa it is placed in the 12th house being the 6th lord. Chesta bala shows what are my desires or what am I trying to do at this point of time. Sun being the 9th lord shows teaching (with AK Mars shows that the desire is very strong); in the siddhamsa, being the 6th lord in the 12th, it shows the attitude of service (6th) without any motivation to gain (12th). In the dasamsa it is placed in the 8th house being the 6th lord and I am here sitting, without going to my office, writing this mail.

The kala bala is also highest that of Sun, shows that I should be doing Sun's activity at this point of time. As Sun also shows that chesta as mentioned above, I am able to do something which I crave for. When I go further, I see that more strength (Kaala bala) is coming from the Ayana Bala, showing that, this is also helping me achieving the direction (Ayana) of my life. If the strength was due to Hora Bala, then I would have done something, which was directed by my environment and circumstances, like sitting in a Jyotish class or in a conference.

What I have written, is only the tip of the iceberg, just hinting, how much is there below the water, unexplored. So lets explore the potencies of this beautiful scheme of strength given by Maharishi Parasara.

Posted by Sarajit Poddar at 12:48 PM

  Calculations of Planetary Strengths in Vedic astrology   http://www.astroguru-india.com

Indian Vedic astrology is a scientific study of the heavenly bodies, the positions which are mapped in the form of an Indian horoscope. Vedic astrology based on planetary system. Modern astronomy and Vedic astrology have been able to calculate the movement and direction of planets very precisely and accurately. There are number of books available dealing with Indian Vedic astrology and horoscopes. One important factor which normally is not taken into account at the time of delineation of horoscope is the strength of the planets and the houses.Shadbala is the system of calculating the strength of the planets in Vedic astrology. The nine planets are constantly in motion. At any given time, they occupy a certain place in the heavens i.e. being placed in a particular sign, in a particular house and also forming angles with other planets. This gives them a certain amount of strength or weakness. These are six different kinds of strength that a planet can obtain. These are:

1. Sthana Bala or positional strength

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2. Dig Bala or Directional strength

3. Kaala Bala or Temporal strength

4. Cheshta Bala or Motional strength

5. Naisargik Bala or Natural strength

6. Drik Bala or Aspectual strength

A compilation of these six different sources of planetary strength is called Shada bala in Indian Vedic astrology. It is the Shada Bala of a planet which tells us whether a planet is strong enough to fulfill its role in a given horoscope. A planet strong in a Shada Bala has the propensity to give good or bad results depending on its nature. On the other hand, a weak planet will give diseases and difficulties and will not be able to give results.Shada Bala measured in Rupabala or Rupas.Rupa=60 shashtiamsha or 60 virupas.

The Shada Bala of the two shadowy planets-Rahu and Ketu is not calculated. To evaluate the strength of Rahu and Ketu, there are two schools of thought. As per the classical dictum, the strength of Rahu is the same as that of Saturn and the strength of Ketu is like that of Mars.Rahu and ketu represent the lord of the sign in which they are placed. Thus if Rahu is present in Taurus and Ketu in Scorpio, the strengths of venus and mars, the lords of Taurus and Scorpio respectively, will present the strengths of Rahu and Ketu.

Sthana Bala (positional strength)-This is the strength that a planet acquires due to its placements in a particular sign. A planet may be exalted or debilitated; in its own sign or that of a friend, enemy or neutral; it may be in its Moola trikona (positive) sign or its own Vargas (signs in divisional charts).It may be in a quadrant or succedent or cadent house. All these positions give it some strength which is collectively called Sthana bala.It is made of five sub-parts.

1. Uchcha Bala(exaltation strength)

2. Sapta vargiya bala (Strength due to Sapta Varga)

3. Ojayugma bala(odd even strength)

4. Kendra bala(quadrant strength)

5. Drekkana bala(Decante strength)

Dig bala-Dig or Drik means direction in Indian astrology. The four Kendras in a horoscope represent the four cardinal directions. In Vedic astrology each planet is powerful in one of these four directions and powerless in a opposite direction. Dig bala is thus the strength acquired by a planet due to its placement in a particular direction.

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A planet gets full strength of 60 shashtiamansha when placed in the house where it is powerful and 0 shashtiamansha when placed in the horoscope where it is powerless. The mid point of a horoscope house is always its most powerful point. if the planet is placed in between(as is generally the case),the dig bala has to be calculated proportionately at the rate of one shashtiamansha for every 3 degree of longitude.

Kala Bala- Kaal means time and time is measured in hours, days, months and years in Vedic astrology. Thus Kaala bala is the temporal strength of a planet based upon the time of birth.

Cheshta bala (Motional strength)-Cheshta means retrogression. All these five planets from Mars to Saturn become retrograde when placed at a certain distance from the sun. The strength obtained by them due to retrogression called Cheshta bala.

The earth revolves around the sun. The longitude of the sun is geocentric, it is always increasing and it does not appear to be retrograde at any time. The moon revolves around the earth and since it also moves in one direction, its longitude also seem to be increasing always. When the longitudinal distance of a planet is more than a certain limit, as viewed from the earth, the planets seems to start moving backwards and is said to become retrograde. This is not applicable to the luminaries (as has been explained in many Indian Vedic astrology books) and also to the nodes Rahu and Ketu,(as they are always moving in the reverse direction).A planet generally becomes retrograde when they are near the earth. There are eight different kinds of motions (speeds) which a planet can have (the planets included are Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn.

Drik bala or dig bala (aspectual strength)-Drik or dig means Drishti or aspect. Indian astrology explains that a planet in the horoscope, or a house (Bhava), an upgraha,a, a node, a saham or any other sensitive points like beeja or kshetra sphuta or Bhrigu bindu.

The planet which is being aspected is called the Drushya graha in Vedic astrology. The planet which is aspecting is called the Drishti graha in Vedic astrology.

The aspects of the nature of the astrological planets are as follows:

The 3rd/10th/5th /9th /4th /8th and 7th houses as aspected by the planets with an increase in the aspects by (one quarter each, respectively).

The planets fully aspect a point 180 degrees away from them (opposite or 7th house).This is 100% aspect. A planet starts aspecting another placed 30 degree ahead of it. Between the planet and 30 degrees, the aspect is nil. At 60 degrees the aspect is one fourth or 25 degrees. At 90 degrees, three fourth or 75%.At 120 degrees it is half or 50%.At 180 degrees, the aspect is full or 100% as mentioned earlier. It then decreases gradually; at 210 degrees it is three fourths or 75%;at 240degrees it is half or 50%;at 270 degrees it is one fourth or 25 degrees and at 300 degrees it becomes nil or 0%.The aspect remains nil upto 360 degrees and also from 0 degree to 30 degrees as mentioned above.

Vedic astrology explains that all the planets fully aspect the 7th house in a particular horoscope.

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Mars, Jupiter and Saturn fully aspect the 4th /8th /5th /9th and 3rd /10th houses respectively.Ishta bala and Kashta bala-The Ishta bala and kashta bala show the benefic and malefic tendencies of the planets, according to which their periods give good or bad results. If the Ishta bala of the planet is more, it will give good effects and will be helpful to the native in its period. If the kashta bala is more, the planet is likely to give adverse results.

To calculate the Ishta bala and Kashta bala, astrologers need to know two kinds of rays for each planet-the exaltation rays or Uchcha Rashmi and the Cheshta Rashmi.

Bhava Bala-Bhava bala is the strength of a horoscope house. There are twelve houses in the horoscope which represent specific things and have special functions. If a horoscope house is reasonably strong, the native will feel the results promised by the Bhava, otherwise not.

Shad bala pinda-The Shadbala pinda is the total strength of each planet. It is obtained by adding together the SthanaBala, Digbala, Kaalabala, chestabala and Naisargikbala.The driga bala is added or subtracted depending upon whether it is a positive or negative figure. The result gives astrologers the net strength in shashtiamansha.Each planet requires a certain amount of minimum strength to provide results. The strengths taken into account here are Sthana Bala, Dig bala, Kaala bala (without Ayan bala).chesta bala and ayanabala.If these planets have obtained the required amount of strength, they will be able to give their full results in their respective periods.

Vimshopaka bala-The Vimshopaka strength is the twenty point strength obtained by a planet due to its placement in various Vargas in Shadvarga, Sapta Varga, Dasha Varga and shodas varga.The Vimshopaka bala in the shodas Varga is as follows; The Hora, Drekkana and trishamsha.

There are number of views expressed by astrologers in Vedic astrology. Shad Varga, being a part of the Vedic astrology, is bound to have its share too.Shada bala was not given much importance in the olden days because of the tedious calculations involved. These days also, many astrologers choose not to see the strength of the planets either due to ignorance or lack of time. There are lot of different opinions on certain aspects of shadbala.It is left to the research minded students of Vedic astrology to come to a definite conclusions. Computers are an integral part of our life now and the seemingly never ending calculations of Shadbala can be obtained within a few minutes.Shadvarga plays pivotal role to reckon planetary strength while horoscope readings are done by astrologers. Vedic astrologers while make predictions about horoscope charts, they have to keenly observe the all subsidiary sixteenth models (Shodas Varga) charts to assess their Predictions accurately. If astrologers are perfect in astrology chart readings through assessing Shadvarga methods, they make predictions accurately.

You can avail our astrology Readings services being in the United States of America, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Germany or any part of the world.

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Brihat Parashara Hora Sashtra by Rishi ParasharaCh. 26. Evaluation of Aspects of Planets

1. O Glorious, it is said, that Aspects (of Planets) and their strengths are to be known in deciding the effects. How many kinds are these? Please clarify doubts.

2-5. Aspects of the Planets. O Brahmin, I have earlier stated Aspects, based on Rāśis. The other kind is between Planets, which I detail below. 3rd and 10th, 5th and 9th, 4th and 8th and lastly 7th. On these places the Aspects increase gradually in slabs of quarters, i.e シ, , セ and full. The effects will also be proportionate. All Planets give a Aspect to the 7th fully. Saturn, Jupiter and Marshave special Aspects, respectively, on the 3rd and the 10th, the 5th and the 9th and the 4th and the 8th. The ancient preceptors have explained these, which ordinary. By subtle mathematical calculations these Aspects will have to be clearly understood, as under.

6-8. Evaluation of the Aspects of the Planets. Deduct the longitude of the Planet (or House), that receives a Aspect, from that of the Planet, which gives the Aspect. If the sum exceeds six Rāśis, deduct the sum again from 10 Rāśis. Convert the latter sum into degrees and divide by two. The resultant product is Aspect Kona (or aspectual angle). If the difference is in excess of 5 Rāśis, ignore the Rāśis and multiply the degrees etc. by 2, which is the value of the Aspect. If the difference is in excess of 4 Rāśis, deduct it from 5 Rāśis, and the resultant degees etc. become the Aspect value. If the difference is in excess of 3 Rāśis, deduct it from 4 Rāśis and (increase 30 by) halve the product to get the Aspect value. If the difference is above 2 Rāśis, ignore the Rāśis and add 15 to the degrees etc. to get the Aspect value. If it is in excess of one Rāśi, ignore the Rāśis and divide the degrees by 2 to get the Aspect value.

9-10. Special consideration for Saturn’s Aspects. O Brahmin, if Saturn is the Planet, that gives a Aspect, find out the difference between him and the Planet, that receives the Aspect; if the sum is above 1 Rāśi, multiply the degrees etc. by 2 to get the Aspect value. If the sum is above nine Rāśis, the degrees to elapse be doubled to get the Aspect value. If the sum is above 2 Rāśis, the degrees etc. be halved and deducted from 60. If the sum exceeds 8 Rāśis, add to the degrees etc. a figure of 30 to get the Aspect value. In other cases, the sums be processed, as explained earlier.

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11. Special consideration for Mars’s Aspects. Deduct the longitude of Marsfrom that of the Planet, that receives the Aspect. If the sum is 3 Rāśis & c, or 7 Rāśis & c, the degrees etc. be reduced from 60. If it is above 2 Rāśis, the degrees etc. be increased by half of it and superadd 15. If the sum is 6 Rāśis, one Rup is the value.

12. Special consideration for Jupiter’s Aspects. Deduct the longitude of Jupiter from that of the Planet, that receives the Aspect from Jupiter. If the resultant sum is 3 Rāśis & c, or 7 Rāśis & c, halve the degrees etc. and increase it by 15. It the sum is 4 Rāśis & c, or 8 Rāśis & c, the degrees etc. be subtracted from 60. This will be the Aspect value. The sum, being in conformity with others than these, be treated, as stated earlier.

Ch. 27. Evaluation Of Strengths

Shad Bala consists of the following: Sthan Bala (positional), Dig Bala (directional), Kaal Bala (Temporal), inclusive of Ayan Bala (equinoctial), Chesht Bala (motional), Naisargika Bala (natural), Drik Bala (aspectual). These strengths are computed for the seven Planets from Sun to Saturn. The nodes are not considered.

Sthan Bala comprises of the following considerations: Uchch Bala (exaltation), Sapt Vargaaj Bala (strength accruing out of positions in Rāśi, Hora, Dreshkan, Saptāńś, Navāmśa, Dvadashāńś and Trimshāńś), OjhayugmaRāśiāńś Bala (acquired by placement in odd, or even Rāśi and in odd, or even Navāmśa), Kendradi Bala (due to placement in Kon, or Panaphara, or Apoklima House), Dreshkan Bala (due to placement in first, second, or third decanate of a Rāśi).

Kaal Bala comprises of the following subdivisions: Nathonnata Bala (diurnal and nocturnal), Paksh Bala (fortnight), Tribhag Bala (due to day/night being made in 3 parts), Varsh, Maas, Dina and Hora Bala (Varsh – astrological year, Maas – month, Dina – weekday and Hora – planetary hour), Ayan Bala (equinoctial), Yudhdh Bala (due to partaking in war between Planets).

1-1. Sthan Bala (up to Sloka 6). Firstly Uchch Bala. Now about the strengths by classes positional, temporal etc. Deduct from the longitude of the Planet its (deep) debilitation point. If the sum is less than 6 Rāśis, consider it, as it is; if it exceeds 6 Rāśis, deduct the same from 12 Rāśis. The sum so got be converted into degrees etc. and divided by 3, which is the Planets Uchch Bala in Virupas.

2-4. Sapt Vargaaj Bala. If a Planet is in its Moolatrikona Rāśi, it gets 45 Virupas, in Svasth Rāśi 30 Virupas, in Pramudit Rāśi 20 Virupas, in Shant Rāśi 15

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Virupas, in Din Rāśi 10 Virupas, in Dukhita Rāśi 4 Virupas and in Khal Rāśi 2 Virupas. Similarly these values occur for the other 6 divisional occupations, viz. Hora, Dreshkan, Saptāńś, Navāmśa, Dvadashāńś and Trimshāńś. When all these are added together the Planets Sapt Vargaaj Bala emerges.

4. OjhayugmaRāśiāńś Bala. Each of Venus and Moon in even Rāśis and others in odd Rāśis acquire a quarter of Rupa. These are applicable to such Navāmśaas also.

5. Kendradi Bala. A Planet in a Kon gets full strength, while one in Panaphara House gets half and the one in Apoklima House gets a quarter, as Kendradi Bala.

6. Dreshkan Bala. Male, female and hermaphrodite Planets, respectively, get a quarter Rupa according to placements in the first, second and third decanates.

7-7. Dig Bala. Deduct 4th House (Nadir) from the longitudes of Sun and Mars, 7th House from that of Jupiter and Mercury, 10th House from that of Venus and Moon and lastly Lagna from that of Saturn. If the sum is above 180 degrees, deduct the sum from 360. The sum arrived in either way be divided by 3, which will be Dig Bala of the Planet.

8-9. Kaala Bala (up to Sloka 17). Firstly Nathonnata Bala. Find out the difference between midnight and the apparent birth time, which is called Unnata. Deduct Unnata from 30 Ghatis to obtain Nata. Double the Nata in Ghatis, which will indicate identical Nata Bala for Moon, Mars and Saturn. Deduct the Nata from 60 to know the Unnata Bala of Sun, Jupiter and Venus. Mercury, irrespective of day and night, gets full Nathonnata Bala.

10-11. Paksh Bala. Deduct from Moon’s longitude that of Sun. If the sum exceeds 6 Rāśis, deduct the same from 12. The product so obtained be converted into degrees etc. and divided by 3, which will indicate the Paksh Bala of each of the benefic Planets. The Paksh Bala of benefic should be deducted from 60, which will go to each malefic, as Paksh Bala. 12. Tribagh Bala. One Rupa is obtained by Mercury in the first 1/3 part of day time, by Sun in the second 1/3 part of the day and by Saturn in the last 1/3 part of the day. Similarly Moon, Venus and Mars get full Bala in the first, second and last 1/3 parts of the night. Jupiter gets this Bala at all times.

13. Varsh-Maas-Dina-Hora Bala. 15, 30, 45 and 60 Virupas are in order given to Varsh Lord, Maas Lord, Dina Lord and Hora Lord. Naisargika Bala has already been explained.

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The Varsh Lord is the Lord of the day, on which the astrological year of birth starts. To calculate this we first need the number of days, past from the beginning of Creation, the Ahargan. According to late Rev. Ebenezer Burgess, who translated Sun Sid2ndta in English, as on January 1, 1860, the number of days, past from the beginning of Creation are 714,404,108,573. Divide the number of days, past from the day of Creation till the day of birth, by 60. Reject remainder and multiply the quotient by 3. Increase the post-multiplied product by 1 and divide by 7. The remainder will indicate the week day, on which the astrological year, giving birth to the native, opened. Remainder 1 indicates Sunday, 2 Monday and so on.

Maasa Lord. Divide the same Ahargan by 30 and the quotient indicates months, passed from Creation to birth. The completed months be multiplied by 2 and increased by 1. The latter sum should be divided by 7 and the remainder indicates, on which day the birth month began. Continuing with the same case, we divide 65295 by 30. Quotient is 2176. This sum multiplied by 2 and increased by 1 denotes 4353. Dividing 4353 by 7, we get a remainder of 6, denoting Friday. That is, the month of birth began on Friday and the Maas Bala goes to Venus, the Lord of Friday.

Dina Lord. Though the week day of birth can be known from ephemeris, or perpetual calendars, we better adopt the method prescribed, which will confirm, if the Ahargan followed is correct. The number of days, as arrived above, indicating Ahargan, be divided by 7 and the remainder will indicate the week day of birth.

Hora Bala. Hora means planetary hour. Each day from sunrise to sunrise is divided into 24 equal parts of one hour. These Horas are ruled by the 7 Planets from Sun to Saturn. The first Hora of the day is ruled by the Lord of the week day. The 2nd one is ruled by the Lord of the 6th week day, counted from the first ruler. The 3rd Hora is ruled by the Lord of the 6th week day, counted from the 2nd Hora Lord. Similarly it proceeds in the same manner, till the first Hora of the next day is taken over by the Lord of that day himself. Whichever Planet rules the birth Hora, gets the Hora Bala. Horas are to be calculated for mean local time and not standard time of births.

14. Naisargika Bala. Divide one Rupa by 7 and multiply the resultant product by 1 to 7 separately, which will indicate the Naisargika Bala, due to Saturn, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Moon and Sun, respectively.

15-17. Ayan Bala. 45, 33 and 12 are the Khandas for calculating Ayan Bala. Add Ayanāńś to the Planet and find out the Bhuja (distance from the nearest

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equinox). Add the figure, corresponding to the Rāśi (of the Bhuja) to the Bhuja. The degrees etc. of the Bhuja should be multiplied by the figure, corresponding to the highest of the left out Khandas and divided by 30. Add the resultant product to the sum, obtained earlier. Convert this to Rāśi, degrees, minutes and seconds. If Moon and Saturn are in Libra, or ahead, add to this 3 Rāśis and, if in Aries to Virgo, reduce from this 3 Rāśis. Similarly it is reverse for Sun, Mars, Venus and Jupiter. For Mercury 3 Rāśis are always additive. The resultant sum in Rāśi, degrees and minutes be divided by 3 to get the Ayan Bala in Rupas.

Notes by Santanam. Ayan Bala can be found out on the following simple formula: Ayan Bala = 60*(23-27 + Kranti)/(46-54) = (23-27 ± Kranti)*1.2793. The following points have to be remembered in respect of Krantis. When Moon, or Saturn have southern Kranti, or, when Sun, Mars, Jupiter, or Venus have northern Kranti, take plus. In a contrary situation in respect of these 6 Planets, take minus. As far as Mercury is concerned, it is always plus. Krantis (or declinations) can be ascertained from a standard modern ephemeris.Sun’s Ayan Bala is again multiplied by 2 whereas for others the product arrived in Virupas is considered, as it is. 18. Motional Strength for Sun and Moon. Sun’s Chesht Bala will correspond to his Ayan Bala. Moon’s Paksh Bala will itself be her Chesht Bala. 19. Drik Bala. Reduce one fourth of the Aspect Pinda, if a Planet receives malefic Aspects and add a fourth, if it receives a Aspect from a benefic. Super add the entire Aspect of Mercury and Jupiter to get the net strength of a Planet.

20. War Between Planets (graha yuddha). Should there be a war between the starry Planets, the difference between the Shad Balaas of the two should be added to the victors Shad Bala and deducted from the Shad Bala of the vanquished.

21-23. Motions of Planets (Mars to Saturn). Eight kinds of motions are attributed to Planets. These are Vakr (retrogression), Anuvakr (entering the previous Rāśi in retrograde motion), Vikala (devoid of motion), Mand (somewhat slower motion than usual), Mandatar (slower than the previous), Sama (somewhat increasing in motion), Char (faster than Sama) and Atichar (entering next Rāśi in accelerated motion). The strengths, allotted due to such 8 motions are 60, 30, 15, 30, 15, 7.5, 45 and 30. 24-25. Motional Strength for Mars etc. Add together the mean and true longitudes of a Planet and divide the one by two. Reduce this sum from the Seeghroch (or apogee) of the Planet. The resultant product will indicate the Cheshta Kendra (or Seeghra Kendra) of the Planet from 12 Rāśis. The Rāśi, degrees and minutes so arrived should be converted into degrees, minutes etc. and divided by 3, which will denote the motional strength of the

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Planet. Thus there are six sources of strength, called Sthan Bala, Dig Bala, Kaal Bala, Drik Bala, Chesht Bala and Naisargika Bala.

26-29. House Balaas. Thus I explained about the strengths of the Planets. Deduct 7th House from the House, if the House happens to be in Virgo, Gemini, Libra, Aquarius, or the first half of Sagittarius. If Aries, Taurus, Leo, or first half of Capricorn, or the second half of Sagittarius happen to be the House, deduct 4th House from it. Should the House be in Cancer, or in Scorpio, deduct from it Lagna. Deduct 10th House from the House, happening to fall in Capricorn second half, or Pisces. Convert the product so obtained into degrees etc. and divide by 3 to get House Bala. If the Balaance in the process of deducting Nadir, Meridian, Lagna, or 7th exceeds 6 Rāśis, deduct it again from 12 Rāśis, before converting into degrees and dividing by 3. The product after division should be increased by one fourth, if the House in question receives a benefic Aspect. If the House receives a malefic Aspect, one fourth should be reduced. If Jupiter, or Mercury give a Aspect to a House, add that Planets Drik Bala also. And then superadd the strength, acquired by the Lord of that House. This will be the net House Bala.

30-31. Special Rules. The Houses, occupied by Jupiter and Mercury will each get an addition of 1 Rupa, while each of the Houses, occupied by Saturn, Mars and Sun, suffer 1 Rupa reduction. 15 Virupas will have to be added to the Houses, falling in Seershodaya Rāśis, if birth happens to be in day time, to the Houses, falling in Dual Rāśis, if birth happens to be in twilight and to the Houses, falling in Prishtodaya Rāśis, if birth be in night time.

32-33. Shad Bala Requirements. 390, 360, 300, 420, 390, 330 and 300 Virupas are the Shad Bala Pindas, needed for Sun etc. to be considered strong. If the strength exceeds the above-mentioned values, the Planet is deemed to be very strong. If a Planet has the required Shad Bala, it will prove favourable to the native by virtue of its strength. However, Saturn’s extreme strength will give long life as well as miseries. 34-36. Jupiter, Mercury and Sun are strong, if each of their Sthan Bala, Dig Bala, Kaal Bala, Chesht Bala and Ayan Bala are, respectively, 165, 35, 50, 112 and 30 Virupas. The same required for Moon and Venus are 133, 50, 30, 100 and 40. For Mars and Saturn these are 96, 30, 40, 67 and 20.

37-38. House Effects. O Brahmin, thus the various sources of strengths be gathered together and effects declared. Whatever Yogas, or effects have been stated with respect to a House, will come to pass through the strongest Planet.

39-40. Eligibility of Issue Fruitful Predictions. O Maitreya, the words of one, who has achieved skill in mathematics, one, who has put in industrious efforts in the

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branch of grammar, one, who has knowledge of justice, one, who is intelligent, one, who has knowledge of geography, space and time, one, who has conquered his senses, one, who is skilfully logical (in estimation) and one, who is favourable to Jyotishya, will doubtless be truthful.

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MadhusudanAbout me

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IntroductionI am a keen student of Indian Vedic Astrology, studying it since many years, as I firmly believe no human being can ever claim to have totally studied, understood & mastered vedic astrology, and hence a student.

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ShadBala and its Conceptual Details

SHADBALAIn Vedic astrology there are methods which especially in this age of computers can give a quick insight in the state of planets and houses. One such method is explained here. This is the method of Shadbala. It gives a value to each planet. The more points a planet gets in Shadbala the stronger it is. It is important to have some insight in how the Shadbala value is calculated. The understanding of the concept of “Shadbala” is obviously more important than actually calculating it. Further you can employ some methods to calculate the values of “Shadbalas”.Only if you know the method followed by this system of calculation you can have an opinion about the value of it. There are slight variances on how Shadbala is calculated. The method of the late B.V. Raman as explained in his book `graha and bhava balas', is by far the most accurate.It is possible that other astrologers in the future will develop their own version of Shadbala. New and innovative approaches are always welcome. However, before we can develop something new we should exactly know What are the Basics and how the traditional system works.

The word “SHAD” means Six and, “BALA” means Energy. Thus “ShadBala” means Six types of Energies of Planets. Most of the energies of Planets are found by this method, for example Positional Strength, Exaltation Strength, Debilitation Strength, Divisional Strength etc. Numerical values are given to the “Energies” found, by a Point Rating system. For finding out

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the Energies one need to have a prior knowledge of Planetary Energy States like their Exaltation, Debilitation, Combust, Mool Trikon (75% Enegy State) and Neutral, as laid out in Standard Vedic Sripts

1. STHANA BALASthana means place or position. We start with calculating the sthana bala of a planet. This is the positional strength of a planet. Sthana Bala consists of five components: Under “Sthana Bala” there are further 4 types of “Balas’

(a) The first one is called Oocha Bala. “Oocha” means Exaltation.All planets have exact degrees of exaltation. Like the Moon is exalted at 3 degrees Taurus. When a planet occupies it exact degree of exaltation the planet gets 60 Shashtiamsas (Shashtiamsas are points). When it occupies the opposite point, its exact point of fall, it does not get any Shashtiamsas. Of course most of the time a planet will occupy a position somewhere in between these points. In that case the points that it will get will be calculated according to its position from the point of exaltation and fall.

Example: The Moon at 3 degrees Scorpio will get 0 Shashtiamsas. The Moon at 3 degrees Leo will get 30 Shashtiamsas (this is exactly between 3 degrees Scorpio and 3 degrees Taurus).

To be Contd/...

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Shadbala and Its Conceptual Details Part II

(b). The second one is called Saptavargaja Bala. To calculate this we will have to look at the following seven divisional charts: Rasi, Hora, Drekkana, Saptamsa, Navamsa, Dwadasamsa and Trimsamsa. In all these charts we look at what kind of sign a certain planet is located. If a planet occupies in the rashi chart its Moolatrikona sign it gets 45 Shashtiamsas (this is a special rule for the rashi chart only), if it is in its own sign (of whatever varga or division) it gets 30 Shashtiamsas, in the sign of a great friend 22.5 Shashtiamsas, in the sign of a friend 15 Shashtiamsas, in a neutral sign 7.5 Shashtiamsas, in the sign of an enemy 3.75 Shashtiamsas and in the sign of a great enemy 1.875 Shashtiamsas. The concept of friends and enemies is taken from the basic vedic astrological system. This is one of the most important parts of Shadbala because Saptavargaja( Seven Types of Divisional details) bala can give a lot of Shashtiamsas.

(c). Ojayyugma Bala The idea behind this concept is that a planet gains strength because it is in an even or odd sign or navamsa. The Moon and Venus get 15 Shashtiamsas when they are in an even sign. These planets also get 15 Shastiamsas when they are in an even navamsa. In totality the Moon or Venus may gain 30 Shashtiamsas if they are located in an even sign AND even navamsa. The reason behind this is that the Moon and Venus are female planets and are strong when they are in female (even) signs or navamsas. Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Mercury and Saturn get 15 Shastiamsas when they are in an odd sign. They

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also can get 15 Shashtiamsas when they are in an odd navamsa. These planets are male or neutral and are strong in male (odd) signs.

(d). Kendra Bala A planet in a kendra house (1,4,7 and 10) gets 60 Shashtiamsas, a planet in the house 2,5,8 or 11 gets 30 Shashtiamsas, a planet in the house 3,6,9 or 12 gets 15 Shashtiamsas. The reasoning is that planets in Kendra houses can easily express themselves and are therefore strong.

(e) Drekkena Bala (Drekkana means third divisional part) To calculate this the planets are divided into masculine planets (Sun, Jupiter and Mars), neutral planets (Saturn and Mercury) and female planets (Venus and the Moon). If a male planet is in the first drekkana (0-10 degrees) of whatever sign it gets 15 Shashtiamsas. If a neutral planet is in the middle drekkana of whatever sign (that means it is located between 10-20 degrees of whatever sign) it gets 15 Shashtiamsas. If a female planet is located in the last drekkana (the last 10 degrees) of whatever sign it gets 15 Shashtiamsas. The reasoning is that the first drekkana of each sign is good for male planets, the middle drekkana for neutral planets and the last drekkana for female planets. Now we have to add up all the Shashtiamsa values. The result is the total Sthana Bala. You are in the priviliged position that you do not have to calculate all this by hand. You can see it on the computer printout. When you know what the different strengths and weaknesses mean you can easily assess the strengths and weaknesses of your chart just by looking at the Shadbala printout.

To Be Contd/-.... Posted by Madhusudan at 16:21 No comments: Links to this post

Shadbala and its Conceptual details Part III

2. DIG BALAThis principle has similarities with the principle of Oocha Bala. Now the decisive factor is not the location of the planet in a certain sign, but in a certain house. Each planet is powerful when it is located in a certain direction. Dig Bala means directional strength. The Sun and Mars are powerful in the South. These are planets which function especially well in the tenth house (the tenth house is the portion of the sky directly above the head). Saturn is given maximum Dig Bala when it is in the West, the seventh house. Moon and Venus get maximum Dig Bala when the are in the North (fourth house). Mercury and Jupiter function well in the first house (the East). A reason for this is that the morning is a great time for studying and learning. That is why Mercury and Jupiter, planets which have to do with studying and learning, are strong during that time of day (at that time the Sun is near the ascendant). The Sun and Mars are energetic planets which need the energy that is available around noon (at that time the Sun is in the tenth house). Saturn is the planet of shades, which are at its maximum during the evening (when the Sun is opposite the ascendant). Moon and Venus are soft planets which function good during the time that is meaned for sleeping and making love (at midnight the Sun is in the fourth house). A planet gets maximum Dig Bala when it is in middle of the bhava (house) where it functions especially well. If for example the Moon is located right in the middle of the fourth house he gets maximum Dig Bala and is given 60 Shashtiamsas. If the Moon is

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in the middle of the tenth house it is given 0 Shashtiamsas. A slight complication is that for determining this BV Raman works with the bhava chart and not with the rashi chart. The midpoint of the houses in the bhava chart may differ from the midpoint of thehouses in the rashi chart (which is always 15 degrees of a certain sign). The Bhava Chart is a chart which has unequal houses. It is comparable to the way we work with houses in Western Astrology (and in particular the Porphyry house system). The Bhava Chart isexplained later. Dig bala gives a good indication for how strong a planet is in itshouse.

3. KALA BALAThis has to do with the strength which a planet has because of the time of the day. It is strength of time. It consists of the following:

1. Divaratri Bala According to this system the Moon, Saturn and Mars are powerful during midnight. At noon they are powerless. These are the natural malefics + the Moon. The Sun, Jupiter and Venus are powerful during noon and are powerless during midnight. These are the natural benefics AND the Sun. Adaptable Mercury isconsidered to be always powerful. This means that in every chart Mercury gets themaximum of 60 Shashtiamsas which can be gained by this factor. The Moon, Saturn and Mars are given 60 Shashtiamsas only if the person is born at midnight and 0 if the person is born at noon. Sun, Jupiter and Venus get 60 Shastiamsas if the person is born at noonand zero if he is born at midnight.

2. Paksha Bala A Paksha is equal to 15 lunar days. When the Moon is increasing it is Sukla Paksha. When the Moon is decreasing it is Krishna Paksha .The benefics are Jupiter, Venus, Moon (from the 8th day of the bright half of the lunar month to the 8th day of the dark half of the lunar month) and good influenced Mercury. These beneficial planets are powerful during Sukla Paksha. The malefics are Sun, Mars, Saturn, badly influenced Mercury and the Moon (from the 8th day of the dark half of the lunar month to the 8th day of the bright half of the lunar month). They are powerful during Krishna Paksha. The benefics get more Shastiamsas if a person is born on Sukla Paksha and the malefics less. If a person is born during Krishna Paksha the malefics get more points.The maximum amount of Shashtiamsas to be gained is 60. The value of the Shastiamsas of the malefics AND the value of the Shastiamsas of the benefics is always 60. The Shastiamsas of the Moon are always doubled.

3. Thribhaga Bala The day (that means the period of daylight) is divided into three equal parts and the night (the period without daylight) is divided into three equal parts. In this system Jupiter is always given 60 Shastiamsas. In addition, if someone is born during the first part of the day Mercury gets 60 Shashtiamsas. If someone is born during the second part of the day the Sun gets 60 Shashtiamsas. If born during the last part of the day Saturn gets 60 Shashtiamsas. If born during the first part of the night the Moon is given 60 Shashtiamsas. If born during the second part of the night Venus gets 60 Shashtiamsas. If born during the last part of the night Mars gets 60 Shashtiamsas. I see some connection

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between this system and the system of Dig Bala. In the reasoning behind Dig Bala the first part of the day is seen as particularly good for Mercurial activities. Noon is seen as good for activities which have to do with the Sun. Saturn isstrong when he is opposite the ascendant (at the place of the evening Sun). Also the Moon and Venus are strong during nighttime. However, the value attached to the late night Mars is something which cannot be found in Dig Bala.

4. Abda Bala The planet which is the lord of the year will get 15 Shahtiamsas. The lord of the year is the planet which belongs to the first day of the year. For example if the first day of a certain year is Sunday the year is ruled by the Sun, which receives 15Shashtiamsas according to this method.

5. Masa Bala The planet which is the lord of the first day of the month in which a person is born receives 30 Shashtiamsas.

6. Vara Bala The planet which rules the day at which the person is born receives 45 Shashtiamsas.

7. Hora Bala A day is divided into 24 hours or horas. Each hora(1 Hour period)is ruled by a planet. The first hora is ruled by the planet which rules the day. For example at Monday the first hora is ruled by the Moon. Then the order is according to the days of the week (next hora will be of Mars then of Mercury and so on). If you are born at somedistance from the equator the horas are not of equal length. The period of daylight contains 12 horas and the period without daylight contains 12 horas. The ruler of the hora when you were born gets 60 Shashtiamsas.

8. Ayana Bala. The value a planet gets according to Ayana Bala has to do with the declination it has from the equator. If a planet has 0 declination the ayana bala is 30. For Venus, the Sun, Mars and Jupiter the Northern declinations are added to his value and the Southern declinations subtracted (the consequence of this is that a planet has a low ayana bala if the planet has a Southern declination and a high ayana bala if theplanet has a Northern declination) . For Saturn and the Moon it is the other way around. For Mercury declinations are always added. The maximum amount of Shashtiamsas to be gained is 60. The ayana bala of the Sun is always doubled.

9. Yuddha Bala This concept has to do with planets which are in war. Therefore we only encounter Yuddha bala values if there are planets at war in the chart. First we have to calculate the total Sthana bala value AND Dig Bala AND Kala Bala till Hora Bala of the two fighting planets. Then calculate the difference between these two values. This difference must be divided by the difference between the diameters of the two planets as seen in the sky. The result of this calculation is the Yuddhabala. This must be added to the Kala Bala total of the winning planet and subtracted to the Kala Bala of the loosing planet.. Readers are requested to further study from other sources as well.

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To be Contd/-

Posted by Madhusudan at 18:02 3 comments: Links to this post

24 May 2008

Shadbala and its Conceptual details Part IV

4. CHESTA BALAPlanets which are relatively slow (among them retrograde planets) get a high Chesta Bala value. Planets which are relatively fast get a low chesta bala value. The reasoning is, the slow moving planets are able to focus their energy more because they stay at one place. The maximum amount of Shashtiamsas to be earned is 60, with respect to the relative speed and the average speed of a planet. Therefore it is possible that a relatively fast moving Saturn gets a low Chesta Bala, while a relatively slow moving Mercury gets a high Chesta Bala. The Sun and Moon do not get Chesta Bala values. They move in a fairly regular pattern and do not go retrograde ever.5. NAISARGIKA BALAEach planet gets a certain amount of Shashtiamsas according to the luminosity it has. Because the Sun is the brightest planet it is given 60 Shashtiamsas. Saturn is the faintest and gets 8.57 Shashtiamsas. This means that the amount of Shashtiamsas a planet receives according to Naisargika Bala is same in every chart.6. DRIK BALADrik Bala is called aspect strength. If a planet is aspected by benefics the planet receives a positive Shashtiamsa value. If a planet is aspected by malefics than it gets negativeDrik Bala points. The calculation of the Drik Bala value is a bit complicated because we also take partial aspects in account i.e. 25% , 50% and 75% aspects. We know that the Sun, Moon, Venus and Mercury aspect the planet in the seventh sign from it. Now forthis purpose we say that these planet aspect the zodiacal degree in opposition (180 degrees from it). The point which is 120 degrees from these planets get a partial aspect of 50%, the point which is 90 degrees from the planet gets a 75% aspect, the point which is 60 degrees gets a 25% aspect and the point which is 30 or 150 degrees from the planet gets no aspect at all. Most Astrologers/Jyotishis only work with full (100%) aspects, but for thispurpose we work with partial aspects (that means aspects which are weaker than full aspects). This makes the calculation of Drik Bala quite cumbersome. What is important to know is that if a certain planet has a negative Drig Bala value than it is mainly under the influence of malefics and if it has a positive Drig Bala value it is under the influence of benefics. Therefore the Drig Bala value is very interesting. By looking at the Shadbala printout we can immediately see if a planet is mainly under the influence of benefics or malefics and how strong that influence is.7. TOTAL SHADBALAFinally, the Shashtiamsas are added up. We get the Shadbala value in Shashtiamsas. Next they are divided by 60. Then we get the Shadbala values in Rupas. It is important to realize that the influence of certain Shadbala factors is much greater than others. Simply because the amount of Shashtiamsas to be gained by certain Shadbala factors is much greater than by others. For example, the amount of

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Shashtiamsas which can be gained by the Sthana Bala is a lot more than, that can be gained by Dig Bala. Therefore the six Shadbala factors are not equally important. According to the Shadbala rules every planet needs a certain amount of Rupas to be strong. According to these rules Mercury needs 7 Rupas, Jupiter needs 6 ½ Rupas, The Moon needs 6 Rupas, Venus needs 5 ½ Rupas, Saturn, the Sun and Mars need 5 Rupas. These values are seen as the minimum requirement for a certain planet to be strong. There has been no explanation of this anywhere. The total Shad Bala in Rupas is divided by this minimum requirement and then we get the Shad Bala ratio. The most interesting about this Shad Bala ratio is to see whether a planet has more or less than the minimum requirement and how much that is. In general most astrologers attach more value to the total Shad Bala.

Posted by Madhusudan

http://www.saravali.de

Shad BalaShadbala is a powerful source for calculation of planetary strength. It is described in chapter 27 of Hora Shastra. Shadbala consists of 6 different sources of strength. Each source represents an aspect of strength, such as planetary placement in zodiacal signs or aspectual strength.

Signification

Planetary strength is important for chart prediction. Strong planets will have auspicious effects during their time of influence (Dasas, transits). Weak planets will have inauspicious effects.

Strength of Rasi resp. Bhava lords is another important aspect of the chart. Bhavas will have effects according to their strength and the strength of their lords.

Some sources of strength give hints for special purposes: e.g. Digbala gives informations about directions having positive or negative effects.

Calculation

The complete Shadbala is the sum of all Balas. Balas are calculated in Rupas or Virupas. One Rupa has 60 Virupas. Most sources of strength have values between 0 Virupas (very weak) and maximum value of 60 Virupas (very strong). Other sources (like Drekkana Bala) have only a maximum value of 30 Virupas.

Parasara gives required values of strength for each planet. Planets meeting these requirements are considered to be strong. These planets will have favourable effects. Planets without strength will prove inauspicious.

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Types of ShadbalaThere are 6 main types of Shadbala. Sthana Bala and Kala Bala have several sub-Balas. The hierarchy (including translation of Sanskrit terms) is shown below. Please follow the links.

1. Sthana Bala - positional strengtho 1.1 Uchcha Bala - divisional strengtho 1.2 Saptavargaja Bala - strength of exaltationo 1.3 Ojhajugmariamsa Bala - strength related to placement in odd/even Rasis and

Navamsaso 1.4 Kendradi Bala - strength of placement in angle, succedent or cadent houseso 1.5 Drekkana Bala - strength according to Drekkana placement of planets

2. Dig Bala - directional strength 3. Kala Bala - temporal strength

o 3.1 Nathonatha Bala - diurnal/nocturnal strengtho 3.2 Paksha Bala - strength related to Lunar phaseo 3.3 Tribhaga Bala - strength related to portions of the day/nighto 3.4 Varsha-Masa-Dina-Hora Bala - strength of astrological year, month, day and houro 3.5 Yudhdha Bala - strength caused by planetary waro 3.6 Ayana Bala - equinoctial strength

4. Cheshta Bala - motional strength 5. Naisargika Bala - natural strength 6. Drig Bala - aspectual strength

Sthana BalaSthana Bala is the strength of planetary positions. This kind of strength depends exclusively on the zodiacal positions of the planets. Other factors (like speed, Bhava cusps or aspects) are neglected in this context.

There are 5 parts of Sthana Bala. The total Sthana Bala is the sum of these 5 parts.

No. Sthana Bala Type Description

1 Uchcha Bala Strength of exaltation

2 Saptavargaja Bala Divisional strength

3 Ojhajugmariamsa Bala Placement in odd/even Rasis and Navamsas

4 Kendradi Bala Placement in Kendra, succedent or cadent houses

5 Drekkana Bala Drekkana placement of planets

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1. Uchcha BalaUchcha Bala is a measure for the distance between a planet and its exaltation point.

Each planet gets 1 Rupa in exaltation and zero in debilation. Other positions contributecontribute a proportional value.

Rule: Find out the distance between a planet an its debilation point (max is 180). Uchcha Bala (in Virupas) will be one third of this value.

Uchcha Bala Example

Let the Sun be in 12 Gemini. Debilation is in 10 Libra. Distance between both points is 118 deg. So Uchcha Bala will be 118/3 = 39.3 Virupas.

2. Saptavargaja BalaSaptavargaja Bala is the divisional strength of seven Vargas (Saptavargas). Saptavargaja Bala is similar to Saptavarga calculation, but the evaluation is different, and there is no weigthed evaluation, i.e. all Vargas have the same contribution.

The seven Vargas are

Rasi (D-1) Navamsa (D-9) Hora (D-2) Decanate (D-3) Saptamamsa (D-7) Dvadasamsa (D-12) Trimsamsa (D-30)

Each Varga placement contributes a strength according to the placement in the planet's sign.Placement StrengthStrength (Virupas)

Moolatrikona 45

Onw Rasi 30

Extreme friend (Adhi Mitra) 20

Friend (Mitra) 15

NeutralNeutral (Sama) 10

Enemy (Satru) 4

Extreme Enemy (Adhi Satru) 2

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TheoreticalTheoretical maximum value for Saptavargaja Bala is 45*7=315 Virupas (Planet in Moolatrikona for all Vargas).

Remarks

1. Strength calculation is not the same as in Saptavarga calculation.2. Exaltation and debilation play no role in Saptavargaja Bala.3. Moolatrikona placement in Varga charts is calculated according to sign position not to length

(because there is no length in higher Varga charts).4. There are different opinions about temporary friendship of planets. Some say that temporary

friendship is alwaysalways relative to Rasi placement of planets, others say that this friendship must be calculated from the underlying Varga chart.

3. Ojhajugmariamsa BalaOjhajugmariamsa Bala is about the placement of the planets odd/even Rasis and Navamsas.

Female planets (Moon, Venus) get 15 Virupas if they are placed in in even Rasi/Navamsa, zero otherwise.

Male planets (Sun, Mars, Jupiter) and neutral planets (Mercury, Saturn) get 15 Virupas if they are placed in in odd Rasi/Navamsa, zero otherwise.

This calculation must be made for Rasi an Navamsa chart separately, i.e. a planet can get a maximum of 30 Virupas for this kindkind of strength.

Ojhajugmariamsa Bala Example

Moon in 1 Pisces gets 15 Virupas for Rasi placement in odd sign and 15 Virupas for placement in female Navamsa (CancerCancer ). The total Ojhajugmariamsa Bala is therefore 30 Virupas.

4. Kendradi BalaKendradi Bala evaluates the fact that planets in angles (Kendras) are stronger than planets in succedent or cadent houseshouses .

Each planet in angle gets fullfull strength (60 Virupas), planets in succedent houses get 50% of strength (30 Virupas), while planets in cadent houses only get 25% (15 Virupas). There is no distinction between male and female planets etc. in this Bala type.

The table below shows the Kendradi Bala for all houses.

Type Houses Strength (Virupas)

Kendra (angle) 1, 4, 7, 10 60

Panaphara (succedent) 2, 5, 8, 11 30

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Apoklima (cadent) 3, 6, 9, 12 15

5. Drekkana BalaDrekkana Bala is based upon placement of planets in decanates of Rasis.

Male planets get 15 Virupas in first decanate, female planets in 2nd decanate, neutral planets in 3rd decanate. This evalution is valid for all zodiacal signssigns ; there is no distinction between male and female signs.

The table below shows the Drekkana Bala for Rasi positions. The degreesdegrees are the Rasi portions of the planets' lengths (e.g. Mars in 15° Leo will have Drekkana portion of 15° in the table).

Planets/Degrees 0° - 10° 10° - 20° 20°- 30°

Sun, Mars, Jupiter 15 0 0

Moon, Venus 0 15 0

Mercury, Saturn 0 0 15

Dig BalaDig Bala is the strength of planetaryplanetary directions, i.e. their position relative to the angles of the chart.

Signification

Digbala has high influence on the effects of the planets.

1. Planets with high Digbala will have auspicious effects in the direction of their strength.2. Planets with bad Digbala will cause losses and difficulties in their direction of strength or the

opposite direction.

Remark: It is difficult to determine the correct direction in which eventsevents will take place because there are different views of planetary directions. Digbala is the source of strength but events may take place in the directions attributed to the planets, i.e.

Sun: east Saturn: west Mercury: north Mars: south Jupiter: north-east

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Rahu: south-west Moon: north-west Venus: north-east

Calculation

Each planet has directional strength in an angle of the chart. These pointspoints of strength are: the cusp of 1st house (Ascandant), 7th house (Descendant), 4th house (Nadir, Imum Coeli) or 10th house (Meridian, Medium Coeli).

Sun and Mars are strong in the 10th, Jupiter and Mercury in the Ascendant, Moon and Venus in the 4th and Saturn in the 7th.

Dig Bala of a planet is the distance between his position and the corresponding point of mimimum strength (in Virupas). Values greater than 180° or 60 Virupas must be deducted from 360° resp. 120 Virupas, so the Dig Bala of a planet must be between zero and 60 Virupas.

The table below showsshows the strongest and weakest points of Dig Bala for the planets.

Planets Strongest WeakestWeakest

Sun, Mars Meridian Nadir

Mercury, Jupiter Ascendant Descendant

Moon, Venus Nadir Meridian

Saturn Descendant Ascendant

Examples

1. Let Moon be in 3° Taurus and Meridian in 17° Cancer. Dig Bala of the Moon is therefore

digbala = ( 97° - 33° ) / 3 = 64/3 = 21 Virupas

2. Let Sun be in 12° Capricorn and Ascendant in 23° Cancer. Dig Bala of the Sun must be calculated from the Descendant i.e. 23° Capricorn

digbala = ( 293° - 272° ) / 3 = 21/3 = 7 Virupas

Kala BalaKala Bala is the temporal strength the planets, i.e. it is a collection of different sources of strength at the time of birth.

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Kala Bala consists of 6 parts.

No. Kala Bala Type Description

1 Nathonatha Bala Diurnal/nocturnal strength

2 Paksha Bala Strength related to Lunar phase

3 Tribhaga Bala Related to portions of the day/night

4 Varsha-Masa-Dina-Hora Bala Astrological year (Varsha), month (Masa), day (Dina) and hour (Hora)

5 Yudhdha Bala Strength caused by planetary war

6 Ayana Bala Equinoctial strength. Some see Ayana Bala as a separate source of strength.

1. Nathonatha BalaNathonatha Bala relates to diurnal resp. nocturnal strength of the planets.

The Moon, Mars and Saturn are strong in the night and weak in the daytime. The Sun, Jupiter and Venus are strong in the daytime, weak in the night. Mercury has always maximum strength.

Calculation

2. Paksha BalaPaksha Bala is related to Lunar phase at the time of birth. Benefics get high Pakasha Bala near Full Moon, low Bala near New Moon. Reverse for malefics.

Calculation

Paksha Bala in Virupas depends on the angle between Moon and Sun. The formula is

pakshabala = ( moon - sun ) / 3

The Bala must be deducted from 120 if the value exceeds 60.

This method yields a small value if birth takes place near New Moon (irrespective of placement before/after New Moon). Birth near FullFull Moon will result in high Paksha Bala (~60). Birth near Half Moon will have 30 Virupas.

This method is extended to all planets in Paksha Bala. Benefic planets (Jupiter, Venus) get Paksha Bala Virupas according to this method.

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The method of calculation is reverse for malefics (Sun, Mars, Saturn) i. e. the value must be deducted from 60.

The Moon is benefic if birth takes place in the bright half of the month, i.e. birth is betweenbetween New Moon and Full Moon. Reversely Moon is malefic for birth in the dark half of the month (between Full Moon and New Moon).

Mercury is regarded as malefic if conjunct with a malefic, benefic otherwise.

3. Tribhaga BalaTribhaga Bala is about portions of the day/nightnight at the time of birth.

Each portion of the day resp. night has a lord as its ruler. The lord of the birth time will get full strength (60 Virupas). See table.

Day/Night PartPart Lord

Day 1 Mercury

Day 2 Sun

Day 3 Saturn

Night 1 Moon

Night 2 Venus

Night 3 Mars

JupiterJupiter always gets 60 Virupas, i.e. each chart will have two planets with 60 Virupas Tribhaga Bala: the lord of birth time and Jupiter. Other planets will have nil Tribhaga Bala.

4. Varsha-Masa-Dina-Hora BalaThis Bala is about the astrological year, month, day and hour in which birth takestakes place.

Astrological fundaments and calculation of this Bala are described on the Hora page.

The strength of this Bala are

The lord of Varsha (yearyear ) gets 15 Virupas. The lord of Masa (month) gets 30 Virupas. The lord of Dina (day) gets 45 Virupas. The lord of Hora (hour) gets 60 Virupas.

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5. Yudhdha BalaYudhdha Bala is about planetary war. Planetary war takes place if 2 planets (Mars ... SaturnSaturn ) are within one degree of each other.

Ayana BalaAyana BalaBala plays a singular role in Shadbala calculation. Some see it as a part of Kala Bala, others see Ayana Bala as a separate source of strengthstrength .

Ayana Bala is identical to Cheshta Bala for the Sun (the Sun has no own Cheshta Bala because he is always in Sama motion).

Signification

Ayana Bala depends uponupon declination and the tropical zodiac, i.e. Ayanamsa must be neglected. Ayana Bala is the only source for evaluation of this planetary property. Moon and Saturn are strong with southern declination; Sun, Mars, Jupiter and Venus in the north.

Mercury plays a special role in so far as it is strong with northern as well as southern declination. So Mercury is again the most neutral planet.

All planets (including Mercury) have medium Ayana Bala near the equinoxes.

Calculation

Ayana Bala depends upon the declination of the planets resp. their tropical length (which is nearly the same, see below). It is important to remember that Ayanamsa must be added to the planetary lengths in Ayana Bala calculation.

The planets form 3 groups, each of them having their own rules for Ayana Bala calculation. All planets have 50% Ayana Bala strength (30 Virupas) in the equinoxes (0 Aries and 0 Libra).

The specific rules are

1. The Moon and Saturn have maximum Ayana Bala (60 Virupas) near the point 0 Capricorn, zero in 0 Cancer.

2. The Sun, Mars, Jupiter and Venus have maximum Ayana Bala near the point 0 Cancer, zero in 0 Capricorn.

3. Mercury has maximum Ayana Bala near 0 Cancer and 0 Capricorn.

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Kranti Based CalculationKranti is the declination of a planet relative to the celestial equator. A planet in the equinox has Kranti zero while a planet near the point 0 Capricorn or 0 Cancer has maximum Kranti (which is about 23:27 deg).

The rulerule for Ayana Bala calculation is

ayanabala = 30 * ( eps +- kranti ) / eps = 1.2793 * (eps +- kranti)

where eps is the obliquity of the ecliptic (23:27). The rules for addition/subtraction of the Kranti valuevalue are

Moon and Saturn: the value must be added for southernsouthern Kranti, deducted for northern Kranti.

Sun, Mars, Jupiter and Venus: the value must be added for northern Kranti, deducted for southern Kranti.

Mercury: the value must be added for northern and southern Kranti.

Parasara's MethodThe second method is described by Parasara in chapter 27 (15-17) of Hora Shastra.

Find out the tropical length of a planet i.e. add Ayanamsa to its length. Calculate the distance from the nearest equinoxe. This value must be between 0 and 90. There are 3 Khandas (portions) for 3 possible Rasis: 45 (1st sign), 33 (2nd sign) and 12 (3rd sign).

Khanda Rules

1.) Planets within the 1st sign get the proportional strength according to their length in that sign (Khanda 45).

Example: A planet in 10° Pisces has distance 20° from equinoxe (0° Aries) and will get a value of 20/30 * 45 = 30.

2.) Planets in the 2nd sign (30°-60°) will get the Khanda of 45 plus proportional value (of 33) for their length in the 2nd sign.

Example: a planet in 10° Scorpio has distance of 40° from equinoxe. So the value is 45+ 10/30 * 33 = 56.

3.) Planets in the 3rd sign (60° - 90°) get a value of 78 (=45+33) plus the portion of the Khanda value (12).

Example: a planet in 15° Cancer has distance 75° from equinoxe. The total value will be 78 + 15/30 * 12 = 84.

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The result must be betweenbetween 0-90. Planets near the equinoxes get a small value (near 0); planets near 0°Cancer or 0°Capricorn get a high value (near 90).

Rules for Specific Planets

Moon and Saturn get in addition 90 degrees if they are posited between Libra and Pisces. The value must be deducted from 90 if their position is between AriesAries and Virgo.

Same vice versa for Sun, Mars, Jupiter and Venus i.e. 90 must be added for for positions between Aries and Virgo; the value must be deducted from 90 for Libra to Pisces.

For Mercury 90 must alwaysalways be added.

The result must be divided by 3 to get Ayana Bala in Virupas. The value must be between 0 and 60 Virupas.

Length Based CalculationThis method doesn't use the declination of the planets but is only based upon their tropical length. The results are almost identical to the above described method's results.

The calculation rule is

ayanabala = 30 * ( 1 +- abs( sin( len ) ) )

where len is the tropical length of the correponding planet/luminary.

The rules for addition/subtraction are the same as above.

Example

Take May 1st 1990 0:00 UT as example. Length must be Sayana (without Ayanamsa); declination must be relative to the equator (not to the ecliptic).

The table shows that the results are quite similar; the tolerance is within 2 Virupas.

Planet Length Declination Method 1 Method 2 Method 3

Sun 10°22 Taurus 14°56 N 49.1 48.8 49.4

Moon 29°55 Cancer 21°12 N 4.2 3.9 4.0

Mars 07°32 PiscesPisces 10°12 S 17.0 18.8 18.5

Mercury 15°05 Taurus 17°36 N 52.5 50.5 51.2

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JupiterJupiter 06°57 Cancer 23°23 N 59.9 59.1 59.8

Venus 26°28 Pisces 02°29 S 26.8 28.2 28.2

SaturnSaturn 25°20 Capricorn 20°54 S 56.7 56.6 57.1

Cheshta BalaCheshta Bala is the strength of planetaryplanetary motions.

This kind of strength applies only to the planets, not to the luminaries. The Cheshta Bala of the Sun is identical to his Ayana Bala; Cheshta Bala of the Moon is her Paksha Bala.

The five planets (Mars ... Saturn) may have 8 different types of motion. They can be in direct motion (slow, normal or accelerated), be stationary or retrograde. Another kind of motion is the introgression into the next/previous sign of the zodiaczodiac in accelerated of retrograde motion.

Retrograde MotionRetrograde Planets are very strong according to Cheshta Bala. A retrograde planet is powerfull and gets the full Cheshta Bala (i.e. 60 Virupas). This kind of motion is called Vakra.

Another kind of retrograde motion is Anuvakra. A planet is in Anuvakra motion if he is retrograde and enters the previous sign in his retrograde motion. Anuvakra planets get 50% of strength (30 Virupas).

Stationary PlanetsA planet is stationary if he he is devoid of motion. This happens if the motion is changing from direct to retrograde or vice versa. Stationary planets get a strength of 25% i.e. 15 Virupas. This kind of motion is called Vikala.

Direct MotionThere are 5 differentdifferent kinds of direct motion described in Hora Shastra.

The motion is called Mandatara if the speed is slow. Mandatara motion getsgets 25% of strength (15 Virupas).

The motion is called Manda if the speed is medium. Manda motion gets 50% of strength (30 Virupas).

Normal motion is called Sama. A planet is in Sama motion if his speed is near the average. Sama motion gets 7.5 Virupas and is the weakest of all motionsmotions .

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Fast direct motion is called Chara. Chara planets get 75% of strength (45 Virupas).

A special Chara motion is Atichara. A planet is in Atichara motion if he is in Chara and entersenters the next sign of the zodiac. Atichara planets get 50% of strength (30 Virupas).

Summary of Cheshta BalaThe table below summarizes the different types of Cheshta Bala.

Motion Virupas Speed (Percent) Remark

Vakra 60 < 0 Must not enter previous sign

Anuvakra 30 < 0Like Vakra. Planet enters previous sign in retrograde motion

Vikala 15 < 10% of average speed -

Mandatara 15Between 10% and 50% of average speed

-

Manda 30Between 50% and 100% of average speed

-

Sama 7.5Between 100% and 150% of average speed

-

Chara 45 > 150% of average speed Must not enter next sign

Atichara 30 > 150% of average speedLike Chara. Planet enters next sign in direct motion

Naisargika BalaNaisargika Bala is the natural strength of the planetsplanets . This strength does not depend on the specific chart but is fixed for all charts.

Signification

Planets with nearly identical Shadbala can be evaluated by their Naisargika Bala, i.e. the planet with higher Naisargika Bala can be regarded as stronger.

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Calculation

The seven bodiesbodies are ordered by their luminosity and get relative strength according to their position in that order. Sun has the highest luminosity, Saturn is the darkest planet; other planets get portions of 1/7 Rupa according to their position in that order.

Position Body Strength (Rupas) Virupas

1 Sun 7/7 60

2 Moon 6/7 51.4

3 Venus 5/7 42.9

4 Jupiter 4/7 34.3

5 MercuryMercury 3/7 25.7

6 Mars 2/7 17.1

7 Saturn 1/7 8.6

Drig BalaDrig Bala is the aspectual strength of planets, i.e. strength received from other planets by their aspects.

Signification

Most Balas are standalone properties of a planet. But Drig Bala has to do with strength coming from other planets. This is important for prediction because periods of a planet with high Drig Bala will produce helping effects. Aspecting planets will help during their periods or transits.

Using Sputa Drishti

The classical view of Graha Drishti is refined in chapter 26 of Hora Shastra: Sputa Drishti gives exact values for each angle between pairs of planets, see the Drishtis (Aspects) page.

Drig Bala has a slightly different approach. Aspects are sorted in two groups: benefic and malefic aspects.

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Benefics are Jupiter and Venus. Malefics are Sun, Mars and Saturn. Moon is a benefic if birth takes place in the bright half of the month. Mercury is malefic if conjunct with a malefic (including nodes).

Drig Bala needs a rectification of Sputa Drishti. The values for rectification are

Benefic aspects get 125% of Sputa Drishti for Drig Bala. Malefics get only 75% of Sputa Drishti for Drig Bala.

The Drig Bala of a planet is the sum of all rectified aspectual values.

Bala SummaryStrength and weakness of the planets depend uponupon their net Bala strength i.e. the sum of the Balas. The net strength is important for the judgement of the effects during Dasas and transits.

Planets with high net Bala will have strong effects. These effects will be auspisious in most cases. But strong planets can also have strong inauspisious effects, especially Saturn and Mars. Planets with low net Bala will prove inauspicious or harmless.

Shadbala RequirementsStrength and weakness of planets depend upon their total Shadbala. Planets are considered to be strongstrong if they meet the minimum Shadbala requirementsrequirements mentioned in Hora Shastra. The values are

Planet Required (Rupas) Virupas

Sun 6.5 390

Moon 6.0 360

Mars 5.0 300

Mercury 7.0 420

Jupiter 6.5 390

Venus 5.5 330

Saturn 5 300

A planet that has at least the required Shadbala Pinda is considered to be strong and will show favourable results. Nevertheless malefics like Saturn or Mars can give problems and miseries, too.

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Requirements for Individual Shadbala TypesThere is another Shadbala requirement template that is based upon individual requirements for different types of Sub-Balas. This approach can be used as an alternative method for judgement of strength, even if the requirements mentioned above do not match.

Planets are arranged in groups. The corresponding planet must match all the requirements in order to be considered as strong.

The table shows the requiredrequired Balas in Virupas.

Planets Sthana Bala Dig Bala Kala Bala Cheshta Bala Ayana Bala

Sun, Jupiter, Mercury 165 35 50 112 30

Moon, Venus 133 50 30 100 40

MarsMars , Saturn 96 30 40 67 20

http://vedicastroadvice.com

shadbala and vedic astrology

The Grandfather of Vedic Astrology, Parasara, in his heady tome, Brihat Parasara Hora Sastra, names six strengths of planets in the 29th chapter. In evaluating the character of a person, these strengths are of immense importance and MUST be evaluated BEFORE house and sign position of the planets are taken into consideration. A good analogy would be one of an elephant or a mouse. If the planet has the strength, according to Shadbala, of an elephant, then that planet will be able to fend off tremendous adversity. But, if according to Shadbala, the planet has the strength of a mouse, then that planet will fall under the adversity of bad house and sign placement. A planet that is weak in Shad bala will need remedies to strengthen it.

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Parasara calls the Shad Bala "Spashta Bala" which means distinct strength. This gives light to the fact that each strength should be evaluated individually and that the sum total of the "Shad Bala" of the planets is less important than each distinct strength on its own. The mathematical calculations of each planetary strength are beyond the scope of this article and will not be included here. Most astrology softwares calculate the strengths, so in this age of computers, the astrologer is saved the tedious task of calculation.

It must be kept in mind that when reading the planets’ distinct strengths as regards to an individual’s character, the planets are grouped. Each group represents a theme so if one planet does not meet the requirement for a certain strength, another planet in the group will make up for it.

Jupiter, Mercury and the Sun form one group:Jupiter, Mercury and the Sun have to do with identity, learning, communicating, management, confidence, faith and hope. When one of these planets is weak in one of the strengths, another planet of this group can help to salvage the damage done by weakness.

Venus and the Moon form another group:These are the female, receptive planets and they have to do with comfort mainly, finding what is worthwhile to do and happiness. Venus evaluates and decides what will make a person the happiest, so Venus is the decision maker. Venus’ moolatrikona (root trine) sign, its source of power, is Libra, the Scales. The Moon is consciousness and as such will act on the decision making of Venus to make the consciousness comfortable.

Mars and Saturn form the third group:These are the planets we need to have strong if we are to deal with the adversities of life effectively. Mars flies into action when faced with a problem and takes care of it, pronto. Mars is the planet that deals with problems that can be and need to be solved. Saturn deals with problems we can do nothing about and must suffer through, like when someone dies or we are in an accident or something that is cause by circumstances out of our control. When Saturn is high in strength we have a high tolerance for suffering and can weather the storm, so to speak.

The planetary strengths and their practical meanings are as follows:

Sthana Bala (Position Strength):

Sthana literally means "stance" or "standing". When we look at a person, how they stand automatically tells us a lot about their character. Their stance is how they face the world. In martial arts, the first thing they teach you is a stance. This is how you face your opponent. The planet which has the highest points in Sthana Bala is very apparent in a person’s character. This strength is ruled by Mercury. Mercury is the planet a person uses to manage their life and in the classical texts, Mercury is called "the consciousness spoken". Thus, the planet that has the highest points in Sthana Bala will be communicated by the native and the person will have trouble communicating through the planet that is weakest in Sthana Bala.

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Sun highest in Sthana Bala: The person is extremely confident and is a natural leader. The person likes to be in charge and there is a natural authority radiating from them. The person is highly creative and acts on their inspirations. What inspires them is what guides their life and how they manage their life.

Jupiter highest in Sthana Bala: Their stance is one of learning, wisdom, happiness and faith in the greater good. The person will manage their life with higher knowledge and love to learn and dispense what they have learned. The person will be a natural with children. To others, they will appear to be highly intelligent. Faith in life will give them a natural optimism.

Mercury highest points in Sthana Bala: The person will be able to get things done effectively and manage their life very well. They are a great communicator and a great friend. He or she likes doing for other people. The person is easily able to practically manifest goals and ambitions. Mercury is the planet representing Lord Vishnu and he wants to help everyone. Mercury is also the most important planet to analyze when looking at Sthana Bala, so its strength will tell a lot about how a person manages their life.

Venus highest points in Sthana Bala: The native will manage their life through taking care of themselves and their body. They will enjoy beautiful things and gravitate towards relationships where there is mutual sharing. Their stance is one of the lover and they will be flirtatious and sensual. Venus looks for the worth in everything, so this native will always be calculating the worth of everything they do. Venus is the guru of the demons and was given the boon of bringing life back into the body, or rejuvenating. So this native will be able to revive lost causes and keep situations alive with vigor.

The Moon highest points in Sthana Bala: The Moon is the consciousness, changes and the comfort we feel. The native will be able to make changes in his life that will give him comfort, satisfaction and happiness. He will appear to change quite often to others. But in every change he makes, he will be very happy with the outcome. The Moon likes to feel comfortable and live in the moment. Others may see the person as "flaky" or a "drifter", but this is how the native will manage their life, by constantly changing.

Mars highest points in Sthana Bala: The stance will be a Martian one. The native will manage their life by attending to crises with fervor and gusto. The person is no-nonsense and harsh. They get to the point of any issue right away and deal with it effectively. They are very logical and enjoy the thrill of adversity. Frivolity and luxuries are shunned and are of no use to this native.

Saturn highest points in Sthana Bala: The person will be a loner and love nature. He or she works very hard and is usually meticulously clean. They will have a humble stance and be uncomfortable with positions of authority. The native may appear psychologically wounded in some way. Stoicism and seriousness are very present in the personality.

The Components of Sthana Bala (Positional Strength):

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1. Ucca Bala (Exaltation Strength): Assesses the strength of the planet by how close it is to its exaltation or debilitation point in the Rasi (birth chart).

2. Saptavarga Bala (7 Divisional Chart Strength): Assesses the strength according to dignity of the planet in 7 Vargas (divisional charts).

3. Sama/Visama Bala (Odd/Even Strength): Assesses the strength of planets as to whether feminine planets are in feminine signs and masculine planets are in masculine signs in the Rasi (birth chart) and navamsa (marriage chart).

4. Kendradi Bala (Angle Strength): Assesses strength based on the position of planets in angular, succedent, cadent houses.

5. Dreskana Bala (Decanates Strength): Assesses strength based on position of masculine and feminine planets in Decanates (drekkanas).

All of these components are based on the "position" of the planet within the horoscope and divisional charts. Thus, the name "Positional Strength: Sthana Bala".

Dig Bala (Directional Strength):

The planet with the highest dig bala points will be the planet that most guides the person towards what they want in life. If a planet does not meet the minimum requirements for this strength, then that planet cannot guide the person towards fulfillment and there will be regrets in the end. Venus rules dig bala as Venus being desire, assesses the worth of any situation and then makes a decision. The decision then guides in the direction you want to go.

The Sun and Mars get their maximum dig bala when they are in the 10th house. The 10th house is the house of action and power. The Sun is the King and Mars is the warrior; these masculine planets perform the best when they are the most visibly seen as the 10th house is directly overhead when we look at the sky. Who can follow the King when he is invisible and how can a warrior lead others to victory if he is invisible? This is why these planets get no dig bala strength when they are in the 4th house, which is directly beneath the earth and cannot be seen. When the Sun and Mars are strong in dig bala, they are able to effectively guide the person to achieving his ambitions and goals, and will give a lot of power.

The Moon and Venus get maximum dig bala when they are in the 4th house and no dig bala points when they are in the 10th house. The Moon and Venus are female planets and as such are planets of being, not doing. They are planets of receptivity. The 4th house, among other things, represents happiness. The Moon is the planet of consciousness so it does best when it is in the place of happiness. Venus is the desire planet. As desire, Venus makes choices in life that will lead us to happiness and comfort. Venus asks, "What’s more worth it?" Venus is also the comforter and the nurse. The closer Venus is to the 4th house, the more it is able to provide comfort to the emotions (4th house). When the Moon and

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Venus are strong in dig bala, these planets will guide the person to be able to roll with the changes and change gracefully according to necessity.

Jupiter and Mercury get the maximum dig bala when placed in the 1st house. The first house is the individual person. Jupiter and Mercury are planets of individuality because they are planets of learning and speech. Jupiter as the planet of higher knowledge and faith distinguishes the person and gives these traits to his personality. When Jupiter is in the 7th house, he gets no dig bala, meaning that the person has faith not in himself, but in others, and optimism and higher knowledge is based on other people. Mercury is the planet of speech or "the consciousness spoken". When Mercury is low in dig bala, then the person has a hard time expressing himself through word. It will take a long time for other people to get to really know the native, because he cannot effectively express what is in his consciousness. When Jupiter and Mercury are strong in dig bala, they guide the person to higher knowledge that will benefit the personality and towards communicating and managing their life effectively.

Saturn gets its highest dig bala in the 7th house. Saturn is the planet of suffering, but more specifically, it is the planet that gives us the ability to weather suffering. The 7th house is what is most unknown as it is the farthest from the 1st house. Saturn is also the planet of time and of death or longevity. The 7th house is a maraka or death inflicting house. When placed in the 7th house, Saturn gives a tremendous ability to weather whatever adversities life throws at us. When high in dig bala, Saturn will guide the person towards building security and staying steadfast.

Kala Bala (Time Strength):

This strength is based on the time a person was born and the planets gaining strength because of that time. Some planets are stronger when born during the day and some are stronger at night. The lord of the year, month and day also come into play. Time is the force that brings events to pass, thus the planets that are strong in Kala Bala, exert the strongest force in the horoscope while running their periods (dasas and antardasas). The native will feel the effects of these planets more than others and remember them throughout life. Saturn rules Kala Bala as Saturn in Kronos or Time personified and Saturn rules longevity, the individual’s time here on Earth.

The Sun: the person will take note of and remember those things having to do with power and authority, with inspiration and leadership. Events transpiring that have to do with the government and politics will mark the native very strongly.

Mars: events involving sports, prowess and logic will mark the native. The siblings and competition will also be remembered more than other things.

Jupiter: Events involving learning, religion, philosophy and children will strongly mark the native.

Mercury: Events involving humor, management, friendship and business will be

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remembered and will mark most strongly the native.

Moon: Life changes and emotional states will be most recalled by the native.

Venus: Comfort, luxuries, romantic partners and the give or take of partnership will strongly mark the native.

Ayana Bala

Ayana means course and more specifically, the course of the Sun. There are two courses of the Sun which are Uttara ayana , when the Sun moves north and the Southern course, Dakshinayana, when the Sun moves South. There is also a distinction pertaining to whether the Sun is in the Northern Hemisphere or in the Southern Hemisphere. According to Hindu mythology and the Surya Siddhanta, the Northern Hemisphere is the realm of the gods and the Southern Hemisphere is the realm of the Asuras which translates roughly as demon, but is not the demons we think of in Christianity holding pitchforks and burning in hell. The Asuras are rather like the Titans of Greek mythology for a more accurate comparison. Some planets, namely, the Sun, Mars, Venus, and Jupiter are happier in the realm of the devas or gods and other planets, namely the Moon and Saturn are happier in the realm of the Asuras or demons. Mercury is happy in both. The reason for these preferences will be explained shortly.

Ayana bala is the strength that measures the personality trait of how one navigates through conflict and adversity.

Two different methods exist to calculate Ayana bala, the way of Parasara and the way of Sri Pati. The Sri Pati method is the most commonly used method. In this method, the declination of the planet is taken, meaning how far north or south a planet is from the celestial equator. Parasara tells us to pay more attention to the Rasi or Sign placement of the planet. This will give a different value. Ayana bala can only be calculated with the tropical Zodiac. Most Vedic astrological softwares calculate ayana bala with one or two calculating this bala in the Parasara method.

Due to the fact that Ayana bala distinguishes how a person deals with conflict, the planetary ruler of Ayana bala is Mars. In addition, Vedic myth states that Mars was born of the Earth and Mars rules over all minerals that come from the Earth. Since Ayana bala is the strength that has to do with each planet’s longitudinal relationship to the Earth, it makes perfect sense that Mars would rule this bala.

The minimum requirements for each planet in Ayana Bala are as follows:

Sun: 30 virupasMoon: 40 virupasMars: 20 virupasMercury: 30 virupasJupiter: 30 virupas

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Venus: 40 virupasSaturn: 20 virupas

The Sun is the king and has to do with our ability to lead and be steadfast and honorable. In conflict, the Sun does well when he acts honorably, just like when the king acts dishonorably he loses the esteem of the people. Being honorable means being steadfast and committed to something even though it does not give us what we want. The Sun has to be virtuous and noble all the time. If the Sun is in the Southern hemisphere, in the realm of the Asuras or demons, it is easy in times of conflict and adversity for a person to act dishonorably. When difficult things come, it is easier for the person to follow the path of the Asuras. When the Sun is in the Northern hemisphere, in the realm of the devas, and faced with obstacles, the person can more easily be steadfast in their course of action and stick to their guns. This is the reason why the Sun prefers to be Northern hemisphere in the realm of the devas.

One would think that Mars would enjoy frolicking with the demons in the Southern Hemisphere. But no, he prefers to remain in the realm of the devas as well, so what gives? Mars rules logic and what is logical and the ultimate goal of logic is the search for truth. When Mars is too far South, he can get too wrapped up in bloodlust and the thrill of the fight. We must not forget that only when Mars is afflicted does he rule rage. In his pure form, he is righteous anger. In the realm of the devas, he can use logic to see if a fight is necessary. In the realm of the Asuras, he can only see the fight and will fight for no other reason than to destroy. If Mars is in the North in the land of the Devas, then his logical approach can kick in and lead him to the truth. Mars can move South just a little as long as he sees the noble goal. In effect, Mars can somewhat allow that the end justifies the means.

How does Jupiter deal with conflict? By turning towards the higher purpose. When Jupiter has enough ayana bala, the person is able to gain in understanding and see the higher purpose of the conflict. They can see the greater good. If Jupiter is in the Southern hemisphere, the person cannot see how and why they got into the conflict and very often the conflict can overcome them because they don’t have the understanding to see the greater good. Jupiter is the planet of forgiveness and acceptance, and in conflict, forgiveness is very important. Jupiter with low ayana bala will find it difficult to forgive. They won’t be forgiving in times of conflict and will find it very difficult to wish a person well after the adversity has worked itself out.

Venus needs to be in the North as well. This is odd because Venus is the guru of the Asuras. Venus’ goal is to teach us that every opportunity has a price and that price needs to be worth the opportunity. And only the good things in life are worth the price we have to pay. In the context of conflict, Venus in the North can understand that the price that needs to be paid is way too high. When Venus is in the Southern hemisphere, Venus cannot see that the price is too high and will end up regretting the decision, whatever that may be. Venus’ job in conflict is too smooth conflict over, this being attributed to Venus’ role as the great diplomat and comforter. His job is to negotiate a peace treaty. His job is to evaluate what is worth fighting for and what can be let go. If the peace treaty is so bad, it may be worth it to continue fighting. When Venus is in the South, he cannot see if it is worth fighting for or

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keeping peace. This is in the context of all conflictual things. Venus is always the 2nd most important planet in resolving conflict as Venus always works closely with Mars. It’s important for Venus to have enough Ayana Bala so that he knows when its more auspicious to fight and when its more auspicious to make peace. If he is stuck in the world of nastiness, then he cannot properly evaluate the worth of a fight or making peace. Venus being desire is also our decisions that bring those desires closer. If we desire to smoke cigarettes because it feels good, then we cannot see that farther down the line we will end up paying a huge price for this action, a bigger price than the worth of the comforting feeling of smoking. This is just one example of how Venus works.

Saturn is a servant. Understandably, he feels comfortable in the realm of the Demons because Saturn is our ability to bear suffering. No one can win every conflict, so throughout the course of life, we must periodically endure loss. If Saturn has a strong ayana bala or the farther south he is, the more he is able to see the concepts of "I can handle losing" and "I can handle the harsh reality". If Saturn does not have sufficient ayana bala or is too far North, the person cannot handle the harsh realities of life and will lament, "It’s just not fair that I’m suffering". The person gets frustrated because they do not want to pay their dues. When we have to lose, when we have to pay our dues, then Saturn helps us realize that that is just a part of life. If Saturn has low ayana bala and is in the Northern Hemisphere with the devas, he is a slave that wants to be the king. Saturn with the Devas gets very frustrated and impatient in getting to where he needs to go in life.

Moon wants to be far South. Moon needs to be in the realm of the Demons to be happy. One would not think that the Moon would want to associate with demons as the Moon represents the Mind. But we must look at this in terms of how a person handles conflict. The Moon is a receptive planet, it is not a doer, so when adversity and conflict presents itself to the consciousness which is the Moon, the consciousness must absorb the adversity because it cannot do anything to make it better. The consciousness is happier to become one with the conflict and then the conflict disappears. This concept of becoming one with something is talked about in the Tao Te Ching. When the Moon is in the North, then the Moon drowns in "shoulds". Things should be this way and I must do something to change them. The Moon is not a doing planet, it is receptive and is most effective at doing nothing. People with the moon in the South do much better with children. Raising children is very conflictual and a Moon with high ayana bala is tolerant of the everyday conflicts that arise with raising children. When the Moon is in the South, it does not have an agenda when dealing with conflict, the Moon adapts to its environment. The Moon in the South with the demons has empathy and tolerates the conflict. The Moon in the North cannot tolerate any stupidity or irrationality. If the Moon is empathetic it can heal the conflict. No matter how painful it is, if we open ourselves up to it, then it naturally goes away, and can become a blissful experience. It Saturn or Mars are on the Moon in the natal chart, then the person will naturally have more conflict and suffering, but if the Moon has high ayana bala, then the native can open themselves up to these things, and accept them, and even find bliss from them.

Mercury always has 30 points of ayana bala so it is never lacking. The more north or south he is, the more points he gets. Mercury is happy in the North or South, he wants to go to

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the extreme. Mercury is the manager, the guy who runs the corporation, the president’s chief of staff. To manage, he has to look at the statistics and make things better. The further North Mercury is, the better he is able to see how to make something better. The other part of management is dealing with problems. The further South Mercury is, the more he is able to manage his way past the obstacles, the more he is able to solve problems. Mercury tries to negotiate himself out of the conflict. When in the North, he negotiates with the goal of making things better, when in the South, he negotiates with the goal of just getting through the problem.

The planet with the lowest ayana bala score is the planet the person gets most conflicted about. It is the planet that is very difficult to use when called upon to solve conflict.

Drig Bala

Requirements for Drig Bala are that the planet should have a positive value and not a negative value. Drig Bala is the aspectual strength. This is measured by the benefic or malefic aspects to the planet. The Moon rules Drig Bala because the Moon rules receptivity, and the planet is being receptive when receiving aspects. Drig Bala lets us see the help or hindrance the planets are receiving when they try to manifest. Circumstances help or hinder the person from the effective use of the planet.

The most important planet to have with positive Drig Bala is the Moon. The Moon will make us suffer if it has a lot of cruel aspects to it. With many malefic aspects, we are receptive to more cruel and negative things. When someone has a lot of planets with negative drig bala, it seems that whatever they try to do is blocked and many obstacles present themselves. Drig Bala lets us see all the obstacles a planet meets with when it tries to do its thing. Sun, Mars, Saturn will have a higher drig bala than Mercury, Jupiter or Venus because there are more malefics then benefics. This all means when that when we try to express our malefics, these malefics have an easier time doing what their job rather than benefics.

Cruel planets are concerned with doing the very difficult things. When we try to do very difficult things, we find more help from others than if we try easier things. An example: If you see a man on the street corner holding a sign that says "Please give, I have cancer" and then farther down the road you see a guy holding a sign that says "Please give, I want cable", who are you going to give money to? Look at all the money given to victims of Katrina. What if everyone in New Orleans got together and put out a national bulletin with the message, "Please help us, we want to send our kids to college". Would they receive more money for that or for the suffering they endured from the hurricane? The point is that when we try to do more difficult things, we get more help.

If a planet has a high negative Drig Bala, as the person pursues those things ruled by that planet, then they will have a lot of frustration. A planet with a positive number will have an easier time of it.

If Sun has negative Drig Bala, then every time the person tries to do something career or

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leadership oriented, they will have many obstacles. Their self-esteem will suffer. When Drig Bala of the Sun is positive, then the person will fulfill their responsibilities easily, but if low, the person will have trouble fulfilling their responsibilities.

If the Moon has negative Drig Bala, the person’s mental outlook and attitude will suffer a lot more because the Moon is our perception of our lives. If the Moon has high Drig Bala, then the person will see their life a lot better than it really is. The Moon really is so important to have positive Drig Bala. It’s the feeling we get from everything. If we get help from somewhere, but the Moon is negative Drig Bala, then we will perceive the help negatively. A person may help us get a job but they may do it in such a way as to make us feel bad about ourselves.

When we have a challenges to overcome, when there are conflicts to be resolved, then positive Drig Bala Mars will be able to do it without added stress. Just the opposite for negative Drig Bala Mars. A negative Drig Bala Mars will be given obstacles when it tries to assert its will power. Logic will go far for a person with a positive Drig Bala Mars and for a negative Drig Bala Mars, the person’s use of logic will be met with irrationality and frustration.

Mercury is the ability to concretely manifest. When we need to get the job done, Mercury is the one to do it. Mercury with positive Drig Bala will be able to easily get the job done and manifest goals. Craftsmanship type things will also go well because Mercury rules craftsmanship. In communicating, it there is negative Drig Bala for Mercury, then the person will meet with adversity when trying to communicate his views.

Jupiter rules learning and knowledge. When Jupiter has negative Drig Bala, then when we try to study or learn, we will encounter a lot of obstacles and stresses. Jupiter is children, philosophy and wealth. If Jupiter has negative Drig Bala, then a person will encounter stress and conflict when dealing with these things.

In encountering and managing relationships, if Venus has negative Drig Bala then it will be a rough road in the love life and the partner will provide much stress. High Drig Bala of Venus will reduce the stress of the break-up and the partner will not be a source of stress.

Saturn is used when we have to weather the adversities of life. Positive Drig Bala for Saturn will find a lot of peace and harmony when he surrenders and suffering through difficulties will be easier. Negative Drig Bala Saturn will have a difficult time of it in surrendering to suffering. In this case, the person should take the path of Mars and use their will power to overcome obstacles and challenges.

Events and situations ruled by planets with positive Drig Bala with go a lot more smoothly and with less stress and obstacles. Events, situations and people ruled by planets with negative drig bala will cause a lot more stress and provide more adversity for the native. If you want a stress free life, then concentrate on positive Drig Bala planets. When in the dasa of a positive Drig Bala planet, life will feel less stressful and happier.

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Charts that don’t have a lot of conjunctions usually have higher values for Drig Bala. If you have a chart where the planets are spread out and across from each other then the aspectual values will increase.

Remedial measures are good for any planet that is low in Drig Bala. Take the Bach Flower remedy for that planet. If for gems, wear the color of that planet’s Moolatrikona Rasi.

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