Effect of a Yogakaraka Planet

This is essentially a rehash of my old articles with some mathematics thrown in.

Further to the article on “General Strength of a Bhava”, here is a small technique for calculating the strength of a yogakaraka planet. Dr. B.V. Raman prescribes giving points to each of the parameters mentioned in the above article. When coupled with Shadbala and residential strength, this gives a good way of judging if a planet is indeed capable of giving results of the yoga it is involved in.

Just because a planet is involved in a yoga, it does not mean that all the results of such a yoga will show up during the person’s lifetime. The planet should have the intention as well as the capacity to provide such a result.

The intention of a planet to provide good results is measured by the beneficence associated with it in the horoscope. We can similarly measure the intention of a planet harming the prospects of a horoscope. If we start assigning points to various parameters:

• Give +1 if the planet is a functional benefic for the ascendant, a 0 if it a neutral and –1 if it is a malefic lord. For details, see the article on benefic and malefic planets.
• If it is in its own, moola-trikona, exaltation or friendly sign, add 1. If it is debilitated, combust or in an inimical sign, subtract 1.
• For association with benefic lords (see “rules of combination of planets”) a +1, otherwise –1.
• Count the aspect strength on the planet. For all the aspecting planets throwing a drishti on this planet, add or subtract units if the aspecting planet is beneficial or malefic in the chart. Partial drishi is to be considered here, e.g. usually, 3, 10 is 1/4th dristi, 5, 9 is 1/2 dristi and 4, 8 is 3/4th drishti. 7th house aspect is of course a full dristi for all planets.

If the values are very much on the positive side, the planet is considered to be a benefic. It will be intentionally good for the chart. For values close to zero, it is considered feebly beneficial. It is considered a malefic otherwise.

The capacity of a planet to do good comes from its strength in the chart. For this, Shadbala and residential strength needs to be looked at.

It may happen that a planet is very beneficial for a horoscope based on the parameters mentioned above, but does not have the right Shadbala or residential strength. It will therefore not be able to influence the chart and the effects of the yoga will not be seen. A malefic planet may as well lose its capacity to do harm if this hapens.