Electional Astrology

Muhurta is based on a concept that if care is taken of the beginning, naturally end will take care of itself. It is a part of Vedic Astrology that helps person in choosing the most possible auspicious and favourable day and time for commencing important work and conducting sacred ceremonies like Upanayan, Marriage, Moving into new home, starting new work etc.

With the expansion of awareness, mass of people have been found interested in knowing best Muhurta for their concern because it is believed that by choosing best Muhurta if a work is done, possibility of expected good result and success in that work goes very high. It means, if destiny has provided something opposite related to that work, we can dilute the same by opting best Muhurta. So, Muhurta advocates the freewill of human being.

Muhurta is a time span of 48 minutes (which is equal to two ghati) taken into account from Sunrise. in Indian Astrology, the day is said to commence from sunrise. There are 30 muhurtas in a nakshatra ahoratra. The period from sunrise to local noon is divided into 7½ Muhurta as is the period between local noon and sunset. In a similar manner the period from sunset to midnight and midnight to the next sunrise is divided into 7½ Muhurta each (7½ Muhurta x 4 = 30 muhurta). These four points of time - sunrise, local noon, sunset and midnight are the four gayatri pada. Each of the four time span between these points measuring 7½ Muhurta is called a Prahara. So, the four (4) Prahara make a day.

For Muhurtha, Panchanga Shuddhi is necessary. Panchanga Shuddhi implies auspiciousness of tithi (lunar day), vara (weekday), nakshatra (constellation), yoga (joint motion of sun and moon amounting to multiples of 800 angular minutes) and karana (half a lunar day). All must be auspicious. In tithi, 4th, 6th, 8th, 12th, 14th, full moon (purnima) and new moon (amavasya) should be avoided. Tuesday and Friday are suitable for all purposes. Tuesday and Saturday are considered inauspicious but they are acceptable for surgical operations. Tuesday is avoided except when it is 10th 12th or 16th day of the child birth for his Namkarana. Bharani and Krittika Nakshatras are also considered bad for all purposes. Last parts of Ashlesha, Jyestha and Revati also should be avoided. Vishti Karana is very bad while bava and taitil are auspicious. 6th, 9th, 10th, 17th and 27th Yoga are inauspicious.

Thereafter Lagna Shuddhi is done. For this, auspicious Lagna or time for Muhurta should be obtained. Debilitated or retrograded Lagna Lord should be avoided. Lagnesh should not be in enemy sign or 8th house. All planets are considered auspicious in 11th house. Sun and Saturn in 3rd or 8th house, Moon in 3rd or 12th house, Mars in 3rd or 6th house, Mercury and Venus in 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 9th or 10th house and Rahu in 2nd, 5th, 6th, 8th, 9th, 10 or 12th house are auspicious. Venus, Mercury or Jupiter in Lagna cancels all doshas in Muhurta Chart. Generally, benefic in angles or konas, malefic in 3rd, 6th, 11th houses with 8th and 12th house vacant are best. Lagna should be strong and 7th house be better vacant. 8th and 12th sign from Janama Rashi are good for Muhurta Lagna. 8th house if vacant in all cases, it is auspicious. Nature of an activity also should be matched with the nature of sign.

For normal purposes, people take into account one or more of tithi or nakshatra or chandra bala or tara bala or rahu kaal. For daily routine nature of work astrologer suggests to consider Rahu Kaala and Chaughadiay also. Abhijit Muhurta is taken as auspicious for all purposes.

PANCHANG

Panchang means five limbs which are i) Vaar ii) Tithi iii) Nakshatra iv) Yoga and v) Karan.

Vaar (Day): As we know there are 7 days in a week viz. Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saurday.

The first day of Săt Yuga i.e. the first day of Mahayuga starts from Sunday. As we know, there are 24 hours in a day; each hour or Hora is ruled by a planet starting from the same sequence as mentioned above. After Sun, second Hora belongs to Venus followed by Mercury, Moon, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, again Sun, Venus likewise till we count 24 Horas or hours. The day will finish after 24 horas and we enter into next day with 25th Hora. If you calculate, we get Moon as 25th Hora lord so Monday is the next day after Sunday. Likewise, please count further and we get 25th hora of Mars so Tuesday.

It is important to remember for predictive astrology that everyday starts with its own hora of 1 hour starting from Sunrise time. Remedies related to a planet gives best result if performed in its own hora or hora of friendly planet. If remedies (related to a planet) are performed in the hora of lord of sign of debilitation planet, it gives extremely poor results. For example we wish to perform remedy for Saturn on Saturday. Starting from Sunrise, the pattern is Saturn-Jupiter-Mars. This means third hora belongs to Mars who is lord of Aries, the debilitation point of Saturn. All remedies performed in this hora will yield negative results instead of positive. We will discuss about remedial measures in detail later.

Tithi: There are 15 tithis each in Shukla and Krishna paksha. One kala of moon is referred as Tithi. They are as under:

1. Pratipada - Nanda Agni

2. Dwitya - Bhadra Brhama

3. Tritya - Jaya Gauri

4. Chaturthi - Rikta Ganesh

5. Panchmi - Purna Naag

6. Shashti - Nanda Kaartik

7. Saptami - Bhadra Surya

8. Ashtami - Jaya Shiv

9. Navmi - Rikta Durga

10. Dashmi - Purna Yam

11. Ekadashi - Nanda Vishwadeva

12. Dwadshi - Bhadra Vishnu

13. Tryodashi - Jaya Kaamdeva

14. Chaturdashi - Rikta Shiv

15. Purnima or Amavasya - Purna Chandra or Pitra

Nakshatra: There are 27 constellations or Nakshatra . Abhijit Nakshatra is not used in predictive astrology but in Muhurata (auspicious time of a work) only. Each Nakshatra has four charana of 3 degree 20 minutes each. They are as under:

Ashwini : Chu, chay, cho, Laa

Bharani : Lee, Lu, Lay, Lo

Krittika : Aa, Ee, uu(udhar), Aay

Rohini : O, vaa, vee, voo

Mrigashira : vay vo, kaa, kKee

Ardra : Ku, Gha, da,Chha

Punarvasu : Kay, Ko, Haa, Hee,

Pushya : Hu, Hay, Ho, Daa

Ashlesha : Dee, Du, Day, Do

Magha : Ma, Me, Mu, May

Purva Phalguni : Mo, Ta, Ti, Tu

Uttara Phalguni : Tay, To, Pa, Pee

Hasta : Pu, Sha, ana, Tha

Chitra : Pay, Po, Ra, Ree

Swati : Ru, Ray, Ro, Ta

Vishakha : Tee, Tu, Tay, To

Anuradha : Na, Nee, Nu, Nay

Jyeshtha : No, Ya Yee, Yu

Mula : Yay, Yo, Bhaa, Bhi i

Purvashada : Bhu, Dhaa, Fhaa, Ddhaa

Uttarashada : Bhay, Bho, Jaa, Jee

(Abhijit) : Ju, Jay, Jo, Khaa

Shravana : Khee, Khu, Khay, Kho

Dhanishtha : Gaa, Gee, Gu, Gay

Shatbisha : Go, Saa, See, Su

Purva Bhadrapada : Say,so,Da,Dee

Uttara Bhadrapada : Du, Tha, Jjha, ana

Revati : Day, Do, Chaa, Chee Pushaa

Yoga: It indicates the time taken to cover 13 degrees 20 minutes or 800 minutes by (both) Sun and Moon. Unlike Nakshatra, yoga is just measurement of time of distance only. There are 27 yogas which are as under

Vishkumbh, Preeti, Aayushman, Saubhagya, Shobhan, Atigand, Sukarma, Dhriti, Shool, Gand, Vridhi, Dhruv, Vyaghaat, Harshan, Vajra, Sidhi, Vyatipaat,

Variyaan, Parigh, Shiv, Sidh, Sadhya, Shubh, Shukla, Brahm, Ayndra, Vaidhriti.

Karan: Half of a Tithi is called a Karan so there are two Karans in one Tithi. There are 11 Karans viz. 1) BAV 2) BAALAV 3) KAULAV 4) TAITIL 5) GARA 6) VAANIJ 7) VISHTI OR BHADRA 8) SHAKUNI 9) CHATUSHPAAD 10) NAAG 11) KINSTUGHNA The first 7 of these Karans are char or moveable so it cannot be predetermined on which dates these karans are going to occur, but the last 4 karans are sthira or fixed and hence can be predetermined. Sthira karan occurs near Amavasya or no moon day and are considered in-auspicious.

Varsha (Year): There are primarily three types of years:

a) Solar year : It starts when Sun enters Aries sign and is approximately of 365 days and relates to apparent movement of Sun in 12 signs

b) Chandra (Lunar) Year: It starts from Chaitra (lunar) month and Pratipada tithi of shukla paksha. There are approximately 354 days in a lunar year.

c) Brihaspatya Year: Brihaspatya means Jupiter and one Brihaspatya year is equal 12 months, the average time taken by Jupiter in a sign. It is also referred as Sanvatsar.

Ayana: There are two Ayana viz Uttrayana and Dakshinayan of 6 months each. When Sun transits from Capricorn to Gemini, the period is known as Uttrayana. And when Sun transits from Cancer to Sagittarius, the period is referred as Dakshinayan. Ayana is calculated from Sayana Sankranti only.

Ritu (seasons): There are six types of ritus or seasons in a year. viz. Shishir, Basant and Gresham in Uttrayana and

Varsha, Sharad and Haymant in Dakshinayan

Ritus (Seasons) Months

Gresham Ritu Summers June - July

Varsha Ritu Rains July - Sept

Sharad Ritu Autumn Oct - Nov

Haymant Ritu Early Winter Dec - Jan

Shishir Ritu Winter Jan - Mar

Basant Ritu Spring April - May

Maas (month): There are two types of months a) Solar Month - It is equal to Sun’s transit in a sign and b) Lunar Month - It is transit of Moon from a full Moon day to another full Moon day. There are 12 lunar months named as under :

Lunar Month - Solar month

1. Chaitra (Mar-Apr)

2. Vaishakh (Apr-May)

3. Jyestha (May-June)

4. Aashadh (June-July)

5. Shravan (July-Aug)

6. Bhadrapad (Aug-Sep)

7. Ashwin (Sep-Oct)

8. Kaartik (Oct-Nov)

9. Margsheersh (Nov-Dec)

10. Paush (Dec-Jan)

11. Maagh (Jan-Feb)

12. Fhalgun (Feb-Mar)

Paksha: There are two paksha of 15 tithis each in one lunar month viz. Shukla Paksha and Krishna Paksha. Shukla means bright or white and Krishna means dark or black. Starting from Amavasya (no moon day) and up to Purnima (full moon day) is shukla paksha because kala or brightness of moon increases in this period. From the full moon day to no moon day, 15 days period is referred as Krishna paksha as brightness of moon decreases in this period.