Varahamihira

The pages here would contain articles on various topics of Jyotish. Please visit
regularly as I shall update these pages frequently. I express my gratitude to Sri
Jagannath Center (SJC) & Pt. Sanjay Rath, my Guru for helping me advancing in
my Jyotish Studies.

Punya Chakra
- February 15, 2008

Punya Chakra is used for determining the whereabouts of the soul after death. The
term Punya means good deed as in Hinduism death is considered as the eternal truth
and the freedom from the world of suffering, the mrityu loka or earth. Hence the chart
casted at the moment of death is called the Punya Chakra, which in lay men's terms
can be translated as the horoscope of death. Similar to the birth chart, which shows the
details of the experiences of the soul after birth, the death chart shows the details of the
soul after death. This is an important tool of vedic-astrology to decipher the condition
and the whereabouts of the soul after death based on which various obsevances such
as Sraddha etc. can be done to pacify a wandering soul.

So far this tool has been a closely guarded secret of the Sri Jagannath Center tradition
and was disclosed for the first time for the aspiring astrologers by Pt. Sanjay Rath in
2005 in the SJC west coast conference. In this article, I will enunciate the principles and
also analyse some charts to make the concepts clearer.

KEY HOUSES IN PUNYA CHAKRA

The houses which are key to the analysis of the punya chakra are the 1st, 6th, 7th, 8th,
10th and 12th houses.

1st house: The exact nature of death can be seen from the 1st house. If there are
malefics in the 1st house or it is occupied with Gulika or Mandi, the death of the native
could be painful. In addition to the 1st house, the trines i.e., the 5th and 9th should also
be checked to ascertain the details of the moment of dearth. Presence of benefics in
the lagna or the trines can indicate peaceful death such as dying in sleep or in leaving
the body in deep meditation.

After death, the soul is likely to stay in this planet for sometime before it is guided to
other planes of existence. Shastras say that the minimum duration of stay in this planet
is of 12days and in most cases the maximum duration is of 9 years. However, the
maximum duration can be overridden by specific yogas, whereby the soul would
wander even longer. The duration of stay can be seen from the natural duration
governed by the planets and the navamsa occupied by them in the punya chakra. The
natural duration of planets are as follows:

Moon - a day**
Mars - a week**
Venus - a fortnight
Jupiter- a month
Mercury- a season, which is same as 2 months period
Sun - an ayana which is same as 6 months period (the period of uttra
Saturn - a year

If lets say in someone's death chart, Sun is placed in the Lagna and is placed in 5th
navamsa. The duration, the soul will stay in earth would be 5 ayanas which is
equivalent to (5 ayana *6 months) 30 months or 2.5 years.

**For Moon, it is always 12 days irrespective of the navamsa of the Moon. However, for
Mars, if the duration arrived is less than 12 days, then it is 12 days, however if it is more
than 12 days, that many days the soul will stay on earth.

The exact duration can be found by using the following formula

3020’
Planetary duration * Planet's longitude /3

6th house: Sixth is the house of enemies which represent both external and internal
enemies. Since in this horoscope we are not concerned about the material things, there
is no question of external enemies. Thus in the punya chakra, the 6th house represent
the internal enemies. The shastras (classical texts) speak of six enemies which go by
the name shad-ripus, which create hurdles in the spiritual upliftment of the native. By
observing Yama and Niyama as mentioned in the yoga sutras of Maharishi Patanjali,
one can get over the weaknesses. The weaknesses can be mapped to six planets
based on which the weaknesses the native suffered during the lifetime can be
deciphered from the punya chakra. Before we do the mapping, we need to understand
about the weaknesses. We also should understand that the sattvik (steady state)
planets Sun, Moon and Jupiter cannot represent any weaknesses as the root of all
weakness is either Tamas (ignorance) or Rajas (predominance of energy).

The SIX weaknesses (the shadripus)

Kama: Kama means attraction and is most widely used to
 represent the attraction between male and female. The
god of love Cupid is known as Kamadev in sanskrit and
represent the sexual attraction between male and female.
However, Kama is not always that bad as this attraction
between opposite sexes cause the entire creation to
continue as without progeny, there is no continuation of
lineage. In addition, all souls are ultimately attracted to
Krishna and thus HE becomes the ultimate Purusha and all
the souls or the material creation which is ever eager to
disappear in HIM becomes the ultimate Prakriti or the
feminine principle. Thus the Rasa Leela in the transidental
level shows the eagerness of all the living being to Unite
with Krisna and get ONE with him. Hence, the beejakshara
for Krishna is Klim which also known as the Kama Beeja.
However, at negetive level, the same attraction take the
colour of lust which is nothing but being driven by the
attitude of having sex others without having the feeling of
Love. Thus Kama at a gross material level is nothing but
union of male and female body, while at a transidental
level, it is the union of two soul, the purusha and the
prakriti. The union of two bodies whether at material or
spiritual level is guided by Planet Venus and hence it is
significator of Kama. This weakness is predominant in
Rajas guna and hence there also is a positive side to it,
which be enhanced to reach god.

Krodha: Krodha means anger and there is no ambiguity in

assigning a planet to this. It is well known that Mars is
known as the God of War and is endowed with
commanding qualities. The root of anger is Fire and hence
only firey Mars qualifies to signify this ripu. A peaceful
mind is a mind in perfect harmony with the nature and
hence full of sattva while a angry mind is quite destructive
as indicated by the tamasic nature of Maritian fire and
hence a weakness which should be overcome to be in
harmony with others.

Lobha: Lobha means greed or the desire to have something

out of proportion. Desire for various things in this material
 world is quite natural, however when the desire becomes
un-natural and it involves an insatiated mentality, where
the desire becomes unending, it becomes a weakness. Rahu
is the planet behind greed as being opposite of Ketu, who
rules of renunciating all material objects, it makes the
native run after something which is not really needed for
him. Thus the native is under a shadowy viel inside which
his ability to judge his true needs become cloudy and he
feels a insatiable thrust for material objects. Gautama
Buddha said that the root cause of all birth are the desires
of the material objects which the native wants to
experience. Since the soul cannot experience material
objects without a body, it needs to take birth to fulfil his
desires. Hence Rahu becomes the significator for getting
entangled into the shackles of the material world, while its
opposite, Ketu signifies breaking free from the shakles and
thus liberation. This weakness is predominant in Tamas
Guna.

Moha: Moha means delusion which happens due to Maya

or the illusion of the material world. Although the soul is
free from all material bondages, he gets attached to the
material world due to mana or the mind. This happens due
to delusion of the mind which thinks that material
existence is the only truth and there is nothing beyond it.
The truth is the field of activity of the mind is only
possible in this material existence when a false ego makes
the native differentiate himself as someone different from
the eternal soul, the parama purusha. Since Saturn
signifies lie, it represents the great lie, the mind is telling
itself, that the material existence is the only true existing
and there is nothing beyond that. Only under the influence
of a Guru (Jupiter), can the mind realise that the material
existence is untrue and is momentory and there is
something beyond it, which is true and is also eternal.
Thus Saturn signifies this ripu which is predominant in
Tamas guna.

Mada: Mada means arrogance, which many also associate

 with alcohol. The association of alcohol with mada is also
apt as alcohol makes a person lose his brain and thus
make him forget both good and bad thoughts in his mind
and thus making him headless. Hence a person under
alcohol cannot control over his senses and end up doing
headless acts. Similarly when the identification of the
person with ego is very strong, he thinks himself as the
king of all consider others as non-entity in front of him.
Under such arrogance, the person behaves nothing less
than a headless person and end up doing headless things.
The condition of such person is similar to a wild elephant
who rumles over and shatters everything coming to his
way. Such elephant is aptly called Mada-mast hathi, in
english which means, elephant exhilerated in pride. In
mythology, Ketu is called the tail of the demon whose
head was cut by lord Vishnu during the churning of the
ocearn. Thus it represents some who is headless. One one
hand, the positive side of headlessness represent total
surrender to god by renunciating ones eqo and material
possession (which happens when you have a head) and
thus show liberation; while on the other hand, the
negetive side, it represent going against the social norms
and natural laws and doing something which is completely
unexpected such as terrorism etc. Thus when Ketu's
headlessness is applied to the material world, it becomes a
weakness, while when this transcends into the spiritual
world, it makes the person liberate from the bondage of
rebirth. Since in material plane, Ketu is a tamasik planet
(like Mars), this weakness is predominant in tamas.

Matsarya: Matsarya can be translated to envy or jealousy.

The root of jealousy is comparision of one's ownself with
others. Although this becomes the prime driver of growth
in this material world, it becomes a weakness in the
spiritual world. We all know that only when someone
shuns the desire to enjoy the material things in this life,
he is free from this matarial world. The desire to compare
one self comes from the desire to grow in this material
world as shown by the upachayas 3rd and 6th, which are
 naturally ruled by Mercury. This shows that one should
keep doing his duties irrespective of what he gets. Based
on karma of different people, they may be endowed with
different lives and one should not compare himself and
complain to god about this discrepancies. Instead only
when is free of the feelings of jealousy, then only he can
have full faith on god and trust all his actions without
judgement. It is said that jealousy becomes a roadblock
even in cause of jealousy of spiritual nature. Envy is
caused by the nature of human mind which differentiates
one from others, where one sees other to be more
prosperous than oneself and this faculty of human mind is
governed by childish Mercury. It is no wonder that it is
natural to see jealousy in young kids who always compare
this possessions with their peers and want those which
others possess. Thus something which can help one grow
in the material world can cause roadblock in the spiritual
arena and thus Jealousy is considered as one of the
weaknesses. Thus weakness is however, predominant in
rajas and is thus easy to get over, unlike those which are
predominant in tamas.

In the book the spiritual dimensions of vedic astrology, the author Robert Koch gave the
mapping with the shadripus as:

Kama : Venus
Krodha : Mars
Lobha : Saturn
Moha : Moon
Mada : Sun
Matsarya : Mercury

He additionally says that since the nodes do not have bodies, they do not rule over any
of the weaknesses. I humbly beg to differ with the author. Since the weakness comes
from darkness, the nodes are the prime governor of the weaknesses being shadowy
planets, while the luminaries Sun and the Moon cannot be associated with any
weakness. Hence the mapping I have given here is:
Kama : Venus
Krodha : Mars
Lobha : Rahu
Moha : Saturn
Mada : Ketu
Matsarya : Mercury

Discerning readers can evaluate my arguments and form their own opinions on which is
the right mapping.

7th house: 7th house is the house of desire and is also called the dvara. It is said that
soul enters the planet from the 7th house and also leaves from that house and hence is
termed as dvara, which means door. The disposition of this house in the death chart will
show whether the native would be born again in this planet or he is liberated from the
cycle of re-birth. More number of planets in this house show more rebirths while no
planets show no re-birth. Placement of a stronger planet in this house can even show
multiple births before he can relinquish his desires and attain moksha. If there are
planets in both 7th and 12th house, the native is likely to take birth after staying in the
lokas shown by the 12th house for certain time. The duration after which the native has
to take birth again can be seen from the natural periods of the planets placed in the 7th
house (refer to the lagna section for details).

8th house: 8th house is the house of Sin, something which becomes the cause of re-
birth. This shows the consolidated Sin's done by the native in his lifetime. The nature of
the sin can be deciphered from the various weaknesses as mentioned above. The
punishments for the Sins are quite grave and if they are not forgiven, the native has to
take birth for redemption. The Sin's can be forgiven only when devaguru Jupiter has
aspects the 8th house.

10th house: 10th house is the house of karma. It is known that the future of an
individual is determined from the karma he did before and hence this house is very
important in judging the state of native after death. If the native is worked without
attachment, then he can attain moksha, whereas if he worked with specific results in
mind, he has to come back to earth to experience those results. The 10th house in the
punya chart shows the sum total of all karmas performed by the native in his lifetime. If
the 10th lord is strong and the 10th house is under benefic influence, the native did
good work. Similarly if the 10th lord as well as the house are weak and afflicted, the
native has done bad deed and he has to take birth for redemption. The nature of work
can also seen from the placement of 10th lord in various houses as well as the
influence of various house lords/ planets on the 10th house. If the 10th lord is strong
and is influenced by Jupiter and is also connected to the 12th house, the native can
attain moksha, else the chances of taking rebirth is quite high.

12th house: 12th house is the house of moksha or liberation from the cycle of rebirth.
One attains Moksha if Jupiter is either placed in the 12th or aspects it with Graha drsti.
Jupiter represents the wish of the god and hence it indicate that only irrespective of
whatever deed a person do, he might not get moksha unless god desired to give him
so.

In Bhagavatgita, lord Krishna says that the person attains that, which he was thinking at
the moment of his death. Thus only when someone is thinking about God, he can attain
him after death. Thus 12th house also shows things which is dominant in the mind of a
dying person. Thus it is important to think about god at all times as no one knows when
the critical moment of death comes face to face with someone. Only when one
remembers god at all times can remember him at the moment of death, else he will
think of those things which happened to be there in him mind majority of his life.

Now, if a person does not attain moksha, he can go to various other spiritual planes of
existence which are called the Lokas. There are 7 lokas including Earth and similarly
there are 7 Talas, which makes it 14 lokas and talas. The Lokas are full of spiritual
energies while the talas are full of darkness and ignorance. The 7 lokas are as follows:

Bhurloka - Mars
Bhuvarloka - Sun
Svargaloka - Venus
Janarloka - Moon
Taparloka - Saturn
Mahaloka - Mercury
Satyaloka - Jupiter

To be continued...

OM TAT SAT

Upendra Agnihotram said…

||Vyam Vyasadevaya Namah ||
 Great Article on Punya Chart which is very rarely used by most of
astrologers. Would it be possible for you to explain this by example
chart? That will be more useful for a student like me.

Regards,
Upendra
Monday, February 25, 2008 2:13:00 AM

tychester said…
Very nice and informative.
Please continue the article, shed some light on Talas and more phala
based on Punya chakra. Any shaanthi / corrective measure to be taken in
case of male cs would help everybody...
Thanks for your time & effort.
Thursday, April 16, 2009 11:09:00 PM

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VARAHAMIHIRA

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people see me in so many different
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