Soumya, saumayana (Son of Soma/Moon)
Kumara (teenager)
Mercury
Intelligence, discrimination, mental process, analysis, problem-solving, articulation, handiness, skill
Communication, conversation, mental process, conceptual thought
Sexuality, relationships
Hands, hand-to-eye coordination
Information (vs. knowledge), technology, tools
Short journeys, short-term projects
Nose
Scripts, dialogs, protocols, all formalized communications
Superficial, surfaces, top layer of communication
telepathy
neutrality
cleverness, discrimination
workgroups, teams, neighbors
Professions: Sales, marketing, advertising, public relations
Shri Krishna Avatara (in some traditions)
Mercury:
from L. Mercurius "Mercury," the Roman god, originally a god of tradesmen & thieves, from merx "merchandise"
- "c.1150, from L. Mercurius "Mercury," the Roman god, originally a god of tradesmen& thieves, from merx "merchandise;" or perhaps from Etruscan& infl. by merx. Later he was associated with Gk. Hermes.
- The planet closest to the sun so called in classical Latin (c.1386 in Eng.). Sense of "silver-white metal, quicksilver" is first recorded c.1386, when elements were commonly associated alchemically with the planets. This one probably so associated for its mobility."
Budha:
awaking
intelligent , clever , wise
a wise or learned man , sage
a god
dog
a descendant of Soma, hence also called saumya, saumAyana
author of RVand father of Puru-ravas
identified with the planet Mercury; Mercury (regarded as a son of Soma or the moon)
Wednesday
Budhi is endowed with an attractive physique& the capacity to use words with many meanings. He is fond of jokes. He has a mix of all the three humors.
~~ BPHS Ch. 3 [Planetary Characters& Description], Shloka 26
The root function of language is to control the universe by describing it.
~~ James Baldwin, Stranger in the Village
Mercury rules Veda, writing, sculpture, medicines, expertise, ministership, speech, jokes, birds, couples, fame, Vanaspathi (i.e. a large forest tree which bears fruit apparently without any blossoms) & gold.
~~ Saravali, Ch. 7-13
... Mercury is a malefic if He joins a malefic ...
-- BPHS Ch. 3 (Graha Characteristics & Descriptions), Shloka 11
The 6th from Budha be also considered in regard to indications derivable from Ari Bhava.
-- BPHS Ch. 7, Shloka 39-43
Mercury is the planet associated with the nose and therefore any afflictions to him may find expression in the shape of the person suffering from nasal complaints.
~~ B.V. Raman, Three Hundred Important Combinations. (10th ed., Delhi, 1991). Originally published in 1947.
An afflicted Mercury indicates an increase in low class association & opponents, loss of wealth, fear of being confined, mean speech& an unsteady mind.
Budha is the karaka of neutral, skillful communication. 6th-from any house indicates animosity or disease in matters of that house.
6th-from-Budha will indicate any "imbalance of neutrality" in these communication areas, which are all the effects of imbalance (Ari being 12th-from-7, loss of balance) in the body, mind, spirit,& pocketbook :)
You may remember the story of how the devil and a friend of his were walking down the street, when they saw ahead of them a man stoop down and pick up something from the ground, look at it, and put it away in his pocket.
The friend said to the devil, "What did that man pick up?"
"He picked up a piece of the truth," said the devil.
"That is a very bad business for you, then," said his friend.
"Oh, not at all," the devil replied. "I am going to help him organize it."
Budha''s characteristics determine how a person organizes& develops information. When Mercury occupies His own signs of Mithuna& Kanya the native will be intelligent, articulate, good memory, mentally sharp & capable. S/he formulates problems quickly & clearly. Adults who have honed their mental skills will have a toolkit of heuristic devices - aphorisms, mnemonics, rules of thumb, models - which speed their thinking.
Drishti from negative grahas can reduce uccha or swakshetra Budha's excellence. But taken by itself, the strongest single indicator of analytical intelligence is an unimpeded Mercury, not too close to the Sun.
Budha's strongest location for clear articulation of ideas, incisive reasoning,& freedom from distraction is Budha's mulatrikona range: 16-20 degrees of Kanya, within the nakshatra of Hasta.
General expression of intelligence is shaped by Budha's rashi. In Shani's signs, the native may express his thoughts through a rigid, or limited perspective. These positions do not reduce the total intelligence, but only shape it towards less creative, more ideological expression which relies on fixed explanations.
In Meena the native may be an excellent problem-solver and have a broad perspective, as well as a good mental connection with children. The irony of neechha Budha is that Budha's pragmatic, technical intelligence becomes overextended in Guru's expansive, cosmic sign. The native bounces somewhat unpredictably between declaration of reality and philosophy, fact and theory, law and principle. He does not lack intelligence but lacks a mental resting place.
The Calculator
Budha is often called "the calculator" because He rules the repetitive mental actions.
Budha measures, rates, and paces.
Budha makes maps, routes, programs and plans.
Whichever domain Budha occupies, the native is busy calculating matters of that environment.
If Budha is healthy, the native can also articulate & explain what has been measured and project future plans based on continuous cycling of the established repeating pattern.
"Intelligence" reconsidered
Naturally, as the "measurer", Budha is the karaka for human language, mathematics, and music. But all mental pattern-recognition and repetitive mental behaviors fall into Budha's portfolio, whether these mental processes are articulated through expressive language or not.
Thus Budha is the karaka for "intelligence".
However it is important to note that "wisdom" is not included in Budha's portfolio (that is Guru) nor is "ethics" (Surya) nor "love" (Shukra, Guru, Moon).
Budha is essentially a piece of mental machinery which compulsively weighs, measures, and rates. Budha delivers no judgment on meaning or significance except as limited to agreed standards of qualitative or quantitative measurement.
Budha is a "neutral" graha whose mechanical actions must be chained to a greater force in order to accomplish a spiritual goal. Thus Budha's lord has a great deal of power over the outcome of Budha's behavior.
Uccha Budha, caveat emptor
Uccha Budha becomes a "systems" thinker, capable of consciously integrating simultaneous calculations regarding multiple and diverse cycles.
When Budha is uccha or swakshetra and thus lord of His own territory, His intelligence is unimpeded by a potentially restrictive lord but also ultimately unconstrained by moral or aesthetic concerns. Lacking direction from a supervising graha, Budha will blithely categorize, organize, articulate and plan using information available in the domain & rashi where He is placed.
Sometimes the smartest people make the biggest moral errors, especially in this materialistic age when Budha's mechanical information processing abilities are so highly prized.
Quality of the speaking voice essential to the educator's profession, is determined by conditions of the 2nd-house from lagna; however, 2nd-from-Mercury is also influential.
Guru is also a karaka for speech and particularly for language ability.
Top caliber speakers will have favorable Guru and favorable Budha, related in auspicious angles.
Meena's lord Guru only has only one enemy planet, & that is Budha!
Fallen Budha in Meena indicates inconsistent thinking.
Guru's universal, mystical sign Meena is a tough place for locally-focused, technically-minded Budha to function. The result is that Budha/Meena tends toward inarticulate, incorrect,& distracted mentality with poor problem-solving skills.
Budha/Meena with good aspects might be a remarkable musician or artist, a compassionate servant of humanity, or galaxy-piercing meditator who perceives huge universal truths. They will always however struggle with practical, technical mental tasks.
When neechha Budha's fallen status is corrected through Neechha banga, however, great genius occurs.
Neechha banga Budha gives the most brilliant results of all. Neechha banga Budha occupies Meena while also in kendra from key points like lagna and/or Chandra. The second prerequisite for neeccha banga is that Budha's dispositor should be extremely strong. Ideally, positive drishti occurs. Then, we see amazing genius like Albert Einstein.
However despite genius, these folks will continue to struggle with mundane problem-solving. (Einstein for example could not complete his own physics computations, & had poor relationship communication.)
Although strength of L-4& L-7 is also required success in higher academics (such as university teaching & research careers) auspicious Mercury is also major indicator of ability to articulate complex thoughts. Most people who earn Ph.D.'s will be found to have the strong positions of Mercury signifying verbal & written articulation & robustly analytical intelligence.
Permission to practice all three traditional professions - teaching, law,& medicine - requires advanced graduate education, so all practitioners of the professions will have some planetary combination of Jupiter, Mercury,& L4-/L-7/L-10 which distinguishes their career as intellectually distinguished.
However it is the professors & consultants in those fields who are the most intellectually engaged with their subject matter. So, when we see a strong Mercury in yoga with favorable Guru& a distinguished kendra lord, we expect not only a professional position, but also a degree of intellectual leadership within that profession.
Certain signs for Mercury are allied with specific professions.
Budha in Dhanus [Mercury in Sagittarius] is quite helpful for practice of law, particularly at the teaching & policy levels. If other factors collude, can be a professor of law or top government policy maker. (Can usually see both the forest& the trees.)
Budha in yuvati bhava in most signs gives a natural capacity to articulate contracts & agreements. A natural negotiator. In Dhanau rashi, excellent for the solicitor's profession, eventually becoming a judge.
Uccha Budha in Kanya is supremely articulate,& will flourish in any field of structured inquiry. This position has a natural affinity for medicine,& will often be found teaching, writing, diagnosing & prescribing in one of the medical traditions - whether tribal medicine, homeopathy, pharmaceutical, ayurveda, etc. Otherwise excellent in all analytical professions. (Always a decision-making professional of some stripe. See the gazillionaire investors Warren Buffet, Bill Gates,& the actor Christopher Reeves, who earned millions by speaking& writing even while quadriplegic.)
Swakshetra Budha in Mithuna is also highly articulate but His focus tends toward rapid, short-term communication & rather than Kanya-Budha's slower more comprehensive, longer-term logical inquiry. Mithuna-Budha thrives in any fast-paced business environment but they are easily bored in stodgy academics. E.g., Budha in Mithuna/7 enjoys commercial law.
Graha occupying 3rd-from-Budha
3rd-from-Budha is an inauspicious location for matters of mental health. Any planet in 3rd-from-Budha will cause distracted thinking, depressed thinking, compulsive thoughts, etc. according to the nature of that graha in 3rd-from-Budha.
This graha may give excellent results in other departments of life, but if it occupies 3rd-from-Budha it will cause some disruption of the neutral thinking process.
It is easier for the mental process to function unencumbered by strong feelings or opinions. The strong feelings & opinion, compulsive or habitual loops, and other draining or distracting concerns will be generated by the graha(s) in 3rd-from-Budha.
Even a very capable & aware thinker will recognize the "brain drain" effect of the graha 3rd-from-Budha in their mental life.
The strongest effect of this mental-drain phenomenon occurs during the mahadasha of Budha when the bhukti of the graha(s) which occupy 3rd-from-Budha comes onto the schedule. During these periods the native should be especially vigilant to maintain optimum mental health.
Malefics in 3rd-from-Budha will cause the worst effects, but benefics are also somewhat problematic in this angle.
Shani = depression, scarcity fears, poverty fears, self-isolation, insecurity, native perceives a lack of support and a crushingly heavy workload.
Rahu = obsessive/compulsive thought loops, intense disruptive desires, usually hungers for taboo objects or experiences or people.
Ketu = detachment and despair, disconnection, inability to find meaning, compulsive wandering.
Kuja = repetitive anger, need to dominate & win, self-righteousness, immature style of competition, sore loser, intolerance of weakness, Napoleon complex
Surya = cannot be in 3rd-from-Budha.
Shukra = excess concern with sensual pleasures, nervous concern with superficial appearance and petty social manners, distracted focus on getting attention.
Guru = minding other people's business, trying to save the world, sympathy where compassion is needed, simple solutions to complex questions, pollyanna complex
Protective Herb of Mercury:Achyranthes or Apamarga-bhasma
Ayurveda: it is bitter, pungent, heating, laxative, stomachic, carminative and useful in treatment of vomiting, bronchitis, heart disease, piles, itching abdominal pains, ascites, dyspepsia, dysentery, blood diseases etc.
Ayurvedic Preparation:
Apamarga Taila, Agnimukha etc.
Chemical Constituent:
Plant yields achyranthine.
Subject: Potato Garden
An old man lived alone in Idaho. He wanted to spade his potato garden, but it was very hard work. His only son, Bubba, who used to help him, was in prison. The old man wrote a letter to his son and mentioned his predicament.
Dear Bubba,
I am feeling pretty bad because it looks like I won't be able to plant my potato garden this year. I'm just getting too old to be digging up a garden plot. If you were here, all my troubles would be over. I know you would dig the plot for me.
Love, Dad
A few days later he received a letter from his son.
Dear Dad,
"For HEAVEN'S SAKE, Dad, don't dig up the garden! That's where I buried the GUNS!"
Love, Bubba
At 4 A.M. the next morning, a dozen FBI agents and local police officers showed up and dug up the entire area without finding any guns. They apologized to the old man and left.
That same day the old man received another letter from his son.
Dear Dad,
Go ahead and plant the potatoes now. It's the best I could do under the circumstances.
Love, Bubba
Law of Logical Argument:
Anything is possible if you don't know what you are talking about.
updated: 24 August 2008
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