VYAM VYASADEVAYA NAMAH

There are many planes of causation, but nothing escapes the law.

Jyotish Yoga - Bound Pairs in the Cosmos of Lights

Bhava YOGAs of the Rashi Chart

The "Rashi" or "Constellation" chart is the basic natal chart of Vedic Astrology. The Rashi chart is divided into 12 houses or "bhavas". These 12 houses function in 6 pairs - the six YOGAS of human life. "Yoga" in Sanskrit means "bound pair" or "com-bin[d]-ation."

• Yoga involves two forces that must work together to produce the result. Sanskrit "Yog" is the root of our English word "yoke." The truth of Yoga can easily be understood by thinking of the farmer's yoke that binds two oxen to pull a plow.

Another example of yoga is bending and stretching in "Ha-tha" Yoga. The two forces are Sun (ha) and Moon (tha) which produce Pressure (Sun) and Resistance (Moon). Hatha yoga combines pressure and resistance, effort & relaxation,  to gently & cleanse the body, resulting in a peaceful vitality that is the perfect preparation for meditation. It's a great example of a Yoga combining two forces to produce a desired result.

• The 12 houses (bhavas) of the vedic chart are arranged in Six Private-Public Yogas.

The houses never work alone. Their stabilizing, consciousness-generating power works by yoga, so that one's private experiences are always interacting with the experiences of others. The 6 yoked house-pairs create the structure which contains the full scope of civilized human life. The 6 yogas define the first 6 energy body membranes, and the first 6 chakras. (The seventh energy body membrane/seventh chakra is not subject to the constraints of human consciousness.)

• "All movement has six phases. The seventh brings return."I-Ching,

Have questions about Money? Look to the 2nd house, that shows what resources you were born with. Then look to house 8 - and see what resources you would access through marriage, or through legacies or lottery winnings. Remember what you are born with will go up and down depending on your dealings with other people and *their* finances!

Note house 8 is always considered the most inscrutable, difficult-to-understand house. Don't let "secret" house 8 mystify you! Start with the basic understanding that house 8 rules "spouse's mouth." It's naturally quite difficult to know another person's sensual experience. How can we really "know" how that chocolate cake tastes in another person's mouth? Unless you turn on your psychic intuition - and use senses *beyond* the 5 senses we are born using - you can't. But start to use your compassionate psychic powers to begin to understand how another person is feeling, and suddenly the 8th house opens up.

Good planets in the 8th house? Big winnings due to big generosity you offered in past lives. Helpful, financially supportive spouse. Great in-laws.

Bad planets in the 8th house? Spouse drains your money, due to drains you imposed on others in past life. Spouse eats bad food, alcohol, junk. In your life, maybe good solid values, but no free lunch!

Good planets in House 2 in yoga with bad planets in House 8? Here is where you have to put down the cookbook astrology guides and do some real astrological thinking. This type of yoga will give Stasis. Maybe good work ethic, but No Financial Progress. Check your chart if you have money problems, check your friends charts, definitely check your spouse. For classic of No Financial Progress Yoga, see chart of educated woman from wealthy family who married a hardworking but less educated, alcoholic, man, had deadly financial problems during dasha of 8th house ruler.

Have questions about children? Look to House 5, that shows what happens with your children. Then look to house 11, that shows the community in which your children are raised. If you have fleshly children, House-11 will be your network of friends, congregation, your support network -- people you can count on (or not.) House -11, community, has a 50/50 role with you, in shaping your kids' lives. If you have children who manifest not as flesh but as works of art - if your children are books, paintings, dramatic productions, sculptures, new civilizations, etc. - those children will also be contextualized, supported or not, by your House-11 community. Want to know if your book will be published, your paintings admired, if you'll be famous, if your kids will finish college? Look to the 5/11 Axis.

Have questions about your health? Look to House 6 first, to see what health was at birth. Remember, bad planets in the 6th don't give Bad Results!! There's a rule in jyotish, "Bad planets in a bad house give good results." Often bad planets in the 6th house draw a person to serve the chronically ill, rather than to be chronically ill in themselves. The worse the 6th planet - Saturn, Mars, yicky rulers like the 6/8/12 rulers - often show public health workers, clinic doctors and nurses, environmentalists, others who work with poisons. See the charts of this much-loved low-income clinic worker and this powerful environmentalist attorney to see the fine public service careers that often result from "bad planet in bad house!"

Surprisingly, it's "good" planets in the 6th house that spell "dis-ease." Since "dis+ease" means "not easy" or "uncomfortable" the good news is that most disease can be cured through self-knowledge and sincere desire to be well. However the funny effect of a good planet here in the house of illness it that it makes the person not care too much about correcting the imbalance. Jupiter, which is normally a lovely planet, in house-6 creates excess. If house-2 which rules the mouth is also out-of-whack, you might see obesity. Venus, the pleasure planet, in house 6 creates all the diseases of love - "venereal" diseases.

However, don't panic if you see scary stuff in your 6th house. Check house-12, which is the release house, for corrective influences. House-12 gives "dissolution." Dissolution is not helpful for starting a business but it's very helpful for getting rid of disease. So check over there in house 12 and see if karmic imbalances in your own health are righted by your willingness to Let God and Let Go. Often, sickness is a temporary part of spiritual growth - it shows the physical body taking a vibrationall step up, doing some internal reworking -- so even if you do see illness, relax and enjoy. The spirit is magnificent.

Bad planets in 6 and 12? The whole purpose of having a 6/12 axis is to have some place to put things that need rebalancing. All life operates on cycles. In your cycle, if you have traffic on the 6/12 axis, your are actively engaged in rebalancing. House 6 rules walk-in clinics, self-treatment, food-as-medicine. Busy in house 6? This daily medicine is what you're up to in this life. House 12 rules hospitals, monasteries, long-term-care sanctuaries. Busy in house 12? Get thee to a nunnery! When house 12 is strong only profound, long-term retreat will cure.

Graha YOGAs of the Rashi Chart

Graha (planet) yogas are qualitatively different than bhava (house) yogas, although the yogic effects are commensurable. In other words, the effects of these two types of combinations are not apples and oranges - but rather two varieties of apples. Planets also work in pairs.

Planetary pairings are similar to human pairings. Imagine a cocktail party. The room buzzes with different conversations. Some are romantic couples yearning to share everything. Some are busy industrialists talking shop. Some are angry litigants shouting "I'll see you in court!". Planets all have funny, complex personalities; they are all gods; they all partner, just like people.

To examine the normal planetary partnering style, it will help to first see each planet's normal friendships and enemies.

Now if your chart shows adversarial planets Saturn and Mars locked into a Bound Pair, what will result in your life? Plenty of aggravation in the houses they occupy, for sure!

But just as in a human social party, there are plenty of checks and balances that can make bad planets be on good behavior, and good planets have a bad day.

The possible checks and balances are multitudinous. See B.V. Raman's Three Hundred Important Combinations for good idea of how cleverly the planets pose with each other.

bp_lama_jyotish@hotmail.com updated: 05 Jul 2010

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