Profession and Downfalls Part II

Sun the Royal planet, causes downfall in career

Part II of a many part article. Part I is published here - Profession and Downfalls - Part I (Rahu-Ketu Axis)

Author – Bijesh Menon

Many principles of astrology regarding down fall in one’s career has been discussed in the past by many savants of astrology, but reference to Sun’s role in doing so has been discussed by only a few and that too in a very imprecise form. In many case, the Sun’s Dasha or sub period brings the real downfall in one’s career. Whenever the sub period or dasha of Sun starts, there is tendency to leave his/her job. In my experience, I have seen many cases where people holding a high position in an organisation take up sudden decision and quit their jobs at the beginning of Sun’s dasha or sub period. This could be viewed as a need of being independent by doing something on their own and wants to see an end to the slavery they were subjugated to till date. Others will have a story to tell with a list of incidents touching their pride. One thing is sure, the tendency behind these downfall is created by the false pride, ego and aggression these people experience when Sun dasha starts operating. The important fact is that most of them will go through a period of struggle till the Sun’s period comes to an end and will remember this experience as a black mark in their career. Rarely, towards the end of Sun’s period some may have some salvation in career but most of them will keep wondering throughout the dasha regretting about the act they have committed.

Few years ago when I was a budding astrologer, I happened to meet one person approached me for consultation. He was in his early thirties. He was particular about his career prospects. Nothing much was revealed and after studying his chart I started off with his nature of profession and general strength of the 10th house. I noted that the transit of Saturn and Jupiter were both over his natal 10th house and which cause tension in profession according to the first principles of astrology. Based on this reading, I predicted that he might be going through a tough situation in profession. There was no other strong backing for my predictions from his horoscope except for the above said transits. In fact, he was born in Leo Lagna and was in the middle of Sun’s dasha. But when he narrated his story, I was clueless, astrologically. He was working with a leading daily newspaper before Sun’s dasha. He joined that company soon after his education and had a good growth. He reached up to the position of senior editor within the company just in 5 years time. When his Sun’s dasha started he started having a saturated feeling since further promotions and elevations were far for him as he had already achieved many at such a young age. He decided to quit the job and planned to join a new field thinking that he could achieve success in anything since he is capable of doing things.  His condition become a lot adverse ever since then as he couldn’t even secure a decent job after that. Humiliation was obvious when he told me that how bad he feels when he has to roam around the city the whole day as a marketing executive for an herbal product company.

This incident made me look back to the study several horoscopes and to go through all available books in astrology to find out the reason why he happened to face such an adversity that too in the dasha of Lagna lord who is very well posited in the horoscope? The Sun’s intentions to cause damage to one’s profession caught my attention then onwards.
Having said so let me make it clear to the readers that the above said tendencies of Sun to create down falls in one’s career has reference only to his Dasha or sub period. A powerfully posited Sun in a horoscope always promotes one to the desired heights in career. Sun well posited in lagna, 9th, 10th or 11th helps one to achieve fame, respect and prime positions in life.

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.

Editor – This is Part 1 of a many part article by Bijesh. It has been broken down mainly due to the length of the original article along with my incapacity to go through it at once.

Author – Bijesh Menon

I have been practicing astrology for more than a decade now. Based on the interactions with my clients, I have come to a conclusion that a people are more concerned about their profession than other aspects of life. Most of my clients come to me questions like “When will I have stability in my job”, “Will I be transferred this year”,  “What if I leave my job and take up a business” or “Am I into the right line of profession, if not what is best for me” etc.  People take such failures very seriously and are less tolerant about them when it comes to career.

When I thought of writing an article about profession and vocation, I found myself confused on where to start. There are many books dedicated on this vast subject. I could not figure out how to express my views in a small article. I therefore decided to dedicate this article on the astrological combinations that cause downfall in profession, as it is the most worrisome area for a lot of us. I am trying to draw the attention of readers towards some of the planetary combinations which causes troubles and down falls to ones profession. These are based on my own experiences.

The Rahu-Ketu Axis and Unstable Career

The axis of Rahu and Ketu occurring in the fourth and tenth houses in a horoscope is one of the worst situations as far as profession is concerned. Irrespective of which planet (Rahu/Ketu) being posited in the tenth, the professional life of the native will suffer.

Rahu’s position in tenth house causes one to have frequent changes in his career. Such natives are much aggressive in their professional life. They seldom listen to others opinion and have strained relation with the co workers. They can be very impulsive which may lead them to making many a hasty decisions in career.

Rahu’s position in a fiery sign (Aries, Leo and Sagittarius) in the tenth house: Rahu is an aggressor and when he gets posited in a fiery sign, his flares burn high. This will lead to native always getting in to adverse situations in the work place. He will have frequent arguments with his co workers and superiors. He will never care others word. He will quickly get bored with his work. He will work hard but most of his hard work would go unnoticed. Such natives may not change the line of profession frequently but change in the job is certain. Business men with this combination will seldom find success since they will never maintain good relation in their business circle. Their success in life will be only in patches.

Rahu position in a watery sign (Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces): Rahu is less malefic than being located in a watery sign being posited in a fiery sign. The reason behind it is that Rahu will never attains much power in a watery sign like a fiery sign.  But still Rahu will cause damage as much as possible because Rahu is uncomfortable in watery signs. In Pisces, Rahu is less harmful because Jupiter has a calming influence over Rahu as the depositor lord.

The natives with Rahu in the 10th house in a watery sign will have fewer changes in career but they tend to suffer more in their jobs. Such natives have a sense of frustration in their career and do not see many opportunities for change.

Rahu’s position in the tenth house in an earth sign (Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn): Earth signs signify patience and practical approach. This influence on Rahu provides stability in career. Also, Rahu maintains a good relation with only a few planets and Venus and Mercury are among them. That’s the reason why Rahu is a less of a trouble in Taurus and Virgo. Such natives also may face some problems in their professional life and have the tendency to change jobs but will always hold their nerves with practical approach to the situation. Also they will have an attitude of seeing things from an angle of enjoyment and cooperation which will always help them stand strong even at the odd periods.

Rahu’s position in the tenth house in an airy sign (Gemini, Libra and Aquarius): In airy signs Rahu is most comfortable and causes least trouble. Once again two of the three airy signs Gemini and Libra are owned by Mercury and Venus who are friendly to Rahu. In Aquarius Rahu does not behave properly since the sign is owned by Saturn and the combination of Rahu-Saturn is always bad influence. Moreover most of the schools of astrology are of the opinion that for Rahu, Gemini and Virgo are like own houses. Taurus is considered Rahu’s exaltation sign. In practice, this has indeed been found to be true.

If Ketu is located in the tenth, then the native tends to suffer humiliation and hardship in their work life. The native will always find it difficult to enjoy their work because most likely he/she will be caught in a line of profession which is not the line of interest. But what makes Ketu’s case different is that such people will keep their frustrations and uneasiness unexpressed for long and then end it with a disastrous move. Unlike Rahu in the tenth, these people will not try to bring in a change in their career, but will ruin it by keep continuing at the same place and the performance going down each day, one day at a time. If Rahu forces one to have changes in the professional front even for no apparent reason, Ketu holds one from even reacting to adverse situations. And at last when they take a decision it will be pretty bad.

The transits of Rahu and Ketu are also adverse for career. Whenever the transit of either Rahu or Ketu has reference to the meridian point, there is tension in profession. A close examination however reveals that the transit of Ketu over the 10th house creates more trouble than than of Rahu. A transit of Rahu or Ketu over the natal 10th, either from Lagna or Moon, along with an influence of transit Saturn by the means of yoga or aspect, the situation gets worsened.

This New York Times article reveals how animals use their relationship with children to improve their social standing. This isn’t very different from humans where we too derive pleasure from our children. We feel happy seeing them play. We put big burden our expectations on their small shoulders and really, like the male Barbary macaques mentioned in the article, we “strengthen our social clout” through our children. Coincidently, I was reminded that it is father’s day today. After playing with my son with some time, I was tempted to dust off my notes on astrology on how to judge children through horoscopes.

Ideally, this article should have written itself as part II of Progeny in Vedic Astrology and Dattak Putra Yoga. However, life is such that when children come along, they take up majority of the time and energy of their parents. Most importantly, they divert the focus away from all other activities. Even now, when I am trying to concentrate on this article, I am not able to get the tunes of Itsy Bitsy Spider and Sun, Sun, Mr. Golden Sun out of my head.

A relationship between a parent and child is a complex one. Responsibility and expectation does not always balance each other out. Both the parties grow together and as everyone gets older, maintaining the relationship is not necessarily a piece of cake.

To judge such a relationship, we need to look at 5th house in parent’s chart and 9th house in the child’s chart. Due to Bhavat Bhavam, both 5th and 9th become important as 9th is 5th from 5th and 5th is 9th from 9th. In general, we should look at influences on 5th house and its lord to determine how the relationship and association would be in future.

Happiness through children is indicated if there is a positive influence through Moon, Venus and Jupiter. Similarly, unhappiness would be caused by Saturn and Rahu. Afflicted Mercury causes worries, Mars causes danger and Rahu can be the cause of scandals. Adverse navamsha and saptamsha positions of well placed planets in rashi chart cause misunderstanding.

Placement of 5th lord in various houses is important. A good yoga/combination between 1st and 5th house lords predicts a good relationship. A good combination between 5th and 7th or 9th house lord predicts that the parent would benefit from foreign travels of the child. If there are negative influences, the relationship would be estranged by distance. Similarly, if the 2nd house is involved and there are a lot of negative influences, a parent might not be able to support the child financially.

The rules explained above are from the perspective of a parent, but can be turned around and looked from the perspective of the child as well. Take an example of 10th house – an unfavourable combination between 5th and 10th house would mean that a person would neglect his/her children for career. A similar combination involving 9th and 10th house would mean that a child will not get enough support from parent because of the parent’s career aspirations.

Sixth, eighth and twelfth houses are considered to be inimical because of the traits they represent in a horoscope. Sixth house represents enemies, obstacles, debt, and diseases. Eights house is representative of death and destruction. Twelfth house represents loss, unnecessary expenditure etc.

Owners of such houses are inclined to do evil as much as natural malefics. Any association or yoga with natural and temporal benefics in a chart is not considered to be good. Planets occupying such houses are rendered weak and give bad results in relation to their own houses. When the lords of such houses are rendered powerless through their position within one of these houses itself – along with other debilitating combinations – it is said to constitute opposite of a raja yoga – vipareeta raja yoga and we have Vipareeta raja yoga as “a raja yoga with disclaimers”.

The effects on an individual are the very good – windfall, success in a venture, etc. Success does not come with the grace and fame usually associated with hard work and raja yoga. It comes at cost of others and not by one’s own efforts, i.e., when others lose, the individual gains. It becomes important to have such a yoga in a horoscope wherever competition is involved and people like businessmen, politicians would gain tremendously due to this yoga. 

By itself, vipareeta raj yoga gives sudden results and cannot sustain riches for an individual for a long time. Other factors that strengthen the horoscope are necessary to build upon this success. In military parlance, this yoga gives a capability of surgical air strike deep within enemy territory. But if the enemy is still able to retaliate, one’s own defenses should be strong. Vipareeta raja yoga is like the first stage of a missile. It gives the propulsion for first stage, but if the second stage and the guidance system is imperfect, the missile is most likely to miss its intended target.

The following are important conditions for constitution of a vipareeta raj yoga:

1. Lord of one of these houses should be situated within 6th, 8th and 12th house only.
2. They should not associated with lords of 1st, 5th, 10th and 9th house.
3. No association with any natural benefic planet should exist.
4. The lords of these houses should not be located in their own houses.

Specific yogas are:

1. If 6th house is affected by malefic planets and/or if the lord of 6th house is situated in 8th/12th, it is called “Harsha yoga”.
2. If this is the yoga for 8th lord, it constitutes “Sarala yoga”.
3. For 12th house, the corresponding yoga is “Vimala yoga”.

Though the the names of these yogas sound very pleasant, it is seldom the case. Few caveats that ensure that above four points and three yogas are not taken literally:

1. Twelfth house is a little less important here. In case of dual ownership of signs, it is opined that the planet owning twelfth house behaves more like the lord of the other house it is owner of. Therefore, in case of Aries lagna, Vipareeta raj yoga cannot be formed by association with Jupiter, which is a natural benefic and becomes even more beneficial by ownership of 9th house.
2. The location is not 6th/8th/12th from lagna only. Based on principles explained in Uttara Kalamrita, JN Bhasin specifically takes an example of a Cancer lagna horoscope where Mercury is a lord of 12th and 3rd house and its position in 5th house along with aspects from natural malefics causes vipareeta raja yoga. It is interesting to note that 5th house is considered an auspicious house in general. The explanation provided is that Mercury is situated in 3rd from 3rd house and 6th from 12th house, thereby harming the prospects of these houses.
3. Natural benefics should not be involved. They tend to be ineffective in giving results of this yoga. Think about it this way – if you want to hit your enemy hard, then you want the baddest guys working for you. Goodness should not be involved.

This yoga does nothing but extend the logic of a negative of negative being positive. Therefore, an astrologer should consider a vipareeta raja yoga when lords of 6th/8th/12th are powerless not just by virtue of occupancy of such houses, but also by other means viz. debilitation in rashi and navamsha, occupation of enemy rashi, hemming/aspects from natural malefic planets etc.

An astrologer should be very careful while considering vipareeta raja yoga because of parivartana yoga. An parivartana yoga between 6th and 12th lords will end up planets fortifying their own house through full drishti. In case of 8th and 12th, they are 5th/9th to each other and such a location is considered to be advantageous to the planet. That is precisely the reason why Harsha Yoga, Sarala Yoga and Vimala Yoga defined earlier in this article do not fructify and function as expected.

Table: Likely combinations of Vipareeta Raja Yoga for various Lagnas

These are general comments about a lagna. Of course, one has to look at the exact location of each of the planets before arriving to any conclusion.

Timing of events should be seen from Vimshottari dasha periods of the planets involved.