Beneficial and Malefic Planets - What they really mean?
Vedic Astrology is all about the happiness and sorrows of human beings. Our life is always a pursuit of happiness but past life Karma does not allow us to remain happy for long. We are searching for an heaven all the time. However we never found one on this planet Earth and that's because our deeds are chasing us in the current life. Human experience is either a reward or a punishment for whatever we have done in the past. Nothing ever happens by chance. This is the Karmic Law.
Benefics and Malefics.
The 9 planets in our horoscope are divided into 2 groups.
- Natural Benefic planets
- Natural Malefic planets
What exactly do the words "The benefics" and "The malefic" actually mean? The authors who have translated some of the Sanskrit Vedic Astrology books to English language used the word Benefics and Malefics. If you notice the spell check will point out that no such word is included in the dictionary. The term Benefic is a short form of Beneficial while the term malefic means Maleficent.
Human experience is either happiness or sorrow at any point in time. Only GOD is in the state of equilibrium which is referred to as the state of bliss. Human beings cannot be in a state of equilibrium. Only the enlightened beings can remain in that state. Happiness is so closely associated with desires and desires always leads to worry. This is what The Buddha said. The state of Happiness that has no desire as its basis is the true state of God. Happiness is when you win a game, get high on a drink, or enjoying a movie. When you lose the game you feel sad and wish you never played the game. Next day after a drinking bout you have a severe headache caused by dehydration, you go for a movie and it happens to be a horror movie. So every endeavour has 2 sides of the coin.
In our past lives we have been good sometimes and bad too, these alternate like day and night. In the current life, we have to experience the result of both types of actions. The planets that are related to the good side of us is usually the Natural Benefic(ial) Planets while those that relate to the bad side of us are the Natural Malefic Planets.
Brihat Parasara Hora Sastra - Maharishi Parasara
Natural Benefics (Sowmya) : Jupiter, Venus, Good and Strong Moon, an unafflicted Mercury.
Natural Malefics (Krura) : Saturn, Mars, Sun, Rahu and Ketu.
The result of whatever good that you have done in your past life will come back to you in this life through the Sowmya Grahas. On the other hand, the results of whatever sins committed by you in past life will come back to you in this life through Saturn, Mars, Sun, Rahu/Ketu in other words they the planet is not good or bad, what you have done is either good or bad and these results are indicated by the Krura Grahas.
What do you expect from Jupiter?
Jupiter is the most popular benefic planet in our horoscope. If Jupiter looks at a planet that is expected to give bad results, such bad results will be blocked or reduced by Jupiter. Say for example Mars in the 8th house may indicate widowhood in the horoscope of a woman but if Jupiter is also along with Mars the husband will live long. Jupiter is almost like God, the protector, the guide and saviour. This is the natural side of Jupiter. Jupiter always wants to be the protector.
Jupiter is related to money as he is popularly known as Dhana-Karaka the significator of wealth. Wealth is one of the greatest protectors. When you donate money Jupiter keeps track of it. When you spend money for a good purpose like you spend money on the education of your children that become a good action as the world will become a better place with education. If you do not educate your child he or she may become be ignorant and that they may spoil the world. All deeds connected to God, Guru, Knowledge, place of worship, ethics and morals etc gets into your Karmic account and that in a future life will get reflected through the position of Jupiter in your horoscope.
The Bad Student and the Good Student - The Professor is the Good person by nature
Look at this photo. The professor is the same person on the left side and right side. Starting from this picture, all the pictures used in this article will have the left side showing the bad side of a planet and the right side always the right things in our life. The left side of our body and wrong side of our life is always ruled by Saturn while the right side is ruled by Sun the opposite of Saturn. That's why when I generate these pictures using AI, I always prefer to have the problems revealed on the left side.
Coming back to the picture above. The professor is BASICALLY a good person as he is always interested in imparting knowledge. Right Knowledge is always good. The collective consciousness in this world will get better due to the right knowledge only. So Jupiter is like the professor always interested in imparting knowledge. If you are learned and a topper in class the professor will reward you with a gold medal. If the student is a drug addict, ill-mannered and disobedient the professor stops imparting knowledge to him and so shouts out "Get out". The worst events have happened to people in the period of Jupiter (Guru). Beginners in Astrology get confused and they ask "Is not Jupiter always the best benefic planet"?
A smart astrological remedy is designed to reverse bad Karma. This has to be tailor made for each person according to positions of planets, the dignity of the planets and after considering so many others factors.
If you have to improve the life of the student on the left side, what would you tell him to do? The intelligent answer can only be one. Type your answer in the comments section and then read on. Instead of blindly recommending general prayers, Pooja and Gemstones, yantra, mantra etc to the person a good Astrologer should try to change the lifestyle of the person. The root cause is we are most probably continuing from where we left off from the past life. The student on the left side even in the previous years in college or school was never interested in studies and always was the disobedient one in class and very little in doing the right activity in the classroom. The previous years in college is like the past lives.
What are functional benefic planets and functional malefics ?
In the above line the Sanskrit portion is Tatrarka Shani Bhu-Putra, Ksheenendhu Rahu-Ketava Kruraha. Shesha Graha Sowmyaha Kruraha Krura Yutey Budhaha. Arka means Sun, Shani means Saturn, Bhu Putra is Mars, Rahu and Ketu are all Krura Grahas.
The Krura Grahas or the Malefic Planets are basically MERCILESS and TOUGH. They have more KARMA packed into them. They will hand over the bad karma effects in the current life. They are naturally inclined to behave in this manner. The Sowmya Grahas or good planets, the benefics in the horoscope are basically BENEFICIAL, KIND and are MERCIFUL. Which means remedies will work easier than the remedies related to natural malefic planets like Saturn or Mars for example. The key word here is "basically".
Maharishi Parasara in Brihat Parasara Hora Sastra at the outset has spoken about Krura (Cruel) planets and Sowmya Grahas (Good Planets) which relates to the basic nature of the planets. Then why does he talk about functional benefics and functional malefics. Let us try to understand this contradiction or confusion. For example while Maharishi Parasara says Jupiter is the best benefic planet we have in our horoscope, it becomes the most malefic for a person who is born in Taurus Ascendant (Vrishaba Lagna). How is that possible? Why this contradiction?
Let talk about your professor in college says the Maths Professor. Is he a good person or bad person? In the world of education, we know the professor is a good person if you compare with say a person dealing in liquor or a murderer. This maths professor is like Jupiter. Always by nature good as he is inclined to imparting knowledge.
The next question is if the maths professor a good person. Yes. He is a good person to all because teaching is noble profession as it creates educated people in the society. Let’s ask the student who never attended college or an ill mannered student who does not study maths at all and on top of that he misbehaves in the classroom. The math professor will tend to punish this student. The bad student will always say “this maths professor is a bad guy…. you know He fails me in my examinations, he praises the best students and speaks low about me, I therefore hate him”.
Same way the best planet for the whole world Jupiter the natural benefic planet becomes the worst planet for Vrishabha Lagna. That’s because Jupiter owns the 8th house and the 11th house for the people born in this Lagna (Taurus Ascendant).
Now this person has done something opposite the nature of Guru (Jupiter) in past lives. If you know what Jupiter signifies in one's life we can easily guess the type of mistakes done by the person in the past. To know the specific sin committed in a the past life you need to check the condition of Jupiter and also know which house Jupiter occupies in the horoscope.
The significations of Jupiter are : Children, Money, Good and Auspicious activities like temple related, school or college related, knowledge related, ethics and morals related etc. In the past life mistakes we done in that sphere which is ruled by Jupiter. So Jupiter turns bad in this life. Mistakes committed in money matters will come to haunt the person in this birth.
Remedies pertaining to this bad Jupiter should be intelligently related to the significations of Jupiter. For example take care of children , give gifts to your professor or teachers of your primary school because that’s where your life began as a student. God Shiva is related to Jupiter. So worship God Shiva. You know Thursdays are ruled by Jupiter so worship your Guru on Thursday. Once you know the biggest problem in the person’s life try to intelligently connect the remedy to Jupiter and to the problem as much as you can. All this can be done if you know the basics of Astrology, the rules and combinations.
Is Mars a Krura Graha or Sowmya Graha?
Maharishi Parasara says Mars is a Krura Graha. Reason is Mars is the warrior, the policeman, the commander of the army, anyone using a weapon. Martial arts is related to Mars. When we use the idiom Make or Mar it means Mar is destructive.
The Good Mars and the Bad Mars
Look at this picture. Can you tell if the policeman is a kind person? If he is a kind person then why is the policeman carrying a weapon and is sometimes heavily armed. On the left side you see a policeman arresting a criminal. On the right side you see the same policeman saving a young boy who cannot defend himself from an attack. The same policeman is good and bad depending upon the person. The past of the criminal who is arrested is bad and that's the reason why he is being arrested. The young boy is a good guy and so the policeman will try to save him and ensure his freedom and peace.
It also means that Krura Grahas relate to the cruel deeds done by us in the past. The Sowmya graha relates to kindness and all the good qualities the person had in the past.
Sri Rama the 7th Avatar of Mahavishnu has Mars exalted in the 7th house. Mars is a functional benefic and on top of that Mars is the RajaYogaKaraka graha for Sri Rama as He was born in Cancer Ascendant (Karkataka Lagna). Mars owns the 10th house which is related to purpose of life. Sri Rama's purpose was to vanquish Ravana the tyrant king. Though MARS is naturally a cruel planet, in Sri Rama's horoscope it reveals that Sri Rama will be the bad person to Ravana. Sri Rama ruled his kingdom very well and people were protected by Him. Sri Rama is expected to kill all those who stood with Ravana.
Saturn is basically a KRURA Graha
The rishis have mentioned Saturn as a Krura Graha because Saturn is basically a punisher, a tough and rough reacher. Saturn is the karaka graha for imprisonment (Bandhana or Jail). Hence Saturn is called Dukha Karaka.
Please look at the picture. The same Judge is happy to hand over the acquittal to the defendant because the Judge found him NOT guilty. Saturn is the Judge, the Punisher, the Leveller. That way for most of the time, the Judge is a punisher. That is the role of a Judge. Similarly most of the time Saturn is krura graha (Planet) or Saturn always tries to cause trouble. The court is trouble for both the innocent and the criminal. None like to go to court. It's a tense environment. That way Saturdays is not an easy day for most of the people. Matters in the court do not move quickly that's because Saturn is the slow planet. I know a person who is attending the court for nearly 15 years
and nothing has happened.
Saturn is a Raja-Yoga-Karaka for some people.
However for some, Saturn is a beneficial planet. We use to term "Functional Benefic" to denote this. For example for a Thula Lagna person Saturn is not just a functional benefic but Saturn is a Raja-Yoga-Karaka the best planet in the person's horoscope. Saturn rules the 4th house and the 5th house for Thula Lagna people. They can proudly say that Saturn is their best friend.
Next comes where are the planets in the Bhava Chart?
Even if one understands the basic nature of the planet and also knows about the functions of a planet it is not enough to ascertain whether it is on the good side or bad side. The reason is we need to know where the planet is ? Then you need to know if the planet is angry or happy? Is it strong or weak and there are a dozen more important parameters for each planet. Without knowing all these you cannot come to a conclusion. This makes Vedic Astrology a tough subject to study. For a beginner in Astrology this is the dead end.
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By
Guruji E K Dhilip Kumar
Email : ekdhilipkumar@gmail.com
Discussion(3)
Hello Guruji Good article If A Functional Malefic like Mars for Leo Ascendant is in 7th House Aquarius but moves to 8th Bhava what results will it give as it is bad in 8th Bhava but Yog Karka for Leo Ascendant
Hello Kiran, Mars is a functional benefiic (FB) graha for Leo Ascendant and not a FM. I am sure it is a typo. As long a Mars is in the 8th house the YOGAKARAKA status is gone. On top of that Mars is in Saturns Rasi. That makes it worse.
Guruji I would say to the Student: Be disciplined and work hard. Respect the teacher and the knowledge.