Friday, March 13, 2009

Krishna's BTR Technique
(Originally Published in Saptarishis Astro Magazine)
This page will be maintained to reflect the latest approach in this methodology

6. Update on February 8, 2016

Ranking list of planetary placements is slightly modified.

5. Update on July 18, 2013

This methodology may not work when Lagna/LL is influenced by 12L (Unless a strong Vargottama or Exalted planet is there in the chart), like:

- 12L in lagna
- 12L is conjunct LL
- 12L in the nakshatra of LL or vice-versa
- Lagna falls in the nakshatra of 12L

Workarounds for these cases are under study.


4. Update on July 23, 2011

Even if a planet is the strongest in the chart, it should not be picked for rectification if such a planet is placed in the 12th house from lagna. In such cases, next best planet should be picked for rectification. In case of multiple births, this rule is applicable to only the first child. For subsequent children planets in the 12th house can also be considered.

3. Update on February 10, 2010

A note on placement of planets at Rasi sandhi
- When a planet is in Rasi Sandhi, it becomes weak if it is less than 1 degree from the sandhi. However, such a weakness is overcome when the same planet is in vargottama state.
- In case the sandhi is a Gandanta Sandhi, such planets should be considered weak upto 3 degrees from the Gandanta Sandhi. And, even when a planet is vargottama when close to a Gandanta sandhi should be considered weak.

2. Update Aug 25, 2009 (Window for Exaltation/Debilitation reduced to 7deg from 15deg)
1. Update May 17,2009 (Added 'Samagama')
"A child is born on that day and at that hour when the celestial rays are in mathematical harmony with one's individual karma…"
- Swami Sri Yukteswar, Guru of Paramahansa Yogananda


This is an endeavour to find the mathematical harmony that Swami Yukteswar is talking about, in the above statement. It is widely understood that the individual karmas manifest through the influence of the nine ‘grahas’ on the native. And, in a horoscope, Lagna or Ascendant in a horoscope acts similar to the needle that is pointing to North in a compass. It is very likely that the Lagna in a horoscope also points exactly to a specific ‘graha’ or planet in the chart. If we are able to determine what it is pointing to, it would be possible to accurately align Lagna to that planet and in the process we could rectify the birth time recording errors and arrive at the actual time of birth. This is the philosop hy behind the research undertaken. This author strongly believes that for a human birth to take place there has to be some well defined relationship between the position of Lagna and that of one of the planets in the chart. The search for an answer began with this assumption and the result is presented here.



After assuming that Lagna is aligned to one particular planet in the chart, a question arises as to what are the criteria to determine that particular planet. Obviously, this planet should standout on some important ground. In Astrology, we have many parameters and many different scales to compare the relative strengths of different planets. After some study, it has been observed that how well a planet is placed in a chart emerges as the determining criteria. When a planet is most comfortably placed as compared to other planets, that planet is regarded as the best placed planet. And, Lagna gets aligned to that planet.

As each sign is owned by a certain planet and the state of another planet placed there depends on how it relates to the owner of that sign. Hence, one should look at the nature of friendship between planets to determine whether a planet is placed well or not.

Determination of Compound Relationships between planets

One should go by the compound relationship between the planets. BPHS[1] states that all planets placed in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 10th, 11th and 12th houses from a planet are its temporary friends. If we think about the reasoning behind such a proposition, it is apparent that planets become temporary enemies when they are very close to each other (as their rays interfere with each others) or when they are far away from each other (as their rays oppose each others). It appears that this rule is purely based on simple Physics rather than anything else. Normally, astrologers look at the houses mentioned above and take all planets present in those relative positions as temporary friends. Keeping the spirit of the concept, this author humbly proposes a slightly different interpretation of what has been said in BPHS as against what is commonly followed. It is proposed that, if two planets have a longitudinal distance greater than 15 degrees and less than 105 degrees between them (irrespective of the signs they occupy), they should be considered as te mporary friends. Here, there is no violation from the essence of what is said in BPHS. The definition for permanent friendships followed here is exactly same as what is given in BPHS. The compound relationship is the resultant of permanent and temporary relationships:

Permanent Temporary Compound
Friend Friend Close Friend (CF)
Friend Enemy Neutral (NU)
Neutral Friend Friend (FR)
Neutral Enemy Enemy (EN)
Enemy Friend Neutral (NU)
Enemy Enemy Bitter Enemy (BE)


Order Of Importance

From the above table, we can conclude that a planet placed in the sign of a Close Friend is better placed than a planet placed in the sign of any other compound relationship. However, there are even better placements for a planet than this. Following is a list of placements ordered from best to worst:


Vargottama (VG)
Exalted (EX) (Not the entire sign, within 7 degrees approaching the deepest point)
Moola Trikona (MT) (Not the entire sign, look for actual degrees)
Own (OW)
Close Friend (CF)
Friend (FR)
Neutral (NU)
Enemy (EN)
Bitter Enemy (BE)
Debilitated (DB) (within 7 degrees approaching the deepest point)
Note: When a Planet is retrograde, it would be approaching its deepest point of exaltation/debilitation only when it is placed beyond that point.
Treating for Planets in Parivartana/Srinkhala[2]

There is one very important concept that affects the determination of how a planet is placed in a chart. It is very important to check if a planet is either in Parivartana or in Srinkhala and apply necessary adjustments. In the experience of this author, a planet which has undergone Parivartana/Srinkhala behaves as if it is placed in its own sign (the sign that has participated in Parivartana/Srinkhala). Except for considering combustion and effects of other conjunctions and aspects, for other purposes, such a planet should be treated as if it is in its own sign. As a result of Parivartana/Srinkhala a planet is entitled for two different placements, one in the house actually placed and the other the resultant own house. That planet should be assigned the better of the two placements. Hence, a planet debilitated but in Parivartana should be assigned a ‘GO’ (Goes to Own) placement while a planet exalted and in Parivartana/Srinkhala should be assigned ‘EX’ placement.

However, one should note that more the planets in Srinkhala, less the effectiveness of Parivartana. A three planet Srinkhala should be definitely considered while a Srinkhala involving more than three planets could be ignored.
Strength of Vargottama

It is a well known fact in Jyotish that a planet gets special strength when it is a Vargottama (occupying same sign in Rasi and Navamsha). However, it has been observed that even when a planet is Vargottama based on the above definition, the planet may not necessarily have sufficient strength to act like a Vargottama. It has been observed that the strength is highest (or 100%) when a planet occupies the same degree in the same sign both in Rasi and Navamsha. If the difference is more, the strength is less. For the purposes of this methodology, a planet should have at least around 40% strength to be considered as a Vargottama. Otherwise, its Vargottama status may be ignored. Following formula may be used to calculate this percentage:
%Vargottama Strength = (30 – (diff in longitudes in Rasi & Navamsha))*100/30
Samagama
When a planet is within 1 degree from the Moon, it is said to be in Samagama (union) with the Moon. A planet in samagama becomes very strong. This is probably because Moon fully relays all the rays on that planet on to the earth. Though it is still being conteplated whether such a strength would place such a planet above or below an exalted or vargottama planet, the purpose of putting this up is to remind the astrologers to keep this planet also in the reconning as one of the strong contenders, unless otherwise that planet is weak due to other conditions that makes it weak.
Checking Some Important Conditions

1. Planets placed in a Rasi Sandhi or Gandanta are considered to be weak (except when Vargottama) irrespective of their placement status. Even the planets disposited by planets in Rasi Sandhi should be ignored unless they are extremely strong like being Vargottama.
2. If a planet is debilitated (either in Rasi or in Navamsha) or closely conjunct a debilitated planet (within an orb of about 6 degrees) or even if it disposits a debilitated planet (either in Rasi or in Navamsha), then one should not take it into the reckoning (unless the debilitated planet is under Parivartana/Srinkhala). Only Exalted or Vargottama planets should be kept in the reckoning even if they are tainted by debilitated planets.
3. A planet exalted in Navamsha that has a lesser status in Rasi should be given a status EXN. Entire sign in Navamsha is fine, no need to look at specific degrees.
4. Those planets which are more than 50% combust should be ignored. One should not disqualify Mercury even when it is deeply combust. And, the planets that are disposited by such combust planets should also be ignored.
5. Ketu by default should be left out as its placement depends on placement of Rahu. Hence, there are only eight planets in the race including Rahu. For Rahu, Taurus should be considered as the sign of exaltation and Scorpio should be considered as the sign of debilitation. Rahu owns Aquarius and Ketu Scorpio. This comes handy while checking Parivartana/Srinkhala.

Care should be taken to verify all such conditions that make a planet weak and ensure that the planet considered is well placed in all respects.

Determining The Best Placed Planet

After filtering the planets for all their negative qualities, one should look for the planets in the following categories (in that order of importance) rejecting the others and also rejecting those with other blemishes (as described in the above paragraph):

1. Vargottama (VG(EX), VG(MT)
2. Exaltation (EX)
3. VG(OW))
4. Moola Trikona (MT)
5. Vargottama VG(CF),VG(FR)
6. Exalted in Navamsha (EXN) (not in DB, BE or EN in Rasi)
7. Own (OW)
8. In CF
9. In FR
10. In NU
11. In EN
12. In BE
13. DB
14. In Rasi Sandhi
15. Severely Combust

One should first look for planets in the number 1 category, if none found, then look for the next best category etc., and reach the best placed planet. Some points to note before finalizing the best placed planet:
  • If there are two or more planets in the same top category, the best of them should be determined by comparing their Shadbala.
  • If none of the planets fall in the qualifying categories, then look for planets closely influencing lagna.
  • When a planet’s Shadbala is relatively much higher as compared to that of any other planet, this planet also becomes a contender.
  • When a planet's shadbala is below Par (below 100%), it should be disqualified unless it is very strong otherwise.
  • When two planets are in Graha Yuddha[3], there is no consensus on the resolution of the criteria to determine the winner. As a result, there could be some errors in the calculation of Shadbala of those planets. Also, Graha Yuddha should be considered only between the five non-luminous physical planets. There are other considerations which could affect the Shadbala calculations. In such conditions, relying fully on the Shadbala could cause problems.
All such cases should be studied carefully as it is difficult draw a clear line.

Even if a planet is the strongest in the chart, it should not be picked for rectification, if such a planet is placed in the 12th house from lagna. In such cases, next best planet should be picked for rectification. In case of multiple births, this rule is applicable to only the first child. For subsequent children planets in the 12th house can also be considered.

Aligning Lagna with the Best Placed Planet

Here comes hitherto unknown bit. This might appear a bit strange to some. But, this has been proposed after testing numerous charts for the accuracy of birth time.

This step can not be easily done without using software as this is a highly iterative process. This author has used JHora. It could be performed using any software that gives nakshatra-lord, sub-lord, sub-sub-lord…. table for all the planets like the one in JHora. In JHora, this is found by clicking the ‘KP’ tab at the right bottom on the default screen. One will see the information like below:




Body/ Cusp Nak- Lord Sub lord Prati- Sub Sooksma- Sub Praana-S ub Deha- Sub
As Ju Sa Ve Ma Ju Sa
Su Ju Mo Mo Ju Ra Ve
Mo Ma Ke Ve Mo Mo Ma
Ma Ju Mo Me Sa Sa Ke
Me Me Ra Mo Me Sa Ju
Ju Mo Ve Su Ra Ke Ju
Ve Mo Sa Ve Mo Su Me
Sa Ju Ve Ju Mo Ke Mo
Ra Ve Sa Me Ra Sa Ve


Assuming that Rahu is the best placed planet, one could focus only on the relevant information of this table as below:

Body/ Cusp Nak- Lord Sub lord Prati- Sub Sooksma- Sub Praana- Sub Deha- Sub
As Ju Sa Ve Ma Ju Sa
Ra Ve Sa Me Ra Sa Ve


Now, in an iterative process, adjust the birth time such tha t both ‘As’ and ‘Ra’ have identical lords from ‘Sub-lord’ onwards in the above table. Stop adjusting the birth time once the following configuration is reached:



Body/ Cusp Nak- Lord Sub lord Prati- Sub Sooksma- Sub Praana- Sub Deha- Sub
As Ju Sa Me Ra Sa Ve
Ra Ve Sa Me Ra Sa Ve


The adjusted time to reach this alignment is the rectified birth time of the native.

Other than the above suggested alignment, two more alignments are possible which also involve the Nak-lord of either Lagna or that of the planet in question. These alignments are demonstrated below:

Alignment-2



Body/ Cusp Nak- Lord Sub lord Prati- Sub Sooksma- Sub Praana- Sub Deha- Sub
As Ju VeSaMeRaSa
Ra Ve Sa Me Ra Sa Ve


Here, Sub-lord level of the Lagna is aligned to Nak-lord level of the planet in question.

Alignment-3


Body/ Cusp Nak- Lord Sub lord Prati- Sub Sooksma- Sub Praana- Sub Deha- Sub
As SaMeRaSaVeVe
Ra Ve Sa Me Ra Sa Ve

Here, Nak-lord level of the Lagna is aligned with Sub-lord level of the planet in question.

The time that gives an alignment that is closest to the given/recorded birth time should be considered as the rectified birth time.

Normally, in case of well documented births, such an alignment is seen within a couple of minutes from the recorded birth time. If not, following three situations are possible:

a. There is an error in identifying the best placed planet, or
b. The given birth time is grossly erroneous, or
c. Could be a rare case that fails this theory (needs a closer look)

The truth of this fact is demonstrated taking examples of some of the well recorded birth details of famous personalities. The given examples could be studied to understand the procedure better as well as a proof that Lagna always points to the best placed planet in the chart. That is the time when the celestial rays are in mathematical harmony resulting in a human birth.

Applicability & Advantages of this method

  • This method is applicable for the final fine-tuning of the birth time when birth time is available within a range of few minutes from the time of actual birth, or when a hospital record is available which invariably would have some variation due to recording errors.
  • The advantage of this method is that there is no need to cast a Prashna chart, or there is no need to know some important events in the life of the native, and there is no need to drill through many divisional charts and fine-tune them based on the events in the native’s life. The method of fine-tuning poses inherent traps as it calls for a very good knowledge of delineating divisional charts. This method uses the available birth details and looks for the mathematical harmony between Lagna and another entity in the chart. Hence, is prone to less errors.
  • Use of incorrect Ayanamsha could create problems. It should be noted that in some charts, the Navamsha placement of planets when on the border are sensitive to small changes in Ayanamsha and this could hijack the end result.


More than 150 charts with well recorded birth times have been tested to see if such an alignment between the Lagna and the best placed planet exists around the given time of birth. There were only handful of misses and the success rate is exceptional.

Examples

Those who would like to study this approach in detail are urged not to miss the last example of Jawaharlal Nehru. That example clearly demonstrates the power of this approach. The Ayanamsha used is “True Chitrapaksha Ayanamsha”.

1. Client Eastwood[4]













Birth Date: 05/31/1930 (May 31, 1930)
Birth Time: 17:35 (05:35 PM) PST (+8:00)
Birth Place: San Francisco, CA
Latitude / Longitude: 37 N 47 / 122 W 26
Rodden Rating / Source: AA / BC/BR in hand
Source Notes: B.C. in hand from Steinbrecher, obtained by Bob Garner. (Same Contemporary American Horoscopes and Gauquelin Book of American Charts)


Planet Comments on the placement of the planet
Sun NU
Moon OW
Mars OW
Mercury In Rasi Sandhi
Jupiter Dispositor in Sandhi
Venus Dispositor in Sandhi
Saturn EN
Rahu BE /td>

There is a tie between Moon and Mars. However, Mars has a higher Shadbala than Moon. Hence, Mars is the best placed planet in this chart.

The relationship between Lagna and Mars is as follows:


Body/ Cusp Nak- Lord Sub lord Prati- Sub Sooksma- Sub Praana- Sub Deha- Sub
As Ju MeSaRa RaMa
Ma KeRa RaRa MoRa

The birth time is adjusted to have the alignment in the following manner:


Body/ Cusp Nak- Lord Sub lord Prati- Sub Sooksma- SubPraana- SubDeha- Sub
As Ju KeRaRa RaMo
Ra KeRa RaRa MoSa

The birth time that gives the above alignment is 17:37:0.94 (as against the recorded time of 17:35 hrs.)

2. Pablo Picasso[5]














Birth Date: 10/25/1881 (Oct 25, 1881)
Birth Time: 23:15 (11:15 PM) LMT (+0:18)
Birth Place: Malaga, Spain
Latitude / Longitude: 36 N 43 / 04 W 25
Rodden Rating / Source: AA / Quoted BC/BR

Planet Comments on the placement of the planet
Sun DB
Moon VG(EN) 72%
Mars Disps DB Sat & DB Rahu
Mercury VG(OW)45%
Jupiter BE
Venus Disps DB Sun
Saturn DB
Rahu DB

Mercury is under Parivartana/Srinkhala both in Rasi(Mer-Mar) as well as in Navamsha(Mer-Moon-Ket), as a result behaves as a Vargottama planet in own sign. Mercury is the best placed planet in the chart.

The relationship between Lagna and Mercury is as follows:


Body/ Cusp Nak- Lord Sub lord Prati- Sub Sooksma- Sub Praana- Sub Deha- Sub
As SaRaSaSaRaMo
MeJuRaSaMoKeMo

The birth time is adjusted to have the alignment in the following manner:


Body/ Cusp Nak- Lord Sub lord Prati-Sub Sooksma- SubPraana- SubDeha- Sub
As Ra Ra Sa Mo Ke Ra
Me Ju Ra Sa Mo Ke Ra

The birth time that gives the above alignment is 23:15:47.2 (as against the recorded time of 23:15 hrs.)

3. Queen Elizabeth II[6]














Birth Date: 04/21/1926 (Apr 21, 1926)
Birth Time: 2:40 (02:40 AM) GDT (+0:00)
Birth Place: London, England
Latitude / Longitude: 51 N 30 / 0 W 10
Rodden Rating / Source: AA / Quoted BC/BR
Source Notes: Fagan quotes official announcement AA 3/l976

Planet Comments on the placement of the planet
Sun EX
Moon OW
MarsEX
Mercury DB, Dispositor in Sandhi
Jupiter In Rasi Sandhi, Disposits DB Mercury
Venus NU
Saturn GO(NU)
Rahu VG(FR) 28%


Here, there is a tie between Sun and Mars. However, Mars has higher Shadbala than Sun. Hence, Mars is the winner and is the best placed planet in the chart.

The relationship between Lagna and Mars is as follows:


Body/ Cusp Nak- Lord Sub lord Prati- Sub Sooksma- Sub Praana- Sub Deha- Sub
As Su Ma Ra Ve Ve Ra
Ma Ma Sa Sa Ve Ke Me

The birth time is adjusted to have the alignment in the following manner:


Body/ Cusp Nak- Lord Sub lord Prati- Sub Sooksma- Sub Praana- Sub Deha- Sub
As Ra Ma Sa Sa Ve Ke
Ma Ma Sa Sa Ve Ke Me

The birth time that gives the above alignment is 02:40:29.5 (as against the recorded time of 02:40 hrs.)

4. Albert Einstein[7]














Birth Date: 03/14/1879 (March 14, 1879)
Birth Time: 11:30 (11:30 AM) LMT (-0:40)
Birth Place: Ulm, Germany
Latitude / Longitude: 48 N 24 / 10 E 00
Rodden Rating / Source: AA / Quoted BC/BR
Source Notes: Ebertin quotes B.R.

Planet Comments on the placement of the planet
Sun CF
Moon GO(BE)
Mars FR (far away from deep exaltation point)
Mercury DB
Jupiter Disposits DB Mercury
Venus EX
Saturn VG(MT) 80%
Rahu CF


Saturn has undergone Parivartana both in Rasi (Sat-Jup) and Navamsha (Sat-Ven) and as a result behaves as a Vargottama. It also overcomes the blemish due to close conjunction of debilitated Mercury because of that.

The relationship between Lagna and Saturn is as follows:


Body/ Cusp Nak- Lord Sub lord Prati- Sub Sooksma- Sub Praana- Sub Deha- Sub
As Ra Ma Ju Ra Sa Sa
Sa Sa Mo Ve Me Ju Ju

The birth time is adjusted to have the alignment in the following manner:


Body/ Cusp Nak- Lord Sub lord Prati- Sub Sooksma- SubPraana- Sub Deha- Sub
As Ra Mo Ve Me Ju Ju
Sa Sa Mo Ve Me Ju Ju

The birth time that gives the above alignment is 11:28:24.7 (as against the recorded time of 11:30 hrs.)

Here are some famous Indian personalities for whom the birth details available are believed to be accurate.

5. Swami Vivekananada




Planet Comments on the placement of the planet
Sun VG(CF) 85%
Moon NU
Mars Disposits DB Rahu
Mercury GO(EN)
Jupiter NU
Venus EXN, (NU in Rasi)
Saturn GO(NU)
Rahu DB

Sun is a clear pick.

The relationship between Lagna and Sun before rectification is as follows:


Body/ Cusp Nak- Lord Sub lord Prati- Sub Sooksma- Sub Praana- Sub Deha- Sub
As Ve Ke Ve Ju Ju Ju
Su Su Ra Ra Ve Ju Me


The birth time is adjusted to have the alignment in the following manner:



Body/ Cusp Nak- Lord Sub lord Prati- Sub Sooksma- Sub Praana- Sub Deha- Sub
As Su Su Ra Ra Ve Ju
Su Su Ra Ra Ve Ju Mo


Aligning Lagna with Sun, the rectified birth time will be 6:36:13.3 as against the recorded birth time of 6:33:00 (from Sri Sanjay Rath’s book)

6. Sri Satya Sai Baba




Planet Comments on the placement of the planet
Sun NU
Moon NU
Mars OW
Mercury NU
Jupiter Dispositor Combust
Venus Combust 50%
Saturn Combust 50%
Rahu NU


Though Mars is placed in the debilitation sign in Navamsha, it has undergone Srinkhala with Moon, Jupiter and Mercury. Hence, it has no blemish of being debilitated in Navamsha. It is the only planet that qualifies. However, considering that the Srinkhala involving 4 planets is not very effective and disqualifying Mars on that ground, yet Mars qualifies as the best placed planet by virtue of having higher Shadbala than all other planets.

The relationship between Lagna and Mars before rectification is as follows:


Body/ Cusp Nak- Lord Sub lord Prati- Sub Sooksma- Sub Praana- Sub Deha- Sub
As Sa Me Ju Ra Ve Ju
Ma Ke Me Sa Sa Ke Me

The birth time is adjusted to have the alignment in the following manner:


Body/ Cusp Nak- Lord Sub lord Prati- Sub Sooksma- Sub Praana- Sub Deha- Sub
As Sa Me Sa Sa Ke Me
Ma Ke Me Sa Sa Ke Me


Aligning Lagna with Mars, the rectified birth time is 6:26:07.1 as against the recorded birth time of 6:26

7. Indira Gandhi











Planet Comments on the placement of the planet
Sun VG(MT)89%
Moon GO(EN)
Mars GO(CF)
Mercury FR
Jupiter GO(BE)
Venus GO(EN)
Saturn GO(BE)
Rahu BE

This is a strong chart with three pairs of Parivartanas. Sun undergoes Parivartana with Mars in Rasi and is in its own sign in Navamsha. Hence, Sun is a clear pick.

The relationship between Lagna and Sun before rectification is as follows:


Body/ Cusp Nak- Lord Sub lord Prati- Sub Sooksma- Sub Praana- Sub Deha- Sub
As Me Ju Ra Su Ve Ra
Su Sa Sa Ve Ve Ke Ju

The birth time is adjusted to have the alignment in the following manner:


Body/ Cusp Nak- Lord Sub lord Prati- Sub Sooksma- Sub Praana- Sub Deha- Sub
As Me Sa Sa Ve Ve Ke
Su Sa Sa Ve Ve Ke Sa

Aligning Lagna with Sun, we have the rectified time as 23:13:45.9 as against the recorded time of 23:13 (From Sri BV Raman’s book)

8. Jawaharlal Nehru

This is a very interesting case to study using the proposed method of Birth Time Rectification. The reason being that there are different views on the correct birth time within a narrow range of about half an hour and it would be interesting to check what the result of rectification indicates.

Following are the different birth times available for Nehru:

From Sri B V Raman’s book (How to Judge a Horoscope Vol. II) – 23:03 hrs. (LMT)
From Sri Sanjay Rath’s book (Crux of Vedic Astrology) – 23:21 hrs. (IST)
Astrodatabank – Rodden Rating ‘A’ (from Memory) 23:36 hrs. (LMT)

The second of the above three times is used cast the chart as it is the near average. In any case, nothing much changes in Navamsha for all the three times except Navamsha Lagna which is not relevant to the method being used.












Planet Comments on the placement of the planet
Sun IN Rasi Sandhi
Moon VG(OW) 80%
Mars NU
Mercury NU
Jupiter VG(OW) 94%
Venus OW
Saturn Dispositor is in Rasi Sandhi
Rahu NU

Jupiter and Moon both are in their own sign in Rasi and they are in Srinkhala in Navamsha (Moon-Jup-Sun). Hence, they both behave like Vargottama planets in their own sign. As there is a tie between them, Shadbala comes into picture. Clearly, Moon has a much higher Shadbala than that of Jupiter and hence Moon is picked as the best placed planet in this chart.

The relationship between Lagna and Moon before rectification is as follows:


Body/ Cusp Nak- Lord Sub lord Prati- Sub Sooksma- Sub Praana- Sub Deha- Sub
As Me Ju Me Ju Me Ve
Mo Me Me Ju Ju Ra Ke

Looking at the above combination, one can see that out of the three possible alignments, only one is likely if the given time-frame is +/- 30 minutes from the assumed time, which is aligning Nakshatra lord of Lagna with Sub-lord of Moon. For any other alignment to take place, the rectified time undergoes a drastic change.

The birth time is adjusted to have the alignment in the following manner:


Body/ Cusp Nak- Lord Sub lord Prati- Sub Sooksma- Sub Praana- Sub Deha- Sub
As Me Ju Ju Sa Ve Ke
Mo Me Me Ju Ju Sa Ve

Aligning Lagna with Moon, we have the rectified birth time as 23:18:00 hrs (LMT). This is equivalent to 23:20:00 hrs (IST). This is very close to the time used by Sri Sanjay Rath (23:21 IST). It appears that his source is the authentic in this particular case.

It is clear from this example that in case of small errors in recorded birth time, this approach shows the way to narrow down to the likely correct birth time.

Conclusion

The above examples demonstrate that there is a clear affinity between Lagna and the best placed planet in the chart. Hence, it is appropriate to conclude that the correct birth time is when the Lagna is perfectly aligned to the best placed planet in the chart.

Extending the scope of this study

It is always challenging to apply any Jyotish principle to a twin’s chart and verify it. As the news of octuplets birth was breaking, it was indeed interesting to see how to apply this theory for such births. The birth details are as follows:

January 26, 2009 between 10:43 and 10:48 hrs, at Bellflower, California, USA.

It was highly exciting to see that 8 alignments (one with each of the 8 planets) were available in a span of just 5 minutes, roughly between 10:39 and 10:44! It is really very rare to get so many alignments in such a short span of time. Anyone who looks into this would understand that availability of 8 alignments to the Lagna in a span of only 5 minutes is not just a co-incidence. Though this theory has not been tested over a large number of twins’ charts yet, this author believes that the principle given above could be successfully applied to twins’ (multiple births) charts as well.


© Krishnamurthy Seetharama

56 comments:

Koushik V S said...

Great site, nice articles.

I have a couple of doubts.

(1) Can Sun be involved in a graha yuddha? What are the schools of thought on this?

(2) What happens when two planets in Vargottama are in graha yuddha? It appears to be so in my case. Sun and Mars are in VG, Graha Yuddha in eighth house.

(3) When a planet is within 1 degree (in my case venus just enters cancer (10th house)), can we take it to be VG?

Sorry to be asking too many questions on my first comment on your blog!

Koushik V S said...

Er... I have one more doubt.

I have Saturn(1H) Exalted, Rahu(9H) in Gemini (JHora calls this exalted), Ketu in Dhanus (3H). Again JHora calls this exalted. Sun, Mars and Venus are in Vargottama. How do I find out which planet is most powerful so as to use the BTR technique?

AstroKrishna said...

Dear Koushik,

It would be better if you share your birth details and its source.

To clarify your doubts:

1. When planets are very close to Sun they get combust and it is not considered as graha yuddha.

2. When two vargottama planets are in graha yuddha, it is still graha yuddha. And, it is important to ascertain the winner of the two as that could be the planet one is looking for. It is also important to look at how they are rlated to dispositors of that sign.

3. Even when a planet is close to a sandhi, it can be still considered as vargottama.

Koushik V S said...

Sir,

Thanks for your reply. My date of birth is 31/05/1983, time is 17:04 hours. I have doubt about my time of birth because once an old astrologer, who is now no more, told me that I must have been born at 17:02 hours. So I wanted to double check my time of birth using BTR technique.

Also, I believe that a number of my planets including saturn, ketu,moon,rahu and venus are at sandhi. This I found from the 'Houses' tab under basic details of JHora. Could you please tell me what the effect of this sandhi could be?

Many thanks!

AstroKrishna said...

Dear Koushik,

You have not given your place of birth!

Koushik V S said...

oops. sorry. It is Chennai, India.

AstroKrishna said...

Dear Koushik,

Though you have three vargottama planets - Sun(VG(NU)), Mars (VG(FR)) and Venus (VG(BE)), a better placed planet is Rahu(MT).

Aligning lagna with Rahu (mean), I get 17:01:36 as your rectified bith time.

I guess your astrologer was right!

Koushik V S said...

Thank You Sir!

I have one more doubt. Rahu is in Mithuna rasi in my horoscope. According to Parashari technique, each rashi is a house. But when one goes by 30 degrees / equal houses concept, Rahu would be in the eighth house.

The Brihat Jataka does not talk about rashi's and houses as different entities, but "How to Judge a Horoscope Vol. 1" by B.V.Raman clearly says that one must differentiate between bhavas and rashis.

what are your thoughts on the same?

Sorry for asking too many questions! Please do reply only when you are free.

Unknown said...

hello sir i have 5 planets in vargottama, and also lagna is in vargottama. can you predict their results and also about shani dasa.
my details are 11-jan-1989
2:45pm
vijayawada(india)

AstroKrishna said...

Dear Hari,

Of the five planets who are vargottama, vargottama strengh of Sun is poor and as Mars is in gandanta it can not give the effects of vargottama. Rahu is the strongest vargottama (in own sign). Your rectified birth time is around 14:36:26

Vikrama said...

Dear Sir,

I am originally from bangalore. My DOB is 9th August 1974 9:43 AM corrected by Yogi karve and I have three planets in vargottama moon, Venus and mars. I am currently running Moon dasha but things have not been great any hope for the future? Your insight would be greatly appreciated

AstroKrishna said...

What is the recorded birth time before it was rectified by Sri Karve?

Pavan said...

Hello sir,
I have 3 planets in vargottama. Please analyze their strength.
Also please let me know of any correction in my birth time.

My birth details are 26-Mar-1986
3:14am
Virajpet(India)[Lat:12'12 N Long: 75'46 E ]

Thank you.

AstroKrishna said...

Hi Pavan,

Out of the three vargottamas, qualitatively Venus is the best as Venus is exactly on the deep degree of exaltation. Taking Venus as the best placed planet, I get your rectified birth time as 03:15:03

All the best!

Unknown said...

Hello sir, My son' s birth details 1st Sept 2000 born in chennai at 9 pm. He has jup, moon, sun, rahu & ketu vargottama. Can you pls tell me if they are strong and give benefic results. I'm worried because his lagna lord is debiliated. Also I have a doubt on his birth time, please help. THanks in advance

AstroKrishna said...

Seema ji,

Your son has a good horoscope. He is intelligent and will have good life. There is no need to worry about his future.

rajesh said...

Dear Sir,
A number of astrologers, who have given good predictions for my acquaintances, difer on my lagna. Seems many placements are similar in both lagnas. Can you please help.Kolkata(west Bengal),26 May 1967, 08:24morning. Rajesh

eldhoskoloth said...

Hello sir can you please tell me mercury is combust and effects

Dob 28 07 2014
Place muvattupuzha Kerala
Time of birth 13.05

Thanks
Eldo

Sundar said...

Namaskara,
I am a student of Astrology for 5 or so years and have a Vargottama Venus, exalted in both D1 and D9(Meena Lagna in D1 and Thula Lagna in D9) and Venus is retrograde in both D1 and D9 and Jupiter is in the 7th house retrograde in D1 and the 12th house in D9 conjunct ketu in both D1 and D9 and also retrograde in both. I am curious as to the effects during Shukra Dasha. Please comment

Sundar Ramanathan born April 5, 1969, 5.30 AM in Kanchipuram, India

AstroKrishna said...

Hi Sundar,

Your Venus, though vargottama in its exalted sign, it is retrograde and combust.

A retrograde planet though strong, loses its dignity (or the status like exaltation etc.)

A combust planet becomes weak.

Moreover, it is associated with debilitated Mercury and is in the nakshatra of Mercury as well. Hence, don't expect too much good to happen during Venus dasha.

JulyVee said...

Dear Sir
I have started getting interested in astrology very recently. I have Saturn and Moon vargottama (based on jul 3, 1979 chennai 17:05pm).
My Saturn vargottama is strong even though it is in leo, as it is placed in kendras in d1 and d9. In d1 it has mutual aspect with mars and in d9 it has full aspect of jupiter. My saturn md starts in 2018, and I expect it to be more positive or beneficial since it is a strong vargottama. Is my understanding correct?
Thanks
Veena

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

Respected Sir pls help for below details
14 April 2015
Mumbai Borivali West
11:46
Female child

AstroKrishna said...

Hi Ameet,

You have not mentioned what kind of help you are looking for!

Unknown said...

Hello Sir,

Please help to rectify the birth chart and if possible to comment on the native's health

Thanks,
Ameet

AstroKrishna said...

The rectified time is 11:46:39 hrs.

Unknown said...

Hello Sir,

Sir could you please tell me about my daughter's health anything that I should take care.

As am little worried about below points

1. mars with lagna lord (it not very close in terms of degree)
2. moon in 8th house (10 rasi) and vakri shani is ascpecting it.
3. Sun in last degree of meena sign.

sorry to trouble you for this.

Thanks,
Ameet

vikramaditya said...

Hello Sir,
Namaste ! I would be very much obliged if you may spare some time to find the rectified birth time of my chart. Birth Details: 17th Sept 1989, Time 05:05 pm, Rourkela, Odisha.
Namaste

Chinmoy said...

Namaste Sir,
Can you please tell my rectified birth time. My birth details 17 September 1989 05:5pm Rourkela Odisha
Thanks,
Chinmoy

AstroKrishna said...

Hi Vikramaditya,

What is the source of your birth data. Is it from memory or is it based on hospital record?

vikramaditya said...

Namaste Sir,
Thank you, Sir, for showing interest in my chart. Basically, I don't know about correctness, since I had a cesarian birth, it caused significant blood loss to my mother. My maternal grandfather gave his blood and saved my mother. Due to this birth time was approximated at around 05:05 pm. But I was born in and around 05:00 pm for sure. Hope this helps.

Thanks,


AstroKrishna said...

Hi Vikramaditya,

When I first looked at the chart, I suspected that the birth time may not be accurate and hence asked the question. Usually, the rectified time falls within 2 mins. of hospital recorded time. In your case, it was more. Thanks for the clarification.

Your rectified birthtime is 16:58:03

vikramaditya said...

Namaste Sir,

Thanks for birth time rectification. I will always be grateful for your kind help.

Thanks once again

Unknown said...

Dear sir ,
namashkar.
my younger son was born on 8-1-2010 at 11.18 a.m according to hospital record by operation in nasik , maharashtra. Last yr i shown his horoscope to an astrologer.by looking at my son nature ,behaviour and way of talking, he said that he cannot be of meen lagna ( 11.18 a.m)he has to be of kumbh lagna ( 11.03 a.m ).Now we are confused ,as to what is his exact birth time.later we asked it from other astrologer but no body able to solve this puzzle.is it possible to know by looking at my horoscope or my wife horoscope about his correct time.
i will be really greatful if you help me in this matter.
regards- shyam

AstroKrishna said...

Dear Shyam ji,

The behaviour of a person should be seen from different angles. Lagna, Moon's nakshatra, placement of Sun, Moon etc. When we judge everything from lagna, we could go wrong. In this chart, lagna lord Jupiter is placed in the 12th house. Hence, in such charts, when reading from lagna, one could seriously go wrong. It is better to read charts from Moon in such cases. This is my personal opinion.

In any case, the rectified time for your son is 11:18:43.

Srinivasan said...

Dear Sir,
Can you pls help me to correct my Birth Time?
I have mailed you may Birth Details with related info on 7.Mar.17.
- C.Srinivasan, Chennai.

Unknown said...

Dear Sir,

My Venus is in Rasi sandhi/gandanta and is also vargottama in all vargas; The mhadasha has started. I want to understand and know how this will behave. My DOB is 26 May 1974, time is 2:25 am and Delhi is birthplace.
I will be obliged if you can throw some light on this

Regards
Hemango gupta

Biolab said...

Dear Astrologer

I have five planets vargottama, but never felt strong results and my sun and ketu exchange place as per you mentioned in article. I am confused and have 1 question - I want to know whether my best planet is alligned with lagna and strength of my vargottama planets.

01 - 12 - 1988

12:35 pm

Dibrugarh (Assam, India)

Regards

AstroKrishna said...

Dear Biplab Merrx,

Of course there are 5 vargottama planets. However, each one of them seem to be afflicted. Mercury is combust, Moon in Rahu-Ketu axis, Rahu in 12H etc.

For alignment with lagna, it appears that Moon is the best as it is vargottama in a close friend's house. Rahu though vargottama in own house gets disqualified as it is placed in the 12H. Sun is vargottma in a neutral sign.

Parivartana between Sun and Ketu is not considered auspicious as Sun is a dusthana lord and hence the parivartana is called 'Dainya Parivartana'.

RAOLN said...

Dear Sir,
My son BTR please:
Name: C. Krishna
DOB:08th Jul 95
TOB: 8:51 AM
POB: Melbourne Australia
Will he get any proper education?

Thanks

Unknown said...

Sir, I have come for months on end, searching and testing rectification techniques, I really liked your technique and I will test it in many graphs. I doubt if I chose the correct planet in the analysis of my chart ..... Saturn is vargotama, but is weak with 21.7% strength, the Sun exalted but I considered it very close to Gandanta, moon debility, Jupiter in friendly sign and exalted navamsa, Venus although exalted is far from the deep point, Rahu in neutral signal, Mars and Mercury are in parivartana and mercurial exalted navamsa, I considered mercury as the strongest, my birth hour according to the hospital's certificate is 23: 30.Then Mercury aligns to the Lagna at 23:29:27 very close to the hospital registry.My analyze this certain sir? Please correct me.


Date: April 16, 1976
Time: 23:30:00
Time Zone: 3:00:00 (West of GMT)
Place: 49 W 01' 32", 28 S 36' 54"
Jaguaruna, Brazil

AstroKrishna said...

Hi,

Actually, Mars is the strongest being Vargottama in own sign due to parivartana with Mercury in Rasi.

Currently, I am experimenting with Pushya Paksha Ayanamsha and I feel that it is giving better results. Please use this.

On aligning lagna with Mars, in your case, I get 23:28:28 as the rectified time.

Unknown said...


Very grateful for the answer, sir! Using Pushya Paksha Ayanamsha I was able to fine tune the time at 23: 28: 30.1, and it stayed like this

Nakshatra lord Sub lord Prati-sub Sookshma-sub Praana-sub Deha-sub
As Su Ju Sa Sa Su Ra
Ma Ju Sa Sa Sa Su Ra



Mars is undoubtedly a very important planet in the letter for being dispositor of 5 grahas, and the subhapathi aspect lagna.
But I do not feel the vargotama effect in the material sense, in the significations of mars as karaka, perhaps in something related to the search for spirituality that exists in me from a very young age.

I will test in other letters also with Pushya Ayanamsa
Thank you very much for this knowledge, sir!

Unknown said...

Pranam sir.sir I have no planet in vargottam but my Jupiter and sun is exalted in d9.sir my time is not rectified as it is written as 2:00:00 am midnight.sir can you please tell me what is correct rectified time of birth.
Sir my dob is 27/05/1989 at taranagar rajasthan India at 2:00:00 am midnight and sir when is there my chance of getting married.thank you sir

AstroKrishna said...

Hi Vishal,

Jupiter is slightly combust and has weak shadbala, Saturn also has low shadbala. Hence, Sun is the strongest. Your rectified time is 1:58:19.

Unknown said...

Thank you very much sir for your reply.sir i am very much obliged .sir cqan you pls tell me when there is a chance of marriage.thank you sir.

Unknown said...

Hello Sir,

Could you please help me in identifying my correct Birth time? According to the Hospital authorities, the time recorded in 22:15.
Name: Jayanth Koundinya
DoB: 30.05.1990
Place: Bangalore(Chamrajpet)

Thank you for your help!

AstroKrishna said...

Hi Jayanth,

The rectified time is 8 minutes away from the time you have mentioned. Normally, it is within 2 minutes of the recorded time. Hence, I am not sure why there is such a deviation in your case.

Unknown said...

Hello Sir,

Thank you very much for your response.
8 minutes away? Do you mean before 22:15 or after 22:15?

The official recorded birth time is 22:15, sir. I was quite unsure of it for a very long time. But, after enquiring the authorities, they say it is 22:15.
Thank you very much!

Technologist said...

Thanks Krishna Ji for this Scientific Method of BTR. I also, being a Chemical Engineer, always believe that this divine science is also mathematical in nature with certain rules like this & we need to find out those methods like one is given for Life assessment by Late Shri Pravin Jakhad (I am still not able to understand it due to Marathi version - English version is not having good enough translation for decoding).

Now based on your method I found that Su is my best planet. Is it correct? My Details are as below.

DOB - 03 May 1971
TOB - 18:51
POB Agra - 27/11 - 78/00

Su - CF
Mo - Gandanta
Ma - BE & Disqualified due to Dispo in Rashi Sandhi (Deeply)
Me - I am unable to decide (But Deb, in 12th in Lagna in D9) So Omitted
Ju - CF
Ve - BE
Sa - Rashi Sandhi (Deeply)
Ra - Ignored due to Dispo (Sa) in Rashi Sandhi.

Please Guide if I am correct or not. Since Shad Bala is higher for Su..........I believe that Su is aligned to my Lagna.........!!!

Unknown said...

Hello Sir,

Sorry to bother you again. Could please clarify whether the Birth time that you rectified was 8 minutes ahead of 22:15 or before 22:15?

Cheers,
Jayanth Koundinya

AstroKrishna said...

It was around 22:23

Unknown said...

Thank you very much for your response. One last question, sir - are you using the Pushya Paksha ayanamsa for rectification or the True Lahiri ayanamsa?

Cheers,
Jayanth Koundinya

AstroKrishna said...

I normally use True Chitrapaksha. However, I am experimenting with Pushya Paksha now.

AstroKrishna said...

Hi Technologist,

In your case couple of planets are close to sandhi, and hence this case is sensitive to the Ayanamsha selected. Currently, I am using Pushya paksha ayanamsha and seeing better results.

Sun gets debilitated in Navamsha (when Pushya Paksha Ayanamsha is used), hence not the right candidate. Notice that there is a Srinkhala between Sat-Ven-Jup-Mar. As a result, Saturn becomes vargottama in own sign. Hence, Saturn is the planet to which lagna should be aligned.