This write-up is a sequel to the article Kala Sarpa Yoga, by this author, in a series on how to read charts.
Raja yoga is a topic touched by many and questioned by as many. The amount of possible combinations forming rājayoga is completely overshadowed by the amount of charts and people who do not experience the same. A simple example is the combination between a Kendra and Trikoṇa lord which though is said to be a rājayoga, has little conceivable outcome for the native.
So what is missing? Firstly, any yoga in a chart must be backed by i) personal interest (Lagna/lagneśa); ii) a measurable reward (Ārūḍha) and iii) a soul level desire/interest (ātmakāraka). In the astrological community today, little has been spoken or understood regarding the latter two points of reference, and mainly due to a lack of available teachings on the same giving a purely one dimensional view of the chart, namely the physical dimension.
Śakti and rājayoga
Rājayoga is not only experienced through increased physical comforts such as those granted through eating food from a good cook (horā chart), having a nice bathroom (Ṣodaśāmsa chart), or sitting on a nice couch, as much as they would seem comfortable. These are the effects purely experienced from a rājayoga fully influencing the Lagna. But for fame, name and reputation from rājayoga, one must leave an impact on people’s minds… one must be remembered. This is seen from the Ārūḍha Lagna. Now here we aren’t interested in assessing new yogas from the Ārūḍha Lagna, but analyzing the already existing yogas with regards to the Ārūḍha.
Further, if the soul/ātma doesn’t have a desire to reap any of the opportune goals in life, the native might as well renounce and go to the mountains, as without this no rājayoga will have any significant outcome at all. To elucidate this we can make a point system.
There are three strengths or śakti:
- Jñāna śakti or the power of knowledge and knowing.
- Kriyā śakti, or the power to act and cause events to occur.
- Iccha śakti, or the power of desire itself.
Where the Lagna has kriyā śakti, and therefore has the power to act and cause events, the Ārūḍha has jñāna śakti, which makes one known and famous to other people, the ātmakāraka has all three of jñāna, kriyā and iccha śakti and therefore carries the greatest weightage in analyzing the chart for rājayoga. It is for this reason that the jivātmā or individual soul has the power bring us back into this world for the purpose of reaping certain desires, but also further bind us to this world because of those same desires[1].
The three points of reference in the chart are thus the i) Lagna, ii) Ārūḍha Lagna and iii) ātmakāraka. And the specific tool we will use to analyze this is that of argalā.
Argalā is a very revealing principle. The word argalā means bolt, bar, check or impediment. It refers to that bolt which holds or fastening pin which keeps a door or any object locked. A planet having argalā is one which has the power to unfasten that door.
| Argalā | Virodhārgalā |
| Primary | |
| Second | Twelfth |
| Fourth | Tenth |
| Eleventh | Third |
| Secondary | |
| Fifth | Ninth |
| Eighth | Sixth |
There are two types of argalā. Argalā which grants opportunities and virodhārgalā which helps obstructs opportunities and can open doors to new ones.
Among the houses which cause virodhārgalā, the third house has a special function being that it can grant parākrama-argalā where the native exerts greater force in their actions, provided malefics are placed in third.
To elucidate this use in analyzing rājayoga, the chart of Queen Magrethe II of Denmark is presented.
to be continued…
[1] Śiva Purana, Viśveśvara Samhita, chapter 18.