Grahas

Graha is a Sanskrit word that means to grab, grasp, hold, apprehend. The nine grahas (planets) are the incarnating forces that bind the living beings to their karmas. These nine are namely Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, Rahu and Ketu. The grahas hold the elements, namely, earth, water, fire, air and ether in the three realms of existence; physical, astral, causal to manifest the differentiated world.

Everything that exists, everything that is perceived through the senses, is ruled by the grahas. Naming everything that a particular planet rules is an exhaustive task so giving a few examples and interpreting the general characteristics of each planet will give one a general and informative idea.

The priceless jewels of knowledge are graciously given by Sage Parasara in the Brihat Parasara Hora Sastra

The Sun has honey colored eyes, square body; he is of clean habits, is bilious, intelligent, manly and has limited hair on his head.

BPHS, Chapter 3, verse 23

Surya, the sun god, is one of the 12 Adityas, the guardians of the months of the year. He rides a chariot driven by Aruna who represents the dawn. Surya's wife is Sanjna (conscience). Sanjna could not tolerate the extreme heat and light of the Sun so she ran away into the forest asking one of her handmaids to take her place. She disguised herself as a horse so her husband would not recognize her. Surya however, discovered her refuge and transformed himself into a horse and mated with her. They had many children and Sanjna was once again reunited with her husband, however she found his intense heat and light exhausting. Her father decided to trim Surya's body by one eighth. The meaning of this myth lies in the fact that the Sun represents the Soul and as such, our Conscience cannot tolerate the Light and ultimate Truth of the Soul, so it will run away and deny and try to forget our true nature. To have our character flaws and misgivings constantly illumined and brought forth into the light by the Sun (Soul) would be exhausting to us, so the light must be trimmed.

Soul, father, courage, brightness, government, politicians and politics, king, authority, power, health, skeleton, head, right eye, heart, baldness and the Eastern direction. The Sun is a sattvic planet, of royal status and is Kshatriya (warrior) class. The Sun has a blood-red complexion and rules all pungent tastes. Where the Sun is placed in a horoscope shows where this a lot of energy and vitality and also integrity. All life comes from the Sun, no other planet would be visible without the Sun, so it is the foundation of all. That would be the Soul for the jiva (living being) and the skeleton for the body.

The Moon rules one's Mother, the perceptual mind, water, the home, females, early childhood, the past, emotions, nurturing, past experience, the public, the Queen, the stomach, left eye, the breasts, blood, the Northwest direction. The Moon like the Sun is sattvic in nature and of royal status. The Moon is Vaishya (commercial/merchant) caste. The Moon takes the Sun's light like the Mind takes its power from the Soul to reflect back the material world. The Moon is the jiva, the incarnated being, with a mind to perceive all manifestations of the tattvas (five elements) and the three gunas (states of being). The Moon is tawny complexioned and rules salty tastes.

O Brahmin, Mars is cruel, has blood red eyes, is ficklemeinded, liberal hearted, bilious and has thin waist and thin physique

BPHS, Chapter 3, verse 25

Siblings, enemies, conflict, opinions, discord, battle, war, weapons, exercise, courage, strength, valour, bone marrow, fire, blood, soldiers, accidents, police, military, force, energy, independence, muscular strength, will-power. Mars is short and his complexion is blood red. He is the army chief of the planetary cabinet. His caste is Kshatriya (warrior). Mars is a child and he is Tamoguna. Hi s childlike quality enables him to fight for a righteous cause and to use his warrior nature to propel him to spiritual heights. A strong Mars in the birth chart gives the native the will power to do the right thing. An afflicted Mars will show uncontrollable anger, a fearful outlook, and/or potential violence.

O Vipra, Mercury possesses an attractive physique and the ability to make pun or to speak works having double meaning, sense of humor. He has a blend of all three humors of Bile, Phlegm and wind (vaat).

Mercury was born from the illicit coupling of the Moon and Tara, Jupiter's wife. Jupiter had been away, studying and teaching, doing Jupiterian things, so Tara was a little bored. She became enamored of the Moon and moved in with him. When Jupiter returned, he asked, "Where is my wife?" Upon discovering that she was shacked up with the Moon, he went to retrieve her but she refused to return. This refusal began a war between the devas (gods) and asuras (demons). Brahma intervened and convinced Tara to return. To add insult to injury, she was with child and that child was Mercury. She named the child's father as the Moon but the child was so beautiful and charming that Jupiter wanted to father it. As a result of this confusion of fatherhood and being the object of the first custody battle ever, Mercury has a tendency to ask "Who's my Daddy?" This tendency is apparent as Mercury takes on the characteristics of the planet it is with in the horoscope. When the Moon and Mercury get together, it spells trouble.

Speech, communication, humor, the intellect, the rational mind, language, writing, logic, discrimination, friends, travels, messengers, business, trade, man made law, skin, lungs. Mercury is rajasic and belongs to the commercial/trade community. Mercury is also the prince, the heir apparent, again showing the importance of benefic influences upon him.

Jupiter is large bodied, has honey coloured eyes, and hair, is phlegmatic, intelligent and learned in all Shastras.

BPHS, Chapter 3, verse 27

Jupiter is the significator of all happiness. Fat, a person's guru or spiritual teacher, religion, philosophy, the brain, the liver, allergies, children, husband, foreign travel, optimism, faith, good fortune, higher learning, expansive knowledge, wisdom, creativity, creations. Jupiter is a Brahmin by caste and is a ministerial planet in the planetary cabinet. Jupiter is sattvic (pure) and his color is tawny.

O Bhrigusut (son of Bhrigu)! Venus is joyful, charming in physique, has beautiful brilliant eyes, is a poet, is phlegmatic and windy and has curly hair.

BPHS Chapter 3, verse 28

Shukra (Venus) was born to Rishi Bhrigu and his wife, Ushana. He went to study Vedas from Rishi Angirasa. Disappointed and jealous of Angirasa's favoritism to his son, Brihaspati (Jupiter), he went to study under Gautama and was given a mantra for reviving the dead for performing penances to Lord Shiva. Eventually, Brihaspati (Jupiter) becomes guru of the Devas, so Shukra decides to become the guru and preceptor of the Asuras (demons). A war ensues between the two and Shukra uses his magical mantra to achieve victory over the Devas by reviving the dead Asuras. After this victory, Lord Vishnu incarnates as Sage Vamana to take back the three worlds from the Asura King Bali. Shukra understands that Vamana is Lord Vishnu and warns the King. The King ignores the warnings of Shukra and offers the three worlds to Sage Vamana. Annoyed, Shukra shrinks himself into a vase from which water must be poured to seal the deal. Realizing that Shukra is blocking the flow of the water, Vamana takes a stick and pokes it into the mouth of the vase poking out the eye of Shukra in the process. From then on, the guru of the Asuras was known to be half-blind.

The wife, romance, luxury, marriage, partnership, beauty, art, dance, singing, music, harmony, flowers, pleasure, conveyances, whiteness, swimming pool, the direction of Southeast, semen, kidneys, reproductive system, urinary tract. Venus is rajasic and a ministerial planet in the planetary cabinet. Venus is a Brahmin so in horoscopes where Venus glances at the Ascendant, it's lord, the Moon, or several planets, the person will be Brahmin-like in nature.

O Brahmin, Saturn has an emaciated and long physique bhoney colored eyes, is windy in temperament, has big teeth, is indolent, lame and has coarse, rough hair.

Sani (Saturn) is a demi-god who is the son of Surya, the Sun god and his wife Chhaya. As a baby, when he opened his eyes for the very first time, the Sun went into eclipse. This stresses the negative impact of the glance of Sani. The King Vikramaditya heard a story of the birth of Sani and began to laugh at the Sani's profession as an oil vendor. Sani cursed the king and as a result, he lost his kingdom, was accused as a thief, had his hands and legs cut off. The whole time this was happening, the king still performed devotion to Sani. Because of this, Sani gave him back what he had lost even to a greater degree than what he had before. The moral of the story stresses the importance of perseverance and fortitude in the face of adversity.

Longevity, loss, misfortune, disease, calamities, separation, limitation, servants, waste, structure, stability, perseverance, misery, stoicism, delay, long periods of time, the elderly, fear, the color Black, the direction of West, laziness, slovenliness, muscles, colon, rectum, lymph, teeth, ligaments and tendons, white blood cells.

Rahu has smoke like blue body, lives in forests and is horrible. He is windy in temperament and is intelligent. Like Rahu is Ketu.

Lord Vishnu was dispensing amrita (divine nectar) amongst the gods. A demon, Rahu, was hiding himself and imbibing the drink without Lord Vishnu's knowledge. The Sun and the Moon discovered him and alerted Lord Vishnu. Vishnu threw his discus, cutting off the head of Rahu, but he had already swallowed the nectar and was now immortal. Therefore, there remained an immortal head called Rahu and an immortal body called Ketu.

Foreignness, strangeness, that which is unfamiliar. Rahu and Ketu form the army of the planetary cabinet. Ketu is the "flag" and Rahu is the marching troops. Therefore, Ketu represents that which is already conquered and Rahu represents that which is to be conquered. Other significations of Rahu are: Maternal grandmother, paternal grandfather, multicolored clothes, outcastes, lead, impulse, disillusionment, compulsions, obsessions, immaturity, insanity, fear from the unknown, worldly desires, separation, crime, drugs, extreme changes, upheavals.

Innate talents, intense scrutiny, dissatisfaction, doubt, fear from past experiences, mystical experiences, occult knowledge, asceticism, intrigues, enlightenment, worldly indifference, maternal grandfather, paternal grandmother. Ketu, as being the "flag", represents what we have already conquered and become very familiar with. The saying "familiarity breeds contempt" comes directly from Ketu as Ketu makes us contemptuous of all that is substantive.