Disguising Maya of Budha Graha (Mercury)
Lord Kubera is the lord of treasures of money and even has given loan to Lord Vishnu to be able to marry Goddess Laxmi in their Tirupati- Padmavati Avtara. He is associated with a specific symbol key which is called Kubera Kunji. This is the key to treasure, the treasure of secret knowledge about horoscope, of unlocking the powers in horoscope. North direction is the seat of lord Kubera, which is associated to planet Mercury.
In astrology, Budha graha (planet Mercury) is well known for its complicated behavior. It is lord of two dual signs Gemini, the natural significator of siblings and communication and Virgo, the natural significator of purity, immunity, debts, diseases and enemies. It is the only planet who exalts in its own sign Virgo. It is a planet of talking and speech and it gets debilitated in Pisces, the sign of silence. It is planet of logic and Pisces is sign of blind faith, bhakti. Being an Earth element is destroyed in power in water sign of pralaya.
Mercury is the smallest planet in our solar system and its orbit is nearest to the Sun. It is named Mercury on the Roman Deity name and means The God of messengers, travel and commerce. While in Vedic astrology, it is named Budha means intelligent and enlightened.
It is not categorized specifically for divisions like sura-asura, male-female and benefic- malefic. It always juggles between Suras and Asuras group and between benefic and malefic planets groups as per its position in horoscope. It is eunuch planet. It is neither strong in daytime nor in night time, rather is strong in twilight time.
In various astrology texts, it is mentioned that Mercury can change its nature as per its placement in chart. It is a benefic planet but converts into malefic if is associated with or aspected by a malefic planet. So it is named ‘Thali ka Baingan’ (brinjal on a plate that rolls down to any direction), bewafa laundi (deceiving lover/ friend), girgit (chameleon who can change its colour to match with surroundings), parrot (who can copy), behroopiya (ayyaar- who can disguise as another), ullu ka pattha (son of an owl), chamgadarh (bat animal who lives in darkness and stays hanging upside down) etc.
It not only changes its nature by influence of other planets rather it can also change its form. It is generally placed in a chart in a disguised form of some other planet and behaves according to that planet only. The secret form of Mercury in the chart, holds the key to decipher the whole chart in fact.
According to Lal Kitab, it is very important to unlock the secret of horoscope first and identify Mercury. There are few ways of doing so.
- Alchemy of Mercury and the house and its significator- Mercury behaves and gives results according to the significator of the house in which it is placed.
“ulat paanv chamgadar latka, khufiya shararat karta ho;
Ghar pacca jis graha ka hoga, vaha vahi ban baithta ho;
Saath bure graha sabse manda, bhala bhale se hota hai.
Interpretation- Mercury has habit of spoiling the work to be done and make opposite to happen and hang the person upside down like a bat. It can cause this by secretly behaving naughty against the person and doesn’t let him know about that (keeps in darkness/ ignorance).
It behaves like the planet significator of the pacca house in which it is placed.
It behaves malefic in influence of a malefic planet and benefic if influenced by a benefic planet.
“ghar 2,4, ya 6 me baitha, raajyogi budha hota ho;
7-ve ghar me paaras hota, graha saathi ko tarataa ho;
9,12,8 teesare, 11 thuke kodhi budha hota ho,
Ghar pehle 10 ghumta raja, pariwar daulat 5 deta ho.”
Interpretation- Mercury gives Rajyoga when sits in 2, 4 or 6th houses. It helps conjuncted planet to give benefic results if placed in 7th house, just like a philospher’s stone. Mercury placed in 9, 12, 8 and 11th house should not speak ill of others or bad mouth to get good results. Person becomes the king if it is placed in 10th. It blesses with good family and money in 5th house.
2. It mixes its effect into that significator planet and the khana (house). It is also called tote ki paintees (secret of thirty five of parrot). There is a famous quote in Lal kitab revealing the effect of Mercury in various houses, which became associated popularly with the parrot.
“Lat pat painti chatur sujaan,
Kaho gangarama shri bhagwan.”
35 is the common name used for alphabets group in local language of Punjab, based on the number of alphabets. All words are chosen to remember either the name of planet or the effects.
| Word from quote | Planet whose form ME takes | House number | Lord of house | Results |
| Lat | Shani | 10 | SA | Long life, cheating (lootana, lutaana), crookedness |
| Pat | Brihaspati | 2 | VE | Family, respect, money |
| 35 | Brihaspati | 11 | SA | destiny |
| Chatur | Budha | 7 | VE | Cleverness, intelligence |
| Sujaan | Mangala | 3 | ME | Bold, strong, Favouring justice |
| Kaho | Ketu | 6 | KE | Speaking and listening, (kehna sunana) |
| Ganga | Brihaspati | 5 | SU | Ganga, ocean, river, progeny |
| Ra | Rahu | 12 | JU, RA | I, me, my, ego |
| ma | Chandra | 4 | MO | Mother, peace, heart |
| Shri | Surya | 1 | MA | Best among all, king, old- head of family |
| Bhaga | shukra | 7 | VE | Woman, Laxmi, Property |
| vaan | Mangala bad | 8 | MA | Death, god, arrow (baan) |
Result is obtained but condition is that lord of that house should not be placed in 9th house. If lord of that house is placed in 9th house then that lord becomes fruitless and behaves malefic. In this list of results for Mercury placed in various houses, Mercury in 9th is not given because it goes fruitless there. So as above condition, if the planet in 4th column which is the lord for that house of placement of Mercury in column 3, is placed in 9th house then that planet (of 4th column) will become fruitless and malefic.
3. Mercury takes the form of another planet i.e. it disguises as another planet and gives results as per situation and strength of that planet in the horoscope. It can be revealed by a simple calculation.
First we need to know the powers of all planets in numbers.
Surya/ Sun- 9
Chandra/ Moon- 8
Shukra/ Venus- 7
Brihaspati/ Jupiter- 6
Mangala/ Mars- 5
Budha/ Mercury- 4
Shani/ Saturn- 3
Rahu- 2
Ketu- 1
Step-1: note down the house number of each planet in one column and powers of planets in 2nd column.
Step-2: Now power of each planet is multiplied by the house number in which it is placed in 3rd column, and result is written in 4th column.
Step-3: Then all the nine results are added at the bottom of column no. 3.
Step-4: this sum is divided by 9 and the remainder is noted.
Step- 5: find out the planet whose power matches with the remainder. Mercury is disguised as that planet. That planet holds the key to unlock powers of horoscope.
Let’s understand by an example horoscope-
| Planet – power | House number | Power x house no. | Result |
| Sun- 9 | 6 | 9 x 6 | 54 |
| Moon- 8 | 5 | 8 x 5 | 40 |
| Venus- 7 | 5 | 7 x 5 | 35 |
| Jupiter- 6 | 7 | 6 x 7 | 42 |
| Mars- 5 | 3 | 5 x 3 | 15 |
| Mercury- 4 | 7 | 4 x 7 | 28 |
| Saturn- 3 | 10 | 3 x 10 | 30 |
| Rahu- 2 | 4 | 2 x 4 | 8 |
| Ketu- 1 | 10 | 1 x 10 | 10 |
| Total sum | 262 |
262 is divided by 9= 29+ 1/9.
Remainder comes out to be 1, which is power of Ketu.
This means Mercury in 7th house conjunct with Jupiter has form of Ketu and is giving results of Ketu in the chart. This girl is a Christian and is very religious in nature. Inspite of many good yogas favouring marriage in the chart, she could not get married.
You can watch it here-
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Part – 2
Part – 3
