Yogas

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In Vedic astrology a yoga is a named combination of planetary placements held to produce a particular result: Gaja Kesari, Budhaditya, the raja yogas of power and the dhana yogas of wealth. Hundreds are catalogued in the classical texts, chiefly the Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra and the Jataka Parijata. The word is the same as in the yoga of practice, meaning union or joining; here it is the joining of planets.

Facts

Overview

Entries in the Atlas: 15
What Defines This Grouping: Named combinations of planetary placement in Jyotisa, each held to give a specific result. The word is Sanskrit yoga, "joining": these are the joining of planets, and NOT the postural or meditative discipline of the same name. 1

Origins

Whose Classification This Is: The named yogas and their definitions come from the classical Sanskrit hora literature, chiefly the Brihat Parasara Hora Sastra. The tradition fixes no canonical list, and the texts differ on both names and definitions. 2

Sources

Jyotihsastra: Astral and Mathematical Literature David Pingree, 1981
Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra Sage Parashara (attributed), 1984

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Named Planetary Combinations

In Vedic astrology a yoga is a named combination of planetary placements held to produce a particular result: Gaja Kesari formed by Jupiter and the Moon, Budhaditya by Sun and Mercury, the raja yogas of power and the dhana yogas of wealth. The word here means "combination" or "union", not the physical or meditative discipline of the same name.

Hundreds of yogas are catalogued in the classical texts, chiefly the Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra and the Phaladeepika, each defined by a specific configuration and given a characteristic effect, and much of the art of Vedic chart reading lies in spotting them.

Combination and Result

A yoga links a cause, a certain planet in a certain house or sign, or a certain relationship between planets, to a predicted result, and yogas can be raja (power and status), dhana (wealth), or arishta (misfortune), among many families. Their strength depends on the dignity of the planets involved and on whether the promise is activated during the relevant dasha.

The atlas gives each yoga its defining configuration and its traditional result. The families the yogas are sorted into are treated under the yoga-category, and the periods that activate them under the dasha category.