Navagraha-The Nine Planets

Planets are the celestial bodies, whose movements are tracked by keeping earth as the central point. These heavenly objects cast their influence on earth, nature and its inhabitants to a great degree. Although, technically Sun and Moon are not planets, and Rahu and Ketu are just lunar nodes, still they are essentially referred as planets in Hindu astrology. During the Vedic Era, the Sages and the Saints known as Rishis and Munis used to calculate the time from the sunrise till sunset by viewing the shadows. During night time they used the stars positions to judge the time of the moment. Unlike these days they never had any clock and measuring instruments, yet they were far more accurate in finding the planetary positions and their movements. What they found is astonishingly accurate to today's developed science and technology.

They identified the planets and its influence on the earth and its particles so precisely that each planet has some relative element in its existence. 

Sun being the largest star in our Solar system, while passing its rays to the earth, also touches many other planets before entering into the earth's atmosphere. Thus radiation emanated from the Sun is a mixture of rays with contamination from other planets. These mixed rays are suitable for some and not so for others, whether human or otherwise.

To overcome these problems they found simple solutions from nature itself and discovered that each planet is, in one or other way linked to the nature, viz. tree, plants, grain, mineral and color too.  They precisely found the links and identified it with remarkable influences.

For instance, wheat is identified with Sun and if a person has the Star Sun placed in a weaker position, then he is advised to substitute wheat with other food items.  This is a corrective measure which helped the sufferer from the ill effects of the planet/star.

Like wise, for each planet they marked a particular grain, mineral, metal, tree or plant, color and flower. Within my limited knowledge, I give below the list of each planet and its relative substance on the earth.  0ne can then easily understand why an astrologer suggests some gem or other to weed off the ill effects of a specific planet.  I am giving hereunder the sample stones also for one to recognize.

Now what about its effects and influences on humans? How can one be sure which color or stone suites someone best?  What effect these gems will have on a person?

Let us study these points one by one. 

SATURN:

First, let us discuss the planet Saturn.  People in general tend to fear saying this planet's name and are scared once they find that they are under the influence of Saturn (Saade Sathi or the so called Seven and half years period of Saturn's cycle).

Now look at the chart below

Planet	Color	Gem	Grain	Metal
Sun	Red	Ruby	Wheat	Bronze
Moon	White	Pearl	Paddy/Rice	Lead
Mars	Red	Coral	Bengal Gram - Red Lentil Gram	Copper
Mercury	Green	Emerald	Green Gram	Mercury
Jupiter	Yellow	Yellow Sapphire	Indian Yellow Split Peas (split Gram Lentil) Chana Dal	Gold
Venus	White	Diamond	Soya Gram	Silver
Saturn	Blue	Blue Sapphire	Sesame (Gingili)	Iron & Steel
Rahu	Black	Zircon	Black Gram	Rocks-Blackstone
Ketu	Multi-color	Cat's Eye	Horse gram	Red stones

Saturn is identified with Iron & Steel and its rays contain Iron particles. When Iron substance is excessively found in one's body then the neuron chips in the brain gets disturbed. Thus the emitting of brain wave is also disturbed or scattered and this puts a person under Saturn's effects to great hardship. People tend to ignore this person. Many a time clashes occur. A person under its influence is likely to slip from his or her routine. They are more often attracted towards unwanted and unlawful activities. Greed takes them for a ride and they may even tend to go for gambling, howsoever a refined person he or she may be.

Saturn is a very slow moving planet and it takes roughly two and half years to cross one sign of 30 degrees.  Unless it is a new moon or full moon day, generally during all Saturdays, the atmospheric pressure is very minimal.  This low pressure in atmosphere causes lethargic attitude in most of us and for those who suffer from the seven and half years (Sade Sathi) period of Saturn, in particular. That's why persons affected by it become lazy and lethargic during the ill effect period.

during the Saturn's ill effect periods known as Sade Sathi, they tend to forget even most important assignment, lose valuable items, become very lethargic and inactive, lose weight, and spend money more than usual and mostly borrow it even if it is for higher interest rates etc. thus taking him to a bad debt trap.

Many a person who suffered these bad effects was given some remedial suggestions according to astrological considerations. If a person wears a blue sapphire stone during that specific period, the Saturn's ill effects are minimal. But how a stone or gem can bring solace is questioned by many. The fact is that the mineral content in a particular stone and the cosmic radiation combined together are beneficial, that much one can be sure of. And there is always a link between our Mother Earth and the Celestial movement of planets; even the researchers inform that some sort of sound emission from other planets too reaches the Earth; this sound vibration too causes some disturbances with any person affected during the 7and half year (Saade Sathi) period. 

Some alternative methods are also suggested to weed off Saturn's radiations. 0ne such suggestion is to light/burn the gingili (sesame) seeds soaked into gingili (sesame) oil and inhale the carbon. This method is practically done on every Saturday evenings in the famous South Indian temples which hold a separate location for the Temple of Planets.  This method supposedly relieves one from Saturn's ill effects, viz. by inhaling the gingili Carbon, the ventricles take it directly to the brain and the chemical reaction caused in the brain releases the excessive Saturn Radiations from the brain, through the seven visible holes in the face itself - i.e. nostrils, ear, eyes and mouth.  In addition, the skull punch or the focal point, (from where brain waves are emitted) also ventilates the Saturn's radiations. Saturn's rays are, presumably, thick containing more iron substance/iodine.

Another such method is, just to keep the gingili seeds into one's palm for few minutes and then to gift it to a Brahman. It is said, that gingili seeds absorbs the Saturn's rays directly from the body and gives relief to the sufferer. This is also done on a Saturday. It is widely believed that the receiver of this gingili gets the ill effects of the Planet Saturn and the receiver is mostly a Brahman who should take remedial measures to correct the imbalances.

R A H U

Next to Saturn, the people in India are generally scared of the Shadow planet called Rahu which is known as "Dragon's Head" or Ascendant Node. Though this is called a shadow planet and it takes anti clock wise move, its influence in one's horoscope is very high. Very particularly during its Dasa period of 18 years.  Rahu represents many ill aspects in general. Rahu is identified with Black Cobra, poison, Zircon, black magic, gambling, black gram, black stone, blade grass (Dhruva in Hindi) menial jobs, slavery, all sorts of skin ailments, venereal deceases, impotency, childlessness, jail/imprisonments etc. In short this planet mostly gives only negative results when it is ill placed in one's horoscope.

If Rahu is placed in the fifth house from Lagna or Ascendant, then the native is most likely (he/she) childless and in some cases only female issues and surely no male child. If there is any conjunction with other planet, this result may, however, vary.

Likewise, if this planet is placed in the 6th house, the native is likely to suffer from skin ailments, skin burns, dryness, sore skin etc. That too when the Rahu Dasa is running; and if Rahu is transiting through the 6th house, then ill effects are sure to be there and critical too.

To weed off the negative aspects of this planet, there are many remedial suggestions given in the ancient astrology. One such suggestion is to consume the essence of the Blade Grass daily, about three to five tea spoonfuls, for a consecutive 48 days. This way one gets his/her blood purified and the skin ailment vanishes. This medicinal remedy is so powerful that I have seen people getting better after consuming it.

Another kind of remedy somewhat resembles pressure therapy. It is believed that if a person under Rahu's influence is made to lie on the black gram seeds for a particular no. of hours then the seeds absorb the ill effective rays from the body. Also the pressure of the seeds on the body itself gives some massage like therapy thus one gets a maximum benefit achieved by using the Black gram.

Now for the fourth alternate suggestion given in the astrology scripts. It is widely known as a pilgrimage to the temples which cures any ailments that relate to Rahu's placement in a native's birth chart. There are 3 such temple locations for Rahu and Ketu. 0ne is in Trimbakeshwar in Maharashtra, other at Kaalahasthi in Andhra Pradesh and the third is Thirunaageswaram in Tamilnadu. 

The third Planet people worry about is Ketu. This is also a shadow planet and it is always at 180 degrees opposite to Rahu. This planet too moves in anti clock wise direction. Ketu is the karaka or cause for many good and bad events in one's life.

Navagraha Chart:

The above chart represents the placement of Navagraha in any Temple. While making Navratna stone set in any Ring, it is highly recommended to follow the following picture explanation and to fix the gem stones according to the guidance given in Vedic Astrology. Sun being the centrist star, the solar celestial phenomena needs to be understood properly. A glance at the following Navagraha positioning would suffice to any goldsmith to fix the stone accordingly; the following picture gives the directions of each planet viz.: Sun at the Center, Mercury in the North East, Venus in the East, Moon in the South East, Jupiter at the North, Mars at the Southern End, Dragons Tail (Ketu) at the North West, Saturn in the West and the Dragon's Head (Rahu) in the South West corner.