A Background on why people wish to find a muhurta –

Vedic Astrology is a very vast subject. Its like an ocean. So, to master it is close to impossible. That’s the reason why even the expert astrologers miss out to time the events accurately. Because of its vastness, there will always be something more to learn, or to correct their subtle understanding, when it comes to making a right prediction.

But then, to choose a proper time to start anything new and expect success in that venture is very much anybody’s wish.

And we, as a common man, who are not expert in this field, at times may not want to call an expert astrologer when we want to do something new. There could be many reasons for that, like:

  • We may not find a genuine astrologer near by.

  • Or, He is not available when we need him?

  • Or, May be the consultation charges is not affordable.

  • Or, In some other case like, an old man wanting to start his musical career at the age 65 and wish to choose an auspicious muhurta, but feels a little shy to consult an astrologer to expose his enthusiasm at that age.

  • Or, A couple wants to choose an auspicious muhurta to get conceived for their 4th child.

Who knows, anything very trivial from world’s view but something critical subjectively are always there. So, for many hesitant situations, people don’t want to share the reason but still wants to choose a proper time. In such instances, we can make use of the vakya panchangam and follow some broad guidelines; And with that, we can ourselves choose an auspicious muhurta for any events we may want to. Thats the reason why even a panchangam is sold in the market to help ourselves and people go buy and keep it at their home mostly without using them 😛.

No more just buying and keeping in the shelf, but this time, we will learn how to actually use them for our own good sake.

(Note : We have already discussed the basics of panchangam and the logic behind the science briefly here. Please do check them. You will get a broad idea on how to find a tithi or when a tithi or nakshatra ends and stuffs like that. Which is very important when you choose a muhurta.)

A very Broad Guidelines in choosing a good day  :

When it comes to choosing a muhurta , i.e., picking a particular time slot for an occasion, we need to know a very broad classification of the elements that we see in a panchangam against a particular date that we are looking for and based on that we should be able to choose a right muhurat. Consider the points below:

1) A best combination or at-least a balanced combination of the five elements of a panchangam, i.e., tithi, vaara, nakshatra, yoga and karana is a must. Lets Understand these first.

Thitis :
Out of the total 15 tithis, our Rishis have categorized a set of 6 tithis and named it as “Paksha Chidhra“, which are to be avoided for all auspicious occasions in general.

चतुर्दशी चतुर्थी च षष्ठी च द्वादशी तथा
अष्टमी नवमी चैव पक्षच्छिद्राः प्रकीर्तिताः – कालप्रकाशिका

caturdaśī caturthī ca ṣaṣṭhī ca dvādaśī tathā
aṣṭamī navamī caiva pakṣacchidrāḥ prakīrtitāḥ – kālaprakāśikā

In ‘Paksha Chidhra’, ‘Chidhra in sanskrit means weak or infirmity. So ‘paksha chidhra’ means weak or infirm tithis that are not much favourable to start anything auspicious or to take any firm decision to start any new venture. They are Chathurti, Shashti, Ashtami, Navami, Dhwadashi* and Chaturdashi.

Vaara :
Among the vaaras – Monday, wednesday, thursday and friday are Best.
Tuesday, saturday and Sunday* are to be avoided.

Nakshatra :
Among the Nakshatras, there are 3 sets of Nakshatras grouped based on the way they face any direction like ‘upturned’, ‘Cross-faced’ and ‘Down-casted’. The Down-casted are to be Avoided and technically referred to as “Adhomukha nakshatraani”
They are Bharani, Krithika, Aslesha (Ayilyam), Magha, PoorvaPhalguni (Pooram), Vishakha, Mula, Purvashada (Pooradam) and Purvabhadhrapada (poorattadhi).

Yoga :

व्याघातं परिघं वज्रं व्यतीपातं च वैधृतिः
गण्डातिगण्डौ शूलं च विष्कम्भं च शुभे त्यजेत् – कालप्रकाशिका

vyāghātaṁ parighaṁ vajraṁ vyatīpātaṁ ca vaidhṛtiḥ
gaṇḍātigaṇḍau śūlaṁ ca viṣkambhaṁ ca śubhe tyajet – kālaprakāśikā

Among the Yogas, avoid the following nine for all auspicious occasions.
They are Vyaagaatam, Parigham, Vajram, Vyateepaatam, Vaidhruti, Gandam, Atigandam, Shoolam and Vishkambham.

Karana :

विष्ट्याञ्चतुष्पथे नागे किंस्तुघ्ने शकुने तथा – कालप्रकाशिका

viṣṭyāñcatuṣpathe nāge kiṁstughne śakune tathā – kālaprakāśikā

Among Karanas, these 5 are to be avoided for all Auspicious events.
They are Vishti, Chathuspaadam, Nagam, Kimstughnam and Shakunam.

That’s all. Its simple right?. Electing these 5 elements, based on the above simple rules goes by the name “Panchanga Shuddhi“. Now, try yourself daily by checking panchangam if the day is a ‘panchanga shuddhi’ one or not. Hardly it takes just a couple of minutes and by this practice you will be familiar with the above rules and will be quick in checking if a day is an auspicious one or not.

2) But in most cases, you may not find a proper day that matches with all the ‘Panchanga shuddhi‘ mentioned above. So, for that reason, the all knowing rishis of old, in the classic astrological scriptures have given us some exceptions to consider when a proper “Panchanga Shuddhi” day is not matched. Once you are also familiar with the exceptions, then one may very easily choose a proper auspicious time. Now get to know the following exceptions:

  • Tuesday is not “bad” after noon.

  • Sunday, Tuesday and Saturday do not have its adverse effect after nightfall (after sun set).

  • Vishti Karana, Vyateepaadam and Vaidhruti Yoga, these three will loose its malefic qualities after midday.

Just a note – Until now we have kept the subject matter very simple without much technical complications. That’s because, we initially committed to share on ‘how to choose a muhurta ‘easily’ and especially just by looking into the vakya panchangam alone’. But still, we will continue to list few more exceptions adding to the above list, but this time it involves a little technical concepts around horoscope chart. i.e., brushing very basics or just outline like placement of the grahas in few houses. That’s it, and not in any depth; This is because, people who know a little about the charts may find it more helpful with just a few more added exceptions to pick a perfect day.So, Feel free read through and there is nothing to fear with technicalities. We’ve explained everything as simple as possible. Once you read these exceptions, you yourself will appreciate and find it easy.

  • Jupiter or Venus occupies the first House (Ascendant) nullifies or counteracts all the evil effects of inauspicious tithi, vaara and Nakshatras listed above.
    (Be relaxed and don’t get overwhelmed when you see these technical words like Jupiter, First House and Ascendant. Because, its very common for people to get discouraged when they encounter technical words when they are introduced for the first. Its just a mind set. Rest be assured, by the time you just follow the rest of the content with the image references, it will be a cake walk.)

  • Placement of grahas like Jupiter, Venus, Mercury** or Waxing moon (Shukla Paksha chandra) in 1st, 4th, 5th, 7th, 9th or 10th House will remove the in-auspiciousness of Chathurti, Navami and Chathurdashi tithis and also Vishti karana.

  • Jupiter placed in 1st, 4th, 7th and 10th will alone remove the evil influence of Shashti, Ashtami and Chathurdashi..

See, We have confined only with the placement of the planets and nothing more. Isn’t it that easy?. 😎

How to spot ASCENDANT, LAGNA, FIRST in a horoscope Chart?

What is Lagna, Ascendant, First house

Those who are not used to it before, i.e., looking Horoscope charts, can actually start with this as an exercise. Just look out for some Apps in the google play store OR, there are many a website that offer free charts population. All you have to do is, give a date, time and place and feed the data in the app or website. That’s it. It will give you a chart with 12 boxes and planets placed within them at random. The First house starts from where one finds the letters ‘AS’ or a “2 crossed lines inside the box”(ref the image), which stands for Ascendant also called as Lagna. So, when we go through any content like this and we come across a word like ‘First House’, remember its the same as ‘Ascendant, Lagna, a box marked with AS or double crossed box. Its all one and the same. Rest of the houses counting from 2nd till 12th clockwise from first house (Ascendant). Based on this chart technicalities, you can also include the above exceptions when you choose a muhurta, and find out if it is favorable or not.

Hope this helps in giving you a broad idea on how to choose an auspicious day while choosing a muhurta. Try these principles next time when you get a chance.

Now, we’ll start to give a small elaboration on what are all to be considered when choosing a muhurta in practice. i.e., as we know by now, the panchanga shuddhi is more or less choosing a proper day to perform a ritual or auspicious event. But just day alone is not enough. So precisely,

  • It is choosing a time slot in a particular day that matters the most than just an auspicious. Though the chosen day may be a very good day, but when exactly the event is planned is more important. The day should also be good and the time of the event should also be auspicious. Say for example, you choose a very auspicious day for a marriage, but would you fix the muhurat in rahu kal? Time is also very important right? So, this is what is called muhurta; an Auspicious time slot.

  • And more importantly, people choose muhurta for their OWN auspicious events like marriage or buying a house etc, which is very much subjective not a general one applicable to anybody else. So, not all auspicious days chosen as per the above guidelines are applicable to every individual. Though we might have chosen an auspicious day in general, we need to check if that particular day is suitable for that individual. i.e., the person’s birth nakshatra must be compatible with the chosen Muhurta or event’s nakshatra. Since people are born in different nakshatras, some nakshatras though considered favorable based on the above ‘panchanga shuddhi’ rule, might not be applicable for an individual when we check for Chandrastamam and Tarabalam etc., which are specific to individual. Because Chandrastamam, Tarabalam etc., should be favorable when one choose to start something specific to one’s self; i.e., subjective.

  • More over, when it comes to choosing muhurta, it involves many technical matters to consider before taking a final decision. Just to give a glimpse, there are 21 evils called “Ekavimshati mahadoshas”, which yields adverse effect on a particular day based on the 5 elements of panchangam. Even though the chosen day is a ‘Panchanga Shuddhi’ one, it must be cross checked with this list of 21 evils. These additional aspects must also be considered while electing a muhurta. (Which we will cover in a separate post.).

  • And others who are already used to check Rahu kalam, Yama gantam, Guligan etc which is common to all in general, will also be considered when choosing a muhurta.

  • Also, there are a few lists of yogas, i.e., a combination of a tithi with a particular nakshatra, or a nakshatra with vaara, or even the combination of the 3 elements; tithi, vaara and nakshatra will result in good and bad effects.
    For example, we already know Ashtami is inauspicious individually as a tithi and similarly with Tuesday. But you know what, when they both join together, that day becomes auspicious. So, such as this, there are many a combinations, Which are grouped under by names Amrita Yoga, Siddha Yoga, Shobana Yoga, Nasa Yoga etc. This topic itself will take a separate study, which we will plan as a different post.

  • Last but not least, ‘Sthana shuddhi‘ should be checked. i.e., for example, when choosing muhurat for marriages, 8th house from lagna (Ascendant) should be free. Similar, for House-warming ceremony or entering a new house, 12th place from the lagna should be free. The house that should be free differs according to different muhurta. Choosing such a lagna based on this factor is very important.

Yay! We have come to the end of the article and the answer to the question ‘how to easily find an auspicious muhurta’ is this:

        Choose an auspicious day or a ‘Panchanga shuddhi’ day, and if you are already familiar in checking chandrastama, tarabalam etc, consider them too.
Then, choose a time slot that is auspicious like abhijit and avoid inauspicious time slots like Rahu Kalam, Yama gantam, Durmuhurta etc.
Finally, apply ‘Sthana Shuddhi’ as mentioned above.
And that’s your Muhurta in the simple sense. 😎

[Use our ‘Panchangam’ App mahastro panchangam app to easily find auspicious and inauspicious period in a day.]

Having said all this, one need to understand the basic philosophy. Just like there is no man who is totally bad and no man who is totally good. So too, there is no tithi, vaara, nakshatra, yoga or karana that is totally bad. Just like even the deadliest poison is sometimes used to treat snake bite, so too, a wise man can turn any bad planetary combination into his favor. Reflecting on this message and by reciting this famous shloka that most people recite daily, we conclude this post.

तिथिर्विष्णुस्तथा वारो नक्षत्रं विष्णुरेव च ।
योगश्च करणं चैव सर्वं विष्णुमयं जगत् ॥
श्री गोविन्द गोविन्द गोविन्द गोविन्द ॥

tithirviṣṇustathā vāro nakṣatraṁ viṣṇureva ca |
yogaśca karaṇaṁ caiva sarvaṁ viṣṇumayaṁ jagat ||
śrī govinda govinda govinda govinda ||

Which means, Tithi is vishnu, similarly vaara, nakshatra, yoga and karana. Not just this, but whole of this earth is but the supreme vishnu. (Recite this shloka whenever you venture into anything new to remove all the evil effects caused by the 5 elements of a panchangam and there is nothing to fear. All will end well with His Grace.)

Om Tat Sat.