Naisrgika Bala or
Natural strength
Shri V P Jain was born in Rewari on 31st
Aug 1931. He obtained Masters degree in
Mathematicswith Astronomy as one of its
papers. He retired as Audit Officer from the
office of the Director General of Audit
Central Revenues and has thereby written
several books in astrology titled 'Elements
of Astronomy & Astrological Calculations',
Text Book for Shadbala & Bhavabala'
which received enormous praise from
readers & 'Astronomy relevant to
Astrology'. Many of his research papers
have been published in various astrological
publications.
405
By
V.P.Jain, India.
S
hadbala (six fold strength) is a
method in Indian Astrology to find
the strength of planets. Natural
strength of planets is one of the strengths
in shadbala. This strength is fixed and
holds well in all nativities. The strength of
planets in birth chart always leaves impact
on the personality of the native. Thus the
question arises, when it is constant for all
the horoscopes, why it should be included
in the shadbala? The predictive results
have also been given in the classical
books:‐
Dr. B. V. Raman in his book ‘Graha and
Bhava Balas states ‘that the value assigned
to each planet depends upon its
luminosity’.
It is a well known fact that the planets
have no light of their own but reflect the
light received from the Sun. Now we shall
discuss the luminosity (The light received
on the earth) of the planets as per modern
astronomical facts. Before proceeding to it,
let us see how the luminosity varies from
time to time depending upon their distance
from the earth.
Magnitude (Brightness) of Inner
planets
Phases of inner planets (Mercury and Venus) are like moon. Refer to figure given below:‐

Figure:‐
Sun is at the center of the orbits of
the inner planet and the earth.
Inner planet appears full when it is
at H and circular disc is visible but
it is at the maximum distance from
the earth. It appears more than half
at D and I, as more than half the
bright disc is towards us. At C and J
only half the lighted disc is visible
at the Earth. At B & K less than
half the illuminated position is
facing us, so it appears less than
half. At A its dark side is seen by
us, so it is not visible at all, though
it is nearest to us.

Phases Of Superior
Planets
The superior planets must always
appear either full or gibbous; for its orbit is outside orbit of the earth. It appears full at
conjunction or opposition. Its Thus the question arises, when it is constant for all
illuminated disc is always more than the horoscopes, why it should be included in the
half towards the earth. The smallest shadbala?
portion of the planet will be seen
when the sun and the planets subtend a right angle at earth.

Brightness (Magnitude) of the planets

The amount of reflected light received from a planet at the earth is the brightness of the
Planet / Star. This reflected light is based on based on two things:‐‐

(A) If the distance of a planet from the earth is more, light received from it will be less and
the planet becomes brighter as it reaches near the earth. Brightness of light is inversely
proportional to the square of its distance from the earth. If a source of light goes three times
away than its earlier distance, the magnitude of light will be one‐ninth of the original one.

406
(B) It depends also on the portion of the illuminated disc of the planet towards the earth.
If more illuminated portion of the disc is towards earth, more light will be received on the
earth.

Magnitude Of Inner Planets

We consider the case of Venus. When it is at superior conjunction, it is at maximum

distance from the earth and at
When elongation angle of Venus (the angle subtended
inferior conjunction it is at the
by the sun and the Venus at the earth) is 40°, the
least distance. Diameter of its brightness is at maximum.
disc is 11" at superior
conjunction and 66" at inferior conjunction or 6 times more than superior conjunction. At
the time of inferior conjunction, a very small part of its illuminated disc is towards the earth
or visible to the observer, while at superior conjunction the whole disc is normally visible.
When elongation angle of Venus (the angle subtended by the sun and the Venus at the
earth) is 40°, the brightness is at maximum.

Magnitude Of Outer Planets

An outer planet at the time of opposition appears like a full

moon. The whole disc is visible and it is nearest to the earth.
While at conjunction, though the whole disc is normally visible
but it is at the maximum distance from the earth, its disc
appears smaller also. In between these two positions, at
quadrature (the angle subtended by the planet and the sun at the
earth is 90) it appears most gibbous.

Maximum Magnitudes Of Planets are as under:‐

Sun Dazzling
Moon (‐) 12.7
Mars (‐) 2.8
Mercury (‐) 1.9
Jupiter (‐) 2.6
Venus (‐) 4.4
Saturn (‐) 0.3

The greater is the magnitude, lesser is the brightness. Planets with minus magnitude are
more bright than the positive ones.

In case we take Saturn as 1, Moon 42.3, Mars 9.3, Mercury 6.3, Jupiter 8.7 and Venus 14.7
times brighter than Saturn. But this brightness varies as per their distance from the earth.
407
Take the case of Mars which looks like a
star at the time it is farthest from earth.
Similarly, is the case with Jupiter and
Saturn. Regarding inner planets Mercury
and Venus it has been discussed earlier.
It is concluded that their luminosity
varies. Hence the natural strength needs to
be removed from the Shadbala of Grahas
or another formula depending on their
angle of elongation and distance may be
found out.
There are many things in Astrology that
was taught earlier which requires
modification according to the modern
knowledge of Astronomy for which a team
of Science and Mathematics experts is
required who are also well versed in
astrology.
408
mUlaxare hga[> Syat! ipt&icNta rivStwa
Svaixóane tu haeraSyaNmat&icNta twarazI
mi[pUre nva<zí æat&icNta k…jae=ip c
Anahte c iv<za<zae vai[ icNta buxStwa
ivzuXdaE Öadza<z> Syat puÇicNta twa gué>
Aa}aya< ]eÇmuiÎò< jayaicNta istStwa
ÖadzaNte znEíarI nazicNta c kIitRta
tÇSwEStdaxIzEí blablvRzatU )lm!.
Rudras Commentary (Horashastra, p.18) on the
above is as under:-
Mooladhara Chakra represents the Drekkana
(1/3 division of a sign) and is presided over by
the Sun. Judge from this the father.
Swadishtana Chakra represents the Hora (1/2
division of a Rasi) and is presided over by the
Moon. Judge from this about the mother. The
Manipoora Chakra represents the Navamsa
(1/9th division of a sign) and is presided over by
Mars. Judgment with regards to brothers should
be made from this. The Anahata Chakra
represents the Trimsamsa is 1/30 division and is
presided over by Mercury. Speech should be
judged from this. The Visuddha Chakra is
presided over by Jupiter and represents
Dwadasamsa (1/12th division of sign). Judge all
about sons from this. The Ajna Chakra
represents a sign (full 30 degs of a sign) and is
presided over by Venus. Judgment in regard to
wife should be made from this. And the
Sahasrar Chakra is presided over by Saturn.
Judge about catabolic activities from this.
- Late Pandit Gopesh Kumar Ojha.