The 9 Grahas

We just mentioned nine planets, even though not all of them are actual planets. Only five of them are planets, one is a star, one is a moon, and the remaining two are special mathematical points. Everyone is familiar with the Sun, the Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn. The other two elements included into the group are Rahu and Ketu, known as the North and South Lunar nodes.

Rahu and Ketu do not have physical substance; they are two mathematical points that mark the point of intersection of the plane of the Moon's orbit around the Earth with the ecliptic plane. Lunar or solar eclipses occur when the Sun and the Moon are close to one of the nodes. From now on, we shall refer to this group of "planets" with a proper Sanskrit term Grahas. Each graha (planet) represents certain facets of human life. Traditional Vedic astrology does not consider the influences of Neptune, Uranus, and Pluto. Here are the names of the Grahas in Sanskrit: SUN is SURYA MOON is CHANDRA MARS is MANGALA MERCURY is BUDHA JUPITER is GURU VENUS is SHUKRA SATURN is SHANI The NORTH NODE is RAHU, THE SOUTH NODE is KETU Grahas have primary and secondary significations.

Here is the list of the primary graha significations assigned by the sage Parashara (the author of Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra): SURYA (Sun) signifies the soul. CHANDRA (Moon) signifies the mind. MANGALA (Mars) signifies energy. BUDHA (Mercury) signifies speech. GURU (Jupiter) signifies knowledge. SHUKRA (Venus) signifies reproduction.SHANI (Saturn) signifies grief.