Today we will explore an aspect of Vedic Astrology that truly makes it unique and beyond comparison to any other karmic science on earth. This feature of vedic astrology is known as the Avastha or condition or state of the graha.

Like everything else in vedic astrology, Avasthas too are mathematically calculated and are not arbitrary or whimsical.

Since grahas or planets in vedic astrology are givers of past life karmas , what condition or state we are in present life must somehow be reflected by the giver of karmas viz.these grahas. And this is exactly what these avasthas or grahas are.

According to the BPHS, there are various types of avasthas and the quantum of results deliverable by a graha changes with the type of avastha or state it is in. Similarly to shadbala, the nodes rahu and ketu do not have certain avasthas and deliver results similar to the avastha the graha is in that they are following.

There are various types of avasthas and some of them are listed below:-

AGE RELATED AVASTHAS:-

1.Bala (Infancy)

2.Kumara (Teens)

3.Yuva (Youth/Prime)

4.Vriddha (Old Age)

5.Mrita (Death)

These avasthas impart certain points of strength to the planets that are placed in these avasthas, but more importantly reflect either the time in the life of the native when the graha will give the effect and also show the attitude/ energy of the native when the dasha of the respective planet comes to pass.

These avasthas also show how an area of life is approached by the native or what kind of result an area of life gives based upon which houses the graha rules in the chart and which avastha he is placed in.

I will discuss this further with real life examples in a future article.

CONSCIOUSNESS BASED AVASTHAS:-

1.Jagrata (Awakened/Conscious)

2.Sushupti (Sleeping/Unconscious)

3.Swapna (Dreaming/Subconscious)

These avasthas show the natives awareness during the said planets dasha and also towards the specific areas of life.

This also is worthy of elaboration in a seperate future article.

PERMANENT/TEMPORARY FRIENDSHIP BASED AVASTHAS :-

1.Deepta

2.Swastha

3.Pramudita

4.Shanta

5.Deena

6.Vikala

7.Khala

8.Kopa

These avasthas as per my experience and understanding are most misleading and only re affirm what the “uccha bala” sub calculation of shadbala analysis does and just give fancy tags to those positions.

Basically these are all power based avasthas and if any meaningful deduction can be arrived from these avasthas is that how powerful or powerless a native will feel in the dasha of the said planet and which areas of life will be most strong/weak.

CONJUNCTION BASED AVASTHAS:-

1.Lajjita

2.Garvit

3.Mudita

4.Kshobhit

5.Trushita

6.Kshudita

These avasthas are also less meaningful and only reaffirm or reimpose the indications already given by a planet due to other analysis factors. These avasthas are the ones I always tend to consider last.

NAKSHATRA PLACEMENT BASED DASHAS:-

1.Sayana

2.Upavesana

3.Netrapani

4.Prakasana

5.Gamana

6.Agamana

7.Sabha

8.Agama

9.Bhojana

10.Nrityalipsa

11.Kautuka

12.Nidra

Since these dashas are NAKSHATRA calculation based, they tend to work very well with charts where only Vimshottari dasha system is applicable since both Vimshottari and these avasthas have their calculations start from Ashwini nakshatra.