Sun

GENERIC EFFECTS OF SUN (Surya/ Ravi)

Sun is a hot, masculine, dominant and kingly/ royal planet. It is not really a generic malefic unlike Rahu, Ketu, Saturn and Mars. Instead Sun can be and is life giving and warm in its nature. However, it is still considered a mild general malefic by nature due to its hot disposition and intense nature.

When close to any planet, it makes the other planet invisible due to Sun’s own intense brightness and this phenomenon in astrology is known as combustion. The combust planet loses some of its ability to do good in certain ways and loses Istha Phala, which has been explained already in another article on this site.

Likewise, whichever bhav (house) Sun sits in, gets hot/ burnt to some extent at the least and hence this nature of Sun makes it a mild malefic in the context of Vedic Astrology.

What is to be kept in mind about Sun besides the domain where Leo sign falls and sun is placed in the chart, the place where Sun is placed in the chart also becomes an angle from which the horoscope can be analyzed in addition to the regular lagna and Moon rasi charts. This is the reason why even the ‘astrology illeterate’ has heard of the sun sign and its implications. Sun represents our soul and inherent characteristics/ tendencies and nature and hence the sign where sun is placed along with the bhav (house) where sun is placed is very important in general.

Below are the important points that help paint the canvas via a broad stroke brush for the analysis of Sun in a horoscope. As always, use liberally not literally and consider these to be a part of the analysis and not the entire analysis itself for any given horoscope.

1) Sun is placed best in the 10th and 11th houses. When placed strongly in the 10th or 11th houses, it can ensure a job/ income through a Government job or atleast a semi-government organization, especially if sun is in its own sign – Leo

2) A strong Sun in the 11th bhav also shows powerful connections/ social circle for the individual and some of their friends might be famous or powerful personalities

3) Sun is not well placed in the Moksha trikona – 4th, 8th and 12th bhaavs. In the 4th bhav it has zero directional strength and the 4th is for inner peace/ happiness and internal/ private life of an individual. Sun here gives a nature prone to anger and frustration and fights at home due to ego and impatience. In the 12th bhav sun is ‘Marana Karaka’ or in a death like state when Sun is placed in bad dignity in the 12th house, the person will not get any favors from the Government and/ or father or father like figures in life. They might also encounter problems with the tax collection agencies of their land

4) Sun in the 3rd house gives courage and if in good dignity, the person performs honorable deeds in life. When ill placed in the 3rd, the actions of a person become questionable and of lose morals

5) Along with Jupiter, Sun is the karaka (significator) for morality in a person. Its close affliction with Saturn and/ or the nodes causes wavering or questionable moral standards in life

6) In the 6th house, an afflicted Sun gives diseases in the lower spine and heart. Also if aspected by Mars can give injury from Fire or wild animals

7) Sun is almost never well placed in the 7th house unless in great dignity and well aspected. This is because the 7th house represents marriage/ partnership and Sun brings in Ego into the picture which spoils the significations of any partnership in general. Further the spouse of the person can be hot headed and egoistic/ dominant by nature

8) Sun does not do well very close to the nodes – Rahu and Ketu. From experience Sun with Rahu gives a bloated ego or some delusional high standards the person believes they have in their own ability, unless this is well aspected by other planets. On the other hand, Sun with Ketu intesifies the fire element and can literally ‘ burn through’ the signification of the house this combination sits in (if within 3 degrees of each other, then the effect is intense). This combination can be very good in the 3rd, 10th and 11th bhaavs

9) As with other malefics, sun in a Upaachya house (houses that improve with time) or 3rd, 6th, 10th and 11th is good

10) Sun with Saturn can give a serious nature/ disposition to the person. Such people take heavy responsibility in life and by itself is not as bad a conjunction as typically believed to be. However ideally the degrees should be atleast 8 degrees or more to avoid Saturn getting combust and agitated. Saturn in vedic folklore, even though of opposite nature of sun and its mortal enemy is also the Son of Sun and hence Sun always has a soft corner for Saturn in its heart.

11) Sun with Jupiter is a good combination but can also give an inflated ego to the person, especially if this occurs in the ascendant, if other conditions permit, the person can become famous and do well in the fields of politics, medicine or teaching

12) Sun with Venus makes a good hearted person but the relationships (romantic ones) will tend to suffer, especially for a male. If Venus is weak in dignity and deep combust (within 3 degrees) then the person might have sexual problems (example low sperm count in males) and will typically have to make compromises in their love life to make any relationship work long term.

13) Sun with Mars is a hot combination which is good for leadership abilities and an energetic/ determined nature. If this occurs in a fiery sign of Aries, Leo and Saggi, it will give an active, extroverted nature to the individual (unless it is in the 8th or 12th house, when the characteristics will lie dormant in the personality of the individual). If this combination occurs in the 10th bhaav, it makes for good management skills and the person can quikcly rise up in the corporate ladder at their workplace from hard work, will power and playing the ‘politics’ well in any organization

14) Sun and Mercury combination occurs very frequently and as long as Mercury is outside 6 degrees orb or sun, this typically gives a good communicative/ analytical thought process to the person as long as mercury is in good dignity.

15) Sun and Moon together is an important combination which ensures the following-
a) the sign where these 2 are placed should definitely be treated as an alternative lagna in addition to the regular lagna and the chart be read from that sign. if it occurs in the ascendant itself, then the person’s characteristics are heavily dominated by the nature of that sign as all 3 lagnas become the same
b) It implies that the soul (sun) and mind/ emotions (moon) of the person lie in the same direction which, if in sync with the lagna and other main planets of the horoscope imply a focused personality which can be highly satisfied from within
c) Moon will become dark by definition and hence the significations of the house ruled by Moon can suffer to some extent
d) This combination is good for Libra and Scorpio lagnas in general as it means a combination of the 9th and 10th or the 10th and 11th lords which is generally good if the combination occurs in good dignity and aspects

16) Sun’s maha dasa (MD) is of just 6 yrs. Hence Sun tends to overrule the effects of the antar dasa lords to some extent. Hence as per the placement and dignity of sun itself in the horoscope, the effects should be adjudged as the 2nd lord dasas will tend to play a relatively minor role in the MD.

17) Typically rulers of the 8th and 12th houses give adverse results. However as per Parasara, Sun and Moon are exceptions. When Sun rules the 8th house (Capricorn lagna) or 12th house (Virgo Lagna) then it becomes neutral for the ascendant and by itself does not give good or bad results. However caution should be used while utilizing this principle as Sun will still tend to give negative results, at least related to health, for Capricorn lagna individuals as it is enmical to the lagna lord Saturn. For Virgos, since sun is neutral to Mercury, it will give the results as per its house placement and also the aspects/ conjunctions with other lords

18) Sun is a functionally good planet for the lagnas-
Aries, Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, Sagittarius

19) Sun is functionally negative for Lagnas-
Gemini, Pisces and to some extent Capricorn as explained in #17 above

20) Sun is Neutral for Cancer lagnas and will give results solely on the basis of its placement and aspects for Cancer ascendant individuals as 2nd house lord is an impressionable neutral and will tend to mimic the effects of its house placement and conjunctions with other house lords

21) Sun will typically give good results in the first 10 degrees of a house, especially a male house or all odd signs – Aries, Gemini, Leo, Sagittarius and Aquarius. In Libra this does not happen as Sun falls to its lowest power in this sign and more specifically at 10 degrees in the sign

22) As explained in another article on this site, generally good to have Sun in Aries or Leo signs in any divisional chart, but Leo is better than Aries in any divisional chart. Only in rasi chart or D1 is Aries even more powerful than Leo as Aries is the exaltation sign. In the divisional charts, Sun is stronger in Leo than in Aries

23) Sun in Sagittarius behaves a bit counter-intuitive for the first 10 or so degrees. Even though a fiery sign and a house of a friend – Jupiter, Sun should ideally be well placed and strong here. Which it is. But there is a caveat – In this sign, Sun has to assume the Dharma upholding duty of a king (Sagittarius being the natural 9th sign of the zodiac) and hence Sun has to shed its powerful kingly role of dominance and be a more gentle upholder of peace and dharma (duty). This is the reason why Sun’s Istha phala actually goes down in Sagittarius for some initial degrees before starting to rise again. Note that sun does not become weak due to the above reasons, however, it has to shed its regular ego and brilliance towards a more gentle fatherly/ law abiding guru role in this sign and hence feels somewhat constrained to its general nature in this sign

24) If you are a follower of Tropical astrology, please read the article Sidereal vs. Tropical on this site for clarification of your actual sun sign as per the Sidereal system as opposed to the tropical (western) astrology system.

SOURCE : THE ART OF VEDIC ASTROLOGY