Meaning
Guru, "teacher", is Jupiter, named for Brihaspati, the teacher of the gods; its IAST name in our engine is Bṛhaspati. In the Brihat Jataka's cosmic person "Jupiter is knowledge […]", the rest of the line left out here because it names health, and with Venus it is one of the two counsellors among the grahas (II.1, Iyer 1885).
The same text gives it the colour "yellow like molten gold", the north-east and the element ether, and lists among its names Suraguru, "the preceptor of the Devas". The tradition counts it the greatest of the benefics, and modern readings make it the graha of wisdom, teaching, faith, children and protection, whose drishti is held to bless the rashi it falls on.
In the chart it is written Ju, with R beside it when it is retrograde.
Rashis and dignities
Guru rules Dhanu and Meena, and its moolatrikona is Dhanu. It is exalted at the 5th degree of Karka and debilitated in Makara (Brihat Jataka I.6, I.13 and I.14). Besides the seventh rashi from itself, its drishti also falls on the fifth and the ninth. It is the Vimshottari lord of Punarvasu, Vishakha and Purva Bhadrapada.
Its period
In the Vimshottari dasha Guru holds sixteen of the cycle's 120 years, the seventh period in the order Ketu, Shukra, Surya, Chandra, Mangala, Rahu, Guru, Shani, Budha. A person whose Moon stands in Punarvasu, Vishakha or Purva Bhadrapada at birth begins life in Guru's period, counting only the part still to run; for any other Moon it comes later in the sequence. Each period is divided into nine sub-periods in the same order.
Our chart's reading of the period, in our words: "A Guru mahadasha, lasting sixteen years, tends to emphasize learning, faith, teachers, ethics and growth. It often invites expanding understanding, sharing wisdom generously and living more closely by one's dharma." The tradition's reading of this period, not a prediction of events, and not advice on health, money, legal matters or relationships. The dates follow the chart's conventions, years of 365.25 days and the Lahiri ayanamsa; other tools differ from ours by days.
Correspondences
Each item with how it stands: “sourced” is in the work cited, “our construction” is EsoTerrier’s own, and “disputed” means the sources disagree.
- To the Kalapurusha (Brihat Jataka II.1, Iyer 1885)
- "Jupiter is knowledge […]", with its item on health left out sourced
- Rank among the grahas (II.1)
- a counsellor, with Venus sourced
- Natural nature (Brihat Jataka)
- benefic sourced
- Moolatrikona rashi (I.14)
- Dhanu sourced
- Element and gender (II.6)
- ether (akasha); male sourced
- Themes in modern readings, our summary
- wisdom, teaching, faith, children and protection our construction
How the schools read it
- The Brihat Jataka (Varahamihira, 6th century; Iyer 1885)
- Knowledge to the Kalapurusha (with an item on health, left out here) and, with Venus, a counsellor; lord of Dhanu and Meena; exalted at 5° Karka and debilitated in Makara; benefic; "yellow like molten gold"; the north-east; element ether.
- The Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra, as printed
- Sixteen years in the Vimshottari order; the lord of Punarvasu, Vishakha and Purva Bhadrapada.
- Modern Jyotisha
- Wisdom, teaching, faith, children and protection.
- Western tropical astrology
- Jupiter of the Western chart, the same body measured from the equinox; there too it rules Sagittarius and, traditionally, Pisces.
- EsoTerrier
- Shown as Ju in the boxes, with its degree; R beside it when it is retrograde (vakri).
Claims about it
-
The dasha of this graha foretells events to the day.
unverifiedWhat the record shows: Dasha dates move with the ayanamsa, the year length and the Moon's degree; tools differ by days. We give the period with its conventions stated, as the tradition's theme for a stretch of years.
-
This graha's place foretells illness, wealth or marriage, and doshas cause misfortune.
unverifiedWhat the record shows: These are claims of the tradition and of the commercial kundli. We compute no doshas.
Elsewhere on EsoTerrier
- Rashi 9: Dhanu, Sagittarius its own rashi
- Rashi 12: Meena, Pisces its own rashi
- Rashi 4: Karka, Cancer where it is exalted
- Nakshatra 7: Punarvasu a nakshatra it rules as Vimshottari lord
- Nakshatra 16: Vishakha a nakshatra it rules as Vimshottari lord
- Nakshatra 25: Purva Bhadrapada a nakshatra it rules as Vimshottari lord
- Natal Chart (Tropical): Jupiter the same body in the Western chart
