Module 5 · Lesson 5-2 · 16 min
Last lesson handed you six columns and a bar to clear. Now open the ledger at its heaviest page. Sthana bala — sthana, seat; bala, strength — is the largest of the six, and it asks the oldest question in the system: how well does this planet sit? Not whose side, not how fast, not when — just the quality of the seat itself.
Then comes the elegant one. Dig bala — dig, direction — says every planet owns exactly one compass point of the chart, one house where it stands at full power, and one directly opposite where its directional strength runs to zero. A king on his own throne, or a king lost in the wrong quarter of the map.
These two matter beyond their size: they are the only strengths a trained eye reads without software. By the end of this lesson you will glance at a chart and flag the planet nearest its throne and the planet standing at its compass point — before any table prints.
By the end: Estimate any planet's uccha bala from its arc to the deep-exaltation degree, assign kendradi credit by house group, place each planet's house of full and of zero dig bala, and flag the fastest strong and weak placements in a chart before the software speaks.
Sthana bala is the heaviest shadbala column, and itself a bundle of five sub-strengths, all scoring where the planet sits. Software sums the five; your job is knowing what feeds the number. Two of them carry most of the intuition — uccha bala and kendradi bala — so those two you drill. The other three you know by name.
When a sthana total surprises you, the question is never 'is the software wrong' but 'which of the five paid out'.
Uccha bala scales with arc to the deep-exaltation degree from lesson 11's table: 60 virupas exactly at the point, zero at the deep-debilitation point directly opposite, proportional between. Three signs out — about 90 degrees — holds roughly half. Consequence: a planet in its debilitation sign but degrees from the exact point retains real uccha bala. Degrees decide, never sign labels.
The Moon at 27 degrees Scorpio sits 24 degrees past its deep-debilitation point at 3 degrees Scorpio — about 8 virupas. Fallen by label, not quite empty by arc: lesson 25's warning, now paying in numbers.
Kendradi bala pays by house group. The kendras — 1, 4, 7, 10 — take full positional credit. The panapara houses — 2, 5, 8, 11, the succedent set — take half. The apoklima houses — 3, 6, 9, 12, the cadent set — a quarter. The angles are where a planet stands in public view; every step away thins the credit.
Mars in the 10th: full credit. Venus in the 5th: half. Mercury in the 12th: a quarter.
Saptavargaja bala: the planet's dignity summed across the divisional charts — module 6 will make this real. Ojayugma bala: odd or even sign fit by planetary gender. Drekkana bala: fit within the sign's three decanates. Nobody hand-computes these; all you owe them is their names, so the software's sthana total never reads as magic.
A planet weak by sign can still post a fat sthana total — usually saptavargaja quietly paying out across the divisions.
Dig bala — directional strength — gives each planet exactly one house of full power: Jupiter and Mercury in the 1st (east), the Sun and Mars in the 10th (south, the zenith), Saturn in the 7th (west), the Moon and Venus in the 4th (north, the nadir). At the opposite house, zero. Between the two, proportional — the same dimmer logic as uccha bala.
Saturn in the 7th: full 60 virupas of dig bala. The same Saturn in the 1st: zero.
Wisdom and speech rise with the dawn — Jupiter and Mercury, the 1st. Power and command culminate at noon — the Sun and Mars, the 10th. Endurance faces the setting sun — Saturn, the 7th. Comfort and love keep the midnight home — the Moon and Venus, the 4th. Say it twice and the table is yours for life.
A 10th-house Sun is not merely career-placed — it is the Sun at full directional power. A 1st-house Saturn is Saturn at his directional weakest.
The one idea to keep
Seat and direction are the strengths you can see without software: how close to its throne, how close to its compass point. Read both before trusting any placement — and remember that one strong sub-strength never overrides the grand total. These are the fast flags; the verdict still waits on all six columns.
Jupiter stands about 90 degrees — three signs — from its deep-exaltation point at 5 degrees Cancer. Roughly how much uccha bala does it hold?
The scale runs from 60 at the exaltation point to zero at the point opposite, 180 degrees away. Where does 90 out of 180 land?
The Moon sits at 27 degrees Scorpio — its debilitation sign. Its deep-debilitation point is 3 degrees Scorpio. What does uccha bala record?
Measure the arc from the exact point, not the sign label. Roughly 3 virupas per degree of distance.
One chart, three placements: Mars in the 10th house, Venus in the 5th, Mercury in the 12th. Rank their kendradi bala.
Sort each house into its group first: kendra, panapara, or apoklima. The credit follows the group.
The Sun occupies the 4th house. What does dig bala record — and how does that square with the 4th being a kendra?
Two different columns look at this placement. Where is the Sun's house of full directional power, and what sits directly opposite it?
6 cards added to your recall deck. First review: tomorrow.
Five questions on the seat and the compass — scale uccha bala by arc, pay kendradi credit by house group, and place every planet's direction of power.
5 minutes · 5 questions · pass at 4/5.