Last Updated on May 20, 2022 by astrologerbydefault

Shad-bala is a basic concept, every graha has six sources of strength. If you open your software, you will see a consolidated value for each planet. The Shad-bala are Spashta-bala, ie they have to be seen separately as each of the six strengths has a different meaning. The Shad bala is a deeper analysis on the quality of the results of the graha. This is one of the important tools used in Jyotish. (I have written about Ishta/Kashta phala in this post.)

Drig Bala is one of the Shad-bala. It is the strength that a planet gets because of the aspects that it receives from the other planets. Here we consider the fractional aspects on addition to the regular aspects. A simple concept, more spread out your planets are, higher will be their Drig Bala. If you have the graha clumped together in so-called ‘stelliums‘ or you have several conjunctions in your chart then the Drig strength is reduced.

In our example, Aleister Crowley, 12th Oct 1875, 11: 42pm, Leamington Spa, Britain. Check out the the Drig Bala, it is at point (6). He had Sun, Mercury, Jupiter and Venus with negative Drig values. But these values are very marginally negative. They are not severely negative. Moon, Mars and Saturn are highly positive. Moon was his ascendent lord. Mars is Yogkarak for Cancer ascendent. So major aspects of his life are covered here. If you analyse his highly happening life, he did receive a lot of help from others. Even the Thoth deck he created, was created with the significant help from Lady Frieda Harris.

The concept here is that the planet is either helped or hindered by the influence of the other planets on him. ie Will a graha be able to give his results effectively without interference? Will he be helped by the other planets? Will he be hindered by them? Sometimes in life you are prevented from using the keywords of a planet. Aspects of life controlled by certain graha give you trouble. And sometimes certain aspects of life go forward smoothly, others help you on your this path. All these circumstances can be seen from the Drig Bala. 

Drig Bala can have positive or negative values. In a chart, if both the ascendant lord and the birth Moon have a positive Drig Bala, then you have the ability to endure through possible obstacles created by the other planets negative Drig Bala. It is important that benefic planets have a positive Drig Bala, the higher the better. It makes life easier, less tumultuous. You receive help from others and blockages vanish before they actually manifest.

• If a planet has negative value then obviously this planet will create obstacles, the higher this value is the more intense the effect. Whenever this planet tries to do something, he will be hindered. If you have several planets with negative Drig Bala, then you will face blockages in the aspects of life linked to these several planets.
• And on the other hand if several planets have positive Drig Bala, then all the aspects of life represented by these planets are going to be easier. These planets help and support you. 

Now, if in your chart, natural malefics ie the Sun, Mars, Saturn have positive values and higher Drig Bala as compared to the natural benefics ie Moon, Jupiter, Venus then you might feel at ease performing harsh actions rather than kind actions. You might hurt others with your words/ actions and be unaware of it. This naturally will lead to negative karma, so be careful. Evaluate your actions/ words as cruel planets are sometimes concerned with unethical or immoral actions. But, and here is the positive side, they are also connected to dangerous or risky actions which are often necessary, eg waging war to protect the nation from attackers is essential. So if you think, you can actually utilise this cruel energy for the benefit of others in a positive way. But not all of us are going to wage war so a simpler way of looking at this is, if you genuinely try to perform harsh things for the greater good, you will get help in your endeavours. A good option for such people would be to take up a profession where you are sometimes required to be harsh, or work in harsh environments, eg army, police, law, courts, hospitals, etc.

Another way of using your Drig Bala values is, if you ever have to choose between two options, always choose the thing connected with the planet with the higher positive Drig Bala. This will give you assured success. Events and situations connected to planets with a positive Drig Bala go more smoothly and with less stress and obstacles. You get help from unexpected sources. If you choose options associated with a severely negative Drig Bala planet you will face frustrations and failures. These events create more adversity. So concentrate on the positive Drig Bala planets to live a happier life. This is applicable to Dasha-s also, eg your life will be happier in the dasa of a positive Drig Bala graha. In the Dasha-s of highly negative Drig Bala graha-s you will face hinderances from several sources.

Now a quick run-though graha-wise, what you can expect. No one wants to know why positive things happen, but if negative things happen they want get to the root of things! So writing about the negatives. This post is to trigger your own thought process so open your study samples and try to analyse how Drig bala works in real charts.

Negative Drig Bala planets creates obstacles. Positive Drig Bala graha open opportunities in the aspects of life that they control. Naturally this will have to be taken in context of the individual horoscope. The functional roles of the graha should always be taken into account when applying any theory to personal charts.

If the Sun’s Drig value is highly negative then activities connected to your personal ego, personal creativity, etc will give you a headache. Leaderships roles can land you in trouble. This can cause loss of confidence, so career etc may not be satisfying, reaching the top level in management may be difficult. You might create more enemies on your way. Your children can create turmoil in your life etc. But this will vary as per the functional role of the Sun in your chart.

• A detailed example.
• If you have a Libra ascendent then Leo would be your 11^th house, so in this case expect your friends, older siblings and extended like-minded groups to make you unhappy or create obstacles in life.
• If this Sun has highly negative Drig Bala then you might not even have older siblings, nil friends, be isolated in society etc.
• In this, suppose the Sun is in the 4^th house. You will be dissatisfied with your mother/home culture. Nurture might be denied, home comforts will fail to give you security/stability. Your mother might behave with you in an adversarial manner. You may gain success in life only after you leave your hometown and settle elsewhere.
• Drig Bala is linked to the quality of the experience which the graha provides. You might get a good house, good mother etc, depending on the other combinations in the chart but the negative Drig Bala Sun will create obstacles in the experience in some way or the other.

The Moon with negative Drig Bala is a challenge. You are more sensitive to the negative influences around you. Others will be cruel to you and you will suffer from lack of ‘necessary’ things like nutrition, rest, comforts, security and love. Your needs and feelings will generate obstacles in your life. The emotional and mental outlook generally suffers as Moon is the lens of your perception. You tend to see your life to be a lot worse than it actually is. You feel bad about receiving anything  because your ‘receptivity’ is more tuned to the negative. Changes occur in life generally but for you any ‘change is a source of stress. Astral body may give cause for concern.

• A detailed example.
• Suppose you have Cancer ascendant, so Moon owns the 1^st house and in charge of your personal body, the surrounding environment and how these two interact with each other. Also his regular functions related to mind, emotions, nature and nurture etc.
• If he has high negative Drig Bala then everything physical in life will create obstacles for you. Personal health and surrounding environment will be adversarial.
• Moon is also the astral body, so subtle negativity on this plane too. Hauntings and unknown ailments can be triggered. 
• Suppose in this, the Moon occupies the 3^rd 6^th 8^th or 12^th houses then it can get worse. If he is in a Kendra/ Kona/ exalted/ influenced by functional benefics then somewhat better results can be predicted.
• However mental satisfaction will be less and there may be physical illness/ emotional suffering, in cyclic patterns.

Mars with a negative Drig Bala in your chart indicates that you get stressed out when you are required to take up challenges. The decisions you take often cause you stress. Asserting your will power, finding innovative solutions can get discouraging. This can create obstacles in your career as your ‘passion’ is affected. You might suffer from health issues related to blood pressure or Nadi/ Pran movement may be faulty. There may be actual blocks here. If he is highly negative then do have a yearly medical check-up after middle age.

Mercury with a negative Drig Bala means that your logical mind, the options available before you and the option you choose will cause interference in life. Or whenever you try to exercise your these abilities you will be prevented in some way or the other. You might think about something but when the times comes to actively perform it you are blocked. Communicating becomes difficult. Your speech may be harsh or you use inappropriate words or others are harsh to you. You face opposition when you try to communicate. Skills are affected, if you work in trade, or with your team-mates, your ability to actually do things is blocked.

Jupiter is the foundational philosophy, luck, the help we get in life, deep knowledge, happiness in marriage/children etc. He indicates your Dharma, ie the inclination to perform auspicious deeds, the wish to be involved in pious activities, perform charity, help others, offer respect to teachers /elders /deities, perform rituals to help the ancestors etc. He is all the support and kindness you receive in life. When Jupiter has a negative Drig Bala, then he does not allow these things with ease. Even if you get these things in life he creates blockages. People are unkind to you and even if someone tries to be kind, you do not appreciate his help/ kindness, it hurts you instead.

If Venus has a negative Drig Bala, then you are going to face obstacles in partnerships and in wealth creation. ‘Enjoyment’ is affected. Family life and spouse will stress you out. Be careful while signing contracts and business deals as there may be negativity hidden in them. Broken marriages and lawsuits are seen with this Venus. On the spiritual level, you are disinclined to do your personal spiritual practice which will naturally amplify the stresses. If he is very highly negative then he can completely deny these things. And even if the other planets in the chart grant these things, he will create obstacles.

Saturn is the schedule which you have follow to rebalance your outstanding karma. The stoic capacity to weather storms in life, to endure in adversity. You do not have an option on this, these tasks are what you have chosen for yourself in this life. He naturally indicates the sufferings and adversities in your life. So if you think that a negative Drig Bala Saturn is going to be helpful, you would be wrong. If he is highly negative then you will tend to fight against your destined sufferings/ tasks/ karmic requirements. This makes things worse. Railing against fate never makes things better. In matters connected with Saturn, often the best thing is calm acceptance of the situation. Often being pragmatic is necessary. If you have a negative Drig Bala Saturn, you fight your karma, you question why this is happening to you, you cannot accept the fact that this karmic task is unavoidable and thus you increase your stress. 

In case you have a graha with severely negative Drik bala values then you can take up simple remedies related to that planet which will help you. Some of them can be as simple as wearing clothes of his colors, eating the foods linked to him or wearing perfumes he likes. Or you can do a mantra jaap of that planet on the day of week connected to him. Or give away simple items in his honor so that his energies remain balanced. I have written on all of these do use the index page to locate the posts you wish to read.