Last Updated on August 12, 2024 by Tejaswini

A connection between the lord of a Kona (1^st 5^th 9^th) and a Kendra (1^st 4^th 7^th 10^th)  it becomes a Raj yog capable of giving highly auspicious results. This is a basic concept.

The 1^st house is a Kendra as well as a Kona house, thus its lord is the most auspicious planet, the Lagnesh of your chart. If the ascendant lord is powerful, it elevates the power of the entire chart. Further if a planet simultaneously owns a Kendra and Kona house then he becomes a Yogkarak. So pay special attention to the Lagnesh and Yogkarak in your chart, they have great capacity to do good for you.

The Dharma house is the 9^th, considered to be the strongest trikon house and Karma is the 10^th, considered to be the strongest Kendra house. A connection between their lords in some way is naturally going to be a Raj yog capable of highly favourable results. Thus it is given a special name, Dharma karma yog. The houses involved are the

• 9^th – foundations, timely luck, blessings from the Guru, Kuldevata and ancestors, support from peers and patrons, your merits from your past lives etc. In this yog, the 9^th is going to provide the intangible energy, the power.
• 10^th – the social visibility, status and mobility, professional successes, image and wealth generated, the actual place where you work, your boss, your father, the money you earn in your profession etc. In this yog the 10^th provides the physical environment for the material effects of the yog to be seen.

A combination of these two houses where their lords mutually support and cooperate with each other gives highly positive results. One is a Dharma trikon house and the other is a Arth trikon house. The foundation gives the most appropriate meaning. The work you do helps solidify your foundation and your foundation helps solidify your work in a positive self amplifying infinite loop. So if,

• Each is in the house he owns, ie 9^th lord in the 9^th house and 10^th lord in the 10^th house
• Both if in each other’s houses, ie 9^th lord in the 10^th house and 10^th lord in the 9^th house – mutual exchange or Parivartan is one of the best combinations for this yog. Here the two graha are required to reciprocally protect and enhance each others significations.
• Both together either in the 9^th house or in the 10^th house – this gives exceptional results especially if they are close together, less than 15deg apart.
• Both together in the same house anywhere in the chart. Or both mutually aspecting each other in any of the houses of the chart. Here if the houses involved are auspicious then the result is good, otherwise the yog will not give tangible results.

The intensity of their positive results will increase if they are conjunct or aspecting the lords of the other Kendra and Kona. This will become an additional Raj yog condition. If they are aspected by chart specific benefics, are exalted, have good strength, ashtakvarga score is good etc they will give even better results. In case either planet is afflicted then the yog will not manifest in its full power. So in case of combustion, graha yuddha, debilitation, association with chart specific malefics etc you should be careful when predicting results.

And there is one specific condition from the standard texts. The intensity of their results will decrease if one or both connected in any way to the 8^th or 11^th houses. This means that if the 9^th or 10^th lords simultaneously – own the 8^th or 11^th or – are placed in the 8^th or 11^th houses or – are under the influence of the 8^th or 11^th house lords the yog gets blemished and will not give the expected results and even subtly spoil the chart. The 8^th and 11^th houses have an innate potential to drain the energy of the 9^th house. These houses can subtly drain the auspiciousness of the 9^th. And 9^th is the foundation of the horoscope.

• Why the 8^th house? This is relatively easy to understand. It is the 12^th from the Dharmasthan, ie the 9^th house thus represents the ‘loss of Dharma’. And it is a common rule that any planet placed 12^th from the house it owns will not give favourable results in respect of the house it owns. So if the 9^th lord gets involved in any way with the 8^th house, it is going to drain him of his power to do good for the 9^th house. The yog will thus simply not have enough energy available to materialise the results.
• And the 11^th? The 11^th house is technically the house of gains, but there is an issue with this house. As per Dharma, we are required to strive for all material achievements but at the same time never forget our internal divinity. And the 11^th has the potential to overshadow the spiritual growth of the individual, it can make you extremely materialistic. It is the worst trishaday, so its material gains have a great capacity to dim the foundational spiritual merits that the 9^th represents. It is also an upchay house, so if it is capable of favourable /unfavourable results, these results will be enhanced with time. Additionally for the chara/ ‘in motion’ ascendants it is the badhak house, which creates obstacles in life. The 11^th must be analysed carefully, ‘gains’ do have a darker side. Any connection, combination or conjunction of the 11^th and the 9^th energies in the chart should be carefully analysed.

So with this background, let’s see for which ascendants this Dharma karma yog is possible,

• Aries – this yog is not possible for Aries ascendants as the owner of the 10^th also owns the 11^th house.
• Taurus ascendant – Yogkarak Saturn owns the 9^th and 10^th, is Dharmesh and Karmesh both. So the dharma karma yog can be generated by the superb placement of just this one planet, Saturn.
• Gemini ascendant – this yog is not possible as the owner of the 9^th also owns the 8^th house
• Cancer ascendant – The yog is possible by a combination of Venus and Mars.
• Leo ascendant – Karmesh Venus owns the 3^rd house so it may not be expressed to its full power
• Virgo ascendant – the yog is possible by a combination of Venus and Mercury.
• Libra ascendant  – This yog is possible but as the Dharmesh is also the Vyesh ie owns the 9^th and 12^th it may not be expressed to its full power.
• Scorpio ascendant – the yog is possible by a combination of Sun and Moon.
• Sagittarius ascendant – the yog is possible by a combination of Sun and Mercury.
• Capricorn ascendant – the yog is possible but Dharmesh Mercury owns the 6^th so it may not be expressed to its full power.
• Aquarius ascendant – the yog is possible but Karmesh Mars owns the 3^rd house which sometimes gives unpleasant results, so it may not be expressed to its full power.
• Pisces ascendant – the yog is possible by a combination of Mars and Jupiter.

The Dharma Karma promises successes those activities / keywords of the planets participating and the houses involved. For the keywords you should think on the natural significations – eg Mars – is naturally connected to the siblings, competition, etc, and also the chart specific significations, eg for Cancer ascendant, he owns the 5^th house and 10^th house thus is also connected to the children, genius, creativity, profession, social presence etc. So if you actively strive in these aspects of your life there is a higher chance of achieving a grand success here. A really powerful Dharma karma yog is rather rare. But you will see several charts with low or medium level Dharma karma yog and even these people are considered to be reasonably successful in their lives.