What Raja yoga is
In Vedic astrology a yoga is a combination of planets, signs and houses that is read as a theme in a life. Raja yoga, the “royal combination”, is the best known of them. It is a link between two kinds of house lord. The kendras, the 1st, 4th, 7th and 10th houses, are the angles of the chart and stand for action, home, partnership and public work. The trikonas, the 1st, 5th and 9th houses, are the trines and stand for merit, learning and fortune. When a kendra lord and a trikona lord are tied together, capability meets good fortune, and the tradition reads that as a chart that tends to rise in standing.
This finder takes your date, time and place of birth, works out the rising sign and the planets, and tells you plainly whether such a link exists in your chart.
How the finder works it out
The tool first finds the planets at the moment of birth in the sidereal zodiac with the Lahiri ayanamsa, and the rising sign from the time and place. Houses are whole signs counted from the rising sign. It then asks the same yoga engine that powers the Yoga Analysis panel of the free kundali for two results: Kendra-Trikona Raja Yoga, where a kendra lord is joined with a trikona lord by conjunction or mutual aspect, and Dharma-Karmadhipati Yoga, the link between the lords of the 9th and 10th houses. The engine does not count a sign exchange, so the finder adds that test itself, because the classical statement includes it.
You will see every link it found, written out with the planets and houses, then a table of your kendra and trikona lords and where each stands. If nothing is found, it says so and shows what it checked.
How to read the result
A link is a starting point. The strength of the planets matters more than the fact of the link. A kendra lord and a trikona lord that are both in good dignity, away from the Sun and away from the 6th, 8th and 12th houses, give a clean yoga. The same link made by planets that are combust or debilitated is read as a quieter one. Many teachers also remind readers that the yoga shows in the dashas of the planets involved, so it may be dormant for years. The Mahadasha calculator shows when those periods run.
The word “royal” invites exaggeration. The tradition does not say that everyone with this yoga becomes a ruler. It says that the chart carries a favourable pattern, and what is done with it is a matter of effort and circumstance. Likewise, a chart without it is not lacking: many lives that others admire come from other yogas, from a strong lagna lord, or from steady work.
What weakens or cancels it
Classical teachers name a handful of things. Combustion, when a planet is very close to the Sun, is said to dim its results. Debilitation, a planet in its fall sign, does the same unless it is cancelled by the rule in the Neecha Bhanga finder. A planet in the 6th, 8th or 12th house gives its results with effort or delay. A planet that also rules a dusthana carries a mixed lordship. The finder checks each of these for the planets in your yoga and lists any that apply, without drama, because most charts carry a few.
About the different lists
Authors do not agree on every detail. Some count only a conjunction. Some add aspects and sign exchange. Some say the lord of the 1st counts as both kendra and trikona lord, which is how the engine treats it, and others hold back. When you compare this result with another tool, the difference is usually one of these choices and not a calculation error. Read the guide to Raja yoga for the longer discussion, and the yoga analysis guide for how the other yogas on the kundali are tested.
Frequently asked questions
↳ Does everyone have a Raja yoga?
No, but it is fairly common, because there are several ways to form it: a conjunction, a mutual aspect or a sign exchange between kendra and trikona lords. A chart without one is not poorer for it, since other yogas and the lagna lord matter as much.
↳ If I have Raja yoga, will I become rich or powerful?
Not by itself. The tradition reads it as a favourable pattern whose strength depends on the planets involved and on the dashas. It describes a tendency to rise in standing and makes no promise about money or power.
↳ Why does the result depend on my birth time?
The houses are counted from the rising sign, and the rising sign changes about every two hours. If your birth time is a little off, the kendra and trikona lords can change, and so can the yoga.
↳ Another site says I have a Raja yoga and this one does not. Who is right?
Probably both, under different rules. Some tools count only conjunctions, some count aspects and exchanges, and some count more combinations than the classical ones. This finder shows the rule it used so that you can compare.
↳ When does a Raja yoga give its results?
Classically in the dashas and sub-periods of the planets that form it. Check your Mahadasha sequence to see when those periods fall.