Conditions for Journey

The conditions under which all sorts of journeys should be undertaken have also been explained in the Agni Purana. The Purana states that a journey should not be made on the setting or occultation of the Venus or during its stay in a hostile house. Similarly a journey should not be undertaken under the malignant influence of the receding Mercury, or of any other planet, or of the presiding planet of the quarter to which the journey would be undertaken, or of any other planet. A journey should not be undertaken under the malignant influence of a Vaidbriti, Vaytipata, Naga, Shakuni, Chatuspada, or a Kintughna Yoga or Karana.

It has been mentioned in the Purana that a journey made under the influence of a Vipat, Nidhana or a Pratyari star or of the asterism of one`s nativity, as well as under the baneful influences of a Ganda Lagna or of a Rikta Tithi, is sure to terminate in a fatal way. The East and the North are quite alike in their virtues and influences, the same being the case with the south and the west. A Dikshula blocking the North-west and the South-east quarters of the globe should not be scaled at all, as called in the parlance of astrology. Sundays, Mondays and Saturdays are not auspicious for the purposes of a sojourn in a distant country. The asterisms known as the Krittikas appearing at the east, the Maghas at the south, the Maitras at the other quarters of the sky and the Vasava at the west, are benignant asterisms, and a journey under their auspices may be safely made to the directions they respectively preside over.

The Purans has also narrated that the various Laganas which are to be followed during a journey. It has been said that auspicious Laganas should also be given due importance. It has been said that the auspicious moment on Sundays, is just when the shadow east by a standard shadow-stick driven into the ground, reaches the length of twenty finger widths, those on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays being the moments when the shadow will cover the lengths of sixteen, fifteen, fourteen, thirteen, twelve, and eleven finger widths respectively. A man should not start on a journey under the malignant influence of his natal Lagnam, nor to a quarter of the sky spanned by a rain-bow. A man meditating on the divine self of Hari and undertaking a journey under the auspices of the blissful Shakuni-Karan, is sure to return victorious, laden with fame and glory.