1st BHAVA / HOUSE - CHARACTERISTICS/KARAKATWAS

We know that there are 12 Houses in a Rashi Kundali. And these houses are imaginary, that means even the rashi are imaginary because the Rashi Kundali is nothing but when the 360 degrees of sidereal wheel is cut into 12 equal parts though it is not exactly equal because we will understand that some of the rashis are short in length and some are lengthy i.e. more than 30 degrees, this is because of the elliptical shape of the Zodiac.

 What is 1^st House/Bhava?

 Once a person is born, the sign which is rising in the eastern horizon is taken as the Lagna or Ascendant which is called as the 1^st House/Bhava and from that Lagna, the 2^nd becomes the 2^nd house/bhava, 3^rd becomes 3^rd house/bhava and so on till 12^th house/bhava.

There are methodologies in which the Lagna is taken as the zero degree, and from there each 30 degrees have been cut and then sorted out as houses. That is, the Lagna will be the starting point in this case, and in several cases, Lagna is taken as the midpoint of the first house. That means the House will range between 15 degrees on either side of the Lagna.

For example - Let us say if Lagna is at 10 degrees in Gemini Sign/Rashi then Taurus 25th degree itself will be the starting point of the first house and Gemini 25th degree will be the ending point of the 1st House. So in this case the 7th house midpoint will fall in 10 degrees Sagittarius. So if it is 10 degrees Sagittarius, that means Scorpio 25th degree will be the starting point of the 7th House and the 25th degree in the Sagittarius will be the ending point of the 7^th House. Hence if there is a planet posited at 28 degrees Taurus, this means that, that planet falls in the 1^st house and not in the 12^th house.

 The Characteristics and the Significations of the First House -

 The first house is the beginning. It is also called as the Adi Rashi/Bhava and the 12th house is called Poorna Bhava. The 12^th house is called as the Poorna Bhava not Antha or Ending Bhava because a person completes his life and gets Moksha.

 The life cycle starts from the 1^st House. It represents the body, the scalp and our face. It represents expressions, peacefulness & harmony. Bones, limbs, happiness, unhappiness, deha sukha and manasika sukha – to have a healthy body, mind and soul need to be understood from the 1^st house itself.

 Fame, dreams, becoming a miser, the longevity of the person is also seen secondarily from the first house, as primarily it is seen from the 8th house. Dignity, respect, character, wealth, wisdom, all these are represented by the 1st House. It also represents the skin. It also represents good sleep. The most important factor which is represented by the first house is identity. Prestige, prejudice, perception and ahankara is represented by the first house.

 What is identity? Me myself mine. What am I going to get? Where am I? How am I? How are they treating me? What am I going to become? All these things are represented by the first house.

 So the 12th house usually is called as the Vyaya Sthana in the sense that, it is the loss for the next house. So for the first house, the 12th house is the Vyaya sthana and for the 2nd house the first house becomes the Vyayasthana, this is called as the Bhavat Bhava principle. So the 12th house is losing one's identity. Losing one's identity, means losing one’s birth place. Place of birth is also represented by the first house. So when the 12th house is going to unsettle the first house, the person will move out of the country, out of his village, out of his city and travel far away for living. So only for a livelihood if a person is getting displaced that is called as the loss of identity of a person from a given place, physically. The second level of loss of identity is that I lose myself. That is, I have lost my ego and I come out of that egoistic perception to start understanding what this creation is and what I am here for. So only when we are able to dissolve the layer of the ego that Ahankara, only then we can see through this is. This is the real essence mentioned in the Bhagavat Gita or any other spiritual text.

 To sum it up, the key points are mentioned below:

·       Physical stature, Complexion & Appearance

·       Brain, Hair & its texture, Skin, Facial bones & Facial-lustre

·       Honor, Dignity, Prosperity & General well-being

·       Perception

·       Name & Fame

·       Wisdom & Knowledge

·       Longevity

·       Old Age

·       Desires

·       Prestige, Mannerisms, Character & Behavior

·       Traditions & Customs

·       Inspiration & Aspiration

·       Happiness & Unhappiness