Yoga (Panchang)

Not the postures — in the panchang, yoga means "union": the combined longitude of the Sun and Moon measured together. Add the two longitudes, divide the 360-degree total into 27 spans of 13°20', and whichever span the sum falls in gives the day's yoga. It is the third limb of the panchang, sitting between nakshatra and karana in the daily listing.

The 27 yogas run in fixed order: Vishkambha, Priti, Ayushman, Saubhagya, Shobhana, Atiganda, Sukarma, Dhriti, Shula, Ganda, Vriddhi, Dhruva, Vyaghata, Harshana, Vajra, Siddhi, Vyatipata, Variyana, Parigha, Shiva, Siddha, Sadhya, Shubha, Shukla, Brahma, Indra and Vaidhriti.

Their reputations vary widely. Priti, Ayushman, Saubhagya, Siddhi, Siddha, Sadhya, Shubha and Amrita-class days are welcomed for beginnings. Atiganda, Shula, Ganda, Vyaghata, Vajra, Parigha and Vaidhriti are treated as inauspicious for new work. Two — Vyatipata and Vaidhriti — carry extra weight: tradition groups them among the "pata" yogas, avoided for almost anything important.

Worked example: suppose the Sun sits at 10° Gemini (70° sidereal) and the Moon at 25° Gemini (85°). The sum is 155°. Divide by 13°20': 155 ÷ 13.33 gives 11 complete spans, so the 12th yoga is running — Dhruva, the "fixed" yoga, traditionally favourable for things meant to last. Had the sum reached 226°, the count would land in Vyatipata and most panchangs would advise waiting.

Two practical notes. First, yoga changes roughly twice a day — its span of 13°20' of combined motion passes in about 12 to 13 hours — so muhurat work checks yoga at the exact event time, not the day's sunrise value. Second, names repeat across systems: this panchang yoga is unrelated to the yogakaraka planet concept or to planetary yogas like Gajakesari, which are chart combinations, not calendar units. When a promising date carries an unfavourable yoga, practitioners first try shifting the event into the hours of the next yoga rather than abandoning the whole day.