Murtha selection criteria Criteria No 1) Nakshatra on the day / time of muhurta should not fall in the 6/8/12th sign

from the natives chandra lagna. Ex: if the natives chandra lagna is Kumbha, the nakshatra on the day / time of muhurta should not be in Karkata or Kanya or Makara. Out of this 8th sign should be avoided at all cost. Ie Kanya in this case. Criteria No 2 The nakshatra on the day / time of muhurta should not be the 3rd, 5th or 7th nakshatra from the janma nakshatras. These are called Vipath, pratyari and vadha nakshatras respectively. Vipath means danger, calamities pratyari means enmity in practically every way / day vadha means death. Hence these three nakshatra days are also eliminated. Eg: if the nakshatra of the native is Ashwini, then the 3rd is Kritika, 5th is Mrigasira and 7th is Punarvasu. These nakshatra days or the time when the nakshatra is as above is eliminated. Criteria No 3 In most cases (occassions) Janma- Anujanma nakshatras are also avoided. There are exceptions to this rule. The janma-anujanma nakshatra are 1st (janma) -10 & 19 are anujanma nakshatras. ie: for Aswini, Magha & Moola are anujanma nakshatras Criteria no 4 Vedha nakshatras: All kinds of vedha that is considered for marriage can also be considered for the Muhurta. After all muhurta represents a marriage between the native and the "Samrambha"- activity. Panchavedha Group 1: Rohini, Adra, Hasta, Swathy, Sravana, Satabhishak Group 2: Yama, Pushya, Pur.Phalguni, Anuradha, Purvashada, Utra Badra Group 3: Aswini, Aslesha, Magha, Jyeshta, Moola, Revathy Group 4: Mrigasiras, Chitra, Dhanishta Group 5: Krittika, Punarvasu, Utra.Phalguni, Vishaka, Utrashada, Purva.Badra The natives nakshatra and the nakshatra day which falls in the same group should be avoided. Eg: if the natives nakshatra is Aswini, the day on which aslesha, magha, jyeshta, moola and revathy is best avoided. Muhurtha is very practical application of Astrology. Pancha Vedha mentioned in Marriage compatibility infact is taken from Muhurtha. "gehaaraMbhaniShidd havedhavirahH slaaghyotra janmarkshayostadvargakramataH phalaM vidhate vaidhavyamarthaksha yaM naanaadeshaparibhra mavyasanitaaM mR^ityuM cha putrakshayaM vedhaaH kaMTakaTiipadadvaya shiraH kukshyulbhavaaH saMGYayaa"

from the above verse it is clear that the Vedha mentioned for marriage compatibility actually comes from muhurta and is used for griharambha etc. Effects of these Vedhas also point to the kind of issues that could arise in future. Kanta vedha - Vidhavya. Loss of business - may have to close down due to accidents, Technology change etc Katee vedha - dravya nasham- financial loss, theft, destruction of business assets tangible and intangible. Pada vedha: nana desha paribhrama: pointless wander: makes decisions that will not take the business to the expected goal. Waste of energy and time. Managerial issues. Shirovedha: Death : of the native or becomes and constant headache . nuisance for the native. Kukshi vedha : putranasham : future development and expansion shall not happen. The business shall be stuck in the field or may end with the end of the native. Consider the above when providing a muhurtha. some exceptions could be prudently considered. If the business if fixed nature without much scope for future developments and if the native doesn't expect his children to carry on with it, there is no harm in selecting a day on which Kukshi vedha occurs IF others factors are favorable(Muhurta is provided in panchanga). Criteria 5 Pada dosha The nakshtra that falls in the 88th pada & 108th pada is also best avoided for Muhurta day or nakshtra at the time of muhurta. Eg: if the Nakshatra of the native is Aswathy - 1st pada, the 88th pada is the 4th pada of Sravana nakshatra. Hence, The day or time when moon is in Sravana is best avoided. There is school of thought that the time when Moon is in the 4th pada (of sravana in this example) need be avoided. Rest of the time could be accepted if other factors permit. After selecting the day as stated above (through 5 criterias), note down the Muhurta time provided for the day. This time has to be further adjusted according to the difference in Sun rise / Sun set between the city on which the Panchanga is created and the place of event. This is very important, particularly if the muhurtha period is very less which most of astrologers miss out. The could be a difference of 5 to 15 minutes in sun rise/set time between the places as above even in a given state. Eg: suppose the panchanga was created using the sun rise / set for calicut city and the event take place at cochin or alleppy, the difference in sun rise /set time should be adjusted to the muhurtha time. Suppose the Sun rise at calicut is at 6:30Am and at cochin is 6:35 Am, there is difference of 5 minutes. This difference should be added to the Muhurta start and end time- in short the Muhurta also should be advanced by 5 minutes. It should be reduced if otherwise (if the sun rise at cochin is 6:25 am). This is particularly important, since, the final time is computed that depend on various factors which again is depended on sun rise / setting time.

To be absolutely accurate, the difference is computed from the difference from dinamama & ratrimana (Duration of day and duration of night). I have illustrated the above method for ease of computation and understanding. The difference wont be much also. Kerala Panchangas provide the Muhurta - day & time for each occasion. I am not very sure about the panchangas from other states- It has to be there. The above steps are good enough to select a good day and time for any occasion from the Panchanga. The above also should give you a good understanding on how Panchanga should be used for such occasions. By mentioning Navamsa, I take it that you are referring to the Navamsa of the Moon at the Muhurta time. Lagna navamsa changes every 15 minutes approximately. Hence this not very useful though could be considered. However, the moon's navamsa stays in a sign for approximately 5 hrs and 50 minutes. Navamsa of these should be in the sign of benefic and preferably in the signs of benefic planet in the chart of the native. Here we can consider the Benefic signs suggested by Laghu Parashari etc for each sign. It can also be in the sign of most powerful benefic planet. Such as Venus if exalted. It is also better if the said navamsa falls in the sign of planet that signifies the activity. Venus if business, particularly trading, Jupiter if the business relates to finance etc. Mars could be considered if the activity is related to machinery, electrical, electronics - mesha; geology(bhoomi sambandha), chemicals Vrischika (oja, yugma, sthala rashi, jala rashi etc). Most of the time muhurtas are provided in panchangas, considering the above also in a broader way. However, we can choose those days / time when the lagna / chandra lagna falls in most suitable sign that is appropriate for the native as well as the activity at hand. For finer tuning of Muhurta, we should also look at chandra avasta, chandra kriya and chandra vela. Atleast they should not be very negative. It could be considered good if one of them particularly avasta & kriya show very good results like "Simhasanadhipathy" etc. Personally, I always consider this while suggesting the exact muhurta time.