Understanding the science behind Hora – Biological, Ayurvedic and Astrological insight

The Sanskrit word Hora which roughly equates to an hour (or 60 minutes) is a very important concept of Vedic sciences which has equally important application in Vedic astrology and even Ayurveda. In fact, after going through this blog, you will be convinced that the word hour has somewhere originated from the word Hora only. This is because before the war of Mahabharata, the entire world followed Sanatana dharma whose primary aim was love and righteousness for all and whose primary language was Sanskrit. However, after the war, all the knowledge got scattered in bits and pieces all across the world which is why we find so many commonalities in certain words from different languages and also the concepts and stories of many religions. This blog will discuss the science of Hora.

Vedic sciences have divided one day in 24 horas just like 24 hours. But what is the logic of dividing a day in 24 hours? Here it is… The breath of our nostrils alternately dominates between right and left every 60 minutes on an average. When most of the breathing is happening from our right nostril, the body is activating that nervous system of our body which is pushing heat/pitta/electricity and thus the nutrition too outwards in the body and thus making us mentally and physically active thereby helping us focus on outward things and physical activities. In astrology, this hour/hora is assigned to Sun which also refers to Pingla Nadi. But what if the body keeps the outer organs active all the time? It will weaken the inner organs i.e. our core organs like spleen, heart, digestive system, our sleep center etc.

That is why, after every 60 minutes or so i.e. one hora, our body deactivates Pingla Nadi i.e. electricity flowing through the nervous system and activates the Ida Nadi which is assigned to Moon as it is cooling in nature. Thus, activation of Ida cools down the body and takes the nutrition towards the core organs, thereby feeding them which is essential for various activities like rest, creation of blood and other cells, primary digestion in inner organs. And that’s how the cycle alternates every 60 minutes or so. The energy which is dominating at a specific hora is called as Sun Hora or Moon Hora. Thus, Sun and Moon hora move the electricity in our nervous system like an alternating current which is essential for balance.

Now, it is logical that during hot weather conditions and during daytime, Sun hora should be lesser than Moon hora for the body to avoid dissipating excess energy and vice versa. That is why instead of dividing the entire day by 24 equal parts, hora is calculated by dividing the time between sunrise and sunset and sunset and sunrise into 12 parts each. Even different times of the year and different locations on earth (away or closer to equator) should be taken into consideration while calculating exact hora at a specific location and time. This is the reason that 60 minutes is simply an average duration of hora.

Now it is well known that human brain is divided into two equal halves or hemispheres and that left hemisphere governs our logical side and the right one governs the creative side, or say logical thinking happens in the left hemisphere and the creative thinking in the right hemisphere. Ayurvedically, logic is governed by straight focused force called Pitta (the heat) and creativity is governed by Vata (the limited hollowness in the body that is essential for creating hollow channels and thus more inter neural circuits). In simple words, left hemisphere has Pingla nadi dominance and right hemisphere has Ida nadi dominance. Even this is known that the right nostril and the right body is connected to the left hemisphere of the brain and vice versa for the right hemisphere. Thus, when Sun hora becomes active, more of breath flows through our right nostril and when Moon’s hora becomes active, then more of breath flows through our left nostril. Yogi’s use this phenomenon to plan their day by doing physically intense activities during the activation of Sun’s hora i.e. when right nostril or say Pingla nadi is active and creative thinking and activities when Moon’s hora i.e. when left nostril or say Ida nadi is active.

Now when we are born, the presence of different planets (and thus their energies) in different horas (i.e. Sun or moon’s) at the time of birth, determines whether those planetary energies will contribute towards our inner behaviour or outer behaviour. That is why Astrology has created a divisional chart called as D2 which is derived from one’s birth chart. In the next blog we shall discuss about the logic of D2.