PLANET: Mercury / Budh GEMSTONE: Emerald

Briefing the Nature of the Planet

Mercury is adored for bestowment of blessings of good education, business, sharp intellect, and pleasing appearance and also to keep off from heat-induced ailments,
general debility and depressions. The planet also monitors the family affairs in life. It is related to peace of mind, earnings, intellect, education and business, if it is favourable.

Favourite Colour : Green
Favourite Day : Wednesday
Favourite God / Deity : Goddess Parvati

The ill effects of Mercury can be minimized and the good effects can be increased
according to Indian mythology by doing the following tasks. Any or all of these, one
can select as per one's convenience.
• Green is the colour and Wednesday is the weekday dear to Mercury. So, astrologers recommend donation of green coloured clothes on any Wednesday.
• Worshipping goddess Parvati with yellow or green flowers is recommended for better beneficial results.
• Giving away in charity alloy or alloy utensils according to capacity is considered to keep one away from ill effects of Mercury.
• Distributing Khand (Sugar Powder), butter oil, grams to needy persons and fodders to animals will appease Mercury.
• Distributing fruits is another way recommended to please mercury.
• Offering of multiple coloured flowers or flowers of assorted colour in the Hawan (Fire Sacrifices) is another proposition to please Mercury.
• Putting a Tilak (Spilus Mark) on forehead of paste of ivory or wearing bead of ivory are suggested to appease Mercury. Tilak (Spilus Mark) of saffron can also do good.
• Reciting Mercury's Vedic Mantra will also go a long way to appease the planet.
• Chanting Mercury's Beej (Seed) Mantra will also propitiate the Planet.
• Fasting on Wednesdays is another way to get favourable results.

Mercury is the planet of intellect and communication. It can be seen in the morning
and evening as a shining star – and sometimes even during the day because of its power of radiation. Mercury is the smallest planet of our solar system. Mercury rules education, writers, lecturers, artists, teachers, traders, businessmen, the nervous system, lungs, and intestines. It rules intelligence, speech, selfconfidence, humor, wit, astrology, mathematics, and short journeys.

Mercury rules the zodiacal signs Virgo and Gemini. Friends of Mercury are the Sun, Venus, Rahu, and Ketu, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn are neutral to Mercury, and Mercury maintains enmity with the Moon.

It works well with Ashlekha, Jyeshtha, Revati, Rohini, Hast, and Shravan nakshatras
and gives auspicious results. It gives inauspicious results in Adra, Svati, Pushya,
Anuradha, Chitra, and Magha nakshatras.

It gives its best results when its native is between thirty-two and thirty-five years of age. When ill-aspected, Mercury gives chronic dysentery, constipation, lack of digestive fire, lung diseases, asthma, restlessness, kidney problems, fear, neurosis, and madness.

Mercury's benevolent influence will keep a person in god stead in relation to family,
society and occupation linked with accounting and education. It also makes you
lovable and favourite among your relatives. May Mercury help and bestow you with
all the good ways, we wish.

Mercury / Budh Mantra to Chant

Aum Bum Budhaye Namah Aum

Gemstone for this Planet - Emerald

Emerald is a gemstone of green color belonging to the family of beryl gems. This gemstone is rare because it is very difficult to find a flawless emerald. Most emeralds are defective, having a feather - like crack and inclusions. To find an emerald that is of rich green color, perfectly transparent, with a velvety reflection and high specific gravity is difficult.

Following are the general properties of Gemstone
Planet : Mercury
Cosmic Color : Green
Sign : Gemini, Virgo
Element : Earth
Time : Sunrise
Day : Wednesday

Qualities

• Compactness, which gives it high specific gravity
• Retains its color and lustre in all kinds of lights and shades
• Vitreous lustre, radiance, luminescence, brilliance
• Smoothness that comes when the stone has a fine finish
• Soothing touch and pleasant sight, which gives peaceful vibrations and captivates the heart
• Fine cut, which illuminates it from all sides
• Transparence, which makes it rare and costlier than diamonds
• Rich green homogeneous color that is deep and pleasant, like a blade of fresh grass
• Velvety reflection

Flaws

• Dullness; devoid of inner glow
• Harsh appearance smokiness
• Odd form, flatness, unevenness, depression
• Presence of a hole
• Brittleness
• Low specific gravity
• Black or yellow spots
• Emitting bluish reflection
• Foreign matter inside the crystalline structure
• Graininess
• Unevenness of color
• Smokiness
• Micaceous glitter due to the presence of mica, mica particles clearly visible
• Concavity or dent in surface
• Lack of water or glittering look, lustre, luminescence; gem looks dry
• Fissure in the surface
• Brown or blackish yellow color

Such flaws have no merit and should be discarded . Flaws in an emerald create problems and that is why one should not wear the following :

• An emerald having a yellow spot is harmful for one’s son.
• An emerald that has a smoky substance, micaceous glitter, threads or visible lines
destroys the clan and is harmful to the progeny.
• An emerald having a drop like the honey drop is inauspicious for one’s mother and
father.
• An emerald having a dent creates fear.
• An emerald with a red spot destroys wealth.
• An emerald having uneven colour or two colours is harmful to vitality and intelligence.
• An emerald that has spots of black or other colors harms one’s spouse.
• An emerald that is devoid of water and is dry harms one’s pets, cattle, horses and other animals.
• An emerald having a cobweb is harmful to one’s physical well-being.

Identity

• When rubbed against a piece of wood an imitation becomes shinier whereas the real
emerald does not.
• If a real emerald is placed in a glass pot with water it radiates green light, whereas the imitation does not.
• If a real emerald is placed on a piece of white cloth in such a way that its reflected light can be seen, it reflects green light and the spot where the light falls looks like a green patch of cloth.
• The refractive index of an imitation is lower than that of the real gemstone.
• An imitation emerald has a bright rather than pale hue.
• If a real emerald is placed on the eyes it gives a cool feeling, whereas an imitation becomes warm very quickly.
• If an imitation emerald is rubbed against a piece of turmeric root it makes the turmeric red, whereas a real emerald does not.
• A drop of water on a real gemstone retains its shape and does not spread around like water. Even moving and inverting the gemstone does not harm the drop, whereas in an imitation it does not remain a drop but spreads like water.
• The specific gravity of an imitation is lower than that of a real emerald.
• In an imitation there are white spots.

Ritual

An emerald should be bought on a Wednesday when the Sun is in the northern quarter in an ascending cycle. The gem should be bought and given to the jeweler two hours after sunrise. The emerald in the ring should be set when Ashlesha, Jyeshtha, Revti, or Rohini nakshatra is present - on a Wednesday, Friday, or Saturday when Virgo or Gemini is rising on the horizon.
The best time to wear the ring is two hours after sunrise. Before wearing the ring for the first time it should be kept immersed for some time in raw cow's milk. Then it should be washed with Ganga-water, spring water, rainwater, or water kept in a
copper pot. After it has been washed the ring should be kept in a green cloth on which a Mercury Yantra is drawn with red sandalwood paste, roli, or saffron. An engraved yantra of Mercury on a bronze plate or an idol of Mercury made of bronze should be placed on the green cloth on which the yantra is drawn. The ring should be placed before the yantra engraved on a bronze plate and flowers and incense should be offered to the yantra. The engraved yantra and the gemstone in the ring should then be worshiped by reciting the mantra of Mercury.

Mantra

Aum Bum Budhaye Namah Aum

The mantra should be recited either 108 or 4,000 times and then one should meditate on the gemstone as a symbol of Mercury. After meditation one should wear the ring on the little finger or the ring finger of the right hand. Afterwards the yantra should be wrapped in the green cloth and either donated to a priest or kept in a shrine.
The yantra to be drawn on the cloth and engraved on the bronze plate is the same, as follows :