What are the astrological implications of fasting on saturdays?

Question

I am thinking of fasting on saturdays, but I want to be careful about doing it. If you know the astrological effects of fasting, let me know.

Answer 1

I don't have a source for this available at the moment, and I don't think you will believe my authority if I tell you what is correct, so I will take you through the whole depth of understanding.

वासरः of शनैश्चर... र is the Agni वास means home/dwelling. So, the Agni for the AhoRaatra is given by Shani.

What is Agni? Agni is the quality of existence (or the tattva) that transforms things. As you read this, symbols in your mind are transformed to meaning because you know the English language, that is Agni. Agni is also the transformation of food into Praana in your intestines. And, so on.

Shani represents दु:ख according to Guru Paraashara's Brhat Paraashara Hora Shastra.

देवेज्यो ज्ञानसुखदो भृगुर्वीर्यप्रदयकः । ऋषिभिः प्राक्तनैः प्रोक्तश्छायासूनुश्च दुःखदः ॥ १३॥ -3.13 BPHS

What is दुःख ? दु means bad/unpleasant. ख means space/sky. This is the reason ShaniDeva represents work, labor, pain, sadness, (chronic) diseases and so on as they're all linked by दुःख.

Now, your question, what happens by fasting on Saturdays?

What is fasting? is it दुःख of the body? Yes. Your body's सुख is that you feed it and you keep it still on a sofa 24/7, like the nature of BrhaspatiDeva.

So, what happens, when you use the Agni (energy for every change/transformation) of Shani (दुःख) to produce दुःख in your body? It will simply exhaust the दुःख Agni of Shani through the channel of your body.

Suppose Shani was going to give you Bowel Cancer in 2025. If you do this fasting every Saturday, (with rituals for beginning fasting in Shani hora at sunrise for best effect), he will maybe just give you a little IBS instead.

Why will he do this? Because you have already exhausted part of the दुःख Karma Phala that your body (or life) was pre-decided to suffer, in other words, the Karma balance of ShaniDeva for you has been reduced, so now you will suffer less in your whole life, particularly in relation to Sthira Raashis and the body. There's other better ways to target the दुःख of poverty or work and so on.

Hopefully that's enough to answer the question, I won't be giving any more clarifications as anything over this amount is pretty much supposed to be a secret.

Remember, that no penance can ever give bad results. The tri-anga of Tapa is आयुः, प्रयत्नः and कालः. For multiplicatory effects, all 3 need to align. That's why certain Tithis are great, or certain days, or certain months, or certain nakshatras and so on. But, as long as you have a good amount of आयुः (how long you do the penance) and प्रयत्नः (how much effort/pain it takes you to do it), you will get good enough results, even without knowledge of कालः.

The प्रयत्नः depends on your own nature. If you suffer unpleasantness of mind and body at 6 hours of the fast, then that is the moment the fast truly begins, the first 6 hours have (basically) no benefit. Some people can handle 12 hour fasts, others can handle 2 days. If you want a real effect to happen, then I recommend a 24 hour fast without water for okay results, or 12 hour fast without water for minimal results. Anything lesser than that produces no effect (for most people).