Firstly, a little something about planets and gemstones.

These stones come in specific colors and are associated with specific planets –

1. Jupiter – yellow – sapphire – to be worn on the index finger
2. Saturn – Blue sapphire – to be worn on the middle finger
3. Moon – white pearl- to be worn on the little finger
4. Mercury – green emerald – to be worn on the little finger
5. Sun – ruby – to be worn on the ring finger
6. Mars – Red coral – to be worn on the ring finger
7. Rahu – hessonite (GOMEDH) – to be worn on the ring finger
8. Venus -white diamond / zirconite – to be work on the ring finger
9. Ketu – CAT’s eye – to be worn on the middle finger.

The SCIENCE behind wearing GEMSTONES

Now we know that our body has a lot of nerve endings under the skin. Our hands have a bigger concentration of them (thanks to evolution) to increase our dexterity.

Also it’s a known fact that the skin absorbs and processes light that hits it. That’s the reason for pigmentation (aka melanin) and dryness of skin or oily skin. Also new born babies infected with jaundice are recommended to be exposed to the morning sunlight in order to recover from the infection.

Holding that thought in mind, we know from middle school science that an object looks to be a certain color when light falls on it because it absorbs all the colors and emits out a certain wavelength of light and that’s the color it appears. So we know if we wear a certain colored stone it ABSORBS A CERTAIN WAVELENGTHS AND REFLECTS BACK A SPECIFIC WAVELENGTH.

We also know that the light that touches us is processed by our body in a certain way.

So essentially by wearing a certain stone you are reflecting certain wavelength of light away from you and hence the cosmic effects of the wavelength.

Which stone should I wear?

If you walk into a JEWELS & GEMS shop, they would generally ask you for your 

1. Nakshatra (asterism – the constellation to which your MOON was aligned when you were born)) or 
2. RASHI (MOON SIGN – the zodiac sign where your moon was placed when you were born)

We Indians have a penchant for RECYCLE & REUSE and we try to extend it to every possible thing including GEMSTONES. So GEMSTONES which were worn by mother’s get passed on to daughters or son-in-laws or someone else in the family. THIS IS ABSOLUTELY A BIG NO.

Mother’s can pass down jewelry to their daughters or daughter-in-laws, that’s absolutely fine cause these jewels were worn only occasionally. Whereas in the case of a GEMSTONE, the person wore it continuously for a couple of years.

What should be the WEIGHT / SIZE of the GEMSTONE?

Nowhere in our scriptures it is mentioned about how to determine which weight you should wear.

The Frequently observed trend is also to wear One Ratti for every 12 Kilogram of body weight. Example, at least 5 ratti for 60 Kg person (60 KG/12= 5 Ratti).

How to convert Carat into Ratti?

Also 1 RATTI = 0.9 CARRAT

The Size of Stone should be such that it is possible to make a skin-touching Ring (or pendant), which is not possible if the stone is too small. At the Same time, it should be comfortable to wear, that means it should not be very big too. The Optimum size, is hence, determined by ‘YOU’ and this liberty is given to you by the ancient scriptures on which Vedic astrology is based. You need an astrologer to suggest the correct gemstone. After that you should decide the size (weight) of gemstone by yourself.

The most popular sizes of different astrological gemstones that are worn by the people are given as follows:

• Ruby (Manik) : 5 Ratti – 8.50 Ratti
• Pearl : 6 Ratti – 10 Ratti
• Coral (Moonga) : 7.00 Ratti – 9 Ratti
• Emerald (Panna) : 4:50 Ratti – 6:50 Ratti
• Yellow Sapphire (Pukhraj) : 5 Ratti – 7.50 Ratti
• Opal : 6 Ratti – 9 Ratti
• White Sapphire : 5.00 Ratti – 9.00 Ratti
• Blue Sapphire (Neelam) : 5 Ratti – 7:50 Ratti

Wearing any more weight would not be extra beneficial. So there’s no point spending your hard earned money on big stones.

I might e sounding the death knell of the GEM STONE industry but truth be told what a yellow sapphire (for fixing a WEAK JUPITER) can do, the same thing TURMERIC BUDS (KHADI HALDI) can do too. In fact I often suggest people to keep turmeric buds rather than buy a YELLOW SAPPHIRE ring and it has always worked. Such a replacement is available for every planet. Saturn – you can wear an IRON RING on a saturday on your middle finger instead of a BLUE SAPPHIRE

Important instrutions while wearing a GEMSTONE

1. Always wear it in the SUKLA PAKSHA (WAXING period) of the moon. Between AMAVASYA & POURNAMI
2. You should choose the weekday which is owned by the planet to wear the GEMSTONE of the planet
1. RAVI (SUN) war – RUBY – right hand ring finger
2. SOM (MOON) war – PEARL – right hand little finger
3. MANGAL (MARS) war – RED CORAL – right hand ring finger   
4. BUDH (MERCURY) war – EMERALD – right hand little finger
5. GURU / BRIHASPAT (Jupiter) war – YELLOW SAPPHIRE – index finger right hand
6. SHUKRA (VENUS) war – White Diamond / zirconite – right hand little finger
7. SHANI (SATURN) war – BLUE SAPPHIRE – middle finger right hand
8. RAHU – GOMED / HESSONITE GARNET – ring finger left hand
9. KETU – CATS EYE – middle finger right hand
3. You need do some cleansing (SHUDDHI) of the GEMSTONE you brought. For that
1. You need to keep it in a mixture of milk, honey  gangajal for about 12 hours in your puja room.
2. You need to then wash it nice & clean
4. The day you decide to wear it, you first need to take bath
5. With empty stomach chant 108 times
1. OM SURYAYE NAMAHA – Sunday if you are wearing a RUBY for sun
2. OM SOMAYE NAMAHA –  Monday if you are wearing a PEARL for moon
3. OM MAGALAYE NAMAHA – Tuesday if you are wearing a RED CORAL for mars
4. OM BUDHAYE NAMAHA – Wednesday if you are wearing a  GREEN EMERALD for Mercury
5. OM BRIHASPATIYE NAMAHA – Thursday if you are wearing a YELLOW SAPPHIRE for Jupiter
6. OM SHUKRAYE NAMAHA – Friday if you are wearing a DIAMOND for Venus
7. OM SHANISHCHARAYE NAMAHA – Saturday if you are wearing a BLUE SAPPHIRE for Saturn
8. OM RAHUVE NAMAHA – Saturday if you are wearing a GOMED for RAHU
9. OM KETUVE NAMAHA –  Tuesday if you are wearing a CAT’s EYE for KETU

Hope this information is helpful.

Jai GANESHA!