Yoga and karana: two limbs of the Panchanga

Yoga: the Sun and Moon added together

In the Panchanga, yoga is a calendar value, unrelated to yoga practice and to the planetary combinations (also called yogas) read in a Kundli. Add the sidereal longitudes of the Sun and the Moon, take the result modulo 360°, and divide by 13°20′: the 27 parts are the 27 yogas, from Vishkambha to Vaidhriti.

Because both longitudes are sidereal, the ayanamsha enters twice, so yoga times are more sensitive to it than nakshatra times. Against Drik Panchang, the website’s yoga endings agreed within 1.5 minutes on 28 cases.

Karana: half a tithi

A karana is half a tithi — 6° of Moon–Sun elongation — so a lunar month has 60. Eleven names cover them:

• Seven movable karanas — Bava, Balava, Kaulava, Taitila, Gara, Vanija, Vishti — repeat eight times, from the second half of Shukla Pratipada to the first half of Krishna Chaturdashi.
• Four fixed karanas sit around the new Moon: Shakuni (second half of Krishna Chaturdashi), Chatushpada and Naga (the two halves of Amavasya) and Kimstughna (first half of Shukla Pratipada).

Tradition treats Vishti (also called Bhadra) as unsuitable for beginning auspicious work. The website labels the karana; it does not recommend timings.