Astrology – the most intriguing and challenging ‘science’

There is an interesting allegory alluded to astrology, of which I cannot

vouchsafe, about Indrajit’s birth. Indrajit is one of the most valiant warrior sons

of Ravana, an important character in Indian epic Ramayana. Ravana had asked

all the seers for the most auspicious placement of the planets in the celestial

zodiac at the time 0f birth of Indrajit. After having been told, Ravana ordered all

the planets to be stationed at the exact positions in the celestial zodiac as

suggested by the seers. Ravana thus wanted to play God. God Almighty destined

otherwise. So at the exact moment, Sani just stretched his leg imperceptibly a wee

bit and changed the planets’ configuration to that extent. Ravana with his mighty

mace hit at Sani’s leg and Sani became a limping planet from that time. But the

damage has been done.

There are any number of such parables in almost any culture only to re-

emphasise the unalterable nature of destiny and God’s prevailing Will. What the

subject of astrology does is to provide only certain direction and probability but

not subscribe to any certainty in its analysis.

There is yet another ‘story’ which is often quoted to emphasise the futility

of banking on astrology for fixing any auspicious moment. Let me verbatim

reproduce that ‘story’, which was posted as a comment.

“I am reminded of a "story" or was it true?

The great mathematician and an astrologer, Bhaskaracharya had a

daughter, Leelavathi. Once she reached the marriageable age he looked for a

suitable boy and fixed the date for wedding based on the horoscopes of the boy

and Leelavathi. On that day the wedding was celebrated but very soon the new

bridegroom died of snakebite.

The Great Bhaskaracharya was stunned and tried to look for the DOSHA

either in the horoscopes or the wedding date. He could not get any clue. He

recalculated and recalculated and found that the wedding date was the most

auspicious one. However he could not change the destiny of his only daughter.

One day he was observing the hourglass set up in the house for the

Calculation of time. There he found the nose stud of baby Leelavathi, which she

accidentally lost in her childhood while looking into the hourglass. Then he

realised the DESTINY decided by HIM cannot be changed inspite of having

excellent knowledge of Astrology.”

Let me recount the above ‘story’ in a slightly different fashion.

Bhaskaracharya was indeed a venerable sage and great mathematician and

astrologer. He surely knew what destiny was.

‘At the time of Leelavathi’s birth, the venerable sage cast her birth chart

and to his utter dismay the sage could clearly presage the untimely widowhood

for his daughter. Now what could the sage do but to accept the destiny? His

parental instincts or urge made the sage to look for the most auspicious time for

Leelavathi’s marriage so that the Acharya might have felt that the auspicious time

would avert the widowhood for his lovely child. The Acharya also, for a moment

was blinded by the parental love and played God.’

Now append the original ‘story’ making rounds, to the above paragraph.

The continuity and the logic of the story become more meaningful. It is indeed

illogical to believe that the Acharya looked only for the most auspicious time for

the daughter’s marriage and might not have cast the birth chart.

When we try to understand the science of astrology, I strongly feel we are

all like those blind men touching the various parts of an elephant and trying to

give each individual’s version of the elephant. We may come out trumps with

respect to a moment or only a particular aspect of the subject. But to master the

science, we have to become “MASTER”.

There are two interesting passages in the book ‘The Alchemist’ by Paulo

Coelho. One camel driver used to consult seers about his future. One of the seers

says: “when people consult me, it’s not that I’m reading the future; I am guessing

at the future. The future belongs to God, and it is only He who reveals it, under

extraordinary circumstances. How do I guess at the future? Based on the omens

of the present. The secret is here in the present. If you pay attention to the

present, you can improve upon it. And, if you improve on the present, what

comes later will also be better. Forget about the future, and live each day

according to the teachings, confident that God loves His children. Each day, in

itself, brings with it an eternity.”

The camel driver had asked what the circumstances were under which God would

allow him to see the future.

“Only when He, Himself, reveals it. And God only rarely reveals the future. When

He does so, it is only one reason: it’s a future that was written so as to be altered.”

And, my dear friends, is Astrology.