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The Fallacy of Hotch-Potch
Astrology------------------------------------By Dharmapada Das
Recently I was reading the February edition of The Astrological
aga!ine" I came across something in the
editor#s address at the First International $ymposium on %edic
Astrology that caught my attention" Dr"Raman ad&ised against
ma'ing a (hotch-potch( of Hindu and )estern astrology and felt that
this wouldonly lead to confusion" I am sure that few* if any* of
the modern writers who ha&e presented %edicastrology in the
+nglish language e,pected it to be accepted piecemeal and spliced
onto other systems"How actually are we to understand and apply
%edic astrological teachings
In the Bhaga&ad .ita* /ord 0rishna sheds some light on this
1uestion" The second &erse in the fourthchapter is a 'eystone
&erse for understanding %edic 'nowledge2
+&am Paramapara PraptamImam Ra3arshayo %iduh
$a 0aleneha ahata4ogo 5ashtah Parantapa
(This supreme science was thus recei&ed through the chain of
disciplic succession* and the saintly 'ingsunderstood it in that
way" But in the course of time the succession was bro'en* and now
that science as itis appears to be lost"(
In other words* /ord 0rishna recommends that one understand
%edic 'nowledge through the disciplicsucession* that is to say* the
%edic sages" )hy is this 0nowledge coming down in disciplic
sucession by
pure sages in contact with the supersoul 6Paramatma7
originates from a di&ine source and is free from thedefects of
mundane sensory perception"
And what are these defects According to the %aishna&a
$criptures these defects are of four basic types8such as -bhrama-
or error due to wrong perception of one ob3ect for another*
-pramada- or error due tocarelessness* -&ipralipsa- or error
due to cheating propensity and -'aranapata&a- or error due to
theincapabilities of the senses" He 69i&a .oswami7 therefore
accepts shabda and no other e&idence: the rest he
treats as purely subsidiary"( By shabda brahman is meant
trascendental sound &ibration such as is found inthe %edas"
At this point* let us define %edic astrological teachings: we
are basically spea'ing of Parashara uni" Hehas gi&en us a
complete system of astrology in his boo' Brihat Parashara Hora
$hastra" He has not saidthat it was incomplete or a (first
installment"( And though he spo'e it to aitreya* he had the man of
this
present age* the 0ali-yuga* in mind" This is e&ident
from the sections that deal with Ashta'a-&arga and%imshotari
dasha" Although there are some lesser %edic sources such as
$atyacharya#s teachings* almostall Hindu astrology corresponds to
Parashara#s system 6and is therefore 'nown as Parashari astrology"7
$owho was Parashara in the first place There is a nice narration in
the Hari Bha'ti $udhodaya 6a section of the 5aradiya Purana7
which illustrates how e,alted Parashara was" Apparently* ar'andeya
came upon ameeting of sages in a forest clearing somewhere" They
were sitting in a circle and among them wasParashara* who was 3ust
a boy of se&en at the time" He was seated on the lap of %asista
uni* who was thefamily priest of $hree Ramachandra* a plenary
%ishnu a&atara" To be seated on the lap of %asista is in
itself a great honor" But to get on with the story* ar'andeya
fell at the feet of %asista and offered hisrespects" Parashara* in
turn* bowed down to ar'andeya" ar'andeya disappro&ed of this
and instructedthe boy that elders should recei&e respect and
not humble themsel&es to those of lesser age" Parasharashowed
surprise and stated that* since he was only se&en* he was not
an elder" ar'andeya* howe&er* citedthe sages as defining age as
time which is spent in rememberance of %ishnu" ar'andeya went on to
saythat Parashara#s de&otion was unalloyed and that the boy was
in constant contact with the $upersoul"Therefore* ar'andeya said
that* although only a boy* all of Parashara#s se&en years
counted whereas if the time that all others present there had
remembered %ishnu were added together it would not e,ceede&en
fi&e years" That is why ar'andeya considered Parashara to be
the eldest person in the assembly"
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From this story we can conclude that Parashara uni is certainly
an e,alted personality and a puremedium for astrological 'nowledge"
His teaching would not be tinged with any of the
aforementionedempiric defects" 0eep in mind that he is also the
father of %yasa* who compiled the &ery %edas"
As far as Parashara#s sources are concerned* he states in
se&eral places in his Hora $hastra that (I wasinstructed by
Brahma that"""( or (such and such I ha&e heard from 5arada"( )e
'now from the Bhaga&atPurana 6;anto two* ;hapter nine7 and
other similar sources that Brahma is the Adi-De&o 9agatam or
first
demigod of the uni&erse and Para .uru* the supreme guru
6&erse fi&e7" He was so successful at yogic practice
that the $upreme Personality of .odhead appeared before him from
%ai'untha* shoo' his hand*and referred to him as being %eda-garbha
or impregnated with the %edas" Brahma may therefore beconsidered a
perfect source of 'nowledge as he has the recommendation of
5arayana and saw himPersonally< 5arada is his offspring"
This means that astrological 'nowledge coming down from Brahma
to 5arada to Parashara are certainlyfree from mundane defects" And
to learn from such sages is the perfection of the abo&e
'eystone &erse"
=n the other hand* e&en is one loo's for empiric
e&idence* he may rest assured" $ince the close of the%edic age
se&eral thousand years ago* some of the greatest intellects of
India ha&e applied themsel&es tothis system of astrology"
They ha&e been patroni!ed by great 'ings and wealthy men and
ha&e had amplefacilities" Their findings and understandings of
Parashara#s system ha&e been documented in the form
of such great boo's as Brihat 9ata'a by %araha ihira and
9ata'a Pari3ata of %aidyanath Di'shita"+,perimentation with the
system has not been lac'ing"
)ith this in mind* is it really appropriate for us newcomers to
chop it up piecemeal or blend it with thistechni1ue or that %edic
astrology has only been 'nown in the )est for ten or twenty years
at the most: assuch* who are we to come along with our computers
and and in such a short span of time thin' that weunderstand
something that the pre&ious teachers did not
This is not the way to understand %edic 'nowledge" In the
>?th slo'a of the same fourth chapter of .itamentioned
abo&e* /ord 0rishna also ad&ises 8Pariprashnena $e&aya8
or humble in1uiry and a ser&iceattitude" That is the way to
recei&e %edic 'nowledge according to /ord 0rishna* whom Ar3una
deemedinfallible 6Achutya7"
In the )est* of course* it is typical to be challenging in
academic circles" It is fashionable to be original
and dispro&e one#s predecessors* or at least find out
something new" That way one ma'es a name for oneself" This is
actually a good way to go if the goal is to de&elop new
technologies* industries or to pro3ect oneself across oceans
to new continents" 6)here would ;hristopher ;olumbus be if he
weren#toriginal7 It is not a good way* howe&er* to understand
%edic 'nowledge coming down in disciplicsucession as pointed out in
the Bhaga&ad .ita"
The speculati&e* e,perimental approach to Parashari
astrology simply brings one to the point of fi,ingsomething that is
not bro'en* e&en tampering with the already refined" It is well
documented that %edicastrology is &ery accurate in the timing
of mundane e&ents" In terms of personality analysis also*
%edicastrology offers a soulful* instincti&e perspecti&e
from $uryalagna 6$un chart7* an emotional perspecti&efrom
;handra 6oon chart7* and a more general point of &iew from the
/agna proper or ascendent" It isactually much broader than the
)estern system and replete with techni1ues and methods of
analysisotherwise un'nown 6such as planetary periods and methods
for assessing planetary strengths7" $o why notaccept this wonderful
system of astrology as it has been handed down instead of
speculating on it with our
imperfect senses
And it is 1uestionable whether or not the )estern system and
Parashara#s compliment each other" They aredifferent systems and it
is wishful thin'ing that they will lead to the same place by a
different road" Itwould be more accurate to say that they are
mutually e,clusi&e of each other" aybe this is what
9i&a.oswami meant by %ipralipsa: it is possible we fool
oursel&es without really 'nowing it" Therefore* let usa&oid
ma'ing a hotch-potch of astrology as Dr" Raman ad&ises" As we
go about the study of %edicastrology let us recall the .ita#s
'eystone &erse as presented abo&e and try to understand
from the pre&iousacharyas 6teachers7" As a final inspiration*
we shall meditate on Ar3una#s words from the se&enth shlo'a
of the Bhaga&at .ita2
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$isyas te #ham shadhi mam t&am prapannam
(5ow I am a soul surrendered unto you" Please instruct me"(
= TAT $AT
