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Astrology
INTRODUCTION
In this book of
Astrology for Beginners I wish to tell something by way of
introduction, about astrology a subject to confess to an interest in
which is to evoke smiles of condescension from otherwise intelligent
people and run the risk of being considered an eccentric, before
actually commencing the subject proper. The reader is requested to
go through this introduction carefully as it enables him to
appreciate what astrology is and how it is different from the
so-called occultism so often mixed up with the science of
divination. Is astrology a science? Does it deserve to be ranked
among other subjects which have received the stamp of the modern
scientist? Many causes have contributed to the degeneration of
astrology. Firstly, there is the impenetrable prejudice which
characterises the majority of the educated public who sneer at
astrology as mere superstition and excuse themselves from any
investigation of its claims on the ground that modern scientists
reject it; secondly, the springing up of a large number of quacks
charging rupee one per horoscope and playing on the credulity of the
masses; and thirdly, the narrow-mindedness of many of the scientists
have been greatly responsible for the present degradation of
astrology. No man is entitled to pronounce an opinion on the merits
of any science unless he has devoted much time to its study and
investigation.
What is science? It is
knowledge co-ordinated, arranged and synthesised. No science is
perfect and no science can be called a chimerical branch before one
can claim considerable proficiency in it. Take for instance, any
science and see if it is successful cent percent or even
seventy-five percent in its experiments. Take the percentage of
cures and kills effected by doctors. A learned doctor once observed
that if all the Materia Medica is thrown into the sea so much the
worse for the fishes and so much the better for man. There is a long
list of incurable diseases and the medical fraternity blinks before
the fury of these diseases. Jurisprudence is a grand science. What
do the bright limbs of law mean when they speak about the
uncertainties of law? If law is a science where is the room for
failure of justice and prevalence of injustice. Yet some of the
lawyers and doctors have the impunity to classify astrologers along
with quacks, gypsies, charlatans and swindlers. When vast sums of
money are spent on such chimerical subjects as Meteorology, what
justification can the cultured public claim for rejecting astrology
and other sciences propounded by ancient Maharshis! Astrology is
holding its head so proudly under the greatest disadvantages and
neglect which are extended for its vilification and it is high time
that sufficient patronage in extended for its
revival.
Now let us examine the
claims of astrology to be ranked amongst sciences. It investigates
into the influences of Time. Astrology is derived from the word
Aster – star and Logos – reason or logic. It is called in Sanskrit
Jyotisha or the Science of Time.
It throws light on the
dark recesses of the gloomy future. It attempts to foretell the
future history of man, the fates of nations, empires, kingdoms,
wars, revolutions and other terrestrial phenomena. It tells all
these things not by vague guesses or gesticulations but on the
adamantine basis of pure mathematical calculations. By observation,
by deduction and most important of all, by induction, the astrologer
has actually found a correspondence between the movements of planets
and events in the life of each individual and this assertion can be
tested in a comparatively brief investigation by any intelligent
person.
Ancient Maharshis were
past masters in every branch of knowledge. Ethnology and erotic
science were for the first time promulgated in the world by the
savants of India. Messmer, Swedenburgh, Havelock, Darwin, Leslie
Stephen and Spencer have but caught the glimpses of the heights of
knowledge attained by Patanjali, Shankara, Vatsayana and Siddhas.
The Rishis had solved all problems of life which modern science with
the help of its limited knowledge has been endeavouring to solve.
The ancient Maharshis had a great advantage over our present day
scientists. They observed thus :- Darpanay Mithyavadaha meaning that
objects observed through glasses (telescope, etc) reveal phenomena
which they do not really represent; the latter have to depend for
their observations on mechanical contrivances. The ancients
possessed a much more accurate, dependable and comprehensive
instrument with which to observe natural phenomena – their ability
to function in what might be called, to use a modern scientific
term, a fourth dimensional consciousness – Yoga “which enabled them
to note, to measure, to weigh, and to classify all the facts
concerning the universe without the aid of micrometers and
telescopes. This super consciousness made them aware of and able to
comprehend, on the one hand, infinitesimal units of Time and Space
too small to be measured by the most modern scientific instruments;
and on the other hand, vast spans of years and universes – spans of
years guessed at only by modern geologists in search for the age of
the Earth – universes too remote to be found even by the largest
telescope”. The ancient Maharshis were never content to merely
observe and catalogue facts; but unlike the present day astronomers
they applied this knowledge to the material and above all to the
spiritual welfare of man.
In the Hindu philosophical system in which
astrology has its roots, the short span of life whose problems seem
beyond our ability to solve, is but a small section of our destiny
and the chief value of astrology lies in its use in determining the
relationship which this life bears to the whole. The modern theory
of evolution deals only with the past and fails to formulate any law
for the future. It is essentially materialistic and has got
absolutely nothing to say of the spirit which governs that matter
and shares its future course and destiny through the series of
progressive expansions or unfolding. Man’s existence here, says one
of the disciples of Kapila, the first evolutionist in the world, is
a mere repetition and reproduction of his other previous existences.
His present existence is but a link in the chain of eternal
existences connecting the past with the future. In his each birth,
he carries one step forward the inceptive purpose of his creation to
its goal and consummation, until he attains the one in which the
past, present and future are blended together and Time and Space are
annihilated. Whether the stars actually affect human lives or they
afford merely an index of events that happen as a result of forces
to which stars and men are equally subject, it cannot be denied that
astrology has a place amongst the exact sciences.
The entire fabric of
astrology rests on the broad principle of evolution in Time. There
is a rule in nature and every object – mineral, vegetable and animal
– must pass under this rule through all its stages. A scientific
investigation of Time gives us a clue to attempt future predictions.
With Time as a function when the results deduced by a series of
astronomical observations are applied, our expectation is answered.
Every cause must produce an effect. This effect in turn brings forth
another effect and this is borne out by experience. The Hindu
astrologer believes that man’s actions in this world have a long tie
with his moral principles. To him this cult seemed to conform with
perfect logic. Then the vision of the transmigration of the soul and
the results of his past life repeated in the present floated before
him. Naturally he went on reflecting what those results were and how
far they affected, deterred, and facilitated his present life. Being
guided by a series of observations and intuition he discovered that
certain mathematical co-ordinates gave satisfactory answers to his
queries re.divining of future events. Stars and planets are but
manifestations of matter in space and they can be located if we know
the Time. Astrology is the science which records the influence of
planets on the terrestrial phenomena. In a book intended for
beginners, I cannot make the introduction more exhaustive. I would
refer my readers to An Introduction to the study of Astrology by
Prof.
B. Suryanarain Rao, and to my own latest book Astrology and Modern
Thought which deal with the rationale of this subject in a more
exhaustive manner.
The
influences of planets on man can be conveniently classified under
three headings, viz., physical environments, mental peculiarities
and spiritual aspirations.
Huge
dark spots, some of them many times larger than the Earth, appear on
the Sun and a relationship is traced between the movements of Guru
or Jupiter and convulsions of magnetic spots in the Sun, In Japan,
for instance, they have now discovered that the frequency of
occurrence of these spots coincides with the frequency of these
eruptions. The maxima and minima of earthquakes are found to
synchronise with certain relative positions of Jupiter and Saturn.
Incidentally this eleven or twelve-year period of maximum solar
activity automatically registers itself in the annular rings of
trees, etc., and if you examine a felled tree, by counting the
number of these rings which are the high water-marks of the rise of
the sap each year, you can not only determine the age of the tree,
but more important still, you can distinguish quite clearly the
extra thickness of the cell-walls which occurs every eleventh or so
year, indicating a year of maximum activity of the Sun's
prominences. Incidentally this coincides with Jupiter's period and
may be indirectly due to Jupiter's reaction on the Sun. Cohesion,
adhesion, gravitation and chemical combination are universal forces.
It would be unreasonable to suppose that they continuously work and
yet produce no influences. An atom is the smallest conceivable
particle of an element and consists of a central nucleus-the
proton-surrounded by the electrons revolving round it in prescribed
routes or orbits. In fact, we find that within an atom the entire
solar system is repeated or reflected. Man is a compound of millions
of such atoms and consequently cannot remain unaffected by changes
in the solar system.
As
Prof. B. Suryanarain Rao says, “careful examination reveals that men
are continuously subjected to the influences of planetary rays.
Physical conditions are nothing but the action and reaction of the
solar and planetary rays upon each other and upon the objective
phenomena of the earth. The integration and disintegration of rocks,
the influences of atmosphere, the influences of day and night and
the composition and decomposition of objects - all these are due to
the solar influences.”
Rains
are due to the Sun and that the rains affect our crops, our health
and our financial affairs cannot be
denied.
All
these phenomena are beautifully described in Bhoutikasutras. Sound
is the lowest form of energy. Next comes heat, then light,
magnetism, electricity and ether. A higher form of energy can be
1ransformed into a lower form of energy and vice versa. All these
energies are directly derived from the solar globe. Forces are
energies that are embedded in the womb of Time for purposes of
creation, protection and destruction. That is why the Sanskrit
scientists say that all the energies for calling into existence,
keeping it alive and destroying the phenomenon are embedded in the
Sun. We are influenced every second by these forces which undergo
modification in their angular positions and consequently in
producing results also.
The
Sun is 92 millions of miles away from us. His apparent diameter is
850,000 miles. And every year the Earth receives for its sustenance
2,000th millionth part of the total quantity that the Sun is
radiating into space 1/200,000,000. The number of human beings is
2,000 millions. Thus each man wants 1/4,000,000,000,000,000th part
of the solar energy for his
sustenance.
This
infinitesimally small quantity of solar energy can call into
existence the terrestrial phenomenon and destroy it. According to
Suryasiddhanta, Saturn is the most distant planet from the Earth and
the Moon the nearest. Sun is the soul of the
universe.
No
manifestation of energy can occur without the Sun's light and heat.
Climate is greatly affected by the planets and climate determines
the character of the vegetable and animal population of a country.
The phenomena of life are entirely due to the
Sun.
Man is influenced by his
circumstances-monetary, social or climatic. One exposed to midday
Sun feels fatigued and one sitting under the evening Sun feels
refreshed. The solar ray will be undergoing immense modifications
every second and consequently the influences also will be varying.
Solar rays fall on the skin and affect the sense of touch. They
illuminate and affect the sense of vision. They tan the skin though
the effect is not cognisable by any sense. Man drinks water and is
affected by it. Climatic conditions influence him. Minerals and
animals affect him. And all these are governed by the Sun. Negros
have thick lips, curled hair and grotesque forms. Pyetagonians are
tan. In Central Africa there are dwarfs. The females of the
Negritese race, have got the narrowest pelvis and this fact accounts
for so many still- births among them. A spacious pelvis presages
giving birth to healthy children. All these differences are due to
the adjustment of solar energies in a particular form.
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