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What is Vedic Astrology all about?
Vedic Astrology (VA) is a spiritually profound & quantitative
system of predictive-knowledge governing both the ‘timing of occurrence’ as well
as the ‘intensity’ of all the significantly happy, as well as the significantly
tragic events of our human life. Such ‘Significant Life - Events’
in this discipline are understood to arise, in accordance with cosmic laws which
govern the changing patterns of our ‘destiny’. Using the mathematical model of astronomy,
involving the movement of the nine planets; VA portrays what ‘destiny’ is in store
for us in the womb of time. And whenever such a ‘destiny’ threatens to take the malefic-form
of a ‘conspiracy or obstruction’ leading to suffering at certain times in our life;
it lays down individual-specific Spiritual Remedial Measures for modifying
& overcoming the same.
Put differently, it may be taken to be ‘Kaala Vidya’, or a system of Vedic-knowledge
on the nature of ‘Time’, in so far as its benefic & malefic impact on our ‘destiny’
is concerned. Alternatively, it may also be considered to be ‘Jyotir Vidya’,
the composite-name for astronomy & astrology in that ancient Vedic-civilization.
Here we should not miss out on the etymological meaning of Jyotir Vidya:
It is a spiritual system of knowledge, which enables us ‘to See or illuminate’,
- that which we are looking at in the field of our destiny or life. For this very
reason, the Vedic Rishis (Sages) had defined Jyotir Vidya as ‘The eye of wisdom’.
Does our High-Tech Modern World need the Wisdom of the Ancient Vedic Sages?
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“When psychologists have investigated precisely what we resolve,
it appears we are terribly self-centered, primarily preoccupied with our health
and looks.”
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- Dr. Raj Persaud [1]
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(Ref 1, Pg 56, while talking about ‘the kind of resolutions’we moderns make).
It is inherently difficult for people of one civilization to be able to swing into
the perceptions of people of another, especially when the two civilizations are
poles apart, as in the present circumstances in which we find ourselves. As moderns,who
have a strong sense of pride in our marvellous scientific & technological achievements,
as also a concomitant feeling of ‘self-sufficiency’ arising there from; the basic
question of whether we really need all this wisdom of the Vedic Sages for
bringing light into our supposedly ‘disconsolate’ lives, must certainly have troubled
our conscience at some time or the other. It is therefore natural for us to address
ourselves first of all to this touchy question - which seems to remain ever in the
background.
As our world-wide modern civilization has addressed itself primarily only to the
challenge of bringing happiness & fulfilment to man’s physical and mental appetites;
and falls silent - whenever it has to either to grapple with our sufferings &
misfortunes or lead us to Divinity & peace in our inner-life - we may
safely conclude that it has really nothing much to offer in these subtler spheres
of life. We must realize in the first instance that it has not been ‘designed’ to
deal in a purposeful way with either our spiritual appetites or with the deeper
philosophical questions of our human existence - concerning the nature of ‘Divinity’,
death & the ending of our physical & psychological suffering.
By the time we come to recognize its spiritual inadequacy & bankruptcy, half
of our life is actually over and done with. It is at this stage that we may ‘wake-up’
to become serious seekers and start looking for various means to bring about inner
peace and contentment - since this has been the one thing, which has been constantly
elusive in our lives - in spite of the apparent fulfilment of our physical &
mental appetites!
Having arrived at this impasse, if we would have knocked on the doors of Vedic
astrology of India; then, it is at this point that the wisdom of the ancient Vedic
Sages, would have begun to reveal itself to us - in the form of the Remedial Measures.
Not that Vedic astrology is the only source of wisdom and blessings from
the ancients. Everyone should have heard of Yoga & Ayurveda; in addition
to a whole host of other ancient-therapies & remedies - both Eastern as well
as Western - for bringing fulfilment for the deeper yearnings of man’s soul. In
the light of this self-critical introspection into our modern civilization, we will
now turn to our real objective.
The Modern World-View vis-à-vis the Ancients’:
Our contemporary world-wide modern civilization, which has essentially come to be
set in a Western technological and secular mould - in contrast to the ancient civilizations-
is anything but spiritual, as it is avowedly not ‘God-centered’ at all, in so far
as its comprehensive vision of life is concerned. In fact, rather than being ‘God-centered’,
it is either purely centered on the pursuit of technological-knowledge, leading
eventually to wealth & professional success (all for the glorification &
fulfilment of an ephemeral ego); or worse still; it is often centered entirely only
on the pursuit of pleasures & comforts, to the exclusion of every other higher
humanitarian and spiritual value in life. In such a modern world-view then; the
spiritual realities of the soul, God & the unity of all life are more or less
reckoned to be uncalled for ‘hindrances’, in the way of our headlong pursuit of
individual success & the sensory gratifications in life.It is this radical divergence
of our world-view from that of the ancients, which puts us at a definite disadvantage;
when it comes to our grasping the significance and utility of Vedic astrology, within
the context of our dramatic, but troubled lives.
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