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Friday, February 25, 2011

Jathaka dosham



Lately one of my friends had to give up a good relationship she had, just because her 'jathakam' did not match. Moreover, the 'jyothishan' said that she had 'chovva dosham' and that she cant find matches easily. Both the families did not want to take risks by ignoring the words of the 'scholar'. So they decided to part.!!! Now she is in trouble to find another guy with a similar 'chovva dosham' as her perfect match.! Till now she has not found him.

I write this for the numerous, similar dreams and aspirations ruined by this stupidity called 'astrology'!! 

Astrology is a so called 'science' which claims that the relative positions of celestial bodies and stars in the universe have an effect on peoples lives and what happens to them!  It relies on mathematical calculations to find out the positions of the planets and stars, and predict fore coming events/ dangers, and warn us against them. It is practiced in different parts of the world in different forms, and various names. Although most of them are similar in principle, the one which is familiar to us - the Hindu astrology / Vedic astrology / Indian astrology.

According to it, everyone has a 'jathakam' which is in accordance with the  date and time of his/her birth. It is 'recorded' according to the relative position of the planets and stars at that particular time. This particular record determines the 'fate' of the particular person. If 'chovva' is in a particular 'bad' position at the time of birth, he/she is said to have chovva dosham', which makes him/her vulnerable to dangerous consequences in her future life , especially in matters of marriage. Whenever the 'shani' is in particular 'relative positions', the person will have bad times called the 'shani dasha'!! .. The jathakam is used to calculate good times and bad times, and can guide us to decide when to do important events in your life like marriage, building a house, buying a car, starting a business… etc. Most people go to the astrologer when they have bad times. The astrologer uses your jathakam and does his 'calculations' and he gives his 'verdict' - he may say that you have bad times now, or may be your jathakam does not allow you to do what you are doing, or may be you should wait till a particular date, or may be you should do something else as a 'remedy' like a pooja, or a visit to at a particular temple(s)....so and so.

I cant say whether astrology itself has any relation to God, but it can be noted that they originated in the vedic ages and is closely related to the cultural practices in the Indian subcontinent at that time. Naturally, it is related to the Hindu religion and the gods and no wonder why the other religions do not practice astrology as much as the Hindus do. Astrologers often relate bad times to God's dissatisfaction in our deeds, and often prescribe remedies such as visit to temples, poojas etc.

The most common use of astrology we see today is in matters of marriage. The 'jathakam' of the girl and the boy is compared to see if they match. Accordingly matches can be excellent, good, satisfactory or poor, and sometimes dangerous. And when matches are obtained, astrology further calculates most appropriate date and time of marriage. It is funny how sometimes astrologers say things like 'Now or never',  some girls do not have 'mangalyayogam', 'santhanabhagyam'..and so on.

Before examining whether astrology holds anything true, we need to know how ASTRONOMY is different from ASTROLOGY. Astronomy is an accepted science of the extraterrestrial space, which includes planets, stars, galaxies, comets. their orbits and paths. Astronomy, unlike astrology does not claim that the celestial bodies have any influence on earthly matters. It is however known that in the ancient times, there was used to be difference between the two. It was only later when science progressed, and it was found that no consistent evidences could be observed on such an extra-terrestrial influence, that astronomy emerged as a separate science. In 2006 the U.S. National Science Board published a statement identifying astrology as "pseudoscientific".

In short, astrology shares principles of astronomy, but goes further, to tell things which has never had a scientific explanantion, and has never been proved. The 'thinking' and 'questioning' minds would thus always be skeptical about astrology, because they do not follow the normal mechanisms of nature. The only interactions that we can think of, that can exist between celestial bodies is 'gravity',  which was defined by Sir Isaac Newton, and also may be light and other radiations from stars, and reflected radiation from planets and similar bodies. But it makes no sense, to believe that light and gravitational forces can act upon earth and human beings to alter their behaviour, cause calamity, accidents or anything like the astrologers say.



Only the hindus continue to practice astrology here. Don’t they see that  all the christians and muslims do not expereince any problems by not practicing astrology? Don’t their families lead happy lives even without confirming their 'astrological matching'?!!Isn't it very obvious?

It is indeed the weakness of the human mind to believe in such nonsense. Everyone wants to be on the safe side. It just takes a little boldness to turn down rubbish like this. Try it, and you will find that it makes no difference at all. Difficulties are a part of life. They are not any result of any invisible forces acting upon you. Face them as they come. Only you can change your destiny. And maybe your fellow beings can help you at times. Only they can.

We are living in a world of advanced science and technology, which is still advancing. Scientists work hard in different parts of the world to make human life less miserable, as they have always been. Respect them. Right from the beginning, when man learned to make fire by rubbing stones together,  to this moment when he is working hard in his labs to find out the cure for all the deadly diseases, man has always been helping himself. Only man can help himself. It is ridiculous the way people are ready to get their veins injected with modern drugs 'designed' by scientists, and yet not have faith in them in 'certain' matters. Its high time to let go of all primitive superstitious beliefs. Forget about the current generations. Atleast let us not pass it on to future generations.. 



10 comments:

  1. good one.. actually i read a few astrology books recently..its 100% nonsense..what they have done is (largely) finding patterns in the order of stars and planets, assigning a character to each and then "predicting" their effects according to distance between them n from earth and from a pseudo calculation of the amount of reflected light falling on earth from each planet..

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  2. When you say, " God's dissatisfaction in our deeds " My dear friend i need you to know that the GOD or gods referred to, in this sentence, are the elements of universe within us and not the mythological characters. our body is made up of five elements (Pancha bhootha - earth, water, ether, sky and fire) which are not different from the universe but a part of it. And thus the concept is consistent with the rules of the universe.

    "extra-terrestrial influence" cannot be determined by the laws of physics alone. one needs to go within himself to explore the treasure of knowledge. referred to as 'swadhyaya' - study of self, in Vedas. Our ancient Rishis were the champions of this self knowledge who without the help of telescope or satellite accurately confirmed the solar system and the galalxy we are in known in vedic terms as Akash Ganga (Milky Way).

    The portion of Astrology that you are in conflict with, is called as 'Phala Jyotishya'. The effectiveness of these predictions depend on the ability of an astrologer to decipher the
    indications. This is a warning system and every prediction is accompanied with a solution. it is not a mandate to be followed. And as long as it is not being imposed on anyone i don't think you have a reason to abuse it.

    if a Vedic mind was not rational, Vedas would not have had branches like cosmology, Ayurveda, Astronomy, astrology, metallurgy, meta physics, mathematics, philosophy and arts. Always pushing the human urge for knowledge to the limits. encompassing all the aspects of life.

    Christianity and Islam are all about assurances from their respective prophets about an unseen god and unverified claims unlike Vedic system.

    And as u go ahead with your baseless accusations, your ignorance annoys me.We will have to meet up in a different forum to discuss various belief systems on earth and the authenticity of them.

    Your sincere critic
    Swamy.

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  3. @ swamy , first of all nice of u to take the trouble to put forth your view of the subject.

    1. About God
    Your definition of God 'in THIS sentence' is yet another distortion of the concept called God. I am aware how God takes different forms in different arguments, as I had mentioned in one of my earlier posts - 'No one truly believes… '. May be it is apart of his ability to take different forms at will. Or may be it’s a method of defence from attacks. Are you really sure that God is really the 'panchabhootha' itself and nothing else?? Then I wonder why people go to temples and what the idols in the temples really mean?
    It is obvious that it is not the ' Panchabhootha' that people worship. They beg to the invisible, all-knowing all-powerful deity called God to show mercy on them and shower them with his blessings..

    2. About panchabhootha
    Our body consists of Earth, water, fire, sky, ether?? I've heard that a lot. But I have never really understood what it really means. It sounds very poetic to me. But I talk reality. Water I can agree. But I don’t understand sky, fire etc.. Earth is a broad term. How about considering proteins as the structural material and DNA as informational molecules ?? All of them being organic molecules, which means they have a carbon skeleton, which can be obtained from various sources in nature…


    My knowledge on the Vedas is limited. So is my knowledge on black magic, numerology, and all such stuff. The Vedas are definitely respected as records of human knowledge, but the knowledge is limited what mankind knew centuries back. It is stupid to believe that human knowledge in the old ages is more superior than our current knowledge.

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    Replies
    1. @ The Rationalist,
      I Mostly agree with your points and I am a rationalist too. People do many stupid things as you have mentioned in the above comment, but that happens when people choose ignorance over Vedas. I slightly disagree with your last statement," It is stupid to believe that human knowledge in the old ages is more superior than our current knowledge". The superiority in knowledge i referred to was that of the Soul and its very nature, the secret of birth and death which is still a mystery to the modern science. I referred to study of the self, done through meditation. I claimed Vedic rishis were the champions of this self knowledge.

      Your elaboration on panchabhoota and the claim of current superior knowledge are certainly true in case of external physics. Modern day scientists have indeed ventured far into external space and deep into molecules to find the limits with their advanced machines. Whereas the so called primitive sages of ancient times went within and discovered the inner physics. They had the concept of 'ANU' and 'RENU' or atom and subatomic particles and an understanding of which gave them an idea of the external universe.

      As far as my experience goes i have just heard of these claims however what makes me beleive this might be true are the latest developments and facts discovered by psycho analaysts and prominent medical doctors of the west. One such example is a book that i recently read " many lives many masters " by Dr. Brian Weiss and " Many Mansions "by Gina Cerminara. I hope that this brings some clarity, adding to my views expressed above.

      Love and peace

      Delete
  4. Every time I hear those soothsayers talk about relative position at the time of your birth and stuff, I always wonder if those guys have taken the distance into consideration? For example the sunlight takes about 8.3 minutes to reach earth, so everything we notice of the sun being here is in the past tense! And these guys are talking about the exact time of birth and the relative position of planets! And what if a comet hits Pluto tomorrow and if fails to exist? Lol. Its totally ridiculous! Nice post buddy!

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  5. Your blog posts are striking in their discursive nature. But with reference to astrology as a purely hindu phenomenon, what explains the magi/the star/the wise men? And was not astrology present in medieval Islam?

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  6. "Astrology is the name of a stupid daughter born to an intelligent mother called Astronomy."
    What I understand is, astrology was a way of income for old astronomists. Looking as sky during nights and analyzing the data during daytime cannot fill anybody's belly na? So they simply set the people up by spreading a false belief

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