Ram says: "Like every one else, I too am a traveller adrift in this journey of life, in the quest for the Truth. Circumstantially, I am a graduate in Mathematics and worked as a computer analyst programmer for 15 years before giving up all commercial activities to take up full time astrological research, which I have been doing for about a decade now." Click here to write to Ram.
Any opinion needs to have a basis upon which it is arrived at. Mine has been formed based on my work with astrology so far. It may not reflect the truth in its completeness. It may be quite far from it. I have argued with myself on the seeming impossibility of linking many natural and social phenomena to astrological influences.
Today, with my limited knowledge of astrology, given a chart, I cannot identify whether it represents a human, animal, or some other entity. But Vedic astrology texts do give rules on how to determine whether a horoscope is that of human, a quadruped, a winged biped, an aquatic, a tree, etc. and also its gender. I have not tried out these rules myself and so cannot comment more on it.
Why Is It So?
I have often wondered why persons born in the same place, on the same day and almost around the same time, do not have similar life histories. In a city of the size in which I live, there should be at least a hundred births a day, averaging about four per hour. And those born within an hour should have almost exactly similar charts. Now I realise that it is only 'almost'. The main chart may look similar. But going down the divisional charts, sixteen of them prescribed with the last considering a span of 12' of arc, there are very wide variations, resulting in the four individuals having entirely different lives.
Then there are these catastrophic happenings where many people lose their lives as in earthquakes, floods, air-crashes, wars. How would one explain them astrologically? There are two aspects to this. One relates to that branch of astrology that deals with the effects of spaces, depending on their size shape and boundaries, on life within it. The other relates to planetary combinations given in the texts, the Sanskrit name roughly translates to English as 'Collective Death Syndrome', which if existing in a horoscope indicates death in earthquakes, explosions, air-crash, sinking of ships, etc.
Diseases abound. Some are eradicated. New ones make appearances. They strike people at different times and at random for no apparent reason. According to Vedic astrological texts, it is possible to precisely compute the sizes of the various limbs and other parts of the body, compute exactly in which stage of life any of them is going to be effected by an accident or disease and to say whether such an effect will prove fatal or not.
Whatever I have referred to so far from Vedic astrological texts perhaps amounts to just hearsay. As I have not worked on these ideas on a large number of horoscopes, I cannot, and maybe should not, comment on their effectiveness or otherwise. Also, it would be wrong on my part to say that something does not exist just because I do not know about it. However what makes me believe, and hence my opinion, that all this could be feasible, is my work on certain selected events of life.
One such is the birth of child. A person's horoscope certainly seems to reflect almost the precise date of birth of a child and its gender and also the number of children. My horoscope database has about one thousand five hundred charts now, and definite patterns are discernible. Of course, I presently deal with only 'normal' horoscopes: where children are born within wedlock, or even if born outside it, the parentage is known. If astrology were to be a complete science, it should take into its fold all the so-called abnormalities as well. I can make an observation on this only when I have a sizeable set of such 'abnormal' horoscopes too.
Today I say that the occurrence of certain events IS marked in the chart within a reasonable span of time. I would go further and cautiously assert that the day of the event too IS marked. I would go still further, hide behind a curtain and inaudibly squeak that the time of of the event too IS marked! I base this opinion on the work that I have done so far with timing genealogical events over about a thousand charts. The endeavour is an attempt to prove the possibility of the supremacy of destiny, using valid research methods... not merely select cases that demonstrate one's theory. I am doing this not as a challenge to prove someone wrong. I do this to understand existence and will be entirely happy to stand corrected if my work proves my opinion wrong. I stand to gain either way, for the journey – whatever its outcome – leads to the Truth. There is no victory or defeat in this journey – only Bliss!
An Event and its Quality are Interlinked Astrologically
I believe that an event and its quality are interlinked astrologically. And it is possible to compute the time of occurrence of an event and the quality of the entity of which it marks the beginning, as well. Take for instance marriage. Vedic Astrology makes use of planetary operating periods to time events. The qualities of the individual planets in a native's chart that combine to give a specific event determine the quality of the time that the native would live through, with reference to that event. A marriage marks the beginning of a capsule of experiences measured in time: marital life.
All of us, at least most of us, agree to the general reflection that we certainly are not in control of our lives to the degree that we would like to be and that life 'happens'. My argument with myself has been that, if the planetary and stellar movements set definite directions and contours, then why can't they define specific events too. And if specific events can be predicted, then it should be possible to do so mathematically, as a function of the planetary movements. If however, specific events are dependent upon free will, within the broad contours specified by astrological considerations, then where do we draw the line and say: up to here are the astrological effects and from here on is the domain of free will?
One drawback with astrological research work based on charts and events that have already occurred is that one can give a thousand astrological explanations for an event that has happened, but find it difficult to predict another event in the future with similar characteristics given apparently similar planetary combinations in another chart. The veracity of the supposedly standard procedures that I strive to develop will be proved only if they consistently apply on a substantial set of horoscopes to compute the occurrence in the future too, and not merely verify the occurrence of events in the charts that have been used to develop these procedures.
I would look at the contention that if we are in control of our lives then it should be possible to avoid pitfalls, from a different perspective. If we are to avoid pitfalls, we should possess the ability and power to alter our environment. I believe that this is not possible because we are a product of the environment and not independent of it.
I Am You
Even assuming that this were to be possible, the moment I am able to do this I would have unconsciously allowed pride and ego to take charge of me. The day this happens, I know I will be dead spiritually. It would be the end of my process of learning. And I do not want to die that way. I want to die in the full knowledge and realisation, and in absolute humility, that I have existed always and will continue to do so into eternity, that I have seen the universe take birth and seen it die and be reborn again, that I am the tiniest of atomic particle and the largest of galaxies, that I AM YOU, that I AM DESTINY.
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