Dr. Raj Shree Dhar
All welfare and adversity that come to man and other creatures come through the Seven and the Twelve. Twelve sign of Zodiac are the twelve commanders on the side of light; and the seven planets are said to be seven commanders on the side of darkness. And the seven planets oppress all creation and deliver it over to death and all manners of evil: as the twelve signs of the Zodiac and the seven planets rule the fate of the world. … The late Zoroastrian book, the Menok I Xrat.
Why did people all over the world make such an effort to learn astronomy? We human beings cannot through our natural consciousness and intelligence know anything of God, the Creator’s hidden secrets. The divinity and regularity of the movements of the sun, moon, planets, and stars were taken by many ancients as evidences that these celestial bodies influence various kinds of changes on earth and dictate events on earth so that we can make predictions about events on earth.
In the ancient times, astrologers were held to be in great esteem by the people. There was no difference between astronomers and astrologers. In fact, Astronomy and Astrology were not considered to be two different subjects. Many will be surprised to know that most of the renowned scientists of the past, including Sir Isaac Newton, were astrologers too. In ancient India , Astrology was known as “Jyotish Shastra” which included predictive Astrology as well as what we know as Astronomy.
Astronomy is a science- the study of the universe as it is. Astrology gives the objective form to man’s desire for the knowledge of his future. Astrology has shown that fore knowledge of things is possible. The sun and the stars controlled the season, food, warmth etc. Everything in the sky has some real effect on the human life.
The knowledge of mathematics is an essential part in astronomy as well as astrology in studying quadrants, degrees, angles, elliptical and spherical rotations etc. Buying a magazine on astrology at a newsstand is easy but it is harder to find it on astronomy. The development of astrology is practised by placing the twelve constellations as rulers over the members of man’s body and soul and predicts the dispositions of men by the course of stars. Personal astrology is based on the investigations of the planetary positions at the time of birth, i.e. when man comes out of the womb and takes its first breath from the atmosphere, profoundly influences his future. Astrology contends that which constellation the planets are in at the moment of birth and that influences one’s future.
Thus astrology has both narrow and broad meanings. In a narrow sense, it has to do with predicting character, fate and events on the basis of signs and houses, and planetary aspects. In a broader sense, it is study and knowledge of influences of the celestial objects in human affairs. This might include gravitational influences of the moon on earth e.g. we can predict tides. Astrology is developed by a strange combination of observations, mathematics and careful record keeping with fuzzy thinking. Astronomy encouraged observation and Mathematics.
One motive for wanting to predict the future is the removal of anxiety, temporary though it may be, but it can be very consoling to know in advance what an outcome will be. There was Nostradamus (1503 – 1566) who has played an extraordinary role in people’s attempts to know the future. He told his son that God had revealed future events to him by means of astrology and astronomy and the perfect knowledge of such things cannot be acquired without divine inspiration, given that all prophetic inspiration derives its initial origin from God Almighty, then from chance and nature.
Modern popular astrology runs directly back to Ptolemy. A typical excerpt from Ptolemy’s astrological book ‘the Tetrabiblos’, reads: Saturn makes his subjects in appearance dark skinned, black haired having an excess of the moist. Most of his philosophy rests upon the belief that planetary influences derive from the planets relationship with the Sun ( the source of heat and light) and the Earth ( the source of moisture). In this way the moon is regarded as a cool and moist planet because it lacks the warmth of the Sun and lies in the proximity of the earth. Saturn is cold and dry because it is farthest from the warmth of the sun and again from the moisture of the earth. Warmth and moisture promote health and vitality and hence Saturn becomes the principal agent of destruction and death.
But if the planets can determine the destinies of nation, how could they avoid influencing what will happen to you tomorrow. Astrology has been rejected by the scientific community as having no explanatory power for describing the universe. Astrophysicist Neil Tyson commented on astrological belief, that those who continue to have faith in astrology have been characterized as doing so “in spite of the fact that there is no verified scientific basis for their beliefs. Without any proof of that knowledge, without that capacity to think, you can easily become a victim of people who seek to take advantage of you”.
The mathematics of Kepler was awakened in him by the cosmos. His pictures and geometric diagrams were the projections of the correspondences between geometrical relations and images in his mind. Kepler took geometry to be fundamental to God’s creations and God’s geometrical relationships to be the basic feature of the cosmos which can be acquired in us by our sensory contacts with the world around us. He wrote: “God provides for every animal his means of sustenance as for the Astronomer, He has provided Astrology.”
Astrology has been criticized for failing to provide a physical mechanism that links the movements of celestial bodies to their purported effects on human behaviour. In a lecture in 2001, Stephen Hawking stated “The reason most scientists don’t believe in astrology is because it is not consistent with our theories that have been tested by experiment.” One cannot dismiss Astrology with a contemptuous gesture by calling it a superstition. Astrology is based upon scientific data for the horoscope is the picture of the heavens, and in studying horoscopes, we arrive at certain inferences that must be true and then comes the predictive astrology. Prediction implies an analysis of various combinations in the horoscope and a synthesis on the basis of analysed evidence is to be made. It is therefore, no child’s play to weigh and balance the relative strength of each factor and then form a reasonable judgement of whole. According to Satyacharya, the astrologer must be well versed in weighing the pros and cons of the horoscope. He must have the creative or inferential abilityto interpret horoscopes and above all must have spiritual equipment.
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