VNN Editorial - Western Astrologer, Western Vaishnav

[Guest guest]

© 2002 VNN

EDITORIALDecember 10, 2002 VNN7670 Western Astrologer, Western VaishnavBY

DEAN DOMINIC DELUCIA/DHARMAPADEDITORIAL, Dec 10 (VNN) — The tenth canto of the

Bhagavat Purana describes the role of the ancient astrologer/ancient Vaishnav

in the narration of the meeting of Nanda and Vasudev, the father and adopted

father of Shree Krishna, thusly:Although Krsna was the real son of Vasudeva and

Devaki, because of Kamsa's atrocious activities Vasudeva could not enjoy the

birth ceremony of his son. But Nanda Maharaja, the foster father, celebrated

the birth ceremony of Krsna very joyfully. The next day, it was declared that a

male child was born of Yasoda. According to Vedic custom, Nanda Maharaja called

for learned astrologers and brahmanas to perform the birth ceremony. After the

birth of a child, the astrologers calculate the moment of the birth and make a

horoscope of the child's future life. Another ceremony takes place after the

birth of the child: the family members take baths, cleanse themselves and

decorate themselves with ornaments and garlands; then they come before the

child and the astrologer to hear of the future life of the child. Nanda

Maharaja and other members of the family dressed and sat down in front of the

birthplace. All the brahmanas who were assembled there on this occasion chanted

auspicious mantras, according to the rituals, while the astrologers performed

the birth ceremony. All the demigods are also worshiped on this occasion, as

well as the forefathers of the family. Nanda Maharaja distributed 200,000 well

decorated, dressed and ornamented cows to the brahmanas. He not only gave cows

in charity, but hills of grains, decorated with golden-bordered garments and

many ornaments. ( Krishna Book, Chapter Five )The traditional task of the

astrologer is to define the karmic parameters of the individual's life as they

will manifest in terms of time, and to advise on the exercise of the limited

free will within those parameters. But what is the role and purpose of

astrology for the modern, Western practioner as well as for the modern,Western

public? The traditional function is still intact in that the purpose is still

to define the karmic parameters of the individual's life in terms of time, and

to advise. But the modern context of the Western world provides additional

advantages and disadvantages.But in modern times, Vedic astrology provides

favorable exposure to those outside the ambit of Vedic culture and vaishnavism,

and can perform yeoman service from the threshold of Vedic dharma. One who

introduces another to spiritual life and orients along the dharmic path becomes

very dear to Shree Krishna. In the eighteenth chapter of Gita, He tells us:There

is no servant in this world more dear to me than he, nor will there ever be one

more dear. A profession which involves introducing and orienting peoople

towards the Vedic version of things is a very nice profession indeed! In fact,

such a profession is definitely missing in the lives of Western devotees of

Krishna. Simply put, there is very little in the way of professions which allow

devotees of Krishna, and followers of Vedic dharma in general, to express

themselves. For example, it is extremely difficult to make an living at

priestly activities such as temple worship. In most temples of the greater Hare

Krishna movement, pujaris are only given a place to stay and some maintenence

for their families, if that. Even brahmin priests have to take responsibility

for their families, and pujari work in Western temples does not allow them to

do that. In India, private ownership of temples is permitted, such that temples

which are nicely organized, and where the worship goes on nicely, attract

devotees who offer donations. These donations support not only the diety

worship, but the family expenses of the priest, too- temple worship becomes the

family business. But this concept is not acceptable in Western society where all

churches either belong to some kind of hierarchical structure, such as the

Catholic Church, or to the actual members of the congregation, as in most

Protestant churches. Private ownership of temples, which provides a living to

the priest's family, is out of the question in the West. Nor is it possible to

make a living teaching Sanskrit. There are a few university positions

available, but most of them are filled by Hindus from India whose native

language is one of the dialects of Sanskrit which use the Devanagari script-

Hindi or Bengali or Gujarati, ect. They are naturally qualified. There are such

few possibilities of making a living through teaching Sanskrit, though, that we

will not even consider the possibility any further.Musicians who play Indian

music, such as the tablas or Sarod of North India or the mridangas and sitars

of the South Indian ragas, also have a difficult time making a living from

their trade in the West. There is simply very little market for these skills.

Not all devotees of Krishna are adept at book sales, and begging on the plea of

selling a few sticks of incense, or hiding one's true identity with the purpose

of selling stickers at sporting events are not socially acceptable professions,

either. Most Western followers of Vedic dharma practice their lifestyle only

over the weekends, or in bits at a time in the early mornings or evenings.

During the day, they lead very non-Vedic, non-devotee lives at work, rendering

service to companies with some mundane or materialistic purpose. Even

transplanted, caste brahmins from India fall into this pattern and become

descendents of brahmins, not brahmins anymore- brahma bandhus. Brahmins cannot

become obliged to anyone and, therefore, cannot offer service to others such

that they become dependent on remuneration. We don't want to fool ourselves, we

are what we do. The consciousness that we develop is a culmination of that to

which we expose ourselves in life. Nobody can dedicate their working lives to

materialistic endeavors -Shrama eva hi kevalam- and then say but I am really

something else, It may be all right to work some mundane job as a stop-gap

measure, but over the long run, working everyday in materialistic environments

flows against one's spiritual life. It is similar to trying to ignite some

firewood everyday, then dousing it with water, then trying to dry it out and

ignite it again. It is actually possible to do, but it takes extra time and

endeavor. It is in this context thatVedic astrology shines. It actually

provides a straight-forward, genuine, brahminical profession from which the

devotee can give advise in terms of time, karma, reincarnation and philosophy.

Advise-giving is the prescribed type of profession for a brahmin, and the

brahminical platform is a good platform from which to cultivate Krishna

sambhandha, Krishna consciousness. As such, astrology is the perfect profession

for the devotee, one which will support and reinforce his or her persuit of

dharma. Of course, there are a few obstacles for any aspiring

brahmin-astrologer.To begin with, it truly is a brahminical science handed own

by the celestial beings ( demigods ) who first engendered human presence on the

Earth. The brahmins were a very philosophical community. For example, lamenting

was against their principles, and they were extremely honest. The current

population on the face of our planet, though, is not so prepared to receive

brahminical arts or sciences. ( kalau shudra sambhava ), and the typical client

which a Vedic astrologer encounters has experienced some kind of mental and

emotional collapse, and is experiencing difficulty in some way. The person is

not going to be above lamentation or melancholy, and is going to want to hear

that life will be improving, or that there will be a chance for things to

improve in the near future. Imagine a middle-aged, ex housewife who has just

been substituted for a twenty-year old, gold-digging, home wreaker. Imagine if

the astrologer were to correctly interpret her karma, telling her that Yes,

your favorable, Venusian karma has been exhausted, and from now on you will be

single, enjoy low status and experience financial difficulty. The person would

probably not be able to bear the truth if it means that the negative,

currently-manifesting karma is not going to improve anytime soon.This has given

rise to a whole breed of astrologers who take advantage and interpret in an

open-ended way. They will typically say that there are some planets in favor,

some against, such that various results are possible, depending on the

planetary karma that the person develops. Some even peddle astrological jewelry

in an unscrupulous way, telling that this jewel or that one will alliviate one's

karma reactions. This type of fortune telling doesn't actually come out and

predict and define the future, but this type of client doesn't really want to

hear about the absolute nature of time, anyway ( See the VNN article Time- Days

of the Future Past?). We are exaggerating a little in order to make a point, but

the basic idea stands. It is difficult for an astrologer who adopts an honest

and objective mode of interpretation to build up a successful, private practice

in the middle of such confusion of the Kali Yuga. Still, there are sufficient

opportunities for accurate, objective predictors. One can start building up a

practice by interpreting the charts of friends, even for free, in order to

acquire experience. Word of mouth and exposure through astrological journals

can help one to make further progress, and an aspirant astrologer can build

from that point onwards. Astrology provides a unique occupation for devotees,

followers of dharma, and especially their children. And yes, it is important to

start early because one has to dedicate some time to astrology in order to

assimilate a very complex system, and to acquire the experience necessary to

interpret. One doesn't interpret so much from book knowledge, one largely

interprets from practice and experience- janam and vijanam.For all of these

reasons, the author invites the readers of VNN to join us on the

discussion list where all aspects of parampara, Vedic astrology are on

topic!:

/?yguid=40489357Contact VNN about this

storySend this story to a friend

How useful is the information in this article? Not Somewhat Very -

Read This Story In... French German Italian Portuguese Spanish This story

URL: http://www.vnn.org/editorials/ET0212/ET10-7670.html

Love And Affection

Harrison 'Gave Life To Go...

NEWS DESK | EDITORIALS | TOP Surf the Web on

Attachment: (image/gif) corner.gif [not stored]

Attachment: (image/gif) top.gif [not stored]

Attachment: (image/gif) editorials.gif [not stored]

Attachment: (image/gif) VNNsm.gif [not stored]

Attachment: (image/gif) wline.gif [not stored]

Attachment: (image/gif) bbox.gif [not stored]

Attachment: (image/gif) nextstory.gif [not stored]

Attachment: (image/gif) jnanibansm.gif [not stored]