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Does astrology really work?

Astrology's Big Drawback!

How to use astrology in real-life?

Why should astrology work at all?

Gross misuse of astrology....

Introduction to Astrology

 

 

What is Vedic Astrology?

 

Astrology is a study of the correlations between planetary movements and

world events, including the fortunes (or misfortunes) of human beings,

institutions and nations. Ancient Hindus had a system of astrology,

which is called Indian/Hindu Astrology. In USA, it is often referred to

as " Vedic Astrology " , as " Hindu " is a religion's name and " Indian " is a

confusing word in USA. Some of these rules were expounded in " vedas " ,

the sacred scriptures of Hindu religion, and " vedic " means " belonging to

vedas " .

The main idea of astrology is: the planetary position at one's birthtime

more or less determines the pattern of one's life.

What is Vedic Astrology?

 

Does astrology really work?

 

In my personal experience, I have seen several astonishing examples of

the accuracy of astrology, when the principles are applied carefully.

Some astrological predictions prejudice the person concerned or give him

extra mental strength and that becomes a crucial factor in the

prediction coming true. In other words, sometimes astrologer ends up

playing a critical role in an astrological prediction/indication coming

true. This kind of cases can hardly be used to support astrology's

cause.

However, there are cases too, when astrologer has absolutely no role to

play in a prediction coming true. For example, I predicted Indian

cricketer Sachin Tendulkar's performances for Oct 1995-Mar 1996 with a

100% accuracy on USENET. Before India's cricket series in England in the

summer of 1996, I predicted on USENET that Sachin Tendulkar would do

well on the third day of the first test and he hit a century on that

day!

You may dismiss these predictions as hit-or-miss random guesses that

happened to come true. That's a valid point of view. After all, the

probability of Sachin Tendulkar making a test century on a given day is

probably of the order of 1/15 (assuming he makes a century once in 3

matches). This probability is not low enough to make to my prediction an

" amazing " one. It might've come true " by chance "

But there were several cases in which the non-astrological probability

of my prediction, which eventually came true, was of the order of

0.0001-0.001!!

If, by looking at someone's chart, I figure out that he had serious

digestive troubles during a month, what's the probability of it coming

true if it were a random guess? Assuming that 10% people experience

serious digestive troubles in life and that serious trouble comes to

those for one month in a span of 3 years, this probability is

1/(3*12)*10/100=0.0028 (i.e., 0.28%).

Let me give an example from my formative years, that I am very fond of.

I once predicted three months ahead that an event important in a close

friend's professional and financial life might happen during a three-day

period. At that time, he was working in India and, being very satisfied

with his job, he wasn't looking for a job change. He didn't even have a

typed resume then! However, on the first day of the three-day period, he

got a phone call from a consultant (who heard about him from someone)

who had an overseas client interested in his background! Assuming that

one out of thirty get an unexpected call like this and that it happens

once in 3 years, the probability of a random prediction like this coming

true is 1/30*3/(3*365)=0.00009 (i.e., 0.009%).

By looking at his horoscope, I asked a friend if his elder brother had a

child in late 1989 or early 1990. He told me his elder brother indeed

had a child in Feb 1990. I asked him if his elder brother had some

failure in love, love problems and resultant emotional and health

problems during late 1984 and early 1985. He told me his elder brother's

girlfriend whom he had been dating for 4 years died in Jan 1985 and his

brother was highly depressed. These predictions, it would seem

reasonable to believe, are too good to be a mere fluke.

In my short career in astrology, I made quite a few successful

predictions that had a very low non-astrological probability (of the

order of 0.00001 to 0.1). While this need not prove to rational minds

that astrology is true, it should atleast create doubts that astrology

is perhaps not completely a superstition.

Personally, I have seen many a proof that astrology has some worth in

it.

 

Astrology's Main Drawback

 

But don't get carried away! Astrology has one serious drawback that

takes away a lot of shine from it! Many professional astrologers don't

emphasize this, for obvious reasons. And, many fanatic supporters of

astrology don't realize this or prefer to ignore this.

Astrology doesn't fix one's future - it only reduces the set of

possibilities in a probabilistic manner. If an astrologer claims 100%

success rate, he is cheating you (unless he is a really special

spiritual person)! Even a stalwart like Prof. B.V. Raman (who is

regarded as the modern day Varahamihira) had many failures (as he

himself acknowledged).

Astrology is a probabilistic subject in nature. An astrologer can only

say that event x is " very likely " and event y is " very unlikely " - he

can never say " this will happen " .

Astrology is a probabilistic study of natural tendencies. It is a

probabilistic study of the " gravity towards destiny " . Just as the

gravity towards earth can be overcome, this " gravity towards destiny "

can be overcome by several means ( " will power " being one of those).

In other words, astrology is merely a system that enables one to guess

the future, but with a higher success rate than what can be achieved

without using it. The two words in bold letters here summarize the

weakness and strength of astrology. Astrological predictions are, after

all, " guesses " ! But then, they are " better " guesses (from the point of

view of long-run success rate)!

There is a sloka (poem) in Sanskrit that says that only Creator knows

what is going to happen - others can only guess it!

 

How to use astrology in real-life

 

Then, the obvious question is: How should we use astrology in real-life?

 

Astrological information/feedback has to be used positively in a mature

fashion. One should consciously recognize the fact that astrological

predictions can go wrong. Even if an astrologer did a great job with the

horoscope of someone you know, there is no guarantee that he (or she)

will be successful with your horoscope. Actually, even if (s)he did a

great job with your own horoscope sometime back, he need not be

successful in future! Astrological predictions are merely intelligent

guesses - more intelligent (in the long-run) than your most intelligent

(non-astrological)guesses.

If you have a good time, you may not hesitate to take a risk or two. If

you have a bad time, be extra careful and be mentally prepared to tackle

unpleasant situations. Astrology should make you robust, prepared and

adaptive, rather than prejudiced.

 

Why should astrology work at all?

 

" Why should astrology work " is the obvious question in the minds of

curious readers and unfortunately I have no satisfactory answer.

Some people try to explain it by resorting to the arguments of

cosmic/electromagnetic waves and energy etc. They say that the

bio-magnetic cells in human bodies respond to the electromagnetic waves

of planets. Well, it sounds interesting because it uses the technical

terms we are familiar with - man, after all, tends to explain new

phenomena in old technical terms, but it is not " technical terms " that

makes something " scientific " , it is " logic " that does it. Sadly, these

arguments lack logic. They merely make you think, " well, that's

possible. " They don't go beyond that.

 

As far as I am concerned, there are some statistical correlations

between planetary movements and world events, that are extremely

interesting. I will just work on refining my understanding of the

correlations and modeling them as precisely as possible. I am not

bothered about why those correlations work. I hope that it will be known

to mankind in foreseeable future. Even if it's not known, it shouldn't

stop the work on modelling those correlations.

 

After all, science is based on some fundamental observations that seem

to hold true in practice (e.g., F=MA (Newton's first law)). In science,

we have some statistical observations that seem to hold in practice and

then some theories (and " technical terms " ) evolving from these

fundamental observations. It is possible that astrology cannot be

explained in terms of known theories - it is conceivable that astrology

consists of a new set of fundamental statistical observations.

 

Misuse of astrology

 

Exploring these correlations and modeling them mathematically requires

scientific temper. But, unfortunately, most people with a scientific

frame of mind shy away from astrology. It is no secret that astrology is

regarded as a " superstition " in many parts of the society.

But, why????

The main problem is that astrology, unlike other branches of knowledge,

is not a regulated field. Anyone with a pocketbook on astrology can

claim to be an astrologer. (For that matter, one without even a

pocketbook can claim to be an astrologer!)

This gross misuse and abuse led to the fall of astrology in the last two

centuries in the eyes of intelligentsia. It reduced astrology to a

superstition.

 

Astrology is not a superstition - it is a subject worthy of study and

research. But, believing in every road-side astrologer is certainly a

superstition.

 

If you are an astrologer, kindly keep the good name of astrology above

your personal interests. Don't exploit the ignorance of your client with

tall claims (that can crash later). Educate your clients about the

drawbacks and strengths of astrology. Give them a realistic picture (as

a doctor would do). You don't want him to think he is getting x, when he

is in reality getting y.

 

http://www.vedicastrologer.org/

 

Suresh Balaraman.