Astrpology a science?!--you must be joking!

[Guest guest]

Shri Bhupendra Jamnadasji,

Jai Shri Ram!

Many thanks for your #6023 in asthikasamaj.

< I have on and off been reading your emails and what I would like to know is that do you propose that astrology as a science is a farce or is it that what we people know of astrology is not correct?>

Regarding astrology as a science, the facts are as follows:

"Correct predictions can be made only from incorrect data" It is evident that planetary longitudes, whether so called sayana or nirayana, throughout the world till a couple of centuries back, i.e. till the advent of Kepler and then overseas observatories etc.. were calculated either from useless works like the Surya Sidhanta by Maya the mlechha or the good-for-nothing astronomical works like Grahalaghava in India and/or Ptolemy's Almagest or such other works in the West or some Zijs based on Brahma-gupta's works like Khanda-khadyaka etc. in the Arabian countries! All those astronomical works are anything but correct---they are actually away by light years from the reality---as is evident from the planetary polynomials of modern astronomy! It can also be checked by anybody from Vishnu.exe program in hinducalendar forum.

Thus correct predictions were and are still being made only from incorrect data!

If jyotishis, whether Eastern or Western or Arabian or Iranian etc. could and can make correct (sic!) predictions from that very useless and absolutely wrong planetary data, you can well imagine as to what kind of a science astrology is!

"Modern" Planets have nothing in common with "ancient planets"! Similarly, the planets like Mangal, Budha, Shani etc. that are being calculated on the basis of data from JPL/NASA etc. these days have absolutely nothing like the planetary qualities described in the Jyotisha Shastras or Puranas etc.---whether it is Sphujidwaja's Yavana Jatakam or Varahamihira's Brihat Jatakam or the so called Brihat Parashari of the so called Parashara or any Purana! In fact, the planetary qualities of jyotisha shastras/puranas are quite contrary to astronomical facts! For example, Shukracharya (astrologers' Venus!) is the preceptor of demons and a "karaka" for poetry and females as per Indian jyotishis whereas according to Western jyotishis, it is known as Aphrodites---the goddess of love and beauty! But astronomical Venus is an inanimate planet full of acidic rains and unpredictable fluctuations in temperature etc. etc. actually!

Mangal is said to be the son of the earth and is commander-in-chief of planets. It is supposed to create havoc in married lives because of Manglika qualities etc. etc. as per jyotisha shastra. For Western astrologers, it is the Greek god Ares and shows the sexual prowess in male members of the society. Astronomically. the poor planet Mars is as helpless as any other inanimate wandering body actually is!

Brihaspati is said to be the Guru of gods like Indra and Varuna and Agni and even Surya and Chandrama as per jyotisha shastras. Ironically, as per Puranas, Brihaspati's wife Tara was abducted by none other than the Moon, whose guru Brihaspati is---something like a student kidnapping the wife of his Chancellor. As per Western astrology, Jupiter is the supreme deity of ancient Romans, the god of heaven known as Zeus, whose sister as well as wife (incest!?) is Juno, the daughter of Satrun! But the poor planet Jupiter, inanimate as it is, is helpless in reality when it gets hammering from comets like Schumacher-Levi!

Saturn (dukha-karaka Shani!) is the illegitimate son of the sun and is the most dreaded planet as per Indian and Western jyotishis. It is also the karaka for death! It is identified by Western jyotishis as the Greek god Cronus. Astronomically, however, it is one of the most beautiful, though inanimate, planets to look at, with more satellites and rings than any other planet!

Mercury is the illegitimate son of Tara, the wife of Brihaspati, from Chandrama, It is the karaka for budhih and youth (Does it mean that illegitimate children are intelligent and youthful?). In Western astrology, it is one of the ancient Roman gods and is identified with the Greek god Hermes. Astronomically, it is the planet---inanimate, of course----nearest the sun, which means it bears the maximum brunt of heat (and even cold!).

"Planets" like Rahu and Ketu are more dreaded than anything else in Indian astrology and as per the Puranas, they are said to be so powerful that they devour the sun and the moon on every eclipse which somehow escape their fury by sleight of hands! They can even engulf all the rest of seven planets, including the sun and the moon, and result in dire consequences like doom and what not if all the seven planets (including the two lights!) are between the two i.e. Rahu and Ketu---euphemistically known as Kala Sarpa Dosha! To crown it all, Kethu is said to be Mokshakaraka---the "planet" ruling over the final beatitude! Western astronomers, however, are not very vocal about lunar Nodes, though of late some "research" has been started on these two "Planets" also by them.

Astronomically, however, Rahu and Ketu are just two mathematical points---they do not have any dimensions, not to speak of any qualities of devouring the sun and the moon! No wonder no jyotishi-sadhu has got Moksha till date, ruled as it is by a non-existent (non-)entity!

Astronomy is in direct conflict with jyotisha shastras and puranas Besides, the dimensions of planets and their distances from the sun even the nakshatras are much different as per jyotisha shastras and puranas vis-à-vis astronomical data!

As per jyotisha shastras---both Eastern and Western----and Puranas, the universe---including the planets--- is geocentric, i.e. the sun, moon and even the constellations move around the earth, whereas, as is common knowledge by now, the planets including the earth revolve round the sun and the sun in turn has its own movements in the constellation belt, which in turn has its own motions and so on!

Then again, the planets including Rahu and Ketu are supposed to give us results via dasha-bhuktis-pratyanataras of innumerable kinds---right from Vimshotari (120 years) to Yogini (36 years) to Ashtotari (108 years) to Tribhagi (reduction of one hird of dasha of every planet!) to Kalachakra to what not! All those dasha-bhuktis are as intangible and elusive as the grin of the Cheshire cat, but we are supposed to be governed by them!

Non-existent Mesha etc. rashis govern individuals, nations and countries! Planets also are supposed to affect us through Mesha etc. Rashis as per jyotisha shastra, both Eastern and Western, but astronomically rashis are an "imaginary circle of animals" of an imaginary belt known as ecliptic! Thus we are "enjoying" the results of the inanimate planets through imaginary "circle of animals" moving around an imaginary belt!

No wonder, nobody is sure as to which rashi starts from where and ranges up to what point! Some say the Rashichakra starts from Vernal Equinox---and they call themselves Tropical astrologers. Others say that it starts from some Star! But they are fighting among themselves like Kilkenny cats as to which Star it is wherefrom the rashichakra starts! IMHO, that dispute is not going to end in the near future! It may last till eternity---who knows! For instance, if Lahiri Shani has entered Kanya on September 9 as per Lahiriwalas, it has entered that sign (rashi) about two years back as per Tropical-walas but will enter that very Rashi on an entirely different date as per Muladhara i.e. Chandra Hari-walas and still some other date as per Sury Sidhanta-walas and yet another date as per Ramana-walas and still some other date as per Raivata-paksha-walas and so on! That means anybody's sade-sati etc. can start from any date, depending on the whims of the concerned jyotishi as to which rashichakra he chooses!

Astronomically, there is no question of a Rashi starting or ending since those "equal divisions" do not exist at all in reality!

Hundreds of divisions and subdivisions of imaginary "circle of animals" govern us! To analyze the horoscope minutely, each imaginary division of the imaginary zodiac is further subdivided by jyotishis into equal parts like Hora (two divisions), Dreshkan (three divisions--decanate), Saptamsha (seven divisions), navamsha (nine divisions), Dwadashamsha (twelve divisions), trimshamsha (thirty divisions), shashtyamsha (sixty divisions) and what not! Thus you can see it for yourself as to what kind of a "molecular" science it is---each imaginary division divided into hundreds of imaginary subdivisions and so on!

To make predictions more concrete, each rashi is also simultaneously divided into 2.25 nakshatras---thus the imaginary rashichakra is also divided simultaneously into twenty-seven equal imaginary divisions known as nakshatras! Like Rashichakra, nobody knows as to from which point the nakshatra-division starts! Some say it starts from the Vernal Equinox---"Tropical Vedic astrologers" with Ashvini nakshatra, others say it starts from ten degrees before the longitude of Ashvini Star itself ---Lahiriwalas---still others say it starts from Revati star itself---Revitpaksha-walas---yet others say that it starts from a point of the Vernal Equinox when it was opposite the start Chitra in 285 AD--Lahiriwalas---and so on! As if not satisfied with these millions of confusions and conundrums, each nakshatra is further sub-divided into "padas" sub-divisions, on the basis of which the bhukta-bhogya of dasha-bhukti etc. etc. is decided! (To be continued)