Vedic astrology -- the greatest fraud on the Vedas!...My opinion

March 11, 2008

The text at the bottom line says,

" Opinions are like assholes- everyone has one " "

My opinion about Mr. Kaul is that he is same as his opinion

"

g-ing g-ang bang bang <blr.aspirant wrote:

Respected Sirs,

Jai Shri Krishna,

The following speech was delivered at Rotary Club, West Delhi, in

September 2006.

What is your opinion/comments/research on the topic?

Regards,

blr.aspirant

>>>

Om tat sat brahmarpanamastu!

Om Brahmanandam Parama sukhadam kevalam gyan moortim, dwandvateetam

gagana sadrisham tat-tvam asyadi lakshyam

ekam nityam vimalam achalamsarva dhee sakshi bhootam, bhavateetam

triguna rahitam shree gurum tam namami

" Vedic Astrology " - the greatest fraud on the Vedas!

Dear friends. Good evening to everybody!

I feel highly honoured to have been invited by Shri Ajay Bhasin for

sharing my views about astrology and related topics with respected

personalities assembled here. As most of us already know, we call

these predictive gimmicks as " Vedic astrology " these days.

When I was asked by Shri Bhasin about the heading of my talk, I had

thought of making it as " Vedic Astrology - the greatest fraud on the

Vedas " . On second thoughts, fearing that it would be too explosive a

heading, I made it a sugar coated bitter pill by changing it to " Do we

celebrate our festivals on correct days? " .

Well, actually, both i.e., the fraud known as " Vedic astrology " and

" our celebrating all our festivals on wrong days " are inter-related.

Let me start with " Vedic astrology " - as to why I call it a fraud!

There is hardly anyone in India, who does not want to know as to when

his " sade-sati " will start or end or as to which Dasha-antardasha he

is running and when that will end etc. etc. even if he does not know

ABC of jyotisha. I have gone through all those pangs myself and made

a thorough study of all the astrological works besides a lot of

astronomical books! I studied Western system of astrology also and

had become a sort of famous astrologer, though my predictions were as

correct as anybody else's i.e. hardly 50%. However, this is a secret

that no " jyotishi " shares with anybody -- that his/her predictions are

hardly more correct than fifty per cent, whatever logic or Ayanamsha

he/she may use! When I analyzed the reasons for such a dismal rate of

success, the conclusions were startling! And I am keeping those very

conclusions before you!

Before proceeding further, I must, however, say something about myself

since you are well within your rights to ask me as to what

" qualifications " I have to demolish astrology that is being practised

over the last several centuries, nay even millennia!

My credentials

Though I am not laying any claims to being a scholar, however, I have

actually studied all the four Vedas in original " archaic " Sanskrit

with their different " Bhashyas " , besides the various Brahmanas like

Shatapatha, Aitreya, Tatiriya etc. etc. I have studied, (in original

Sanskrit!) about two hundred all the important Upanishads as well! I

have also gone through both the epics viz. the Valmiki Ramayana and

the Mahabharata --- in Sanskrit and from cover to cover, besides

Adhyatma Ramayana, Ramacharitamanasa etc. etc.! There is hardly any

Purana whether the Bhagavata, Shivapurana, Vishnu, Narada, Devi,

Varaha, Matsya and Vishnudharmotara etc. etc. that I have not gone

through in original Sanskrit. I have also studied exhaustively all the

ancient astronomical works like the Vedanga Jyotisha,

Panchasidhantika, Surya Sidhanta, Arya Bhati, Sidhanta Shiromani etc.

etc. To crown it all, I was not a born renegade against the

established traditions. On the other hand, I was initially

" hypnotized " by " Vedic astrology " and " panchangas " myself and there is

hardly any " text-book " of astrology either in Sanskrit or Urdu or

English or Hindi that I have not studied with due reverence, as if I

was studying the Vedas!

Having established my credentials thus, I CAN DECLARE IT WITHOUT ANY

HESITATION AND WITH ALL THE EMPHASIS AT MY COMMAND, THAT THERE IS

ABSOLUTELY NO PREDICTIVE ASTROLOGY IN ANY OF THE VEDAS, UPANISHADAS OR

BRAHMANAS. There are, however, some references to some odd types of

predictions in some of the Puranas and the epics and therefore calling

it as really a post-Vedic astrology is more correct. There is a rider

there also, and that is that according to these scriptures, Makara

Sankranti i.e. Pongal is nothing but a synonym of Uttarayana (the

shortest day of the year) i.e. Winter Solstice and as everybody knows,

it can take place these days only on or around December 21 every

year. Thus the Uttarayana-cum-Makar Sankranti that we are celebrating

now-a-days on January 14 is absolutely wrong and does not have any

authority from any shastra or even modern astronomy. Similarly, the

Vaishakhi that is being celebrated on April 14 or so also is wrong

since Mesha Sankranti is nothing but Vishuva (Vernal Equinox) or

Vasant Sampat and it cannot take place on any day other than March

21/22, when the day and night are equal. Actually these Makara etc.

sankrantis were known as Tapah etc. months during the Vedic period as

there are no rashis in the Vedas but just six seasons and Madhu,

Madhava etc. twelve months. As such, we are celebrating all our

fasts, fairs and muhurtas on wrong days -- thanks to " Vedic

astrologers " and their " Vedic astrology " .

The first and foremost thing I learnt from our shastras is that no

system of predictions has any sanction either from the Vedas or even

Puranas least of all our dharmashastras etc. since all our shastras

admonish us from consulting " nakshatra jeevis " so much so that the

Manusmriti calls these nakshatrasoochis as outcastes and not fit to

sit in any sabha of learned people.

Those who can foresee our future do not reveal it to us beforehand:

All the Ramayanas, whether Valmiki or Adhyatma or Ramacharitamanasa

etc. etc. say that before deciding about the coronation of Bhagwan

Rama, Dashratha wanted his guru Vasishtha to confirm the suitable

muhurta for that function. It was on the advice of Vasishtha Muni

that Dasharatha decided to anoint Rama as the Yuvraja the very next

day, as it was " Tishya " i.e. Pushya nakshata then. From this

anecdote, it is clear that either Vasishtha Muni did not know as to

what was going to happen to Dasharatha by declaring Bhagwan Rama as a

crown-prince or Vasishtha kept quiet deliberately since he did not

want to interfere in the divine dispensation!

Obviously, being the son of Brahmaji and a highly exalted yogi as well

as a jnyani, Vasishtha-muni could peep into past as well as future.

It means that even if some exalted souls can foresee as to what is

going to happen, they do not reveal our " bhavishya " before hand,

unlike some of the astrologers of today, who masquerade as

" Parasharas " and " Vamadevas " to tell us even our past and future

janmas just by glancing at our birth-charts, even if those charts are

wrong!

The Gita is said to be the gist of all our shastras. When Arjuna

expressed his doubt by saying naitadvidmah katarnno gareeyo, yadva

jayema yadi va no jayeyuh " I do not know what is good for me nor do I

know whether we will win or the Kauravas will win the war " , Bhagwan

Krishna neither asked him to consult some soothsayer nor did He tell

him to wear some ruby! He just advised Arjuna " hato va prapsyasi

swargam jitva va bokshyase maheem " i.e. " You must fight. If you get

killed in the war, you will go to the heavens and if you win it you

will be the lord of the whole world " .

Thus all it boils down to is the fact that those who know (including

Lord Krishna Himself!) as to what is going to happen and when do not

divulge such " secrets " before hand to us.

Remedial measures are a farce:

Almost all the jyotishis suggest one or the other remedial measure to

their clients, and mostly these are gems like diamond or ruby or

sapphire etc. etc. What is surprising is that we have become so

obsessed with Jyotish that we forget the entire itihasa of our past!

(i) If these gems are that efficacious, why was then Dasharatha

not suggested some " ruby " or " coral " to ward off the evil Dasha that

was going to kill him when Rama would leave for the forests? Well,

because our Rishis did not believe in such gimmicks at all!

(ii) Bhagwan Krishna was born in a prison --- I wonder why He could

not use some " sapphire " to be born in a palace!

(iii) Vasudeva and Devaki---the parents of Bhagwan Krishna--- were in

chains when He was born! It is said that Lord Krishna was a complete -

16 kala sampoorna --- divine incarnation of Vishnu and was thus

really Omnipotent, Omnipresent and Omniscient! But in spite of His

Omniscience, Omnipotence and Omnipresence, Lord Krishna could not

relieve the miseries of his parents, Vasudeva and Devaki, who had to

remain in chains till Krishna killed Kansa!

What does it demonstrate? Just the fact that if the Omniscient,

Omnipresent and Omnipotent Krishna could not relieve the miseries of

His own father or mother before the appointed time, how can a ruby or

a sapphire---or some Mangala or Shani yagya--- remove all our miseries

or fulfil all our ambitions? Obviously, we are being taken for a ride

by such Jyotishis!

iv) Then not in the distant past, Smti Indira Gandhi would run after

astrologers for knowing her future. She wore a rare and original

ekamukhi rudraksha, which only either the Maharaja of Nepal had or she

was wearing! It is said that some top-notch jyotishis had suggested

that rudraksha to her! Ironically, both the King of Nepal as well

Mrs. Indira Gandhi were assassinated " by the people " they " had

trusted " ----ekamukhi rudraksha not withstanding!

What does it prove? That we should not be hoodwinked by soothsayers!

v) Then again a well known Tantrik of yore---highly respected by the

then PM--- is out on bail, not by dint of his " Tantra-Kriya " but

because of some legal loopholes in FERA!

Similarly, Dhirendra Brahmachari, another high profile " Tantrik " , met

with an accident in the plane he was flying himself! If he could not

see his own death looming large how could he forewarn others!

What does that prove? Obviously, it warns us against relying on any

soothsayers, especially if they call themselves " Vedic Jyotishis "

since they are taking us for a ride literally.

Kalasarpa Dosha -- a non-existent fear psychosis:

These days we hear a lot about Kalasarpa Dosha! It is said to be

present in any horoscope if all the planets are between Rahu and

Ketu! My God! What a humbug! Rahu and Ketu are actually nodes of

the Moon! That means they are just mathematical points without any

dimensions ---therefore without any physical existence whatsoever! So

according to " Vedic astrologers " even such " non-existent " phenomena

can make our lives miserable for which we must do some upay! Do you

need any other proofs for the jugglery that these cheats are indulging

in?

THE ONLY EFFECTIVE REMEDY, or UPAY, THEREFORE, IS THAT WE MUST

REMEMBER HIM, THE ALMIGHTY, EVERY MOMENT OF OUR LIVES AND LEAVE EVERY

THING TO HIS DIVINE WILL!.

Fake Brighu Samhitas and Parasharis:

We find a Brighu Samhita or a nadi Jyotishi or Aruna Samhita etc. in

every Muhalla these days! However, there is no mention in any of the

Puranas or shastras that any Rishi like Vasishtha or Garga or Brighu

etc. have ever written any books on predictive astrology. The Vishnu

Purana by Parashara is full of astronomical references ---and that

also sayana i.e. the seasonal year when Mesha sankranti is another

name of Spring Equinox and so on, but we do not find any mention of

any Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra there! Obviously, it is the worst

concoction that can ever be had, and may be that is why such a

Parashari is the bible of " Vedic astrologers "

India has gone downhill because of astrology and astrologers:

In India, we have started going downhill ever since our rulers

started running after Jyotishis. In ancient days, during the time of

the Mahabharata, it was a dharma yudha that we had to fight against

our own Duryodhanas but ever since the advent of astrology almost

simultaneously with the invasion of Alexander the Great, and then the

" Yavana Jatakam " of Sphujidwaja and the Surya Sidhanta of Maya the

Yavana (mlechha!), we had to fight outsiders! The more the

foreigners invaded us the more our rulers, instead of making a united

effort against the invaders, started consulting soothsayers whom they

called Rajajyotishis!

Varahamihira the worst culprit:

The maximum credit for creating such a fear psychosis of omens and

ghosts and ghouls and storms and even clouds goes to Varahamihira of

5th century AD through his Brihat Samita and Brihat Jatakam and

Panchasidhantika! Before venturing into the battlefield, our monarchs

would ask their soothsayers to prepare " narpati jaya charya " and

consult Brihat Samhita etc. to see whether the " ketuchara " was

favourable at that time or not! No wonder with such a preliminary and

hopeless knowledge of astronomical facts, we were being pushed back

into dark ages by Varahamihira and his followers!

Our historical records are witness to the fact that we were

vanquished in every battle, whether it was with Alexander the Great or

Muhamud of Gazni or Chengiz Khan or Nadir Shah or the Moguls or

finally the East India Company, thanks to the dependence of our

monarchs on soothsayers (Rajajyotishis, huh!) instead of the

principles of war strategy and statecraft as adumbrated by the Vedas,

the Manu and even Chanakya, who chided kings for consulting

soothsayers!

BJP the latest example:

The fate of the BJP has not been any better than that of our earlier

monarchs by depending more on their " Vedic Jyotishis " who were

responsible for getting " Vedic Jyotisha (sic!) " prescribed in Indian

Universities! It is that very move that boomeranged on the party and

even the " Minister of astrology " did not win his own parliamentary

seat from Allahabad, let alone being the Union Minister again. Do you

need any other proofs of the fact that these " Vedic Jyotishis " will

make you lose your seat of power well before the appointed day just by

making you advance your elections?

If we continue to follow the trend of our " monarchs " of having blind

faith in our soothsayers, then sooner than later we will become

Babylon of yesteryears, which is known as Iraq today!

Kashmiri Pandits were the worst affected by their blind faith in

Jyotishis:

Another reason for my revolt against the so called " Vedic astrology "

is that as a Kashmiri Pandit, I have more to blame panchanga makers

and soothsayers and their predictive gimmicks than anything or anybody

else since they never forewarned us about any calamities that were

going to befall us! On the other hand, just to prove their

astrological gimmicks, they just made ---and are still making --- us

celebrate all our festivals, including Mahashivaratri, Vasanti

Navratras, Ramanavami, Janmashtami and Sharadiya navratras etc. on

wrong days. It is these very jyotishis, whom we had treated as our

friends, philosophers and guides, who are responsible for our downfall

as Kahsmiri Pandits, since they proved neither our friends, nor

philosophers least of all our guides! These Panchanga makers/

jyotishis were the first to flee from Kashmir in 1990--- like the

king Hari Singh at the time of Pakistani raid in 1948--- since they

had already made their alternate homes in safer places like Jammu and

Delhi. Those Jyotishis just proved to be Shylocks, who were only

interested in their Pound of flesh by way of Dakshinas for janmapatris

and matching of horoscopes -- all cheating and nothing else!

These soothsayers have such a hypnotic grip on us that initially even

I was brain washed to believe that the Vedas had nothing else to do

excepting teaching us predictive astrology! I was so convinced that

it appeared that even the principle of Secondary Progressions must

have been exported from India to Western countries as the principle of

" A day equals a year " was mentioned in our Vedas! But thank God, I

woke up to the situation and could see through their tricks.

There are no Mesha, Vrisha etc. Rashis in the Vedas:

Leave alone predictive gimmicks, actually there are neither rashis

like Mesha, Vrisha etc. nor planets like Mangal, Shani etc. in the

Vedas, Upanishads, Brahmanas etc. Similarly, the Vedanga Jyotisha, the

first indigenous astronomical work of 14th century BCE, just tells us

only as to how to calculate tithi, nakshatra and Uttarayana-cum-Tapah-

cum Magha etc. months. It does not list any Mesha etc. rashis nor any

planets like Mangal, Budha etc. Same is the case with Yajur Jyotisha

of about 11th century BCE and later Atharva Jyotisha of about 5th

century BCE. As such, it is really a fraud on the Vedas being played

by some charlatans to call any predictive gimmicks as Vedic astrology

and hail themselves as " Vedic Jyotishis " . It is a crime under " The

Consumer Protection Act " as it is a misrepresentation of facts to a

client and is thus a deficiency in service.

Our predictions in the past also could never have been correct:

It is said that over the past about 2000 years, our ancestors like

Varahamihira or his son Prithuyashas etc., could make marvellously

correct predictions. THAT IS NOTHING BUT HOGWASH! Let us see how:

prior to the advent of scientific astronomy into India, i.e. about a

couple of centuries back, panchangas were based on astronomical works

like the Surya Sidhanta or Aryabhati or Sidhanta Shirmoani etc. etc.

I have prepared a software called " Mahesh " . It calculates, apart from

the actual tithi, nakshatra, yoga, karna etc., the mean longitudes of

all the planets from 10000 BCE to 12030 AD i.e. for more than 22,000

years as per the Surya Sidhanta, Aryabhati or Sidhanta Shiromani etc.

besides comparing them with the longitudes as per modern astronomy.

Anybody can download it freely from my discussion forum

HinduCalendar

Unfortunately for these jyotishis, we find that the very fundamental

arguments of these sidahntas like the Surya Sidhanta, the Aryabhati,

the Sidhanta Shiromani etc. etc. are absolutely wrong! .

That naturally means that any panchanga based on them would also be

wrong, with the result that any horoscope prepared on the basis of

those panchangas could never be correct. Thus it is impossible for any

astrological predictions to have been correct in the past! As such,

it is all like the famous couplet of Ghalib " yoon to hai hamko janat

ki haqeeqat maloom lekin; dil ke bahlane ko Ghalib yeh khayal achha

hai "

Astrology cannot be a science

Predictive astrology is supposed to be a " science " ! What a

preposterous statement! When the data on which predictions were based

or are based these days are not correct, how can the results be

correct and how can we call it a science at all?

Stars do not affect us:

It is said that stars affect us! It appears either these astrologers

have gone honkers themselves or they suppose that the whole world has

really gone mad! Let us see how:

I am a puny human being on this small planet called earth. The sun is

hundreds of thousands of times larger than the earth! And there are

other stars of our nakshatra/rashichakra that are supposed to affect

me individually as per the Dasha-Bhukti that is running in my

horoscope! However, this fantastic statement has no leg to stand upon

since the nearest star of that Rashichakra is Shravana! And do you

know its distance from me? It is seventeen light years! And it is

several times larger than our sun! In other words, if that star wants

i.e. Shravana wants to " affect " me individually, it will take it at

least seventeen years to do so even if that " effect " travels at the

speed of light! And by then, my Rahu or Shani or whatever Dasha it

may be must have been over! Then how can such a star which is

trillions of times larger than me send its rays in a concentrated form

just to haunt me at a particular point of time! Can you imagine what

type of laughing stocks we are making of ourselves by believing in

such hocus pocus!

Similarly, the next nearest star of our Rashichakra is Swati ! It is

away by 26 light years from me

and is again several times larger than our sun!!

It thus defies imagination as to how we can call astrology a science

or how it can be said that the " Stars affect us " .

Patri Melapak (Horoscope Matching) is not warranted by shastras nor

astrology books:

Now coming to the fad called Patri Melapak i.e. horoscope matching!

This fad is the rage of the day! You will be surprised to know that

none of our shastras, whether the Manusmriti or the Ramayana or the

Mahabharata, leave alone the Vedas, have anything to do with Patri

Melapak even by mistake! We do not find any instances that any Vedic

Rishi was addicted to such a fad, since may be then most of them would

still have been looking for a " suitable Patri " for melapak! Not to

speak of Dharma shastras, there is no mention of this type of a malady

in any of the astrology books like the so called Parashari, or

Mansagari or Phala Deepika or Jataka Parijata or any other work! It

appears to be a creation of the jyotishis of over the last one

hundred years or so. Aleberuni, who visited India in 1030 AD and

recorded quite faithfully all his experiences about Jyotisha and other

things in India also has not mentioned anything of any " Melapak " in

his work!

" All India Calendar Reform Committee " :

Summing up, as we have just seen, not only are we subjected to non-

existent fear psychosis like Kalasarpa Dosha and Patri Melapak etc.

but we are compelled to celebrate all our festivals on worng

days. There are quite a few people who agree with my point of

view that these days we are celebrating Pitra Amavasya on the day of

Dipavali and marriages during Pitra-Paksha! Similarly, we never

celebrate Makar Sankranti on correct days i.e. December 21/22 but we

celebrate it on January 14. We also celebrate Vaishakhi on April 14

instead of the day of Spring Equinox i.e., March 21 or so. This has

been all because of the so called " Vedic astrology "

To put our festivals back on the right track, I made quite a few

representations to the Hon'ble President of India, the Prime Minister

of India, various ministries besides the Positional Astronomy Centre

at Calcutta, who publish our Rashtriya Panchanga. I also made similar

representations to all the reverred Shankaracharyas of all the six

peethas, besides other saints and Mahatmas, but sorry to say, there

has been absolutely no response from any quarter!

We have now formed an " All India Calendar Reform Committee " and are

enrolling members for the same. Those interested can log on to

HinduCalendar for entering into

discussions regarding the same. You can also get a list of correct

dates of festivals for 2006 and 2007 from that forum. As an

alternative, you can get in touch with me whenever you want to for any

further clarifications.

Thank you very much for listening to this " exhortation " against " Vedic

astrology " and the efforts I am making to streamline our

calendars. Om tat sat brahmarpanam

astu

Avtar Krishen Kaul

President

All India Calendar Reform Committee

H. No. 5, MIG, 00-A,

Sector-2, Avantika, Rohini, Delhi-110085.

Email:jyotir...<http://groups.google.com/groups/unlock?msg=41bf72bc7b04ba8e & _don\

e=jyotish/browse_thread/thread/a18c2468a8d7e187/41bf72bc7b04ba8e>

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" Opinions are like assholes- everyone has one " ! These are my opinions. They

don't matter much because they do not bring any change. People live as ever

- spitting, throwing garbage, cheating, bribing, but leading a moral life -

not smoking, not eating meat, not visiting a prostitute.

-----

ooo0

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\_) ) /

(_/

March 11, 2008

LOL, Seems that Mr. kaul wants to bash astrology rather than prove anything

logical. Each statement that he has spoken is full of hatred and ignorance of

the highest order. What can anyone counter-argue with such persons. Maybe he is

pissed off because he might be cheated by a road-side astrologer, LOL. Its very

surprising that even after reading all sacred texts that too in sanskrit, he

hasnt gained a penny worth of wisdom. Even a scavenger who doesnt know to read

or write has more wisdom and is more logical than this totally irrational and

mentally-unstable person. I couldnt control laughing when he blames astrology

for almost everything under the sun, like, Indians defeated by alexander,

mughals etc. I would say Indians are getting repeatedly defeated because of

assholes like this idiot who tend to bashup their own scientific achievements

and praise others. Anyway, its doesnt bother me much because he seems to be a

politically motivated person who links BJP with

astrology and hence he vents his hatred of this party on astrology and inturn

on Hindus by statements such as the ones he has said in the end. The thing that

bothers me is that he is a president of some organization, GOD help that org,

LOL. Anyway he is a good material for NDTV for some astrology bashing.

Still laughing......(why is it that only in India we find such characters, or do

we find such people elsewhere?)

Tatvam-Asi <nameisego wrote: The text

at the bottom line says,