Saturday, 26th April, 2008
So you don't believe in astrology ?
So you don’t believe in astrology. Many people like you and me reject some theories, or only partially believe in them. There can be two reasons for disbelief; one comes after reasoning and observation, like all empirical sciences, and the other from lack of knowledge or incapacity of the human mind to grasp the subject matter of the theory. Sometimes a belief is also determined by a collective behaviour of a generation. It is not that we are right and the earlier generations were wrong, but it is the conditioning that is created by a particular generation that makes a certain belief a norm of the society.Astrology is one such subject where people always differ in their beliefs and opinions. If your disbelief in Astrology is purely based on lack of knowledge, or general opinion, I will try to explain it scientifically and write in more detail in my next post. Consider this as an introduction.
Astrology has several school of thoughts; the most important are the Western Astrology based on the Sun, and the Indian Astrology based on the Moon. This is the reason why the Western calendar is based on the Sun and the Eastern on the Moon. Out of several contributions India made to the world in the fields of philosophy, mathematics, literature and science, Astrology is the biggest. It is worth mentioning that the Indian rishis (saints) discovered facts about the universe and the solar system, which NASA and other space agencies have only now recently discovered.
Astrology to our belief is just limited to the science of predicting future or a person’s characterstics, which is not completely true. Instead, astrology is concerned with the movement of planets in the solar system and its gravitational impact on other planets and moons. When I first learnt about astrology, I too considered it as a superstition and rejected it prima facie. But only after doing some research, did I get some understanding of it.
Indian astrology is all about the planet’s gravity and its impact on the Earth. Do you know what causes high tides and low tides in the sea? It is caused by the moon coming closer or going further away from the Earth during its orbit. You agree with it right ?? You must!! It was in your school books. So we can conclude that the Moon can impact the Earth’s ecosystem through gravitational force.
We all know that the sea water contains salt, and the human body constitutes of 70% water. This follows that if the Moon can bring changes in ocean waves, it can also bring changes in our body and mind. According to Astrology, it is the Moon which governs our mind and thought process. The time, latitude and longitude of the location at which a person is born determines the angle of the Moon and its impact on him. Unlike Western Astrology which is based on the Sun and divides the population in 12 groups (i.e. 12 Sun Signs), Indian Astrology defines infinite possibilities. Two persons born on the same time can differ in every respect because of different birth locations. It also considers the fact that the Moon and the planets are always moving and can have different impacts on people born at the same time.
Do you know the origin of the word ‘Lunatic’? Every word added to our language has a history or a reason behind it. The term ‘Lunatic’ is associated with lunar (moon) movements and gravity. Research has proved that people’s (especially lunatics’) behaviour changes during a full moon and a no moon day.
Just like the Moon, other planets also impact life on earth. Scientists have also started believing this. It is the combination of all the planets’ gravity that impact our body and mind, and governs our action and thought processes. It is this planetery movement, that makes someone a poet, an artist, or a musician. Science cannot answer why one is more intelligent than the other, but Astrology can explain it.
Indian Astrology is about planets and its impact on human beings. It doesn’t matter if people start worshipping Venus considering it as a Demi-God, or forecasting the future. Infact, Astrology does not even have any association with religion.
To understand it, we must try to understand it scientifically and not as a superstition.
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