Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Is Vedic astrology derived from Greek astrology – part 4

Some of the responses from the other side do raise questions on the real intention of why they are meddling up with Vedic astrology and the Sruti texts. Is it just inter-cultural interest or the irritation that Indians claim a far longer history? (Quote Mr Deiter :- Now, when Indians tell us that the Mahabharata war occurred e.g. in 3139 BCE and the Epic was composed shortly thereafter, then Western science has the unpleasant quirk that it wants to see proof, and also adequate explanations for facts that are in contradiction with this date.). This gives a déjà vu feeling of Max Muller who wrote to his wife in 1866 that

"The translation of the Veda will hereafter tell to a great extent on the fate of India and on the growth of millions of souls in that country. It is the root of their religion, and to show them what the root is, I feel sure, is the only way of uprooting all that has sprung from it during the last 3000 years"

Source:- Müller, Georgina, The Life and Letters of Right Honorable Friedrich Max Müller, 2 vols. London: Longman, 1902.


What we hear from the Westerners in this mail-chain and their Gurus in David Pingree or anyone is no different from the above statement of Muller. So I decided to re-arrange my articles and start from this.


If their obsession is with historical proof, today's researchers from different disciplines have already started identifying India as a former incubator for mankind from where people spread to other parts of the world. The ASI-ANI genetic research is one and the recent research on connection between  Indians, Australians, Chinese and Native Americans is another.  Read it here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2262843/Migrants-India-settled-Australia-4-000-years-ago-Captain-Cooks-arrival-took-dingos-them.html

How this interaction could have happened has been briefly written by me in this blog

http://jayasreesaranathan.blogspot.in/2013/01/asians-indians-chinese-shared-same.html

I can give proofs for each of the ideas I have written in that article.

India has served as an incubator for human beings to stay put for thousands of years in the same place which helped in developing a distinct culture of their own having an indigenous stamp. Otherwise it is not possible for a billion people to have grown in this small country. China is another country and their roots further go into Sundaland (Indonesian archipelago) which was a highland 20,000 years ago.

 

(Graham Hancock's map based on Inundation maps and sea level data furnished by Glenn Milne)

It is known that mankind had flourished only in regions close to the Equator and that puts the Tamil texts a valuable source for identifying the now submerged land links between the present borders of India, Sundaland and Africa.

All the claims of the opponents on astrology will be demolished if we ask these simple questions.

(1)    Where can the 30 degree equal division of the Zodiac be observed? In Athens or in the tropics?  The 30 degree division is the result of observational astronomy which is possible only to people near the equator or within the Tropical latitudes. For people living in farther latitudes where the day and night are NOT almost equal for most part of the year, it is impossible to conceive the 12 part equal division of the zodiac  by themselves or by their own observation. If such an idea is found with them, the only way they could have got it is to have come to the tropics and observed (even then it would not be useful once they go back to their regions) or learnt it from the people of the tropics who are better placed to have conceived the idea.

 

(2)    Where can the hora division as 30+30 naazhikai / nadika / ghatis for a day become possible? It is possible only where the ahas and rathri are almost equal in length. This can happen only near the equator or within the tropical region and not in Athens where there is a huge difference between the day and night for many months. This division and conceptualisation of Hora can happen only through observation and there is absolutely no way that people in the north of Tropic of Cancer had conceived it.

 

 

(3)    If a community (of Rishis ) is able to observe the stars and calculate their extent by sheer observation from the ground, doesn't it sound absurd to say that they did not know the knowledge of Planets? Don't these critics think that observation of planets is easier than the observation of the stars which they did in various ways? Can anyone who has specialised in observing stars be found wanting in observing the planets?  How sophisticated the knowledge of the stars must have been compared to the knowledge of the planets? But the Vedic rishis did not bother to glorify the planets in their Riks mainly because Stars are the manifestation of  Parama Purusha. Parama Purusha has NakshataNi rUpam. But what are these planets? They are mere subsidiaries of the Parthyaksha Purusha viz the Sun. The stars are self illuminating Devas whereas the planets depend on the sun for their light and existence. That is why in their compositions, the rishis directly addressed the Devathas of the stars and even identified them by the names of the Devathas. It is the Devathas that make things happen.

 

(4)    In Hindu philosophy the Ultimate Brahman is called as the Common Cause and is compared to the Sun or the rains. As a common cause, the Brahman pours rain everywhere; the jIvatmas (we) are like the seeds that are benefited by the rain and triggered to sprout as per our composition based on the individual cause as determined by prarabdha karma. The individual cause are manifest by the planets, but can be manipulated  if the Common cause comes to help in time – like timely and sufficient rains.  That is why the star pada of the planets get importance in Vedic astrology. The core idea is re-birth. Only a society which believes in re-birth could have created astrology with its four components of signs, bhavas, planets and stars. Any other society which does not believe in re-birth and past karma could not have conceived phalitha Jyotyhisha. When you say that something is going to happen in future, how do you say that without a past cause? The assumption of Prarabdha is there in  Phalitha Jyothisha. If Greeks believe that they created Phalitha Jyothisha, then it means that their progenitors had lived in or interacted with Vedic society to have got this idea. Not the other way round.

 

(5)    The above explanations that Vedic astrology and Vedantha go hand in hand. They are inseparable.  This is made out in the very first few verses of the Rig and Yajusha Jyothisha that it is for doing yajnas this Kaala gyaanam is being told. Yajnas for whom? For the Parama Purursha who is seen as various nakshatras. Where is the place for planets in this set-up? Planets have a place only as Gruhas or Paathram where offerings are made in the grand scheme of worship of Nakshatra Devathas or Purusha. What is offered is offered not to the physical entity as planet but to their inner Devathas and sub-devathas similar to how offerings are made to Nakshatra Devathas.  This concept can be understood by quoting what we are. Are we the body or the Jiva inside? I am Jayasree now, but when I die people would say Jayasree is gone. So I am not my body. Whatever is done to my body is actually done to something in myself. The same thing with planets. The mention of planetary devathas is indication of the knowledge of the physical entities of the planets. This knowledge of the inner self of the planets could not have developed without the knowledge of the planets as physical entities.

 

(6)    This knowledge is characterised as Vedic astrology – the Vedic prefix is because, as Mr Ramanathan told in his write-up – there is Shishtachara. (1) The connection to a tradition of Vedic rishis makes this astrology Vedic. There are 18 Jyothish Pravarthakas mentioned in Kashyapa Samhita, Narada Samhita and Parashara Hora shastra (given at the end of this article). These authors' names themselves are found mentioned in these samhithas. That does not make the books bogus or inaccurate. These are all schools such as Kasyapa, Narada and Parashara schools of astrology. These rishis had lived very long ago, but their tradition had continued through the system of disciples. The disciples continue the tradition and school.  This had continued for generations. This explains why the same book is available from different places with or without certain verses. In course of time they have recorded the names of their respective teachers in the list of Jyothish Pravarthakas. The purpose of re-writing is not to re-do or change some ideas. The reason is simple that in those days these books were written in palm leaves whose life is 300 years at the most. They have to be copied into fresh leaves before they become soiled. In the course of re-writing them, suppose a need was there to record the then existing astronomical features, they had done so. This has given rise to the opinion that these manuscripts were later creations. But the fact is that it is a long chain of generations from the past. A proof for this can be had from the Colonial records of the Education system when the British planned to introduce McCauley's system in the 18th century. The records show that a separate class of students were there whose main work was to copy the old manuscripts in new palm leaves. The British called them as "writer caste" or "scribes" caste They were called as "Calani"or "kalani"  – those who use Kalam – the Tamil word for pen. This term must have been in apabrahmsa  (stunted Tamil) also some 2000 years ago. The Jews were Calanis or Kalanians who came from India according to Aristotle. (In his "History of the Jews", the Jewish scholar and theologian Flavius Josephus (37 – 100 A.D.), wrote that the Greek philosopher Aristotle had said: "…These Jews are derived from the Indian philosophers; they are named by the Indians Calani." (Book I:22.). Clearchus of Soli wrote, "The Jews descend from the philosophers of India. The philosophers are called in India Calanians and in Syria Jews. The name of their capital is very difficult to pronounce. It is called 'Jerusalem.'"). The Nadi schools of different Siddhas also had flourished till 18th century in Tamilnadu. Certain references in the names of places make us think that some of them have come up after 1000 AD. But that does not diminish their status as the Nadi manuscript of such and such a Siddha. The aphorisms and concepts were given by the Siddhas in an undated past and they were continued to be taught in their schools. Adherence to these concepts of that Siddha make them his creation, though there is a chance that some of them were written by the disciples. This is made out from some manuscripts which appear as case studies where the conversation between the teacher and the disciple over some features of the horoscope are found mentioned.

 

(7)    (2)This is Vedic astrology because the Vedic stars and entities are followed in this. (3) This is Vedic astrology because Vedic yajnas and samskaras like marriages are done at the auspicious time identified by this astrology. All these 3 features are not there with astrology practiced by other communities of the world which make them non-Vedic.  Even Jain astrology was not considered as Vedic though Surya Pragnapti mentions the uttarayana beginning in Abhijit nakshatra. Exception is Yavanacharya mentioned as one of the 18 Jyothish Pravarthakas in all the three books I mentioned above. His presence in the list shows that he fulfilled all the three requirements for a Vedic astrologer. Perhaps his inclusion in the list was a matter of debate in those days which made Varahamihiara to infer that he rose to the level of a Vedic rishi and was treated as a rishi. That made him a progenitor of Vedic astrology.  No other Mleccha – particularly  Maya was considered as a Vedic Rishi or a progenitor of Vedic astrology. 

 

(8)    There is record of Mayan, the Vastu expert as being popular, but there is no school of Mayan astrology in ancient India. Though Maya was remembered by Varahamihira, Bhattotpala and Meenaraja, there was no school of Mayan astrology in India and he was not considered as a Jyothish Pravarthaka. In Mayamatham, at many places Mayan attributes his rules and aphorisms to rishis, and this confirms that Mayan was not considered as a progenitor of even the Vastu shastra. But he was known for mechanical objects and the articles that come under YAna category. He was Asura or Danava and his acceptance into the Vedic society could become possible only after Krishna suggested that he build a mansion for the Pandavas. He did this in gratitude for being rescued from the fire in the Khandava vana by Arjuna. Local architects must have assisted him in the construction because there is a reference in the 2nd century AD Tamil  work Silappadhikaram that in return for the assistance done by the architects and sculptors in an ancient time, Maya taught them his knowledge. Using that knowledge the sculptors of Magada, Vajra and Avanti made beautiful decorative entrances, arches and such other things – some of which the Cholan King Karikala (1st century AD)  got as gifts during his northern expedition. They were displayed in PumpukAr during the Indra festival. The Mayan architecture spread throughout India including Tamilnadu. The design of the market place of PumpukAr described in Silappadhikaram chapter 5 is the same as the illustration one finds in Mayamatham, translated by Bruno Dagens (his teacher Pandit N.R. Bhatt) as figure 8 in the list of illustrations. Madurai  and Vanji in Chera nadu (today's Kerala) had such well laid structures of town planning  with an underground water drainage system which is described as huge enough for an elephant to walk. This reminds me of the Indus drainage path in the Great Bath of Mohenjadaro.

 

Why I have to tell these things here is that Mr Deiter thinks that years of antiquity of India such as 3000+ BC make them quirk and ask for proofs. The proofs are plenty and coming up more nowadays. But they are looking for proofs elsewhere  (in Sruti texts and astrology) and not in solid archaeological or genetic areas.

 

 

(9)     Krishna's antiquity is not a myth as we still follow the year-month-day-nakshatra etc tradition starting from Kaliyuga (which started when Krishna exited) in sankalpa mantras. Nowhere in the world can we find such a continuing tradition of astronomical records in daily use. To prove that this tradition was not introduced sometime in the course of the last 2000 years, let me point out that the year followed in Tamilnadu is not the same as what is followed in North India. The current year (samvatsara)  is Vijaya in Tamilnadu whereas it is  Krodhi in North India. Why this difference of 12 years is a question. This is an area of research. A probable answer is that North India continued with the existing samvatsara when Kaliyuga started and Tamilnadu reverted back to the first year of the 60 year cycle.

 

(10)The proof of Krishna is in marine archaeological works conducted in Dwaraka. The date attributed is 1500 BC. This confuses researchers and had perhaps led to the belief that the traditional Kali yuga dates were wrong. No, I always think that if something looks intriguing or non-conforming to the traditional system of practices, keep searching more and deep, you would get the truth. This is not just the result of my belief but because the people in my country until a generation or so ago, did not sway from the traditional ways nor did they tamper with anything. If something has gone wrong, it is only in the last 50 years. Even during the British rule, people were adepts in their precepts.

 

(11)Now coming to 1500 BC dated  Byt Dwaraka, it was not Krishna's Dwaraka. Krishna's Dwaraka did go under water some 5000 years ago. The people were evacuated by Arjuna who took them – not to the Gangetic region perhaps because the inimical condition continued there but through a route in North west India. The route taken by him as described in Musala parva is shown in arrow marks in the picture below. This is where the Indus sites had flourished.  The Indus culture was a post Mahabharatha culture which flourished in peaceful conditions in the trade routes to Europe under the vast and single kingdom of Pandava lineage.  Earlier the routes were under the Kaurava control as Gandhara was the maternal home of the Kauravas. In my opinion the all- Indian participation in the Mahabharatha war was due to interests in controlling the trade routes.

 

 

 

By 1500 BC another deluge happened in Dwaraka. This is known from Tamil commentaries to Tholkappiyam, the grammar book of Tamil. It was at that time, the last deluge engulfed whatever was there in the Indian ocean too affecting Pandyan kingdom at Kavaatam. In this deluge the extension of Western ghats upto Madagascar got sunk in the water due to some subsidence in the ocean floor. I am saying all these with literary proof from SangamTamil and Silappadhikaram sources. If someone comes forward to do ocean floor or under water research, they will make epoch making discoveries, but they can't make such discoveries if they poke into Vedas and Vedic astrology. The Dwaraka that was submerged then was Byt Dwaraka where Indus civilisation flourished.  Sage Agasthya brought the affected people – belonging to the royal family of Krishna, Velirs and 18 groups of artisans who were perhaps the 18 kudi people who accompanied Krishna from Mathura and settled down in Dwaraka. Their descendants are now merged in Tamilnadu!  There is a Sangam poem that tells about the king of Mysore (called Erumaiyur in sangam age) as the 49th descendant of an ancestor who emerged from the Homa Kunda in the North. This resembles the emergence of  Agni kula kshatriya. This migration to tamilnadu explains why the Indus symbols are present in Tamilnadu. This squarely puts at naught the AIT and subsequent  Dravidian migration to Tamil lands. This also corresponds with 1500 BC existence of Byt Dwaraka. This proves that krishna's Dwaraka is still under the waters and must be probed.

 

(12) All the above seem to be out of context here, but they are written to show that Indian history goes easily into 1000s of years in the past. With the same culture continuing, there are ample evidences and internal sources to decipher the past.  The following is Ahichatra or Ahi-kshetra in Panchala desa where the Homa was done from which Draupadi emerged. The excavation shows the existence of a triangular shaped region.

 

 http://www.academia.edu/1538873/Archaeology_of_Panchal_with_special_reference_to_Ahichhatra

 

(13) Westerners may dismiss birth from a homa kunda  as a myth. But the fact is that triangular shaped regions exhibit unusual energies.  Bermuda triangle, England and Sicily are triangular in shape where unusual energies (crop circles in the latter two) are seen. No need to tell the fellow astrologers what the triangle shape signifies.  A  recent discovery of  star shaped gravity waves in nature makes it look possible that energy channelized through Vedic Homa in triangular regions gives rise to wonders not otherwise known or seen in Nature.

 

Read more pics and the article here:

http://www.livescience.com/27341-weird-gravity-waves.html

 

This goes to show that there are many unknown energies around us in this earth. The above link and picture is shown to convey that shapes have some relevance in Nature. This is being highlighted here to convey why India had been the home for indigenous and intuitive ideas. India is triangular shaped; south India is very much of a triangular shape with natural boundaries on three sides with Vindhya- satpura ranges forming the northern side. The Tamil lands of three kings of Chera, Chola and Pandyas was very much triangular in shape with Venkata hills (Tirupathi) forming its northern border (according to Tholkpaaiyam). Perhaps this made it possible to have most of the Divya Desa of Vishnu which were actually places where wonders in the form of Vishnu Himself appearing to some devotee happened. The triangular region of South India (dandakaranya) was dotted with the ashrams of many maharishis in Ramayana period. This was because they could experience extraordinary energy levels in this triangular region. I am saying these to show that intuition and extraordinary power of the mind was the hallmark of ancient Indians. The discoveries of most things are reported with these rishis of the past which make westerners dismiss  Indians as myth makers. Refusal to accept the long tradition of astrology which is a part of daily life is one such kind of dismissal. But they must know that the kind of life style of a Grahastha or an astrologer or a Vedic rishi was such that they moved within this triangular shaped India only and hardly moved out of India.

 

The three triangles of India one within the other is shown in the picture below. The ancient Tamil land forms the bottom most triangle and the most perfect triangle.

 

 

India as Navayoni.

 

 

 

The next issue is that of festivals – particularly the Sankaranthi festivals the dates of  which the westerners say are wrong. It will be explained in the next article using a sangam Tamil poem. After that I will take up the rashi issue.

 

List of Jyothish Pravarthakas.

These rishis were the creators of Vedic astrology.

S.No

Kashyapa samhita

Narada samhita

Parashara Hora sastra

1

Surya

Brahma

Surya

2

Pitamaha

Vyasa

Vishwasrit

3 

Vyasa

Vasishta

Vyasa

4

Vasishta

Athri

Vasishta

5

Athri

Parashara

Athri

6

Parashara

Parashara

Parashara

7

Kashyapa

Narada

Kashyapa

8

Narada

Garga

Narada

9

Garga

Mareechi

Garga

10

Mareechi

Manu

Mareechi

11

Manu

Angiras          Manu

12

Angiras

Lomasa

(Romasa)

Angiras

13

 

Lomasa

(Romasa)

Chyavana

Lomasa

(Romasa)

14

Poulisa

Yavana

Poulisa

15

Chyavana

Brighu

Chyavana

16

Yavana

Sounaka

Yavana

17

Brighu

Poulastya

Brighu

18

Sounaka

Acharya

Acharya

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 








(To be continued)

7 comments:

S.Kumar said...

Dear Jayasree Madam, i am enthused very much by your in-depth analysis and authentic reporting with indisputable facts on views on religion, tradition and customs.
It is indeed very commendable that someone is able to publish with so many irrefutable references and it clearly shows that Indian( Bharathiya) culture is so divine, scientific and is the mother of all cultures. We tend to forget the richness of our tradition and often ape the west and their pseudo scientific co-relations.

I have a small request for you maam. I would like to see the references to the days of the week and their planetary references. These refer to the same planets in both western and Indian system.
Another point is the ritual of prayer, and in doing so one lights a jyothi and rings a bell. This is common in Indian as well as western culture.
Can you make an article on the references and the ancientness of such practices. It will be good to know them as well.

With best regards,
S.Kumar

Jayasree Saranathan said...


From: Dieter Koch

Date: Wed, May 8, 2013 at 1:25 AM
Subject: Re: Is Vedic astrology derived from Greek astrology – part 4

Ms Jayasree,

You quote Max Muller:
<“The translation of the Veda will hereafter tell to a great extent on the fate of India and on the growth of millions of souls in that country. It is the root of their religion, and to show them what the root is, I feel sure, is the only way of uprooting all that has sprung from it during the last 3000 years”>



These are Max Müller's words, not mine. His agenda, not mine. I am really offended.

You say:
<(1) Where can the 30 degree equal division of the Zodiac be observed? In Athens or in the tropics? The 30 degree division is the result of observational astronomy which is possible only to people near the equator or within the Tropical latitudes. For people living in farther latitudes where the day and night are NOT almost equal for most part of the year, it is impossible to conceive the 12 part equal division of the zodiac by themselves or by their own observation. If such an idea is found with them, the only way they could have got it is to have come to the tropics and observed (even then it would not be useful once they go back to their regions) or learnt it from the people of the tropics who are better placed to have conceived the idea.>
You are in error. I have to postpone my answer.

I might even decide to end the discussion here. You are on the anti-India-pro-India level. No interest on my side! I explained that in a previous mail.

Dieter

Jayasree Saranathan said...

Dear Mr Deiter,

Please don't feel offended as I didn't say that it was your agenda. I said it was deja vu. I have great respect for your intelligence but was surprised to read that view of yours which I quoted.

I am not talking on anti- India or pro-India level as my intention is to present what I know on the issues raised in this mail chain. I am speaking on the Indian side views and if it appears pro-India vs anti-India, I can not be blamed. In fact my present work is on a tricky issue which would brand me as a Tamil Chauvinist. But that must not discourage me from bringing to the notice of the world what is contained in Tamil texts. Take a look at this link
http://jayasreesaranathan.blogspot.in/2013/04/hanuman-and-sita-conversed-in-madhura.html
If I am not drawn into this current debate, i would be working on it.

regards,
Jayasree

Jayasree Saranathan said...

From: Dieter Koch

Date: Thu, May 9, 2013 at 2:35 PM
Subject: Re: Is Vedic astrology derived from Greek astrology – part 4

Dear Jayasree,

you wrote:
<(1) Where can the 30 degree equal division of the Zodiac be observed? In Athens or in the tropics? The 30 degree division is the result of observational astronomy which is possible only to people near the equator or within the Tropical latitudes. For people living in farther latitudes where the day and night are NOT almost equal for most part of the year, it is impossible to conceive the 12 part equal division of the zodiac by themselves or by their own observation. If such an idea is found with them, the only way they could have got it is to have come to the tropics and observed (even then it would not be useful once they go back to their regions) or learnt it from the people of the tropics who are better placed to have conceived the idea.>

For what reason exactly do you think that the 12-part equal division of the zodiac could be "conceived by observation" only near the equator or within the tropics? What methods would you use to make such a division in practice? I don’t need all details, just a rough idea.

I would have similar questions with your point (2). But let us focus on (1) first.

With regard to (3), I do not absolutely rule out that planets were known to Vedic authors. But this alone does not prove anything about predictive astrology as we know it.

You say:
<(4) ... Only a society which believes in re-birth could have created astrology with its four components of signs, bhavas, planets and stars. Any other society which does not believe in re-birth and past karma could not have conceived phalitha Jyotyhisha.>

I cannot follow your thought. The concept of reincarnation is really not required for astrological soothsaying or interest in it. In Mesopotamia, in the 2nd millennium BCE, astrologers read the omens of the sky and the earth to predict the fate of king and country. They did not believe in reincarnation. Their methods were really different from Indian predictive astrology as we know it. Greek astrology, which is also not identical to Indian astrology, worked perfectly without the concept of reincarnation, too. But then, why could it not have been invented there?

I think it is not wise to discuss all your points at the same time. Please, let us focus on your point (1) for the moment.

Regards

Dieter

Jayasree Saranathan said...

Dear Mr Dieter,

(1) I think everyone would agree that perception is the first source of knowledge. Perceive, then analyse from various angles and permutations and then infer. This is how a theory or knowledge could have been formed particularly in the early times when everything depended on observation and perception. Imagine the primitive man watching the sky. He has two points of light - one at sun rise and another at sun set. The early observation must have been through watching shadows.

In this kind of observation, further improvisation would naturally result in dividing his day into two halves at first and then fine tuning the one half in due course. Early man could have used the moon light of Full moon day for doing the shadow test. But whatever it could be, only if the day and night are fairly equal, he could have arrived at equal division of the sky by observation of the shadow. Time concept is the later born from this concept. Beyond the tropic of cancer or tropic of Capricorn, where the sun never comes overhead - this kind of observation is not possible. Placidus and others used the similar method of observation in higher latitudes and arrived at unequal houses.

I showed in that article the early location of Tamils / Indians near equator to substantiate that they were better candidates to have developed that idea.

This kind of observation of the shadow is found in vastu shastra also. The use of conch or poles was there in Vastu shastra for this. This is the primitive and natural method of observing the Sun's movement. There is a method of Dik sAdhana on how to watch the shadow every month (solar) and how to make corrections to the shadow so that the location where the shadow is observed is assessed properly to identify the exact east (Shuddha PrAchI). In the eastern direction itself, there is BrAhmi prAchI, Aindra prAchI and AishI prAchI useful for constructing temples for specific deities.

(2) I will explain it in a separate article with literary proof where I will also show that planets were identified by Indians only.

(3) and (4) are based on previous Karma. In the omens you have quoted, there is observation involved which connects some thing previously seen, to some other thing that followed later. There is cause and effect concept in that though there is no logic in it. There is a saying in Tamil "kuruvi utkaara panam pazham vizunthathu" The palm fruit fell down when the sparrow sat on it. Actually the sparrow's weight did not cause the the fruit to fall. It was coincidental. If the coincidence is repeated every time, that becomes an omen. Omens are formed through observation and also involves a previous incident to relate it to an incident that is going to happen.

But how can such a relationship be made out between planets and human life incidents? If you say that this also would have evolved with observation, what is the sample size for observation? Omens could have been formulated by observation in a life time or by a few people. Can the same be said for planetary connection to life in one's life time? Won't that involve a continuing system of observation, documentation, verification for many generations? How could this become possible without a guru- sishya parampara where these recordings would have been made continuously for many centuries? Did the Greek history have enough time to have evolved this system of observation or Vedic Hindus had?

(continued)

Jayasree Saranathan said...

In this I did not bring in Purva karma. Karma theory is a logical explanation for pain or happiness. Prediction of pain or happiness based on planetary positions can not be conceived by observation of planets as I told above because the sheer size of permutation combination of the four-some factors of astrology with reference to each of the 7 billion people in today's world is impossible. A frequently asked question in our society is why the life of two persons born at the same time, in the same place (applicable even in the case of twins) is not the same even though their horoscopes are the same. The answer is that their prarabdha karma is not the same. Prarabdha karma is like the land where cultivation must be done. Depending on the land only whatever cost- benefit that you are expending by way of planetary combinations (in our example) would bear different fruits. Karma theory answers many questions like this.

This is where the Vedic seers come into the picture. Our system never says that phalitha jyothisha was evolved by observation. But it says that it was given as a upadesa by Pitamaha, Brahma, Acharya or Surya to sages and was passed on from one sage to another. Vedangha Jyoithisha has no place here. Vedanga Jyothisha is based on observation whereas Phalitha Jyothisha is not. Vedanga Jyothisha metamorphosised into Panchanga system where also there is no use of horoscope or rashi division. Vedanga Jyothisha and Panchanga have their utility in identifying auspicious time for rituals and homas. I will write some more on this topic in an article. Phalitha Jyothisha was the gift of Jyothish Pravarthakas - whose names I have given in the last article. Based on their theories, we deduce new uses by applying them to new issues of modern day world.

regards,
Jayasree

Jayasree Saranathan said...

Dear Mr Kumar,

The naming of the days of the week came from our culture only. I will be writing it in the series on this issue/ On your query, I have written in old articles on Celts / Druids, how they were descendants of India only. The religious customs have gone from here only. You may have to browse to read those articles in this blog.

Thanks for your good words.