A Philosophy of Astrology
Anil Chawla
A PHILOSOPHY OF ASTROLOGY
PREFACE
Astrology is a much-maligned branch of
knowledge. On one hand, it has suffered at
the hands of astrologers, who accept no
limitations on their capabilities to predict the
future and see human race as puppets in the
hands of an anthromorphic omniscient
Supreme Being. On the other hand,
pseudo-scientists – who rarely understand even
the rudiments of philosophy of science – keep
performing poorly designed
experiments to discredit and disprove
astrology.
Sledgehammer approach of so-called
rationalists is based on two premises – (a) the
purpose of astrology is to predict the future
and (b) astrology presumes determinism,
fatalism and absence of free will. Needless
to say, that both the premises are far from
truth. However, even astrologers are rarely
able to say so. That, and that alone, is the
raison d’être for this mini-book.
More than fifteen years ago, I met Mr. Kirti
Ashar, an amateur astrologer, and now a
good friend, who tried to teach me
fundamentals of astrology. All his efforts were in
vain. Planets, zodiac signs and houses
confuse me. Yet, the subject fascinated me. It
is an ancient branch of knowledge, but still
under-developed.
Generally speaking, no astrologer is willing
to admit that astrology is an underdeveloped
discipline. Astrologers swear by individual
knowledge and individual
astrologer’s ability to awe by predicting the
most unpredictable. There is no attempt to
work out a common disciplinary matrix of law,
theory, application, instrumentation,
symbolic generalizations, shared commitments
to beliefs, values, tacit knowledge and
exemplars – in other words, to develop, what
Thomas Kuhn describes as, a paradigm
of astrology.
In my humble attempt of penning A Philosophy
of Astrology, I have attempted to lay
the first stone for building a paradigm of
modern astrology. I shall consider my efforts
successful if it inspires some other
thinkers, astrologers, philosophers and
psychologists to move further in this
direction.
Simultaneously, I hope that this mini-book
will help a layman (or woman), who visits
an astrologer to better utilize astrological
advice. When one goes to a doctor, one
knows that one may still die. Similarly, when
you visit an astrologer, please
understand that he is no God, nor does he
have a direct hotline to the Almighty.
Before I end this short note and you move on
to the chapters, please allow me to
thank Mr. Kirti Ashar, who may well claim to
be the source of many of the ideas
expressed in this mini-book. Thanks are also
due to Prof. D.S. Karaulia, who was kind
enough to lend me some very useful books and
also to read the first few pages of the
initial draft.
1. Introduction
Jyotish, a Sanskrit word, is often translated as astrology. Jyotish does include
astrology. However, literally speaking, the
word means knowledge that provides light.
In its strictest sense, jyotish does not predict the future. It is akin to light that
enables
one to see. In spite of abundance of light,
one needs eyes to be able to see anything.
The set of eyes that enable one to see is
called Darshan Shastra, which is translated to
mean philosophy. Western philosophy, with its
history of speculation, never had to
serve the practical role that Darshan Shastra had to serve in Indian context. All
through history, with the exception of past
two or three centuries, European
philosophers had a very limited role in their
society. Religion and theological
authorities had all the answers. They did not
need the services of philosophers. If at all
philosophers survived, it was due to the
mercy of some kings. The role of philosophers
in the courts of kings was either to dazzle
(and puzzle) courtiers with their superb
arguments or to help the king fight the
Church. As far as Church is concerned, it had
no use for original thinkers or philosophers.
Church was (and even today is) content
with interpretation of the Holy Book.
In India, religion was dynamic and open to
new ideas and growth. There was no tying
down to a Holy Book. A philosopher or darshanik enjoyed a fair level of freedom.
Hence, darshan shastra evolved to serve the Weltanschauung or existentialist concerns
of man. The primary purpose of darshan shastra is to provide the ideological
framework that would enable one to see
oneself and the world.
An attempt is made in the following pages to
elucidate some essential concepts of
Darshan that are necessary for appropriate use of jyotish.
2. Cyclical Nature Of Life – Good Times, Bad
Times
Life has a cyclical nature. Good times follow
bad times and vice versa. Surely, good
and bad are labels that we, human beings, put
based on our limited perceptions. There
is nothing that is all good and nothing that
is all bad.
Consider the example of agriculture. To begin
with, the fields are vacant. One ploughs
the fields, takes grain from home and
disperses in the fields. This is the first stage
called sowing. At the beginning of this
stage, there was some grain at home but now at
the end of this stage, there is no grain at
home either; there is some grain hidden in the
soil, but one does not know whether it will
grow up or wither away. The second stage
is growth. Plants have started growing. They
need care. One can feel happy seeing
them grow, but at this stage if someone wants
grain, there is nothing that one can get.
For that one has to move on the third stage
of reaping, when one can reap the crop.
Sowing, growth and reaping – these three
stages are essential for crops. Life follows a
similar pattern. There is one phase of life
when one has to only sow. In the other phase
one can see some progress but one cannot
still enjoy the fruits of one’s labours.
Followed by this is the phase when one can
enjoy the fruits. In case of agricultural
crops, the time and duration of each phase is
determined by variations in temperature
and humidity caused by seasonal variations.
In case of human beings, planetary
movements determine the phases.
Planetary movements determine the duration
and timing, but they do not determine the
quantum of results, which are determined by
one’s own efforts, present and past. It is
like one knows that an Indian farmer will get
crop of wheat in the month of March, but
the quantity of wheat that he can harvest
depends on the efforts put in by him, the seed
chosen by him and the area of land owned by
him.
Many astrologers often advise their clients
to lie low when the times are “bad”. In
fact, when one looks at personal lives of
most astrologers, one notices that they
rarely achieve much success in their personal
lives. The reason lies in their wrong
notion of “bad” times. The times, when one
cannot get results, is viewed by many
astrologers as bad. Since one cannot get
results and one has to face failure, why
venture – this is the common refrain. They fail
to see the so-called bad times as
sowing times. When one does not sow during
the period that one is supposed to
sow, one gets nothing during the harvest
time. Every failure is indeed an
investment. Inability to face failures
head-on and desire to get quick successes is a
sure recipe for disaster prescribed by many
astrologers who lack the perspective
provided by darshan.
Sowing is not the time to get depressed and
at harvest time one must not forget all
about future. A wise farmer starts preparing
for the next sowing as soon as he has
harvested a crop. Even before he lets his
family eat the grain, he keeps a portion
away to sow for the next crop. Similarly, a
wise man knows that at times when one
is being lauded for achievements, one must
start planning for the next phase when
one will have to once again till the land and
sow the seed.
3. Continuity of life after life
This is a presupposition or postulate of the
theory of Karma. Every action leads to
some effects. If one does some action or
work, one is bound to get the results for it,
sooner or later – in this life or the next.
Everyone is born with a balance sheet of
one’s actions from the previous birth and
carries forward a balance sheet into the
next birth. No one can read the balance
sheet, but that does not mean that it does not
exist. One can always work to improve upon
the opening balances.
If one accepts the above theory, one can
understand why some people achieve so
much with hardly any effort while some others
struggle to achieve even a small
success.
A person’s horoscope may give an idea of the
opening balances that he / she began
with. A horoscope cannot give any idea of the
efforts that the person might have or
have not put into various ventures during his
life. A good horoscope is like being
the owner of a big field, which is very
fertile. But a huge fertile field will also yield
nothing if one does not till it and sow it
properly. On the other hand no land is so
barren that a skilled farmer, with hard work
and perseverance, cannot grow some
crop or the other on it. And what would you
say about a field so barren that not even
a blade of grass would grow on it, yet
beneath its surface it hides precious minerals.
4. Complexity Of Life – Twelve Houses
Human life cannot be judged or measured like
a field of wheat can be – in terms of
tons of wheat produced. When anyone looks at
one’s own life, there is bound to be a
mix of pleasures and sorrows, achievements
and missed opportunities. A person who is
blessed with fame, riches and wealth may have
bad health; another person who is
otherwise successful may have a troubled
family life. Life is not a single parameter
game. Fulfilment and satisfaction of life
comes from a large number of areas. Indian
thinkers divided life into twelve houses or bhavs.
Annexure 1A gives the matters that are
covered by various houses as given by famous
astrologer, B.V. Raman. Prof. K.S.
Krishnamurti’s description of the houses is given in
Annexure 1B.
A comparison of the two descriptions (given
by BV Raman and Prof. Krishnamurti)
shows many differences. For example,
Krishnamurti mentions third house to be related
to heroism, but BV Raman does not say so.
There are many such differences, which a
reader may notice. Without getting involved
with these, let us look at two quotations
from the two books, which illustrate a very
vital point.
Prof. K.S. Krishnamurti says (p.189), “The
second house governs second marriage.
This is so because the 2nd house is the 8th
to the 7th representing the first wife and it is
generally after the death of the first wife
that one will go in for second marriage.”
Raman B.V. says (p.3), “In applying the rules
contained in astrological books to
practical horoscopes one must definitely bear
in mind that they are merely for his
guidance. In addition to knowledge of
astrology, one must also exercise discretion and
common sense coupled, of course, with a
certain amount of intuition.”
Prof. Krishnamurti has assumed a strictly
monogamous life with no extra-marital
affairs, as must be usual in the orthodox South
Indian Hindu upper caste middle class
families that he might have been interacting
with. He fails to appreciate that in some
sections of society (for example Muslims)
bigamy may not be as unusual. His logic for
second house governing second marriage has no
basis in case of a bigamous person.
Some Hindu thinkers have looked at any unison
of body, mind and soul between a man
and a woman as a marriage. An intimate
extra-marital affair of a man may be a second
marriage. Some astrologers may look at such a
second marriage as governed by
seventh house, while some others may consider
it to be a matter of 2nd or even 12th
house.
Such differences of opinion, among
astrologers, are rarely sorted out by open debate,
deliberations and discussions. Most
astrologers resort to, what BV Raman says,
“discretion and common sense coupled, of
course, with a certain amount of intuition”.
This leads to a situation where no two
astrologers can arrive at any agreement about
any matter. Obviously, this is not an ideal
situation for growth of astrology as a faculty.
The problem with description of houses, for
that matter with astrology as a whole, is
that it was worked out centuries ago on the
basis of life as it was then. Life has
undergone a sea change in the past few
centuries. But, there has been hardly any
systematic joint attempt by astrologers, as a
group, to redefine the houses based on
today’s life, technological advancements and
social structures. One of the reasons for
this is that the philosophical basis of
astrology is almost lost. In the absence of a
philosophy, astrology as a discipline has
become a series of empirical observations,
quick-result formulae without a soul or a
vital life force.
Most astrologers do look at the twelve houses
as an image of the sky, but in looking at
human mind, body and life as corresponding to
the sky, they use ancient tools that
have not been adequately updated with time.
In Annexure 1C, I propose a classification
of houses based on Dharm, Arth, Kam and
Moksh.
Dharm relates to essential duties that one must perform to live life as an
individual, as
a member of a family and as a social being in
relation with the cosmos. The first and
foremost dharm of any person is towards his own body – he / she must take care of
physiological needs. This is allocated to the
first house. In a way, this is the bottom of
Maslow’s triangle.
The next level of dharm is when one moves beyond oneself to the ones whom one
considers as close relatives. Children
symbolize the next level of one’s duties and are
represented in the fifth house.
Taking care of children is instinctive. Most
animals do that. Taking care of one’s father
is not instinctive. This comes from a
realization of one’s duty that only humans are
capable of. All such types of dharm are allocated to the ninth house.
While dharm stands for essential duties, arth means
resources that are necessary for
living. The first level of resources is
wealth and possessions; second level is one’s own
skills, competence, and ability to face
challenges; and the third level is one’s career,
profession, social position, reputation and
honour in the society. The first level is
intensely personal, second level involves
close interactions that challenge, while the
last level involves interaction with a whole
that is not confined to one’s close circle.
The three levels of arth are represented by 2nd, 6th and 10th houses respectively.
Having gathered the necessary resources for
life, a person must move on to building
relations with other human beings. The first
level of relations is with one’s siblings;
second level of relations comes when one gets
a spouse or gets into a partnership; and
a higher level of relationships is when one
has personal goals, friends, achievements
and ambitions. The three levels of relating
to the world or in other words three levels
of kam can
also be seen from a different perspective. The first level is communications
involving exchange of information and
thoughts. At the second level intimacy grows to
a level that communication or exchange of information
is just a small part of the
exercise – one links in a fashion that one
unites with the other. Moving to a higher
level, one is no longer tied with one’s
personal needs; one now looks at oneself
through the eyes of the world. One’s desires
and passions take on a different colour. Of
course, at the third level of desires, each
person may define one’s own path. The three
levels of kam are allocated respectively to 3rd, 7th and 11th houses.
The last set pertaining to moksh is the most difficult to define. It is the part of life that
liberates one. It is the window to divinity
available to mankind. The first experience of
divinity that every human being has is in
one’s mothers lap. Sucking on the mother’s
breast is a divine experience for a child.
Such simple pleasures are the subject matter of
fourth house – the first stage of moksh.
The next level of divine experience is more
complex. One may get close to
experiencing the divinity through death of a
close one (or even oneself) or through a
sexual experience – not the type where one
establishes a close intimate relationship (7th
house) but an intensely physical, passionate
and mind-blowing act. One may even have
an occult experience.
Each person experiences 8th house in his /
her own way. Surely, this can be said about
each house. But, it is more so in case of 8th
house where one seeks liberation from a
mundane life and moves to an arena of
experiences where one’s close ones are
involved but they serve only to help the
individual achieve liberation from bondages.
The highest level of liberation from bondages
naturally involves loss, sometimes,
total loss. On the other hand it also
involves gaining access to a world that is not
comprehensible with ordinary senses. If one
believes in life after death, it is surely a
matter of 12th house. In Maslow’s triangle,
the highest level of self-transcendence is
the matter of 12th house. But for some,
liberation from bonds is a state of
uncontrolled behaviour that violates all
norms of society. Highest level of liberation
may also mean existentialist alienation
leading to meaninglessness and boredom. In
such a case, one may murder or rape or
indulge in uncontrolled sex with large
number of prostitutes. Twelfth house has been
called the house of bed for this reason.
The twelve houses represent human life in its
totality. One must, however, abstain
from passing value judgements about one house
or the other. No aspect of life is good
and no aspect is bad. Each house represents a
multitude of opportunities and threats, a
combination of strengths and weaknesses. Each
house has different shades – some
negative and some positive. Each house is
subject to the influence of zodiac signs and
planets. We are not going to discuss these
influences here since the subject matter of
this mini-book is philosophy of astrology and
not astrology. The important part that
needs to be underscored is that forces and
elements influence each aspect of life but
the effect that these influences finally bear
varies from individual to individual. The
same planetary influence on the same house
can cause two opposite reactions in two
persons. To that extent, each house seems to
often represent two opposite extremes.
For example, 12th house simultaneously
represents an ascetic as well as a skirt-chaser.
Whether one becomes an ascetic or a
skirt-chaser depends on the individual
concerned. It is not an exaggeration to say
that the two extremes are two sides of the
same coin.
My attempt in Annexure 1C to redefine a
framework is intended to propose the
foundations of a new (actually, it is
ancient, but I guess it sounds better if I call it
new. ☺) philosophical paradigm for understanding astrology as well as life in
general. Linear simplicity of Maslow’s
triangle, though useful in some respects, is
grossly inadequate to understand the
complexity of human life. The two-dimensional
matrix of dharm, arth, kam,
and moksh combined with the concept of self, close ones
and the world is proposed to help us
understand our lives.
As with any paradigm, the proposed paradigm
will need significant research to better
define the contours of the proposed matrix. Human
life and mind are complex and
ever changing. Astrology, psychology and
philosophy need to work together to better
understand various facets of life in the
light of the proposed structure.
5. Predicting The Future
King Vikramathithya had many astrologers in
his court. Of them, Mihir was an
intellectual giant and the most renowned. The
King had a son. Mihir cast the
horoscope of the prince. Other astrologers
also prepared the boy’s horoscope using
different systems of calculation.
All of them gave their opinion that the
prince would have an anxious time at the age
of 18. But Mihir alone predicted clearly and
boldly that the price would be killed by
a varaha (boar) at a particular hour on a
particular date. He also said that no human
remedies could avert the danger and save the
prince from the jaws of death and that
this unpleasant incident could not be
averted.
Years passed. The prince was maintaining
robust health. His surroundings were well
guarded even some months prior to the
eventful day. On the morning of the fateful
day, the king held a durbar. The king
requested Mihir to verify his calculations and
confirm whether the fateful hour would be
5.00 p.m. on that day as predicted
previously. All had their own doubts, because
every precaution had been taken by the
king. No wild boar or wild animal could have
any chance of gaining access to the
prince’s palace, which was very well
protected by a huge army of vigilant warriors.
The prince was asked to take his seat on the
seventh floor, and all the staircases were
fully guarded. The king was confident that
his son was safe. The king requested
Mihir to reconsider deeply about his original
prediction.
Mihir said that there was no mistake and
death from injuries inflicted by a boar was
predicted from the prince’s horoscope without
any shadow of doubt.
At frequent intervals a warrior was asked to
give information about the prince’s
health. Reports that the prince was all right
continued to come even after the
stipulated time of 5pm. Mihir did not agree.
He calmly told the king that the prince
had died at the stipulated time and it would
be advisable if they would verify. He
further mentioned that the prince was lying a
pool of blood. He persuaded the king to
go and see for himself. The king went to the
seventh floor of prince’s palace, where
companions of the prince were playing games.
On enquiry, he was told that the
prince was playing with them all along and
that only a little while ago, the prince had
gone out to the adjacent open terrace.
All quickly stepped into the open terrace. To
their great grief, the prince was lying
dead in a pool of blood. They found that his
body was injured by iron claw of an
artificial boar. When the palace was
constructed, the architect had erected a flagstaff
and fixed an artificial boar made of iron and
mortar at the top of the palace. Just
before 5.00 p.m., the prince felt uneasy. He
went to the open terrace to have fresh air.
Exactly at 5.00 p.m., a strong wind broke the
post into two and the artificial boar fell
down. It fell straight on the chest of the
prince. The injury was so deep that the
terrible loss of blood resulted in his
immediate collapse.
The king awarded the title “Varaha” to Mihir
and thereafter he was known as
Varahmihir.
(Abridged from Prof. K.S. Krishnamurti, Fundamental
Principles of Astrology, Krishnamurti
Publications, Madras, 1987, p. 19-22)
Astrologers often cite the above story to
illustrate the finality of fate and futility of
human actions. Krishnamurti, in his
introducing remarks before the above story, says,
“Able astrologers who have specialised in any
branch of the science can boldly declare
an event without any doubt and can go the
extent of taking a challenge that a particular
result must happen, mentioning also the time
of the event.”
A key point that is often missed by most
astrologers about the above story is that, as
reward for his accurate prediction, Mihir was
given the title of Varah (boar).
How
would you like to be called a pig? Would you
consider it an honour? In Hindu
mythology, Lord Vishnu is supposed to have
taken an incarnation in the form of a
Varah. Yet, one finds no other instance of a learned man being ‘honoured’ by the
title
of Varah.
It appears, to me, that the intellectual community did not approve of Mihir’s
action of forecasting the death of the prince
and as a lifelong disgrace, bestowed the
insult of being called a Varah.
Clairvoyance, sixth sense, intuition – these
are qualities that some individuals, and
probably even some animals, possess. (In
mid-December 1981, a Nandi bull in Nashik
told me that I would be the first person to
travel abroad out of the small crowd
assembled on a roadside. I did not even have
a passport at that time. On 15 February
1982 I was on a flight to Germany.) Probably,
it is possible for ordinary mortals to
practise spiritual training or sadhana or yoga or tapasya and achieve mystical powers
or siddhis that enable one to do acts, which are impossible in normal course. Almost
every religion in the world acknowledges such
mystical powers. Without denying the
existence of mystical powers, astrology, to
develop as a science, must move away from
mysticism and occult.
Mysticism and occult do produce some
astoundingly accurate predictions, but there are
as many instances of their being totally
off-mark. Estimates of accuracy of mystical
predictions vary, but there is no mystic or
seer, as far as I know, who can claim a hit
rate of hundred per cent. Indian thinkers,
most notably Gautam Buddha, had prohibited
demonstration of mystical powers or siddhis.
The prevalent view in Indian tradition has
been that any intellectual or spiritual skills
or abilities that one possesses or acquires
must be used for the good of the society and
not for going on a personal ego trip. Mihir’s
accurate prediction of prince’s death did
not do any social good; it would have only
made the life of the royal family terribly
miserable for eighteen long years. Would it
not have been much better for the royal
family to be ignorant and just face fate as
it came?
A few years ago, my neighbour, a young
married healthy woman went to an astrologer.
She was told that her death was certain
within a year’s time. One can imagine her state.
She even planned for her husband’s second
marriage, after her death. Today, years
later, she still dreads to think of the way
she passed the year living through death. Even
if certain death awaited her (in this case,
it did not) at the end of the year, she would
certainly have been better off enjoying life
till finally death did strike.
Astrological predictions, that claim to
forecast any event that cannot be averted or
altered by any human actions, serve no
purpose except to pamper to the ego of the
astrologer. Such predictions, in fact, damage
individuals and society.
In Indian tradition, the classic instance of
shunning predictions is seen at the start of
Mahabharat. Arjun was gripped with moral
doubts and lost the will to fight just when
he reached the battlefield. Krishn, accepted
as an incarnation of God, delivered a long
sermon, Shrimad Bhagwad Gita, to him about
why he must fight. At no point in the
sermon, Krishn predicts the result of war.
Would it not have been much simpler for
Krishn to just tell Arjun that he was sure to
win the war and so he should go right
ahead and fight!
One finds an instance in Ramayan – Laxman had
been grievously hurt in the war and
Ram was in grief. Did Ram, an incarnation of
God, not know that Laxman was not
going to die? Surely, he could have got the
services of an expert soothsayer like Mihir.
If Ram and Krishn (and for that matter, even
Jesus, Moses and Prophet Mohammed)
did not depend on clairvoyance and let life
take its own course, there is no reason for
modern man to take recourse to advice of
fortune-tellers.
Astrology, on its part, must avoid the
pitfall of fortune telling. Astrologers need to
become more humble. They must accept their
limitations. Astrology, as distinct from
astronomy, arouses widespread popular
interest since it has the potential to be useful to
humanity. If fate was pre-decided and cast in
stone, no human intervention would be
possible – this would render astrology (in
fact, all knowledge, sciences and even
technology) redundant.
Astrologers must begin with the premise that
human life is unpredictable and that is
exactly the way it must remain, given the present
state of human development. On the
other hand, astrologers ought to help modern
man (or woman) to understand various
influences that he (or she) is subjected to.
They can and should help one understand
one’s own mind as it grows through various
phases of life. They can help by predicting
phases, stages, factors, influences and
forces that one’s life goes through.
To sum up, let us look at what BV Raman wrote
on 30-9-1941 in the Preface to his
book:
Can a science as astrology be ever untrue?
The scientist takes too crudely a
materialistic view of the whole nature of the
universe. He contends that he may
think of considering astrology as a fit
subject for investigation provided the
destiny factor is ruled out of it. This is simply absurd. There
is nothing like
destiny in astrology. The proper term to be
used is Adrishta or that which is not
seen. Astrology simply indicates and gives
the greatest scope for the development
of will-power, by means of which one can
either counteract the evil indications or
augment the favourable influences.
Om Tat Sat
(Continued...)
(My
humble salutations to Sri Anil Chawla ji
and hindu samskrit dot com for the
collection)
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