Another view

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Dear list members,

 

Today's morning email brought me among others one from the old 'Jyotish list',

that the Canadian astrologer Rohini Ranjan replied to ("subject: Ashtakavarga

useful tool or not").

It is the second part that many may find interesting about astrology in today's world.

 

After some consideration I decided to share his mail with you (with his permission),

for the purpose of general information and view of just another Vedic astrologer,

who is not a member of this list.

 

Kind regards

Jay Weiss

 

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I am really heartened by Shri Rao's message about ashtakavarga being auseful

tool. Statements from giants of his stature in modern jyotish about agiven

technique or his endorsement of a software carry a lot of weight inthe modern

quigmire that jyotish has become since its recent revival mostlyin and through

the west (Praise the Lord Internet and pass on the weed! I amsorry guys!!Truth

be told, software produced in 80s and 90s some of which simply died onthe way,

even though endorsed by Beacons of those times, died becauseit was incorrect

and inadequate BUT not necessarily unimportant! Incorrectin simple baby

algorithms like for shadbala, vimshopakbala. calculation oflongitudes! And

when we get into more intricate things like dashaas andJaimini parameters on

which even experts vary in opinions about how tocalculate, then we are entering

a dark magical forest that is betterilluminated by the words of Madame Rowlings

with an active imagination andall the jealousy surrounding her fame than

someone as factual as Einstein orNarlikar or maybe even by that Economist of

the times, Allan Greenspan whogets more immediate attention than Parashara or

those consultants who thesoftware programmers were depending upon. I am sorry

but if one cannot getthe simple phasic uchcha bala worked out in the first go

or the 19th versionfor that matter, I wonder what else is going on!Jyotish of

modern times, or even astrology in all its shades and formsprobably intensively

touches the lives of a maximum of 100 million in thisworld of 6.7 billions or

more. Probably 100 times as many read theirnewspaper forecasts and move on to a

cup of coffee at Tim Hortons orwherever -- GET real folks, they are NOT touched

by astrology regardless ofwhat we think of their karma and spiritual elevation!

Wake up to the factthat t-h-a-t represents only about 2% of world's

population. Even if it were10% -- half a billion, it would be an insignificant

proportion of theworld's total current population! Astrology, in other words,

touches FARless than 10% of humanity. Touches -- as in being significant enough

toactually change their lives or to make them e-v-e-n look at it seriously.The

statistics can be challenged to save face, but really something that arefor all

of us astrologers to think about, and consider -- rightly orwrongly -- about the

R-E-A-L impact of OUR love and life (One thing noone will get an argument

from me on is that we astrologers are one dedicatedbunch who really truly

believe in what we believe in even if we cannotprove it to others

satisfactorily and that includes the guy (strangelythere have not been too many

gals, other than K.N Saraswathy on the jyotishscene but more on the western

astrology side of things) who thinks he hasproved it to all for all times to

come! Of course astrologers are fully convinced, asindividuals or as a

collective group). Our 75 to 80 % claims of successnotwithstanding, some with

the help of japa and yogic powers which throw in yetanother variable in the

mix. The borscht tastes delicious and fulfilling,but can it be sold as a

written recipe, yet?None of us can entirely shed our biases of THIS lifetime

and will evenjustify those R-A-T-I-O-N-A-L-L-Y!But thanks to Ben and

Charles and similar folks in cyber-reality, we theminority (those who REALLY

believe in astrology!) have this chance tointeract and progress, mostly

individually. This is how it was right fromthe beginning. Look at the very

different and distinctive outlooks expressedby Parashara, Varahamihira, Garga,

Satya, Mukuna Vallabha, Kalidasa (now hewas one rebel!) and all others right

through Raman, Seshadri Iyer and KN Rao.What does it tell you? The facts are

all there, but there is NO ONE SINGLEINTERPRETATION, just a plethora of

certificates and gurus and sub-gurus bythe dozen!The Hamilton project (cold,

double blinded readings and test of astrology) hadattracted my attention and

soul, but it did not last, because IMO politicsentered it and ruined the

purpose. Who suffers in the end? Or what??And everyone is right, of course!Jai

Ram Ji ki!Rohiniranjan