Main Problems of Vedic Astrology

April 6, 2009

To All :-

As I gather from remarks made by users of various internet forums and

experiments made by astrological software makers, the most important problem

faced by Vedic astrologers is that of Ayanamsha. All other problems of

mathematical portion of astrology seems to have been finally resolved by modern

physical scientists. Since the basic rules of phalita (predictive) astrology

have not been questioned by almost all Vedic astrologers, does it mean barring

ayanamsha there is no real problem in vedic astrology today ?

But is it really so ? There are softwares in the market today which give the

user an opportunity to chose or put in any value of ayanamsha. Currently,

various values of ayanamsha range from over 22 to 24 degrees approximately. With

all possible values of ayanamsha already having been experimented with, has the

problem of a foolproof software been solved ? If any astrologer feels he/she

already has perfect softwares and barring a slight readjustment of ayanamsha

there is nothing to be experimented with, he/she need not read my messages,

because it will lead to useless fuss. But if anyone feels even with all types of

ayanamshas and all types of softwares, accurate prediction is never guaranteed

and much remains to be done, they must read this thread.

Astrologers are human beings, and to err is human. I have also erred on many

occassions. It is difficult to take into account all charts together with their

due weightage. There were numerous occassions when with all sorts of

interpretations I could not get satisfactory explanations of real life events.

After decades of research, I found out that most of our current problems are

rooted in our departure from ancient principles, which can be summed up in

following points :

1) Suryasiddhantic ayanamsha gives accurate results. BV Raman adopted

Suryasiddhantic ayanamsha, but for the present era he added modern rate of

annual precession. Hence his ayanamsha is a hybrid one, very near to

Suryasiddhantic one. Yukteshwar ayanamsha is also Suryasiddhantic, with

negligible difference.

2) Vimshottari year of 360 days ought to be lunar, based 360 lunar days

(tithis). Vimshottari is made from Moon. Chhaandogya Upanishada says full life

is of 116 years. 120 lunar years are equal to 116.4 solar years. leave aside

these arguments, perfect timing of events has found to be achieved with lunar

year used for Vimshottari. Many other software developers had also experimented

with this option ; I am not the first. But they did not carry out the third

reform given below.

3) Suryasiddhantic true planets have slight difference from the true planets of

modern physical astronomy, ranging from half to over a degree. This difference

was minimum in 2000 AD and has again started rising, at the rate of one degree

in nearly 117 years.

If these three adjustments are made into modern astrological softwares, perfect

Vimshottari will be achieved. Some other softwares have options for lunar year

for Vimshottari, and they also have optons for adding or substracting offset to

ayanamsha. Had it contained similar offsets for true planets and lagna, it would

have saved me years which I wasted in developing Kundalee software.

Only third of the above three points needs some clarification, because the first

two points have already been adopted in many famous vedic softwares. Some people

say Suryasiddhanta is an outdated text and there is no need to experiment with

it. They know majority of Indian panchangas are still made from tables based on

Suryasiddhanta either directly or indirectly. Hence, majority of traditional

vedic astrologers make horoscopes from Suryasiddhanta either knowingly or

unknowingly. Many of them have made comparative studies of horoscopes made from

traditional system with horoscopes made from softwares, and a large number of

these traditional astrologers declare that Suryasiddhantic horoscopes are far

nearer to real life events that horoscopes based on modern astronomy. That is

why astrologers of many states of India , led by four Sanskrit universities,

unanimously decided in 2005 at a conference in Varanasi that all panchangas

ought to be made on the basis of Suryasiddhanta. Unfortunately, voice of this

traditional India is not duly represented on the internet because most Sanskrit

pandits have little or no experience of computers and internet. That is why some

computerized astrologers think the voice of traditional Indian astrology must be

forcibly suppressed because this " anachronistic " voice is against modernization.

The whole problem is of just half to little over one degree of offset in

positions of true planets, which will make all divisional charts absolutely

accurate for all natives whose birthtime is accurate. Moreover, traditional

predictive rules work in perfect harmony with Suryasiddhantic computations.

One method of test is analysis of horoscopes for seeing the operation of rules

of death prediction ( http://jyotirvidya.wetpaint.com/page/Prediction+of+Death

).

Another method is analysis of horoscopes for examining Vimshottari timings of

events. One example is displayed at

http://jyotirvidya.wetpaint.com/page/Vimshottari+Dasha under title Vimshottari

Timings for Planets of Mixed Attributes

Third method is mundane astrology. One example is forecasting world economy (

http://jyotirvidya.wetpaint.com/page/World+Economy+%3A+Apr+2009-Mar+2010 ) ;

another example is

Economic Future of India : mid-Apr 2009 to mid-Apr 2010 in the same page ; third

example is rain forecast

(http://weatherindia.wetpaint.com/page/2007%3AAnnual+Rain+Forecast+(from+Apr)+fo\

r+South+Asia).

Third method, ie, of mundane astrology, is easiest for ascertaing whether

Suryasiddhantic or physical-astronomical planets ought to be used for making

horoscopes, because horoscopes made at Samkraantis has a difference of 6-7

raashis due to over half a degree difference in Suryasiddhantic Surya and modern

asteronomical Sun. Such a great difference in horoscopes will make it easier to

see which conforms more to real events.

It is useless to solve this problem merely by word duel which will lead us to

nowhere. Historical or logical debates will not help. Practical testing is the

only proper way. It is foolish to crush the voice of a great body of traditional

India just because it has no presence on internet. All these pandits of Sanskrit

universities are not fools or thugs. They have mastered the ancient methods more

than socalled experts of indology in the West. Vedic Astrology is a traditional

discipline and voice of traditional pandits must be listened.

I am calling for free and fair comparison of both methods, without personal

attacks. Those who are not interested in examining the validity of traditional

scholarship may keep away.

-VJ

============== ===========

April 6, 2009

Dear Vinay Ji,

like all arts and sciences,vedic Astrology too has been evolving.In the process

the principles of Vedical Astrology are being tested every by several scholars

at different places.Now veidc Astrology has also made it's own place in

universities at abroad.The subject has grown from veidc times till now and

definetely the credit for this goes to Internet also.

Infact our sages have debated for long and inferred that veidc Jyotish is not

Ganit Jyotish.it is some thing connecetd with the wisdom of ancient sages to

understand seven planets and their cosmic effects on humanity.

The question however relates to credibility of the subject itself when we think

in terms of main problems in vedic Astrology.

Vedic Astrology has made significant strides with the initiative take late Shri

B.V.Raman and others.Infact he has adopted his own way of calculation even

though that might not be agreed upon by others.Indian Council for Astrology a

body created for promoting Astrology teaches students the concepts of jyotish as

conveyed by jaimini,Parashara and Varahmihira.Even they too have difference in

their understanding of vedic jyotish.

What ever may the process adopted,if an Astrologer based on vedic principles of

Astrology is able to analyse and come out with predictions in a convincing

manner,no body would question the apparoch

..Indirectly it is we humans would like to see the calculations as 2+2=4.It is

here probably we are getting into issue which has not so much relevance to

traditional and conventional principles of jyotish.

Accuracy and a generaised approach as in scientic methods is the expectation of

many people to keep their trust in Astrology as a predictive tool and unfold

about future.

Secondly,we want the vast knowledge embedded in vedic sciences into a

progarammable language so that it's availability and applicationbecomes more

wider.In the process the astronomical factors relating to the movements of the

planets and their precison assumes greater significance to come out universal

data that can convince not only modern jyotishsis but also siddhantis and

pundits who have studied the nature and set up astronomical parks to measure the

movements of planets.

Infact in most of the sanskrit universities sevaral jantarmanatr type parks have

also been created.but their usage and to make the traditional subject on

scientific lines has not evinced interest.

A jyotishi/siddhanti/Pandit in his own way has vision to unravet the mysteries

of planets.Even today Phalit jyotish courses being conducted in snaskrit

universities has wide acceptability.

problem however lies for us as internet users.we donot want to go back to old

days and make janampatris in ghatis and work out on the bais of vimshottari

dasa.

we have adopted to the use of computers andnever questioned it's wisdom.Even BV

Raman or for that Shri K.n.Rao of modern times have their own approaches

beleived them and use them with the aid of computer.But what matters really are

predictive abilities

Thirdly do we really want to see the Vedic Astrology principles getting

simplified and made into programmable languages for the status of Vedic

Astrology to be elevated as a real science.

Finally I believe in Vedic principles of Vedic Astrology and the cosmic effects

these planet exert on human endeavours.Non beleievers always have their point of

arguments to say that why two astrologers hand over two different predictions.

Perhaps,usage of Internet or no Internet must be kept separate and the subject

of Vedic Astrology need to be conceptualised.it is here we need long years of

study,experience and intiative to study the charts to find the problems of the

native and help him.So it is not that we transgressing from good olden concepts

but trying to improve our predictive abilities so that jyotish as an ancient

wisdom is useful to the human being in his daily chores.

" Practical testing is the only proper way. " we all do this either with or

without the help of Internet.Might be in some occassion we give room for others

to find differences among us

It is true that " They have mastered the ancient methods more than socalled

experts of indology in the West.'

we hats off to them for the ceaseless effort and pursuit to unravel the wisdom

conatained in sastras

Absolutely forgetting about the ways in which the vedic Jyotish is understood

and various ways of inferences,we still hold high esteem to " Vedic Astrology is

a traditional discipline and voice of traditional pandits must be listened. "

This is where I think we have no qualms as we have interest to listen Sanskrit

scholars as they have really made effort to simplify the ancient wisdom and

helping others to publish books and materials.

This what Shri K.N.Rao and others are continuing their efforts.Even Prof

Pandy,Prof Nagar and Prof Tripathy Ji of sanskrit universities ahve lot of

followers and even today's media remebers them as and when their role arises in

clarifying complicated issues.

vrkrishnan

--- On Mon, 4/6/09, vinayjhaa16 <vinayjhaa16 wrote:

vinayjhaa16 <vinayjhaa16

Main Problems of Vedic Astrology

Monday, April 6, 2009, 11:46 AM