Fwd: Happy Vishu

[Guest guest]

Abhinavagupta , Radhakrishna Warrier wrote:

 

Dear Sunthar,

 

Your notes on Vishu were very informative. And very interesting

too. Thank you for your the same, Sunthar. Let me add this

observation of mine to your notes.

 

You are absolutely right when you say Vishu = equinox, when day and

night are of equal duration. Vishu did coincide with equinox roughly

two thousand years ago (to be more exact, about a thousand seven

hundred years ago). In the intervening millennia, Vishu

started 'slipping' and now arrives roughly 24 days late -- true

equinox now occurs around March 21. Perhaps in these intervening

millennia, our ⣨ⲹas too 'slipped' -- they seem to have veered off

the path of fearless forging ahead in the quest of fresh knowledge.

Slowly but surely, they moved away from researching and experimenting

on their own, from moving further ahead of where p?hâ²¹as

painstakingly took them, and from gaining fresh insights and coming

to new conclusions not necessarily in line with those of the p?s?

(learned men of yore).

 

Our old astronomers missed to take into consideration the precession

of the equinox caused by the spinning of the axis of rotation of

earth. It is not that they were not capable of doing so, nor that

the phenomenon was beyond the power of observation of those days.

Perhaps, our astronomers became more interested in astrology, in

predicting future, than in carefully observing the motion of the

heavenly bodies. The decline was not with astronomy alone. Ayurveda

too did not go much ahead of where it was two millennia ago. In

general, the sciences went into a phase of decline. The learned were

doing exactly what Adi Shankara ridiculed in 'Bhajagovindam' --

Dukrinjkarana, hair splitting on the inconsequential. It looks more

like a reluctance of the learned to forge ahead, to clear new paths

to fresh knowledge. They were perhaps content with what their

predecessors did and said. Perhaps afraid to face facts that might

contradict what the venerable men of yore said.

 

Thanks and regards,

 

Radhakrishna Warrier

 

 

[in response to Sunthar's notes (dated April 16, 2007) at

 

Abhinavagupta/message/4173 ]

 

----------------------------

 

Radha,

 

I had wanted to add a comment based on my own experiences in Benares

with Hindu astrologers in calculating the precession (⹡n⭳a) for

natal charts, but shall have to do so separately.

 

Sorry for the delay in approving your post.

 

Sunthar

 

 

[Rest of this thread at Sunthar V. (Feb 21, 2007)

 

Caterina Guenzi - " Destiny and divination. The work of the

astrologers of Benares "

 

Abhinavagupta/message/4111]

 

--- End forwarded message ---