Osho on Science of Astrology

April 18, 2009

Osho - My intention in talking on astrology could be misunderstood. It is not as if I intend to talk on the same subjects that are discussed by an ordinary astrologer. To such an astrologer you can pay a coin and be told your fortune. Perhaps you think that I am going to talk about him or be in support of him. In the name of astrology, ninety-nine percent of astrologers only bluff. Only one percent will not dogmatically assert that an event will definitely happen. They know that astrology is a vast subject – so vast that someone can only hesitatingly enter into it.When I am talking about astrology, I want show you to have a picture of the whole science from many angles so that you can enter it without any fear or hesitation. When I talk about astrology, I am not talking about the ordinary astrologer – such small matters. But the average man's curiosity regarding astrology is just to know whether his daughter will get married or not.... Astrology can be divided into three parts. The first part is the core, the essence; it is the essentials, and cannot be changed. It is the part which is most difficult to understand. The second part is the middle layer, in which one can make whatever changes one wants. It is the semi-essential portion in which you can make changes if you know how, but without knowing, no changes are possible at all. The third part is the outermost layer which is nonessential, but about which we are all very curious.The first is the essence, in which no changes can be made. When it is known, the only way is to cooperate with it. Religions have devised astrology in order to know and decipher this essential destiny. The semi-essential part of astrology is such that if we know about it we can change our lives – otherwise not.

If we do not know, then whatsoever was going to happen will happen. If there is knowledge, there are alternatives to choose between. There is a possibility of transformation if the right choice is made. The third, nonessential part is just the periphery, the outer surface. There is nothing essential in it; everything is circumstantial.

But we go to consult astrologers only for the nonessential things. Someone goes and asks an astrologer when he will get employment – there is no relationship between your employment and the moon and stars. Someone asks whether he will marry or not.... There can be a society without marriage. Someone asks whether he will remain poor or become rich.... There can be a socialist or communist society where there will be no rich and no poor people. So these are nonessential questions....

An eighty years old man was walking along when his foot slipped on some orange peel thrown onto the road. Now, is it possible to inquire of an astrologer and know from the moon and stars on which road and on which orange peel the foot will slip? Such queries are foolish, but you are curious to know in advance whether your foot will land on an orange skin and slip if you go out on the road today. This is nonessential.

This has nothing to do with your being or your soul. These events happen on the periphery, and astrology has nothing to do with them. But because the astrologers were busy talking only about such things, the great establishment of astrology collapsed. This was the only reason. No intelligent person will be prepared to believe that when he was born it was written by destiny that on a particular day on Marine Drive his foot would land on some orange peel and he would fall....

Neither the falling down nor the orange peel have any relationship to the stars. Astrology has lost respect because it became connected with such things. At one time or the other we all have wanted to know such things from astrologers – but these things are nonessential. But there are certain semi-essential matters such as the birth or death of a person: if you can know everything about these, you can take precautionary measures.

If you do not know anything, you can't do anything. If our knowledge about the diagnosis of disease is increased, we will be able to increase the life-span of human beings. We have been doing it. If our research to make deadlier atom bombs succeeds, we will be able to kill hundreds of thousands of people at a time – we have done it.

This semiessential world presents a possibility for our being able to do certain things, if we know in advance what is going to happen. If we do not know, nothing can be done. By our knowing in advance, alternatives can be sorted out and selected. Beyond this, the world of the essential exists – you cannot do anything about it. However, our curiosity is to know only about nonessential things.

Seldom does someone reach out to know the semi-essential. Our curiosity or desire never extends to knowing that which is essential and unavoidable, that which cannot be changed even if known. Mahavira was passing through a village with his disciple, Goshalak, who later became his opponent, when they came across a small plant. Goshalak said to Mahavira, "Listen, here is a plant. What do you think: Will it grow enough to produce a flower, or will it die before it can flower? What is its future?"

Mahavira immediately closed his eyes and sat in front of the plant. Goshalak cunningly said, "Do not evade the issue. What will happen by closing your eyes?" He did not know why Mahavira had become silent and closed his eyes, and that he was looking for the essential. It was necessary to go deep down into the being, into the soul of that plant. Without doing so, it was not possible to say what would happen.After a while, Mahavira opened his eyes and said, "This plant will survive to flower." Goshalak immediately pulled the plant up by its roots, threw it away and laughed derisively. There was no better way to falsify the statement of Mahavira?Mahavira had nothing more to say now, because Goshalak had uprooted the plant and thrown it away as a challenge. He was laughing, Mahavira was smiling, and they continued their journey. It began to rain heavily. There was a storm and for seven days continuously torrential rains fell, so they were not able to go out for seven whole days.When the rains had subsided and they were returning, on the way they reached the same spot where seven days previously Mahavira had closed his eyes to know the inner being of the plant. They saw that the plant was again standing with its roots well below the ground. Due to the heavy rains and winds the earth had become wet and loose, and the roots of the plant had dug in. Mahavira again closed his eyes and stood by the plant.

Goshalak became very embarrassed – he had uprooted and thrown away that plant. When Mahavira opened his eyes, Goshalak said, "I am surprised and confused. I uprooted this plant and threw it away, and it is growing again."Mahavira replied, "It will survive to flower. I closed my eyes to see the inner potentiality and condition of the seed – whether it was capable of taking root again even though it was uprooted, whether it was suicidal or not, whether it had a strong instinct or desire for death. If its instinct was suicidal it would have used your help to die. I wanted to see whether it was yearning to live – if it was determined to live, it would live. I knew that you were going to uproot it and throw it away."Goshalak asked, "What are you saying?"Mahavira said, "When I was looking into the inner being of the plant with my eyes closed, I also saw you standing by, determined to uproot it. I knew that you would uproot the plant – that is why it was necessary for me to know the inner capacity of the plant to live, how much self-confidence and will power it had. If it was waiting to die and looking for an excuse, your excuse would be enough for it to die; otherwise, the uprooted plant would take root again."Goshalak lacked the courage to uproot the plant again; he was afraid. Previously Goshalak had gone laughing to the village; this time, Mahavira marched ahead with a knowing smile.Goshalak then asked, "Why are you laughing?"Mahavira said, "I was watching, just thinking about your capability – whether you could uproot the plant a second time or not."Goshalak said, "You could see whether I would do it or not?"Mahavira replied, "It was nonessential. You might have uprooted it, you might not have uprooted it. But it was essential and unavoidable that the plant still wanted to live. Its whole being, its whole vitality, wanted to live. That was essential. What was nonessential was your throwing it away or not, and that was dependent on you. But you have proven weaker and less determined than the plant. You are defeated."One of the reasons for Goshalak being displeased with Mahavira was this incident concerning the plant. The astrology I am talking about concerns the essential, the fundamental. At best your curiosity as far as the semi-essential. You want to know how long you will live or whether or not you will suddenly die. But you are not curious to know what you will do if you live – how you will live. You do want to know how you will die when the time comes or what you will be doing at that time. Your curiosity extends to events, not to the soul. That I am living is just an event, but what I am doing while living, or what I am, is my soul. When I die it will be an event, but at the moment of death, how I will be, what I will do, is my soul. We shall all die, the event of death is similar for all, but the manner of dying, the moment of death, will be different for everyone – someone can even die smiling.

At the time of death, someone asked Mulla Nasruddin, "What do you think, Mulla? – when people are born from where do they come? Mulla replied, "I've seen every child weeping at the time of birth, and at the time of death also everyone seems to be weeping. So, I surmise that people are neither coming from nor going to a good place. While they come they are weeping, while they go they are also weeping!"But people like Nasruddin die laughing.... Death is an event, but that which is laughing at the time of death is the soul. So, when you go to an astrologer, ask him how you will die – weeping or laughing? This is worthwhile asking – but it is connected to essential astrology. No one on this earth has asked an astrologer whether he will die weeping or smiling. You are asking when you will die – as if dying is of value in itself.

You are asking how long you will live – as if just living is sufficient. Why will I live? For what shall I live? What shall I do while living? What shall I become if I live? Such questions are not asked by anyone. That is why the structure of astrology has collapsed. Anything which is constructed on nonessential foundations will certainly collapse.

The astrology I am talking about, and what you understand to be astrology, are different. The astrology about which I am talking is qualitatively different and of much more depth. Its dimensions are different. I am discussing that which is essential in your life – in total harmony. It is not separate, the whole world participates in it – you are not alone in it.

When Buddha became enlightened, he placed his hands together in salutation and bowed his head until it touched the ground. The story goes on to say that the gods came from heaven to pay their respects to Buddha because he had found the ultimate truth, but upon seeing him with his head touching the ground, they were surprised. They asked Buddha to whom he was bowing.

They said that they had come from heaven to offer greetings to him because he was enlightened and that they did not know that there could be something to which even Buddha had to offer salutations, as enlightenment is the ultimate attainment. Buddha then opened his eyes and said, "In whatsoever has happened to me, I am not alone, theworld has also participated. So I bowed down to the earth in thanksgiving to the whole world."

This is a matter connected with essential astrology. That is why Buddha told his disciples that whenever they attained the inner bliss they should immediately give thanks to the whole world, because they were not alone in that experience. If the sun had not risen or if the moon had not risen, or if the chain of events had differed just slightly, the experience that they had would have been missed.

It is true it was they who had had the experience, but everything was instrumental in it – the whole existence contributed to it. The name of this interconnected cosmic relationship is astrology.Buddha would never say, "I have become enlightened"; he would only say, "The world hasexperienced through me – this event of enlightenment, this supreme light, is known to the world through me. I am only an excuse, a pretext. I am only a crossing where all roads of the world have met."Have you ever thought that though a crossroads looks significant, by itself it is nothing? If the four roads that meet are removed, the significance of the crossroads will also disappear. We are each a crossroads where the forces of the world touch and meet at a point. At that point an individual is formed, a person is born. The meaning and essence of astrology is that we are not separate, we are one with the universe.Not only are we one with the universe, we are also participants in every situation and event. So Buddha replied that he was offering greetings to all the buddhas who had come before him, and even to those who would come after him.

Then someone said to him that it was understandable that he offer greetings to those born before him, because knowingly or unknowingly Buddha might be in their debt – their knowledge might have helped him – but why should he salute those who were not yet born? What could he have gained from them? Buddha replied that he had received help not only from those buddhas who were born before him, but also from those who would be born after him – because from where he stood at that moment, the past and the future had met and become one.

Those who had passed were meeting those that were coming right to where he was. The sunrise and the sunset were meeting at one point. So Buddha was also offering greetings to those who were still to be born. He was indebted to them also – because if they had not been projected into the future, Buddha could not have occurred.

This is a little difficult to understand. This is connected with the essential astrology. I will not be if anything from my past is dropped or lost – I am a link in a long chain. It is understandable that if my father were not born I could not be born, because my father is an essential link in the chain reaching up to me. Even if my grandfather were not there I could not be born, because the link is essential.

But it is difficult to understand that if there were no link attached to me leading into the future, then also I could not be born. What have I to do with that future link? – I am already born. But Buddha says that if whatsoever is going to happen in the future were not already there, then I could not be born because I am a link between the past and the future. If there were even a slight change in the past or the future, I could not be the same as I am now.

Yesterday has made me and tomorrow has also made me: this is astrology. Not only yesterday, but also tomorrow; not only what has already arrived, but also what is coming; not only the sun that has risen today, but also the sun that will rise tomorrow – all areparticipants. The projections of the future also determine the present moments. This present moment could not be if there were no future moments.

Only with the support of future moments can the present moment occur. Our hands are resting on the shoulders of the future, our feet are on the shoulders of our past. It is very obvious that if that which is below me – on which I am standing and which I can see – slips away, I will fall. But if the shoulders of the future – on which my outstretched handsare resting – slip away then I will also fall.When a person finds himself connected with this inner unity of past and future he will be able to understand astrology. Then astrology becomes a religion, then astrology becomes spiritual. Otherwise, by becoming related with the nonessential astrology becomes merely a subject for pseudo fortune-tellers on the roadside, and then it is of no value. Even the highest science is just dust in the hands of those who are ignorant.

Its value is determined by the use to which we are able to put the knowledge. Hence I am trying to push you from many doors so you might understand that everything is joinedtogether, interconnected. This universe is like a family, like one organic body. When I am breathing, my whole body is affected; likewise, when the sun breathes, the earth is affected. The earth is even affected by what remote suns do.

Even the smallest cell vibrates in unity with those giant suns. If you can understand this, we shall be able to enter into essential astrology, and then we shall be spared the uselessness of the nonessential. We have associated the most trivial matters with astrology. Those matters have no value, and because of our connecting them with astrology, difficulties have arisen.

For example, we have connected the matter of a person being born into a poor family or a rich family with astrology. If you do not understand that such things are nonessential, astrology will remain connected with them. Astrology can become a tool in your hands only if you distinguish the essential from the nonessential.

I will tell you a very interesting story so that you may understand.... Mohammed had a disciple named Ali. Ali once asked Mohammed's opinion about whether a man is independent and free to do what he wants, or whether he is bound by his destiny in everything he does.

Ali asked, "Can one do as one wants or not?" – and man has been asking this question for a long, long time. "If a man is not able to do as he desires," Ali said, "then it is useless and foolish to preach to him not to steal, not to tell lies, not to be dishonest. Or is it destiny that one man should always be there to preach to others not to steal or not to do this or that, knowing full well that it is also destiny for a dishonest man to remain dishonest, for a thief to remain a thief, for a murderer to remain a murderer?

All this appears absurd. If everything is predestined, all education is useless – all prophets, all saints and all teachers are useless."People have asked such questions to Mahavira and to Buddha also. If what is going to happen is predestined, why should Mahavira or Buddha take so much trouble to explain what is right and what is wrong? So, Ali asked Mohammed what he thought about this controversial matter. If such a question was asked to Mahavira or Buddha, they would have given a very complicated and deep reply, but Mohammed gave a reply which Ali could understand.

Many of Mohammed's replies were direct and straightforward. Ordinarily, answers given by people who are uneducated or less educated, or who are simple villagers, are direct and frank. People like Kabir, Nanak, Mohammed and Jesus were simple in that way. Answers by people like Buddha, Mahavira and Krishna were complex – Buddha and Mahavira were the cream of a rich and highly developed civilization.

The words of Jesus were direct, like a blow on the head. Kabir has actually sung: "Kabir is standing in the open market with a hammer in his hand to hit you!" If anyone came near him he would, so to speak, break open his head to remove all the rubbish that was lying inside. Mohammed did not give any metaphysical reply. He asked Ali to lift one leg and stand on it. Ali had asked a question about whether a man is free to do what he wants.

Why should Ali stand on one leg? Mohammed said, "First lift one leg."Poor Ali lifted his left leg and stood there on one leg. Mohammed then asked him, "Now lift the right leg also."Ali was puzzled and asked how it was possible. Then Mohammed said, "If you had wanted to, you could have lifted the right leg first, but now you cannot.... A man is always free to lift the first leg – it can be whichever he wants – but no sooner has the first been lifted when the other becomes bound to the earth."

With regard to the nonessential part of life, we are always free to lift the first leg. But once that is done it becomes a bondage for the essential part. We take steps that are nonessential, become entangled, and then we are not able to do the essential. So Mohammed said to Ali that he had all the freedom to lift the right or the left leg first. But once he exercised that freedom and lifted one left leg, he was incapable of lifting the other leg. So freedom is there within certain limits, but beyond those limits there is bondage.

This is an old conflict for the human mind. If man is a slave of his destiny – as the astrologers seem to assert – if everything is predestined and happens inevitably, then all the religions are of no use. If a man is free to do everything, as all so-called rationalists say, and if nothing is predetermined or inevitable, then life will become just a chaos and an anarchy. Then it is also possible that a man may steal and still attain liberation, that he may murder people and still realize the divine.

When nothing is related, when one step is not related to the other, then there are no laws and nothing is binding anywhere. I remember a story about Mulla Nasruddin.... Mulla was passing by a mosque, when suddenly someone fell down from the minaret of the mosque where he had climbed to say his prayers. The man fell right onto the shoulders of Mulla, and Mulla's spine was broken. So Mulla was taken to a hospital for treatment.

Some of his disciples came to see him, because Mulla used to interpret all events. They asked him, "How do you interpret this event? What does it mean?"Mulla replied, "It is very clear that there is no relationship between an act and its fruit. One person falls down, and the spine of someone else breaks. And so from now onwards you should not enter into the controversy of the doctrine of karma. It has been proved that one person may fall down and that the spine of another can break. That person who fell down was hale and hearty: he fell on me and I got in a mess. I had not climbed the minaret to say prayers, I was just returning home.

I was not in any way concerned with the prayers – but still I got involved. So, from now onwards no more talk about the doctrine of karma. Anything can happen. There is no law; it is all anarchy." Mulla was very unhappy, naturally, because his spine had been broken unnecessarily.There are two hypotheses. On the one hand there is the astrologer who is sitting on the side of the road being asked about the nonessential.... Whether he is the astrologer of a poor man or of Morarji Desai it does not make any difference – all ordinary astrologers are asked about nonessentials.An ordinary astrologer is asked questions like: "Shall we win the elections or not?" How are the elections connected with the moon and the stars? The ordinary astrologer who replies, "Everything is predetermined, and no changes, not even as much as one inch, can be made," is making a false statement.On the other hand there is the rationalist. He says that nothing is connected inevitably: whatsoever happens is coincidental, circumstantial and a matter of chance. There is no law, everything is anarchic. He is also making a false statement.There is a law: A rationalist is never found so full of joy and bliss as a buddha. The rationalist denies God, soul and religion with the help of logic, but he can never attain the joy of Mahavira. It is definite that Mahavira must have done something that earned him his joy, Buddha must have done something that liberated him, and Krishna must also have done something which made it possible for him to give out such distinctly unique magical notes through his flute.

The real thing is the third, which is the quintessence of everything, which belongs to the innermost and which is absolutely predetermined. The more one moves toward one's center, the nearer one comes to the essential, predetermined part. As we move towards the periphery, we move towards coincidence. The more we talk about external happenings, the more there is coincidence.

When we talk about inner phenomena, things begin to appear scientific, as if based on a certain law, and they become more and more decisive. Between these two conditions – the essential and the peripheral – there is ample room for changes through the exercise of choice. Here, a person of knowledge makes the correct choice, while a person who is without knowledge, who is in the darkness of ignorance, drifts to his destiny.

In darkness, circumstance catches hold of him. So there are three areas of life. In one area, that which is the essential core, everything is predetermined. Knowing this is knowing the essence of astrology. In another area, that which is peripheral, everything is uncertain. To know this is to know the everyday unpredictable world. There is another area which is in the middle.

By knowing this, a person can save himself from trying to do the impossible, and can do what is possible. If a person lives in the peripheral and middle areas in such a way that he begins to move towards the center, he will become religious. But if he lives in such a way that he is never able to move towards the center, his life will remain irreligious.

For example, a person is preparing to steal. Stealing is not predetermined; it can't be claimed that stealing is inevitable or unavoidable, there is complete freedom whether to steal or not. But once stealing has been committed, it is as if one foot has been lifted and the other foot remains on the earth: after doing it, you cannot undo the act. And the total effect of the act of stealing will spread over the personality of the person who did it.

But as long as stealing is not done, the other alternative is present and available. The mind of a person swings between yes and no. If he says yes, he will be thrown towards the periphery; if he says no, he will move towards the center. Thus, in the middle, there is a choice. If he makes a wrong choice he is thrown towards the periphery; if he makes a right choice he moves towards the center, towards that part of astrology which is essential in life.

I have told you certain things. I have told you that we are the outstretched hands of the sun, that the earth is born of the sun and we are born of the earth. We are not separate, we are all united. We are branches and leaves that have spread out from the sun. Whatsoever happens in the roots of the sun will vibrate and spread throughout and within one's being, through every cell and nerve.

If we can understand this properly then in this world we will realize that we are one family. Then we have no need to live encased within ego and pride. The heaviest blow of astrology is upon the ego. If astrology is right, the ego is wrong. Let us understand it this way: if astrology is wrong, then nothing else remains – but the ego – that can beright. If astrology is right then the world is right, and only I can be wrong.

I am only an infinitesimal and negligible part of the world – I cannot even be included in the count, I am so minute. If astrology is right, then I am not there. There is a big flow of forces in which I am only a small ripple. Sometimes, as we ride on a big wave, we have the impression that we too are something special and that big wave is forgotten. That big wave too is riding upon some sea, but even that sea is forgotten.

If that sea gives way underneath, the wave will disappear and we will also disappear. We unnecessarily become unhappy over the possibility of our disappearance because we became artificially happy through our belief in our own existence. We should have realized that there is only a large wave and a vast sea, and that we are not – that it is the wish of the sea that we arise in it, that it is the wish of the sea that we die.

If an attitude arises in which we realize that we are only a fraction of the grand desire of the infinite, then there will be no unhappiness. And with such an attitude, the so-called happiness which we want to enjoy will also not be present. The feeling of happiness over such thoughts as, "I have won, I have earned," will no longer remain. Nor will there be a feeling of unhappiness over such thoughts as, "I am dying, I am finished, I have drowned; I have been destroyed or defeated."

When both happiness and unhappiness no longer remain, we enter into the world of reality – the essential – where there is bliss. Astrology then becomes the door to bliss. If we look at astrology as a melting of our pride or as a disintegration of the ego, then astrologybecomes religion. But we go to the ordinary astrologer, and in order to protect our egos we ask, "Will I run into loss?

Will I win the lottery? In this new business I am undertaking, will I succeed?" These questions are asked in order to save our egos, but the fact is that astrology is entirely in opposition to the ego.

The significance of astrology is this – that you are not but the universe is, that you are not but the cosmos is. Very powerful forces are operating, and you are absolutely insignificant. You can see astrology in this light only if you think and feel that you are just a very small part of this big world. That is why I have told you how the whole solar family is united with the sun. If you can realize this, then you will also realize that our sun is united with many larger suns in the universe.

Scientists say that there are forty million suns, and all are born from some bigger sun. We have no knowledge of where that supreme sun may be. We do not know how this earth is rotating round its axis and also revolving around the sun, nor do we know where that center is, around which our sun with its family is revolving. A great universal merry-go-round is in swing.

In Hindu temples there is the practice of pradakshina, circling around the image of the deity. This pradakshina is the symbol of the fact that everything is rotating by itself and also revolving around something else. Then these two together revolve around a third thing, then these three together revolve around a fourth thing, and so on, ad infinitum.The ultimate center of infinity is referred to by those who know as "the supreme center of Brahma." This ultimate is neither rotating, nor revolving around anything else. Whatsoever is itself rotating will definitely revolve around something else, but that which neither rotates nor revolves is the ultimate.It is also known as the supreme silence or void. This is the axis, the pivot around which the whole universe expands and contracts. Hindus thought that just as a bud becomes a flower and the flower withers, similarly the world also expands and then disintegrates..that just as there is a day and a night, there is a day of the world and there is a night of the world also. As I told you earlier, there are cycles of eleven years and cycles of ninety years. Similarly, Hindus thought that there are cycles of millions of years: during such a cycle a universe is born, passes through youth and grows old; earths are born, moons and stars spread across the universe, populations grow, and millions of living creatures are born.This is not only happening on the earth, now scientists say that there must be a minimum of fifty thousand planets on which there is life. There may be more, but this is the minimum. In such an infinite universe it is not possible that only one earth can have life. There are fifty thousand planets or earths on which there is life – it is an infinite expanse. Then everything contracts again.This earth was not here from the beginning, nor will it last until the end. Just as I am born and I will be no more, so will this earth and sun be no more – and a time will come when these moons, stars and planets will also be no more. The circle of their being and not being continues. We are just infinitesimal, rotating and revolving somewhere on this cosmic wheel. And if we still think that we are separate, then we are like Mulla Nasruddin who was traveling in an airplane for the first time....Mulla Nasruddin entered the airplane, and as it took off he started walking along the aisle in the plane. He wanted to reach his destination very fast and was in a great hurry; naturally, if you want to reach somewhere quickly you will reach sooner if you walk faster...! His co-passengers stopped him and asked him what he was doing. Mulla Nasruddin replied that he was in a hurry.He was traveling in a plane for the first time and he was using the same logic which worked on the ground. There, he always reached earlier when he walked faster. He could not realize that walking in the plane was useless – the airplane itself was flying and he would only exhaust himself by walking. He would not arrive any earlier, and it is possible that by the time he arrived he would be so exhausted that he would not be able to stand up. He should rest, he should close his eyes and rest. But neither Mulla nor other pundits would agree to such advice.He who achieves rest within this cosmic circular movement of the world, I call religious. He is religious who knows that universal forces are at work and there is no hurry – that his hurry is of no use. If we can only be one with the universal harmony, it is enough – and it is blissful.

Source: from Osho Book "Hidden Mysteries"