Different Strokes-
Astrology and Spirituality
By KVRK
Bhargav
(Bhargav is a student of Swami who
after completing his B.Tech in Textile Engineering graduated with an MBA from
the the Sri Sathya Sai University in 2001. Ever since, he has had the great
fortune of waiting for Swami’s direct guidance. He has been blessed with many
interactions with Swami and he pursues astrology as a hobby to understand how
it complements and dovetails spirituality. He shares his insights on how the
planets are not causes of fear; rather they all serve the common goal of
prodding man towards his spiritual destiny of Self Realization).
What controls the life of an individual, Free will or
destiny? The debate continues. Astrology tries to answer this question.
Astrology or jyotish is considered the eye of the Vedas and the highest
limb that was taught in ancient India
as a preparation for understanding the Vedas from a scientific point of view.
The blue print of the life of an individual in a particular lifetime is
carefully preserved by Almighty in a horoscope which comprises destiny. This
can be understood in three ways.
The first approach is that destiny is what we come into this
world with, and how we shape it is our free will. Swami explains this with a beautiful
analogy. Consider a chain of ants moving on the ground; by seeing their
movements, we can ascertain their position after some time depending on their
speed and direction of motion. But if they decide to change their direction in
the middle then it will change the destination of the ants. The initial
movement of ants is the destiny and change in the middle is free will. The
individual in this approach tries to know the hurdles and bottlenecks in
his horoscope and tries to take corrective action like worship and charity to
mitigate the ill effects of the planets. In this approach the individual is
myopic and concerned only about the short term gains, forgetting the real
purpose of life.
The second approach throws light on our purpose in this
life. The individual consciously exercises his free will to fulfill the purpose
of life trying to align himself with his destiny. Now let me explain the
nitty-gritty of this approach with an example. We get a clue of what we are
good at or what we have developed in previous births by seeing the placement of
planet ‘Ketu’ and, the purpose of our incarnation by using these skills
developed in the previous births from the placement of the planet ‘Rahu’.
Mahatma Gandhi was born with the innate strengths of assertiveness, pioneering
nature, initiative and leadership as in the sign of Aries, the ram, but his
purpose was to create harmony, balance, truthfulness and justice as in the case
of Libra, the scales. The remaining
planets fine-tune our nature and character to achieve that purpose.
The third perspective takes the standpoint to the highest
level. It states that whatever happens to us in this life is destiny but it is
purely in our control (free will) to be affected or unaffected by it. As Ramana Maharishi puts it beautifully: he
says that pain is inevitable, but suffering borne out of the pain is optional-
which according to him, is the only free will which we have. Bhagwan Baba puts
it very aptly as: Navagrahas cannot affect you if you have Anugraha(grace of
the lord).We get a deeper understanding of our strengths and weaknesses by
studying our horoscopes. We also understand that whoever behaves in whatever
way is due to the placement of planets in his horoscope. A strong Mars makes a
person short tempered, a weak moon results in fickleness and timidity. A strong
Venus gives a pleasure seeking nature and a strong Saturn makes a person
altruistic and austere. This understanding gives us a sense of freedom and
purpose as we learn to forgive ourselves and others. We are at complete peace
as we realize that everything happens by the will of God. Astrology helps us to
understand the grand design of God. Astrology allows a deeper tolerance of
circumstances and allows us to understand the unity of life through reading the
beauty of God’s laws and oneness of consciousness. It is a science based on
nine planets and twelve zodiac signs and a complex tapestry made out of
them.
(…..To be continued in the next
issue of Venugaanam)
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