How Do You Approach Vedic Astrology?
Fri, 07/29/2011 - 17:27 by ShriRadhe

[ Courtesy : Thanks to Goravani Das, who makes these concepts easier to understand and accessible to all who want to know Vedic astrology in depth. ]

Vedic astrology is a part of Vedic philosophy that highlights the principles of the theory of karma and reincarnation. In short, it means that we reap what we sow. The actions that we perform are recorded and become the basis of our future experiences in this and the following lives. Therefore astrology is not fatalistic; the seeds are sown by our actions, guided by our thoughts, which are backed by our desires, which is our choice.

Vedic Astrology reads this karmic script: what it is that we desired in the past, what thoughts followed, what actions took place, and what is waiting for us as destiny, due to our past actions.

We keep creating desires, allowing thoughts, and performing actions according to this script and in this way get caught up in the cycle of birth and death. Wanting to know the outcome of one's own forgotten choices and actions is what nowadays is called an 'astrological consultation.'

Most of the time, unfortunately, people forget that they themselves created this destiny. When they consult an astrologer they act as if they were not responsible for the past, and they want to know all about future in order to change it as they like -- creating more and more karma -- without taking responsibility for their past actions. This may sound strange, but it's true.

Since our future is based on our past actions, it can be modified by our present actions and this gives rise to very interesting possibilities: by adopting certain measures we can lessen the impact of our negative actions in the past.

These measures work principally by generating vibratory energy through repetitious chanting of a mantra. The energy thus radiated erases the script at the point where past karma is likely to cause trouble. A major accident can be reduced to a small one; a huge financial loss can be limited to the loss of a few hundred dollars. The vibratory structure of the creation is modified by deliberately produced vibrations. The ancient sages have left a treasure trove of mantras to achieve every end that a person can think of.

Here is a story I would like to share, describing karma, the reaction to that karma, and how a person creates even more complex karma in the process.

Ms. Goldie has been visiting me for some six years now; she just does not take responsibility for any of her actions and every time she asks me to fix her problems, without doing what is advised. She makes up her own conclusions and meanings and keeps blaming karma, as if karma were something that fell from the sky one day and got stuck to her life.

Her first consultation was six years ago when she was very eager to marry. She asked me how her marriage would be, and whether she would be happy.

I told her "According to your karma you shall have a loyal and honest person who will be scholarly, but he shall not be rich. There is no opulence indicated for you in this life, but he will love you and your children to the best of his ability and provide all basic needs. If you are patient and kind with him and accept this, then you can be very happy but satisfaction is the key here."

She said, "Oh I have always been poor so I don't mind; I only want a nice man who is famous."

There was something she wasn't telling me. I had noticed how her Venus was causing excess imagination and her Moon in her house of speech. I told her to be careful what she imagined fame as, and to be kind with her husband.

Only at our second appointment she told me that she was calculating that a famous man should surely become rich; so in this way she was scheming to trick karma and have a famous and rich husband after all.

After searching here and there for a special person she became desperate and in want of someone who is famous, very intelligent, etc., she rejected many boys who were suitable for her, who had simple jobs and finally chose a man who was well known in the society to be intelligent and popular.

Soon after the marriage she realized how her imagined theory was not working. He wasn't becoming rich because he was popular, but he was popular because he was unattached to making money.

She lamented and told me how she thought that by knowing astrology she could go another way to get what she wanted, and now she felt cheated by karma.

I consoled, her indicating so many good things in her life with this man -- and advised her to be satisfied with the good natured he had and not become a sharp-tongued wife.

This time her question was: "When will I have a child?" This time I knew well that with this chance of making him father, she wanted to push him to work hard to earn money. I told her that this was also not going to work. I also indicated good times for conceiving, etc.

After they had a child and the idea of her to pressurize him into making money did not work, she started going around to other people in the community, almost begging for help, talking bad about her husband, which naturally her husband did not approve of. They had a simple life with sufficient food and shelter.

Though she did get some better dwellings, she destroyed the peace in the house, creating so much trouble by complaining and being unsatisfied, that now she was thinking of divorce; she was hoping that the next one would be better.

Unfortunately, as I had warned her, her karma was strong. Who ever she married, her destiny was to have only little luxuries. Without getting this point, she went around trying to change her karma instead to learning from it, became more and more desperate and poorer in heart than would have been necessary.

Vedic Astrology reveals a profound truth to us: that our lives are controlled from the moment of birth to the moment of death. Realizing this can be catastrophic to some people who are not yet ready to accept that they are living in the benevolent cupping hands of the Supreme Lord at every moment of their lives.

In modern times, especially in the west, it is vogue to think of ourselves as masters of our lives, as the creators of our destiny. This may be argued in philosophical terms as fact, but Vedic Astrology shows that there is another side; a side where we can see that we are fully controlled.

One of the world's greatest philosophers, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (early 1500's, India), stated that to understand the Absolute Truth is to know that we are simultaneously both fully controlled and independent. In other words, full determinism and free will exist simultaneously for us. What this means is that while our lives are fully controlled by God through the universal demigods, at the same time His power and majesty in creating us is so amazingly great that we experience free will at every moment, even though we are being controlled. We feel as though we are choosing. We feel the emotional results of our choices.

It is true however that even our choice is controlled. Even our choices flow from our mental condition from birth and from the mold with which we were individually created.

The cosmic super-reality is that we are simultaneously free and controlled. Astrology focuses on one side of this equation, while other sciences and perceptions focus on the other.

The changes we can make can have two outcomes: one is to make a positive change by accepting our karma and working to learn our lessons, and another is to try to trick karma, getting into a mess of karmic reactions, as in the case of Ms. Goldie.

Originally published @ mapss.us

Vedic Astrology Services @ http://www.mapss.in/