The term Jyotisha is made up of both Astronomy and Astrology. Vedas do not speak directly about either astrology or astronomy. The Samhitasmention to the stars, groups etc. This knowledge may be engaged for various determinations. The determination depends on the user too and not just the knowledge open and there are at least four approaches to understanding the Vedic body.
• AdhiYajna approach which is primarily ritual based.
• AdhiDaivata approach which is primarily archetypal.
• Adhyatma approach which is primarily psycho-spiritual.
• Tritaya approach or the integrated approach
Vedas have a ceremonial basis too; the roots are even deeper, running into psychological, philosophical and spiritual depths. Thus we will see the various approaches to understand the Veda. The apparently different approaches are not contrary or disparate. They are co-existent in a way. Therefore the Vedic chants can be understood in more than one way and at more than one level- ritualistic, psychological and spiritual. SkandaSmrti suggests the Vedic body has three senses ('trayorthassarva-vedeshu' ). These three senses can be put up in an integrated and interrelated approach which the 'Tritaya' school of thought significances to do. Within Jyotish there is an integrated approach to astrology combining both the psychological and projecting perspectives concurrently.
The famous South Indian text ' PrasnaMarga' defines the meanings of various houses (bhavas) under two categories- external (bahya) and internal (antara). Even Varahamihiraaccepts a similar approach in his 'BrihatJataka' .These ‘internal’ mentions the abstract psycho-spiritual phenomena/principles while the 'external' refers to the more concrete manifestation as events, persons and places.
The external measures are adelay or reflection of the internal psycho-spiritual principles. Integrated approach to houses and planets shelters way to a simultaneous approach to both the psychological/ internal and predictive/ external levels of astrological understanding or practice. Moreover such an integrated approach is more in keeping with the current overall example shift.
Though the spiritual foundations of Jyotisha are unchanging and timeless in some sense, the approach to astrology could be influenced by the times and the paradigm shift. A strong influence of Humanistic and/or Transpersonal psychology is increasingly evident on a large number of intellectuals during the modern times. Carl Jung's works have begun to influence some in the Jyotisha camp too, while most western astrologers are already looking at astrology through the eyes of modern psychology. Yet one should not mistake the superficial approach to psychology that some western astrologers adopt in the name of "psychological readings".
Similarly one shouldn't mistake the fatalistic approach to life that some eastern astrologers adopt in the name of karma. Most Vedic astrologers feel that psychological astrology is for lesser brains who dare not predict, whilst most tropical astrologers are wary of and look down upon "fortune telling", as they refer to predicting. As an astrologer who studied and practiced both the approaches, I feel that both are wrong. How can one predict without understanding the psychological roots? On the other hand how would one be sure that all these psychological readings are right unless one is able to predict fairly well based on one's understanding of such psychological roots. After all, any science does try to predict, though in a different sense. One has to pay tribute to Indian astrology for keeping alive the tradition of predictive astrology intact. Nowhere else in the world is astrology a continuous living tradition as it has been in India.
In my opinion I feel that the primary purpose of astrology is not fortune telling, but an examination of awareness, a journey into the psyche, into the unconscious forces which stem from the past vasanas , into the 'shadow' (a term used by Carl Jung which comes close to the tantric papa purusha ), into the universe that we have within us, into the battle between the opposing forces and the process of attaining equilibrium. Of course these forces manifest as our (as well as others') reactions to situations, situations that we attract to ourselves because of these unconscious drives ( vasanas and samskaras ), which thus incidentallyinspiration our life path. Fortune telling based on such symbols of the psyche like the horoscope, dreams, omens etc is the most ordinary practice of this knowledge, although an application prone to error due to various factors.
Yet astrology can help us comprehend our karma, especially the hidden or unseen factors that shape our life as our own karmic forces, and thereby encourage us to take accountability for our actions. But the maximum benefit of a study of this kind of a subject is Self-actualization or individuation- a process that supports the individual in an expression of one 'self', taking one to the final stages of Nirvana. When this happens the individual feels a sense of psychic "wholeness", which is a natural state of equilibrium. Don't the ancient texts promise that anyone who studies and teaches astrology is assured of final liberation (moksha)? That is the ultimate goal of a spiritual system like astrology.
About Author
Jyotishacharya Vinay Sheel Saxena "Bajrangi" “Bhagya Samhita wale” is a well known indian Vedic Astrologer Horoscope reader and Vastu expert and provides best vedic astrology solutions, vastu remedies, astrology forecast Horoscope matching and other astrological solutions.
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