"Forget not, singer! This word of thine, which in

future yugas will resound."

Rg Veda.



This Universe follows one simple law and that is that there are no absolute opposites. The opposite of truth need not always be untruth. There could be a via media in all cases. Uncertainty is the only certainty on this planet. Many noted physicists in the past have given their opinion on this. Werner Heisenberg with his "Uncertainty Principle" and Ervin Schrodinger with his "Cat Hypothesis", have affirmed to the ancient Indian truth that the only certainty in life uncertainty. The only law that understands this is the Scottish Law where, in addition to the verdicts guilty and non-guilty, the third possibility of "not proven" saves the day for the majority of innocent people from perpetual social stigma.



To understand this universe one must get out of one's "fixed idea" mind set. As long as one holds on to extreme views and thinks that he/she is always right, progress in thinking stops. All our actions would be governed by our ego which blinds us to this great truth that opposites do not exist. Zen philosophers have this concept "mu" which makes one to get to that state of detached thinking capacity. That is the heightened level of consciousness that allows one to think rationally and dispassionately on any issue. The raging controversy about astrology in the country falls into this blind belief that what one knows is always right and the other point of view is always wrong. Let us get into the "mu" state and think afresh. Join me in this thinking journey.



Foundation of all sciences:



Basic assumptions are the foundation of all sciences. To give an example let us examine the numbers theory. Unless we assume that numbers exist (can not be proved), the whole theory of mathematics falls flat to the ground. One could always argue that the original assumption is unscientific. Hence we could assume that planets have an influence on human life and then proceed from there to prove or disprove astrology as a science or hoax. The critics also do not seem to have realised that there are no exact sciences under all circumstances. Unless one specifies under what circumstances does a theory work and then define its limitations, even physics becomes invalid. "Nothing or no knowledge or theory is true if one does not specify the limitations and boundaries in which the theory is valid!" Then why pick on astrology alone? Every scientific theory, in every scientific branch, is valid only within its boundaries.



This brings us to the original question- what is science? There are umpteen definitions; most of them think that science is measurement and measurement is science. Hypothesis refutation seems to be the sole motto of science. The best definition that covers the whole gamut of scientific enquiry is that science is organized curiosity. This, coupled with logical skepticism, makes a person a scientist. Many of us do not fit into this definition! I have had the judgement on me already by my critics-guilty. Scottish Law would have been kinder to me! Interestingly a leading thinker has defined a critic as "one who knows where to go, but neither has the road map nor the vehicle to reach his destination." How true! They only judge others without ever having tried to assess themselves.



Origins of astrology:





Varahamihira, who lived around 500 BC, is known to have written two treatises. Only one dealing with the executive part is available and all our scholars base the whole of Astrology on that one treatise. The original of the lost book that deals with the logic of astrology is said to be present in the archives in Berlin and London waiting to be recovered and studied.



"The fifth anga (organ) of the Vedas is Jyothisha, the science of light, as it is involved with subtle astral light patterns that inform and sustain our physical being and our destiny in life. It is also called the science of reason, Hetushastra, as through it, we can discern the Karmic patterns behind events. Garga, Narada, Parasara and many other rishis (re-see) have written books on Jyothisha. Varahamihira, one of the nine gems of Vikramadhitya's court, compiled the well-known books Brihad Jathaka and Brihad Samhita.



Jyothisha sastra was intended to find out the most favourable time to perform Vedic Karmas and so was a part of the Vedas. Because Jyothisha involved computations regarding the movement of planets through the zodiac, mathematics became an integral part of it. Jyothisha also implies Vedic Astrology. …, the latter, therefore, is the basis for a total examination of our lives on all levels, inner and outer, from which an integral life can be developed. It is sideral in nature, which means it is based on the actual observable constellations (fixed stars) for its delineations of signs of zodiac. The tropical zodiac, which is used by western astrologers, is based on the equinoxes and not on the fixed stars. The orientation of the equinoxes to the fixed stars changes over time according to the precession of the earth on its axis. Vedic astrology orients the zodiac to the central galactic sun, whose influence comes to us through the fixed stars of the constellation Sagittarius. From the galactic sun emanates the light (ENERGY) that determines life and intelligence on Earth. In terms of zodiac, the galactic centre is located, according to the Vedic system, in the lunar constellation (Nakshtra) called Mula, meaning the root or source. Mula Nakshtra, therefore, marks the first 130 20' of Sagittarius. The last nakshtra then would be Jyesta, the eldest, and it covers the last part of the Scorpio. The planet Jupiter, guru, the teacher, transmits the energy of galactic sun in the Vedic system. Sideral astrology is, therefore, cosmic astrology and covers a broad area." Wrote Professor Laksmikantham, in his book The Origin of the Human Past, Bhavan's publication in 1999. Prof. Laksmikantham is the Head of the Department of mathematics in the Florida Institute of Technology, Florida, USA. He is the Founder President of the International Association of Non-Linear Mathematics, in addition. I am sure he knows what he is talking about. I feel that he would fit the bill of a "scientist" by our hard core Indian intellectual standards! Extremes of views only generate terrorists of various kinds, the latest in the list of terrorist is the "scientific fundamentalist" who wants to shoot down any idea that does not fit in with his line of thinking.



How would a conventional scientist explain the dramatic effect of intercessory prayer (with the patient and doctor being blinded about the prayer) on heart attack patients' outcome? There was a marked reduction in the "prayed for" group compared to a "matched control group" of non-prayed for cohort of patients, done prospectively in an American University hospital, reported in the prestigious Archives of Internal Medicine 1999 25th October issue on page 2273? The conclusion of the study, done on a total of 1064 patients, was that "remote, intercessory prayer was associated with lower CCU course scores. The result suggests that prayer may be an effective adjunct to standard medical care after a heart attack!" Any one out there would want to give a rational (scientific) explanation please?



Let us not be the prisoners of the knowledge that accrues from our five senses only. There is much more than what meets the eye in the affairs of this world! We need a new culture in science. Most high priests of science work secretly without any knowledge of humanity's needs. Physics works with highly abstracted goals; but needs a paradigm shift in its attitude to follow a culture that is less obsessed with particles and forces, and more with human beings and our needs.



In recent times physicists are obsessed with their new "Theory of Everything" (TOE). This is supposed to give "integrated, mathematically elegant expression to forces operative in the cosmos. They claim that this unified superforce would be, in the words of one distinguished physicist, " the fountainhead of all existence." Unfortunately, the experimental proof for this needs massive particle colliders whose cost would be billions of dollars! As the TOE theory is hotting up, there is the rise of a deep current of quasi-religious sentiments expressed by another group of equally accomplished physicists that has come up with the "God particle", "Face of God", or "Mind of God" theory! Consequently, high priests of physics and their chelas take on an elevated position to be the custodians of all the wisdom in this universe to preach to the ignorant lay people that life without this kind of science is worthless. Any dissenting voice is put down with abuses and other extreme methods.



Writing in my article Genes, Dreams, and Realities I had predicted that the genome, when unravelled, would surprise all of us and will not give us all the answers to man's ills and might even bring much sorrow in its wake! I was criticized and damned. I would like the readers to study the work of Nobel Laureate Barbara McClintock. "Going against the grain of classic genetic theory, she declared that the genetic code of an organism is not a static blue print that can be read off like a book, but a flexible, dynamic code that responds to the surrounding environment." Her notion of a dynamic genome and of the "jumping genes" has revolutionized genetics. Curiously, her work is in agreement with Sage Kapila who talks of "Beejaha, beejabaghaha" (Chromosomes and genes) in the holistic concept of man and his illness.



The Darwin's theory of "Survival of the Fittest" does not stand the test of present day scrutiny. Butterflies are capable of altering the genes of their offsprings inside the womb to make them survive in a hostile environment. Woman could change her baby's organs based on her nutritional environment during the first trimester of pregnancy. But there is a renewed effort to repackage and sell Darwinism by the scientific establishment. Blind Watchmaker by Richard Dawson is an attempt in that direction.



The social Darwinist, the socialists, also should realise that the "Class struggle" for existence, after all starts with co-operation inside the class to fight another class. That co-operation could include the hated class also to have peaceful co-existence. The latter could be the best mantra at this time when the world is going through the worst kind of war-man hating man. We need peace academics and scientists, and ministries of peace in governments rather than conflict journalism and war reporting. Time has come for science to bother about common man's life; in the latter astrology plays a vital role. Let us try and see if it is a science with the assumption that planets play a role in human affairs. Then let us pass judgement-guilty, not guilty, or not proven.







Present status of Vedic astrology:





In the present day astrological predictions, charlatans predict the planetary influences, not fully understanding their limitations. In fact, even with the present patchy knowledge one could provide several configurations that could be repeatedly tested to give the same results. Some time ago a study in Europe was conducted using 5000 charts of very successful people. It was seen that in all charts Jupiter or Mars resided on the meridian. Another test is that if one person's ascendent and another's sun or Venus is at the same place in their charts, they have an immediate attraction the moment they see one another. If one wants to give a near correct prediction one has to calculate to see if the same influence of planets is arrived at by the various methods of study, i.e.: the dasa system, sayana and nirayana systems and the through the solar returns. Another pain in the neck is the accurate time of birth. Even as little as four-minute difference in the time of birth would change the ascendent by as much as one degree.



Since finding the correct time of birth is almost impossible, there is a rule in Vedic astrology by which one could correct the time. The rule is that " the positions of moon and the ascendent reverse themselves between the time of birth and that of conception." As a result, knowing the rough time of birth, mother's chart, and the month of conception, one could find the correct time of birth to the minute.



Conclusions:



This has to change and it can only change if we study the ancient scriptures correctly and then apply the modern scientific methods of enquiry to refine the methods of astrology to fit the present situations. The latter requires astrology to be introduced as a subject of scientific enquiry. I could not care less if one calls it science or art, the end result would be the same. There is nothing special about the word science except the aura built around it by vested interests. Let us not indict astrology without giving a fair trial. Let us use the Scottish Law to pronounce the judgement of "not proven" in the case of astrology being a science or otherwise. It would be good for the millions who believe in it to see that it is being systematically investigated to get the wheat from the chaff. Long live real scientific temper of enquiry using innocent curiosity.



Acknowledgement:



I wish to thank Prof. Laksmikantham, Dr. T.I.Radhakrishnan, FRCPE., and Margaret Wertheim for their assistance and all my critics for providing me the impetus to write. The last lot are my best asset.