TEXT OF SPEECH DELIVERED BY DR E S NEELAKANTAN AT THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF ASTROLOGY HELD IN KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA IN JUNE 2014
It gives me immense pleasure to meet you all and address this learned gathering. First of all , my grateful thanks to Shri. Arul Sir, President for making this visit possible by extending his invitation to me as keynote speaker on behalf of the society.
Historically, India’s influence in Malaysia dates back to 3rd Century B.C. In Tamilnadu, Malaysia is termed as “Suvarnadipa” or “Golden Peninsula”. According to History, friendly relations existed between Chola empire and the Srivijaya empire. My maternal grandfather emigrated to Malaysia in the early thirties, was employed in Penang but returned to India during the Second World War and settled down in his home country. Since Malaysia became independent in 1957, its economic performance has been the one of the best in Asia. The vision 2020 programme envisages that Malaysia could become a self-sufficient industrialized nation by the year 2020. I have no doubt in my mind over this, since according to the Independence Day Astrological chart of Malaysia, Venus is in operation from 2009 to 2029. Three benefics, viz., Jupiter, Venus and Mercury occupy the 5th house in the Independence Chart indicating the fact that in course of time Malaysia would become a powerful nation, economically, culturally and spiritually. I extend my good wishes to you all for being part of this great achievement and I wish the nation, all the best for the years to come.
The subject I have come to discuss with you all is one which has cornered attention of all seekers of Truth in all countries. I consider Astrology a spiritual science.
Basically, I want to discuss three main aspects of Astrology in today’s speech
1. Areas where Vedic Astrology differs from Western Astrology
2. How Karma theory influences Astrology.
3. Astrology in relation to New Age thought or How efforts can thwart destiny.
The sun, we see daily with our eyes is in my opinion just a ball of fire. It is actually an organism which is fiery and dynamic. It changes its mood every moment. And the moment the mood change occurs, life on earth gets affected.
During the time of eclipse, the whole world becomes silent. Birds stop chirping. Pythagoras, the Greek philosopher believed that every star and every planet gives out an unique vibration as it travels round the sun. Let us assume that when you are born, there was a unique vibration emitted by the planets.
When you live in harmony with that vibration you are healthy; you are sick when you are out of tune with that vibration. This principle explains why we suffer during certain planetary dash as and are happy during other planetary dash as and further it explains how we are either helped or harmed by planetary transits.
When Saturn transits over a house which is 8th from Natal Moon, you undergo hardships. This is because of the functional enmity between Natal Moon and transit Saturn. Please note that when Jupiter influences you by way of a good dash a or transit over a good house it throws positive vibrations which you receive and when you are in harmony with those vibrations good events occur.
If Saturn were to influence you then adverse things happen due to the harmful vibrations.If you could nullify those negative vibrations through your positive vibrations then you could live your life during those periods without undergoing any hardship.
Astrology is not a developing science. It was a developed science in some extremely advanced civilizations. But we have lost many of its contents and inherited the fragments. The more research is done, the more it becomes evident that the special talents of a person are linked to the time of birth. Professor Brown, in his study of over 50,000 horoscopes came to the conclusion that all Generals have either a strong Mars or Mars was in the ascendant at the time of birth. Astrology says that what you become tomorrow is connected to what you are today. What you are today is linked to what you were yesterday. Without knowing your past, you cannot know your future – your future is the child of your past. Science is the investigation of the cause of all that exists today.
Astrology is the investigation of the effect of all that exists today. This is why Astrology is basically an investigation of the future.
Between Indian Astrology and Western Astrology, I for one can say that there are two areas of divergence.
1. House division:- if birth falls in say, 18° of Aries, we say that 18° is Bhavamadhya or middle of Bhava so that Bhava starts from 3° of Aries and ends with 3° of Taurus – 15° on either side. In western Astrology, they tend to view the Bhava as commencing from 18° of Aries – if a planet were to be in Aries at 15° it would be considered as an occupant of the 12th Bhava.
2. The extra-saturnine planets, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto are never reckoned in Vedic Astrology. Uranus was discovered by Herschel in 1781, Neptune in 1846 and Pluto in 1930. In recent times, Pluto has been “dethroned” and it is now not considered as a planet. In Vedic Astrology, the “Planethood” of these planets is not questioned. But if you were to ask a Vedic Astrologer the role of these planets in predictive astrology, the answer is “No”- they do not influence the future. However western astrologers consider them even in predictive astrology.
The reason why Vedic Astrology does not recognize Uranus,Neptune or Pluto is that they are so far off that their vibrations are too neglible to make any significant impact on an individual or their fortunes.To make an impact on an individual’s life a planet must produce powerful vibrations.We know that the Sun we see daily is not the only Sun in the Solar system.There are thousands of suns in the Universe.But only the Sun,we see daily influences us in a decisive it is reckoned in Predictive Astrology.
The Ascendant or lagna is the First House in any horoscope .I will now say a few words about determination of lagna. The Lagna is generally taken to be the time, the baby’s head appears(Sirsodaya) or in some cases when it falls to the ground(Bhoosparsa). The time of conception (Adhana lagna) is also considered by some astrologers as the real time of birth. Sage Satyacharya is of the view that Bhoosparsa is the correct time for determination of lagna.
According to Newton’s third law of motion, “Every action has an equal and opposite reaction”. This law when applied in a moral or mental realm is what is termed as “Law of Karma”.
Karma falls in to three broad categories:-
1. Sanchita-Accumulated
2. Prarabha-Operative
3. Agami-Prospective
The dasa-bhukti scheme of things deals with Prarabha karma or that portion of Karma which is in force at this point in time.Once the effects of a bad deed are activated by virtue of Prarabha Karma,suffering is the only way out. Sanchita Karma can be got rid off through remedial measures. By wisdom and discrimination, Agami Karma could be foiled. The planetary movements influence an individual either for good or for bad, based on the three types of above mentioned Karma.
To make this point clearer let me add a few things.Out of sanchita karma let us say 60 % gets translated into Prarabdha karma.Then only that 60 % will be experienced in this birth- the remaining 40 % will get carried over to next birth. Similarly Agami karma which is not experienced in this birth will get carried over to next birth.
To put this mathematically:
Karma carried over to next birth = Sanchita karma of previous birth – prarabhda karma + Agami karma of present birth – Effects of agami karma experienced in this birth
Vedic Astrology gives us valuable data relating to each day of the lunar month. The 8th day from either a New moon or the Full moon is termed “Ashtami”. This is a good day to commence medical treatment as there is a saying “Ashtami Vyadhi Nashini” meaning “Ashtami destroys disease”.On this day the Sun and the Moon are apart by 90 degrees. So their influence on the fluids in the human body is low, thereby enabling the medicine given to work to its full potency.
While reading of natural charts partly falls within the scheme of “Destiny”, Muhurtha opens up the avenue of “ Freewill”. A child who is born with little possibility of education could be made to commence learning at an auspicious Muhurtha to offset the defect at birth. A person who is disease prone could be given medical treatment at an auspicious time. An entire Nation would benefit if the oath taking ceremony is conducted at an auspicious moment.
Finally I would like to say a few words about the New Age Thought Movement and Astrology. The main argument of the New Age Thought Movement is that “You are a product of your thoughts.” If you can deliberately focus or structure your thought patterns, you can change your future. There is a book by Wayne Dyer, “ Change your thoughts, Change your Life”. Our ancestors and Rishis went one step further to say,” Change your Karma, Change your Thoughts, Change your Life”. If your Karmic balance could be altered, your whole life will change.
But this is not like Allopathic medicine, where you take one Paracetamol and cure your headache. Our Rishis went to the root of the problem, identified Karma as the cause of all problems and suggested ways and means for living a life which is in harmony with the Universe. These rules were codified and passed on to posterity as the “ Dharma Sastras”. I can tell you one thing now- You cannot change your thoughts or your thought patterns,unless you work single-mindedly in that direction. You are a prisoner of your mind. If you have to break out of this cage, you need to exercise your freewill, invoke Divine Grace, submit to the will of the God and liberate yourself from the adverse grip of planets over you.
So my view is that while there is no magic wand to overcome your problems,your efforts have the innate strength to overcome even an adverse destiny. I do admit that the Law of Attraction is true and the New Age Thought Movement is also a blessing to humanity. But the only defect I see in their argument is that they have no ammunition with them to negate the momentum created by the influence of past Karma which is reflected in the planetary position at the time of birth. My solution would be to follow the New Age Thought Movement but simultaneously dissolve the Karma of the past by awareness of the present moment and involve yourself in good deeds now which germinate in course of time to create a bright future for us and for the Universe.
Coming back to where I started I just explained how Vedic Astrology is unique and differs in certain respects from Western Astrology,how karma influences Astrology and How the New Age movement is a boon as it enables present efforts to neutralize past karma.I know that all of you are knowledgeable in this science and I hope you agree with what I have to say.I have come to visit Malaysia not just to express my views but to carry back with me ,your thoughts and experiences with Astrology.I,for,one believe that Knowledge sharing is vital to promote any science,especially an occult science like Astrology.
I thank you all for the patient hearing. I wish to conclude this speech with the words of James Redfield in The Celestine Prophecy – “The thought of both East and West can indeed be integrated into a Higher Truth. They show us that the West is correct in maintaining that Life is about progress, about evolving toward something Higher. Yet the East is also correct in emphasizing that we must let go of control with the Ego. We can`t progress by using logic alone. We have to attain a fuller consciousness, an inner connection with God, because only then can our evolution toward something better be guided by a Higher part of ourselves”.
Thank You.
Photos Taken During the Conference :