Astro
Vedica, Chapter Three:
Perspectives
on Astrological
Determinism
The
theme of astrological determinism has been in existence for as long as astrology
itself. They go hand in hand, for although one may be bound by karmic reactions,
one still has some free will upon which to call. And God's will must be factored
into the equation, too. So naturally, a question arises; up to what degree are
we bound and at which point does free will or divine intervention come into
play? Unfortunately, the answers to these questions are not always understood
properly in relation to the science of astrology.
Typically,
there are various grounds upon which the authority of horoscopic indications are
mistakenly minimized. For example, some feel that free will reigns supreme in
its contest with karmic and horoscopic indications.
But
it must be kept in mind that the soul is not possessed of absolute free will. In
his writings, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, the founder-acharya of the International
Society for Krishna Consciousness, typically makes reference
to the " minute free will of the living entity."
The
disciples of Swami Bhaktivedanta give an appropriate analogy to describe how the
living entity bargains away his free will and becomes karmically bound in their
commentary to the 12th canto of Shrimad Bhagavatam. It is similar to boarding an
airplane, they write. When an individual boards an airplane, that person is
bound by such action. One cannot capriciously decide to change one's fate and
walk out the door. The person becomes bound by his or her former decision and
must remain aloft for a while.
Furthermore,
they explain that this decision opens up a whole new array of choices. For
example, one may choose coach fare and then decide to upgrade to first class. Or
one may decide to view a film or not to do so. The point is that the exercise of
free will is never negated, but still karmic environments and specific reactions
will manifest. There is choice, but not as much as we might think.
Others
feel that by taking initiation from a bona fide spiritual master one's karmas
are accepted by him and that afterwards, the supersoul takes responsibility for
guiding one's life from within. Still others feel that through spiritual
practice ( sadhana ) one's karmas gradually melt away such that one no longer is
bound by them. In all such cases, the horoscope would come to have less and less
validity.
The
example of a fan may be appropriately applied. When the plug of a fan is pulled
out the blade continues to rotate because of the momentum. This is true even
though no new impetus is received. Similarly, a practitioner of sadhana (
spiritual life ) may incur no new karma, but he will continue to receive karmic
reations from before. Thus it's true that new karmas are avoided though
responsibility must be taken for old karmas.
This
actually occurred in the case of the Avanti ( district of Malwa in India )
brahmin mentioned in the 11th canto of the Bhagavat Purana. This brahmin
had been materialistic but renounced the world to practice sadhana on the banks
of a holy river. For all his efforts he was rewarded by being beaten up and
tormented by hooligans. He was not sorry for that, however; he blamed it on his
previous impious activities and the root cause of these, his mind. The point is
that although he was engaged in spiritual practice, not all of his karmas
dropped off immediately.
This
seems to be in stark contrast to the instructions of the Vishnudutas to the
followers of Yamaraj. While snatching the soul of Ajamil from their grasp, the
Vishnudutas explained that even casual mention of the name of Narayana can
relieve a soul of more karma than a soul could possibly commit. They also
mentioned that Ajamil's utterance of the Holy Name was especially efficacious
because he did so without offenses and in a pitiable condition.
There
are many other statements such as this in the Vedic literature. One nice example
may be found in the Bhakti-Rasamrita of Rupa Goswami. In the ninth
chapter of this work Shree Rupa quotes Narada Muni in the Dvarka Mahatmya
as saying " From the body of any person who claps and dances before the
diety, showing manifestations of ecstacy, all the birds of sinful activity fly
away."
Does
this mean that just by attending religious ceremonies such as the aroti ceremony
that all of one's karma is negated and that horoscopic indications become
negligible? Certainly not, but the answer to this conundrum must be fully
understood before one can have faith in one's horoscope and make use of it.
First
of all, it should be understood that astrology is not simply a study of karmic
reactions. Rather, astrology indicates the will of the Supreme expressed
through his agency of Time. Astrology is principally a study of time.
The point being that the will of Vishnu\Krishna
is indicated by astrological phenomena which should not, then, be considered as
some kind of separate power from the will of God. The idea is not similar to the
Christian concept of God and the Devil. According to the Christians, the Devil
exists as some kind of separate power outside of the framework of the Lord.
Astrology should not be seen in that way. In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna
explains in the first person that " Time I am, the great destroyer of the
worlds " ( Kalo 'smi Loka Kshaya Krit Pravriddho ). Actually, the phenomena
of both the illusion of the soul and the passage of time are both indicative of
the will of God; illusion and time are both carried out by his manifold
agencies.
Time's role as a
beginning and end is generally well understood, but there is another, less
understood aspect of Time which has been pointed out in the 11th chapter of Gita
(Texts 33 and 34): " Conquer your enemies and enjoy a flourishing kingdom.
They are already put to death by My arrangement, Oh Savyasachi, and you can be
but an instrument in the fight. Drona, Bhishma, Jayadratha, Karna and the other
great warriors have already been destroyed by me."
A deeper
understanding of the involvement of thinking, feeling and willing on the
occurrence of any action helps us to understand the nature of time and
chronology. Any action must be first initiated on the mental platform, which is
an ethereal, platform; sometimes the word " astral " is used to
indicate this platform. For example, in the 33rd text of the 26th chapter of the
third canto of the Bhagavat Purana, His Divine Grace A C. Bhaktivedanta Swami,
Prabhupada, confirms this: " Subtle forms are generated from the ethereal
element, ... mental activities are also on the platform of ethereal existence."
It is only after an action occurs on the subtle, etheral platform that it
actually takes place in the gross material sphere. This is the understanding
behind Shree Krishna’s words ” They are already put to death by my
arrangement.” A certain chain
reaction occurs culminating with the final manifestation of an action on the
gross material platform. The successive, trickle-down manifestations of an
action in the various realms, subtle
then finally gross, is actually an exhibition of the chronology of Time,
comprehended now in a more complete way. For this reason it is useless to resist
one’s destiny as destiny has already
occurred on subtler planes; it is just a matter of time before the
played-out fate manifests on the material plane. Astrological symbols indicate
these “ days of the future past “ on the subtler, ethereal planes.
And although it is true that karmas fall off for
one who utters Hare Nama and engages in spiritual practice otherwise, the
confusion actually has to do with which karmas are the ones that are cancelled.
A year or two back an essay was generated by the philosophical research committee of the Hare
Krishna movement, penned by Shyamasundara Dasa, which shone some light on this
question. It was entitled " Fate, Freewill and the Law of Karma."
This
essay began by explaining divisions of karma because not all karmas are of the
same nature. Kriyaman karma is defined as newly created karma and sanchita karma
as stored-up karma. Sanchita karma is further divided as anurabdha karma, or
reactions which have not yet manifested and are lying in a seed-like state, and
prarabdha karma which refers to karma which has already begun to manifest.
Then
the Vedantra Sutra is quoted which states: " Upon obtaining Vidya
there takes place the non-clinging of works done in the present life, and the
destruction of karma stored up which was done in the past life. This is so
because it is declared in the Upanishads." This seems to support the idea
that one gets off Scot free by chanting Narayana's name or clapping his or her
hands in front of Shree Murti.
But
the 15th verse of the same chapter seems to put everything in its perspective.
There it is stated that " … only the immature karmas of former lives,
namely, those karmas whose effects have not begun, are destroyed by knowledge."
This verse seems to suggest that the prarabdha karmas, the ones depicted in the
horoscope, remain even if one were to obtain Vidya.
The
horoscope is actually the wheel of time which was set into motion at the moment
of birth. The prarabdha karmas it
represents have already manifested; it is only a matter of time before they come
to pass. And according to the above verse of Vedantra Sutra,
these karmas will
come to pass even if one takes up religious practice ( sadhana ) or obtains
Vidya ( knowledge ).
As
explained in the paragraphs above, this truth is reminiscent of Shree Krishna's
statement to Arjuna in the Gita ( 11th chapter )
wherein He instructs Arjuna that " These soldiers and kings have
already been put to death by my arrangement, Oh Savyasachin, and you can be but
an instrument."
For
further understanding we can refer to the narration of the birth of Maharaj
Parikshit in first canto, twelfth chapter of the Shrimad Bhagavatam.
Parikshit Maharaj was an exalted soul because he was protected by Vishnu in the
womb of Uttara ( from the Brahmastra of Ashvattama
). The brahmins of the court of king Yudhistira referred to him as a
maha-bhagavat, a pure devotee of the lord; Parikshit Maharaj was a pure devotee
from his very birth.
Even
so, the Bhagavatam states that " Thereupon, when all the good signs
of the zodiac gradually evolved, the heir apparent of Pandu, who would be
exactly like him in prowess, took birth."
(
1.12.12 ) In his commentary on this verse, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta
Swami states that " Maharaj Parikshit, or even the Personality of Godhead
appear in certain constellations of good stars, and thus the influence is
exerted upon the body thus born at an auspicious moment ... a suitable moment
was choosen when all good stars assembled together to exert their influence upon
the king."
The
question of whether or not the king carried with him prarabdha karmas when he
took birth becomes immaterial when the following point is understood; that even
though Maharaj Parikshit was a maha-bhagavat, a pure devotee of the lord, his
horoscope still corresponded to the events which unfolded in his life. This
practically suggests that astrological phenomena will remain valid for all
beings, in spite of one's exercise of free will or one's level of spiritual
attainment.
As
an example of the validity of the king's horoscope, the jataka vipras (
astrologers ) predicted that King Parikshit " would be true to his promise
like Rama, the son of Dasaratha...exactly like King Ikshvaku in maintaining
those who are born ... a munificent donor of charity and protector of the
surrendered like the famous king Shibi ... amongst great bowman the child will
be as good as Arjuna ..., " and even more ( IBID ).
Besides
these general predictions, the brahmins foretold specific incidents about
Parikshit Maharaja's future life. For example: " After hearing of his death,
which will be caused by the bite of a snakebird sent by the son of a brahmin, he
will get himself freed from all material attachment and surrender to the
Personality of Godhead, taking shelter of him. After inquiring about proper
self-knowledge from the son of Vyasadev,
who will be a great philosopher, he will renounce all material attachment and
achieve a life of fearlessness " ( IBID ).
All
of this came true in the life of Maharaj Parikshit from which we may conclude
two things. First of all, the astrologers of the court of Maharaj Yudhistira
mastered the Vedic system very well. This had to be so in order for them to
predict so accurately. Contemporary astrologers should take a lesson from the
astrologers of old- half-baked
interpretations from astrologers who don't have a good working knowledge of the
system nor sufficient experience cannot be approved of. At the present time, as
Vedic astrology is becoming transplanted to the West, it is seen that immature
practitioners read three books and hang their shingle, so to speak.
Secondly,
we can conclude that astrological indications strongly correspond to the lives
of pure souls, Godhead himself (Shree Krishna), and
Vishnu expansions. What then, can we say of souls who are still in the
conditioned state, even if they have begun to tread the path of self-realization.
At
this point, we now have a basis for understanding Vedic astrology. We have seen
from whom to understand, how to understand, and we have also seen that
astrological influences will be indicative in all cases, beginning with Shree
Krishna and his pure devotee down to the common man.
