ASTROLOGY
Hindu Astrology is a centuries old method of predicting the future. It is fascinating to study Astrology as is fascinating to believe in astrological predictions. Almost all newspapers and magazines have a daily, weekly and a yearly forecast. Palmist, face readers, Panchang , Kundali and Horoscope readers abound in every city, town and village. It is impossible for an average Hindu to take a major life decisions without first consulting these great forecasters.
I have encountered my share of these highly specialized astrologers, some more powerful than Doctors, Politicians and even Prime Ministers!Most modern astrologers charge anything from Rs 500/- to Rs 1,000/-. People like Bejan Daruwala may charge more. But you cannot sue them if predictions go wrong.
ASTROLOGISTS: WHY DO WE NEED THEM?
No matter what his position, wealth, situation in life, human beings are fundamentally very INSECURE about their FUTURE.
If you study the animal world, say a dog, it’s only concern is the PRESENT. Humans alone have a concept of the FUTURE and that is a big vacuum that needs to be filled up. Astrologers step in beautifully and fill up this fearful void for all of us.
ASTROLOGY: HOW IT HELPS
Once your horoscope is cast, your entire life can be predicted. Education, money, illness, good phases, bad phases in life, marriage, children, life, death, politics, elections, wars name it and a good astrologer has an answer to all your fears about the future. Your life line is embedded in your left palm. Once you surrender to Astrologers, your fear of the future is taken care of. To believe in Astrological predictions is next only to belief in God Almighty. They go hand in hand.
Most of us are quite prepared to make allowances for errors in predictions upto say 40 percent maybe more. So long as a few of the predictions come true on the ground, that’s fine. Part of the black void and nightmarish darkness is filled up.
A decent prediction sets the mind at ease. A bad prediction alerts our defense mechanisms so that when the time comes we can take diversionary actions to avert disasters.
ASTROLOGY: FACT OR FICTION
Who cares? Belief in astrology defies all logic.Blind belief is the first prerequisite for Astrology to work. A scientific, logical, analytical questioning mind is a roadblock where astrology is concerned. Facts are events that have already happened. Fiction is about the future. Yesterday’s fiction is today’s fact of life.
My pet Astrologer was a fellow young Naval Officer, who had this uncanny knack of studying faces, reading palms, analyzing horoscopes. His nickname was POTS (short for Pothia). He came from a family of Astrologers. His great great grandfathers down to his father were full time masters of the art of forecasting.
Pots joined the Indian Navy but came fully loaded with all kind of hocus pocus, magic stones, books on Astro written in Sanskrit. He looked the perfect Astro man, his mannerisms, his style, the way he wore his dhoti and Gandhi cap set him aside as a unique character never before seen in Naval society!
He was an instant hit in the Navy. As his fame spread he was secretly consulted by Senior Naval Officers, worried about their promotions, prospects of their sons and daughters. He could have made a fortune even in Naval circles if he had charged money, but he chose not to.
One Vice Admiral openly stated that Pots had predicted his future 10 years back and he consulted POTS, ever since. The Admiral confessed that he would never have reached his present position in the Naval hierarchy but for the sagaciuos wisdom of POTS!.
Pots had made detailed predictions of my future when I was a young Officer some 24 years old. Sadly he was way off the mark on almost all his predictions as far as I was concerned. Some 20 years later when I jokingly told him so, he said something that needs repetition here.
He stated that there are 2 basic types of human beings.
One category are those people who MAKE EVENTS HAPPEN in life with their proactive behavior pattern. The second category of people are those who wait for events to happen in life.
In case of the first category of people, Astrology never works. In the latter case, it does!! This was his opinion. He put me in the first category. This is how he explained his failure and I believed him implicitly.
The second Astro man I found interesting was Maharaj Jyotish Shashtri, SADA MAMA.
Sada Mama specialised in Medical Jyotish Shashtra.
Say, a man is sick or dying of some disease, consult Sada Mama. He would predict his/her ECG reports, Blood reports, Urine reports just by looking at the patient’s faces and placing his hands on the forehead of the patient! Based on his advance reports, he could predict if the patient would survive or die. If according to him the patient would survive, he would give the relatives some mantras to say and he would himself conduct some expensive poojas for the patient to survive. Many top Medical Specialists vouch for his accuracy and often recommend him to relatives of patients.
Recently a close relative of mine was dying because of Hepatitis A. He was lying in coma, liver gone, kidneys malfunctioning, no hope in hell.
Sada Mama was called. He opined otherwise. We all were enthused with the way Sada Mama predicted that this young man would survive. He gave us mantras to chant and personally conducted a pooja for which he charged Rs 65,000/-. Sadly this young relative died. But Sada Mama’s reputation and credibility did not suffer one bit in the eyes of my relatives! They fell at his feet one after the other in utter reverence. He blessed them all in great style! He was also paid Rs 65,000/- for his well-intentioned services.
Suffice to say I always admired SADA MAMA and POTS notwithstanding their errors of judgement.
LAST WORDS
My wife introduced my daughter to Sada Mama. He studied her face. His eyes gleamed. He told my daughter, “Beti you are destined for great achievements in life. You have nothing to fear. Others will fear you!”.
For this prediction alone I would have paid Sada Mama a few thousands.
And what's more, HE WAS RIGHT!She is well on her way as of to this date!
