Sri a-TB Sir,
Thank you for your kind response.
I do not call Vedic Astrology as ‘Science’, in the modern sense. That is why, I termed it as ‘Meta Physics’ in one of my previous posts.
While there are lots of research, with some people testing the rules of the discipline, there are no, as you correctly pointed out, systematic research findings published in peer reviewed journals, following modern scientific methods, as far as I know.
I gave the examples of modern medicine regarding diagnostics and therapy only to say how we combine science and art. In fact the reason for the double blind study is to negate or at least mitigate the placebo effect.
I think that there are several reasons why Vedic Astrology is not studied in the modern scientific way. There are lots of quacks out there, ‘practicing’ it, just to make money. So, the discipline is tarnished. There are no ‘qualification‘ tests and graduations in the field (I heard that some academic institutions have started this in India and elsewhere), but I do not know the efficacy of such systems. Most people who are competent in the field get this knowledge through our traditional method, in Gurukulams, and they do not publish.
I am an exception, and as it is my hobby, not an avocation, I know the limits of my knowledge - my self assessment of my capability is analagous to being in the sixth or seventh standard of education in a high school, in a scale of education from first standard through getting a Ph.D. I learnt it by myself, from reading and applying.
So, I am very careful when I predict. You are right, my experience is ‘anecdotal’, but I have seen many such ‘anecdotals’ from other Vedic Astrologists.
Yes, Jyotish is one of the six disciplines of Vedanga. Others deal with the sound, pronounciation, meters, grammar etc. of Vedic language. if interested, please see Wikipedia.
Jyotish has three parts, predictions based on horoscopes, Mundane astrology for countries, societies and determinations of auspicious times to perform Vedic rites. All three are dependent on the exact calculations of the positions of heavenly bodies using astronomy.
The predictive part has many treatises, but the main one is ascribed to a Rishi named ‘Parsara’, who is said to be the father of the Rishi ‘Agastya’. There are other systems, one by another Rishi ‘Jaimini’, etc. Rishis, it is said, got the knowledge from looking inward, tapping it from Atma.
You correctly observed that I have reverence for this field. Yes, I have utter reverence for all the knowledge generated by our forefathers on whose shoulders we stand on. They knew things that only now the modern science is starting to open enquirers in to. Let me tell you a few examples to illustrate:
They are finding only now about the medicinal merits of eating certain foods as turmeric and other spices and vegetables wherein our ancestors knew about them long ago. Another simple exercise that I used to take it for granted whenever I used to visit Ganesha temple - to do ‘Thoppukarnam’. Now we learn that such an exercise is a very beneficial exercise to develop one’s brains. Another one is that we are told to recite any Japa 108 times with the Lord’s name, as it is beneficial. Now you learn through science that distance between the Sun and the Moon to the earth are approximately 108 times of the diameter of each respectively. We can only fathom, how this number may have something to do with creation. I can go on and on, including how 0, the decimal system, concept of infinity, which form the foundation of modern science were formulated on the concept of cosmology as understood by our forefathers.
To me, this knowledge is sacred. Like you are taught ‘Matha, Pitha, Guru Deivam’. Hence the reverence. Thank you for listening.
