In last post (ok, one before it), I said I found Jyotish learning can help one to be left with no option but to take responsibility of own life experience. And, it doesn't stop just there, it also helps with strategies to excel at that responsibility.
How?
So, Grah's have their unique personalities, preferences, strengths, way of acting in a situation. Lets take Rahu - It brings material ambition in focus - which may turn to obsession, disregards any rules (legal/moral) that may come in the way of achieving what it wants - may push native on wrong paths (keyword here is 'may' - if you say NO -it wont happen.), often grabs (and gives to native) what is asked for even when he/she may not be deserving at all. and.. as easily he gives what one may not deserve - it can take it back too if he suddenly realises native is undeserving - leading to as spectacular fall as the 'free' rise was.
So, here one learns very obvious pitfalls of getting blinded by material (external) ambition which is the first valuable lesson. Do you say I myself have used word 'obvious' so what's the role of Rahu then? Well, what do you think are chances that this obvious lesson can be reminded to someone(incl self) blinded by material obsession by telling him 'you obsessed blind fool, why don't you see these pitfalls' versus, 'Dear innocent native, pls beware of the Rahu who may trick you to into the obsession and these pitfalls' I think second to be more helpful for two reasons.
One, for those of us (which probably are most of us), who are not always watchful of ways of our mind, how it tries to affect intellect can find it easy if subsets of the mind's tendencies are externalised in convenient packages and then we observe those external entities from a comfortable psychological distance. Second reason I think is, even if one is watchful and aware of mind's tricks and doesn't need Rahu to see what's going on, it may require further effort to ego-disassociate oneself from own mind - its much easy to not ego-identify with Rahu than with our own mind.
Apart from helping to deal with inner world, It also makes some statement about how outer world is likely to behave and how you can make best of it. I mean, isn't it true that if you go out full of confidence (whether or not justified), full force, focused on specific thing that you declare you deserve, world often gives that to you? and what if you find yourself in a situation where you've got what you value but don't think you deserve it? - Well, you have a clue in Rahu's behaviour. Work hard to turn yourself deserving - you don't have to necessarily let it go. (though it doesn't say it will be easy - specially if like outer world, if 'Rahu' has tricked you too in believing that you 'are' deserving candidate to get those prized possessions.)
Then there are relationships - Friendships, mutual respect, enmity, non symmetric relationships. Say, Guru and Shukr, even though they are Gurus of enemies, their relationship is that of mutual respect - as it should be and therefore are not considered enemies. With Guru and Budh, Guru, who is giver of knowledge and wisdom, is very liberal (i.e. not strict) is admired by young, bubbly Budh as it looks upon Guru to learn great things and benefit. However, Guru is extremely uncomfortable with this superficial information driven, material detail oriented child. Guru's placement in Budh's home is indeed one of the bad things to happen as Guru feels constrained and loses its liberal and jovial attitude. And, all these relationships are not all that rigid - based on circumstances (i.e. in each one's own kundli placement), they do collaborate or oppose each other in circumstances specific ways.
Plus, there are houses - that deal with specific areas of life, their natural and functional owners, everyone's interactions with each other in numerous ways etc etc. As you go on thinking about each of the scenarios, it gives you some or other clue as to understand inner and outer world and tackle them better.
So far, I have not given any point beyond that Jyotish can be useful in storifying situations that appear more or less 'logical' even to someone with short memory, small view field. i.e. something that meets immediate cause and effect visibility condition. Also, almost everything I mention is 'general' whereas the whole point of Jyotish is about personal - individual jyotish. Which means, there is more to it than only above.
Jyotish, like our existence, is neither limited by short-immediately linked time spans or a small field of view. i.e. it does not take transactional approach - its more of a ongoing concern way of looking at things. Say, one's Kundli is supposed to be like an opening balance sheet of an ongoing concern and current life is like current financial period. This means that Kundli tells us more about what has happened so far rather than what will happen in future. Yet, it is of course very helpful in projecting probable future - in two ways. 1) As from the balance sheet you can somewhat judge how business was run so far - and given that there is no change in ownership and same people are going to continue running business, you can project likely future behaviour and therefore future outcomes. - Similarly our tendencies/Sanskar carried forward from previous births are supposed to show up in Kundli 2) Irrespective of if the way the business is run continues to be same or not, what is already done needs to reach its logical conclusion. Say, if a company balance sheet shows near maturity debt/advances etc, they indicate near term cash flows and if that 'near term' is within your current financial period, they become kind of inevitable notwithstanding what you do starting now. or say If your debt equity ratio is already hugely above your optimal one, your ability to borrow cheaply will be limited. Similarly, we need to face our 'Prarabdh' - those effects which are due now, for which causes have already happened - This again is supposed to be reflected in Kundli. In short, at individual level, Kundli is supposed to indicate person's tendencies, constraints/flexibility earned based on past actions. without taking away even an inch of free will from the person.
Now, I do believe in most of above. - that we are constrained/facilitated by tendencies that we have developed on our own and that we have free will to decide our present path and that all the rules of Jyotish can be a good help while trying to make sense of the things etc etc. but I have still not answered the question that started my journey - 'Do all these get reflected in Kundli'? I had started with objective of reaching the answer NO to this question, today, is that the answer I have reached? or is there ANY answer for which I can argue convincingly? Actually, there was a very strange situation right from the start. While studying/exploring Jyotish, it was required that I think in terms like 'This means X and that means Y' as against 'This is supposed to mean X and that is supposed to mean Y' - you cant learn without trust - or at least I don't know how to do it. Which meant starting from exactly opposite end from my stated objective was pre-condition for my Jyotish journey.
Today, I think I do find things fitting in pretty well many times. But, I am not in position to argue for it properly. for one, with numerous interactions, at detailed level a Kundli can be interpreted in as many ways probably as there are interpreters, (i.e. it requires skill and 'someone is not skillful enough' and 'something is possible or not' are two very different things) plus to formulate any rational test - lot of data, many volunteers and lot of effort would be required. None of which I have or have intention to gather in near future. So then, does it mean, after such a long post on topic, I am going to leave it without taking any personal stance? Ok, let me try to do something better than that.
Lets design a test case as this. Take birth charts of some extra ordinary people and some more or less average people and mix them. Then, if the task is to segregate them, do I think result can be better than what randomness demands? i.e. Say, if presented with 50 Kundli, 40 average and 10 significantly above average, and asked to identify 10 above average, would it be possible to identify more than two extra-ordinary people correctly with good confidence level? I tend to think it should be possible to identify some 5-7. (and remember, this is when Kundli is only like an opening balance sheet and opening balance sheets can only give indications about current financial year, it cant give any fatalistic view of it.) If I will ever happen to execute this test case in proper strict conditions, will update results here.
Does it mean I recommend / believe in forecasts? No. But do I still think Jyotish is something one should avoid as I believed when I started? No again. Learning it can be made a rewarding journey is what I think now.
P.S.
Did I tell you? Death is as non event as drawing a balance sheet is for a business. Ok, slightly more. you can say its like closing an accounting period. It is separated from all bad and good things - i.e. ill health, accidents etc etc which we tend to associate with death. Plus, there is no special status given to physical death as such - there are only transformations - old making way for new and body death is just one of them. and so though my initial prediction for upcoming death didn't come true, I did get transformed in at least one way - I look at it in a different way now.
How?
So, Grah's have their unique personalities, preferences, strengths, way of acting in a situation. Lets take Rahu - It brings material ambition in focus - which may turn to obsession, disregards any rules (legal/moral) that may come in the way of achieving what it wants - may push native on wrong paths (keyword here is 'may' - if you say NO -it wont happen.), often grabs (and gives to native) what is asked for even when he/she may not be deserving at all. and.. as easily he gives what one may not deserve - it can take it back too if he suddenly realises native is undeserving - leading to as spectacular fall as the 'free' rise was.
So, here one learns very obvious pitfalls of getting blinded by material (external) ambition which is the first valuable lesson. Do you say I myself have used word 'obvious' so what's the role of Rahu then? Well, what do you think are chances that this obvious lesson can be reminded to someone(incl self) blinded by material obsession by telling him 'you obsessed blind fool, why don't you see these pitfalls' versus, 'Dear innocent native, pls beware of the Rahu who may trick you to into the obsession and these pitfalls' I think second to be more helpful for two reasons.
One, for those of us (which probably are most of us), who are not always watchful of ways of our mind, how it tries to affect intellect can find it easy if subsets of the mind's tendencies are externalised in convenient packages and then we observe those external entities from a comfortable psychological distance. Second reason I think is, even if one is watchful and aware of mind's tricks and doesn't need Rahu to see what's going on, it may require further effort to ego-disassociate oneself from own mind - its much easy to not ego-identify with Rahu than with our own mind.
Apart from helping to deal with inner world, It also makes some statement about how outer world is likely to behave and how you can make best of it. I mean, isn't it true that if you go out full of confidence (whether or not justified), full force, focused on specific thing that you declare you deserve, world often gives that to you? and what if you find yourself in a situation where you've got what you value but don't think you deserve it? - Well, you have a clue in Rahu's behaviour. Work hard to turn yourself deserving - you don't have to necessarily let it go. (though it doesn't say it will be easy - specially if like outer world, if 'Rahu' has tricked you too in believing that you 'are' deserving candidate to get those prized possessions.)
Then there are relationships - Friendships, mutual respect, enmity, non symmetric relationships. Say, Guru and Shukr, even though they are Gurus of enemies, their relationship is that of mutual respect - as it should be and therefore are not considered enemies. With Guru and Budh, Guru, who is giver of knowledge and wisdom, is very liberal (i.e. not strict) is admired by young, bubbly Budh as it looks upon Guru to learn great things and benefit. However, Guru is extremely uncomfortable with this superficial information driven, material detail oriented child. Guru's placement in Budh's home is indeed one of the bad things to happen as Guru feels constrained and loses its liberal and jovial attitude. And, all these relationships are not all that rigid - based on circumstances (i.e. in each one's own kundli placement), they do collaborate or oppose each other in circumstances specific ways.
Plus, there are houses - that deal with specific areas of life, their natural and functional owners, everyone's interactions with each other in numerous ways etc etc. As you go on thinking about each of the scenarios, it gives you some or other clue as to understand inner and outer world and tackle them better.
So far, I have not given any point beyond that Jyotish can be useful in storifying situations that appear more or less 'logical' even to someone with short memory, small view field. i.e. something that meets immediate cause and effect visibility condition. Also, almost everything I mention is 'general' whereas the whole point of Jyotish is about personal - individual jyotish. Which means, there is more to it than only above.
Jyotish, like our existence, is neither limited by short-immediately linked time spans or a small field of view. i.e. it does not take transactional approach - its more of a ongoing concern way of looking at things. Say, one's Kundli is supposed to be like an opening balance sheet of an ongoing concern and current life is like current financial period. This means that Kundli tells us more about what has happened so far rather than what will happen in future. Yet, it is of course very helpful in projecting probable future - in two ways. 1) As from the balance sheet you can somewhat judge how business was run so far - and given that there is no change in ownership and same people are going to continue running business, you can project likely future behaviour and therefore future outcomes. - Similarly our tendencies/Sanskar carried forward from previous births are supposed to show up in Kundli 2) Irrespective of if the way the business is run continues to be same or not, what is already done needs to reach its logical conclusion. Say, if a company balance sheet shows near maturity debt/advances etc, they indicate near term cash flows and if that 'near term' is within your current financial period, they become kind of inevitable notwithstanding what you do starting now. or say If your debt equity ratio is already hugely above your optimal one, your ability to borrow cheaply will be limited. Similarly, we need to face our 'Prarabdh' - those effects which are due now, for which causes have already happened - This again is supposed to be reflected in Kundli. In short, at individual level, Kundli is supposed to indicate person's tendencies, constraints/flexibility earned based on past actions. without taking away even an inch of free will from the person.
Now, I do believe in most of above. - that we are constrained/facilitated by tendencies that we have developed on our own and that we have free will to decide our present path and that all the rules of Jyotish can be a good help while trying to make sense of the things etc etc. but I have still not answered the question that started my journey - 'Do all these get reflected in Kundli'? I had started with objective of reaching the answer NO to this question, today, is that the answer I have reached? or is there ANY answer for which I can argue convincingly? Actually, there was a very strange situation right from the start. While studying/exploring Jyotish, it was required that I think in terms like 'This means X and that means Y' as against 'This is supposed to mean X and that is supposed to mean Y' - you cant learn without trust - or at least I don't know how to do it. Which meant starting from exactly opposite end from my stated objective was pre-condition for my Jyotish journey.
Today, I think I do find things fitting in pretty well many times. But, I am not in position to argue for it properly. for one, with numerous interactions, at detailed level a Kundli can be interpreted in as many ways probably as there are interpreters, (i.e. it requires skill and 'someone is not skillful enough' and 'something is possible or not' are two very different things) plus to formulate any rational test - lot of data, many volunteers and lot of effort would be required. None of which I have or have intention to gather in near future. So then, does it mean, after such a long post on topic, I am going to leave it without taking any personal stance? Ok, let me try to do something better than that.
Lets design a test case as this. Take birth charts of some extra ordinary people and some more or less average people and mix them. Then, if the task is to segregate them, do I think result can be better than what randomness demands? i.e. Say, if presented with 50 Kundli, 40 average and 10 significantly above average, and asked to identify 10 above average, would it be possible to identify more than two extra-ordinary people correctly with good confidence level? I tend to think it should be possible to identify some 5-7. (and remember, this is when Kundli is only like an opening balance sheet and opening balance sheets can only give indications about current financial year, it cant give any fatalistic view of it.) If I will ever happen to execute this test case in proper strict conditions, will update results here.
Does it mean I recommend / believe in forecasts? No. But do I still think Jyotish is something one should avoid as I believed when I started? No again. Learning it can be made a rewarding journey is what I think now.
P.S.
Did I tell you? Death is as non event as drawing a balance sheet is for a business. Ok, slightly more. you can say its like closing an accounting period. It is separated from all bad and good things - i.e. ill health, accidents etc etc which we tend to associate with death. Plus, there is no special status given to physical death as such - there are only transformations - old making way for new and body death is just one of them. and so though my initial prediction for upcoming death didn't come true, I did get transformed in at least one way - I look at it in a different way now.
