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Eternal India
encyclopedia
Ancient Concepts, Sciences & Systems
The universe is either cosmos or chaos; it cannot be partly ruled
by law and partly by chance. The universe and the life activities are
regulated by certain laws. If the Sun and the planetary bodies are
subject to discipline and their movements and phenomena are ac-
cording to a certain order, then the lives of individuals who inhabit
the planetary systems must also be guided by certain definite laws
and rules.
The indications of planets are something like show-cause no-
tices of a legal court. The sections mentioned therein are technical
and they indicate with what sort of commission or omission of duty
the person is charged with. He must make preparations to meet
them. Astrology therefore does not lead to a weakening of the will.
Astrology explains life’s reactions to planetary vibrations. In
Sanskrit, it is called
Hora Sastra
or
Jyotisha
or the Science of Time.
Astrology is primarily concerned with the application of cosmic laws
to terrestrial phenomena in general and man in particular.
The
grahas
are nine in astrology — the Sun, Moon, Mars,
Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, Rahu and Ketu. A
graha
is defined
as a celestial physical body (such as the Sun, Moon etc.) or a geo-
metrical point (such as Rahu, Ketu) with a field of force of its own.
In this sense, the term planet is inadequate to describe the
graha
of
Astrology, although it is used frequently.
GRAHAS AND PHENOMENA
Lawrence J. Benditt, an M.D. of Cambridge University, and
Phoebe D. Peyne have argued that we are faced either with the fact
that the extraordinarily accurate readings of astrological maps
without the astrologer ever having seen the person are purely
psychic or intuitive, or else with a mystery which goes deep down
into the question of the relationship of man with the seeming
objective world, whether as shown in the heavens or the more
mundane sphere of everyday contacts.
The Sun and the Moon which affect the sea-water causing tides
are bound to affect all the store of fluids on the surface of the earth
or contained in the vegetable kingdom or in human beings. Blood is
not only a fluid but contains the same salts that are dissolved in the
ocean and that too practically in the same proportion. This similarity
between the composition of salts in blood and in sea-water is not
accidental.
Rotation right
On the Earth-centred
Birth Chart the start-
ing-point for the Sun's
daily rotation is at sun-
rise (A). The other
Suns at B, C and D
mark the respective
positions of noon, sun-
set and midnight.
The Tides above
The Sun and Moon pull in the same direction to cause spring tides, left; when they pull at right angles their effect is weakened and the weak tides,'right, are produced, the
difference between high and low tides then being minimal.
Astrological Conjunctions
An
astrological
conjunction
relates not
to the
position of other planets vis-a-vis Earth, but to
the proximity of two or more planets on the eclip-
tic as seen from Earth. Conjunctions occur on the
Birth Chart when the planet falls within an orb, or
arc of tolerance, of up to 8-9°. The conjunction of
two planets is a focal point of the Chart, and lays
stress
according
to
the
characteristics
of
the
houses and signs concerned.
Hindu astrologers have given predictions for each day of the
lunar month. For the eighth day, that is, when the Sun and the
Moon are 90° apart this diminishes each other’s attractions on the
fluids. The blood in the human beings remains thus comparatively
in an undisturbed state from outside influences and any medicine
newly started on this day is bound to be more effective if it is
properly chosen and this is briefly stated as
Ashtami Vyadhinash-
ini.
The Hindus enjoined certain restrictions in regard to food, etc.,
a few hours prior to the actual occurrence of an eclipse and during
the duration of the eclipse; for the Moon would screen off cor-
puscles streaming from the Sun at 100 miles per second and the
effect would be some sort of corpuscular shadow and the earth
would feel the effect of this corpuscular shadow some two hours
prior to the arrival of the “light shadow”. Recent studies in
connection with radio signals reveal a relatively low ionisation