{"id":435,"date":"2013-07-13T01:28:00","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=435"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:28:00","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:28:00","slug":"44-about-astrology-vol-17-the-hour-of-god-volume-17","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/01-sabcl\/17-the-hour-of-god-volume-17\/44-about-astrology-vol-17-the-hour-of-god-volume-17","title":{"rendered":"-44_About Astrology.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n

\nAbout Astrology*<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n                   
\nTHE<\/font><\/b> subject of this book is one which stands nowadays put away under a sort of
\nintellectual ban, placed on it some centuries ago by the scientific and
\nrationalistic European mind and not yet lifted. Mr. N. P. Subramania Iyer has
\nunder- taken an astrological series which will deal with the various parts of
\nastrology, and the present volume contains the text and translation of the Kalaprakasika,
\n<\/i>a treatise on the selection of the right times by astrological rule for
\nundertaking any and every action of human life. The book is well printed and
\ngot up, the translation admirably done in a style free enough to avoid all
\nawkwardness, – the author has a thorough control of the English tongue and an
\nexcellent style of his own, – but perfectly faithful to the matter of the text.
\nBut the most interesting part of the work for the ordinary reader is the
\nintroduction, in which he gives amidst other matter the psychological
\nexplanation of the influence of the planets and states for what they stand in
\nrelation to the Indian Vedantic philosophy of existence. I have not seen
\nelsewhere any exposition of the subject equally original and illuminative.
\n    Astrology is in the general mind associated with that class
\nof subjects which goes under the name of the occult, and along with others of
\nits class it has long been discredited by modern "enlightenment", one does not quite
\nknow on what grounds or with what rational justification. It has its psychic
\nand mystical side, but that is not its ordinary presentation; there it claims
\nto be a science like any other with fixed processes and an exact and definite
\nsystem of rules which ought to be perfectly capable of verification or of
\ndisproof by experiment and induction like any other science. Its basis is
\nastronomical and mathematical, its data perfectly open and positive and in no
\nway hidden or occult, nor does it at all shrink back from the test or hide
\nitself in secrecy and mystery.<\/p>\n

* Kalaprakasika: <\/font> <\/i>the Standard Book on the Election System by N. P.
\nSubramania Iyer, Tanjore.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-283<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

It does not indeed give ordinarily the why, but only the how of the causes and
\neffects it professes to establish, but so it is with all other sciences; they
\ndo not give the reason of things, but only their processes. Yet astrology is
\nsupposed at some indefinite time in the march of human mind to have been
\nexploded, – along with such things as witch-craft and demonology, not to speak
\nof the existence of spirits and the immortality of the soul, – and
\nthere is a sort of idea that it has been disproved and therefore put aside as a
\nsuperstition which no reasonable man can even look at except with a lofty
\ndisdain, much less stoop to investigate with an open mind its truth or falsity.
\nStill the anathema of Science has not been able to destroy it; in Europe it has
\nrevived, even though its practice as a profession is punishable by the law, and
\nin India it has always survived. It is not indeed the habit of educated
\nIndians to profess explicitly their belief in it, they fight shy of that as a
\nrule, but it is largely consulted by numbers of them, as also by many
\nEuropeans. This is an anomalous position which ought to be corrected. Either
\nastrology is a true science and should be investigated, proved, improved where
\ndefective and generally rehabilitated in opinion, or else it is a
\npseudo-science and should be investigated and disproved so as to cut the ground
\naway finally from all secret belief or open credulity.
\n   
\nAs a matter of fact astrology has never been scientifically disproved, nor has
\nany rational ground ever been advanced for treating it as a pseudo-science. It
\nsimply came to be assumed at a certain period and under certain intellectual
\ninfluences that it was a childish superstition. Or if there were any grounds,
\nthen it was left aside because astrologers were charlatans, because many,
\nperhaps most predictions went wrong, but. most of all because it was thought
\nthat in the nature of things, in any rational theory of the universe the
\nplanets simply could not have any influence on our characters, lives and
\nactions. None of those grounds are sufficient. If many astrologers are
\ncharlatans, so also have there been many quacks in the field of medicine; at
\none time indeed not only did they pullulate; but the system of medicine itself
\nseemed so defective that there were plenty of clear and enlightened minds who
\nwere inclined with Moliere to denounce the whole thing as a gross
\npseudo-science, an elaborate and solemn<\/p>\n

\nPage-284<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nsystem of ignorance, humbug and quackery. Supposing that view had prevailed, –
\nit could not, merely because men are too vitally interested in healing their
\nailments and preserving their bodies and know no other way of doing it, – that
\nwould not have done. away with the truth underlying the science.
\n   
\nThat many predictions go wrong, proves nothing essentially, against astrology
\nany more than the constant failure of doctors to heal diseases proves anything
\nessential against their science. The first reason of this failure may be that a
\ngreat number of practising astrologers are either charlatans who seek to please
\ntheir clients rather than predict by scientific rule, – of that kind there are
\nperhaps many, – or else inefficient and ignorant men who practise only by rule
\nof thumb, perfunctorily and with a main eye upon their fees. But if even capable
\nastrologers fail often, that also only proves that either the science or their
\nway of treating it is largely empirical or that some of its rules and theories
\nmay be errors. But every science has to pass through its empirical stage and
\nsome – as, again, the science of medicine, – have hardly emerged from it, and
\nevery science too burdens itself in its progress with false
\ngeneralisations, incorrect theories and imperfect rules which have afterwards
\nto be discarded or amended. As the main point in medicine is whether herbs and
\nmetals and other remedies have or have not certain effects on the body and
\nwhether their workings can be substantiated by experience in a sufficient
\nnumber of cases to establish a regular relation of cause and effect, so it is
\nin astrology with the fundamental question of planetary influences upon earth
\nand its creatures.
\n   
\nThe a priori <\/i>argument from the rational theory of the universe cannot
\nstand. There is nothing essentially irrational in the idea that in this solar
\nsystem, so closely linked together, there may be mutual influences of all the
\nplanets upon each other or that the beings of a particular planet are
\npowerfully influenced or even dominated by influences from the others. The
\nquestion remains, the a priori <\/i>rationality being admitted or at least not
\nsummarily dismissed, first, whether it is so in fact and, secondly, how
\nfar those influences go and of what nature they are. Astrology affirms that
\nthey not only affect our bodies, but also our psychical being. If matter and
\nmind were entirely independent entities<\/p>\n

\nPage-285<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

having no influence or determining effect upon each other, then such a result
\ncould not be; but that is not the case. According to the materialistic view of
\nthe universe which claims to be the sole rationalistic view, mind is itself an
\neffect of matter and all its states and movements are determined by matter.
\nThere is nothing then impossible, planetary influence being once admitted, in
\nthe action of material bodies producing psychical conditions on the earth and
\nthereby determining our psychical states and movements. In a more truly
\nrationalistic view mind and matter are always influencing and determining each
\nother; here too, given a universal mind and matter so acting upon individual
\nmatter and mind, the movements of the planetary system may be one or even the
\nfirst nodus of their activities, and the assertions of astrology become at
\nleast primarily credible.
\n   
\nFarther, astrology affirms that these influences determine the whole course of
\nour lives and that the all-important element is time. That raises the major
\nquestion of the influence of Time upon human beings’ and events; does Time
\ndetermine the course of our fives and the states of our being and if so, how
\nfar and in what way? or to put the question more precisely, as it is raised by
\nastrology, do or can the conditions reigning at a given critical time, in this
\ncase the moment of birth, determine our physical and psychological conditions
\nand the whole course of our future lives, or determine them to any considerable
\nextent? and are the relative movements and therefore the mutual positions of
\nthe sun and planets with regard to the earth- and each other either the nodus
\nor in some way the effective signs of these determinations? And, secondly, do
\nthe developing time conditions which come afterwards, by themselves or viewed
\nin reference to the original conditions, determine from moment to moment, from
\ntime to time the subsequent evolution of our primary physical and psychological conditions and the course of linked and successive circumstances
\nwhich make up the history of our lives? and if so, again, are the relative
\nmovements and mutual positions of the suns and planets at any given time the
\nnodus or the effective signs of this later determination also? can they
\ntherefore be taken for all practical purposes as determinants, or at any rate
\nas sure signs by which the determinations of our life and being can be<\/p>\n

\nPage-286<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

discovered? That is the question which astrology raises, and it is evidently a
\nperfectly legitimate and rational question: nor can we on a priori <\/i>
\ngrounds condemn and put away an affirmative answer, which is based upon past
\nexperience systematised into rules and theories, as a superstition or a childish
\nfolly. Granted that in things here there is a chain of cause and effect – or at
\nleast, if causality is disputed, of antecedent condition leading up to
\nsubsequent condition – and that if and so far as we know that chain, scientific
\nprediction becomes in that proportion possible, – two propositions which, unless
\nwe deny determination altogether, it would be difficult to dispute, – there is
\nno inherent improbability in the clue to happenings human and other on the
\nplanets being found in the motions of those planets. Astronomy is in a sense the
\nprimary physical science, for the first facts which give all the others their
\nfield are astronomical facts; it may well be that in the psycho-physical field
\nthe same rule holds and that there the first facts may be astrological.
\n   
\nThe a priori <\/i>objections disappearing, the next step is to ask ourselves
\nwhether there is a sufficient prima facie <\/i>empirical case for inquiring
\ninto the actual truth of astrology. This at present depends upon the experience
\nof isolated individuals, a very un- satisfactory basis. But if this experience
\ncould be collected, sifted and published, I believe it would be found that a
\nformidable prima facie <\/i>case exists in favour of astrology, much stronger
\nthan that which encouraged the Society for Psychical Research to carry on its
\nwork in another psycho-physical field to such important conclusions. I may
\nstate my own experience in the matter in the belief, justified by many
\ninstances, that it is only typical of the experience of hundreds of others. My
\nfirst accidental contact with an Indian astrologer was not encouraging. This
\ngentleman was the most accomplished thought-reader I have ever seen; for he
\nasked me to think my question without speaking it and not only successfully
\nnamed the unspoken question I had fixed on, but three others which had crossed
\nmy mind, one of them only in the merest flash and without leaving any
\nimpression behind: this he pretended to do by mathematical calculation, an
\noperation which I took leave to regard as humbug or professional parade. For
\nwhen it came to his answers, I found that he was still doing<\/p>\n

\nPage-287<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

thought-reading and not astrology; he simply echoed the hopes or thoughts in
\nmy mind and his predictions did not come within one hundred miles of the truth.
\nOther practitioners I have found to belong, a few plainly to the class of mere
\nflattering charlatans, but most to the inefficient who read by rule of thumb
\nand have made no profound study of their science. On the other hand, with
\ncapable astrologers the results have been often of such a remarkable accuracy
\nas to put quite aside any possibility of chance hit, mere coincidence,
\nintelligent prevision or any of the current explanations. I may instance the
\nfather of a friend of mine, a deep student of the science but not a
\nprofessional, who predicted accurately the exact year, month, day, hour and
\neven minute of his own death. In my own case accuracy was hampered by the
\ninability to fix the precise moment of my birth; still some of the results
\nwere extraordinary. Two may be mentioned, from one and the same astrologer,
\nwhich related to my public career. One, given when I had not yet plunged into
\nthe political vortex and my then obscure personality was quite unknown to the
\nastrologer, predicted as an inevitable certitude of the future a political
\nstruggle with powerful non-Indian adversaries during which for a time even my
\nlife would fall under the shadow of danger. The other, given at the time of my
\nfirst prosecution in the Bande Mataram <\/i>case, predicted three successive
\ncriminal trials in each of which the prosecution would fail. I may instance
\nalso two predictions by the book in which Slokas from Sanskrit astrological
\nwritings indicating the result of certain conjunctions or planetary positions
\nwere shown to be applicable to my horoscope. One foretold specific chronic
\nillnesses for the body of which there was no sign at the time, but long
\nafterwards they put in their unexpected appearance and persisted. Another indicated very precisely that one of my future activities would be to found a new
\nspiritual philosophy and its discipline; at that time I had no knowledge of
\nphilosophy or Yoga and no turn or, inclination in my mind which could make the
\nrealisation of this prediction at all probable. These are only the most precise
\nexamples out of a number. Supposing all well-authenticated evidence of the kind
\nto be collected, I am convinced there would be an overwhelmingly
\nstrong prima facie <\/i>case and even a body of sufficiently<\/p>\n

\nPage-288<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nstrong empirical proof to establish at least a nucleus of truth in astrology.
\n   
\nThat would be the first step. For if astrology is a science and is to take its
\nproper place, the first necessity is to dissipate by an appeal to the empirical
\nmind of the general public as well as of the sceptical thinker the great mass
\nof unenquiring prejudice which now exists against it. To publish the text and
\ntranslation of the best authorities, as Mr. Iyer is now doing, with
\nilluminating introductions is a preliminary need in this case so that we may
\nknow what we have to go upon. The second is to mass evidence of the empirical
\ntruth of the science, giving in each case the prediction in all its details,
\nthe more detailed the better, the astrological rules on which it was based
\nand the event, each detail of the event being compared with the corresponding
\ndetail of the prediction. Only then would there be a clear field for the consideration of the scientific and philosophical doubts, questions and problems
\nwhich would still arise; but this, though the most important aspect of the
\nmatter, I must leave for future handling.
\n   
\nAn acceptance of the truth of astrology would not necessarily carry with it a
\ncomplete determinism of Fate or mechanical law of Karma. In the Indian theory at
\nleast there is room for a determination by human will and endeavour, for Fate is
\nmainly a determination by past action and a new will and action can cancel it;
\nonly a very strong Karma is imperative and irreducible. Even that may possibly
\nbe cancelled if one can enter into the freedom of the spiritual
\nconsciousness. One instance at any rate came to my knowledge in which the life
\nhad corresponded exactly with the pre-indications of the horoscope so long as
\nthe subject remained in the world but, as soon as he left it for a spiritual
\nlife, there was no longer any correspondence.<\/p>\n

\nPage-289<\/font><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

About Astrology*                       THE subject of this book is one which stands nowadays put away under a sort of intellectual ban, placed on it…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-17-the-hour-of-god-volume-17","wpcat-9-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=435"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}