4. ASTROLOGY AND BEYOND

DOES ASTROLOGY

HAVE A SCIENTIFIC BASIS?

Astrology is a tricky subject to handle, because there are an equal number of believers and non-believers!

To the non-believers, it has to be shown that astrology is a proven science.

The believers must be convinced that it is not the ultimate science - there is a way beyond the predictions of astrology! I will try to do both.

Astrology has been practiced since ancient times by cultures across the world - by the Babylonians, the Greeks, the Romans, the Arabs and the Indians.

The fundamental theory of astrology is that cosmic phenomena affect life and events on Earth.

This is definitely true.

Earth is not an isolated planet. Whether we realize it or not, we are all space travelers! Events in outer space can certainly affect our lives.

How?

The sun, the moon and the planets - all have their own magnetic fields, gravitational forces and radiations, which influence the rhythms of life on Earth.

We all know that the sun and moon affect us on a daily basis. Every day, depending on the position of the sun, we experience physiological changes in temperature, heart rate, and so on.

In all cultures across the world, we find evidence of 'madness' increasing at the time of full moon. In fact, the word lunatic comes from lunar (from moon).

Experiments have proved that this is not just an empty belief. The American Institute of Medical Climatology has extensive statistical evidence that psychotic behaviour like destructive driving, arson and homicide - all increase on full moon days. Experimenters in Germany have proved that lunar phases correlate with respiratory and blood diseases, and even influence the time of death!

We have also seen that during solar flares or other disturbances on the sun, admissions to psychiatric hospitals increase sharply.

When the sun and moon can affect our physical, emotional and mental state so strongly, how can we doubt whether the planets can do the same?

In terms of chemical composition, man is made of the same material as the planets. Naturally, we respond to the changes produced in the Earth's magnetic field by other planets.

When these responses are on a day-to-day basis, they are easy to understand. But the planets can also have a long-term influence on us. This is the basis of astrological predictions.

Astrological predictions are very popular in the East, and in India almost every Hindu will have a chart of personal astrological predictions - called his horoscope. This chart is prepared when the baby is born, and predicts which are his lucky and unlucky periods, which profession he will take up, when he will get married, and so on.

Even people who agree that the planets can influence us, don't believe that we can predict these influences in advance. How can the positions of the planets during your birth determine which profession you are going to take up?

But experiments have proved it!

An experimenter called Michael Gauquelin, working in the Psychophysiological Laboratory at Strasbourg, tested 1084 famous physicians, and found that an amazing number of them were born when the planets Mars or Saturn were rising. The results were 10 million times the number expected by chance (probability theory) alone!

In another experiment, an American psychologist called Vernon Clark collected horoscopes from a large group of people in different professions.

He passed on these horoscopes to 20 astrologers for their predictions on what the person's profession might be. 17 out of 20 predicted the right profession with an accuracy that was 100 times more than that expected by chance! Clark repeated these tests, making them tougher every time. He still got the same impressive results!

In India, from ancient times, jyotisha (astrology) was used precisely for this: to determine which path a person was going to follow in life.

When a child entered the gurukul (school), jyotisha was used to diagnose what kind of personality, what kind of attitude and natural aptitudes he possessed. Accordingly, he would be trained in scripture study, martial arts, business skills, or whatever suited him best. This was one reason why astrology became widespread in India.

How is this kind of prediction possible?

Just like lunar activity determines our moods to some extent, the moon and planets also exert an influence on the unborn child. Radiation of a certain wavelength can stimulate a certain area of the brain, which ultimately decides whether the person might be good at mathematics, whether he might be artistically inclined and so on. So if we know which planets were active during the period of the child's development, we can predict his future with some accuracy. This is a very basic explanation, for your understanding.

Moreover, all matter is composed of the same fundamental particles. And these particles behave in same way everywhere whether they are part of a planet, a tree, or you! As Quantum Mechanics has proved, matter also has a kind of wave motion. So each of the planets has a unique wave motion. When two waves of different wavelengths (from different planets) meet each other and get superimposed, there will be some 'high points' (during which both waves are in harmony and their qualities are enhanced), and some 'low points' (during which they cancel out each other's influences). This is how the combined influence of various planets is calculated.

Because the waves have a regular frequency, the periods of harmony and disruption also happen at regular intervals. Using this as a basis, astrologers can predict the ups and downs of your life.

The basis of astrology is not magic, it is mathematics.

Astrology is like an equation in which the positions of the sun, the moon and the planets can be seen as variables. By making complex calculations based on these positions and their influences, a competent astrologer can definitely get verifiable results.

Like any other information, astrological data can be statistically analysed and quantified.

But the major problem is that data from an enormous number of variables have to be combined, weighed and worked out in various permutations. The individual and combined influence of planets have to be considered. Moreover, the planets not only influence us, but also each other.

This is a very difficult task, so most astrologers these days just use a few basic variables, which ultimately give inaccurate results. Above all, the results are open to interpretation, which makes the whole science less reliable. These are the reasons that astrology is not seen as a credible science today.

I am not here to prove or disprove astrology.

I am here to demystify it.

Astrology can give a fair idea of the influences working on you. It can show you the problem, but it can't show you the solution. Meditation can show you the solution.

Meditation is nothing but a way of connecting to the cosmic energy, the force that guides the sun, the planets and you. When you function in harmony with the cosmic energy, you will naturally have better protection from these influences. Anyone who goes out in the rain is likely to catch a cold but the person who does not resist the rain as harmful, can simply remain unaffected by it.

Does everybody go mad at full moon?

Of course not! The full moon affects only the already imbalanced mind. If your condition is stable, these factors simply don't affect you.

Meditation strengthens you not only spiritually, but physically, mentally and emotionally as well.

With meditation, you can go beyond astrology.

DON'T DO YOUR DUTY! DUTY VS. RESPONSIBILITY

DON'T DO YOUR DUTY! DUTY VS. RESPONSIBILITY

There's an old Indian tale:

A king was on a hunting trip in a forest, when all of a sudden he was enchanted by the lovely notes of a flute. Trying to trace the source of the music, he came upon a man sitting alone outside his hut, playing his music for the river and the wind.

Oh, no one! smiled the man. When I sit here and watch this beauty, the song arises on its own. This is just my way of expressing my joy!

The king was impressed. No musician in his palace could play so beautifully. He decided that it might be a good idea to take the man back to the palace with him.

In spite of the man's protests, the king took him back to the palace. His sole duty was to entertain the king with his delightful music. The king arranged for the man to have one of the finest rooms in the palace, overlooking the royal gardens.

The next morning, the king woke early and summoned the man to the garden.

Come on, play me a song! he ordered.

Obediently, the man struggled with the flute - but no music would emerge from it!

The king was astonished.

What is the matter? Is the royal garden lacking in beauty? Do you have no inspiration to play? he demanded.

No, Your Majesty. The garden is beautiful, but my music can no longer match its beauty, said the man unhappily. Why? asked the king.

Because yesterday my music was a joy, today it has become my duty!

DUTY is truly an ugly word!

No other word has such a tremendous capacity to transform joy into misery.

Duty must be the most abused word of our time.

In the history of civilization, so much has been spoken and written about the importance of doing one's duty that it is time to ask: what actually is Duty?

Duty is nothing but doing the right thing for the wrong reason!

Duty arises when a sense of values is imposed upon us from the outside. When you find yourself doing the 'correct' thing, but with no sense of joy or fulfillment, it usually means that you are just fulfilling a duty. And without exception, every person secretly rebels against the concept of having to perform one's duty.

But duty is a double-edged sword!

When you do something merely out of a sense of duty, you usually end up feeling resentful and frustrated. But if you don't do it, you feel guilty! Both ways, duty doesn't give you a chance at happiness.

How do we find ourselves trapped in the snare of duty?

The sad truth is, most of us don't have the courage to live life on our own terms. We seek refuge in so many institutions - social, moral, legal.

But we forget that nothing in life comes for free! In return, these institutions impose 'duties' upon us. Ultimately, our controls are always in someone else's hands! But we live in such deep unconsciousness that we don't even realize we are trapped.

A man once approached the Buddha, seeking sannyas. He wanted to become the Buddha's disciple.

The Buddha smiled and told him, Alright, I will accept you. But on one condition. First, I want you to go and kill your family and friends, and come back to me.

The man was astonished. What did the Buddha mean by that?

Was the Buddha asking the man to go and physically kill his family and friends?

NO! What he meant was, Go and kill the voices of society which are inside you, continuously instructing and disturbing you. Kill them psychologically, not actually. Remove their influence from your Being.

Take a close look at your life.

How many people are sitting inside your head, giving you instructions on how to live and what to do? How many people are telling you what is right and wrong for you? Who are the people controlling your life?

Your parents, your children, your spouse, your friends, strangers, society, law. All the writers of all the moral books you have read, all the speakers of all the discourses you have listened to are sitting there!

There will be enough people to tell you what to sacrifice, and for whom: for your family, your children, for society, for your motherland, for an ideology, for God…!

Every patriot thinks it his duty to kill! Even Hitler considered it his sacred duty to kill all the Jews on the planet.

At least in war, people kill their enemies for the sake of duty. You are killing yourself!

Ask yourself this question consciously: what are my real reasons for doing my duty?

The desire to please someone?

The fear of disapproval?

A sense of guilt?

Pride in being morally superior?

Make a list of all the duties you have been doing for the past five years. Mark the ones you are doing NOW.

Ask yourself: has it been worth it? Have they helped you feel more joyous, more fulfilled? Or have they left you with a vague sense of resentment?

Now, do this. This is important.

Make a note of all the times when doing something for someone else has brought you tremendous joy.

Which are those times? Who are those people?

You will find that those were always the times when you performed an action most selflessly, when you voluntarily shifted the focus of your attention from yourself to the other. It might be anyone - your beloved, your child, your best friend.

Without exception, when an action is performed out of love, there is never a feeling of resentment. There is never the burden of duty. Love is the key that can free you from the prison of duty! This is not a moral statement.

Whether you believe it or not, whether you accept it or not, we are all deeply interconnected.

Just as every organism in the Earth's ecosystem is interconnected on the physical plane, we are intimately connected to each other without our awareness.

This is the reality of our existence.

To recognise this is a sign of maturity.

When you experience love for another, you make this leap into awareness naturally!

When people talk to me about duty, I tell them,

What you are doing is the right thing.

But the reason you are doing it for is wrong!

Live out of Consciousness, not out of Conscience.

Don't trust your fear. Trust your intelligence.

Even without fear or guilt, you will automatically stay on the correct path.

You may ask me, but most of my duties involve people I love! Then why do I find it such a strain?

Because, somewhere along the way, in the push and pull of daily living, you have lost focus of your love!

You have replaced your natural sense of responsibility with an enforced sense of duty.

There is a tremendous difference between responsibility and duty.

Responsibility is literally the ability to respond. It is your capacity to respond spontaneously to the needs of another.

Responsibility is what inspires a man to rush into a burning house to rescue a stranger. No sense of duty could have accomplished that!

Responsibility is a natural offshoot of love. It arises when you recognize that you are not separate from the other.

It springs from the deep understanding:

You are, therefore I am.

Once the sense of responsibility arises, the word duty will vanish on its own.

EVERY BODY KNOWS...!

TRUST YOUR BODY'S INTELLIGENCE

EVERY BODY KNOWS...!

TRUST YOUR BODY'S INTELLIGENCE

A while back I saw an advertisement for a popular sports gear brand. The picture showed a man preparing hard for a competitive event. The headline said:

If your body asks you to stop, tell your body to shut up.

How often do you ask your body to shut up?

Most of the time! Is it not?

From the moment you wake up in the morning, it is a tug-of-war with your body.

Do you realise, man is the only creature who needs an alarm clock to wake up in the morning - because he is so completely out of tune with nature's rhythm!

When you get up, your body is screaming for more sleep. It hasn't had the time to recover after that late night you had. But it's Monday morning, so you tell your body to shut up.

After spending hours staring at the computer in office, your eyes feel dry and tired. But you have a project report to be finished. So what do you tell your body? Yes, Shut up!

When you overeat or drink too much at a party, when you sit up late watching television, when you push yourself to work even on a day when you don't feel well - you are continuously ignoring the warnings of the body.

These days we all take pride in telling our bodies to shut up. We tax our lungs with polluted air, our stomachs with spicy and unhealthy food, our livers with alcohol. To some extent, our bodies learn to cope with the assault by becoming less and less sensitive. That's why our tolerance threshold is climbing every day. We need larger quantities of alcohol to get drunk, and higher doses of painkillers to stop feeling pain.

If we knew how deeply our body and mind influence each other, we would treat our body better!

Our body has tremendous intelligence, gathered over 600 million years of evolution.

The processes we usually call 'conscious processes' are the ones controlled by our central nervous system - the brain and the spinal cord. This includes voluntary actions, thinking, and so on.

But conscious processes are a small minority of the action that is going on in our body! The vast majority of the processes are 'unconscious', and are mostly controlled by the autonomous nervous system. These processes, like breathing, digesting food, keeping our balance when we walk, all run beautifully without our control or even our awareness. Imagine, if we had to worry about running our bodies, we would never get anything else done!

How do you think all this happens?

This is the miracle of body intelligence.

Just watch your body!

Every single cell in your body is gifted with the intelligence to carry on its own unique functions. When an infection attacks the body, your white blood cells swing into action on their own, long before you are even aware of the danger.

But the sad truth is, we have lost trust in our own body wisdom! The day you have a cold, or feel a headache coming up, you automatically pop a pill. Why? Don't you see, your body is carrying on the work of a huge industrial plant! It is an ecosystem in itself. When your body can digest food, pump blood and fight infections on a regular basis, can't it heal a simple headache on its own?

If you enter the amazingly complex world of DNA, you will see that your emotions, your memories, even your opinions are strongly controlled by your body! DNA are the carriers of our genetic code. They carry imprints not only of physical characteristics, but also of mental states. Geneticists say that every person has a unique perception of the world that is built up by his DNA!

Not only does the body influence the mind, the mind also exerts tremendous influence on the body.

A person who has been cured of a disease, or rehabilitated after a drug addiction, still carries some memories of the disease in his body. In the same way, if you worry constantly, the negativity triggered by the worries can solidify in your body and being. This is what we call depression. That's why depressed people often can't tell why they are depressed. Long after the problem has been solved, the stress associated with it remains in their memory as an energy blockage, both physical and mental.

Not just depression, but practically every disease is equally influenced by both body and mind. In fact, over 85% of our diseases are psychosomatic in nature. Not just headaches or heart disease, but peptic ulcers, skin and respiratory allergies, even cancer is influenced by our thinking.

The mind has unimaginable power to cause or cure physical ailments!

An experiment was performed in Japan on a group of people who were allergic to a certain plant. The participants were blindfolded and leaves from different plants were placed upon their skin. Each time, the researchers told the participants which leaf they were placing on them.

Amazingly, they found that in most cases the allergy was caused by the mention of the name of the plant, rather than by the actual plant. When they placed the allergy-causing leaf on the skin, but told the patient it was a harmless leaf, the subject did not develop the allergy. On the other hand, even if a harmless leaf was placed on the skin, and the subject was told that it was the allergy-causing leaf, he would instantly break out in a rash!

In another amazing experiment with a boy having multiple personalities, psychologist Daniel Goleman found that the boy's allergies could be switched on and off depending on which personality was dominant at that time! The same mind would give the body orders to act allergic or non-allergic, depending on which reaction suited that particular personality.

Modern medical science uses techniques like the PET scan to track chemical changes in your brain under different circumstances. Researchers have found that each time you recall a different memory, or experience a strong emotion, it triggers a different chemical pattern in your brain.

Not just that, the news spreads throughout your body immediately. Whether you are feeling happy, angry or sad, a signal is sent out instantly to every cell in your body. So your body is actually a changing reflection of what you are thinking at that moment!

Just like psychosomatic diseases show us how our unconscious mind controls our conscious functions, meditation teaches us how to use the conscious mind to control 'unconscious' functions. In yoga and Zen, there are techniques by which you can consciously control your pulse rate, digestion, metabolism, body temperature and even your degree of sensitivity to pain!

Actually, there is nothing miraculous about these phenomena. They appear miraculous to us only because we are unaware of the deep relationship that exists between our body and mind.

Both body and mind are only expressions of the same Consciousness. They cannot, and do not function separately. Unless we respect both equally, we can never be complete, integrated individuals.

In modern civilization, we are developing our minds at the expense of our bodies. Anthropologists say that a few hundred generations from now, we may be reduced to creatures with giant brains and stunted bodies, because the brain is the only part of the body we are using!

Abusing the body is not a modern problem. The body has traditionally been condemned as the grossest part of ourselves. We always blame the body for disturbing us, pulling us into maya, towards the temptations of the world. Right from ancient times, yogis felt it was necessary to neglect the body to attain to spirituality. So they would torture the body, deprive the body, and keep repeating to themselves, I am not the body, I am not the body. This is one path, but it works for very few.

I say, the way to spirituality is only through the body!

The body is the boat that is going to carry you across the river of samsara, of Life. If your boat itself is leaking and faulty, how will you ever cross the river? Unless you learn to respect your body, how can you go beyond the body?

Enter into a deep, loving relationship with your body.

Sri Ramakrishna says beautifully:

There are two ways to cross the river of maya.

One is by summoning all your strength and leaping across. The other way is to stand before it with folded palms and request, O Maya, please allow me to get across!

This is the path of respect and tolerance.

Make peace with your body.

Drop the idea of controlling your body.

Trust in your body wisdom.

Only by deeply understanding your body, with clarity and compassion, will you find a way to go beyond it.