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Maharshi
Parasara, and the Story of the Birth of Sage Veda
Vyasa. (approx. 3200 B.C.)
Maharshi Parasara was the father of Sage Vyasa of
Mahabharata fame. Sage Veda Vyasa was the author
of Bhagavad Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam, two
important books of ancient India. We are told that
once while travelling in a boat on the river
Jamuna, Maharshi Parasara while doing some
calculations in astrology, suddenly noted a
favourable time for union. He found out that if he
united with any woman at a particular time on that
day, a child of extra-ordinary brilliance would be
born. Since he was not married and since the time
was fast approaching, he had no other choice than
to ask the boatman to suggest him a lady with whom
he may join in physical union. The boatman offered
his own daughter to him. As predicted the
illustrious Sage Vyasa was born to the couple
later on.
Sage
Vyasa has written 18 Puranas including the
Mahabharata, Bhagavad Gita, Brahma Sutras - the
Uttara-Mimamsa. To Maharshi Vashista was born
Sakti, to Sakti was born Parasara and to Parasara
was born Sage Vyasa and to him was born Maharshi
Shuka.
A
similar event took place when an Astrologer,
finding the possibility for the birth of an
extraordinary person predicted the event to
everyone and thereafter joined a potter's
daughter, and the issue was the great Salivahana.
How
Varaha Mihira got his special title? (400-500 AD)
Another
great mathematician, astronomer and astrologer of
India, Shri Varahamihira, who lived around 5th
century AD, is believed to have played a dominant
role in the revival of ancient astrology.
Varaha
Mihira was earlier referred to as only Mihira.
When the astrologers in the palace of King
Vikramaditya were asked to study the horoscope of
the Prince, all of them spoke about the
possibility of a serious danger to the life of the
Prince at the age of 18. Astrologer Mihira not
only accepted the possibility but also added that
the Prince would surely die when he is 18 years
old and that the death would be caused by a wild
boar on a particular date at a particular time.
Knowing that Mihira was a step above other
astrologers, the King got worried. To avert the
grave possibility, the King constructed a special
multi-storied building into which the entry of any
animal leave alone a wild boar was impossible.
On
the predicted day, security arrangements were
extraordinary. The King told Mihira, "I will
give you one last chance to reconsider your
predictions". But Mihira did not budge such
being his faith in the science of astrology.
Mihira said that, "This is the punishment
as announced by the planets in the horoscope
according to Karma or actions done by the Prince
in his previous life (lives). The results of the
past life speak out through the planetary
positions at the time of birth."
The
King was very anxious and frightened and so every
5 minutes, the king sent a servant to go up and
check if the prince was safe. The servant would
come down and tell the King that the prince was
safe and playing with his friends.
After
the predicted time had passed by, the King asked
Mihira to accompany him and see for himself the
prince playing with his friends.
Mihira
said, "I'm sorry, O King, but the Prince had
died before five minutes." The King along
with others reached the 7th floor. To his utter
dismay he found on the open terrace adjacent to
the room where the games were being played, the
prince lying in a pool of blood. Next to him was
found a wooden pole. On the end of the pole was a
carved wooden boar. The national emblem of the
kingdom happened to be the wild boar. It was the
habit of the engineers to put up this symbol on
all the tall buildings of the King.
The
Prince had been playing with his friends. So when
the king asked his security guards to check the
condition of the prince, they reported what they
had seen. Around the predicted time, the prince
suddenly felt an urge to go out into the terrace
as he felt the room was a little suffocating. At
the same time, a strong wind broke the pole and
heavy wooden boar fell on the prince.
Varaha
means wild boar. From that day onwards Mihira came
to be known as Shri Varaha Mihira.
The
Story of Lord Buddha
Gautama
Buddha was earlier referred to as Prince Siddharta.
Soon after his birth, as was the custom in the
royal family then, the astrologers were invited to
study the horoscope of the newborn prince. In the
end, they all said that Siddharta would become a
world famous emperor having great command over
people and that his name would last until the end
of the world. The King was very happy to hear
this. However, one astrologer alone said that
there is also a possibility that he may renounce
the world and become famous as a religious leader.
When the King asked the astrologer, "Is this
destined to happen?" the answer was,
"No, Sir, this is a possibility!" (This
clearly shows that astrology is an indicative
science more than being predictive, and that
astrology has its own limitations when it comes to
exact answers.)
So
the King did not allow Siddharta to go outside the
palace, where he might see certain things that
might prompt the prince to ponder on matters
concerning suffering and salvation. So in the
court if someone fell sick, they were asked to
leave the palace. Nobody was allowed to be unhappy
within the palace. Siddharta grew up in such a
peaceful environment, not knowing anything about
suffering in life, until one day when he forced
his charioteer to take him outside the palace
without the permission of the King. On the way,
Siddharta saw a sick man, a weak and old man, a
dead man, and a man meditating. Numerous questions
formed in his mind. The charioteer gave the
correct answers whenever Siddharta asked him.
Siddharta was shocked with the possibility of
suffering in life, and was determined to find the
real meaning of life and suffering. So he went
back to the palace, and on the 7th day after his
son Rahul was born he left the palace for good and
went on to become the great Buddha.
Julius
Caesar and the astrologer
An
astrologer predicted to Julius Caesar that on the
15th March there was a great danger to his life.
On the fateful day, as Julius Caesar starts going
to the senate, he meets the astrologer and
smilingly says, "The Ides of March are
come" to which the astrologer calmly said
"Yes, it has begun but not yet over".
Actually in a few hours from then, Caesar was
brutally murdered by Brutus and others.
Alexander,
The Great
Alexander,
the great - depended heavily on astronomer and
astrologer, Calisthenis whenever he waged war on
any nation. When they reached India, together they
learnt a lot more from the astrologers in the
court of King Porus. It looks like every nation
had contributed in some way to the development of
astrology.
The
maximum life span of man is 120 years. (A
coincidence in Dasa System and The Bible)
According
to Vedic Astrology, the maximum life span of Man
in Kaliyuga (the present Yuga or age) is 120
years. So the Dasa (ruling) periods for Sun is 6
years, 10 years for Chandra, 7 for Kuja, 18 for
Rahu, 16 for Jupiter, 19 for Saturn, 17 for
Mercury, 7 for Ketu and 20 for Sukra all adds up
to 120 years.
In
Genesis 6:3 of the Bible, we find the following
statement: Then the Lord said, "My Spirit
will not contend with man forever, for he is
mortal, his days will be a hundred and twenty
years."
(120
years)
Interestingly,
Deepak Chopra is in his best seller -
"Ageless Body, Timeless Mind" is of the
opinion that Man cannot live for more than 120
years. He says that there were incidents where a
few did claim that they were older than 120 years,
but on further investigations he found the records
to be false.
Reference
to other intelligent personalities in the world
and their connections with astrology.
Famous
men like Dante, Shakespeare, Longfellow, Goethe,
Tennyson, Milton, Keats, Dryden and Chaucher
liberally used astrology in their works.
Shakespeare
- King Lear - "It is the stars, the stars
above us govern our condition".
In
"As you like it" Shakespeare says:
All
the world's a stage,
And
all the men and women nearly players,
They
have their exits and their entrances,
And
one man in his time plays many parts,
His
acts being seven ages.
Ralph
Waldo Emerson - Astrology is astronomy brought to
earth, and applied to the affairs of men. Of what
use is Astronomy to mankind unless it is
interpreted in terms of our daily life and
thought?
Johannes
Kepler - Man is made from the elements and absorbs
them as much as food and drink, from which it
follows that man must, also like the elements, be
subject to the influence of planets.
Dr.Carl
G Jung, the great Swiss psychologist, Nicholas
Culpeper, Michael Nostrodamus and Paracelsus have
also advocated adequate astrological knowledge for
accurate diagnosis of diseases.
A
list of other famous personalities who studied
astrology is:
Ptolemy
(67 AD), Pythagoras, Galileo, Copernicus, Sir
Isaac Newton (spent his last decade studying
Astrology), Johannes Kepler (1571), Diodorus,
Herodotus, Aristotle, Bacon, Ptolemy, Hypocrates,
Foster, John Dee Gilbert etc.
Another
surprising fact is that fixing the positions of
the planets in the sky was very easy for ancient
astronomers and astrologers of India. The western
world had to wait for the German scientist
Johannes Kepler to give them the formula for
planetary motions. The Vedic scholars used to
exactly pin point eclipses and the positions of
planets for any day in advance, without the use of
telescopes.
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