The Eye Of The Vedas

A Brief and esoteric introduction...

- Maneeza Ahuja

IT is for a reason that Jyotisha is referred to as the ‘eye of the vedas’. it is a lens through which one can perceive the knowledge of the finite and infinite.A route to understand the divine forces at play and see an underlying order in the apparent chaos of life.

The approach to understanding the cosmos has to be both transcendental and physical. And as shri KN Rao, my jyotish guru says, ‘ Jyotisha is a beautiful bridge between the para and apara vidya. Apara vidya is all textual knowledge, subjects like music, maths, grammar, etc. Astrology is also an apara vidya, but one which can easily fuse into para vidya, or transcendental knowledge which is beyond all limits of experience and reason, which is, beyond intellect, mind and sense. The knowledge of Nirguna Brahma. The birth chart, or natal horoscope, will give predictions of this stopover, interim resting period of ones journey, which is this current lifetime. Only yogis can see beyond this - into past  samskaras and manifestations of the next lives. Tools like Dreshkona and Dwadashamsha vargas are used by astrologers for a peep into the past, present and future. But these should not be considered infallible. An astrologer has his limitations. An astrologer who is not a spiritual seeker and is deeply materialistic will have further limitations and will only misguide. The subject has anyway fallen into the hands of charlatans and there are very few who would pass Parashara’s test of a true, good astrologer. There are actually some 10 qualities mentioned in the Brihat Parashar hora shastra on the same. BHPS is an elaborate textual work which was created in the 7th/ 8th century by sage Parashara, father of Vedvyasa who was the compiler of the epic Mahabharata.