Credit to Abu Zakariya from IERA (taken from the book “The Forbidden Prophecies”)
Astrology is the study of celestial objects such as planets and stars in order to try and gain insight into human affairs and worldly events. There are many different types of astrology. Western astrology, also known as Sun Sign astrology, is a simplified system of astrology which considers only the position of the Sun at your birth. It is said to provide insight into general character traits that you might have in common with others who share the same star sign. Natal astrology is much more complex, it takes into consideration your birth date, birth time, and location in order to construct a birth chart. It claims to provide a much deeper analysis of character traits, strengths, and weaknesses. Synastry, also known as the astrology of relationships, compares birth charts to see how compatible you are with others, and is commonly used to determine whether a relationship is going to be successful or not. Many people use these different types of astrology for entertainment or amusement, and most will have been introduced to astrology from a young age, in the form of horoscopes in newspapers. Research conducted amongst a group of students in England found 100% knew their star sign, 70% read their horoscopes, and 85% agree that the description of their birth sign describes their personality.
Source: “Susan Blackmore and Marianne Seebold, ‘The Effect of Horo- scopes on Women’s Relationships’, Correlation, Vol 19 no 2, Winter 2000-1, pp 14 – 23.”
Hinduism is an ancient religion originating in India; it is one of the most widely followed religions, with over one billion people identifying as Hindus today. Astrology plays a huge part in Hinduism, perhaps more so than in any other mainstream religion. The traditional Hindu system of astrology is known as ‘Jyotish’. The term is derived from Sanskrit and means “the science of heavenly bodies”. Jyotish studies the movements of astronomical bodies and is used to keep time, maintain calendars, and even predict auspicious times for Hindu rituals.
Source: “Monier Monier-Williams, A Sanskrit–English Dictionary, p. 353.”
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The Vedas, which are a large body of Hindu sacred texts, are filled with astronomical and astrological references. Jyotish is considered to be one of the six ‘limbs’ of the Vedas, which one must study in order to gain mastery. Of the six limbs, Jyotish is linked to the eyes of the human body. In other words, it is considered to be the “eyes of the Vedas” quite literally and is thus linked to ‘seeing’ spiritual truth.
Source: “J N Bhasin, Astrology in Vedas, p. 10.”
The foundation of Hindu astrology is the notion of ‘bandhu’, which means “relation” and is the concept that the outer worlds and inner worlds are connected. The idea is that by measuring the outer world, one can grasp an understanding of the inner world. In Hinduism, our universe is believed to be the living body of God and all beings exist within this universal body. There is a famous hymn in the Vedas which describes the relationship between our universe and God:
“A thousand heads hath Puruṣa, a thousand eyes, a thousand feet. Covering the world all around, he yet exceeds it on all sides. This Puruṣa is all that yet hath been and all that is to be; The lord of im- mortality as well as of creatures who grow by food... When they divided Puruṣa how many portions did they make? What do they call his mouth, his arms? What do they call his thighs and feet... The Moon was gendered from his mind, and from his eye the Sun had birth... Forth from his navel came mid-air the sky was fashioned from his head, Earth from his feet, and from his ear the regions. Thus they formed the worlds.”
Source: “Rig Veda, Book 10, Hymn 90.”
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We can see that the Vedas attributes divinity to the universe. The Sun is said to correspond to the eye of God, the Moon to His mind, space is His navel and the Earth His feet. There are many texts in the Vedas which show the astrological importance of the planets and stars. Here for example, we have a hymn that calls on the Sun to remove disease of the heart and also conquer one’s enemies:
“Looking upon the loftier light above the darkness we have come. O Sun, God among the Gods, the light that is most excellent. Rising this day, O rich in friends, ascending to the loftier heaven, O Sun remove my heart’s disease, take from me this my yellow hue... With all his conquering vigour this Sun hath gone up on high, Giving my foe into mine hand: let me not be my foeman’s prey.”
Source: “Rig Veda, Book 1, Hymn 50, Mantras 10 - 11, 13.”
Here the Moon is associated with longevity:
“He, born afresh, is new and new for ever ensign of days he goes before the Mornings. Coming, he orders for the Gods their portion. The Moon prolongs the days of our existence.”
Source: “Rig Veda, Book 1, Hymn 85, Mantra 19.”
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Depending on the position of the Moon at the time when a baby is born, it is believed that it can predict whether the baby will survive past infancy or die soon after birth. A strong Moon is believed to confer a long life and a weak Moon causes death in infancy.
Source: “J N Bhasin, Astrology in Vedas, p. 79.”
Other Hindu texts also contain astrological references. The Mahab- harata is an epic poem of ancient India that was written after the Vedas. It contains a mixture of history, morality, philosophy, and devotional material. The Mahabharata is of religious and philosophical importance and describes the ancestral ceremonies that can be performed and the benefits of them:
“He that is desirous of children should perform the Sraddha [cer- emony] under the constellation Rohini, while he that is desirous of energy should do it under the constellation Mrigasiras. By perform- ing the Sraddha under the constellation Ardra, a man becomes the doer of fierce deeds. A mortal, by performing the Sraddha under Punarvasu, makes such again by agriculture. The man that is desir- ous of growth and advancement should perform the Sraddha under Pushya. By doing it under the constellation Aslesha one begets heroic children...”
Source: “Mahabharata, Book 13, Section 89.”
The chapter goes on to list numerous other benefits that can be gained from performing the ceremony under different constellations.
Hindu sages took such theological concepts that are found in the Vedas and other texts - the divinity of the planets and stars, and the benefits that they can bestow on mankind - and developed a highly sophisticated system of astrology. The sage Maharishi Bhrigu is believed to be one of the seven great sages of Hinduism.
Source: GK Marballi, Journey Through The Bhagavad Gita Commentary, p. 366.
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He is credited as the father of Hindu astrology and was the first compiler of predictive astrology.
Source: “T.M. Rao, Bhrigu Samhita, p. 9.”
He is also believed to be the author of Bhrigu Samhita, an astrological classic.
Joytish continues to influence the lives of millions of people today. Newborn babies are traditionally named based on their Jyotish charts, and Jyotish concepts are pervasive in many areas of life such as deci- sion making about marriage, opening a new business, moving into a new home, etc. The Indian astronomer Balachandra Rao remarks: “The belief in astrology among our masses is so deep that for every trivial decision in their personal lives—like whether to apply for a job or not—they readily rush to the astrologers with their horoscopes.”
Source: Balachandra Rao, Astrology Believe It or Not?, p. 149.
A day that is considered auspicious can thus lead to a large number of weddings taking place, putting severe pressure on facilities like wedding halls and caterers. A famous example is the engagement of Palden Thondup Namgyal who was the Crown Prince of Sikkim. It was publicly announced in 1961 but the wedding was put off for more than a year as astrologers in India warned that 1962 was an inauspicious year for marriages. The wedding was planned accord- ing to the advice of many astrologers but it still ended in disaster as the Crown Prince ended up separating from his wife in 1978 and officially divorced in 1980.
Source: New York Times, “PALDEN THONDUP NAMGYAL, DEPOSED SIKKIM KING, DIES”, January 30, 1982 edition.
In a separate incident, the same Crown Prince became the new King of Sikkim in 1965 after his father died. His coronation was done on an astrologically favourable date that was believed to bring him good luck as a ruler. Just ten years later in 1975, his people voted in a referendum to determine if they want to abolish their 300 year old monarchy and merge with India. Whereas the King opposed the referendum and his country’s annexation by India, his subjects voted in favour of Indian statehood. Sikkim became a state of India and he was removed as its absolute ruler.
Source: Daytona Beach Morning Journal, “Sikkim Votes on India n Merger”, April 15, 1975 edition.
Can astrology really be used to predict the future? From a scientific per- spective, some celestial bodies do indeed exert unseen forces on our planet. The best and most obvious example is the influence of the gravity of the Sun and Moon on the tides. It is one thing to explain the effect of other planets on earth by means of physics and other sciences of astronomy, but it’s an entirely different matter to claim that planets like the Sun and Moon can be used to predict human affairs such as life expectancy and death as well as events such as elections and war.
In fact, Indian government authorities have gone so far as to treat Hindu astrology as a scientific discipline. India’s main government funding agency, the University Grants Commission (UGC), provides support for university courses in astrology. A statement issued by the UGC inviting universities to submit proposals for starting such departments and courses reads: “there is urgent need to rejuvenate the science of Vedic Astrology in India, to allow this scientific knowledge to reach the society at large and provide opportunities to get this important science even exported to the world.”
Source: “The Hindu newspaper, Wednesday, March 28, 2001 issue.”
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This provoked outrage among India’s academics, especially those in the science faculties. In 2011, an organisation opposed to astrology attempted to ban its promotion by appealing to existing false advertising legislation. Its appeal was dismissed by the Mumbai High Court, which argued that the existing legislation “does not cover astrology and related sciences. Astrology is a trusted science that has been practiced for over 4000 years...”
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In order to be considered a valid scientific discipline, like astronomy for example, astrology must fulfil the basic requirement of a scientific theory—it must stand up to rigorous testing. Scientific testing of astrology has been conducted, and no evidence has been found to support any of the purported effects outlined in astrological traditions.
Source: “Philippe Zarka, Astronomy and astrology, Proceedings of the In- ternational Astronomical Union. 5(S260): 420 – 425.”
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In one such case, Jayant Narlikar, India’s most eminent astrophysicist, conducted a statistical test on astrological claims. He designed a test to verify the claim of Indian astrology that intelligence can be determined from a person’s horoscope. The test involved collecting two hundred birth details of one hundred highly intelligent school children (group A) and one hundred intellectually disabled children (group B). The destinies of these cases could hardly be more different, so they were ideal for testing the above claim. These details were used to cast horoscopes for these children. After recording these details the horoscopes were mixed and randomised and Indian astrologers were invited to participate in a test of their predictive ability. Twenty-seven astrologers, with an average experience of fourteen years participated in the test. Each participant was sent a random set of forty horoscopes and asked to identify to which group of children each chart corresponded. If the astrologers really had divine insight into the intelligence of a person based on their horoscope, they would score 100 per cent, or at least close to it. The average astrologer actually had a success rate of 43 per cent. In order to appreciate just how poor this is, imagine that a random group of non-astrologers were asked to guess blindly. They would have an average success rate of 50 per cent since there are only two outcomes, the child is intelligent or the child is intellectually disabled. This is still a better result than the astrologers who averaged 43 per cent, a result which is worse than pure guesswork. Certainly no scientific theory would survive such a poor success rate.
Source: “Jayant V. Narlikar, Sudhakar Kunte, Narendra Dabholkar and Prakash Ghatpande, A statistical test of astrology, Current Science Vol. 96, No. 5 (10 March 2009), pp. 641 – 643.”
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These results contradict the claims of Indian astrologers and the poor results are consistent with the many tests of Western astrologers where several hundred controlled tests have found no support for its claims either.
Source: “Dean, G. 2007. The case for and against astrology. In B. Farha (ed.), Paranormal Claims: A Critical Analysis.”
If astrology cannot even make accurate predictions for matters in the present, then it stands to reason that it most certainly cannot accurately predict the future.
There are some key differences between Hindu astrology and Western astrology. The latter emphasises the psychological nature of the individual, and when it comes to the events in our lives, it teaches that the planets and stars are not a good bet for predicting events. Hindu astrology also defines a person’s psychological nature, but it places a bigger focus on understanding the events that will take place in our lives, based on the influence of the planets and stars. So every Hindu astrologer worthy of the name must be able to make predictions about the future.
With this difference in mind, we’ll now analyse the claims of Western and Hindu astrology from a rational and logical perspective. Let’s use India as an example since it has a large population. Up to 1.5 million births are registered in India per month.
Source: According to census, see Outlook news website. Accessed on Octo- ber 4th 2017:
https://www.outlookindia.com/newswire/story/34-born-10-die-every-minute-in-india/655452
In Western astrology, a person’s zodiac sign is based on the position of the Sun on the day they are born. Each month of a calendar year is assigned a different sign of the zodiac. For example, a person born between March 21st and April 19th would have the zodiac sign of Aries, April 20th and May 20th would make a person a Taurus, and so on and so forth. Each zodiac sign brings with it specific personality traits. The implication is that the 1.5 million people born each month in India will have exactly the same zodiac sign and thus identical personality traits. But we know this is not the case, because even identical twins can have very different personalities, despite the fact that they have the same genes, shared the same womb, and usually experience the same childhoods.
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Hindu astrology is a lot more complex as it takes into account not only the position of the Sun, but also that of the Moon and other planetary bodies, the date of a person’s birth, and even their time of birth. Based on this information, a Hindu astrologer will come up with a detailed birth chart for a person.
Unlike Western astrologers, Hindu astrolo- gers claim that our birth chart determines not only our personality, but also our lives. If Hindu astrology is true then the implications are astounding, we would expect for there to be a phenomenon among every pair of twins who are born seconds apart because they will have exactly the same astrological birth chart. Not only would we expect them to possess similar personalities, but also that they will lead lives that are very similar. Clinical studies have shown that this is not the case; identical twins, even those born seconds apart, go on to have polar opposite personalities and very different fates. Professor Tim Spector, head of twin research at King’s College, London, has been carrying out a pioneering study for more than 20 years. He has led research involving thousands of pairs of identical twins in England and has concluded that even identical twins can lead very different lives. His research has found that in some ways, twins are very alike, for example in their looks. But in other ways, they are dissimilar. For example, identical twins often have very different lifespans and different occurrences of genetically-linked diseases. Professor Tim Spector states: “We see it in so many different ways. For example, our research has shown that twins rarely die of the same disease. Yet they share many other features, such as height. It is not a straightforward business... Most of the twins recruited to our study went to the same school and lived together, eating the same food for the first 18 or so years of their lives... But the outcomes of their lives are often very different indeed.”
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This brings us to another oddity in Hindu astrology, the use of amulets and idols to try and change one’s fortunes. An amulet is a small object worn to ward off evil, harm, illness, or to bring good fortune. Hindu astrologers don’t just provide the service of calculating birth charts; they also recommend the use of objects such as amulets and idols. Don’t you think it’s strange that on the one hand, Hindu astrology teaches that planets and stars control our destinies, but on the other it promotes the use of man-made objects like amulets to counteract their influence? If a mere trinket such as an amulet worn around the neck can overcome the power of vast planets like Mars, Jupiter, and Venus, and vast stars like the Sun, then perhaps these heavenly bodies don’t wield too much influence in our lives to begin with! Even the use of amulets and idols in and of themselves is baseless, if we really think about it. People will carry lucky charms and devote themselves to idols to seek protection. For example, it’s not uncommon for Hindus to place an idol of the elephant god Ganesh in their shops and businesses. Ganesh is widely revered as the remover of obstacles, so it’s believed that using the idol will ward off bad luck. Now, imagine if one of those shops or businesses was to suffer a fire and burn to the ground. The idol, along with everything else, would be totally destroyed. Even Hindu temples and shrines in India, which are filled to the brim with idols, have suffered catastrophic destruc- tion. If these idols lack the power to prevent their own destruction, then they surely do not have the power to protect us.