ADVAITA-L Digest - 21 May 2002 to 22 May 2002 (#2002-128)

[Vidyasankar]

On Wed, 22 May 2002 17:57:03 -0000, hemang Chamakuzhi Subramanian
<hemangcs at REDIFFMAIL.COM> wrote:

>  which work of Bhagavatpada or any of the seers is
>prognostication specifically mentioned as acceptable OR Is there
>any discussion of this topic itself in the philosophy? (may be I
>am being too explorative).

Yes, I think. I can't claim to have an exhaustive knowledge of the texts,
but my feeling is that you will find nothing very pro-Jyotisha or anti-
Jyotisha in the Advaita philosophical texts.


>     .though surprisingly..many of the predictions bind to be
>true.. This is my personal opinion that "If one does his duty
>without trying to look too far into his/her future and
>concenterating on his present wouldn't it amount to him Doing his
>KARMA as he is entitled to..would it mean that he extrapolates
>this to some future date and then rectifies it in his present.
>Wouldn't it be apt to go forth and face your doshas..if there are
>any..rather than trying to extrapolate and remedy it through
>rituals...."
>
>Q. what is the solution to this in the Advaitha philosophy?"

It is not clear what your question really is. It would be helpful if it
were posed more precisely.

If you are asking about the performance of rituals prescribed by an
astrologer to ward off the effects of some dosha in a horoscope, then the
ultimate answer is simple. All such rituals fall under the category of what
is kAmya karma, or rituals undertaken with a specific desire in mind. If
one desires to do the ritual for whatever reason, then yes, one can do it.

One can be a ritualist and still opt not to do kAmya karma, because one
might want to avoid doing anything other than nitya karma (enjoined daily
ritual) and naimittika karma (occasional ritual). One can then decide to go
ahead and face life, with all the astrological pluses and minuses that the
astrologers talk about.

Advaita philosophy does not enter into the picture at all, except if one
wishes to transcend desires. Note that the goal must then be to go beyond
all desires, not just one or two specific ones. Now this is a little too
tough for most of us!

Vidyasankar