Before I explain to you why the details about the minute of your birth as you know it is wrong, I just want to tell you about this story that appeared in the papers last week.
Bastard doctor. He deserves to be arrested and thrown in jail along with those in-laws.
Oh wait, I'm sorry. I misspoke. It was an ASTROLOGER who PREDICTED she was carrying a girl child. But don't allow that to affect your response. Should not the astrologer also have been arrested here? Did he not start the chain of events?
He did not suggest they throw the acid, you say? But... but... neither do radiologists now, do they? And yet you are okay with them being arrested for the prejudice of strangers who come to their clinics. But leave it, who cares about silly Indian doctors, eh? Radiologists are a dime a dozen so we can afford to lose a few thousand of them, I'm sure.
No, today I want to talk about the people who check out Uranus.
Astrology uses the precise time of your birth alongside the alignment of celestial bodies at that particular moment in time to predict your destiny.
Unlike what you may believe, astrology does not belong to one religion. Not even to one country. Fortunately or unfortunately, the Indian/Vedic variation of this is quite specific in its answers. Crores stand by it and check it even today, using it as either a rigid dictum or at the very least, a road map of the path they should look forward to.
"An innocent pregnant woman in Nellore had acid thrown on her belly by her in-laws after a doctor informed them she was carrying a girl."
Oh wait, I'm sorry. I misspoke. It was an ASTROLOGER who PREDICTED she was carrying a girl child. But don't allow that to affect your response. Should not the astrologer also have been arrested here? Did he not start the chain of events?
He did not suggest they throw the acid, you say? But... but... neither do radiologists now, do they? And yet you are okay with them being arrested for the prejudice of strangers who come to their clinics. But leave it, who cares about silly Indian doctors, eh? Radiologists are a dime a dozen so we can afford to lose a few thousand of them, I'm sure.
No, today I want to talk about the people who check out Uranus.
Astrology uses the precise time of your birth alongside the alignment of celestial bodies at that particular moment in time to predict your destiny.
Unlike what you may believe, astrology does not belong to one religion. Not even to one country. Fortunately or unfortunately, the Indian/Vedic variation of this is quite specific in its answers. Crores stand by it and check it even today, using it as either a rigid dictum or at the very least, a road map of the path they should look forward to.
Freewill goes out the door by its logic.
Every event of your life has already happened in the stars - we are just waiting for you to catch up.
It covers everything from
It covers everything from
- whether you should drive a two wheeler or four wheeler TO
- whether you should be a doctor or engineer TO
- when you will go to England, America or Gulf (surprisingly most of the astrologers reading the beads and charts only ever see these countries in the stars; there's never a Sweden or Ghana.)
- whether your two year old son will have two children or three TO
- how you need to marry your daughter to a dog/frog/tree to make her turn from a cursed father-in-law killer into a normal woman TO
- whether to throw acid on the stomach of the woman whose entry into your house you celebrated a year ago because she has a baby of the same gender as you TO
- silly insignificant things like the person you should spend the rest of your life with (which is again surprisingly, never a person from another religion. Because Saturn, Jupiter and Uranus all know that inter-caste and inter-religious matches are blasphemous, after all.)
Chosen as a Tangy Tuesday
Blog of the Week
How can you claim to be a trustworthy science when the success rates are 50% - the same as a coin toss?
For every one person who stands by it, you will find someone who followed the path set and had it blow up in their face - marriages deemed perfect that did not last six months, people warned of the year of their death who lived for decades beyond, people who were informed they would settle abroad who still work a kilometer from their ancestral home even today.Blog of the Week
50% accuracy is not good enough.
- Vernon Clark's blind tests between 1951-1970 had a 59-72% accuracy. Again... not good enough when 'your variables are constant'. 2+2 cannot equal 4 only 59% of the time, can it?
- The New York Suicide Test Press of 1977 collected 311 birth records of suicide victims and allowed astrologers to check them out. No significant findings, explained away as there being 'no astrological signature for suicides'. Ya, right. I'm convinced.
How do you get to choose just a few planets and say they influence our lives while millions of others formed by the same celestial process don't?
Considering that there are a billion celestial bodies, how can our moon and Saturn be influential but not the moons of Saturn themselves? Is there a reservation quota?
Is amniotic fluid stronger than an asteroid belt?
- The influence of these planets travel millions of miles to affect you individually. Yet, after piercing through fellow planets and moons, this same power comes to an abrupt standstill just outside your womb waiting for you to come out? Is that not weird? As any pro-life activist will tell you, the baby is alive many a month before the actual delivery.
- Sticking to your stand, if a 100 babies are born at the same moment across the world, are all 100 hypothetically destined to be hit by a 100 cars at the exact same moment on their 22nd birthday? Why not?
- What if you tell me the right time? If I force my wife to deliver by Caesearan section at 8:05 am, I'm basically guaranteeing my child's future as a rockstar, right? I can cheat Saturn & Jupiter and change my son from being a bird brain to becoming an Einstein, right?
The difference between broad guidelines and specificity works against them here.
For me, there is an inherent difference between this and the sun signs I read. Ya, that's probably contradictory but I am willing to accept my flawed notion here. See, that's how it goes - accepting that we are flawed.
From where I see it, the Sun Signs have 12 very broad caricatures - they do not speak specifically to you or demand of you. They do not say all Aquarians will have miscarriages in May or all Gemini will 'go to Gulf' for work. They definitely do not label you a manglik and a burden to your worried parents from the day you were born.
Let the bouquets/brickbats come (keep the brickbats civil though!).
I want to know where you stand on it. I want to hear your opinions and anecdotes that made you a believer/non-believer in astrology.
From where I see it, the Sun Signs have 12 very broad caricatures - they do not speak specifically to you or demand of you. They do not say all Aquarians will have miscarriages in May or all Gemini will 'go to Gulf' for work. They definitely do not label you a manglik and a burden to your worried parents from the day you were born.
Preying on people's fears
Yes, a big factor is the gullibility of families who pay good money with no receipts to a guy who they then grant full permission to dictate the course of their life; but fear of the future and being gullible is not a crime. People taking advantage of the insecurity of others; that is a crime.Your basic interpretations are flawed.
- You make or break relationships based on your interpretations which differ from astrologer to astrologer. Interpretations that you say require absolute blind faith without evidence in the very same world where 66 long years ago, Watson & Crick were successfully able to identify the minute double helix structure of DNA first isolated in 1869 by Miescher. Proof, if it exists, can be found by hard work and determination even if it takes a hundred years because you know where to look for it. If it does not exist, even a dozen centuries will not suffice and you will have to demand blind faith.
- You force people to spend lakhs on religious rituals to avert bad things even though you yourself state the future is fixed at birth. If Uranus has confirmed that I am going to get hit by a falling piano at the age of 30, why should I spend my family fortune on rituals to prevent it? Surely my thousand rupee note cannot bribe that big blue bugger in the sky, can it?
- You link unrelated topics ('marry before the age of 24 or your father will die') and thus push the journey of an individual in that particular direction; the answer preceding the question.
- You actually kill people. You delay medical aid by pushing people to choose religious offerings over surgical assistance, delaying treatment and causing more harm.
Cowrie shell divination: Popular in West Africa & India for their powers.
It DOES NOT make you a better person. It DOES make you a a shell-racist though,
believing these shells are more pious than others.
It is obvious by now that I don't believe. And yet, I am directly connected to it.
You see, here's what you don't know. I am the time keeper. I and millions of doctors like me or para-medical staff are the ones in labour rooms and operation theaters across the world who note the time of birth and call it out loud.
And I offer you zero guarantee that my watch is the correct time.
As a simple test, last year I helped deliver a newborn in our operation theater.
I called the time of birth at 8.58 am based on my watch. Simultaneously, I checked three other time pieces in the same room.
The clock on the wall - 8.57 am.
The watch on my anaesthesia technician's hand - 9 am.
The multi-parameter monitor on my anaesthesia machine - 9.02 am.
Four options. Four times. All four different. And any one of those four could have been called out as your official birth time.
Do you see where I'm going? When an astrologer says with full certainty that you being born at 9 am means you are cursed, he is invariably wrong. Because you are dependent on any one of four watches and unlike Mission Impossible, all the members of a hospital do not synchronize it before entering the ward daily.
Having said all this, in today's world, I really wish I knew the nuances of astrology if only for one specific reason.
In my home state, I often find words like shudha jadhagam or paapu jaadagham bandied around by parents, astros et al. In essence, it is 'a fault in our stars' which means that you need to find someone else with that same label or else your future will be bad.
If I knew that somebody was going to make you persecute your child for the rest of his/her life based on a random time that I put down in a file, would I change it by a minute or two if it would spare your child? I know my answer...
I would want your child to live a happy life without any sense of persecution or being called a burden to their family because of where Jupiter and Uranus were when s/he was born.
Nobody deserves to be born guilty.
Even if it has already been indoctrinated into your mind for so long that you cannot see yourself as anything other than cursed, always remember this: just because you are a Slytherine does not mean you invariably will be evil and nefarious. You can choose to be Snape - the bravest, most noblest depiction of love - too.
You can choose your destiny. Saturn won't mind.
Authors note:
From my side, I will ask this -- If you truly believe that astrology is reliable, would you not feel better if it were confirmed under controlled circumstances? It has failed in the past but we can always try again. Medicine allows for decade long studies that span continents at times. Surely, we can do better studies.
- A chief issue in defending astrologers is the amount of vagaries - wrong time of birth, differing opinions, varying interpretations of the same horoscope et al. Well, if so, then don't they have a legal responsibility to have that disclaimer out where every potential client can read it and judge for himself whether he should bother at all to consult an astrologer?
- If a prediction goes wrong - if heaven forbid, the 10 out of 10 matching occurs and the blushing bride becomes a widow two months later - do they own responsibility and apologize? More importantly, would they? Should they legally come under a consumer protection act, considering they are providing a service that often has no receipts and yet, changes the course of lives?
Let the bouquets/brickbats come (keep the brickbats civil though!).
I want to know where you stand on it. I want to hear your opinions and anecdotes that made you a believer/non-believer in astrology.
Brilliant points. Sad part? People will nod their head when they read this but go ahead with the astrologer. Faith is blind.
ReplyDeleteOh. I am sure they will. If anything, this post is more for the young ones who have grown up believing they are cursed or manglik or have a shudha jadagam... I honestly know I cannot convince those in whom it is firmly set. My aim is to let the others know they are not carrying any of this in their lives...
DeleteTwenty one years into my marriage I found out that the perfect match of horoscopes that the astrologers declared (as passed on to us by parents) was null and void. One of us had a shudha jatakam and the other papa jatakam. Of course it was immediately said that under some circumstances blah blah blah, blah. My reaction: Oh really?!
ReplyDeleteI was nodding my head in agreement reading your post.
There are so many anecdotes that led up to this... I wish I could fit them all in here but then the article would balloon up to thrice this size. So many anecdotes are there, similar to this and always there is 'a loophole' which somehow makes the flawed interpretation okay.
DeleteWell, I know you as the lovely human being you are and I can promise you your astro is wrong. There are 13 reasons here... the biggest reason being that someone like me noted your time down.
ReplyDeleteAnd parents will always listen to the worst one rather than the dozen good ones... that's the way people are, I fear. Sad that it happens in your end of India too.
I was nodding my head while I read this post, a huge smirk on my face as I agreed with your points.
ReplyDeleteI never thought of the one about the birth time being different! It just throws a wrench on all the hard work taken by the astrologer, trying to predict the scariest life for you. :D
I do believe in Zodiac signs, but only on a superficial level. You know, those fun facts that appear on social media. But that's just for recreational purposes. I would never base my life just because of my birth date or birth time.
A must share, doc! Amazing work with the post. You've shared some great and unique ideas here!
Yes, I and millions of doctors and paramedical staff like me have been monkey wrenches all along. And like you, I happily proclaim that I'm an Aquarian. But that does not mean I need to be held back by any rules specific to it.. it does not decide my career, my social life or what I eat.
DeletePeople dont want to question predictions of astrology inspite of 50% chances even when things go wrong..funny part you go to the same astrologer and he would blame the sudden planetry position..the solutions are beyond imagination...frog marriage for rain..marry a tree ,marry a dog!!
ReplyDeleteAnaea
Yes Anaea, that's the key na... their imagination is where the limit ends. You never see them talk of countries under the basic 10 ones they know or jobs other than the fixed ones they are aware of. As for marriage, better not to get me started on the rules and laws they lay down.
DeleteI so agree with you, doc. I find it very difficult to even tolerate these astrologers and the stuff they talk! How can a planet millions of miles away have an effect on us, while the person sitting next to us/living with us can't! ? Ridiculous, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteThere are so many questions to which the answer given is - "you must not question these things."
DeleteI always find that silly. Especially when two different astrologers in the same town can give varying answers! Surely there must be some accountability.
These days astrology has become fashion apart from being blind faith. we see many politicians film stars visiting big big astrologers to know results of election or fate of forthcoming movie. many a times they do take news headlines.
ReplyDeletelast Kapil comedy show i saw. in that sonakshi told her first movie was predicted to be failure but that was not. funny part she stills believes in astrology.
We see so many actors add an extra A or a I to their name just to ensure the film becomes a success as advised by their astrologer. Wouldn't common sense suggest a more judicious choice of films instead of changing a name? Would you want your doctor to change his name to ensure he performs your surgery better?
DeleteWhat you are blogging about is wrong on so many levels (those beliefs, those actions, and I applaud you for writing this post). Even in our country, perhaps a different system of astrology, but many believers. The one thing I would disagree on is who should be punished for harming someone as the result of something a doctor or an astrologer says. For me, I would say, the person(s) committing the crime alone. But that punishment - it has to be serious enough to make anyone else think twice. Public shaming might also be effective. It's hard to change a culture, but it can be done.
ReplyDeleteYou are absolutely right. I agree, it should definitely be the perpetrators of the crime. The example at the beginning was just to highlight the prejudices in the system. Doctors get arrested for revealing the gender because the family aborts the girl child even today.
DeleteAgreed that believing in astrology has its own perils.Sad that there are some people who go to extremes believing what astrologers say.An eye-opening article!
ReplyDeleteThere are so many examples I could have given.. So many anecdotes. Unfortunately this post would become a thesis then :)
DeleteI agree to every single thing that is said
ReplyDeleteThis is one point i used to think abt during labour room posting.
We used to follow the clock there and note down to the minute, but who can say it's right?
And again, while declaring time of death,we never say the actual time ,in hospital ,as resuscitation is attempted for a while.
And especially wen death is unexpected, due to problems dat might occur with declaring, we try to delay it
Aa samayam vachanallo kudumbathinu doshamundo illayo ennellam nokki pariharam cheyyan pone
It's such a simple thing, isn't it? When you think about it, it beggars belief how nobody has talked of this earlier... I went through dozens of articles for and against astrology and nobody seemed to mention this point. Everyone took it for granted that the time on the card was the perfect time.
DeleteI absolutely loved how you ended with Harry Potter Analogy. That is so cool. Just curious, so what time did you write as baby's time of birth? I mean with four different times, it must be hard to agree on one. In India, there's a whole business banking on people's Faith and belief, feeding from it. Be it astrologer or even a Pandit performing Pooja for a new vehicle. I can't belief an acid was thrown just because it was going to be a girl baby. Ridiculous!!
ReplyDeleteIn that case, I wrote the time from my watch. A different day, a different doctor, a different watch. So while we will note the time exactly as we see it, there is no way you can say it's perfect Indian standard time or whatever time is needed for astrologers.
DeleteAnd yes, that acid incident happened last week. I have added the link in the article.
Good one doc! Something that really needed to be said.
ReplyDeleteA certain author did engage me online on social media trying to correct me. The only thing is that she refused to offer any proof - I kept asking for just one proven study.
DeleteInstead, kept deviating the topic to how westerners were against vedic astrology and I needed to submit solid proof that astrology was flawed.
Is that how science works? We don't prove,instead we demand proof that the unproven is not real?
Good one doc! Something that really needed to be said.
ReplyDeleteEven if you are in Slytherin.. You can choose to be Snape.. Brilliant.. Matlab dil jeet liya sir.. Gazzab.!
ReplyDeleteThank you thank you... Once in a blue moon, I am capable of such gems... DR 'Cow'
DeleteEven if you are in Slytherin.. You can choose to be Snape.. Brilliant.. Matlab dil jeet liya sir.. Gazzab.!
ReplyDeleteI have often wondered about the 'time' of birth & why two kids born in the same room in the same hospital at the same time don't have the same destiny!
ReplyDeleteStill, astrology has come up with accurate predictions on many occasions. That's when people become believers😀
I'd be willing to concede if it could predict things on a regular basis under controlled circumstances. That's how we rule out blind luck and the law of averages in any study. And the best percentage supporting astrology that I found was 72%. Which is nowhere near close enough to be considered a science.
DeleteHave you read RK Narayan, The Astrologer? Your post reminded me of that story. Coming to astrology, I had believers in my family but they themselves confessed that it is assumption based on the orientation of planets which does not yield results with 100% accuracy. Astrology is also your vs your family's stars. There are so many factors interdependent that someone relying on it completely has too much time to waste. ;)
ReplyDeleteA fabulous, well researched post, Roshan!
Thanks Parul. And as you rightly pointed out, with so many factors that are vague, you cannot possibly say a prediction with any certainty. And in that case, how is it anything more than a coin toss?
DeleteGreat read, doc! I have a problem with astrology and everything associated with it because everyone in my family and extended family is a firm believer of this thing. And they make sure that we know when time is not good as per astrology which comes up with silly restrictions and annoying advices. When I was getting married to a person of my choice both of us were against looking for horoscope match though I'm sure my family must have done some looking into it without our knowledge just to make sure. Problem in my family is that after years and years of visiting the astrologers from different corners of Kerala now the family members themselves consider talented astrologers which force them to say oh no you should not step outside between 12 to 4 on 5th September because Saturn combined with surya will glimpse at your position and you will go pooof! Many a times I tried to convince my mom, but what use! And don't get me started on buying gold on akshaya thritiya! Too much I say, these astrology dramas. And I was born in malayalam month of karkidakam. So always got the reputation of born in the bad month. I used to say think of my birth as a ray of light in darkness. Shaking my head vigorously as I type this!
ReplyDeleteSo many weddings get pushed away during the karkadam month because of ill-fate or whatever but I would love to see any statistics that actually prove it, retrospective or otherwise. And that's where the problem comes... people don't allow you to ask for proof. They get angry and say you are insulting religion and whatnot. How is it insulting to ask for an explanation? Imagine if our physics teachers responded the same way when we asked them for explanations!
DeleteI think astrology is the product of fear - a last resort for many people. And once a prediction comes true, that's it, they are hooked forever. Even if the predictions don't come true they they twist and turn them to convince themselves. I stopped believing in them since I finished with all my exams :-).
ReplyDeleteThat's the sad part. I see a lot of astrologers talk openly about the ones that came through (let's not get into the 'client confidentiality' topic!). And I've seen the same astro change his ways and re-read the stars when his prediction went wrong... literally re-read and come to the new conclusion after being informed of what it was.
DeleteA 5 year old kid could do this!
I know nothing about Astrology. So I do not make a point about it being real or fake, because I have never taken the trouble to study it, understand it, and analyze it
ReplyDeleteI choose not to go to an Astrologer, because I would have to blindly believe him or her and that is something I choose not to do
For my marriage, my mother and grandmother got horoscopes matched, though neither of them had any great faith in astrology. They did it because that was the only way they knew! I remember finding that very amusing, and also a bit annoying. That, because - one possible alliance was the brother of a colleague and close friend of my mother, and even my grandparents knew his grandparents. An excellent family. But... guess what - the horoscopes did not match! And I asked my mom and granny - "You do not really believe in astrology, but choose to follow that, rather than the fact that you know an entire family well"??? The poor souls had no answer to that. People are conditioned to doing what Society does!
Move over several years later. For both our sons - we did not match horoscopes. My first daugher in law's mother asked for my son's and matched it. We said - if you are satisfied, that is fine. We are more keen that the boy and girl like each other, and we as families should also like each other. My younger son found his match - so there was no question of horoscope matching :)
The best thing in all this was - my elderly mom in law said - "These days we must learn that it is more important to match blood groups than horoscope"!!!
Good for you that you ended the tradition there. And sadly yes, there are indeed many families who say they do not believe in it but then, for reasons best known to them, succumb and check it out when it comes to issues of marriage. And the sad part is when the jyotish finds a flaw in the stars. Suddenly, everyone is either encircling temples and doing pujas or else, outright rejecting potential brides they adored a week ago.
DeleteAs you said, conditioning. That is the key.
The saddest thing about astrology is that it makes us into little puppets at the hand of an unknown and what seems to be a cruel power. How far will allow ourselves to be ruled by fears?
ReplyDeletePowerfully written, as always, Roshan.
I want to think that we are evolving. But then along comes news like this where an astrologer 'predicted' it is a girl child inside a woman's womb.
DeleteThe people who question me for challenging such a tradition keep harping on how I have no right to talk about this. Yet when asked for just one - JUST ONE - proven study showing that astrology is an accurate science, they refuse to answer on it, deviating back to other issues.
I think that is a major issue now - that even logic is not enough anymore.
I do believe in astrology but only to an extent. Definitely not the kinds to go to an astrologer for every single detail of my life. I have an uncle, and he is an educated learned man, who masters the art of astrology. He is into civil service by profession, and he isn't an old man if you're imagining him like one. Whatever he says, everything is backed up with reasons so rational, that one fails to question him. He sure narrates stories, how it has become a profession and how people are making money out it.
ReplyDeleteWhen there are certain things about which there are no answers, he straight away denies them and explains very clearly that not everything can be predicted on the basis of certain things written on a piece of paper. Most of things, specially success (if you want to blame the stars) depends upon you! If you've decided to achieve something and are working for it day and night, no power in the world can stop you from having it!
But what you wrote in your post sure makes all the sense in the world. And I go by the karma theory. What you sow, so you reap!
Simple!
Cheers
Geets
I would appreciate people who were ready to say that they didn't have the answers to everything, like your uncle does. So often here, we come across astrologers who will give a solution (or new problem) to any query asked, whether it is the brand of car to buy or whether the guy should get a tattoo on his left arm or right. That is when you lose any semblance of credibility in my book.
ReplyDeleteExcellent take on the subject!
ReplyDeleteBut I played against the stars and bought a new car last month when they were happy because no one normally buys it then as the month was something something they told me. THey gave me a huge discount on the top end variant! Lol stars indeed!
Congrats on the car. And for being smart! Yes, the last month was considered inauspicious for anything and everything in our state.. So it's brilliant to get them to offer such a discount in this period :)
DeleteHi there ! I liked and agree with most of what you wrote about astrologers although I myself like to 'dabble' in astrology as a matter of interest. From what I have seen, astrology is a precise system but most astrologers are not trustworthy because they are out to earn a living and focus on remedies, et al and do not learn much. They such refer some book or nowadays use software programmes !
ReplyDeleteHowever, here are some points I would like to share from my very limited knowledge.
- A hundred babies born across the globe at the same time would not have the same fortune because 'location' (latitude and longitude) matters in the reading !
- If the moon can affect tides on earth (and minds of humans-- asylums and hospitals have statistics to prove this), celestial bodies with greater mass could affect matters on earth too. This is based on the fact that every object -- animate, inanimate, vibrates and has electro-magnetic properties and constantly impact one another
-- Predictions about personality or trends in life are based on the position of a certain planet influencing a certain relationship aspect of the person like self, mother, father, spouse. (Each 'house' stands for an aspect of relationship among other things). So if I have the fiery planet Mars in my house of self (H 1) or house of spouse (H 7) I will probably be aggressive and hence have ego-issues. Now this is interpreted as "Oh, this is a Manglik person -- prone to accidents, failed marriage and so on". Probability changed into a definitive statement by the astrologer out to make a fast buck out of the worried parents of a God-forbid 'Manglik' girl !!
This is just an example. Sometimes if you know about 'trends' via astrology, no need for religious rituals but you can take precautions to circumvent events/situations in life!
If I were you, I would not dismiss astrology itself, especially the Indian / Vedic version because of how astrologers are !
Hi Rataki,
DeleteThank you for taking the time to explain in such detail. It makes a difference and is wonderfully refreshing, considering the others who disagreed with me just kept harping on me being against vedic astrology instead of providing anything to support it.
Regarding your points...
1) Here's the thing. I have been to some of the best astrologers in both South India and the Gulf over the last 30 years of my life. And not a single one of them has ever asked me for latitude and longitude or ever mentioned that it mattered. Your point would actually be a very valid reason as to why the fortunes of 100s born at the exact same moment differs... it's an explanation I would agree with. But then, if none of the Indian astrologers ever ask for it, does that not mean their interpretation of the horoscope is doomed to fail? Or that they do not themselves consider it relevant?
2) There is definite data showcasing the effect of the moon on tides and I agree with it. But to say an object like Saturn directly affects Earth, how then do the moons of Saturn and Jupiter not have the same influence? And while we have evidence of the effect of the moon, we don't say that the moon causes bad luck to people. In that sense, do we have any direct influence that Saturn causes bad luck to a person?
3) Again, having read up quite a bit myself on astrology, I totally understand what you mean in the first half of the last point. And its exactly in the last line that I find my issue (and hence my title) - we don't have a safeguard as to who gets to say what in the name of astrology. There is no finishing school or degree placed above their doors.
With my basic interpretation from decades of watching them explain, I could easily pass off as an astrologer myself in a different city. And noone can prove me wrong.
It is not good enough to say that astrology is perfect but the astrologer does not know how to interpret. Every profession based on science has a degree which is earned through years of studies. We cannot have one person looking at a horoscope and saying the remedy is marry a dog and another person saying the remedy is rolling across the diameter of a temple.
Thus, even if I need to concede that astrology is an accurate science, it doesn't make a difference. The pure water passes through muddied pipes, does it not? And thus, the end result remains that the public gets muddied water.
Those safeguards must come from the community of astrologers themselves, is it not? And till date, I have not seen any of them openly say so.
Well, in medicine too there are doctors and then there are quacks. Same here, only to find a genuine astrologer is to look for a needle in a haystack.
DeleteAstrologers may not directly ask for the latitude and longitude but they do ask for your PLACE of BIRTH and TIME of Birth, do they not ? Every birth chart is calculated on that basis. It is in-built, kindof.
Planets do have an influence on the earth, we are all inter-connected in many, mysterious ways that science is still discovering and this is not the place to dwell at long on this fascinating subject (non-quackish) !
To say that you can easily pass off as an astrologer having watched them perform is like how people masquerade as doctors and prescribe antibiotics at the drop of a hat.
To master or even become proficient in astrology, it takes years of dedicated effort, because it is so vast. There are a few people I have met in Kerala, humble and unknown who are geniuses in this. Also, not really fair to blame the astrologers totally when customers today look out for quick-fix solutions to everything ! No one is interested in the process, are they ? A bit like classical music. Appearing and show-casing on reality shows has become more important than dedicating life to music !
Please say hi to your dog from me :)
In the medicine comparison, the difference is that in medicine there is a board which does check and catch people who try to pretend to be 'MBBS' doctors. In astrology, I don't see any senior board ready to censure the haystack which would actually benefit them as it would get rid of the pretenders and the ones who bring ill repute to the others.
DeleteI would love to see a legit body actually take control and get rid of the rifraf.
Anyway, Snoopy sends his regards too... I'm kidding. He doesn't even mind me unless I have snacks for him! :)
Hi Roshan,
ReplyDeleteCongratulations!
You have been featured in Tangy Tuesday Picks on September 6, 2016.
http://blog.blogadda.com/2016/09/06/tangy-tuesday-picks-weekday-stories-by-indian-bloggers
Keep Blogging!
Team BlogAdda
Thanks guys :) Means a lot!
DeleteI think it has to do about faith. Isn't that the reason why people patronize godmen or do a lot of religious rituals in the hope of some gain. I personally would not like to comment because there are so many things I don't understand. But personally, I don't know how credible these folks are. I hate the blind faith that people put in them.
ReplyDeleteThe problem arises with credibility. There is no way to ascertain their credentials and that bugs me. Because when it is something wherein you are ready to change the course of your life based on the words of this person, wouldn't you like to know that he actually knows what he is doing and isn't a sham?
DeleteYou've said it Roshan and with such facts on how some 'astrologers' fool people. Will they be accountable? It makes me wonder. No astrologer can replace a doctor and makes me shudder on such quacks as well as people who blindly trust them.
ReplyDeleteThat word - accountability. That is what I am asking for with this post. If every other science based profession is accountable, why is this one that claims to be a science too allowed to go so freely and with such devastating consequences?
Delete(I had just commented, but the 'preview' does not seem to work. Hence, am posting it again). Congratulations for 'taking down' this astrology nonsense. I oberve you have received quite a few approving comments. More power to your pen!
ReplyDeleteThank you. Yes, it is certainly heartening to see that more people are willing to speak up and accept that the loopholes far outweigh the perceived logic of astrology.
DeleteEvery point valid and true. Having lived without the astrologer's planetary interference for the first 25 years of my life I married and was introduced to words of the mystical & mysterious astrologer who at first was a fantastic beast that soon lost its charm for it only added constraints to my free flowing thoughts. It is a serious problem and I've experienced first hand how limiting this faith can be.
ReplyDeleteI too have seen the harmful effects both personally and in so many patients and relatives... too many now to just brush it aside as a numbers game and say "maybe it does work in mysterious ways."
DeleteIf it works, prove it with a controlled scientific study. That has not been done till date as far as I have searched
Ok, I needed to read this cos I wanted to hear a SANE voice today. But at the same time it would be a bad day for me to comment, cos (as I'm sure you've guessed from my little outburst on Twitter this morning) I'm already seething with anger regarding this topic. I'm so tempted to write everything that's going through my head right now, but that will be really, truly bad.
ReplyDeleteSo I'll just say, Yes, Doc, I bloody agree to everything you say, I just hope everyone had the good sense to see it!!!
I agree absolutely with you doc. You have written this article with substantial facts to support what you are saying. The pity is some of the most learned men of the country believe in astrology. I have come across professors of nuclear physics take astrology seriously. Both my parents are believe in astrology. But both myself and my sister chose our life partners without allowing astrology to interfere. But it some doing to stop our parents' interference in our marriages. I have always made my decisions myself but the same goes for my sister.
ReplyDeleteReason doesn't appeal as mystery does.
ReplyDelete