New Delhi, May 28 (PTI) A new book analyses various models for the origin, development and functioning of astrology and also raises questions about the role of the supernatural and synchronicity.
In “Hindu Astrology: Myths, Symbols, and Realities”, Oxford mathematician Anthony Philip Stone, who taught at various Indian universities and became intrigued with astrology, deals with topics that, he says, have been selected with an eye on astrologers as well as the general reader.
Originally published in 1981 in hardback, the book has been out of print for decades and is being published in paperback by Pippa Rann Books & Media and distributed in India by Penguin Random House.
Hindu astrology or Jyotisha represents the fifth of the six Vedangas (additional sciences to be studied along with the Vedas).
Jyotisha concerns itself with the study and prediction of the movements of celestial bodies, in an effort to indicate the best and most auspicious time for rituals, ceremonies, and – by extension – all human actions, whether war, marriage, moving home, business deals, setting off from your home, returning to your home, and indeed when or what to eat or drink.
Stone says astrology is not a newcomer whose way of life can easily be moulded.
Over the centuries, astrology has become set in its ways, and we can now see what these ways are: methods of divination, he says.
The author also asserts that he does not see any chance of astrology becoming something different from what it already is.
But if astrologers were to choose to start approaching their rules in the same way as scientists approach new theories, astrologers would then be doing science, not divination, he says.
In this scenario, he says the entire structure of the practice of astrology would be affected.
“For example, astrologers would be required to complete different courses of study, which would only be possible alongside the development of all the infrastructure of qualification-granting institutions, accreditation bodies, professional governance codes, the ability to prevent everyone who doesn’t join the system from being at all professionally active, the ability to punish those who join but do not act according to the prescribed procedures and rules, and so on,” he writes.
The author also says that the question of how astrology works is much more difficult to tackle.
“My feeling is that the synchronistic model is a small step in the right direction, though it may not be correct in all details, and is certainly not the whole story. Something like the synchronistic model may provide the necessary concepts from the psychology of the unconscious, but spiritual concepts will be needed as well. In India, astrology is continually being related to religion – yoga, karma, rebirth, and divine revelation.
“Though none of those is central to the practice of astrology, what is important is two things: the religious preparation of the astrologer, and the religious activities recommended to clients,” he writes.
Stone is of the opinion that it is difficult to doubt that astrology is correctly described as divination.
“However, the wide variety of branches and systems in astrology means that it is not just one method of divination, but many. One can further say that since the alternative systems are frequently inconsistent, the responsibility for correct or incorrect predictions rests firmly on the individual astrologer,” the book says. PTI ZMN RDS RDS
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