Sri Yukteswar and Astrology

[Jitendra Hy-do-u-no-us?]

"The stars are about to take an unfriendly interest in you, Mukunda. Fear not; you shall be protected. In about a month your liver will cause you much trouble. The illness is scheduled to last for six months, but your use of an astrological armlet will shorten the period to twenty-four days."


Astrology is the study of man’s response to planetary stimuli. The stars have no conscious benevolence or animosity; they merely send forth positive and negative radiations... and offer a lawful channel for the outward operation of cause-effect equilibriums which each man has set into motion in the past.”

— Sri Yukteswar to Paramhansa Yogananda, 
in Autobiography of a Yogi


As an astrologer it is important to recognize that apart from being a spiritual Master, Sri Yukteswar was a genius at astrology.
Sri Yukteswar used astrology to correctly predict illnesses and challenges to his disciples. As an example; he correctly predicted an illness that his chela Paramahansa Yogananda would have so that he could lesson it's blow. Part of the comment he made was that the stars were about to take an unfriendly interest in him. He was told to wear a special bangle to ward off those influences. We are also told by monks and nuns (and advanced chelas) of different gems and bangles to lesson the malefic effect of the planets on us.

I believe the most important contribution that Sri Yukteswar gave to us is the correct placement of the yugas as an understanding of the motion of our solar system in relationship to our sector of the galaxy. With this knowledge we are able to understand the astrological influence of celestial bodies on the social, political and spiritual evolution of humanity and the earth's evolution thru time.


Jitendra

[guest88]

Thanks Jitendra. _^_ That's cool. This gives me a new perspective of our universe.

[Jitendra Hy-do-u-no-us?]

There are several methods of doing astrology.Sri Yukteswars method (constructing a chart from the moment of conception.) is quite revolutionary since as an astrologer i have never heard of it till he came along. Without intuitive wisdom who can tell the exact nite your mother and father slept together unprotected? Yet there is still much to be said for the moment a child takes its first breath in this world and is independent of the mother. Astrological charts can be made for any specific time asking questions or for events. There is much proof for astrology ' s significance by events such as birth as well as many other events. It often surprises me to read people's explanations for astrology with very limited knowledge. Somewhat like reading the tabloids for a reading based on the sun signs.

Something else amazes me and that is people being influenced by predictions. Astrology is much much more then predictions and we must remember that though we have free will and by God's grace things can be changed ... nevertheless the future past and present are happening simultaneously. Knowing the future is somewhat like the astrologers finding Christ's birth place or Jesus knowing his future. You see to a spiritual aspirant the future is all 'good'. All things are working towards our enlightenment. If they are difficult sometimes they are much more helpful. If they are easy sometimes we fall back. So you see duality is a part of the astrological landscape. In the true sense good and bad are only relativity ' s of the human mind. The way we react to events beyond our control determines our future based on our free will choices. This in turn effects our progress more or less rapid on the spiritual path.

Jitendra

[mccoy]

Isn't it the Ptolemaic method (Claudius Ptolomaeus, or ptolemy geographer and astronomer and astrologist) the one which has the reference of Conception, not birth?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptolemy

[Jitendra Hy-do-u-no-us?]

Thanks mccoy; from Ptolemy on the subject:

http://www.sacred-texts.com/astro/ptb/ptb46.htm

author=mccoy link=topic=3027.msg16982#msg16982 date=1411593860]


Isn't it the Ptolemaic method (Claudius Ptolomaeus, or ptolemy geographer and astronomer and astrologist) the one which has the reference of Conception, not birth?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptolemy

[mccoy]

Steve, I browsed your lilk on Ptolemy's tetrabiblios, interesting.

By a quick search it seems that Ptolemy also used that method and mor erecently Hermes Trismegistus developed another method to estimate the tiem of Conception but I absolutely agree that Sri yukteswar had an edge on that.

http://www.astrogeographia.org/about_us/conception_epoch_chart/

[Jitendra Hy-do-u-no-us?]

Conception Chart

Attempts to erect a chart for the moment of conception as the actual beginning of new life has a long tradition in astrology, but even if both partners are certain of the date of sexual union, it is almost impossible to ascertain the exact moment at which the sperm fertilised the egg. However, this has not prevented astrologers from attempting to find a method to do this. The most well-known of these is the so-called Trutine of Hermes or Trutina Hermetis which has been attributed to Hermes Trismegistus (but is now generally considered to have been written in the 10th century by the Arabic astrologer Ja'far Ahmet ibn Yusuf ibn Ibrahim al-dayawhich) which is based on the assumption that the Moon and the Ascendant/Descendent axis in the natal chart are related to those in the hypothetical conception chart. Neither this nor any other method has gained wide acceptance, and for the majority of astrologers the conception chart is considered to be irrelevant.

Steve, I browsed your lilk on Ptolemy's tetrabiblios, interesting.

By a quick search it seems that Ptolemy also used that method and mor erecently Hermes Trismegistus developed another method to estimate the tiem of Conception but I absolutely agree that Sri yukteswar had an edge on that.

http://www.astrogeographia.org/about_us/conception_epoch_chart/

mccoy

i pulled this from the internet. Since our Guru Sri Yukteswar used the idea of the conception chart, I am still very interested in this method and how it can be ascertained other than intuitively.

[mccoy]

mccoy

i pulled this from the internet. Since our Guru Sri Yukteswar used the idea of the conception chart, I am still very interested in this method and how it can be ascertained other than intuitively.

Sorry I can't help you steve, I used to have an interest into astrology many many years ago, when there were no softwares and the hand calcuations took a lot of time, I remember Conception astrology was discussed and some people discarded the idea, retorting that the time of Birth was the one where the individual became really exposed to the astral influence. Maybe the reasoning was a way to go around the almost insormountable difficulties you are hinting at.
Hermes trismegistus is known as a medieval alchemist and the Arabs philosophers and alchemists are from the middle ages s well (dark ages) but probably the idea is an elaboration from the knowledge of higher lost civilizations.

I don't know if today it' s possible to reach an accurate estimate of the time of Conception, I'll ask my Brother in law who is a gynecologist and made thousands of ecographies to pregnant women, I'll get back on this ASAP

[mccoy]

I met my Brother in law and explained to him the issue.

He told me there is exclusively one instance where you can have an exact and errorless assesment for the ptolemaic horoscope, and that's artificial fecondation, where the lab technician puts in contact the male and female cells. This way the time of Conception is imposed.
Otherwise, even with complete medical records, the error is a 2-3 days at best, even when the exact time of mating is known and it is known that it led to Conception, the spermatozoa have a survival time of a few days and the exact time of a succesfull meeting and fusion of the two germinal cells is unknown.

Now this may mean that the part relative to the slower planets (longer orbital times) may still be pretty accurte whereas the faster planet may be unreliable. Also, based on an estimate of the uncertainty of Conception time it would be possible  to determine which are the planets and other factor we cannot use with reliability in the ptolemaic horoscope. I think with a few tests you can have an idea about which part of the horoscope can be used.

Also, I don't know if there have been specific studies but now it would be possible to study comparatively the difference between a ptolemaic and a genetliac horoscope in persons born out of artificial Conception, where the time of Conception is exact. So we'd have accuracy in both Conception and Birth times and the differences in the horoscopes would be due only to the methods.

[Jitendra Hy-do-u-no-us?]

http://www.thespiritscience.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1154&p=1154

I met my Brother in law and explained to him the issue.

He told me there is exclusively one instance where you can have an exact and errorless assesment for the ptolemaic horoscope, and that's artificial fecondation, where the lab technician puts in contact the male and female cells. This way the time of Conception is imposed.
Otherwise, even with complete medical records, the error is a 2-3 days at best, even when the exact time of mating is known and it is known that it led to Conception, the spermatozoa have a survival time of a few days and the exact time of a succesfull meeting and fusion of the two germinal cells is unknown.

Now this may mean that the part relative to the slower planets (longer orbital times) may still be pretty accurte whereas the faster planet may be unreliable. Also, based on an estimate of the uncertainty of Conception time it would be possible  to determine which are the planets and other factor we cannot use with reliability in the ptolemaic horoscope. I think with a few tests you can have an idea about which part of the horoscope can be used.

Also, I don't know if there have been specific studies but now it would be possible to study comparatively the difference between a ptolemaic and a genetliac horoscope in persons born out of artificial Conception, where the time of Conception is exact. So we'd have accuracy in both Conception and Birth times and the differences in the horoscopes would be due only to the methods.

I do not know how much time you spent on astrology but you would not be able to set up a chart with the house system we use today unless you new the time of birth within a half hour. Otherwise you would have to use rectification. I still have an interest in the conception chart but no way of really knowing the time for such a chart. Perhaps such a chart would reveal the physical features of an individual since they are developing in the womb. I am not sure how you mean the astral influences. Some explaining would help.

In doing transits it is evident to me that there is a lot of help understanding events in our life with the birth chart. I do not remember ever hearing anything said discrediting it but rather that the conception chart was more reliable. We must remember that there are also hoary charts so every moment is significant in some way with some being more than others. Your brothers's explanation is purely from a biological testimony;There are other methods but are they reliable? Perhaps I too will someday be able to see sparks in the heavens coming to earth when the soul enters this dimension....must be something!

mccoy

i pulled this from the internet. Since our Guru Sri Yukteswar used the idea of the conception chart, I am still very interested in this method and how it can be ascertained other than intuitively.

Sorry I can't help you steve, I used to have an interest into astrology many many years ago, when there were no softwares and the hand calcuations took a lot of time, I remember Conception astrology was discussed and some people discarded the idea, retorting that the time of Birth was the one where the individual became really exposed to the astral influence. Maybe the reasoning was a way to go around the almost insormountable difficulties you are hinting at.
Hermes trismegistus is known as a medieval alchemist and the Arabs philosophers and alchemists are from the middle ages s well (dark ages) but probably the idea is an elaboration from the knowledge of higher lost civilizations.

I don't know if today it' s possible to reach an accurate estimate of the time of Conception, I'll ask my Brother in law who is a gynecologist and made thousands of ecographies to pregnant women, I'll get back on this ASAP

[mccoy]

I do not know how much time you spent on astrology but you would not be able to set up a chart with the house system we use today unless you new the time of birth within a half hour. Otherwise you would have to use rectification. I still have an interest in the conception chart but no way of really knowing the time for such a chart. Perhaps such a chart would reveal the physical features of an individual since they are developing in the womb. I am not sure how you mean the astral influences. Some explaining would help.

The gist of all above is that we cannot even hope to have the exact time of Conception, unless it happened in a lab.
So I have no idea how ptolemaic astrology can bypass this issue.
By astral influences I mean the time when the newly incarnated soul feels more the influence of the stars, the pattern of the houses as you say, the karmic imprint which is reflected by teh position of the constellations and planets. At Conception, or at Birth?
Or maybe the Conception chart is a reflection of some different karmic inprint than Birth charts? Just speculating.

[Jitendra Hy-do-u-no-us?]

As many of you know that are reading this - Sri Yukteswar correctly deduced the movement of our solar system in our portion of the galaxy and it's relation to the social spiritual and mental development of humanity. There is much to be grateful for the blessings this man gave to humanity by showing us the general socialogical era we are and will be entering in relation to spiritual development.

We are slowly entering the bronze age which in Indian Cosmology is known as the dwapara yuga. This is a time of understanding the electrical nature of our universe. Now it is quite evident that we have a recognition of electrical properties in nature. However it will be sometime till the common person recognizes those features are not only in the physical universe but are indeed in ourselves and we have the ability to tap into them as well. Those who are recognizing this on an inner level are much ahead of humanity who still have thousands of years yet to take a step into the inner realms of self knowledge in meditation and manifest this conscious awareness.

Jitendra

[Jitendra Hy-do-u-no-us?]

This was all taken from the beginning of the 16th chapter of the Autobiography of a Yogi entitled: 'Outwitting the Stars.'

Master I do not believe in astrology.(Yogananda) It is never a question of belief. The only scientific approach one can take on any matter is whether it is true. The cosmos would be fairly chaotic if its laws could not operate without the sanction of human belief. Astrology is a study of a humans response to planetary stimuli. The child is born at the date and hour when it is in mathematical harmony with its individual karma. God is harmony; the devotee who attunes himself will never perform any actions amiss. His actions will be naturally in accord to astrological law.

It is only when a traveler has reached his goal that he is justified in throwing out his maps. During the journey he takes advantage of any convenient shortcut.... The stars are about to take an unfriendly interest in you Mukunda. Fear not you will be protected. The message boldly blazoned across the heavens at the moment of birth is not meant to emphasize fate but to arouse mans' will to rise above the universal thralldom.~Sri Yukteswar

[mccoy]

It is never a question of belief. The only scientific approach one can take on any matter is whether it is true.

Such words from the Jnanavatar left me breathless when I read them the first time.

They are of such a startling simplicity yet undisputably true. Our beliefs count for nothing, the universe goes on notwithstanding them. Thruths are what they are, they don't need our belief or recognition.

This sentence is invaluable, priceless, of inestimable Worth.

People may not believe in a spiritual reality. Yet such a reality exists, utterly impervious to the beliefs of the skeptics., who usually do nothing to investigate the matter in any depth.
Before Christopher Columbus, people believed the earth was flat. The earth was a geoid, regardless of the common beliefs of that age.

Whenever people tell me: " I do not believe that" I laugh and retort: "the objective reality minds nothing of your beliefs".

[Jitendra Hy-do-u-no-us?]

The contrast of Sri Yukteswar to Paramahansa Yogananda is quite dramatic outwardly speaking when it comes to astrology. We have Sri Yukteswar telling us that the kali yuga was so dark that "The intellectual power of man was so much diminished that it could no longer comprehend anything beyond the gross material of nature."

In a different breath Yogananda  said "Although there is a certain vibratory influence of stars upon all human lives, a man of infinite will power tuned in with God, uses his free will to change his circumstances."

It just shows that while the two avatars were in harmony they personally conveyed quite different personalities.

Astrology of Sri Yukteswar

The following quotes from the Autobiography show Sri Yukteswar's views on astrology and include the quote that mccoy was referring to in his last post on this subject (above)

Astrology as seen by the enlightened sage Sri Yukteswar. This was revealed by Paramahansa Yogananda in his book Autobiography of a Yogi (Chapter 16):

“Mukunda [Yogananda], why don''t you get an astrological armlet?”

“Should I, Master [Sri Yukteswar]? I don''t believe in astrology.”

“It is not a question of belief; the only scientific attitude one should take on any subject is whether it is true. The law of gravitation worked as efficiently before Newton as after him. The cosmos would be fairly chaotic if its laws could not operate without the sanction of human belief.”
“Charlatans have brought the stellar science to its present disrepute. Astrology is too vast, both mathematically and philosophically, to be rightly grasped except by men of profound understanding. If ignoramuses misread the heavens, and see there a scrawl instead of a script, that is to be expected in this imperfect world. One should not dismiss the wisdom with the ''wise.''”
“All parts of creation are linked together and interchange their influences. The balanced rhythm of the universe is rooted in reciprocity, ” my guru continued. “Man, in his human aspect, has to combat two sets of forces - first, the tumults within his being, caused by the admixture of earth, water, fire, air, and ethereal elements; second, the outer disintegrating powers of nature. So long as man struggles with his mortality, he is affected by the myriad mutations of heaven and earth.”

“Astrology is the study of man''s response to planetary stimuli. The stars have no conscious benevolence or animosity; they merely send forth positive and negative radiations. Of themselves, these do not help or harm humanity, but offer a lawful channel for the outward operation of cause-effect equilibriums which each man has set into motion in the past.”