The Vedas were an oral tradition passed form family to family and one generation to other generation. We also find astrological references abound in the great Indian Epics, however, they have a great experience of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Such ancient work as the Vedanaga Jyotish and Surya Siddhanta shed further light on both the astronomy and astrology of ancient India.
Jyotish is Vedchakshu . The Jyotish texts incorporate both astronomy and astrology, and are connected to the eyes, our ability to see; Jyotish is considered the “eye of the Vedas” quite literally. The purpose of the Jyotish texts is to awaken one to their cosmic, divine existence, to truly teach the reality of “as is the macrocosm, so is the microcosm.
Brihat Parasara Hora Shastra: The recognized grandfather of Jyotish is considered to be Parashara. He was truly a sage, an enlightened being by all accounts, who lived around 2 to 3,000 B.C. according to Indian historians. It was Parashara who wrote the jyotish texts originally, into what is known today as the Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra. This has been a guiding resource for jyotishis (students of jyotish) for millenniums and is a foundational understanding of Jyotish, the principles, practices and cosmic intelligence that guides our human existence—whether we choose to recognize this phenomenon as reality or not.
Esteran Astrology: The ancient tradition of Eastern astrology, or the sidereal system, has a profound lineage of masters, of seers, that is linked to it; this is unparalleled in the modern, Western astrology realms (also known as Tropical astrology). Though ancient Vedic astrologers were well aware of the difference between the fixed zodiac (sidereal or nirayana chakra in Sanskrit), versus the moveable zodiac (tropical or sayana chakra in Sanskrit), they chose to use the sidereal zodiac for reasons of accuracy.
Western Astrology: Western Astrology is the way, it is used today is quite new, and it cannot be linked to ancient roots like that of the sidereal approach. I believe this to be the most important distinction between the tropical and sidereal approaches to astrology. I’m a traditionalist in many regards. I want a lineage connected to my knowledge and resources. Lineage is important for me in order to trust the knowledge that I’m receiving. The wisdom and guidance of the ancient Jyotish system provides this for me.
Jyotisha has been divided into three main branches:
- Siddhanta: Astrology has been the domain of sages and Brahmins, Indian astronomy, calculating the position of the planets and other heavenly bodies. Hindu calendar (Panchanga) is created from that calculation. ‘Siddhanta, Siromani’ and Surya Siddhanta are two main books on Hindu astronomy. According to this theory, the earth is motionless and it is not considered as a planet. Seven planets (Moon, Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn) revolve around the earth.
- Samhita : Samhita is the art of preparing the birth chart and we can without doubt, It takes into account all planetary positions and their astrological Mundane astrology, predicting important events related to countries such as war, earthquakes, political events, financial positions, house and construction related matters(Vastu Sastra), animals, portents, omens, and so on.
- Hora Siddantas: Hora Siddantas are those who devote to astronomical study of celestial bodies. Predictive astrology where the astrologer makes predicions about future events in a person’s life based on a birth chart (Janma Kundali) which records the exact time of birth and the positions of the planets at the time, it keeps all the the records about your birth.
Astrology is, put simply, the study of the correlation between the astronomical positions of the planets and events on earth., The planets are different. Planets appear to wander through the starfield. Indeed, the word “planet” means “wanderer”. Planets seem to wander because they are much closer to us and all of us (the Earth and the other planets) orbit the Sun. Astrologers believe that the positions of the Sun, Moon, and planets at the time of a person’s birth have a direct influence on that person’s character.
These positions are thought to affect a person’s destiny, although many Astrologers feel that free will plays a large role in any individual’s life.
Astrology can be used as a powerful and fun tool for understanding ourselves, others, and the world around us. We use many different tools, or languages, to define and understand our world. For example, we Natal Chart can use psychological tools and terminology to explore human behavior. Similarly, Astrology gives us rich tools for understanding human character, and offers us a language for communicating our observations with others.
