Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Astrological Charts (Kundali) - Meaningless or to be Heeded?

A friend and I were recently talking about marriage and philosophy, etc and of course the inevitable question came up. Its a question I've been asked a lot. It makes its way into conversations about dating, marriage, arranged marriage, etc. Do I believe in matching kundalis (vedic birth charts)?

For many years, my answer was along the lines of Yes, I'll consider the matching because I've seen too many relationships between people with mismatched kundalis fail. I didn't really have a great reason why to believe or not to believe and since I had seen the power of spiritual practices firsthand in my life, I chose to give consideration to kundali matching.

Now I have more concrete reasons to consider matching vedic birth charts. Many might not be aware, but my Guru (Pandit Divyang Vakil) is not only a maestro of tabla and a brilliant tabla teacher, but also a spiritual healer and guru. His vast expertise is a treasure chest for me and my questions.

Guruji uses many different tools in his spiritual healing including vedic astrology, face reading, palm reading, vastu, tantra, numerology, occult powers, etc. He has stacks of vedic birth charts of his students that he uses, so who better to ask about vedic astrology.

Here is my understanding in a nutshell.

Ancient Indian civilization has given us a plethora of tools to provide guidance and help us make informed decisions. Everything is connected to each other (think butterfly effect) in some form or another, but the vast intricacies can be too much for us to comprehend. Each methodolgy serves as a guide. Sadly today, like with many traditional arts, there are many with minimal or no knowledge masquerading as experts who have at some point tarnished the image of effeciency of these methods.

Kundalis are a highly specific science, a person's kundali is very particular to the person. It is based on the birth time, birth place and name of the person. Small inaccuracies in birth time (on the order or 1o minutes) can change a kundali. (The debate over what time is needed - ie when the head appears or whole body is out is another topic).

A person's kundali tells you about the influence of planterary movement on a person's life. It gives various details about a person, including details about their personality, high and low points in their life, etc. The kundali itself is very scientific (and computer generated nowadays) and is incomprehendible to the common man as its speaks of planets, their locations and more. So results that you get from getting a kundali made are highly depended upon the interpretation of the chart. This is where the master is set apart from the amateur.

A common use of kundalis is to see good and bad periods in a person's life. I'm sure that there are times that you have felt that nothing is going right, no matter how hard you try. It is likely that your kundali would reveal that you were passing through a negative period (and there are different types), in which it would be difficult to see the fruits of one's actions.

By knowing these kinds of details, a person can make more informed decisions. For example, if the above period was occurring in one's life, it does not make sense to start a new venture at that point. It would be better to wait the few weeks or months for period to change.

Generally, when two people's kundalis are matched, they are paired together for over 30 different criteria. Each criteria gives a positive or negative result. A range of positive results is considered a good match. A perfect score is not a good match.

As a kundali also can provide an overview of the graph of a person's life, one can also examine how much trials/tribulations a potential spouse will face.

Like I said before, a kundali is only a GUIDE or indicator, not the final word, which is what many interpret it to be. The accuracy of a kundali is very much dependent upon the details used to make it, its maker and interpreter.

In general, after living in India, my respect for traditional arts (and sadness at its erosion and impending loss) has grown. Vedic astrology is one of the many that can be put in this list. It most definitely has its value and I don't think it can be passed off as a meaningless belief. It is a tool that has been created by extremely intelligent people to help man make better decisions. It should not be followed blindly, but without a doubt has value.

Would I consider matching janmakshars before marriage? Without a doubt, yes.
Would I heed the advice from the matching? That shall be a matter of circumstance.

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