Angelito wrote:One of my favorite articles written had a description of the 12th house. I don't have the article yet, but it had a nice psychological fictional affair about the 12th house. Never mind, I just joined because I specially wanted to reply due to the terms: Moksha, enlightenment, final emancipation, etc--that were used in this thread.
Hindu Astrologers have this knack of speaking about moksha and enlightenment like it were some tools you'd find in the bazaar or some discipline one would study for four years at the university (of life?) and come out with a black hat! My reservation, of course.
And, I'm, yet to come ahead a convincing argument on how religion is related to astrology or vice versa.
Dear Angelito,
I have never held the belief that astrology and religion are co-dependent!
It just so happened that astrology in India (even to a large extent today) was studied, practised by the socio-occupational class that were assigned priestly duties and for religious rituals and so on: priests in simple words!
However, in modern times, people from many other walks of life, with less traditional beliefs have been studying and practising astrology and while the mainstream thinking still circles around religious symbolisms incorporated in indian astrology, other viewpoints and perspectives can be seen as well.
Like any religion, hindus have many myths too and many have been incorporated within the fabric of jyotish. They serve a useful purpose and help one remember the attributes of planets etc in the form of a story which is more interesting than having to remember a list of things and attributes and other 'dry' academic stuff.
Astrology is for the worldly person primarily and perhaps was born out of a fear and discomfort generated by 'uncertainty'. It introduces an amount of certainty and this is helpful for the worldly person and reduces their anxiety about future and helps them gain a sense of perspective for the present and a better understanding of the past.
Moksha and enlightenment etc are really different matters and not too deeply discussed in jyotish texts. As a matter of fact even Karma is not explicitely mentioned a lot in jyotish texts but is obviously implied because it is ingrained in and accepted by the society in India. Of course, it or similar concept has been described in certain other religions as well, and not a solely-indian concept!
If one steps back and looks at all the writings, and I am talking about scriptural ones worldwide, we find that human beings have always been explorers of the unknown, the uncertain and so different groups started exploring all the fundamental questions and as more and more minds grouped together and described their understanding of SELF nad Surroundings, religions were born and form an account of the history of a culture, a cohort of individuals. And some of the earlier mystics (sages and similar) had highly developed minds and left behind gems in their writings -- or more accurately, their spoken words (oral tradition was in vogue back then; transcripts of their discourses came later and those we read today as religious scripture).
Each group (religion) had a different perspective and understanding of what I call the prevailing human experience and therefore we now have different beliefs and conceptualizations about God and the ideal codicils to follow to make life purer, and so on, whatever. If you look at it that way, different religions and their adopted jargon etc become very interesting and even amazing records of human exploration and thus the inheritance that our forefathers (of any religion) left behind. To be cherished and not something that should create frustration, feuds etc.
Bottom line, Jyotish and religion work well together but are not co-dependant!
Love, Light, Perspective defines Reality!
Rohiniranjan
