A COMBINED PSYCHO-SPIRITUAL APPROACH TO ASTROLOGY

The term Jyotisha is made

up of both Astronomy and Astrology. Vedas do not speak directly about
either astrology or astronomy. The Samhitasmention to the stars, groups
etc. This knowledge may be engaged for various determinations. The
determination depends on the user too and not just the knowledge open
and there are at least four approaches to understanding the Vedic
body.

• AdhiYajna approach which is primarily ritual

based.

• AdhiDaivata approach which is primarily

archetypal.

• Adhyatma approach which is primarily

psycho-spiritual.

• Tritaya approach or the integrated

approach

Vedas have a ceremonial basis too; the roots

are even deeper, running into psychological, philosophical and
spiritual depths. Thus we will see the various approaches to understand
the Veda. The apparently different approaches are not contrary or
disparate. They are co-existent in a way. Therefore the Vedic chants can
be understood in more than one way and at more than one level-
ritualistic, psychological and spiritual. SkandaSmrti suggests the Vedic
body has three senses (‘trayorthassarva-vedeshu’ ). These three senses
can be put up in an integrated and interrelated approach which the
‘Tritaya’ school of thought significances to do. Within Jyotish there is
an integrated approach to astrology combining both the psychological
and projecting perspectives concurrently.

The famous
South Indian text ‘ PrasnaMarga’ defines the meanings of various houses
(bhavas) under two categories- external (bahya) and internal (antara).
Even Varahamihiraaccepts a similar approach in his ‘BrihatJataka’ .These
‘internal’ mentions the abstract psycho-spiritual phenomena/principles
while the ‘external’ refers to the more concrete manifestation as
events, persons and places.

The external measures are

adelay or reflection of the internal psycho-spiritual principles.
Integrated approach to houses and planets shelters way to a simultaneous
approach to both the psychological/ internal and predictive/ external
levels of astrological understanding or practice. Moreover such an
integrated approach is more in keeping with the current overall example
shift.

Though the spiritual foundations of Jyotisha

are unchanging and timeless in some sense, the approach to astrology
could be influenced by the times and the paradigm shift. A strong
influence of Humanistic and/or Transpersonal psychology is increasingly
evident on a large number of intellectuals during the modern times. Carl
Jung’s works have begun to influence some in the Jyotisha camp too,
while most western astrologers are already looking at astrology through
the eyes of modern psychology. Yet one should not mistake the
superficial approach to psychology that some western astrologers adopt
in the name of “psychological readings”.

Similarly one
shouldn’t mistake the fatalistic approach to life that some eastern
astrologers adopt in the name of karma. Most Vedic astrologers feel that
psychological astrology is for lesser brains who dare not predict,
whilst most tropical astrologers are wary of and look down upon “fortune
telling”, as they refer to predicting. As an astrologer who studied and
practiced both the approaches, I feel that both are wrong. How can one
predict without understanding the psychological roots? On the other hand
how would one be sure that all these psychological readings are right
unless one is able to predict fairly well based on one’s understanding
of such psychological roots. After all, any science does try to predict,
though in a different sense. One has to pay tribute to Indian astrology
for keeping alive the tradition of predictive astrology intact. Nowhere
else in the world is astrology a continuous living tradition as it has
been in India.

In my opinion I feel that the primary

purpose of astrology is not fortune telling, but an examination of
awareness, a journey into the psyche, into the unconscious forces which
stem from the past vasanas , into the ‘shadow’ (a term used by Carl Jung
which comes close to the tantric papa purusha ), into the universe that
we have within us, into the battle between the opposing forces and the
process of attaining equilibrium. Of course these forces manifest as our
(as well as others’) reactions to situations, situations that we
attract to ourselves because of these unconscious drives ( vasanas and
samskaras ), which thus incidentallyinspiration our life path. Fortune
telling based on such symbols of the psyche like the horoscope, dreams,
omens etc is the most ordinary practice of this knowledge, although an
application prone to error due to various factors.

Yet
astrology can help us comprehend our karma, especially the hidden or
unseen factors that shape our life as our own karmic forces, and thereby
encourage us to take accountability for our actions. But the maximum
benefit of a study of this kind of a subject is Self-actualization or
individuation- a process that supports the individual in an expression
of one ‘self’, taking one to the final stages of Nirvana. When this
happens the individual feels a sense of psychic “wholeness”, which is a
natural state of equilibrium. Don’t the ancient texts promise that
anyone who studies and teaches astrology is assured of final liberation
(moksha)? That is the ultimate goal of a spiritual system like
astrology.

Jyotishacharya Vinay Sheel Saxena “Bajrangi” “Bhagya

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