Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Tropicalists vs Siderealists !



This fight between the Tropicalists and the Siderealists have been going on for years. There are Siderealists in the Western ( Fagan,Cheiro who developed their own Ayanamsas ) and there are tropicalists in the Eastern !


About ten years ago, in a Western list, I quoted the Vedic Astrologer, Jeff Armstrong and was labelled as " arrogant". Jeff Armstrong's article was " You are not the Sign that you think you are, the Greek blunder". I said the Greeks have blundered and Moser Sirgar II, the Moderator got hot with me and said "Kumar, do you know how arrogant you are?". Now I am far more mature and avoid Tropical vs Sidereal fights !

I did not blame the Western scholar. How will you react when somebody says  the Indian Astronomers, Brahmagupta, Bhaskara, Aryabhata, Madhava, Parameswar, Jyeshtadeva, Neelakanta etc were wrong ? Similarly he reacted. He was influenced by Hipparchus, Ptolemy, William Lilly, Kepler, Laplace etc and how else can he react to the statement  that his forefathers have blundered ?

According to the Tropicalists, the Siderealists are arrogant. And according to the Siderealists, the Tropicalists are arrogant ! (Thibeau and Whitney  said the ancient Indians did not know Astronomy or Maths ).


There is no need for such fights. Astrology can never be proved as a physical science.
There are 13 Ayanamsas and Hari's is the 13th. Cheiro's Ayanamsa takes 72 years per degree precession. Cyril Fagan established Western Sidereal Astrology.

Since Astrology is a mystical science, let us be tolerant. Paddi ji pointed out yesterday that in some cases, Hari's Ayanamsa worked. Fine. If Lahiri's works, fine. Or Raman's Or Cheiro. Or even  the Zero Ayanamsa of the Tropicalists. Astrology should work and we should come out with good results !


We will be happy when that happens !

Tropical Zodiac vs Sidereal Zodiac




Let us put an end to these arguments.


The tropicalists think they are right and the Siderealists are wrong.

Communists think they are right and Capitalists are wrong.



We pointed out that this world is a maelstrom of warring passions where ideologies clash. He who advances the Anti Theory or Anti Thesis is insulted and he reciprocates.

Who is the villain of the piece? There is a villain of the piece and it is Mind. !

Mind is Biplar, said Tolman. The feeling that Something is Truth and Anti Something is Falsehood is projected by the Mind !

Esse est Percipii and Mind is all in all. All this is just a projection of the Universal Mind, bhootha gramendriyadyairapi Sakala Jagath Swapna Sankalpa Kalpam !

We are all brothers, parts of the Whole and instead of clashing with each other, let us LOVE !

Let us work out what the Divine wants us to do !

The Absolute, the Perfect, the Alone
Our mask of imperfection has assumed
He had made this tenement of flesh His own !
We in His human measure has cast
That to His divine level we might rise 

- Aurobindo.

Monday, March 18, 2013

The Adhi Masas !





There is another cycle which is controversial. The Metonic Cycle, occurring in 19 years.
 
228 solar months = 235 lunar months

The seven intercalation months are Adhi Masas. Discovery attributed to Meton. fifth Century BCE.
 
It was known to the Rishies and they said " Soorya Samkrama Rahithe Mala masobhidheeyathe " !

The Three Levels of Being !



There are three levels of Being. 
They are

Doing    - Gross Level
Thinking - Subtle Level
Being     - Unamanifest Level

This can be illustrated by the Bubble Diagram. Like the waves of the Ocean. On the gross level, we find agitations. This is the gross level of Doing. When we go to a deeper level, there is more calmness. This is the Subtle Level of Thinking. When we go still deeper, we find the Unmanifest level, the true level of Being.

The subtlest of all subtle thoughts come from Being. The Rishies and the Yogis know how to tune to this level.

The Science of the Absolute, Geetha, identifies these Three Levels of Being and calls them

Adhi Bhootha - Gross Stae
Adhi Yajna    - Subtle State
Adhyamtika -  Unmanifest State

Adhi Bhootha Ksharo Bhava
Purushaschadi Daivatham
Adhi Yajno ha trameva
Dehe Deha bhritam vara

Aurobindo says " I experienced three  of the four  faculties of the Intuitive Reason, Revealation, Inspiration and Intuition, known to the Rishies as Ila, Saraswathi and Sarama". (The Fourth is Illumination )

In Vedic Symbology,

Revealation is Ila
Inspiration is Saraswathi
Intuition is Sarama

Ila is the Mother of the Lunar Dynasty. Saraswathi is the River of Inspiration flowing from the Supramental Truth Consciousness. And Sarama is the Hound of Heaven.

All Mythology is the adumbration of philosophic verities, Ithahasa   Puranabhyam Vedam Samupa Brimhayeth !

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Indian Astronomy prior to the Western



Against the Pingree and the Naugbauer Hypothesis, we have the Dr Raju and Dr Joseph Hypothesis.


According to Western Learning, the first book on Astronomy was the Almagest by Ptolemy. Date 2nd century CE.

There was a text prior to that, the Vedanga Jyothisha by Lagadha. Date 1150 BCE !

Dr Raju vehemently argues, in his "Cultural Foundations of Mathematics", that the Almagest was influenced by Indian sources. Dr Joseph opines that the Indian mathematicians used differential equations, at least 600 years before Newton and Liebniz, in his "Crest of the Peacock, the Non European Roots of Mathematics".

Dennis Duke, of Florida State University, says " We have only to conclude that Ptolemy did not invent the equant. " If Ptolemy did not invent the equant, as Westerners widely believe, then who did ?

"The bisected Indian equant model is pre-Ptolemaic' says he. Other Greek books, prior to Ptoemy, may have influenced Indian Astronomy,says he. Then what are those books, prior to the Almagest, which had influenced the Indian system? The answer is "unknown sources".

Remarks Duke " Indeed, since the very earliest investigation of the Indian models by Western scholars it has been presumed that the models are somehow related to a double epicycle system, with one epicycle accounting for the zodiacal anomaly, and the other accounting for the solar anomaly (retrograde motion) This perception was no doubt reinforced by the tendency of some Indian texts to associate the manda and sighra corrections with an even older Indian tradition of some sort of forceful cords of air tugging at the planet and causing it to move along a concentric deferent . Since our goal in this paper is to investigate the nature of any connection with ancient Greek planetary models, it is only important to accept that the models appear in Indian texts that clearly pre-date any possible Islamic influences, which could, at least in principle, have introduced astronomical elements that Islamic astronomers might have derived from Greek sources. ( "The Equant in India: the Mathematical Basis of Ancient Indian Planetary Models" By Dennis Duke, Florida State University  

Kerala Astronomy, on Argive heights divinely sang !



If the Tropicalists "tropicalise" the Vedic Zodiac ( "which is imported from the West" ), it will go the Gregorian Way. The Vedic Astro Calender will become the Gregorian Calender ( again to be rectified later ! )

We have the Pingree and Van der Werden Hypothesis, the Naugbuer Hypothesis that the multi step algorithms of Indian Astronomy approximated a Greek Planetary Model, an eccentre and epicyclical Model. We have to respect them, as at least they admitted that India has an Astronomy. Not like Thibeau or Whitney who said that the ancient Indians  had no knowledge of Astronomy or Maths, when they saw gigantic calculations like 311.04 trillion year cycles ( Maha Manvantara ) and the Cosmological Cycle (4.32 billion years ). They said these calculations are plagiarised from the Romans and the Greeks!

Dr Carl Sagan opined that while Christians were calculating in thousands, Hindus were calculating in trillions !

The Radius Vector, said Kepler, sweeps out equal areas in equal time. 

Parameswara in the 15th century and Nilakantha in the 16th talked about Vyasardha Manda Karna. Vyasa is Diameter. Vysardha is Radius and Vyasardha Mandakarna is nothing but Radius Vector.

Kepler's Second Law states that

All planets move faster at Perihelion and move slower at Aphelion. That was known to the Indian astronomers. Otherwise they wouldnt have called Aphelion, Mandoccha ( Manda - slow ) and Perihelion, Sheegrocha ( Sheeghra - fast ) !

Let us get the dates of the astronomers

Parameswara - 15th century C E
Nilakanta - 16th
Kepler - 17th
Laplacae - 18th

The Nine Orbital Elements of the Kerala School of Astronomy and Maths, from which planetary longitudes are computed.

Mean longitude of Planet, Graha Madhyama , M
Daily Motion of the Mean Longitude, Madhyama Dina Gathi, Md
Aphelion, Mandoccha, Ap
Daily Motion of Aphelion, Mandoccha Dina Gathi, Apd
Ascending Node, Patha, N
Daily Motion of Ascending Node, Patha Dina Gathi, Nd
Heliocentric Distance, Manda Karna, radius vector, mndk
Maximum Latitude, L, Parama Vikshepa
Eccentricity, Chyuthi,e


In Western Astronomy, we have six orbital elements

Mean Anomaly, m
Argument of Perihelion, w
Eccentricity, e
Ascending Node, N
Inclination, i, inclinent of orbit
Semi Major Axis, a 

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Of the Eleventh House, a House of Wealth



The Eleventh House rules Gains and is one of the Houses of Wealth. The 
others being 2,5 and 9, deshveanka.



If the Eleventh lord be
In angles or trines
And if Eleventh be tenanted by malefics
A wealthy man indicated !


If the Eleventh lord be
In House Second
And if Second lord be in Second
Rich man indicated !


If the lords of Second and Eleventh be
In angles or trines favorable
Wealthy the native becomes
Such is Astrology's decree !


If the Eleventh lord be
Powerful, posited in Eleven
This itself is a Regal Yoga
Rich the native becomes !


If House Eleven and the Eleventh lord
Be in Shubhakarthari Yoga
Hemmed in between benefics
Wealthy the native becomes !


If House Eleven and the Eleventh lord
Or the Eleventh lord's dispositor
Be in benefic Navamsas
Rich the native becomes !

If the Navamsa lord of Eleventh lord
Be powerful, angular or trinal
And aspected by the Second lord
Wealthy the native becomes !

If the Trimsamsa lord of Eleventh lord
Be powerful, posited with benefics
And aspected by the Tenth lord
Rich the native becomes !


If the planets mentioned above
Be with malefics and posited
In Trika houses, 6,8 and 12
Native will be devoid of wealth !

If the Eleventh be tenanted
By benefics natural
And if Eleventh lord be angular
Native will have good elder brothers !

If benefics natural be posited
In House Eleventh
Good friends the native will have
Such is Astrology's decree !

If the Eleventh lord be powerful
And if Eleventh is tenanted by benefics
Native will have friends sincere
Thus say the astro wise !

If contrary is the case
Eleventh House and lord weak
Native's friends will be cheats
Thus say the wise !