Latest / Sri Aurobindo Studies / Vedic Astrology, Karma and the Power to Change the Predicted Destiny

Transcript

Vedic Astrology, Karma and the Power to Change the Predicted Destiny · Sri Aurobindo Studies

• 0:01
  The question arises as to what exactly the science of Jyotish,
• 0:06
  the Indian astrology is able to calculate and incorporate.
• 0:12
  Looking at the line of Karma, the antecedents, direction, and
• 0:17
  trajectory of energy in a particular stream, it can help
• 0:21
  to determine the life path and major challenges facing an
• 0:25
  individual. Yet the individual is not
• 0:29
  totally separate and independent of the rest of the creation.
• 0:34
  This implies that there is an interaction that may impinge
• 0:36
  upon, modify or change the line of results that would be
• 0:41
  calculated for the individual in a vacuum.
• 0:45
  To the extent that some of these interacting factors can be
• 0:48
  accounted for, the astrological calculation can provide more
• 0:53
  details. Yet with the complexity of the
• 0:56
  universal creation, it is clear that such calculations cannot
• 1:01
  foresee, address and incorporate every possible line of
• 1:06
  development. For instance, material forces
• 1:10
  may lead to an unexpected earthquake, tornado, cyclone,
• 1:14
  tsunami, lightning strike, or some such other event that can
• 1:19
  disrupt the line of action of an individual who happens to be in
• 1:23
  the way of the event that comes from outside the line of energy
• 1:28
  of that individual. If the astrological chart of the
• 1:33
  dinosaurs had been created, there is no doubt that the
• 1:37
  meteorite strike that led to massive decimation of dinosaurs
• 1:42
  and other life on the planet would likely not have been
• 1:45
  foreseen. Similarly, in some cases
• 1:49
  unanticipated events on the vital or mental or spiritual
• 1:53
  levels may intervene. Sometimes an individual is
• 1:58
  following a very clear path of development which appears to be
• 2:02
  predestined. Then some event occurs, possibly
• 2:07
  a near death experience, a major illness, a failure in some
• 2:11
  field, but also possibly the awakening of a spiritual impulse
• 2:17
  that was unseen previously, which totally changes the life
• 2:21
  direction and focus of the individual.
• 2:26
  There is a tradition in certain paths of spiritual development
• 2:29
  that the awakened guru can take on and resolve karmic bonds of
• 2:34
  an individual, thus helping him achieve realization.
• 2:39
  This has the implicit assumption that indeed karma can be changed
• 2:44
  through individual action, in this case through interaction
• 2:48
  with another individual who is able to successfully shift the
• 2:53
  burden of the karma or modify it for the individual so that
• 2:58
  needed progress can occur. If it is possible for such an
• 3:03
  instance to occur, then it is also possible for the individual
• 3:07
  himself to overcome karmic influences.
• 3:11
  This implies that the astrological chart that provides
• 3:15
  the broad lines of development of an individual does not
• 3:19
  control the fate of the individual, but simply maps out
• 3:24
  the framework within which the individual application of free
• 3:28
  will can redirect or even eliminate the trend line of the
• 3:32
  karmic development and set new lines of karma in motion.
• 3:38
  Sri Aurobindo observes quote in Indian Astrology which considers
• 3:43
  all life circumstances to be Karma, mostly predetermined or
• 3:48
  indicated in the graph of the stars.
• 3:51
  There is still provision made for the energy and force of the
• 3:55
  being which can change or cancel part or much of what is so
• 4:00
  written, or even all but the most imperative and powerful
• 4:05
  bindings of Karma. This is a reasonable account of
• 4:09
  the balance. But there is also to be added to
• 4:12
  the computation the fact that destiny is not simple but
• 4:16
  complex. The destiny which binds our
• 4:20
  physical being, binds it so long, or in so far as a greater
• 4:25
  law does not intervene. Action belongs to the physical
• 4:30
  part of us. It is the physical outcome of
• 4:33
  our being. But behind our surface is a
• 4:37
  freer life power, a freer mind power which has another energy
• 4:43
  and can create another destiny and bring it in to modify the
• 4:48
  primary plan. And when the soul and self
• 4:51
  emerges, when we become consciously spiritual beings,
• 4:57
  that change can cancel or wholly remodel the graph of our
• 5:00
  physical fate. Karma.
• 5:04
  The, OR at least any mechanical law of karma cannot be accepted
• 5:10
  as the sole determinant of circumstances and the whole
• 5:14
  machinery of rebirth and of our future evolution.
• 5:19
  End Quote Reference Shriorobindo and the Mother, The Hidden
• 5:24
  Forces of Life, Chapter One, Life through the Eyes of the
• 5:28
  Yogin, page 15.