This article presents traditional perspectives on remedies. The views expressed belong to the original article; the effects of remedies should not be taken as guaranteed outcomes.
Indian astrology has its origin in the Vedas (four Vedas, four Upavedas, and to understand the Vedas it is necessary to understand the six Vedangas. These six Vedangas are — Shiksha, Vyakarana, Kalpa, Chhanda, Nirukta and Jyotish, in which astrology is one limb), and it is also regarded as a limb of the Vedas and their third eye. Its vision sees and examines the past, the future and the present — all of them. That is why it has been said:
"The third eye of the Veda, it sees all three times. Astrology answers everyone, whoever asks a question."
It is a spiritual discipline and at the same time a science. Many of those people who, regarding astrology, deny it by calling it unscientific, have no knowledge at all of its foundation.
What is astrology? It is the study of the signs that are received as the conjunctions change with the movement of the heavenly planets, nakshatras and stars.
"Astrology is the rhythm of the universe, like a flowing river. At its source is spirituality, at its confluence is science."
Astrology is not merely science, but a divine science. Astrology is fundamentally the search for the future and the sign of what will happen tomorrow. Astrology is not based on possibilities, nor is its future uncertain. All that is needed is the right direction, proper knowledge and searching eyes.
Behind every event taking place in nature — not only in the life of man — there are the signs of God. Every event is preordained. No event happens suddenly. But we remain unaware of this, and therefore consider many events to be accidents or events that happened suddenly. Every event is preordained, and proof of this is found in Western and Indian literature. In Kundli Shastra too, no event happens suddenly or unwritten. Every event happens at its own preordained time. This is the fundamental basis of Kundli Shastra. Through astrology, guidance can be given about the events that are to take place in the future.
Karma and Fate (Prarabdha)
Human life is invaluable; but for the most part life remains filled with anxieties and events. The main reason for this is considering karma to be above fate. It is fate alone that is the master of every event. Even the events of day-to-day life are predetermined. It is fate alone that compels a person to do good deeds or bad deeds. Now the question arises — what is fate? Its simple answer is that it is produced by the purushartha (personal effort) of man; that is, the effort made by man, in the form of prarabdha, influences human life. Now a new question arises — how will the play of fate (prarabdha) begin in human life, in what manner will it be played, how can this be known? For this our rishis and munis found that light in whose illumination that fate can be seen — that is, astrology.
Man is always related to three times — the past, the present and the future. By the past is meant what has already happened in human life. What is happening is known as the present, and what is yet to come is called the future. One should not think too much about the past and the future, because the result of the past is regret and the result of the future is fear. Therefore the guiding scriptures of all traditions advise living in the present. Astrology is such a discipline by which we can know about all three of the above times.
As fate, every small and great event happening every moment in life is predetermined, and cannot be changed in any way — this is true. But if there is prior knowledge of the future, then the native can prepare himself to endure sorrows or to enjoy pleasures (because sorrow or pleasure coming suddenly can disturb a person). Therefore a person has the right to fear or avoid sorrow; even so, karma cannot be abandoned in reliance on fate. Karma is obligatory, and even its certainty is decided by fate alone.
The Reality of Remedies and the Psychological Effect
By Indian astrology, the inauspicious events coming in life can be removed by some remedy such as mantra, tantra, yantra, etc., but this is not the complete truth. For this, an attempt is made by dividing events into two categories to find out to what extent the ill-effect of which event can be removed by which remedy. Just as in rain an umbrella is used as a remedy to avoid getting wet, but with an umbrella one cannot be fully saved from getting soaked in heavy rain.
Therefore, it is by no means possible that the ill-effects of every event can be fully removed by remedies. For proof, test yourself. The truth is that whether someone gives a blessing or not, whether a person prays or not, whether he wears a gem or not, events will take place according to the fate of the person. We wear gems or pray to God, receive blessings — all these things we do at that time when the time is ripe. Therefore it is fate alone that is the master of everything. The question arises — how can fate alone be considered supreme? When a man, even after tireless effort for the fulfilment of some objective, does not succeed, that is, success is not attained, only then does he accept that fate alone is supreme.
In the Gita, Lord Shri Krishna speaks of nishkam karma, action without desiring the fruit; from this it is clear that the fruit (result) is not in the hands of man. Then how can any person give you the desired fruit through various remedies and the like?
In this way no one can deceive fate. (Doing a remedy brings about a psychological action which increases self-strength, because of which we understand sorrow as having lessened), but the divine plan of nature will continue to run without any change.
The purpose of writing on the above subject is only this — that every small and great event taking place in the life of man is predetermined, it can be known through astrology, and it cannot be changed by any kind of remedy. In the Ramcharitmanas, Goswami Tulsidas writes:
"Whatever Ram has made and kept shall happen. What is the use of argument and stretching the branch?"
Whereas the direct and simple meaning of God or the deities is — the givers. God or the deities expect only this from man — that he pray for the attainment of his right understanding, and, holding the feeling of 'sarve bhavantu sukhinah, sarve santu niramayah' (may all be happy, may all be free from illness), prepare an atmosphere of a clean environment in the country, society and family.
Consideration of doshas: any dosha of any kind in any birth chart — Kaal Sarp Yoga, Pitru Dosha, Mangal Dosha, Gandmool Dosha, the Sade Sati of Saturn, the lesser Kalyani Dhaiya of Saturn, or the exaltation or debilitation of any planet — indicates the particular position of the planets in the birth chart, which is helpful in the statement of results; not to frighten the native by looking at the position of the planets in the birth chart and declaring doshas, and not to do business taking support of these doshas.