Part 2.1 - Nucleus of the Correlation and the Role of Jyotiṣa

The interaction of Jyotiṣa with Karman in the literature rests on an ideological foundation. Effectuating the ideology ‘in perception’ and ‘in practice’ is the core of the correspondence in the culture.

i. Idea in Perception

The study of Jyotiḥśāstra is designed by the culture to get a vision of future. The concept of future in Veda pertains to a near one attainable in present life as a long and prosperous one whereas the idea of a distant future to be achieved after the death of present body exists in the form of achievement of heaven or immortality. The highest object of the Vedic religion was to restore the bond between man and divine.^[1] Future being abstract, its expression being preliminarily ideological, Jyotiṣa subserved to provide a physical basis to the idea.

Initially the simply formulated conception of future connected the dark and bright quarters of the cosmos to the ideas of fear and delight. The ideas of auspiciousness and inauspiciousness find expression in the form of spontaneous cosmic actions, the divinations, which throw a light on future. Darkness is a condemned idea since beginning in the literature as opposed to brightness which is equivalent to auspiciousness or even divineness. The Vedic deities thereby portray light in their names, forms and actions, the sacrifices eulogize the fire element and for the fulfillment of expectations related to future the brilliance of cosmic light forms and their paths are pursued. Mind is very early represented by the Moon in the physical cosmos and later on the moral side, Sattva is the form of Mind. Brahma, the ultimate truth is also of the form of light represented by the light in cosmos.

ii. Idea in Practice

The concept of Time from the very beginning in the literature is associated with the luminaries due to their orderly motion contrasting the characteristics of the cosmos as Day and Night, the bright half and dark half of Months, the Full Moon and the New Moon leading to finer divisions of time as thirty Muhūrtas in an Ahorātra and to deeper extent providing a physical basis.

Qualitative Time

Apart from being physical, Time is qualitative in the literature. Deciphering of the Cosmos as Eclipses being caused by a demon is an early observance^[2]. Its Astronomical explanation occurs in the Pañcasiddhāntikā^[3] besides a Philosophical^[4] and an Astrological one^[5]. Eclipse as a representation of Tamas in cosmos is subjected to rectificatory actions^[6] on part of human, indicating action relative to ideology with its varied interpretations rather than to the physical fact. Time, thereby is a bringer of the qualities of the cosmos subjected to ideological interpretations and actions thereupon dissected characteristically rather than materially.

Implementation of ideology with usage of qualitative time occur in instances such as action performed on the motions of the Sun and Moon and the later on the joints of Prājāpati for a desired future and even later for the performance of Saṃskāras.

In the post-Vedic period, qualitative time as a pointer to future is evident in the Siddhānta texts^[7] calculating the beginning of a Kalpa as a space of time for predicting cosmic future. Calculation of the ‘Lagna’ as the birth point in an horoscope to determine the quality of life of an individual is also an instance.

Qualitative time determining the qualities of the cosmos is used by the culture to fulfill the ideology about future, ritual actions performed on such ‘specific’ or ‘proper’ time was believed to be leading to the fulfillment of their ideals.

The nucleus of the correlation lies in ‘perceptive knowledge’ regarding the ideology acquired from cosmic light forms the ideas brought in application through ‘qualitative time’.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

“Their life was a yearing after eternity, their activity a struggle to return into that divine essence their external life a certainty. The highest object of their religion was to restore that bond.” Ancient Sanskrit Literature, p. 13.

[2]:

Ṛgveda-saṃhitā V 40.5,6,8.

[3]:

Hindu Astronomy, p.35.

[4]:

Hindu Astronomy, p. 35.

[5]:

Bṛhat Saṃhitā. V. 1.

[6]:

History of Dharmaśāstra, V. 1, pp. 241-250. 180

[7]:

Kalpa and other long time reckonings were a regular topic of the Siddhānta literature, the beginning of which were calculated to understand the cosmic future in that particular Era estimated from the qualities specified by the beginning time point.