Karmic Astrology—a Study
by Sunita Anant Chavan | 2017 | 68,707 words
This page relates ‘Jyotisha: A Device to Knowledge’ of the study on Karmic Astrology and its presentation in Vedic and the later Sanskrit literature. Astrology (in Sanskrit: Jyotish-shastra) is based upon perceptive natural phenomenon of cosmic light forms while the Concept of Karman basically means “action according to Vedic injunction” such as the performance of meritorious sacrificial work.
Part 2.2 - Jyotiṣa: A Device to Knowledge
Cosmic material viewed with a specific ideology of obtaining perceptive knowledge regarding human life and its journey, a tendency to connect the visible nature to the abstraction to this extent and giving it a perceptive form occurs since early period.
i. Spontaneous Cosmic Actions
The initial development of unwinding the cosmos to understand the future of man by way of Śakunas continued till late.[1] The former nature of Śakunas as spontaneous natural phenomena revealing the future later advanced to every perceptible form of cosmic matter being treated or even scrutinized as an omen.[2]
ii. Order of Satya and Dharma
Ṛta, a pre-Vedic concept displaying the physical order in cosmic activity is converted into ‘Satya’ and later into ‘Dharma’ in the culture.[3] The wheel of Ṛta is observed in Ṛgveda-saṃhitā and Atharvaveda[4] as bringing forth the order of cosmic forms represented by the day and night, the phases of Moon, the seasons (Ṛtus), the year (Saṃvatsara) and so forth. An entire representation is evident in Puruṣa (Ṛgveda-saṃhitā X. 90) and Hiraṇyagarbha,[5] the knowledge is applied to the rituals. In later literature, order is displayed in the concepts of Yuga and Kalpa.
Knowledge of sacrificial system.
The sacrificial system in Veda rests on the knowledge of the days, months, seasons, years. Sacrifice and year are established as synonyms, the action connected to the order in cosmos. The arrangement represented the (symbolic) motion of the Sun, the Sattras were the imitation of the Sun’s yearly course.[6] More elaboration occurs in the form of sacrificial horse (Medhya Aśva) connected to the cosmos.[7]
iii. Cosmic Light Forms and Human Life
The luminaries subserve the purpose of perceiving the ideology of human life. Sūrya is concerned with the lengthening of life.[8] He represents the Ātman of the Kālapuruṣa (Ṛgveda-saṃhitā, X.90) the conception continues in the later Philosophy, an account of its brilliance expressed in terms of a simile comparing the illumination of the entire cosmos by the singular Sun to the entire body by the Ātman.[9] Moon addressed as Candra, Candramas or Mās in the Ṛgveda-saṃhitā denotes a bright body as well as a measure of time.[10] Moon receives light form the Sun is known in the Saṃhitās.[11] He is the distributor of years (Ṛgveda-saṃhitā X. 85.5) and as the mind of the cosmic man appears since late Ṛgveda-saṃhitā[12]
The practical philosophy[13] is evident in the idea of the path of the gods made visible by the motion of the Sun in the Northern hemisphere[14] and the way of the fathers (Pitṛs) located by the Southern motion of the Sun,[15] more specified to the pitṛs by locating the inlet between Agastya and Ajavithi.[16] The stations of the Devayāna and their counterpart, of the Pitṛyāna are distinctly expressed[17] amongst which Moon is one of the temporary resorts. The Sun and the moon are made the doors to the heaven, the Dawn and the Sun are the reaching places of man after death,[18] the Dawn is also made a seat of the fathers (pitṛs)[19]
The ideology of imitating the light forms and immortality of the deities reflects in the coalescence of soma juice with Moon being addressed as Soma. The term Soma is applied to Moon in the Ṛgveda-saṃhitā,[20] earlier elsewhere Soma is the juice consuming of which made the gods immortal[21] and also the men.[22] Moon is referred as the soma cup of the gods, the waxing and waning of the Moon accounted as the filling and emptying of the Soma (juice) by the gods,[23] the soma nature of Moon established in the later, Maṇḍala of Ṛgveda-saṃhitā[24]
The integration further advanced in the Brāhmaṇas where Moon is the Soma of the gods.[25] In the Upaniṣads, Moon or king Soma is the food of the gods, consumed by them.[26]
In case of transmigration of Jīva, Moon is a station of the souls, their arrival fills up the Moon,[27] from the Moon the two paths diverge,[28] also th whole of the transmigrating beings reach the Moon[29] in the bright half and they come back to be born in the dark half. The idea of the entire moving world reaching the Moon is a continuation of the earlier notion of the moving world reaching the region between father (Heaven) and mother (Earth) in the later Ṛgveda-saṃhitā This place being the Antarikṣa and Moon is placed in the Antarikṣa is mentioned earlier.[30] In making Moon, the abode of the transmigrationg existence from where his further course is decided lies the vision of the then developing moral theory the expression further continues with the Astrological connection of the individual being born with specific characteristics of the Nakṣatra in which the Moon is placed at the time of birth which gave an idea of the nature and accordingly the presumptive future of the individual.
An early evidence to this extent lies in Ṛgveda-saṃhitā II. 40, a hymn addressed to SomaPūṣan stating Soma as the cause of production of all worlds and Pūṣan (a form of Sun) as the one who marks or oversees the actions of the whole world.[31] Soma further developed with the Moon-Mind connection with desire the root cause of creative activity and Pūṣan with Sun-Ātman and Karman.[32]
More evident are the threads of a moral theory, finding an expression in the character of Varuṇa, the lord of the moral order. Varuṇa is the firmament of the sky[33] the idea of attributing a moral nature to the sky being exclusively Vedic. Earlier the lord of light,[34] in the Taittirīya-saṃhitā he shows a connection with night with the Sun as his eye and his spies are distinctly mentioned who behold the two worlds, are wise and descend from the heaven.[35] Also the world Ātman shows a connection with Varuṇa.[36]
Prajāpati represented the ideology with a physical basis. His form being mortal as well as immortal, he coincided the year (Saṃvatsara), actions were to be arranged on his body parts.[37] Also Agni served the physical basis on whom the entire sacrificial cult is based.[38]
iv. Nakṣatra System and Characteristics of Man Cosmos
The Nakṣatra system in Veda is designed as to provide a perceptive as well as a practical basis to the ideology. Systematic study of the characteristics of the Nakṣatra, coinciding with earthly objects[39] and phenomena divulge an attempt of Vedic men to obtain a complete understanding of the cosmic material and its workings for the purpose of discerning human life.
The belief that the Nakṣatras are the abodes of gods[40] and pious men[41] and that one who performs sacrificial actions in this world reaches the world of Nakṣatras[42] reflect in the practical utility of the Nakṣatras in the religious system. Obtaining the knowledge of Nakṣatras on the path of the Moon coinciding them with time, merging of the Vedic deities with the Nakṣatras for the purpose of worship and above all bifurcating their characteristics in auspicious and inauspicious ones for the performance of actions[43] such interpretations provided a physical basis for the sacrificial calendar in Veda and the Muhūrta branch of later period.[44]
The study continues till later times correlating the qualities of cosmic matter specified by the Nakṣatras and the substances (on Earth) thereby ruled by the twenty seven Nakṣatras[45] and the Nakṣatras indicating the body parts of Kālapuruṣa continue upto Bṛhat Saṃhitā.[46]
The initial thought that actions on specific Nakṣatras lead a man to heaven[47] and later in Jātaka branch the characteristics of a person being judged on the Nakṣatras of birth indicate the knowledge of the Nakṣatras acquired by the culture to understand the human form and also the deciphering of the cosmic qualities for their utilization in establishing the man cosmic relationship.
v. Rāśi, Horā and the Knowledge of Past Actions.
The study of the divisions of the cosmos in the form of Rāśi is latter to and more imaginary to Nakṣatras.[48] Rāśis are systematically classified[49] for actions, they specify places and objects dominated by them[50] yet as a unitary whole they appear in the Horoscope the Indian counterpart designed for the knowledge of past actions[51] and the relative future. Horā is a synonym for consideration of what the destiny would be[52] and for Lagna[53] as well. It coincides with Prārabdhakarma.[54] The Lakṣana (characteristics) of the Lagna (Rāśi arising at the eastern quarter of the horizon at the time of birth of an individual) coincide with the bodily form of the individual is an observed fact.[55] Such a form is acknowledged as a manifestation on account of the past actions of an individual. The Horā branch by means of study of characteristics of cosmos makes an effort to give a vision of the past actions which formulate the destiny of man.
vi. Metaphoric means to Knowledge.
Viewing of cosmic light forms and their physical actions to find an ideological explanation in the expression is a common practice in the culture. The shapes of the Nakṣatras are associated with myths, the motions of the light objects are the actions of the anthropomorphized deities and in the phenomenon of eclipse initially a demon according darkness to Sun[56] and later with Sun as a metaphoric representation of the soul the event serves as a motion picture of the soul in the process of acquiring true knowledge.[57]
Nakṣatras are the āyatanas (abodes) of the gods[58] and later Puruṣadeha[59] an āyatana of the gods for the invisible Brahman, the Sun and Moon serve as pratika (symbol) in the sat (visible) world.[60]
vii. Real Knowledge and Cosmos
Brahman is Satya (real) and not metaphoric.[61] Efforts to reach to such knowledge with Jyotiṣa as a device occurs in the literature and excavation of such cosmic points is evident. The emergence of activity from the fundamentally quality less Brahman due to desire is the point of origination of the visible world.[62] The plane of Satya which is a permanent one is bifurcated at this level from the perishable and thereby illusionary world of names and forms.
While the invisible Brahman is light itself in the visible world the light or illumination is due to the Sattva guṇa displayed by the Sattva forms of Prakṛti[63] the quality of Sattva is characterized by the light and order in the cosmos. The ordered motion of the cosmic bodies for instance the Sun and the Moon serve as metaphoric knowledge of Brahman in the perishable visible world. On the other hand the beginning of creative activity[64] demarcates the unmanifest and the manifest serving as a junction o the Brahman world and the Karman world. Any such point of manifestation of cosmic activity can thereby by presupposed as an above mentioned junction equally the emerging activity can be termed as occurring due to desire (of the gods).[65] Also the point immediately prior to the beginning of activity can be said to be a non-active and illumined point as belonging to the Brahman world. Reference to such points of perception placed at the beginning of or manifesting of activity are utilized for the knowledge of future concerned with that particular activity occurring in the form of Śakunas inclusive of spontaneous cosmic actions or induced ones as
Lagna or Kalpa calculated by Gaṇita.
viii. Cosmic Moment: A Window to Past and Future
Also any such point receives an identify as a witness at the junction of the two states, possessed with a quality of perception serves as a ‘cakṣu’ an eye to view the future of the activity beginning or manifesting at that point.
Time being a concept understood on account of activity,[66] it being experienced on account of the changes occurring in the matter forms,[67] its existence known by apprehending the changes or transformations occurring in an object or a thing,[68] the moment of manifestation of activity serves as a silent spectator keeping a record of that activity. This being confined to the manifestation and disappearance of activity due to the limitations of visibility of human senses,[69] or else the eternality of time is known to the culture.[70] In both these senses any moment of time or as a whole Kāla (Time) appears as a means of Pratyakṣa (Perception)[71] being a surveyor to the changes occurring in the states of matter serving as a window to past and future.
ix. Time Moment as a Sign
The mutual dependency of activity of objects and time as to the change in the solid bodies understood due to Time[72] and that the objects manifest in accordance with the motion of Time[73] is utilized in the culture as to infer the past or future motion of any object viewed from a certain point of Time.[74]
Any moment of time in the above sense is a ‘sign’ and Śakuna thereby is synonymous with ‘Nimitta’ in the literature.[75] Jyotiḥśāstra through any such time moment or through the motion of time constituted a sign language deciphering the activity of the cosmos from which an attempt to read future was a practice prevalent in many ancient cultures.[76] The distinguishing feature of Jyotiḥśāstra as compared to other cultures is that, being a Nimitta, a prognostic sign or a Liṅga[77] it is utilized in the culture to serve as an antecedent cause inferring about the actions of man and thereby his future discourse or ‘Gati’ made dependent on his own actions which can be coined as the ‘Ligī’ to be inferred. Thereby the texts conveying the interpretations of cosmic signs were designed to convey about actions.[78]
x. Knowledge of Gati and Stithi of Jīva
The Saṃhitā and Jātaka branches are based on the motion of light bodies[79] elsewhere this motion of light bodies is utilized to infer the motion and position of Jīva.[80] The motion of Jīva is a result of his own actions according to the literature.
Any motion as a verb is a sign.[81] Time in this sense of motion declares the activity of Jīva, the doer. Jyotiṣa provides only the vision of the action based motion of the Jīva. In this sense Jyotiṣa is instrumental to the actions of the Jīva thereby deterministic in showing the motion of Jīva. Gati (motion) as fate[82] seemingly arrives from this quarter in the correlation.
xi. Knowledge by Perception
Jyotiṣa in above sense works as a nimitta to provide perception in the following manner
-) By the light forms and their orderly motion, which form the body of Jyotiṣa, the unmanifest Kāla becomes Pratyakṣa.[83]
-) By the motion of light bodies Jyotiṣa as an eye provides a proof of existence of the imperceptible Jīva and its motion beyond body.
-) By the knowledge of signs, it serves as a perceptive means of knowledge of ‘action and its outcome’ from which Jīva receives ‘knowledge by perception’.[84] Ultimately it served the purpose of a Dṛṣya.[85]
In the above senses Jyotiṣa is a perceptive means to knowledge.
xii. Motion as Movement
The motion of time is compared to a vehicle, all worlds are said to be the wheels of Time.[86] Kāla being a Nimitta Karaṇa,[87] the aforesaid motion is an acquired motion on account of activity of some basic ingredient which serve as the Upādāna, the material cause. Such instances as ‘Time is the source of matter’[88] represent Kāla as an instrument which by its motion gives a name and form to the basic ingredient.[89] Time is thereby a weaver or a potter and it is the quality of the matter which decides its name and form, whereas the quality of time is apportioning of the attributes and moulding and manifesting them in appropriate name and form an account of its force of motion.[90]
Motion (of time) is ‘movement’ due to this mutual dependency. Time being qualitative this motion or movement[91] vary in accordance with the qualitative activity. On the other hand, origination of activity pertains to the relativity of motion of time and qualities of objects. On this account time is said to be the creator of beings.[92]
The above property of time reflects in its representation as a ‘Nimitta’ in its other sense,[93] which is utilized for the performance of actions. It is in this context that Manu mentions Utpāta and Nimitta separately.[94] Jyotiṣa as ‘Kālavidhānaśāstra’[95] appears in the literature specifying Time as motion in two senses In one sense, it provides a ‘perceptive medium’ with cosmos as a screen for vision of human actions and its probable fated discourse.
In another sense it provides ‘specific time’ to perform actions on account of which an ideal future is exercised.
In the above senses Jyotiṣa is a Device to Knowledge by means of Cosmic Actions.
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
Upto 9th c.A.D. later to which the study of Śakunas appear in traces.
[2]:
Aṅgavijjā, a Prakrit text on omens classifies every perceptible object in the world as an ominous entity. Jyotiḥśāstra, p.75. Pingree locates the text nearby to Varāhamihira, the statement seeminly displays the most flourished period of development of Śakuna literature.
[3]:
History of Dharmaśāstra, V.1, p.21.
[4]:
Ṛgveda-saṃhitā I. 164.11. Atharvaveda V.35.4. mention the cosmic order as Saṃvatsara with twelve spokes.
[5]:
in a consolidated form, Ṛgveda-saṃhitā X. 121.
[7]:
Taittirīya-saṃhitā 1.5.25.
[8]:
Ṛgveda-saṃhitā VIII. 48.7.
[10]:
[11]:
Taittirīya-saṃhitā 3.4.7.1., Moon being bright on account of the Ādityas. Taittirīya-saṃhitā 2.4.14.
[12]:
Ṛgveda-saṃhitā X.90.13; Bṛhadāraṇyaka-upaniṣad I.3.16, III.2.13.
[13]:
A term employed by Duessen for the doctrine of transmigration and emancipation, the fourth part of the system of the Upaniṣads. The Philosophy of the Upanishads, p.313.
[14]:
Śat, Brā. II.3.2.3., as arcirādi, Gītā VIII.24.
[15]:
dhūmrādi, Gītā VIII. 25.
[16]:
Yājñavalkya Smṛti III.175.
[17]:
Bṛhadāraṇyaka-upaniṣad VI. 2.15-16, Chāndogya-upaniṣad V.10.5.
[18]:
Ṛgveda-saṃhitā X. 15.9.
[19]:
Ṛgveda-saṃhitā X. 15.7. 181
[20]:
Ṛgveda-saṃhitā X. 85.2.; in the form of comparison in Ṛgveda-saṃhitā VIII.82.8., also Atharvaveda 7.81.3,4.
[21]:
Ṛgveda-saṃhitā IX. 106.8.
[22]:
Ṛgveda-saṃhitā VIII. 48.3.
[23]:
Ṛgveda-saṃhitā X. 85.5.
[25]:
Śatapatha-brāhmaṇa 1.6.5.
[26]:
Chāndogya-upaniṣad V.10.1.
[27]:
Bṛhadāraṇyaka-upaniṣad VI.2.16; Kauṣitaki-upaniṣad 1.2.
[28]:
Chāndogya-upaniṣad V.10.2,4,5.
[29]:
As an implication in Ṛgveda-saṃhitā X.88.15.
[30]:
Bhāratīya Jyotiṣaśāstra, p. 17.
[31]:
ṚV. II.40.
[32]:
The above ṛcā can be an early evidence of connectivity between morality and action by means of Jyotiṣa. >
[33]:
√ Vṛ ‘to cover’.
[34]:
Vedic Mythology, p. 25.
[35]:
Ṛgveda-saṃhitā VII.87.3, VI. 67.5.; Atharvaveda IV. 16.4.
[36]:
A Comparative History of Ideas; p.92.
[37]:
[...] Śat. Brā. I.6.3.35.
[38]:
Agni is the personification of sacrificial fire, worship of fire under this name is purely Indian. Vedic Mythology, p.99.
[39]:
Bhāratīya Jyotiṣaśāstra, p.56.
[41]:
[42]:
Taittirīya-brāhmaṇa I.5.2.10.
[43]:
Bhāratīya Jyotiṣaśāstra, p.53,59.; Ṛgveda-saṃhitā X.82.13.
[45]:
Bṛhat Saṃhitā 15.1-27. 182
[46]:
Chap. 104. 1-5.
[47]:
Bhāratīya Jyotiṣaśāstra, p.56.
[48]:
History of Dharmaśāstra, V.1, p.565.
[49]:
Bṛhajjātaka I. 10-11.
[50]:
Vāmana Purāṇa Chap. 5.45-60.
[51]:
Bṛhajjātaka I.3.
[52]:
Sārāvali II. 4.
[53]:
Bṛhajjātaka I. 9.
[54]:
Prārabdha as fructified past actions, Laghujātaka I. 3., Sārāvali 2.27.
[55]:
Bhāratīya Jyotiṣaśāstra, p.478.
[56]:
Ṛgveda-saṃhitā V. 40.5.
[57]:
Chāndogya Upaniṣad VIII. 13.
[59]:
Patañjali’s Yogasūtras p. 235.
[61]:
Taittirīya-upaniṣad II. 1.
[62]:
Gītā Rahaṣya p. 365.
[63]:
Patañjali’s Yogasūtras II. 18.
[64]:
Nāsadiyasūkta Ṛgveda-saṃhitā X. 129.4.
[65]:
Ṛgveda-saṃhitā X. 129.4.
[66]:
Patanjali’s Mahābhāṣya on Vārtika 2 on Pāṇini II. 2.5.
[67]:
Mahābhārata, Ādiparva I. 248-250.
[68]:
Vaiśeṣikasūtra II. 2. 6-9.
[69]:
Physical perception of human senses limited to the present, the bāhyakaraṇas are concerned with the present. Sāṃkhyakārikā 133.
[71]:
Mānmeyodaya p. 179.
[73]:
Gītā II. 28.
[74]:
Nyāya-Vaiśeṣikas consider ‘time’ in the sense of ‘motion’. 183
[75]:
Kāla as a Nimitta (an occasion) for performance of an act. Z H mbmo JwU…& {Z{_Îmṃ ŚoV{XË‘wŠV_²& Śabara on Pūrvamīmāṃsā-sūtra of Jaimini VI. 2.25. Also Mahābhārata 12.34.10. on agency of Kāla.
[77]:
History of Dharmaśāstra, V. 2, p. 743.
[78]:
Bṛhajjātaka I.3; Bṛhat Saṃhitā XLV. 3.
[79]:
Bhāratīya Jyotiṣaśāstra, p. 16.
[80]:
[...] VÌ ā‘mVm JÀNpÝV ~«ś ~«ś{dXmo OZm…&& Gītā VIII. 24., Also Gītā VIII. 25.
[81]:
Oxford Thesaurus. p.513.
[82]:
Apte, V.S. p. 180.
[83]:
Śri Chintan p. 100.
[84]:
Gītā Rahasya, p. 1013.
[85]:
[...] Patañjali’s Yogasūtras II.18. Also pp. 194-196.
[86]:
Atharvaveda XIX. 53.1.
[87]:
[...] Also {Z{_Îmṃ H mb_odmhḥ{d©^ŠVoZmË_Zm pṭWV_²&& Vākyapadīya, Prakīrṇakakāṇḍa, kālasamuddeśa verses 1,3.
[88]:
Maitri Upaniṣad VI. 14.
[89]:
Gītā Rahasya, p. 362.
[90]:
Śvetāṣvatara-upaniṣad VI.4.
[91]:
Oxford Thesaurus. p.513.
[92]:
Atharvaveda XIX. 53.10.
[93]:
Pūrvamīmāṃsā-sūtra of Jaimini VI. 2. 23-26.