Vedic Astrology: A scientific exploration into the philosophy of Hinduism

Part 3 of 3: Addressing scientific scepticism

Allow me to illustrate this with a simplified example of the effects of the sun and the moon on our lives on earth.

Seasonal changes that occur with the earth’s rotation and position around the sun affect the course of lives of organisms on earth. Plants wither, animals hibernate and migrate. It is no coincidence that during winter seasons, the lack of sunshine affects the balance of neurotransmitters in the brain causing seasonal affective disorder in many; a condition which can significantly hamper or affect life.

The gravitational forces of the moon affect tides, making the environment more habitable to some than others, which subsequently affects the lives of fishermen who live by sea and what they eat. The nutrients that are contained within a particular species of fish, varies from another, therefore what you eat is also dictated by the environment you live in, which in turn affects your constitution, physical built, physiological and psychological well being, health and overall quality of life.

Such are examples of only two of the multitude of floating masses within our solar system, not even the universe. Could we have underestimated the effects of the other planets in solar system on our lives?

I draw an analogy to the above by dropping a pebble into the middle of the pond. As the pebble breaks into the surface of the water, it sends ripples in all directions of the pond. A fish in the pond will surely feel the wave of ripples as it passes through, and its subsequent actions will in a way be dictated by the size and nature of the force of the ripple waves; however it chooses to react to the stimulus. The closer it is to the ripple, the larger its direct effect it has on the course of actions to the fish. But you would be wrong to assume that a fish being further away from the source of the ripple would be any less affected by it. Although the energy from direct force of the ripple itself may have dissipated away, the indirect effects of the force still affect its subsequent actions, thus creating a chain of separate but inter connected sequence of actions, not dissimilar to the chaos theory.

Neutrinos are an example of a particular type of particles that are constantly being transmitted from the universe onto earth, amongst the many others that have been identified and not. Initially thought to be massless, these particles travel at light speed and pass through other particles relatively unaltered due to its seemingly neutral properties. With so little understood about neutrinos, would be unfathomable to think the transmission of the immeasurable masses of neutrinos from the constellations could possible have at least some bearing on the courses of an individual’s life? Where would we even start if we were to attempt to conduct an experiment the effect of neutrinos on an individual’s health or mood? Furthermore, how can we with any confidence disregard the effects of the other particles that potentially remain elusive from the limitations of our scientific knowledge and theories?

Ancient vedic texts describe an inner energy within the human body, not dissimilar to chakra flow. Ayurvedic and ancient Chinese medical texts books describe these chakra pathways to great detail, similar to how the course of the neurovascular bundles run through the body. The dissection of human anatomy has not demonstrated these pathways, yet I believe that these pathways exist, even if they remain invisible to the naked eye or electron microscopes. We may be unable to prove they exist, but it does not dismiss the distinct possibility that they might. Ayurvedic texts describe that illnesses stem from the imbalance of these pathways on bodily systems, and that at birth the effect of the constellations determine the dominance of the various different pathways that flow through the body.

Therefore to me, it is not inconceivable that with the changing positions of the planets and the constellations, there are continual changes in the quantities and nature of particles and thus energies being transmitted onto us. The effects of this are of course immeasurable, but could potentially interact and activate or inhibit the flows of the pathways within all objects animate and inanimate in this world, subsequently altering the course of life as we believe it to be.

I remain sceptical towards Vedic astrology, but equally have not grown blind or ignorant to the remote possibility that it could be true. As a scholar of modern sciences, Vedic astrology defies the logics of the set laws of the sciences I have been taught. Yet I am fortunate enough to recognise the limitations of science as we know it, and not to dismiss even the most improbable of likelihoods. There perhaps exist realms beyond our own, which inevitably sparks the famous debate of whether we are alone in this universe. But let us not allow the arrogance of our limited knowledge in science to dismiss the remote possibility of the fact that we could be wrong, and there may be a far greater use and understanding of Vedic astrology and religion that exceeds our own understanding in the matter.