Part Art Part Science the Vidya of Jyotisha - Barbara Pijan Lama Jyotisha

The "Vidya"of Jyotisha

Part art; Part science

As within, so without; As above, so below.

~~ Hermes Trismegistus

The art part requires wisdom and knowledge of human nature - and, to be honest, a good dose of psychic intuition. The Jyotishi must be psychically grounded in some type of regular spiritual practice in order to guarantee the flow of intuition. Most Jyotishi have regular communication with intelligent spiritual guides.

I find that I have to think of myself not as an ego-hoard of esoteric knowledge, or like a conventional authority figure in a scientific field. Yes, it is possible to know the future through Jyotisha. However, the waywe know requires the ego to almost disappear, so that posing as a conventional "expert" with lots of ego-inflated authority energy is quite impossible!

IMO, the ego thing is a big problem in India, where some flamboyant Jyotishi try to achieve fame by making giant, sweeping predictions that nearly always go wrong.

Grandiosity is inappropriate and embarrassing in a field where humility is the absolute prerequisite for having any knowledge at all!

Rather, the humble Jyotishi is like a human crystal-set, picking up radio signals from the universe. The transmissions do come in, but sometimes they're fuzzy. Sometimes they're remarkably clear. Sometimes they're contradictory, or mixed. My responsibility is to keep tuning my crystals, getting better and better reception over time. I am certainly a better astrologer now than when I was 20, 30, or 40. Good astrologers should probably be over 60, committed meditators, or both.

The science partis not conventional modern science.

Jyotisha is very far from modern positivism.
Rather, Jyotisha is Scientiain the sense of structured knowledge.

An ancient tradition, passed along from guru to student over the millennia, Jyotisha traces its lineage to the Rishis - illumined seers who spoke within the Vedic cultures. The rules of Jyotisha are well-tested. They still work, even having been somewhat damaged through passage of the Kali Yuga . And that is why we continue to practice Jyotisha today.

Note on cultural word "science"

Many westerners familiar with Vedic cultures prefer to avoid a pedestrian controversy about the English word "science" by the practice of labeling Jyotisha knowledge as a Vidya.

Vidya= a body of knowledge which can be "seen" (vid, video, evidence) either through books or by a teacher. This better label Vidya will be quite workable when the Sanskrit word Vidya-- like other Sanskrit terms Karma, Dharma, Yoga,etc. -- makes its way into English.

However, for now, when saying "science" one must specify the more classical meaning of that English word.

"And now my friends,
all that is true, all that is noble,
all that is just and pure,
all that is loveable and gracious,

whatever is excellent and admirable -

fill all your thoughts with these things."

~~ Philippians 4:8

updated:18 May 2012

Barbara Pijan Lama Jyotisha Vedic Astrology Surya Sun Chandra Moon Mangala Mars Budha Mercury Guru Jupiter Shukra Venus Shani Saturn Rahu Ketu Graha Planets Dasha Timeline Nakshatra Navamsha Marriage Children Wealth Career Spiritual Wisdom Cycles of Death and Rebirth