Part art, part science:  the "Vidya"of Jyotisha 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 way we 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 & 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 part is not conventional modern science.  Rather, Jyotisha is "Scientia" in the sense of structured knowledge.  An ancient tradition, passed along from guru to student over the millennia, Jyotisha traces its lineage to the Rishis - intuitive seers who spoke within the Vedic cultures.  The rules of Jyotisha are well-tested.  They still work, 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 calling Jyotisha knowledge a Vidya.   Vidya means a body of knowledge which can be obtained 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, we will need to say "science."
	updated: 23 August 2008   Copyright © 1994-2015 by Barbara Pijan Lama - Contact - Sitemap - How to Request a Jyotisha Reading - www.barbarapijan.com - Barbara Pijan Lama Jyotisha Jyotish Vedic Astrology Horoscope Readings 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 Death