Talk:Jyotisha

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[edit] Jyotish - Origin & Principles

The principles of Jyotish are well founded in the Vedas. "Karma" or one's actions (what you sow, so shall you reap) forms the fundamental basis of Jyotish. Even a mere thought is said to trigger a cosmic reaction. Hence, human as well as other lives tend to progress through this spiritual journey by taking on physical forms until they realize the absolute reality (the reasons or the process is all too extensive to discuss here). A Jyotishi or Astrologer then is someone who delineates an individual's "Karma Phala" (the fruits of our karma) and provides the individual with the necessary spiritual insight/jyoti (light) to steer them towards the absolute reality/truth. Hence, a true Jyotishi is one who himself/herself is illumined by understanding the absolute reality (which is why this science can't be quantified or tested).

Jyotish is multi-faceted. "Jathaka" or Horoscopy is one facet of Jyotish that looks at the planetary positions at birth to predict the events in one's life. "Muhurtha" or Electional astrology looks at the quality of time to predict the course of an event started at any specific time. "Prasna" or Horary astrology is another branch that deals exclusively with predicting outcomes of queries. "Nimmitas" or premonitions based on signs/symbols are another way of understanding how events will unfold. "Ganita" or mathematics is yet another branch that deals with the calculations of planetary motions, the reasoning behind these numbers, etc. Finally, "Gola" or study of rounded objects is study of the actual planets themselves and why they revolve/rotate, etc.

There is a lot of talk about how Jyotish may be from Babylon, Greece etc. Given that the principles of Jyotish lies completely in the Vedas it is difficult to believe that it was borrowed and retro-fitted into Vedic thought, the other way seems more likely, which is one of the reasons why western astrology doesn't seem to be as complete. Jyotish on the other hand, is regarded as one of the "anghas" or parts of the Vedas. Jyotish is designated to be the "eyes" of the Vedas (rightfully so). With Jyotish one is able to see everything the Vedas propound - the very truth about our existence.

It is said that everything emanated from this one basic vibration of "Om" or "Aum." From "Om" the five elemental vibrations emerged representing the five different tattwas (or elements). The five planets represent these five vibrations – Jupiter for Ether, Saturn for Air, Mars for Fire, Mercury for Earth, and Venus for Water. Everything is made up of these five different elements in different proportions. From this, arise the principles of Jyotish, the principles of Ayurveda, the principles of Yoga, the principles of Indian classical music, the principles of color, and pretty much every other science in ancient India. You'll be surprised to find out even the Sanskrit language is structured based on these five tattwas (or elements).

--j balagopal 14:59, Oct 21, 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Cleanup

I've added the cleanup template due to the lack of paragraph breaks. –– Constafrequent ^{(talk page)} 05:59, 5 Feb 2005 (UTC)

-- The section at the beginning did not fit the flow of the article and was moved to a new page: Bhrigu Samhita

Makewa 08:34, 6 December 2005 (UTC)

    ACTIONS FOR NIVRATI ARE ACCORDING TO JYOTISH
    WHILE OTHER KARMAS ARE ACCORDING TO PRAVRATI.
    IN MY VIEWS NIVRATI MEANS THE PATH TO SALVATION
    WHILE PRAVRATI MEANS THAT WE HAVE TO COME AGAIN TO LIFE TILL WE DO NOT ADOPT 
    NIVRATI MARG.

[edit] Jyotisha

I moved to Jyotisha since we usually have the transcriptions of Sanskrit as titles (see Vedanga). The Hindi pronunciation can be given as a spelling variant of course. dab (ᛏ) 16:27, 3 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] top page additions

These have been deleted as the nine planets are not the key significators of the elements as pointed out. The information can be divulged somewhere else but not on the top of the article.

--shridharvk, 15 May, 2006 (UTC)

[edit] POV

The article needs to be rewritten from a NPOV view so that it is clear that this is a form of divination. There is a complete lack of scientific criticism of this subject, and as a result it is biased.59.92.62.163 07:32, 30 May 2006 (UTC)

Well if the POV is "a lack of scientific criticism", then so be it. By the way, for the information of 59.92.62.163, the scientific method is to verify or falsify a given hypothesis, and not to criticise a given field of knowledge. I suggest this POV tag be dropped. Entries on Wikipedia are not meant to convince or offer proof of anything, but to offer a factual representation of the topic under dicussion. Jyotish, or vedic astrology, is an ancient field of knowledge and practice. All readers know what astrology is about. This is much ado about nothing, in my view. Ramayan 20:09, 30 May 2006 (UTC)

I absolutely agree with Ramayan. The POV flag due to "lack of scientific criticism" is ridiculous. Jyotish and Vedanga are the first and foremost scriptures to mathematically provide us calculations about the space. In fact, thousands of years before the west even accepted the idea of Earth not being flat, the Maharishis (seers) who gave these scriptures to humanity knew that! This is profound knowledge we are talking about, and someone who is caught within the bounds of ultra-Western thinking has to open his/her mind instead of issuing such blanket POVs. Please remove POV!

[edit] Why is this item under "factual accuracy is disputed" category?

There is absolutely no argument I see on the Talk page to suggest that something in the article is factually incorrect. So why is this item unnecessarily highlighted as so? Guys, leave Vedic astrology alone from your political agendas and religious agendas. This is pure knowledge we are talking about! Please release this from the disputed category and let people enjoy reading Wikipedia without trepidation and doubts.

Additional comments from another reader: It is not a sin to talk about what the believes were in the ancient Indian culture. Unfortunately, one tries to compare with modern science. It is absolutely ridiculous to draw such comparison. I think that it might have been basically derived from “cause and effect” theories on the statistical inferences that we do in modern media today.

[edit] Vedic / Hindu astrological guidance

The section on Vedic / Hindu astrological guidance is misleading. To the best of my knowledge India did not have the seven-day week system during the vedic era. Probably they used `tithi' instead. The Sunday, Monday ... system came to India later.N shaji 03:40, 13 August 2006

Vadic Astrology has "five attributes" of the day viz, tithi,vara, nakshatra, yoga and, karana. Each Vara is ruled by one of the seven Grahas from the Navagraha

[edit] Scientific critique

This article is in shambles, there's no scientific critiscim and it's very biased and filled with unreferenced claims. We need to make this article NPOV59.92.40.87 11:08, 15 September 2006 (UTC)

I've added a section on critique. What do you think?59.92.40.87 11:29, 15 September 2006 (UTC)

Made an account. I've also delted some unneccesary detailed information.Naroays 11:50, 15 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Tags removed

If there are specific sections in the article that need attention, please add tags in these sections and explain the reasons for the tag. ≈ jossi ≈ t • @ 04:56, 23 September 2006 (UTC)

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