Escaping Destiny – Astrology?

Astrology…

Is just a way to make sense of what is happening in the universe by looking at the configurations of the universe itself. Since you can use math to rewind those configurations into the past or fast forward them into the future, astrology also becomes a way to make sense of what happened in the past and what will happen in the future.

In astrology there are 9 planets 12 signs and so on. In the real world there are 94 quintillion zillion gagillion possibilities per minute. So obviously the configuration of the stars, planets, and signs of the universe don’t literally spell out the past, present and future for you. You have to “interpret” the configuration. In other words the configuration is an abstract symbol and if you want concrete details you have to interpret them from the abstract symbol.

There is a very valid reason why the astrological configurations are abstract. It’s because destiny is somewhat abstract. It’s not written in stone that you will get bit by a mosquito 3 cm above your left elbow at 6:38 on March 29th 2013. But it is written in stone that you will feel uncomfortable on your skin around then.

If a person loses a loved one, was that their destiny – or could they have done something to change it? The real thing to understand is that the events of the world, pleasant and unpleasant, are not altogether real in the same way that we instinctively think they are real. There is a reality to them, but it is not what we instinctively percieve as reality. The reality of a situation like losing a loved one is the necessity to experience loss, pain, to increase (or otherwise affect) ones affection for dear people, etc. – in other words, the reality of a situation is more abstract than the concrete details we focus on. So, could we have done something different and avoided the loss of our loved one? Probably not, practically speaking – because such a catastrophic event is very deep and already quite abstract and terribly profound. But even if for argument’s sake we say, “yes, you could have” but the you cannot escape the underlying reality of what is in your destiny – so if you escape one permutation of it taking shape in one way, you only cause it to come at you from a different angle in a different permutation.

The essence of destiny is unavoidable.

Of course this is not fatalism, because destiny is merely a response to our choices of how we use our freewill. So by choosing wisely to be selfless and loving in all ways possible, we create a bright and progressively positive destiny for ourselves. Our future is not out of our control, but our past is. And the present is a mixture.

Astrological Gurus: A Myth

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the idea that there are astrological “gurus” with bona-fide astrological “parampara” is just a dream, a fantasy. There are people out there who think they have a “guru” – and in a sense they do. But this guru is not divinely ordained by a spiritual parampara. Such a thing simply does not exist in the astrological world.

Varahamihira was a great astronomer and astrologer, but please do not insist that I treat him as a self-realized divine being, whose every word I must literally accept as absolute truth for all time in all places. That is an absurd misappropriation of the concept of Guru Parampara. I greatly revere Varahamihira, Mantreshwara and other greats as great astronomers and astrologers.

Secondly even if I were to accept these ancients as empowered divine messengers – where is the unbroken chain of similarly realized souls representing them today? No friends, this does not exist. The whole thing is fantastic and mythological. There are no “gurus” and “paramparas” of any importance in the astrological world except in the practical sense where any teacher and school is a guru and parampara.

So when people say that I must “follow gurus” and accept that the correct zodiac is sidereal, I have to say, no. They are not following gurus, they are following tradition. If they can’t tell the difference that is sad. A guru is a person who deeply realizes and understands a subject. A tradition is just established by popular repetition.

So let us not run for smoke and mirrors: “You have not asked the question correctly , that’s why we refuse to explain why we are not wrong.” Or “You do not have a guru, that’s why you cannot understand why we are never wrong.”

Let us be practical and honest. All the Purana’s, including Bhagavat, define the 12 signs tropically (ie. anchored to tropical events – the solstices and equinoxes). The Surya Siddhanta also does. None of them do so with any vagueness, all are very direct, straightforward and unequivocal. There is not a sidereal definition of zodiac signs to be found. Therefore where is the “guru” who has the bile to say that it is “Vedic” to use a sidereal zodiac.

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Thanks,
Vic

Can we Change our Fate?

Can we Change our Karma / Fate?

Think of it like this:

If there is a ball in your hand, you can choose where to throw it. If you throw it through your window, you will come to regret it. Once you have thrown the ball, you’ve thrown it. There is nothing else you can do about it once you have thrown it. You cannot change the fact that you’ve broken your window – but you can change your karma in the future by taking care not to throw another ball through a window again. That is how you change your fate.

You cannot erase the fate you have already created, but you must learn from that fate to make a brighter one for your future.

Can God / Krsna Change our Karma / Fate?

Yes, but why would he?

You can destroy a complicated machine that you have created, but why would you? Fate / karma is not a mistake and is not evil. It is a carefully, meticulously planed machine that teaches us in an extremely deep and real way all the lessons we need to learn to gradually become more and more selfless and eventually become enlightened.

 

Does Devotion/ Bhakti “Burn” Fate/ Karma?

Yes, but not all at once. Sri Rupa describes how bhakti destroys karma (BRS 1.1):

Karma has several stages. First are all the things and situations tangibly manifest right now in your current life. That’s called “prarabdha-karma.” It’s like the broken window you’ve thrown a ball through.

Then there is also a long line of karmic reactions / fates waiting in line for the right opportunity to manifest. You’ve already caused these fates to happen, they just have not yet gotten the correct moment to do so. This is called “aprarabdha-karma.” It’s like you’ve thrown the ball at the window, but the impact hasn’t happened yet.

Then there are three more subtle states of Karma: First is “bijam” the seed of karma, the desire in your heart to, for example, throw a ball through a window.

More subtle is “kutam” which is the “point of origin” for desires; the soil in which the seed of various desires take root. In the example of throwing a ball through a window, kutam might be a sense of mischievous curiosity.

Finally, the ultimate root of karma is “avidya” – “unknowing.” Because we don’t know our true self, we develop inclinations towards desires for self-centered decisions and actions – which then start the wheel of karma moving.

Bhakti will burn the avidya completely to the root, and this will cut off the power to the spinning wheel of fate / karma. The first thing to blackout without power will be the general curiosity “kutam” and inclination towards self-centered acts.You will feel this right away as you take up a spiritual practice like bhakti. You will notice that your genuine curiosity for selfish desires is rather quickly sapped of energy and replace with curiosity of a spiritual nature.

Next, all the specific desires (bijam) for specific self-centered acts will be burned. After some time of serious practice you will start to tangibly perceive this karma disappearing: your desires for various specific self-centered activities will receed, disappear and be replaced by spiritual desires for love of Godhead.

After this, bhakti can burn  aprarabdha-karma. God sees that you have already learned through your spiritual path the lessons you needed to learn through karma, the machine of destiny deletes those karmas, which your sincere spiritual endeavors have now rendered redundant. It is difficult to directly perceive this because the effect is on an intangible thing. The result is that the long line of future births you are scheduled to have gradually becomes shorter and shorter until it finally evaporates completely and you require no further births.

At this elevated point you are left only with prarabdha-karma – the tangible destiny of your current life and body. You cannot keep a physical body in the material world without this karma. It burns very slowly and is not completely eradicated until one obtains prema-bhakti: full realization of divine love, at which point one no longer is kept within a material body in the material world, but enters directly into the divine play (lila) of Krsna. You may feel the very initial effects of the burning of prarabdha-karma as a gradual lack of bodily fixation, eventually a lack of bodily awareness, and finally a lack of a physical body entirely – when you enter into the spiritual realm.

Thank you,

Vic DiCara

www.vicdicara.com

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Image via Wikipedia