Parallels in India

I got this message from a friend of mine about an article in National Public Radio website – In India, Science And Astrology Comfortably Coexist.

It is an interesting article from Western perspective, but it is nothing new in India. Quoting from the article:

It is not uncommon in India to find highly educated people from accomplished professions becoming astrologers.

Well, the publishers of this website and the author of this article do have the chutzpah of calling themselves educated. About the debate between calling astrology a science or superstition – this is something that I have dealt in another article written way back in 2005. Quoting from that article on Faith and Dogma:

On the other hand, I am a believer in Astrology, but I am hard pressed to call it a science. I cannot, for the love of God, explain how Astrology works. I do not know and cannot explain how planets influence our life. Do they do it through gravity, electricity, magnetism or what? I do not know. I have no idea why Earth is not one of the planets in our horoscope, even after being the most important planet that really influences us in all the ways.

Yet, I am amazed every time I meet a good astrologer and how she/he can read about my life just by looking at my horoscope. Astrologers do make good predictions. Sorry, I would like to correct that – Good astrologers make good predictions.

I agree with Mr. K.N. Rao that astrologers in India double up as psychologists and psychiatrists along with prediction. This is again a very important  part of the guidance provided by astrologers. You should read the book by Dr. David Frawley and specifically the chapter on balancing the malefic content by planets. The suggestions on this site itself, inspired from Lal Kitab remedies and other books are also very simple: For balancing manglik dosha, keep your speech in check. Saturn does not affect those malefically who are honest, do not cheat/deceive others and respect their elders.