Children and Astrology

Child is a very sweet five letter word and is the purest and most innocent creation of God. He manifests all the necessary attributes which takes one nearer to God. It is rightly said "child is the father of man". Children are the continuation of the human race into the next generation. They are a blessing from God, because it is not something that just because you want to have a child, so you can have one. In some cases, it is delayed, delayed inordinately or even denied. The craving to have at least one child drives a man/ woman to any extent including artificial insemination. The book gives various astrological combinations for these and also some remedial measures including Mantra/ Tantras. Not to have a child is one serious problem, to lose a child after conceiving one is ten times more grievous and to see one's child go astray or humiliate his parent is 100 times more pain causing. Our scriptures say that all these are the results of our own karmas of past lives.' Birth of a child is not just an accident or event, but is our own undischarged debts or assets of previous lives.

The author is a mining engineer from “Indian School of Mines” now known as IIT Dhanbad. He has put in 28 years of service in the Army as an Engineers’ officer. He is a Jyotish Acharya from Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan. For a long time, he has been pursuing astrological studies as a keen student. His researches reflect his analytical approach to go into the details as an engineer and then he put them across frankly as an Army officer.

During the course of my inter-action with people regarding astro-consultancy, I have found that five frequently asked topics are disease/ longevity, education/ career prospects of children, children, marriage and financial prospects/ Ups & down in career. Out of these, I have let my views known to my readers about first two through my books on "Medical astrology" and "Education and astrology". These have been received well by astrological fraternity. This has prompted me to seek Divine help to put across some thoughts on children with His blessings.

Child is a very sweet five letter word. It enables men to have the pleasure and satisfaction of imbibing the creating faculty of his own creator in him by bringing out 'another human being, as an expression of his own inner-self to the outside world. As per Bible, " God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him." Then God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and replenish/ subdue it". With God's help, man created life. We're told explicitly in scriptures that children are a blessing from God. They are a blessing because not everyone gets a chance to automatically create life. It is not something that just because you want to have a child, so you can have one. Children are the continuation of the human race into the next generation. They carry our memories, our stories, and our way of life into the future, and in their turn, pass all these things down to their children.

A child is the purest and most innocent creation of God. He manifests all the necessary attributes which takes one nearer to the God. These are love, kindness, cheerfulness, forgiveness, forgetfulness, straight-forwardness and truthfulness. Regardless of one's circumstances/ environments, almost every one relishes one's childhood memories. The entire cycle of human life revolves around children; initially almost everyone wants to have his/ her own child. A female in particular feels that child bearing is the ultimate bliss of motherhood. However everyone is not so lucky to have one as and when one desires. Then the child may be fortunate to be born healthy to prosperous parents or may be unfortunate to born posthumously or born with congenital defects or he/ his parents may not survive long. As he grows, he may bring happiness and glory to parents or otherwise. Finally when he is fully grown, he gets into the same cycle as his parents under changed circumstances and environment. It is proposed to discuss all these aspects astrologically through this book.

The book consists of six chapters. The first deals with general concept of creativity, of children and of family planning. The second deals with basic astrological parameters related to children, the third with divisional charts and astrological yogas; the fourth with basic promise and timing of children with regard to their number and gender. The fifth chapter is important as it deals with delay and denial of children, modern methods of conception and adoption along with their astrological combinations It also include propitiation measures to include useful Mantra/ Tantra. The last chapter deals with fortunate and unfortunate children and their parents. The scriptures say that all this is the result of own Karmas of past lives. All these aspects have been explained with the help of 49 illustrated charts. How far I have been successful, only the readers may comment.

In preparation of the present work, the author does not claim originality. In fact I have borrowed the ideas, principles and explanations given in many classics and works by some of the great astrologers. It is not possible to name all of them. However, I am indebted to the encouragement and blessings of Justice SN Kapoor, Shri AS Shukla and my teachers. It is now difficult to identify which ideas arose from where, but the final form has an identity of its own. I have not the least intention to offend any astrologer or the native of the illustrated charts. In India, there is a general tendency that people do not want their names to be associated with their charts in any book. So in a number of cases, the names have been changed keeping the other details intact. However, inadvertently, if someone feels offended even a little bit, I offer my unconditional apology. I realize my personal limitations and alone am responsible for any shortcomings, which may come to light.

I am thankful to Mr. Narinder Sagar for his suggestions and extra efforts to get it published on Priority. I am also thankful to my friend Mr. Krishna Kumar for valuable suggestions/ assistance at various stage of the work. I can never forget the contribution and inspiration of my ever enthusiastic granddaughters- Monil & Ishita Singhal, who have encouraged and helped me in computer/ internet related works for my astrological pursuits. I dedicate the present work to them for the happiness they have instilled in me. I do hope this effort would be of interest and use to all those who find the subject engrossing. I would fail in my duties, if I do not show my gratitude towards those who have appreciated my earlier works.

General

1.1 Child is a very sweet and sought after word. In Bible, the Psalm 127.3 states" Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward." A child is a replica of true love and purity and demonstrates the attributes of goodness and truthfulness till it remains unpolluted by the so called "growing up". He can act as a "guiding light" for an adult towards the path of righteousness. Human life begins with childhood. The manhood is the result of the childhood. A person cannot be a better father of tomorrow without being a good child of today.

1.2 A child is the best gift bestowed by God to any couple. Their entry in our life changes everything as our entire world gets centralized around them. The birth of a baby is a step towards physical and emotional fulfillment for every person. Child astrology is a science especially for parents who want to have their child and follow the path leading to a shining destiny right from the beginning. The main intention of the Child astrology is to understand a child's physical and mental personality, describe basic tendencies, to hint at potential fields of development and to point out natural spheres of interest - before the environment, social restrictions or other influences start to push or pull the child into another direction.

Concept of Creativity

2.1 There is a fundamental urge in everyone of us to create-to take something valuable and precious inside us and express .it on the external world, thus producing effects after our own likeness, effects that make a difference, that become our contribution to the whole. For children creativity comes naturally. Children understand instinctively how to play. Creativity is really nothing more than playing with ideas. God is the ultimate creative source that continuously sustains existence. He is the ongoing nexus of creativity leading to life, to consciousness and to the growth itself. Creation is an essential quality of the Divine spark. The process of manifestation, for which the Almighty assumed the objective form, was procreation, and as such, creativity is an essential component of Divinity itself. Procreation implies giving rise to a new life and that urge stimulates inside every human being. The creativity can take place on different level of manifestation. On the physical level, it takes the form of children- their quality, number and impediments if any. The birth of a child is a desire/ impulse for self-expression in the external world. It is essentially a motivating urge for multiplication.

2.2 The creative urge gives rise to generous love and giving, ardent procreation, and joyful building up. The impulse which drives man toward these constructive goals is called the "Libido", and its most important function to the human race is to ensure that procreation will continue. The main concept of marriage and marital life is for continuation and prosperity of one's generation. No family is complete, in the absence of blessings of Almighty in the form of a child as a wonderful gift to the couple in the form of its own creation. In the nature, there is nothing as charming as the innocent smile, giggle or response to love as that of a young child. The very arrival of this little wonder in the family sets the whole house suddenly in a new bursting with activities, ceremonies and celebrations. A child is the fulcrum around whom the happiness of the entire family revolves. It also means II Vansha Vridhhi' or absolves one of "Pitr-Rin". A lady achieves ultimate happiness of life in motherhood.

Children in Scriptures

3.1 Hindu scriptures are comprised of numerous books, which represent collective knowledge and varied perspectives. Many of these texts contain lessons or advice on important family issues, such as parenting and education. The oldest Hindu scriptures are the four Vedas: the Rig Veda, the Yajur Veda, the Sarna Veda and the Atharva Veda. In addition to these Vedas, there are various Puranas(18 of them) and Upnishads. These Puranas gives in details what is good or evil acts and their consequences are enumerated through various mythological stories. They also emphasize the laws of Karmas and how they follow birth after birth as part of undischarged debts.

3.2 Every couple desire to have healthy, beautiful, intelligent, obedient and long-lived children, who bring glory and happiness.to them. But it rarely happens so. The birth of a child in a family is not just an accident or event. The Padma Purana explains this phenomenon through the concept of Rinanu-Bandhan. It means that undischarged debts of previous life! Lives are the cause, as an effect of which one is born to a particular couple in a family to have intimate relations with all those with whom one interacts in life. Those who have hurt or benefitted us in previous lives, takes birth to discharge their obligations and cause happiness! Grief to us. One is not consciously aware of the give-and-take accounts generated in one's life. For example, two friends/ . Enemies may come together in a future incarnation by being the child-parents, with the required circumstances/ environments so that they are able to settle the old account. This theory alone explains why a child or his/ her parents enjoy or suffer in their mutual relationship in life.

Family Planning

4.1 Children are the biggest cementing force in marital happiness/ bliss in otherwise tense materialistic world. At least in Indian context, after a particular phase of life, the entire thinking of a couple veer round their children, making their own life secondary. Every couple make sincere efforts to ensure well being of their children and wish to see those scaling new heights and achieve what parents had aspired in their own life. A couple yearns/ craves to any length to have at least one child of their own. It is said that the great Mughal King Akbar, walked the entire distance from Agra to Ajmer on foot to seek the blessings of the lord to have a child. In spite of their all and sustained efforts, when a couple fails, it invites lot of agony, disharmony, frustration and social degradation in life. Finally one may go with a sad heart for adopting a child which at times leads to immoral/criminal propensity. In modern days, however, cases of "Sperm- donor", test- tube baby and surrogacy is also not uncommon. It is also universally accepted that when a family breaks either due to untimely death of either spouse or due to divorce, the children are the worst sufferers.

4.2 Family planning services are defined as "educational, comprehensive medical or social activities which enable individuals, including minors, to determine freely the number and spacing of their children and to select the means by which this may be achieved". The concept of desired size of family has been different in different ages and in different group of people. It is seen that in a group" where insecurity or poverty is rampant, there is a greater desire to procreate more and have a bigger family. However with the changing socio-economic conditions and desire to succeed in a more and more competitive world, the size of the family is shrinking. Raising a child requires significant amounts of resources: time, social, financial, and environmental. The family planning can help assure that resources are available. The purpose of family planning is to make sure that any couple, man, or woman who has the desire to have a child has the resources that are needed in order to complete this goal. Family planning benefits the health and well-being of women and children throughout the world. In more populous countries, like China and India, it has become a part of government sponsored measures not to let the size of the family increase. In this scenario, to enquire or predict about the number of children for any couple has become irrelevant.

4.3 There is yet another aspect of selective killing of female foetus. This is highly deplorable tendency in many families. This is in spite of the fact, that it is universally accepted that a female child is more caring and affectionate towards parents, family and society at large. The Government of India has made it a cognizable serious offence. Yet foolish people do not listen knowing well that it is unethical. This has skewed the sex ratio among male/ female children and may have very disastrous results in future. The author, through this book, seriously condemns this tendency in letter and spirit. I am of the firm conviction that one is a highly unfortunate if one is not blessed with a daughter.

4.4. The author also advocates only peaceful and humanity friendly use of nuclear energy. What a catastrophe could be caused by a mis-adventure as a destructive weapon can be seen through Hiroshima Bombing