Ashtamangala Prasna – Hoarary in Indian Astrology

Prof. N. E. Muthuswamy, is known in astrological circles in Kerala as the Upakulapathi of Indian Astrology. He has been ardently promoting the learning of Indian astrology among the various sections of Kerala for the last 15 years and he has a large student base. He had organized more than 50/60 seminars on various aspects Astrology at various places in Kerala and is well known as an educationist propagating Indian astrology. He recently organized an All India Astrological Conference at Trivandrum and was well attended by the scholars from various parts of the country. He has also presented papers on various seminars organized by different organization all over India. He is an active member of the Indian Council of Astrological sciences.

Indian Astrology is the wonderful outcome of the fertile wisdom and meditative wisdom of the great Indian seers. In Indian Astrology, the Prasna branch - the horary or interrogational astrology- is the wonder of wonders. It is one among the three tools employed by the astrologer for prediction viz. Jaathaka (horoscope), Transit (goachara) and Prasna (horary). All these tools are based on eternal time and eternal space. This is why it is said about astrology that ‘Astrology is the study of human experiences past, present and future — on the back drops of time and space’. It is beyond the approach or comprehension of ordinary intelligence, which tries to arrive at the correct reasoning, as to how the seers found relation between time, space, zodiac, planets and human experiences. It is also a subject of argument nowadays whether the planets indicate the results or confer the results. However the fact is undisputed that, not only human experiences, but all universal phenomena are influenced by celestial objects, transiting the sensitive points of the Zodiac.

The impact of the celestial bodies imprint the human beings at three times- at the time of birth, at the time of daily experiences and at the time when one seriously thinks about his experiences. The first is called, jaathaka (natal) the second is called Goachara (transit) and the third is named Prasna (horary or interrogative). During all these occasions the planetary influences are working though a bit differently.

Seers of yore have very keenly observed the human experiences and analysed and synthesized them and in this process have tried to find out the common causes underlying them. Thus they have also codified the causes and effects they have found out. Astrology is the sum total of these codified cuses and effects. Human beings are one of the media through which one can observe and realize these planetary vibrations working. Any intelligent man will undoubtedly come to this conclusion when he makes a dispassionate study of the principles of Astrology.

The rationalists need not raise their eye brows when scores of experienced admirers and followers of astrology, on the basis of their unflinching experiences proclaim that Astrology is the mother of sciences. But there is the unfortunate tendency among some who proclaim themselves as progressive and who is bent upon, to condemn and ridicule everything that is of Indian origin and who hold that there is nothing like Indian culture. They challenge every concept that cannot be proved by visible senses. They fail to realize that inference and intuition are the higher faculties, than the five senses (which we call Indriyas). Actually 90 % of what is transmitted as human experience to the present generation is the result of the faculties of inference and intuition only. Astrological principles and cannons are also the results of this transcendental inference and intuition. In the strict compartmentalized, narrow and limited connotation of the word, science may not contain Astrology, but it is beyond the scope of science. The word science cannot contain the whole import of astrology. It is science and philosophy blended together. A new word will have to be coined to express the full import of astrology. In my view Cosmology will be the most suitable word though some others prefer the term Futurology.

The whole universe including Man is the subject of study of astrology. It encompasses the whole day to day experiences of human beings. There is no topic under the Sun which does not come under the fold and purview of astrology. In Astrology every aspect of life is studied in depth, their causes and effects are analyzed and common underlying principles arrived at. The seers who probed the causes and effects of human experience came to the conclusion that the underlying principle cannot be in this earth, it must be somewhere beyond the earth. They concluded that it must be the same force which regulates the movements and cycles of heavenly bodies. And the planets were taken to be the catalysts of this extra earthly principle.

The rationalists, cannot and need not, dispute with the existence of such a force beyond earth. In such a situation their under estimation of this force cannot be said to be scientific. The argument that only those principles are acceptable to them which can be experienced through senses does not hold good. For example the theory of shadaadhaara or Panchakoasas in body cannot be proved by senses. The yoaga sasthra has established that there are shadaadhaaras (invisible but inferable six nervous centres) in the body. So also there are five invisible envelopes (koasaas) covering the body. The shadaadhaaras are 1.Moolaadhaara. 2. Swaadhisttaana. 3. Manipooraka. 4. Arraahatha. 5. Visuddhi. 6. Aagrraa. And Sahasraara. The five Koasaas (sheaths) are 1.Annamayakosa. 2. Praanamayakoasa. 3. Manomayakoasa. 4. Gnaanamaya kosa, 5.Aanandamayakoasa. If a Neorologist contends that on dissecting the body, since these are not visible, he cannot accept their existence, it will be a mere stupidity. But the Yogadarsana propounded by Maharshi Pathanjali has been accepted as a science and is being taught as a science in many Universities. So there is no reason why Astrology also should not be given this status.

Based on the method of application, Indian Astrology is divided into three categories. 2. Astronomical or Mathematical Astrology. 2. Predictive Astrology. 3. Mundane Astrology.

Astronomical Astrology- This is named as Goala or Ganitha in Sanskrit. Astronomy as a whole is the detailed and thorough study of the position, movements, velocity etc of the heavenly bodies .But in Astrology the details about the nine planets, asterisms, meteors etc. alone are applied. So in one sense, it is the application part of Astronomical principles of nine planets, 27 asterisms, 12 signs and some sensitive points in zodiac, as required for astrology. Still without the knowledge of basics of Astronomy, the astrological principles cannot be worked out. This is why this branch is called Astronomical or Mathematical Astrology.

Horary or Predictive Astrology- This is named Hoara in Sanskrit. This interprets the human relations with the Universe. The basic principle of Hoara is that every action in the Universe is predestined. So an incident happening at a particular time and at a particular place has a fixed past, present and future of which the planets are the indicators. Planets indicate these experiences when they during their transit come into contact with certain sensitive points in the zodiac.

Mundane Astrology- This is named as Samhithaa in Sanskrit and deals with the natural phenomena like rain, flood, eclipses of Sun and Moon, epidemics, pestilence, drought, famine, earthquake, war, share- market, ups and downs of a nation, fluctuations in the markets, political affairs of a country etc.

Of these three main divisions of Indian Astrology on utility point of view, the Hoara or predictive astrology is now a day finding more use among people as it is intimately connected with day to day experiences. The Astronomical astrology or mathematical Astrology has become more or less obsolete because it finds use only for experts in the preparation of panchaanga or Almanac. Now all over India at there are not more than 50 scholars preparing Almanacs, panchaanga karthaa. Even among these few scholars, many use modern ephemeris and computers to find out the planetary positions. So the scope of this branch has become very limited.

Mundane Astrology is also used by a selected few only who are making political predictions as it is the only tool helpful for political predictions. As the number of Astrologers knowing Sanskrit is becoming microscopic and since the Samhitha is written in Sanskrit, the number of political astrologers is becoming less and less. The application of this branch is in vogue only because some astrologers use this to predict events in the life of political leaders and upheavals in nations. The sad fact is that now in the whole of India there is not even a single mundane astrologer worth the name, who have fully mastered the Samhithaas treatises on Mundane Astrology.

At present only the Hoara or predictive part of Indian Astrology is pursued vigorously because of its varied applications and use in the present day life. It can be said that the Indian astrology is alive only because of this Hoara branch.