Self-effort- the royal road to success
It is a belief handed over from archaic times that the planets and stars above,influence the events of man and others on the earth.
To know future is a natural curiosity of man.
The ancient sages had discovered the truths of predictive astrology through their meditations and penances and intuition . They were also in close association with nature. They minutely observed the phenomena of nature deeply and could predict the cases of earthquakes, famine and political changes because of their spiritual inclination and powers. They could also predict events in an individual's life and find good and bad times for undertaking specific works and good and bad time and direction for travel. In ancient times astrologers were held in high esteem as they combined both a scientific bent of mind and a spiritual outlook on life as well as they themselves led a pure life of high moral standard. They preached their lore not for amassing wealth, but for giving guidance to the needy and distressed. Their aim was to remove the cause of sufferings of the people and to turn their mind towards righteousness and God. Hence a reverential attitude was towards them. It is the conviction of great sages and saints that by self-effort combined with sincere devotion to God and faith in oneself, man can rise above the influence of his environments .Astrology aided in creating positive thoughts in the mind to overcome the obstacles and work towards the goal.
Gradually some unscrupulous practices were crept into this divine science because of the malpractices of the practitioners. The famous astronomer cum astrologer Varahamihira too condemns a bad astrologer as a sinner who defiles a society. However, he plays extraordinary compliments to a worthy astrologer, who, in his view should know practically all branches of knowledge under the Sun and be a guide, philosopher and teacher to the society.
Kautilya also denounced the use of astrology in ordinary life except by the kings in the interests of the kingdom and the subjects.
Astronomy is the basis for astrology. The position of stars and planets were taken into consideration
for fixing the proper auspicious time for performance of sacrifices in those days. In fact, astrology started as a vedanga, an auxiliary of the Vedas. Later on its application was extended to human life.
Astrology is laudable in essential things for finding out auspicious time for big events like marriage,thread-ceremony ( Upanayanam ) and others. It was used in match-making ( selecting suitable bride and bridegroom) for marriages. This was introduced more or less to bring a disciplinary order in society. But the ultimate dictum of astrology is " Where and when the mind is happy, that is the good time for starting any work ." In case of marriage also, the compatibility of minds is emphasized than anything else.
Bhaskaracharya, the famous astronomer-astrologer knew from his daughter's horoscope that his dear only daughter would face widowhead. By changing the auspicious time of her marriage ( generally fixed in consideration with horoscopes of both the boy and the girl) to one such a is time which assured her eternal prosperity with a happily married life with husband and children, the extraordinary scholar- father wanted to avert his daughter's fate of widowhood.
He set a water clock in such a manner that water dripping would stop at the assured good time indicating the time of marriage. His little daughter Lilavati unaware of the facts, looked into the waterclock out of curiosity and a pearl from her necklace fell into the beaker and accelerated the dripping of water to the earlier fixed time. Even Bhaskara with his knowledge and power could not avoid the fate of his daughter. He taught her mathematics and wrote a treatise Lilavati to immortalize her name. So we may not be able to choose the frame of our destiny. But what we put into it is ours.
To depend on astrological predictions alone, ignoring personal effort is highly dangerous in daily life. In fact facing the situations without prior knowledge is more challenging to human mind. All our performances depend totally on our minds. The mind has unlimited reserves of energy. It has to be trained in the proper direction with faith in the ultimate truth, good company and good books. With positive thoughts thus developed man can never go wrong. Because one's inner conscience is the real guide, no other external prop is needed. Thus with positive thoughts and effort we can achieve a lot in life.
Man himself is the master of his destiny. It all depends on how much energy the mind has released. Every individual is self-made. But the quantum of success depends on one's planning. One should utilize one's mind and not other's help to achieve anything in life.
There was a king who depended on his royal astrologer for everything he did. The astrologer became very haughty because of this. The people of the country were very annoyed at this. but they did not know how to explain this to the king. Once the king was going along with the astrologer to a saint to solve some problem concerning the state. On the way they met a farmer who was going with his plough and buffalo to the fields. The astrologer stopped him, " why are you going in this direction now today ? Travelling in this direction is not considered good in the light of astrology and it will not ensure success in your undertaking. You will meet with failure. Go back."
The farmer replied, " Sir! my field lies in this direction only. I go to the field in the same direction all throughout the year. Because of this self effort I am able to lead a happy and peaceful life life. I never faced any failure. Grains grow well in my field. If I start listening to your advice for doing my work, I will die of hunger. My fields will become barren."
Concealing his embarrassment and displeasure, the astrologer said, " Show me your hand. I want to know and tell you what your fate line in the palm depicts."
The farmer replied politely," Thank you sir for your kindness. He only, who avoids work, one who does not have faith in his hands and effort, spread his hand before someone. I make my destiny by my own effort.Why should I show you my hand?" Saying thus, the farmer went away with his plough and buffaloes.
This opened the eyes of the king. The king said, " Astrologer sir ! Now I do not need your advice nor do I want to go to the saint for consultation." Saying thus, the king came back. Then onward, he started making decisions using his wisdom and discrimination. The country became prosperous and the people were very happy.
There is a saying,
' Time and tide wait for none.'
One should always be alert and look for opportunity and move ahead in life.
