Reality of Time

Time is a very interesting concept that surrounds and defines our existence. There is noting in this universe that is not bound by it. Well, that statement is misleading and will explain as the blog progresses.

Let me start with the definition of time. Scientifically there are two schools of thought. One as defined by sir Isaac newton, time is a dimension which gives us indication of past, present and future. The other school of thought as proposed by Gottfried Leibniz is part of the universal structure that can neighter be defined nor measured, it's a state in which different events occur.

Everything in this universes  is in vibration, leading to movement either linear in space ( planets and the whole solar system, including black holes and what not) to electrons spinning around their own access ( all quantum particles). From my previous blog, it's apparent that this motion experienced by all matter in this universe is due to its being part of an hourglass shaped universe represented by a sound wave. Since there is a flow, it gives rise to the notion of time as seen or experienced by an observer stationary in space. The reader should refer to Einstein's special relativity papers to get the complete picture of time as defined by science.

Now let s take us humans and all living beings in this universe, i.e matter with consciousness enough to have an ego component. This includes the kingdom of plants as well, although the ego component is absent. Let me rephrase this as "subset of all that breathes and have a metabolism". The interesting additional experience for these subjects is the "aging" process coupled with the experience of physical movement. What is this aging?  is it a reaction to time or is it time itself?.

Science has understood that the biological cells are programmed to die after a certain number of replications. That is a very interesting discovery. Why is there this programming? Why can't we emerge in a certain form, exist in that form for 80 odd years and just die, without experiencing the process of birth, growth, adulthood, and old age? So I understand that time is somehow interlinked with our physical body although its scientifically not measurable. Time can only be experienced, somehow I can't capture it in a jar and conduct experiments. So can this be altered? Can I manipulate time and trick the system into believing that its younger than it actually is? The answer is YES.  Time is relative, and can be tricked. There are advanced yoga techniques wherein the physical can be made to stop at a specific state or age. Remember it's only a cell programming that causes it to die after n replications. It can be altered.

Forget yoga techniques, it's hard and only a few have the capacity go through that vigorous path. There are other subtle things that one can do. Breath control. Our body does not know the concept of time, it uses the breath we take  to keep track. The interval between two successive breaths, is the counter for our system just as the way we track  distance/ speed on moving particles. So if I give longer gaps between breaths, the longer I would actually live as the cell will live for a longer duration before they replicate. This is the reason why tortoises live a very long life.

It is a fact that athletes age faster, they breath harder and faster for not of their youth, by the time they hit their 40's they have already lived the life equivalent of 50 years biologically. Now this is what I meant by actual death time being different from astrological death time in one of my earlier blogs.

Time flows horizontally, it cannot be experienced vertically. What does this mean? Well, matter is bound by universal physical laws, laws that have exit clauses, mind and the heart dimensions are not bound by universal physical laws. A person who is in the heart dimension will not experience time. When your in love with someone the first thing that happens is, your in a timeless state. You do not experience time. This is because of the reality of time. It does not exist. In a hourglass that does not have a beginning nor an end, but flows to itself ( think of the sign of infinity) there can be no beginning nor end. There is no starting point to time, there can be no negative time, nor positive time.

For this very reason if time travel is possible, and we manage to travel back in time, it will not make us younger or older, as our body has already gone through the n cell replications. Say your 20 years old today, and you travel to the future, your physical body will remain at 20 years.  You go to the past, it will still be at 20 years. Unless somehow we reverse the breaths we have taken,  it's not possible to alter  one's age.

Free will versus destiny, now we think we are more bound by Destiny than the former, but think about this. The rate at which we breathe, is actually free will. You have the option to lead a healthy life, by selecting the right set of choices which reflect a healthy lifestyle. Forget birth defects as they are absolute destiny events where the subject is not presented with any choice. So in a way our lifespan is actually governed by a pretty good percentage of free will.

So what is Vedic astrology to do with all this? Well, for starters, it acts as a connection to all events undergone by the subject. Its a plan which contains events that have happened, and events that are to happen. The plan is just a proposal. The plan can be altered by free will.

Law of Randomness in existence

Randomness is an intriguing concept. It gives the impression of freedom, 100% free will. Randomness is everywhere, from the movement of clouds in the sky, to a leaf flying off a tree and falling onto the ground.  Randomness is from the observer's point of view. A scientist can easily come up with a differential equation for cloud movements and the trajectory of the falling leaf path. If you look at the equations closer, it would take into account some variables whose absolute values are not that easily predictable. For example the differential equation representing cloud movement would take into account mass of the cloud, direction of the wind, intensity of the wind, which needs to be measured at the exact time at which the calculation needs to be done. Now this is not easily achievable, but possible.

Thermodynamics defines that all particles in a liquid medium have this brownian movement, which is defined as random particle movement due to collisions between molecules moving in "random" directions. Also this gives raise to entropy. Once again our limitations of science is unable to measure the direction and velocity of such molecular motion thus declaring them as random.

So somewhat we feel randomness and probability are interlinked. Limitations of science is the reason for the existence of randomness and probability. All events have absolute outcomes. That is the truth. There is no randomness or probability involved.

The most fundamental question is this. Why is it that everything in this universe is in some motion. Why noting is stationary? Why should there be entropy? Why should there be any movement at all?
Even a rock on the shore of the ocean has entropy, just that its much less then the entropy of water.
Whats causing this inherent nature? At the macro level they say its gravity and at the quantum level they say its nuclear force.  Science has gone to the extent of defining matter as energy in vibration.

The reason behind this is the very simple fact that our universe is a sound wave. Everything is part of this sound wave represented by the equivalent vibration of the "AUM". The origin of this sound wave is another blog topic. Sound is inherently vibration at a certain frequency. The frequency of AUM.
This sound wave is propagating in the shape of an hourglass. An hourglass which has no beginning nor an end. This hourglass has a specific width defined by the crest and trough of this sound wave. All matter that is composed in this universe would fall under a certain frequency range defined for this sound wave, i.e the universe. The moment a particle or person matches its vibration to the resonant vibration of this universe (AUM), it would be dropped from this dimension and reach another dimension defined by another sound wave. These dimensions are layered on top of one another and sometimes even overlap. As sound waves interfere same is true for these dimensions and parallel universes.

Think of us as that tiny paper on the resonance experiment board, we survive on the string as long as the tuning fork does not match the resonant vibration of the string. This is why in YOGA system, they insist on meditating on the AUM sound, especially when reciting the Gayatri Mantra, it attunes the body, mind and heart to the resonant sound of this universe. The closer you are to the resonant sound, the more free will one has exercised. Destiny would eventually drop off from such a person and the universe will move in accordance with the will of the individual. The irony is once such a state is achieved, the subject will not have much of a will as they integrate with the operation of the universe.
But mandatory life lessons would drop off if such a inner transformation is achieved. The birth chart of such an individual will not be valid anymore.

Now if we go and read the "Autobiography of an Yogi", maybe we understand some concepts written by Sri Pramahansa Yogananda.

Introduction to Vedic Divisional Charts

In this blog, I plan to go into some deeper concepts behind Vedic Astrology. This blog is a sudden leap into the inner nuances of Vedic Astrology, so the reader should have some basic knowledge to understand these concepts.

As usual, let me try to start with an example. I am curious to see the moon. I can't physically travel to the moon. I am not an astronaut nor do I have the capacity to become one. This does not limit me from seeing the moon up close. How do I achieve this? I buy myself a telescope or even better I go to an observatory and request a viewing on a full moon night. Great, I can see the moon in all its glory. I can see finer patterns that I could not view with the naked eye from my terrace.

From my terrace, with my binoculars, I can see a vague moon, enough for me to know its almost spherical, its bright with some black terrains on it, probably I can even identify some specific spots on its surface.  From the observatory's telescope, so powerful is its magnification, I can see the mountains and certain landscape on the moon. If I could somehow get myself on the international space station, and use a very powerful telescope, I could almost feel as if the moon is within my reach. I could probably see the dust storms or winds blowing across its surface.

I hope you already got the clue from this example. So the closer I am to the target, better is the visibility and more accurate is the data, and that is what is the deal about the Divisional Charts. Let me clarify the reader that I am a novice when it comes to interpreting the divisional charts, but I am more interested in this functionality, why its there and whats its purpose.

First of all, the native's chart is already a set of divisional charts, but only two of them are used by any astrologer for prediction, they are the RASI and the NAVAMSA. Rest of the divisional charts are mostly ignored. Even Navamsa is ignored unless its being interpreted for marriage purposes. I will come back to it later. So this RASI chart, its like seeing the moon from your terrace. It serves the basic purpose, and its sets a standard as to what to expect. The Rasi is enough to get a basic understanding of certain events, but as  I said earlier, its like seeing the moon from your terrace.

The native's birth chart, is divided into 12 houses, each represented by 30 degrees. Since a circle subtends an angle of 360 degrees, and there are 12 constellations identified, each house represents 30 degrees of space. Each house is assigned an attribute. House - 1 for the native's  physical, House - 2 for the native's family, House - 3 native's siblings, House - 4 for the native's wealth/luxury, House - 5 for the native's past life's good deeds etc. So with the help of the Rasi chart one can get basic details about the twelve aspects represented by each house.

But thats not what I really need. I need a greater clarity on various aspects of my life. Say how much wealth I would make in my lifetime?  RASI chart would give a some idea about this, indicating a  lot of money, but it cannot say when, and by how much. It cannot say by what means. So I take a particular divisional chart, called the CHATURAMSA which answers these questions.

House No:4 represents wealth. To know more about the aspects of one's wealth, in terms of property, houses owned by the naive etc, we divide each house of the  RASI into 4 parts. So each house now represents 1/4th of 30 degrees. This gives a magnification into the native's wealth.

Below is the list of divisional charts and its purpose

• RASI -->  An overview of the native's life
• HORA --> Wealth and money
• DREKKANA --> Siblings 
• CHATURAMSA --> Residence, houses owned, properties and fortune
• PANCHAMSA -->  Power, grace, blessings and good deeds
• SHASTAMSA --> Native's health
• SAPTAMSA --> Everything related to children (and grand-children)
• ASTAAMSA --> Sudden and unexpected troubles, litigation etc, longivity
• NAVAMSA --> Marriage and everything related to spouse(s), 
• DASAMSA --> Career, activities and achievements in society
• DWADASAMSA --> Everything related to parents (also uncles, aunts and grand-parents, i.e. blood-relatives of parents)
• SHODASAMA --> Vehicles, pleasures, comforts and discomforts
• VIMAMSA --> Religious activities and spiritual matters
• CHATURVIMAMSA --> Learning, knowledge and education
• SHASHTYAMSA --> Karma of past life, all matters

Based on the specific questions desired by the native, the corresponding divisional chart needs to be calculated and analyzed. As I had mentioned in my previous blogs, the best astrologer is yourself. One should analyze their own birth charts as they hold the key to its deciphering. Although books teach the basics, it formulae are not absolute. Astrology is an art that is a combination of intuition, and the native's subconscious keying material. Its always worth to slightly look ahead of times, understand whats in store, correlate with the past and act accordingly. Exactly similar to the way we predict weather. Why do we really need to know tomorrow's or the next week's weather? To help you be prepared for it.
Same is the concept behind astrology.

Many may have a question. Why do some people consult astrologers as to what needs to be done to achieve a certain target? Whether there is any pariharam that can be performed to appease a certain deity. As far as I am concerned, I do not believe in such things for the simple fact is the lessons are chosen by you. Lessons shape you, if any transformation is needed, it should be from within. Visiting temples, appeasing deities are not going to give you that inner transformation.

There is this famous anecdote of Gautama the Buddha. After his enlightenment, he returned to meet his wife, whom he had ditched for the sake of godhood. He returned to her with a gift, a gift which which is called the "transmission of awakening". She asked a simple question. Could you not have achieved this Buddhahood, being a father, being a husband, doing your duty and focussing on the inner. Buddha smiled and said, yes of course, but if he knew that he wouldn't have run away into the jungle. Its after reaching the target that he knows that it was not a necessity.

Same is with astrology, look into it and try to comprehend yourself. Its a mirror with a million reflections.

Fundamentals of Probability - Free will versus Destiny

Probability is a mathematical term which tries to predict an outcome of an event. It assigns numbers, fractions to all possible outcomes for a particular event. Why do we want to do that? Simple, we are curious to know the future. We toss a coin, but we want to know if its heads or tails even before we toss. Mathematics tried to define it with theorems and postulates to calculate the said probability of an event in an attempt to predict the result. So lets see, I toss a coin, a coin has two sides, so it can either fall on the side having the heads or the side having the tails. Maybe it could end up somehow miraculously balancing itself on its rim, but gravity will ensure that does not happen. So lets calculate the probability, it comes to half. So the chances of either getting heads or tails is equal and its half.

Now thats not helpful is it? so I get to know its 50-50, but thats not what I want. I want to know the outcome, since I have no idea, I conclude its 50-50. Perhaps in gambling it would help us to place the bet on the higher probabilistic outcome, so in cases where we have more than 2 possible outcomes, maybe probability might help, but yet again if it boils down to 1/3rd, then alas no use again.

So here is the fundamental truth. The truth and fact of life. The outcome of all events are already determined. We just do not know. So when I decided to toss the coin, its outcome was already set to heads (for example). So the net result is that, the chance of getting heads is actually one and the chance of getting  tails is zero.  The fact is that, the resulting outcome of the event is always one, and the rest of the possible outcomes which are not going to happen is zero.

Now lets consider the parameters that are in control with us, during a coin toss.
a. The coin selection, we can take a big coin, or a small coin, or we can choose a red coin etc.
b. The force with which I make the toss.
c. The room in which I toss, for example it could be outside on a  windy park or it could be indoors in a climate control room, where nature has not much to play except for gravity.

Now lets consider the parameters that we are not in control of the coin toss.
a. The outcome, I cannot adjust my toss in such a manner that it can fall on its head nor throw a six on the dice based on some scientific calculation.

I guess its sort of now clear to the reader, the parameters that we are in control for an event is actually our FREE WILL. The parameters that we are not in control for a said event is DESTINY.

Question: Can FREE WILL alter DESTINY.
Answer: YES, but depends on many factors such as
a. How much free will the individual is actually exerting, or making use of. We all have some basic fundamental degrees of freedom, but we may not end up using 100% of it.
b. How much the said event is a mandatory life lesson or is an optional life lesson.
Refer to the previous blog to get more idea about (b). So we have electives for this present life and we have compulsory subjects. Free will can alter the course of the electives pretty easily but not the compulsory ones.

Free will includes what you want to wear this morning, what you want to eat (of course if your not in poverty then it would fall under destiny). Destiny includes whom you marry as spouse, whom you father/mother as children. Now that cannot be altered by free will. Why? Its a topic for another blog.

Again coming back to astrology. Since the birth chart is a encrypted blueprint of the native's present life lessons along with data to represent the cumulative past unto the present, extrapolated into future, and can decrypt himself, we get to know certain outcomes in advance. If the outcome is what we wanted we can be happy and look forward to it, but if its something thats not desirable, then we can prepare ourselves for the said event, instead of being hit one fine day. So being prepared for the outcome of major life events, helps us to plan and  live better. For example, I know for sure I will lose my job in the year 2014. So let me start saving more today. Let me try to alter that Destiny with my Free will. Let me work harder, put in extra hours at work, impress my boss more, so that the Destiny could alter. Perhaps it could equip me to get the next job.

Ofcourse Birth and Death of a native cannot be altered by free will. As we are propelled into this state machine world at the appropriate time so that the events can be presented before us. Its exactly the MATRIX. Its a program, but the program does have escape clauses and exception handlers.
One point to note, actual birth and death timings of a native are predetermined, but Death timing can be altered by the individual free will, will discuss that in a different topic. There is always the horoscopic birth and death time, versus actual birth and death times.

hope this blog gave some clarity towards destiny and free will.
More for later.