Dear Rohiniji and all respected gurus....


As i'm learning the ropes on jyothish I came across this article that seems to ridicule the understanding of the various asterisms as given in standard jyothish texts.

Would any of you please clarify to us beginners what if anything about, is this author talking of...? Is there any modicum of truth in what he says...?

the link is....       http://jyotirved.rediffblogs.com/

Let me tell you a truth....2 + 2 = 4....this is a truth that all can agree upon.

Is this the Truth....God = God in the way Christianity see it ?
Is this the Truth  God = Allah in the way the Muslim see it ?
Is this the Truth ..God = Buddha  in the way the Buddhist see it?

and so on....

you can say no to all of them....but at the same time and you can say Yes to them all....none are like the Truth 2+2=4

So I have the feeling you are out to make a statement that has no truth....but that has opinions or beliefs ...and those are we all allowed to have.

It's much better that you post those paragraph you disagree with...telling why you disagree...then a discussion might arise...which might enlighten 1 part or several part....that will depend how good discussion....how good your "evidence" for your case is

Nakshatras and the Vedas:

There are twenty eight nakshatras as per the Vedas which, for the sake of convenience in calculation, were “reduced� to 27 nakshatras in later times. These are 1) Ashvini (2) Bharani (3) Kritika, (4) Rohini (5) Mrigashira (6) Ardra (7) Punarvasu (8) Pushya (9) Ashlesha (10) Magha (11) Purva Phalguni (Pu-pha) (12) Uttara Phalguni (Utt-pha) (13) Hasta (14) Chitra (15) Swati (16) Vishakha (17) Anuradha (18) Jyeshtha (19) Mula (20) Purva-Ashada (Pu-sha) (21) Uttara-Ashada (U-sha) (22) Shravana (23) Dhanishtha (24) Shatabhishaka (25) Purva-Bhadrapada (Pu-bha) (26) Uttarabhadrapada (U-bha) (27) Revati Each nakshatra division is supposed to be of 13° 20’. However, if we go by the Vedic nakshatra division of 28 nakshatrass, and include Abhijit also, the entire picture changes and we are left with a very inconvenient division wherein hardly any two nakshatras have an equal dimension! This system is completely out of vogue these days though Bhaskara-I also had advocated it!.


Dear Gurus,

This is the paragraph that caught my eye... While I don't claim to know anything great abt Jyothish, I do know that a lot depends on the asterisms. And this article questions the whole Idea of the accuracy of these nakshatras.

I jusy=t want to know if its even true at all, that the divisions of the asterisms in jyothish are unequal lie he says... I have never heard anything like this so far, though I must admit its not a very long journey in this path for me.

That's what i wanted to get clarified.

Dear <whatever your name is>,

I read the article. It is interesting, perhaps has a grain of truth in there somewhere, though I will not get too upset or worried about it all. The 27 nakshatras in the zodiac are related to jataka or predictive astrology and are based on dividing the zodiac equally into three cycles of the nine planets in each cycle. The abhijit nakshatra is actually a semi-nakshatra zone held important because of Sri Rama's birth in that zone.

When someone says definitively that in vedic times no one used rashis, either they have psychic vision or are very very old people with phenomenal memory! Use common sense (always a practical jyotishi's biggest friend!) and think how would anyone really know what was in use then when one does not even know accurately WHEN exactly this so called 'vedic' time was? There are fragmentary evidences and bits and pieces and these kinds of sensational articles would keep popping up from time to time. It is true that a group of jyotishis and pandits who emphasize too much that muhurtas are sure-shot deals use a lot of gesturing and hand-waving and so on, but you should learn to ignore them or what they are saying if you think it applies to predictive jatak astrology.

That said, please do not take this as an endorsement of all that is claimed in jyotish forums etc. use your discretion. Caveat Emptor!

RR

[quote="I_seek_the _truth"]Nakshatras and the Vedas:

There are twenty eight nakshatras as per the Vedas which, for the sake of convenience in calculation, were “reduced� to 27 nakshatras in later times. These are 1) Ashvini (2) Bharani (3) Kritika, (4) Rohini (5) Mrigashira (6) Ardra (7) Punarvasu (8) Pushya (9) Ashlesha (10) Magha (11) Purva Phalguni (Pu-pha) (12) Uttara Phalguni (Utt-pha) (13) Hasta (14) Chitra (15) Swati (16) Vishakha (17) Anuradha (18) Jyeshtha (19) Mula (20) Purva-Ashada (Pu-sha) (21) Uttara-Ashada (U-sha) (22) Shravana (23) Dhanishtha (24) Shatabhishaka (25) Purva-Bhadrapada (Pu-bha) (26) Uttarabhadrapada (U-bha) (27) Revati Each nakshatra division is supposed to be of 13° 20’. However, if we go by the Vedic nakshatra division of 28 nakshatrass, and include Abhijit also, the entire picture changes and we are left with a very inconvenient division wherein hardly any two nakshatras have an equal dimension! This system is completely out of vogue these days though Bhaskara-I also had advocated it!.


Dear Gurus,

This is the paragraph that caught my eye... While I don't claim to know anything great abt Jyothish, I do know that a lot depends on the asterisms. And this article questions the whole Idea of the accuracy of these nakshatras.

I jusy=t want to know if its even true at all, that the divisions of the asterisms in jyothish are unequal lie he says... I have never heard anything like this so far, though I must admit its not a very long journey in this path for me.

That's what i wanted to get clarified.[/quote]

Thanks for the reply Dear Rohiniji.

I also had a similar idea, but I wanted endorsement from more learned and experienced mentrs like you.

I hope to learn more about Jyothish under the tutelage of people like you.
 
My name BTW, is Jayanth.