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  - B.K. Kumar

 

There is a charge against astrology. The charge is that it shows the excessive role of destiny in human life and dissipates the role of freewill. Now to consider this charge from a critical point of view, we should first know what destiny is. In religion,destiny means predetermined laws of universe which has been formed by God himself. According to this view every event or happening in the world takes place according to the fixed rules made by God. Now the birth of a man is also an event in the universe. So every event of human life is predetermined. Man is not free to disobey the destiny rather he is bound to obey it.  

From Spiritual point of view the supreme consciousness or Brahma, which is unqualified is absolute reality. God or Ishwara which is qualified Brahma, is responsible for the creation of the whole cosmos. He is also responsible for arranging the laws of universe. God has special power by which he can create the laws of the universe and at the same time he has also the power to lift the laws of the universe at his freewill/ Choice. It means the destiny or the predetermined laws of the universe are within the control of God and God is not within the control of Destiny.  

It is a well known fact that man is the most complicated being in the Universe. This complication seems to rest on the fact that God has provided man with a mixed kind of life i.e. human life is the mixture of both matter and mind. Here, matter stands for the physical elements like, earth, water, fire, wind and space and mind represents consciousness which is all pervading in the Cosmos. So far, the creation and function of the body of the man is concerned, we may say that it works according to the pre-destined rule. Because, matter is guided by the blind force of the nature so, matter has no freewill, no option. In other words, we can say that matter has no ability to distinguish between right and wrong, true and false, good and bad, vice and virtue etc.  

Again, if we consider man as a conscious being, we find that reason is the special feature of man that distinguishes it from other things of the world. This faculty of reason serves the very basis for man being him a moral person. As a moral person, he is able to distinguish between right and wrong, true and false, good and bad, vice and virtue etc. This ability of making distinction involves that man is endowed with freewill. Freewill involves choice and choice implies freedom. It means that man is not merely a servant of destiny. Rather he is the maker of his own destiny.  

The concept of destiny and the concept of freewill both do not exist in the outside world. They rather exist within man in himself. It means that there is constant struggle within a man. This struggle is nothing but the struggle of mind and matter, the struggle of spiritual force and physical force, the struggle between conscious force and the blind force of nature. A man applies both forces while he does a karma. Through the story of Blind man and lame man this can be understood very clearly. Blind man is blessed with physical power to walk while lame man is blessed with eyes to know the direction. Both had to go somewhere, so lame man opined blind man that he would sit on his shoulder and guide him. And thus both would complete their journey. Likewise, human also completes his journey or achieve his goal using these two types of energies.

Spiritual force is a refined form of rational force which always inspires man to go from lower to higher. It means that reason is a faculty that makes man able to improve his condition. It means that if we are in lower condition under the influence of destiny, we can free ourselves from the influence of destiny by using rational faculty to improve our lot. On the other hand, destiny compels us to follow the pre-established law or rule. Thus we see that the struggle between freewill and destiny continues in every man life and this very struggle is the very ground on which the grand edifice of personality can be erected. A person, who dominates his destiny by his strong will power, is a real Pursharthi i.e. he is a man in the real sense. Man is known for his reason, not for his body. In the struggle of the life, it is reason which makes him victorious.

Taking this mixed kind of life of man into consideration, if we think about the relevance of astrology, we shall find that the charge is baseless. So far, man’s life is an event in the universe, it must be guided by the rule of the destiny. This is why astrology considers man’s birth, death, marriage, progeny, education, job and other events that concern the physical life or existence of man come within the range of destiny. Astrology also considers man as a spiritual being. In this sense, man has the capacity to improve his personality through the different stages of development such Annamaya Kosh, Pranamay Kosh, Manomay kosh, Vigyan May Kosh, Anandmay Kosh. It means that man is free and he can breach the boundation and can achieve the blissful state. A person, in which spiritual thought dominates, can change his destiny and this very change of destiny involves freedom of will or self-determinism.  

In Indian Philosophy one thing is remarkable that is the Karma Theory. Almost all branches of philosophy believe in the theory of Karma. This theory of Karma is a wonderful mixture of destiny and Purshartha. Theory of Karma prescribes two rules - Akritapbhyugama and Kritpanash.) Akritapbhyugama means whatever has not been done, can’t bear fruit in any form. Kritpanash means whatever has been done, that’s result cannot be destroyed. According to this theory, the formation of man’s destiny depends on the very work or Karma performed by him. So, in the beginning a man himself is the maker of his destiny. Later on, when the impression or samskara of various work become so dense and thick that, more often, he finds himself under the influence of those samskaras. In that condition man seems to act as to be the slave of the destiny. But the same theory of Karma says that man can improve his lot by doing good works, charity, propitiating planets, wearing stones etc. The provision of propitiation of planets and other remedies etc in astrology are proof of it that astrology recognizes the power of will of human. Simultaneously, it gives message that by doing purshartha or efforts, in consonance with the indication of planets in the astrological chart of an individual, man can ameliorate the situation brought by destiny.

In this way, it can be concluded that human destiny and freewill both work in very harmonious way. As long as we will look destiny and freewill in isolated manner and try to discuss them separately, sometimes destiny would seem all pervading while sometimes freewill would seem to overpower the destiny. These two are never against to each other. Destiny is playground of freewill. Freewill is Player. Destiny provides ground on which freewill architects the castle of Karma. Destiny provides platform to freewill to actualize the matter as per human choice. In terms of energy, destiny has physical nature of energy that has creative power but freewill has conscious energy that has power to direct the physical energy. In fact they constantly interact with each other very harmoniously.

As and when in a moment when we opt or choose (applying freewill) any karma to perform immediately it is transmitted to the cosmic data bank or quanta field where man’s will is assessed and permission for required amount of flow of energy is granted or rejected as per the balance or potentiality of destiny. If man’s will is granted, in the course of time or dasha and transit of planets, he is allowed to draw the required energy to accomplish the will-generated-action. Thus, Astrology explores scope in the harmony of destiny and freewill to guide a man when to draw energy from quanta field to achieve the goal to become successful.