Myths and Symbols of Vedic Astrology

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Astrology had a certain universality in the ancient world, appearing as a global science in ancient time. While details very, there is much in common between all ancient astrological systems. We note that all ancient cultures including Egypt, India, China and Mexico relate the seven days of the week to the same planets, from Sunday, the day of the Sun, to Saturday, the day of Saturn. Is this only a coincidence? There was either a diffusion of information or a commonality of knowledge between these cultures. Similarly today, with the blending of East and West in the world, astrology is again emerging in a global context.

Eastern or Vedic astrology is again becoming important along with the systems of Yoga and meditation and the greater wisdom of the orient. Astrology has always been given a more significant place in Eastern than in Western culture. It remains in use and is respected by the majority of people in India today. It was never consigned to the domain of superstition, nor was attention ever removed from it by the great minds of the land, many of whom, even today, also study and practice astrology. While astrology has been criticized, ridiculed and even suppressed in the Western world, it has flourished in India since ancient times. If there is any threat to its prestige in India today, it is only through those who are adopting Western culture.

Most ancient myths relate to the heavens. It would not be exaggerated to say that all mythology is astrological, at least in one major line of interpretation. Hence, a modern reexamination of myth must also take us back to astrology. Without understanding astrology, our understanding of mythology must be partial. Even if we do not recognize the validity of astrology as a science, we cannot ignore its role in shaping and expressing the myths and legends of the world.

Solar, lunar and planetary symbolism is common in many myths, as among the ancient Greeks and Hindus. The constellations play a very prominent place in them as well, like the Greek myths of Perseus and Orion. It is likely that most myths were first devised while contemplating the sky, or while telling stories at night under the stars. The sky is a good field of projection for the creative imagination. Contemplating the stars also connects us with the cosmic intelligence or universal mind and thereby its energies, laws and symbols come to us to reveal its workings. Mythology is in this way part of a language of cosmic consciousness, with the symbol being a more profound and universal statement of truth than logic or abstract thought. If there is any wisdom in mythology, it must also have an astrological meaning and significance.

Ancient Hindu mythology, like the Greek, has a very strong astrological orientation. While its stories and symbols often appear different than the Greek, if we look deeper we find much in common. The messages they give about man and the universe are very similar. The basic nature of the planets is the same in all systems of astrology, as for example, the aggressive and war-like nature of the planet Mars. Yet in may instances, the Hindu interpretations of the planets are of a more spiritual implication than Greek myths, as the Hindus were of a more spiritual bent of mind than the more scientific Greeks. Hence, the Hindu Mars is also the son of the great God Shiva. He destroys the demons of ignorance who oppress mankind, and is not just a crude God of war. As such, Vedic astrological symbols may give us a better key to the spiritual meaning of the stars and planets. This will be important for any students of the deeper aspects of astrology.

The relationship of the stars and planets with the practice of Yoga with the different chakras or force-centers of the subtle body, and so on, can be found in Vedic and Hindu myths and stories. All the great scriptures and legends of India from the Vedas to the Puranas, the Mahabharata and Ramayana are filled with astronomical and astrological symbols, so much so that there is an entire tradition of astrological interpretation for them. Most ancient teachings including the Bible and Homer have such a significance if we look beneath the surface. As man and the cosmos are linked, even if we do not intend it, our deeper thoughts and intuitive visions must link us up with the cosmic energies that come through the planets.

According to modern ideas of history, we consider that astrology was developed first in Babylonia and then refined by the Greeks, and that the Hindus got their astrology from these two sources. While a few Greek terms do occur in medieval Hindu astrological books, this is scarcely enough grounds to derive the Eastern system from the West. Hindu influences can also be traced in much of Greek thought as well, particularly among the Greek mystics and mystery religions, like Pythagoras, which groups were also famous for their astrological knowledge. We also observe that Hindu astrology is more complex and often very different than the Greek. Nor does the Vedic tradition concur with a Western origin for its knowledge. Vedic astrologers relate their knowledge to their own tradition which tradition, which speaks of equinoctial positions of great antiquity to support their claim. Vedic astrology, unlike Western astrology, figures the precession of the zodiac into its calculations, which in itself suggests a great antiquity for the system. As we move towards the Age of Aquarius today, we may appreciate that different Vedic texts speak of the ages of Taurus, Gemini and Cancer (by relating the equinox to the asterisms that mark the beginning of these signs), taking astrological knowledge back at least to 6000 B. C. In this regard the Vedic may be the oldest astrological system in the world, and the source of all ancient systems of astrology.

As the scholarly world may be now beginning to afford a greater antiquity to Vedic culture, with new evidence that the Indus Valley civilization in ancient India of the third millennium B. C. was Indo-Aryan, this claim may yet be substantiated. The Hindu mythology of the planets does not derive from outside sources, as the reader can observe in this book. As Hindu mythology is the largest mass of mythological literature in the world, its mythology of astrology, is also the largest and most complex, the richest remnant of ancient astrological knowledge.

Ancient Europeans - the Greeks, Romans, Kelts and Slavs - spoke languages closely related to Vedic Sanskrit. They practiced a similar religion of fire worship and had Gods akin to the Vedic. Ancient European God and planet names are traceable to the Vedic. Jupiter is Sanskrit Dyaus Pitar, Mars is Sanskrit Marut, Venus is Vedic Vena, the Sun (Greek Helios and Roman Sol) is Sanskrit Surya. Hence, ancient European and Vedic mythology are akin. Indo-European people of the ancient Middle East like the Persians, Hittites, Kassites and Mittani, also worshipped Vedic Gods and had strong astrological traditions. The Kassites, who ruled Babylonia in the second millennium B. C., may have been a point of transmission of Vedic astrology to Babylonia and Greece. In this way Vedic mythology has a relevance far beyond the boundaries of India.

Vedic astrology does differ somewhat from Western or Tropical astrology. It employs the sidereal zodiac or the zodiac of the fixed stars. This causes its sign positions to shift backwards about 23 degrees from tropical positions. The main factors of astrology are otherwise the same -the use of the planets, signs, houses and aspects - though aspects are figured rather differently. This will cause students of Tropical astrology to have to shift their orientation in approaching the Vedic system. They will have to think of the signs more in terms of the visible constellations than in the seasonal division of the zodiac.

In addition, Vedic astrology puts much emphasis on a twenty-seven-fold division of the zodiac, the Nakshatras or lunar asterisms. This system and the mythology about it is special to the Hindus, yet it also follows from the basic meaning of the planets. Similar systems have been used by the Chinese, since their earliest era, and by the Arabs, since medieval times.

Bepin Behari, the author of this volume, is one of the more well - known and widely published astrologers in India. He is most recognized for his spiritual and esoteric view of astrology, in which he uses both Vedic and Theosophical approaches. He employs this methodology here as well. Students of Theosophy will find this particularly helpful in giving them abridge to Vedic astrology. Behari is one of the few modern astrologers in India who concentrates on the spiritual meaning in charts interpretation rather than the more mundane and predictive side. As such he preserves much of the deeper and order wisdom tradition.

Behari not only uses Hindu myths, he also examines in great depth the Western symbols for the planets and signs and shows their greater meaning. He adds aspects of Western and Middle Eastern thought through his Theosophical background. Very importantly he introduces the Nakshatras or asterisms and helps us to understand them according to the same astrological symbols as the planets and signs. Another important factor of Vedic astrology is the importance it gives to the nodes of the Moon. Behari explains the Vedic view of the nodes (which is rather different than what is ascribed them in western astrology) and shows their profound affect on the human psyche and its transformations.

Vedic astrology may appear strange and difficult to understand for the Western mind. This is because much of the background of the system is not known to us. Myths and Symbols of Vedic Astrology gives this background information of how the planets are viewed, so that the student approaching this system can make sense of it. The book is also useful for students of Western astrology who are interested in the broader worldwide symbolism and mythology of the planets. In addition, anyone interested in astrological mythology will find it an important book.

I began examining this book to see how helpful it could be for introducing Vedic astrology to a Western audience. I soon discovered a depth of thought init that understood the system of Yoga and the profound science of the relationship between Spirit and Matter called Sankhya in India. The book explains the whole process of human and cosmic evolution and relates human life to the highest goal of spiritual knowledge and liberation from the cycle of rebirth. It shows the depth of astrology as a cosmic science. Ass such, this is indeed an important book and fundamental text for anyone wishing to approach Vedic or Hindu astrology, particularly with concern for its deeper aspects. Yet it does not require that one is an astrologer. It gives much of myth and philosophy that will stimulate any sincere reader toward a deeper examination of the meaning of life.

Back of Book

Myths and Symbols of Vedic Astrology is one of the rare books that explains astrological mythology. Serious students and astrologers will find it useful for providing an eastern perspective on the mythology of the planets and stars. Students of myths and symbols will find it helpful in unlocking the astrological keys to these great archetypes of the psyche. Those who are studying Vedic or Hindu astrology will find the book to be invaluable in opening the door to the inner meaning of the planets and how they are viewed in the Vedic system.