Understanding Vedic Astrology

Vedic Astrology penetrates deep into the life of an individual. Vedic astrology or Jyotisa, is not unscientific, but one needs to depart from the commonly understood "scientific" methodologies. It is unlike something like say Physics, where laws are well defined within certain domains and no exceptions can occur. Thus if Newton's Laws of motion predict planetary orbits to be elliptical, it is highly unlikely that you will end up finding a square orbit!

Comparison with Social Sciences

The way Vedic Astrology works is not similar. Rather, think of it like the social sciences with non-rigid scientific methodologies that are open to interpretation. Thus one sociologist might look at French revolution and explain it in terms of agrarian agitation combined with structural transformations, wars, famine, etc. while someone else might try to give a totally unstructured view while few claim there was no French revolution at all! Each person has all the necessary information, yet each claim is different than the other. Each claim is scientific in itself and propagated by one of the greatest sociologists of our times.



In the same way, we need to understand Jyotisa or Vedic astrology as well. One should be open to different interpretations of the same phenomena. No two vedic astrologers will tell you the exact same thing. This is to be understood and appreciated.

Probabilistic Science

Vedic astrology should be looked upon as a probabilistic science. No one can say for sure that this will happen. However, it is all about relative probabilities.



For example, a vedic astrologer might tell you that your child has a strong inclination towards mathematics. This is all he can predict. He cannot tell whether the child will end up doing a PhD in Mathematics or if he will win the Fields medal. However, the very fact that your child is interested in mathematics should help you shape his future.

This is important if he actually isn't good with numbers, but rather with art. If the child's parents are mathematics professors, it is meaningless for them to try to make their child do the same. She is likely to follow what she is naturally inclined towards, which is art in this case.