Author: D P Sinha
Publication: Organiser
Date: September 30, 2001
Introduction: Why is it that in
US teaching of astrology is being recognised by the Government? Answer
is simple. The US academics have the courage to explore new fields, which
makes their country a frontrunner in research and discoveries. Whereas
our academics are timid and imitators who thrive on borrowed learning from
the West.
The University Grant Commission
has made Astrology an elective subject of study for Universities. The world
"elective" may be noted. It is left to Universities to decide whether they
would like to offer a course of study in astrology. Yet Leftists and Anglophile
liberals, deriving legitimacy in this country from Nehruvian legacy, have
created a deafening din against introduction of these courses. Columns
are full of their sense of outrage and alarm-calls to save this country
from sliding into ancient times of Yajnas, Rishis and chariots. They would
be shocked to learn that their patron-saint Jawaharlal Nehru, the high
priest of 'scientific temper' himself had succumbed, and surrendered to
astrology, the age-old wisdom of India as would the following excerpt from
the book India from Curzon to Nehru and After by Durga Das, former Editor,
Hindustan Times (1969) would show:
'The community of astrologers did
not merely influence the hour when independence of India should dawn. It
shadowed most men in top echelons-and continues to do so. In some cases,
the "royal Astrologers," as they came to be called, became all powerful.
I found Satya Narayan Sinha for several years Minister for Parliamentary
Affairs and now. Minister for Information and Broadcasting a delightful
storehouse of anecdotes in such matters.
Sinha told me how he himself came
to acquire faith in astrology. A certain reader of horoscopes, derisively
known as a 'patriwala', had forecast Patel's death nine months before it
happened. The Sardar himself was skeptical, and one night, during his accustomed
telephone conversation with Sinha about parliamentary matters, chaffed
him asking: "What does your 'patriwala' say?" The seer, however, proved
right to the exact day and we were all completely taken aback, said Sinha
to me.
When T.T.K. seemed to be at the
peak of his power in 1958i came another pundit to assert that he was riding
for a fall. Sinha ridiculed him, saying: "You are talking: through your
turban.' But the undaunted man that very day made a still more dire prophecy
that Shri Krishnamachari quits. 'In the Government, Maulana Azad will suffer
a fall in his bathroom and die four days later."
When Azad met with an accident,
B.C. Roy was summoned from Calcutta. His verdict was that there was no
cause for anxiety. Sinha met Nehru in the lobby of the Parliament and told
him of the prediction. Nehru exploded angrily: "What rot are you talking?
Bidhan (Dr Roy) is certain that Azad is in no danger.' Four days later,
the Education Minister passed away. Sinha recalled how shaken Nehru was
after this.
Nehru's first serious illness was
in March 1962 when he returned to Delhi from Poona running a high temperature.
His doctors thought this was merely the aftermath of an exhaustive election
campaign. But it turned out to be a grave ailment that confined him to
bed for more than a month and compelled him to keep away from the meeting
of the Congress Parliamentary Party in which he was re-elected leader.
To Sinha's first suggestion that
his horoscope be shown to a Jyotishi (astrologer), Nehru turned a deaf
ear. Gulzari Lal Nanda, the Planning Mini prevailed upon him, however,
to relent. There was an explosion when the man, well-known in Delhi, told
Nehru he would be betrayed by his 'best friend' and would have to face
an attack from China that very year. Nehru flared up and shouted: "This
can never happen. You are talking bilge" The Jyotishi folded the horoscope,
handed it back and retreated.
Not many weeks after, the Chinese
launched their aggression. Nehru was in h mood to listen to the astrologer.
But the pundit's words were hardly comforting. Nehru's life span was over,
he pronounced. Only puja (ritual worship) could prolong it. What followed
was shrouded in the utmost secrecy. Fifty learned priests were engaged
by his admirers to perform the prescribed rites at a temple at Kalkaji
in Delhi. At the end of the daily ceremonies, the Brahmin pundits repaired
to the Prime Minister residence to place an auspicious tilak mark on his
forehead.
The astrologer had predicted that
Nehru would have a second and more serious illness in January 1964 and
that he would not survive beyond May 27. Sinha tried without success to
dissuade Nehru from attending the Bhubaneswar session of the Congress.
Nehru left New Delhi on 4th January and became very ill two or three days
later. He never recovered fully from the stroke he had at this time. At
the AICC session on 14th May, Sinha warned some of his cabinet colleagues
that the Prime Minister was likely to die ill about ten days as a jyotishi
from Bombay had predicted. Nehru passed away on 27th May'.
I remember that in 1961, newspapers
were full of Ashtagrah Yog (conjunction of eight- planets) and its likely
adverse effect on people in general. Before the actual happening of the
event in the skies, a number of pujas and havans were organised all over
the country to ward off its evil influence. Pandit Nehru as usual reacted
sharply and ridiculed publicly this show of mass-hysteria and superstition
on some remote heavenly phenomenon occurring millions of miles away from
us. Nehru was at that time at the pinnacle of his power, an uncrowned king
and democratically elected. But Sampurnanand, the Chief Minister of Uttar
Pradesh and a recognised Sanskrit-scholar took up cudgels with Nehru and
issued a statement that planets do affect our lives and that this Ashtagrah
Yog is harmful to the country in general, and Nehru in particular. It was
a great feat on the part of Sampurnanand, a mere chief Minister to challenge
the mightiest of mighty in the country. But the events that unfolded in
the country proved him right. India was invaded by China. Nehru who strode
the world as a colossus of peace collapsed, his make-believe world lay
in curmbles around him.
In this context, the predictions
with regard to Allahabad High Courts Judgement setting side Indira Gandhi's
election, followed by imposition of Emergency and her days in wilderness
after 1977, were foretold by a clairvoyant, as reported by N.N. Palkhiwala
in his book We and our nation:
"On the plane which I boarded to
return to Bombay, next to me was seated an elderly, simple man dressed
in khadi, carrying a khadi cloth bag. He asked me what had happened that
day in the Prime Minister's case and I told him briefly what the judge
had decided. He related how he was an inmate of a Gandhi ashram in Bangalore
and that he had been out of the ashram since May 1975 to conduct one of
his periodic tours in different parts of India. He mentioned the name of
a clairvoyant in Bangalore who had made some predictions which he thought
were rather curious. The conversation between us ran somewhat as follows:
"When I left the ashram in May 1975
the clairvoyant told me that the Prime Minister would lose the case which
she was fighting in the Allahabad High Court and yet after losing the case,
she would become the most powerful woman in the world," said my neighbour.
In surprise I asked, 'How can Smt
Indira Gandhi become any more powerful than she is today? When she is already
the head of the largest democracy on earth, what can possibly add to her
power?"
"I do not know. I am only repeating
to you what he said".
Unimpressed, I did not bother even
to make a mental note of the name of the clairvoyant. But to carry on the
conversation, I asked, "did the soothsayer say anything else?"
"Yes. He said that the extraordinary
power which the Prime Minister is to acquire will end in March 1977."
'Did he mention the precise month
and year?'
"Yes, he mentioned specifically
that the cessation of the extraordinary power would be in March 1977."
"Did he make any other prediction?"
"Yes he said that Jayapraksh Narayan
who is today the most popular figure in India's public life would be stricken
by a fatal illness which would carry him away in about two years. He said
that Shri Y. B. Chavan who aspires to be the Prime Minister of India would
never attain that position."
I came home, wondering what the
would bring. In less than 36 hours the emergency was declared, the invaluable
fundamental rights of the people were suspended, and the Prime Minister
virtually acquired all the powers of the leader of a totalitarian state.
That was the black morning of June 26, 1975.
In the days immediately following
the declaration of the Emergency, my mind kept on reverting to the four
forecasts. I invited for a quiet dinner at my residence the then Editor
of The Times of India and a very few other well-known journalists and related
to them my conversation with the Gandhian ashramite in the plane. The next
month I repeated the story to Ramnath Goenka of the Indian Express, who
was literally hounded by the Congress government during the Emergency.
Those were the days of gloom and despair, and the only streak of light
was the prediction that the totalitarianism would end in March 1977. I
need hardly mention that all the predictions were accurately fulfilled-the
assumption of supremacy which made Smt Indira Gandhi the most powerful
woman in the world, the cessation of that supremacy in March 1977, the
death of Jayparakash Narayan in October 1979, and Shri Y. B. Chavan dying
in November 1984 without fulfilling his ambition of becoming the Prime
Minister.
I did not meet Smt Gandhi again
till the evening of March 22, 1977 when the results of the election showed
that the Janata Party had won a landslide victory and Smt Gandhi had to
resign as the Prime Minister. I was in Delhi on flat day and called on
Smt Gandhi at her residence. I related to her the incident of my conversation
with the total stranger on the plane in June 1975 and said, 'Indiraji,
if it be any consolation, may I tell you that what has happened since the
election case was filed against you in the Allahabad High Court seems to
have been preordained." She had tears in her eyes -the only time saw her
in such a mood."
Ever since the UGC has allowed Universities
to teach astrology, vociferous objections have been raised at two levels.
One, at the academic level and the other at the political one.
Not all, but some academics have
urged that astrology is not a science, therefore it does not deserve a
place in a University curriculum. This is a diversionary argument. Whether
Astrology is a science is of no material consequence. Even if astrology
is not a science, it still deserves to be taught to those who want to study
it, like any other humanities subject. The State has no justifiable right
to prohibit it in a democracy. Further, the debate whether astrology is
a science or an art is meaningless at a point of time, where the water-tight
compartments of knowledge am being rejected. Inter-disciplinary approach
is the order of the day.
There are scores of institutions
in and outside India that are already teaching astrology in India. Does
all those people slipped backwards and their society became fatalist? Apprehensions
of Left-academics in unfounded in this regard.
On August 27, 2001 Washington Post
reported that the 'Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges
of Technology' has given accreditation to Astrological Institute located
in suburban Phoenix in Arizona, USA and has become eligible to get federal
grants from US Education Department. It is for the first time that US Government
has given such formal recognition to the teaching of astrology. This is
really a breakthrough.
Why is it that in US teaching of
astrology is being recognised by the Government? Answer is simple. The
US academics have the courage to explore new fields, which makes their
country a frontrunner in research and discoveries. Whereas our academics
are timid and imitators who thrive on borrowed learning from the West.
They have still the Macaulay-mindset that regards 'that a single shelf
of a good European library was worth the whole native literature of India..."
Given the conduct of the Indian academics in last century the opposition
to teaching of astrology in Indian Universities would subside in direct
proportion to its acceptability in Western Universities.
So far the political opposition
is concerned, it is not of much significance. With the dismantling of Communism
in USSR, their Indian vassals have lost all self-confidence. Yet, they
are keeping a brave front. When Digvijay Singh the Congress Chief Minister
of Madhya Pradesh came out in support of teaching astrology in University
declaring 'Jyotir Vigyan is the science of astronomy and the world acknowledges
India's intellectual leadership in this area' it sent a shock wave to all
Leftists. They felt betrayed. For years the Communists had served as hatchet-bearers
of Congress party and constituted their shouting brigade against BJP. They
had hoped that this 'astrology issue' would be an easy weapon to hit the
BJP and get kudos from the Congress. So the remarks by the Congressman
was a complete let down to them. Shabana Hashmi, Secretary of SAHMAT taxed
to him. 'Your statement will only weaken the united resistance, that hundreds
of academics, scientists and educationists were able to build up over the
last two months on communalisation of education". Everyone knows that SAHMAT
is a front organisation of CPI(M), and her letter to Digvijay Singh is
a desperate appeal of a losing person.
Shabana Hashmi has raised an issue
in the letter that needs to be taken note of. She has contented that teaching
of astrology will amount to 'communalisation of education'.
Nothing can be more ridiculous than
this. Given her reasoning, because Newton was a Christian, Newton's laws
should be, Christian laws. Darwin's 'Theory of Evolution' is a Jewish theory
because Darwin was a Jewish. All mathematics is communal because the numerals,
the decimal system and the numerical place value system were invented by
Hindus in India. Only a sick mind would think of dividing the knowledge
on the basis of the religion of the people that discovered it. All knowledge
is indivisible sacred property of all humanity, and any obnoxious effort
to divide it on communal religious lines should be thwarted with utmost
contempt it deserves.
