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Many of our people don't realize that Jyotisha is Astrology and Astronomy put together. Our scientists seem to have forgotten scientific temperament. Given a problem, a scientist would typically survey existing solutions and try to improve upon them. On rare occasions scientists also come up with solutions that are radically different from the existing ones. Let us consider the problem as "predicting the future of a human being". We should be able to suggest a method that is better than Jyotisha. If we can't, we have to bow ourselves to Jyotisha and accept the defeat. In fact our Jyotisha uses pretty simple mathematics based on integers and it does not require most modern mathematics (which is too complicated). Our scientists can respect probability, probabilistic solutions and empirical formulae in science or engineering. But they can't appreciate the elegance of Jyotisha and the probability with which it is successful. During troubled times and planning for future, many Indians (including scientists) don't consult a university professor; they consult a person who knows Jyotisha. Instead of telling UGC (University Grants Commission) to stop Jyotisha courses, I would rather welcome our scientists to give a better solution to the problem. If educationists opine that Jyotisha is not science, there is no harm in studying it as a subject of history or art. The book 'Who Moved my Cheese' became very popular. I have come across the readers (including me) who are elated to read about change and the importance of adaptation to change. The book neither tells you about any methods to expect changes early (so that you can be prepared for it) nor does it refer to any existing literature. All that it tells you is to be aware of change and be ready for it. Jyotisha gives us a way of expecting change, whether it is 'sudden' or 'incremental'. I don't know why we should have any reservations to appreciate Jyotisha. A human is born at a specific (space, time) coordinate. There exist mathematical methods in our modern science to solve 'initial value problems' and 'boundary value problems'. To understand these methods you should have studied mathematics to under graduate level. When it comes to predicting the future of a human being these methods are at loss. To solve the same problem by means of Jyotisha, you don't need to know so much mathematics. It is much simpler. Then why can't we appreciate the simplicity? In the arena of science many researchers produce scientific publications, which consist of solution techniques for problems in specialized subjects. Only some of them go beyond academic realm to be used in industry routinely. Even those methods are not for ever. Always better methods come and replace the old ones. The methods of Jyotisha have survived for centuries. They are still popular in India. Even today our modern science can't offer a better solution, to my knowledge. Ref: Sep 17, 2001 issue India Today. Article on Astrology courses Introduced by UGC. V.V.S.Raveendra |