When do readings/predictions fail?

There are special charts and circumstances that many times stump even the best astrologers. Let us consider an example: Venus/Rahu and Rahu/Venus periods generally create biggest changes in one’s life just due to the nature of the two planets and most likely period to end relationships. But in my experience of dealing with charts of close family members, friends, and certain clients, I have noted that there are special cases where this never works and people had just a normal life during those periods.

I was initially perplexed to see why this technique failed only to later realize that it was not the technique that failed but the native’s approach to life that made this technique redundant. All planets submit to the will of GOD or universe and thus in cases of people who perpetuate GOD in their favorite different forms and lead a honest life causing least harm to any species around them, predictions fail on such charts. The concept behind this is that people change the course of their destiny by accepting life as it is.

Any event that occurs in a native’s life by default is always neutral, it is the mind that attaches a different tag to it making it an auspicious enjoyable event or an inauspicious terrible event or even a neutral indifferent event. “If you don’t get what you want, you suffer; if you get what you don’t want, you suffer; even when you get exactly what you want, you still suffer because you can’t hold on to it forever. Your mind is your predicament. It wants to be free of change. Free of pain, free of the obligations of life and death. But change is law and no amount of pretending will alter that reality.” – Socrates

People who see GOD in everything and anything, in their actions and have surrendered to HIS will, there is no prediction that is good or bad for them. Such individuals who have a strong sense of purpose in life and go with the flow are not concerned about astrology nor need a reading. Time itself is their best weapon of choice and they are well aware that things change with time and there is no need to make a fuss about life. Eventually, all of us will reach such a point in our lives. Some reach it in their old age having seen all phases of life, some in their middle age having seen their actions have no say on their destiny, some in their very initial years due to the many sufferings they have experienced in their life and in the world.

Refer to the verse from the Bhagavad Gita below—

कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन। 
मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि॥ २-४७

English translation-

Karmanye vadhikaraste Ma Phaleshu Kadachana,
Ma Karmaphalaheturbhurma Te Sangostvakarmani
Meaning
You only have the right to work but never to its fruits.
Let not the fruits of action be your motive nor let your attachment be to inaction. 

As Sri Krishna states in the Gita, one must only partake in dharmic action and not be attached with the fruits of his/her action. A native should practice seeing action in inaction and inaction in action, such natives will not come under the karmic influence of planets. In a traditional Indian society, all households have a shrine and people engage in dharmic action via mantra recitation and japa (meditation) early in the morning on an empty stomach for a few hours before attending their day-to-day activities. Spirituality plays a huge role and if it is driven with sattvic (inspirational) motives rather than kama (desire) centered motif or tamasic (fear) centered motive, all bad astrological predictions that an astrologer makes about such a native’s life will not manifest to a severe degree. Similarly, all the good predictions that an astrologer makes will manifest in a much smoother and outstanding manner. In case of western societies, some cultures do advocate religious merit and it works in the same fashion. But there are special societies who belong to the “religious” atheist sect and one may wonder and question what about them? They don’t believe in GOD nor astrology so what about such people?

The answer lies in understanding the native’s approach to life. Even though a native is an atheist but follows his svadharma (true inspired nature) and leads a life of virtues and morals, then all planets work in harmony with them so that greater events manifest in such natives lives. On the contrary, if they are immoral, lack basic human qualities of empathy, kindness, love and engage in activities that cause harm to the species around them then such natives will experience the bitter side of the planets and feel their sting when difficult time periods/transits run in their respective lives. That is when such natives resort to religion, spirituality, and astrology when they notice a force much greater at play.

In the case of an atheist one may even ask, do they have the potential to attain moksha or progress spiritually? Definitely, he or she has an equal chance to the yogi who meditates few hours daily. If he fulfills his duty and finds God in his work or daily karma or is so passionate about his field of work that he dedicates his life to it, then that is Krishna/Christ or any other God to him. Basavanna, a 12th-century Shaivite saint from Karnataka, India gave utmost importance to finding happiness in one’s daily work. His famous vachana is “Kayakave Kailasa”. It means ‘one has to find Eshwara (Lord Shiva) in one’s work’. The English proverb ‘Work is worship’ is roughly in sync with the same!

Along with that if one desires they can look for certain ways to tweak and catalyze the process by worshiping their favorite GOD, use astrology for self-discovery, practice Kriya Yoga etc. but that should not be the primary goal!

Another instance when predictions don’t fail but can eventually take a different course is when a person uses his/her free will. There is a divine law based on the Pancha Maha bhoota (five great elements) that is responsible for the creation, preservation, and dissolution of all things in the universe including the human body as shown in figure 1 below. The Greeks were almost right with their four element theory but the ancient saints of India had perfected it with the five element theory which takes into account the dark matter allotted to the ether element as scientifically explained in a very insightful video below.

The five elements are Akasa (Ether/Sky), Apas (water), Agni (fire), Vayu (air) and Prithvi/Bhoomi (earth) that produce all things in our lives. All these five elements are manifestations of the five planets (Mars to Saturn) except the luminaries (Sun and Moon) and nodes (Rahu and Ketu). Jupiter rules the Akasa, Venus the Apas, Mars the Agni, Mercury the Prithvi and Saturn the Vayu bhoota respectively. For simplicity sake let us allot each element a 20% stake in the 100% of human life. All these elements are interconnected and are responsible for the creation, preservation and dissolution cycles as shown below. Hence if a native uses his free will and changes one element via remedies like Kriya yoga, mantra recitation, charity and havan/yajna/homa (fire sacrifice) then GOD will change the remaining four elements.

 elements - 2

Figure 1: The interaction of all the five primordial elements of nature. Gu – Guru (Jupiter), Ma – Kuja (Mars), Bu – Budha (Mercury), Sa – Shani (Saturn), Sk- Sukra (Venus)

If we treat 100% as the maximum control we have on our lives, then 80% of the events that unfold in one’s life are fated and can be predicted astrologically. The remaining 20% is allotted to the free will, which operates in our consciousness through GOD consciousness. Thus if a native consciously uses 100% of their free will which is 20% of their life they can change the rest of the 80% of their life. By doing so, they have eventually changed the course of their destiny. The 20% free will is shared by two planets – Mars and Venus. Mars rules willpower (10%) and Venus the free choice we have (10%). Thus in case of such natives who have enormous willpower indicated by the good placement of Mars (primarily) and Sun (secondarily) in the horoscope, astrological predictions have no effect on them. On the contrary, in charts where both Sun and Mars suffer, such natives, have a hard time using their free will to make big changes in life.

Also, a chart where Venus is strong will assist this process as Venus rules “Free choice”. The philosophy of Venus is – There is “no right” or “wrong” in this world. Same for the actions we take. It is always relative. Light is the absence of darkness and darkness is the absence of light, that is all. But what is evidently seen is there is a “free choice’ we can make for that action we desire to take. Based on the choice undertaken there is a consequence – that is karma. Everything has a price in life, so does every choice we make. Based on the choice we make – we get something desirable while also get something undesirable. To get something we have to lose something – that is life. One of my favorite quotes from Denzel Washington movies sums it up well- “You pray for rain, you gotta deal with the mud too. That’s a part of it.” The moment we make a choice we have to be ready to face the consequences of that choice as we are entitled to it. There is no escaping that consequence. In charts where Venus is strong, people make choices and stick to it or stay committed to that choice. A good Venus in a person’s chart also is adaptable to the circumstances. If the choice a person (with good Venus in their chart) makes turns out to be bad, they will immediately retract and choose another path. They are rarely seen stuck in a rote or waste time being redundant in any sphere of life. Whereas, in charts where Venus is afflicted, people have a hard time making choices and are easily derailed from their life’s path.

Coincidentally, the clients that consult an astrologer almost always have an issue revolving around Mars or Venus. Occasionally, such natives will approach an astrologer and may panic when they hear some bad predictions. But luckily there are remedies even for such cases and if you listen well to what I tell you and change certain behavioral patterns and habits by being conscious about it, you will notice that life will change dramatically. Of course, it is important to keep in mind that all the remedies require very high discipline, dedication, and perseverance to be 100% effective.