…and lead the upcoming generations into Dogmatism, Obscurantism, and Backward Attitudes
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Many of those who swear by Hindutva would support India's HRD (Human Resources and Development) Minister Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi's move to bring Astrology (Jyotishi), Paurohitiya (rituals to be followed by Hindu priests), Karma-Kanda (orthodox beliefs about re-birth, karma i.e. deeds in ones life deciding in what form and caste he will be re-born in his next life, and moksha i.e. salvation) as subjects in the University syllabus. But we think that this is a retrograde step that will pull our upcoming generations into a wrong direction. We know Dr. Joshi that you are a religious person. We do not grudge you, your religious beliefs. To you the universe is god's creation. Fine with us for you to believe that. But for the Human species to progress, it has to understand the universe as something that we live in. Something that has to be observed perceived and studied through telescopes and radars. For any sensible person, star and planetary movements are not something that can be linked with the fortunes and misfortunes in an individual's or a nation's or the world's existence.
Ancient Hindu Jyoti Shastra
The ancient Hindus studied the lights (Jyotis) of the skies - ASTRONOMY. Hence they called this study a Jyoti Shastra (Science of the study of the heavenly lights) as also Khagola Shastra.
A perverted application of Jyoti Shastra was the Jyotish Shastra (Astrology and Palmistry). This happened since some of the less reflective minds linked the change of seasons year after year and the associated change in star patterns year after year with the expected change in human fortunes.
The only logic was that when the stars and planets are in a certain position in the sky, there is summer, or winter or spring or monsoons. To begin with, this was used to predict the onset of monsoons. Up to this point it was fine, since the change in seasons and the change in star patterns took place at a systematic periodicity. Although the seasons changed not because the star patterns changed, except that there was a link between the positions of the Sun and earth and the seasons like summer, monsoons and winter. But this apart, there was no cause and effect relationship between the change in star patterns and the change in seasons, similar to the fact that there is no cause and effect relationship between the change in star patterns and the change in human fortunes. Thus extending this logic to say that human fortunes are also influenced by the movement of stars and planets was invalid.
Palmistry
Talking about the corollary practice of palmistry, we can say that this practice was a result of linking up of individual fortune with that element of the human body by which a person literally builds his future. This element of observation here is obviously the hand, more properly the palm. But there is nothing more in palmistry than this. We know that lines on our palm are a result of the skeletal frame within our hand. For this reasons lines similar to those on our palms are also present on our footsoles, armpits and at all other joints. More so, such lines exist on the palms of a Gorilla or a Chimpanzee too, but none of us would claim to foretell the fortune of any simian this way.
Degrees to become Qualified godmen?
Maybe someday Dr. Joshi will introduce doctorate courses on Palmistry and Parrotology, where a parrot pulls out a card on which your fortune or misfortune is written. And later on maybe even Miracle men and godmen Babas and other Jadoo-Tona wallahs can get post graduate degrees in their respective trades (tickeries). Amen!
Incidentally, the practioners of Jyotish shastra were called Jyotishis from which we have the family name Joshi.
The decision of Dr. Joshi to institutionalize the study of Jyotish Shastra in Indian Universities is foolish. This will only encourage our upcoming generations to be Dogmatic, Obscurantist, and Backward. We from the hindutva.com team oppose this retrograde move by Murli Manohar Joshiji. Is anyone from India's HRD ministry listening?
(This Hindutva Site is managed by a Virtual Team of Webmasters across the globe. The articles included at this site do not necessarily represent the views of the Webmasters.)
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