The Broad Challenges before Vedic Astrology

The IT revolution has enabled Vedic astrology to cross the ‘seven-seas’, surmounting in this process, as if in a single gigantic stride, all the high barriers of culture & religion, even language & world-view. Apart from the lakhs of Hindus at home and abroad who are the natural votaries of this Vedic discipline; there are probably tens of thousands of perceptive seekers from the Western world- who by opening themselves spiritually to the Vedas & all forms of Sanatana Dharma [either through their own enquiry & self-study, or through association with ‘Hindu’ Spiritual Masters] in one way or the other – have happily been able to take to Vedic astrology without much ado & cultural-resistance.

This worldwide receptivity to Vedic astrology places a new challenge before this ancient discipline, in that it is now obliged to address itself to the problem of reformulating many of its sutras, so as to correspond now to a modern society, which has come to be set in a Western secular and technological mould and which is therefore very differently structured, in so far as the classical Hindu goals of Dharma, Artha,Kama & Moksha are concerned [See Secs. 2 & 3 of Part III]. If Vedic astrology responds to this challenge satisfactorily and in this process makes this esoteric discipline more intelligible and appealing even to non-Hindus, who may not have any familiarity with the Hindu spiritual ethos of Sanatana Dharma; then its blessings for a section of Western society which has already turned spiritual and is continuing in this vein – whether this is to a lesser or a greater Sattvic degree is not the pertinent question here – are bound to increase even further in the future.

Traditional Hindu & Vedic societies held Moksha to be the summum bonum of human life, while the other Purusharthas, namely Artha & Kama, were deemed to be of lesser import, and often as impediments in the way of the fulfilment of the highest goal of life [Ref 7, Pg 26]. In modern contemporary society, on the other hand, while Moksha may be considered at best to be a highly esoteric goal of life, trodden by no more than a slender minority, it is Artha & Kama, which paradoxically have come to occupy the exalted status of the summum bonum of life! The emerging global avatar of Vedic astrology has to contend with this paradoxical topsy-turvy reality and thus be prepared to reformulate many of its ancient sutras, which pertained to more spiritual ages in the remote past, when Dharma & Moksha occupied a place of pre-eminence, outshining the lesser mundane goals of life of Artha & Kama.

In fact, this slow process must have already begun in an imperceptible way, ever since Vedic astrology was introduced to the West some 50 years ago by that pioneering & renowned Vedic astrologer from India, Dr. B.V. Raman [10]. Consequent to this initial ‘seeding’, and with an appreciable time-lag, there emerged – this time from the West – a fresh reciprocal impetus to Vedic astrology, coming from such pioneering American Vedic astrologers as James Braha in 1986 [11] in the beginning and then in a more concerted way from Pandit Vamadeva Shastri – when he made available his comprehensive correspondence course in Vedic astrology [also in 1986], with its emphasis on the spiritual life. In 1993, when the American Council of Vedic Astrology [ACVA] came into existence, through the pioneering efforts of Pandit Vamadeva Shastri and other American Vedic astrologers, the next important milestone commemorating the Western assimilation of Vedic astrology was crossed.