How Vedic Astrological Sutras, pertinent to the Matrix of a Society, get ‘Coloured’ by the Structure of that Underlying Society

The sutras [principles] of Vedic astrology are invariably cast in the form of a ‘correlation’ or ‘mapping’ between pertinent astrological variables, such as planetary positions and strengths, or strengths of certain specific houses, or even signs of the natural zodiac, on the one hand and actual life-trends and life-events in a human life, on the other. However, it must be realized that the ‘correlation’, implied in any astrological-sutra is always defined only within the definitive structure of that human society, within which this astrological ‘correlation’ came to be studied, in the first instance. In this sense, the structure of the underlying human society does ‘colour’ the sutras of Vedic astrology. From this, it follows that Vedic astrological sutras must change, whenever human societies change from one Yuga [age] to another, or from one geographical region to another.

To bring home how the structure of the underlying society ‘colours’ all astrological-sutras, we shall give just one illustrative example. In Vedic astrology, the ninth House [IXH] is considered to be the house of the Guru or spiritual Master and if that house is ‘strong’ in a horoscope, one could say, the individual in question would have the blessings of Isvara for vastly benefiting from his association with a strong Guru in this life. Such an inference would be typically valid, if one was studying the chart of a Hindu, set in a traditional Hindu society, say a thousand years ago. Now, underlying this sutra, one can discern such a ‘correlation’, mentioned above.

Coming to our own modern secular society – be it in Indian cities or in the West, since the whole institution of the Guru and his Gurukulashrama has long since lost its social & spiritual pre-eminence as well as its universality; a strong IXH in someone’s chart, when that someone belongs to the modern world, would not therefore necessarily point to that individual being blessed with a strong Guru in his life. Instead it might well point to fortune coming his way, through overseas connections and residences therein – since overseas travel is a typically modern social phenomenon.

Our own modern society, by contrast, has an entirely different structure, arising from our different modern goals and aspirations in the present materialistic age. In applying Vedic astrology to societies, other than the Vedic and the Hindu, this will have to be borne in mind. A blind application of the sutras of Vedic astrology to other societies could give disastrous predictions and insights, to everybody’s chagrin, including the astrologer’s!