Karma and Death viewed from Vedic Astrology

All that live must die, passing through nature to eternity, says the great bard Shakespeare.

All great philosophers arisen in this world have expressed their thinking on the phenomenon of death and all religious teachers too have spoken about both death and the life after death.  Vedic Astrology too devotes an important part to death, the cause of death and life after death. 

Buddhism does not subscribe to fatalism, the belief that events are pre-determined by fate and you cannot prevent them from happening

Similarities between astrological principles and Buddha’s teachings
Most of our readers may find it interesting that astrological principles propounded by Maharishis in ancient India relating to death, Karma and rebirth are similar in many ways to what the Buddha has said on these subjects.  India’s great astrologer in recent times Prof. B. Suryanarayan Rao says in his celebrated work, Karma and Chemistry, that Astrology interprets what it conceives to be the future of man as moulded by his previous Karma indicated by the planetary positions at the time of birth. 

The fact that birth of a living being is determined by the force of Karma - the effects of good and bad he or she had done in his or her previous birth is in accord with the teachings of Buddhism. 

No place for fatalism in both Astrology and Buddhism 
Buddhism does not subscribe to fatalism, the belief that events are pre-determined by fate and you cannot prevent them from happening.  Astrology does not uphold fatalism either though some people seem to believe that fatalism is a hallmark of Astrology. 

According to famous Indian Jyotish Guru Dr. B. V. Raman Astrology does not recognize fatalism. He says in his work, ‘Hindu Predictive Astrology’: “Astrology should not be confused with fatalism… Ascertaining the length of life, the nature of death and the cause of death carefully before hand, it is possible to prevent many catastrophes and family strikes in this life and it is also possible to prolong the life if so desired by recourse to remedies prescribed by the ancient Maharishis.  Many times, the sudden death of a person leaves his widow, children and other dependents in a state of abject poverty…”

What Astrology can predict
According to Dr. Raman, a careful study of a horoscope would show the cause and the source of death, the disease the native suffers from at the time of death. 

Unnatural deaths from drownings, tortures, accidents, attacks by wild beasts, suicide, murder etc. too could be foreseen and prevented by taking necessary measures.

Planetary positions at birth also indicate the period of unconsciousness before death, the nature of the cremation or the burial of the dead body, the nature of past and future births and the possibility or otherwise of attaining Moksha (final emancipation).
(To be continued)