The connection between Vedic Astrology and Yoga
It's not know by many that the Vedic system is completely interconnected. There are many branches of study, such as Yoga, Jyotish, and Ayurveda as examples. Jyotish is the Sansrkit word for Vedic Astrology and it roughly translates to "the study of light". How is this so? The Vedic theory of evolution states that our soul is part of a greater whole, that greater whole being called God, the Universe or the Absolute.
Everything in existence from though, matter and energy is imbued with a small part of this greater whole, with each part trying to work itself back to the whole as it's sole purpose of existence. For example, I like to use the analogy of the cells in our bodies. There are many of them, all performing their different functions to make up the larger part of the whole know as our bodies. Cells are born, reproduce and die. Over the course of the full lifetime of a human, each cell is replaced at least once. Now lets apply this to humanity as a whole. Each of us goes about our business in life the best we know how at the time we know how to. Like the cells in our body, we believe we have our function to perform and carry that out. How does a cell know what it's function is? Is a cell self aware?
Vedic Astrology treats humanity like one gigantic organism with each of it's component pieces controlled by karma. Karma is much more complicated then tit for tat, according to Vedic Tradition, it is the law of causality that propels individual and soul evolution forward to it's inevitable reunification to the greater whole. over the course of multiple lifetimes. At the time of your birth, your soul is considered connected to the material plane at the time of your first breath. This sets the karmic law in motion, and this law is played out in the expression of light reflecting off the planets and their position at the time of birth. Simply put, your birthchart is simply a map of your karma of this lifetime.
Now, Yoga is simply the study of how to shortcut the system of Karma. There is much more to it then just doing poses, but unfortunately in America, it has been reduced to a set of exercises and stretching. I will start a series on the Yoga Sutras of Pantanjali in future blog posts to better explain the depth of Yoga.
Most people who have practices Yoga have heard of Chakras. Each of the seven chakras is associated with a planet and sign in the zodiac. As each planet makes it's trip around the zodiac, it will trigger a chakra or combination of chakras in which your karma is stored. In a way, each chakra is associated with an gland in the endocrine system. Karma manifests itself in the biological or psychological urge to do something. To paint a picture, imagine that karma are seeds stored in each chakra. The planets associated with that chakra will release that seed into nervous system where it will take hold an sprout into the fruition. One of the goals of Yoga is the "burn" these seeds before they are released, thus mitigating karma from manifesting in certain ways. Jyotish by itself simply predicts the type and timing of the seeds release.
Everything in existence from though, matter and energy is imbued with a small part of this greater whole, with each part trying to work itself back to the whole as it's sole purpose of existence. For example, I like to use the analogy of the cells in our bodies. There are many of them, all performing their different functions to make up the larger part of the whole know as our bodies. Cells are born, reproduce and die. Over the course of the full lifetime of a human, each cell is replaced at least once. Now lets apply this to humanity as a whole. Each of us goes about our business in life the best we know how at the time we know how to. Like the cells in our body, we believe we have our function to perform and carry that out. How does a cell know what it's function is? Is a cell self aware?
Vedic Astrology treats humanity like one gigantic organism with each of it's component pieces controlled by karma. Karma is much more complicated then tit for tat, according to Vedic Tradition, it is the law of causality that propels individual and soul evolution forward to it's inevitable reunification to the greater whole. over the course of multiple lifetimes. At the time of your birth, your soul is considered connected to the material plane at the time of your first breath. This sets the karmic law in motion, and this law is played out in the expression of light reflecting off the planets and their position at the time of birth. Simply put, your birthchart is simply a map of your karma of this lifetime.
Now, Yoga is simply the study of how to shortcut the system of Karma. There is much more to it then just doing poses, but unfortunately in America, it has been reduced to a set of exercises and stretching. I will start a series on the Yoga Sutras of Pantanjali in future blog posts to better explain the depth of Yoga.
Most people who have practices Yoga have heard of Chakras. Each of the seven chakras is associated with a planet and sign in the zodiac. As each planet makes it's trip around the zodiac, it will trigger a chakra or combination of chakras in which your karma is stored. In a way, each chakra is associated with an gland in the endocrine system. Karma manifests itself in the biological or psychological urge to do something. To paint a picture, imagine that karma are seeds stored in each chakra. The planets associated with that chakra will release that seed into nervous system where it will take hold an sprout into the fruition. One of the goals of Yoga is the "burn" these seeds before they are released, thus mitigating karma from manifesting in certain ways. Jyotish by itself simply predicts the type and timing of the seeds release.