0

AN

INTRODUCTION
TO THE

STUDY OF ASTROLOGY,
.

B. SURYANARAINA ROW, B.A., M.R.A.S.,

Member of the Asiatio 8ooiety of Bengal, Editor of the Aswologica1
Magazine, Trons"latw of SarwO!rlkaohintamani, JatakaOkundHi,ka, Author of tli,e .A.strological Self Instruotor,
.A.mological Primer., Vikari aruli Its Prospeotl,
The '' Nwt Ten Years", 0-omperuliium oj
Astrology, Astrological Lectures.
Revival of Astrology,

eto., eto.
Third J:ctitiou.

J.ft:ad tta s:
PRINTED A'l' 'l'Hl!l ROYAL VICTORIA P&ESJJ,

BY L KRISHN.ASWAMI AY.A.B, B.A.

1900.
Price per oopy s As.

Digitized by

Google

HARVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY

' DEXTER FUND

-"h<~)..~ 1?'1.-/

. .!

Digitized by

Google

PREFACE.

Doubts and difficulties beset the paths leading to the

door of knowledge. It is no wonder, therefore, that the
scieno,e of Astrology should present the same example.
Created by the best Intellects of the world, astrology has
been the most wonderful and at the same time the most puzzling science for any one to pursue. With a view to explain
the principles of astrology in the light of modern sciences,
and to show correctly its place in the literature of the
modern world, 1 first wrote an elaborate Introduction to my
Astrological Self Instructor. This was very highly appreciated by the Continental and Indian public. Emboldened
by its success, I thoroughly recast the whole Introduction,
and thought that it may be separately printed for the
convenience of those who wish to simply know, bow astro
logy stands in the folds of modern sceptisim, and whether
it is worth one's while to read anything connected with
it. I need only add here that, if the reader goes through
my Introduction even casually, he will be thoroughly convinced of the existence of gr.and Truths in astrology, a knowledge of which would be highly useful to him and to all who
are dear and near to him. A science which helps men to know
their future and wh.ich enables them to adopt the necessary
remedial measures to avert the coming evil influences, cannot altogether be the mo~- t uninteresting to any sane man in
this world A perusal of the Introduction will, I am certain,
fetch its own bright rewa1d.
Madras,

1-6-1900.

B. SURYANARAYANA ROW, B. A.,

M. R. A. S., M.A. S. B.

Digitized by

Google

Digitized by

Google

CONTENTS.
--:o:PAGE.

'.Prefatory Remarks
Celebrated names in Astrology ..
Astrology is no. imposture
Division of planetary influences
Difficulties of sanskrit sciences
Dark spots among the planets
Naturestriumphthe human intellect
Conditions determining the climate
Solar Spots ...
Secrets of Na turf:) UnreveaJed
W ond~rful solar .attraction.
Universal Gravitation
Minute Divisions of Matter
The Vfork of Solar Rays
Varying Relations with the Sun .
Wonders of Nature's Workshop
Attraction of Cosmical Matters
Motion due to the Sun
Supply of Solar .Energy
What is Mind
Refrei.ctiOn of Sunlight .
Different senses developed
Relation of Mind to Body
Faetal D.evelopment
Brain is controlled by the Sun
Influences of Solar Energy
Mind Moulded by Surroundings

...

1
2

...

3
4
5
"6

7
8

...

....

...

;
;

10
11

...

12 .

13 .
.... 14' :
15
16

...

...

17
18
19
20 .

...
...

21
22
23

... . 24

9;

...
...

...

Digitized by

25
26

27

Google

ii

Divisions of Solar Energy

Phenomena of Electrical Energy
Definition of H uma.n Success
Unprofitable Attractions
Tastes and Di~likes
Magnetic Attractions ...
Solar influences. qn Crop!J ..
"
:
Power of Little things ...
DevelQpment of. Will Power
..
A~cien.~ Hindu C.ivilization
Sa.usktj~ Physical Sciences
Dangers of Philological Quibbling
Causes which degraded Astrology
Qualifications of Astrologers
C<>nsultations with quacks . dangerous
Remedial Measurr.s
...
Astrology and Medicine . .
Ignorance leads. to misery .
.Astrologer inter.prets planetary influences
Cowards never benefit the .world
Superiority of Hindu Astrology
Hindu. Intellectual Greatness ...
Splendid Political and Scientific Knowledge
Unrivalled Mathematical Development
High Medical and Astronomical Skill:
Incapacity of Oci.entalists
Man th& Creature of Previous Karma
Direct Lunar and Solar Influences
Correlation of Planets and Men
Conclusion

...

...

...
...
...
....
...
....

28
29

......

...

'

...

36

37
38

40

...
...

...

41
42

48
44
45
46
47
48
49
50

51

...

...

Digitized by

35

39

...

...
...

30
31
32
33
34

Google

52
58
54
55
56

57

INTRODUCTION.
-:o:-WITH PREFATORY REMARKS.

I believe I am the first writer in India on the subject of Astrology in English. There were many who possessed better information and predictive capacity than myself but none of them apparently .
had the nerve to appear before the publ\c and stand the chance of a
terrible downpour of abuse and ridicule from the educated men and
public newspapers. The very rapid sale of my little pamphlet on
Astrology entitled " A short Compendium of Astrology in English
and Canarese" (2000 copies) published in 1882, while I was a
student in the B. A. class, and the subsequent great demand for
more copies encouraged me to issue an improved and much enlarged
edition. My book and the series of astrological lectures I delivered
in my tours in the different intellectual centres, I am sure, have
created a good deal of interest in the minds of the educated public
in Iridia, and I am greatly encouraged in this view by the kind
suggestions of several able Continental and Hindu gentlemen who
have written to me on the subject, desiring me to treat Astrology
more scieJ!tifically and meet such of those objections against its
belief as could be done with my varied knowledge and the limited
time at my command. Astrology has been much neglected and very
hastily judged and it is a great pity that it has not been properly and
thoroughly investigated even by one single orientalist of any literary
pretentione. My present attempts have been directed to produce a
cheap and useful book, written in an easy and untechnical style
and to introduce the beginnen to the higher branches of the Astrological sceience~ without many of those difficulties, which generally
beset works of this kind. Books treating on scientific and technical
subjects should be as simple as possible if they are to be really useful to the general . public. The public ,complaint that technical

0igi:ized by

Google

Oele1wated Names in ABtrology.

books are not easier than what" they are, is often ~oundless and
unreasonable. Students in the commencement must work a little like
students and sciences can never be introduced before the public as so
many novel-like series for careless or slipshod reading. Within the
narrow compass of this small book it will not be possible to attempt
to reconcile satisfactorily the complicated formulas of Astrology
with the half understood principles of the physical sciences. But
anything said on this subject will not be out of place in a work of
this kind. Astrology, like medicine, is a practical science, and therefore requires to be handled as such. Even the different religious
systems of the world, which have not been scientifically explained or
which cannot be so dealt with, have lost much of their hold upon the
the enquiring minds. It is as it ought to be, and we might reasonably expect healthy results from such a state of things. Human
intellect is stimulated, enlarged, and developed, and sooner or later
we must be prepared to meet with those religious, social and intellectual changes which are the indispensable fore-runners of such critical
times. The science of Astrology was assiduously cultivated by the
best intellects the world had ever seen, and when so many geniuses,
no mean ones judging them from their other works, believed in it,
it would eertainly be absurd to bring home to them the serious
charges of ignorance and imposture. V asista, Narada, Parasara,
Vyasa, Jaimini, Manu, Varahamihiracharya, Sankaracharya, Gargi,
Marichi, Romaka; Kasyapa, Brahma, Brigu, Angiras, Saunaka,
Chandra, Surya, Poolastya, Poolaha, Atri, Bhaskara, Aryabhatta,
Kalidasa, Valmiki, Vatsyana, Satyacharya, Vidyaranya,_ Chanikya,
Budda; Yavanacharya, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Diogenese, Shakes__peare, Dryden, Homer, Dante, Goethe, Zooraster, Mohomet; Cicero,
Cresar, Ptolomy, Copernicus, Kepler, Tychobrahe, Bacon, Newton
Confucius and other eminent men believed in Astrology and most of
these have also written works on that subject. This is a matter
which merits our careful attention. .Most of these illustrious men
lived a Saintly life and are honored ~even unto this day for their
intellectual greatness and for the disinterested labour they undertook with - noble views to enlighten mankind and dispet the dark
clouds of ignorance which are constantly hovering round the human
intellect. They never stood in need of the fruits of their

Digitized by

Google

Astrof,ogy is no Imposture.

imposture and consequently \ve find no selfish or mean .motive

to actuate them to write upon a subject which they believed
or knew to be false. No man can be said to be competent
to pronounce an opinion upon any subject unless and until
he -has devoted 10 or 15- years to its study and investigation. The. opinions of many of the educated youths of the present
day are without any value until we know they have seriously thought
over the matter. It has become a sort of fashion to laugh at things
which they cannot understand or to which they are not willing to
devote much time. We need not blindly share in the belief ancients
had for sciences of this kind, but- what justification can we plead
for rejecting them without a fair trial on our part to test their
truth. If & just verdict is to be returned, the large mass of confusing
evidence brought to bear upon this point sho~ld be patiently sifted
and carefully compared.' Recent scientific researches have shown that
many of our much abused customs.and manners were the result of
a long and careful study of sanitary or hygenic principles, and .not the
arbitrary dicta of ignorant and self designing priests. I shall touch
cin these facts elaborately in my comprehensive trrntise on Astrology,
and show therein that -what we call "superstitious and meaningless
ceremonies and observances " instituted thousands of years ago,
were not mere conventionalities, the result of social or priestly tyranny,
but rules founded upon human experience and scientific knowledge. There are many questions which an astrologer is expected to
answer but which he does not or could not answer. Because a pheno-'-- i
menon cannot be intelligently explained with reference to known
scientific principles by some of the professors of any science, would it
be fair on our part to reject it altogether ? It might take generations
or even centuries before"we get a satisfactory solution for the various
complicated phenomena of the earth. Our igp.or~11ce of the causes
working to produce a phenomenon, does not.~~roy the phenomenon
it.self; and in these cases our duty is simple and plain. The first and
the most formidable question with which an astrologer is generally
assailed at the very.threshold of his investigation is "how do the planets above influence the terrestrial phenomena below?" and if they do
" is it possible for man . to find out their exact influences ?" I am _
constrained to say that this question involves a good deal of discussion

Digitized by

Google

Divisio?~

of Planetary Influences.

before an attempt can be made to answer it. In searching after

scientific truths we need fear no discouragement. Neither one man
nor one age can perfect a science. It is always progressing and such
changes as lead to its progress must be noted down and their causes
searched after. Therefore any attempt, however humble it might be,
made to further its interests or explain its phenomena will not be
labour lost. The obstacles may be very great indeed, but they need
not discourage the sincere student of science. The question above
referred to has .three aspects in which it can be viewed, viz (1) planetary influences on the physical constitution of man, (2) planetary influences on his intellectual peculiarities, and (3) planetary influences
on his successes or failures in life here and hereafter. These may be
divided into further sub-divisions, but it is not desirable to go deep into
those unnecessary details in an elemantary work. Vedas have been declared to be the oldest books now extant, and almost all the Vedic passages are capable of being interpreted to explain the physical phenomena of the world. This perhaps will be a new revelation to many
of the Orientalists who held to the opinion that physical sciences in .
Sanskrit were completely wanting. After explaining the physical
phenomena, Vedas go a step further and deal with a nobler phenomenon the intellect of man, and its aims and objects with relation to its
Creator. It is not advisable to plunge deep into the metaphysical
side of this question and therefore avoiding all reference to it, I shall
confine myself as closely as possible to the explanation of the physical
phenomena. References to the great physical agents, tJiz, light, heat,
electricity, magnetism, gravitation, cohesion, adhesion and chemical
combination are largely found in the Vedic passages and these are
fully explained in a treatise called the " Soudamani Kala." There are
12 lacs of Sutras called the Bhoutikati Bhoutika sutras and some thousands of which are in my possession at present. I obtained them from a
Brahmin friend of mine who isa veritable encyclophedia of all the known
sciences of the earth. I heard him with many other friends and the
intellectual treats we had from him have not been mat.ched by any we
had the fortune to hear from the western scientists. These subjects have been most elaborately treated in pur ancient books, but
unhappily in a aymbolic language, which is not generally understood
by the ordinary pundits, and much less by the student who com-

Digitized by

Google

Di,fficulties of Sanscrit ScUnices.

mences his Vedic studies. I shall briefly explain some of the reasons
which go to show that the physical constitution of man is under the
direct influence of the planets. In -approaching scientific subjects
we must be as littla prejudiced as possible and follow the reasoning carefully. This is a sublime subject and requires a very calm
and patient study. By a close observation of our surroundings, we
shall be able to draw some inferences which have a great scientific
weight, and the value of which depends considerably upon the mode
of observation an<l the intelligence of the observer. All the planets\
shine by bol'l'owed light, from the Sun and hence in their influences
upon mankind they considerably differ as they take away something \
from the Sun's rays and add something of their own in the processes
of reflection and refraction. Further -on it will be shown, that
influences from different planets are required to develope the .
different senses of man. Quotations from the Vedas or Soudaminikala are quite out of place here, and those who are desirous to know
about these subjects are quite welcome to open correspondence with
me. Here I may take this opportunity of assuring my readers and
others, that on topics connected with this branch of knowledge I shall
always be willing to explain objections, as far as I am able
to do, with the limited time at my command. Just as the
time of one rotation of the Earth on its own axis constitutes
a day, so also the time of one revolution round the Sun makes
a year. The duration of such years depends on the system of
calculation, but this will not be relevant to our point. The Earth turns
as well as the great luminary the Sun, and this double rotation gives
rise to all the complicated phenomena we observe around us. In the
body of the Sun itself we see at intervals, huge dark spots, some of
them many times larger than the Earth we inhabit, appearing in
several places, sometimes moving regularly across the Sun's disk,
sometimes diaappearing rapidly in the spots they were first noticed, .
sometimes receding from the body of the Sun to tremendous distances, and then again falling apparently with great velocity upon the
Sun's surface. These appearances and disappearances of the Sunspots are not without their value in science and the reader will do well
to bear these facts in mind. Such phenomena are common, not only
to the great luminary, but they may also be noticed in t4e bodies .of

j'

Digitized by

Google

Dctrk Spols Among the Planets.

the other planets. These dark spotlt appear and disappear, on some
occasions at regular intervals, and on others apparently obeying no
fixed laws. The Sun is the chief source from which we get all our
light and heat, and the terrestrial phenomena is considerably affected
by the distribution of these .two agencies. The great natural forces
of cohesion, adhesion, gravitation and che~cal affinity have a universal application, and since the11e forces are constant .a nd invariable, it
is not reasonable to expect them to work continuously and yet produce no results on the Earthly phenomena. If these forces are universal, their influences must also be universal, and when we once grant
the proposition that they are universal, the minutest atom in nature
obeys them, as the largest compound brought into existance by the
very same forces working in a thousand w.onderful but mysterious ways.
In the theory of Evolution, it is a question, whether there are any other
forces than those already referred to whioh have been working to bring
about the results therein named. The list of the forces enumerated
above cannot be said to be exhaustive but may be taken as including some of the grandest /wees working .in Nature and assisting
her in her work of creation, protection ~md final destruction or dissolution. We cannot say that these forces . or agencies have been
idle, that they have not evolved all the complex: phenomena out of
the simpler materials subjected to their in{luences and that they
have not produced the grandest triumph . of their working viz.,
the formation of man with his most wonderful In~Ueot. The variety
in human species as well as in the animals and. vegetablefl, is tll.en
the direct result of these forces working under certain laws, which
though general, have still their " Vagaries." as we may be phased to
call them. We have first, the grand divisions in nature, viz.,
Mineral, Vegetable, and Animal possessing distinct characteristics.
These have been formed under certain given physical conditions, subject of course to the influences of the planetary rays. PhysWal, conditions mean the ac~ion and reaetion of the solar and ~p.e planetary rays
upon each other and upon the objective phenome~ of the earth. The
disin~tion of the rocks, the infiuence ofthe atmosp}iere., the work of
cold and heat, the ravages of magnetic and electrical waves, the endless
beatings of the oceanic waves, and t}\e tremendous combinatioJlS of
the various gases and their decomposition, are all .attributable to t_he

Digitized by

Google

Natuie's Triumph the Human Intetlect.

rays of the Sun and the Moon, and when they have been doing so
much work how can we say that these kingdoms are nOt under their
influences ? These grand divisions are divided into numberless genera,
species, and individuals, and as they are brought into their present shape
by the above named forces, they cannot escape the universal influence
of the planetary rays and take the mould which they give them for ad
aptation and existence. No two individuals in the vegetable or animal ora.
gainsation in nature are alike and this wonderful endless variety is
due to thousands of causes which have all been at work under the controlling power of the Sun's .rays. By studying these causes alone
man will never be able to predict their character, existence, develo~
ment, and final destruction. No one can say that these are the
results of blind Chance working without purpose, and not being
subjected to . superior controlling agencies from the planets. We,
get them from the e~ormous gaseous body called the Sun, and if this
is granted as it. must be, we have his direct influence on the_ minutest
object in nature whether it is animate or not. T.hose who cannot
see this simple fact in Nature, and who are determined not to see it
tllrough gross perverseness. in intellect, deserve more pity than
ridicule and such brains are really impregnable and . cannot be
assailed with any known laws of logic or reason. They must be let
alone in the history 9f animal creation to sink into the lowest wrung
in the ladder.
Admitting that we are under the direct control of the natural
forces, we see that the Sun's rays have a great influence on our
physique and character, because they determine .the cl.imateof_ ~
.pJ~e. " The prin,cipal f;~tor in the formation of climate" says an
eminent astronomer ~ is of course solar heat, the climate . of any place
depending primarily on the lengths of the days and nights, and on
the relative duration of the seasons. But climate is also greatly
affected, by the nature of the surface, whether it be land or water.
Water parts with its .heat much more slowly than the land does, audit thus retains a store, which serves to equalize the temperature.
On land again the climate depends to a very great extent on the
altitude. Climate is also modified by winds which transport heat and
moistu1" from one .place to another a~ by marine currents. Climate
determines to a very large extent the char~r of the 11inimal and

Digitized by

Google

Conditions determining the climat6.

the vegetable population of a country or its fauna and its flora." In

studying the -history of any place we observe a great many vicissitudes of climate, sometimes the area supporting a tropical or subtropical vegetation and at other times offering a congenial feeding
ground for herds of various animals. Such dift'erences of climate
may be partly accounted for by alterations in the relative distribution
of the masses of land and water, but some of thes~
changes appear so extreme that geologists are not able to
explain all the phenomem' satisfactorily, anq ~
~xplanations in.astro1\omical causef!. Astronomy, therefore, is able
to explain all the terrestrial and celestial phenomena and a study of
this sublime science affords the greatest incentive for the expansion
of the human intellect. We have seen that the Sun is a huge gaseous
body, around which all the planets, as well as the Earth revolve. We
have also seen that the surface of this huge body is spotted with dark
'Patches which appear black in as much as they are less luminous than
the intensely bright surface which surrounds them. These spots are
neither constant in shape nor in position, sometimes they are completely absent, sometimes they slowly move across the disk, often in
straight lines, but occasionally they move also in curved lines.
Observations of these sunspots have established the fact that the
Sun is not a fixed body, around which the planets, including the
Earth, revolve but that it has a motion of its own on its axis and
through space. Even in these sunspots, the surfaces are not uni- '
formally dark. There are degrees of darkness and these are believed
to be gigantic cavities, corresponding to different depths in the body .
of the Sun. The coarse mottling of the Sun's surface due to irregularities there, indicate lower levels where the spots are dark, and it ,
ig natural to suppose that in these parts, light is lost by absorption I
through the overlying atmosphere. During total eclipses of the Sun I
by the shadow of the Moon we see around the margin of the solar I
disk variously colored prominences, and from these red flames of
fantastical shapes, may be seen darting forth to the extent of 100 orl
150 thousand miles or even to greater distances. This will be a grand
and most interesting phenomenon and well worthy of close observa-:.
tion. These flames generally consist of the gas hydroge
and it is a significant fact, that this gas which forms so larg
1

Digitized by

Google

Sol,ar Spots.
a portion of the water of the Earth, should also play such an
important part in the constitution of the solar .outer disk.
The Sun is more than 92 millions of miles distant from the'
Earth, and at this tremendous distance the effects of the Sun's rays
are so powerful, that all the terrestrial phenomena are attributed to
their influence. Spectrum analysis has shown the existence of
large number of elements in the Sun, viz, hydrogmi, iron, zinc, magnesium, manganese, calcium, barium, lithium, sodium, nickel, copper,
aluminium, sulphur, phosphorous and oxygen. This list does not
exhaust the metallic and non-metallic elements found therein, and
when we refer to the composition of the plants and animals on the
surface of the Earth, we see we have all or many of them, which at
present seem to be indispensible to their growth, development and
destruction. The elements are, hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, nitrogen,
sulphur, phosphorous, chlorine, iron, silica, manganese, magnesium.
calcium, sodium, and potassium. But we cannot say definitely that
this list is exhaustive, for if it were so, the chemist would be able to
produce all the animals and plants without the help of Nature. We
have not yet succeeded in discovering and analysing all the forces
that are at work in the production of plants and animals and this
circumstance must impress upon our minds the necessity of developing these sciences more and more to meet objections which may be
rai~d against the so called trutha of modern sciences. From the surface
of the Sun enormous quantities oflight and heat are continually being
radiated in all directions. The Earth we inhabit, on account of its in
significantsize and tremendous distance from the Sun, can onlyreceive
but an extremely small quantity of the total amount of the solar energy
which is thus radiated into space by t.he great luminary. Calculations
have shown that the Earth receives less than the two thousand millionth part of the total quantity of the Sun's light and heat. All our
natural phenomena, which are entirely dependent upon solar heat and
light are therefore effected by this extremely minute fraction of the
Sun's stores of energy. When the huge globe we inhabit, with its
inaccessible snow-clad mountains, immeasurable oceans, mighty
irresistible rivers, grand interminable forests, and terrible seas of sand,
has been called into existence, and, is maintained in all its various
phases of life by this infinitesimally small quantity of the Sun's
energy, wha11 should be the frac.tion of the Sun's light and heat, that

. 2

Digitized by

Google

10

Secrets

of Nature UMB'Vealed.

would be required to call into exiitenee, any mineral, vegetable or,

animal individuality ? . As the proportion of the mass which
makes a man is to the proportion of the mass that forms
our globe so should be the proportion of the Sun's light
and heat to call the individual body into form to the proportion of the total quantity of his energy necessary to maintain
92 millions
of miles and separated from it by various atmospherical and ether
envelopes. This quantity, I have already represented is less than
the two thousand millionth part of the total qttantity of the Sun's
light and heat. Can:it be conceived what fraction of the Earth a man
is, and we can, then, that fraction of the less than the two thousand
millionth part of the Sun's energy will be quite enough to bring an
individual into existence, and destroy him again. I shall here work
out a few figures which show the extreme impossibility and utter
hopelessness of conceiving this minute atom of the Sun's force, which
is reqillred to build up and destroy an individual. The Earth sweeps
round the Sun on an orbit more than 180,000,000 miles in diameter
and the stars remain all but unchanged in their apparent position.
Thls clearly suffices to show the proportion of the tremendous distances
at which the starry spheres are located and the insignificance of the
earth and its measurements . . The Sun's diameter is 850,000 miles.
If the Earth is represented in mass as 1, the Sun's mass is 818,000
tiJD.e8 lal'g0r than the Earth. The volume of the Sun is 1,260,000 .
times larger than that of the Earth, At equal dilrt.ances, the Sun
~xerts SH~,000 times as much force on any body as the :Earth. So
that if 'the mass of the Earth were as great as the Sun's, his dimen- I
lions remaining unchanged, an object which no'w weighs one lb
would weigh more than 62,480 Un. Now a man of average weight. I
would : be C1"11shed doWn by a weight of more than 20,000 tons. A
body if raised but one inch and than let fall would strike the ground
with a. ~elooity three times aa great aa that of the swiftest express
train we have.

ihe globe at the incredible distance of more than

.
Let us take an example by which we may try 'to have .an idea of
the inconceivable fraction of the Snn~s stores of energy required to in
4l~ce au individual and bring him into existence. Fixing t'he
pulation -of the world roughly at 2,000 minions, and nppoSing tor
fultance that the Earth contains more 'min~taI, vegetaole iol- aUi

po-:

no

Digitized by

Google

11
mal matter, and)hat it ia ~lely composeq of hu.nlan be~. t~ we

see that the solar en~ requ,ired for one man will be two tho'Q.S&Jld
millionth part of the minut.e fraction of the Sun's power that the

4,000,000,000~000,000,000

Earth gets from him, or

th part of the Sun's
power radiated Uito space. We know there are animal species, each division of which contains m.illions,billjons and trillions of individuals. Take
the number of animals of all descriptions and say for argument'11 ~ewe
have 1,000000,000,000. Then the Sun's influence required for each individual of this class will be less than:the billionth part of the fraction
of the Sun's power which the Globe g~ts as its share among the planets, which, as we have already seen, is less than the two thousand
millionth part of the whole power radiated_ into space. Therefore each
animal will have to get less than2,ooo,ooo,ooo,;oo,ooo,ooo,ooo th
part of the whole. . In this case, as in the preceding example, we have
to imagine, for a moment, that the Earth contains no other than the
animals whose numbers I have already given. Men must, of course,
be excluded from the animal species. Take the birds of the Earth
and try to find out their number. We are of course attempting fi9
perform impossible things. Nobody has ever attempted to count or
can safely count the numbers of animals, much less of birds and insects.
. Granting their number, for the sake of simple calculation, to be more
than 1,000,000 times the number of animals, and supposing for a
single moment that the Earth's mass is composed of bird matter alone,
each individual bird gets one .millionth into one billionth part of the
fraction cif the Sun's rays viz. less than two thousand millionth part,
or 2,ooo,ooo,ooo,ooo)oo,ooo,ooo,ooo,000 th fractiop of the soJar.
power. Go a step further and find out the number of animalculm in
the world. It seems to be more easy for a man to attempt to count the
wains of sand in the sea than to attempt to number the animalCU:}a), .
when we remember, that a drop of blood of the musk deer held by
the point of a fine needle contains millions of corpuscles or living
organisms. The reader will now be taken to find out the number of
plants on the surface of the Earth. I am simply asking the readers
to perform impossibilities. Who can count the number of plants,
their b.ranches, $eir flowers, berries and their .fruits ? If this im-

Digitized by

Google

possibility is overcome, then each of the fruits will have that fraction
of the solar heat which is represented by their total number multi
plied by two thousand millions, the fraction of the solar energy, the
Earth gets to produce its terrestrial phenomena. In this case also
we have to suppose that the Earth is soley composed of vegetable
matter and nothing else.. But if we take the number of molecules,
forming our earthy compounds mineral, vegetable and animal, and
try to fifld out what fraction of the solar energy is wanted for each
object, we have no mathematics which would enable us to comprehend their value. It would, I am afraid, be more easy for men to fly to
the solar regions and compell the great luminary himself to give them
some figures, consistent with his inconceivable colossal magnitude
and power than to attempt to imagine to themselves these fractions of
fractione,until they are lost in thewondrousregionsofnumbers. Human
imagination recoils in attempting this ' impossible task and reason goes
mad to solve an unsolvable problem. Imagine now, what will be the
proportion of the mass of an individual, to the mass of the globe, and
see if it is possible to find out the inconceivable fraction of the Sun's '
in:fluence that is needed to call it into existence and destroy it again
for redistribution in Nature.
Gravitation is not confined to Earth, but is exerted in various
degrees by every mass of matter on every other matter in the universe.
When two bodies attract each other the greater the matter the greater
is the intensity othe attractive force. The Sun is a gigantic mass of .
matter and attracts all bodies which move round him. Astronomers have I
discovered more than 250 ,Planets, which thus revolve round the Sun,
but by far the greater number are small and insignificant and have
very little or no influence on terrestrial conerns. Eight of them are large
planets of which the Earth is one, and as our observations are made to
see the planetary infiuenoes upon the terrestrial phenomena, we are
principally concerned with the remaining seven which the ancients had
already marked by significant names. All these planets are retained
in their orbits by their gravitation towards the Sun, which as already
explained, forms the great centre of the solar system. Every thing upon
theEarth's surfaceissubjected to terrestrial and celestial gravity and the
other components of the Universe also exercise their attraction upon
us. The origin, development and decay of compounds must therefore be .
determined by the balance of all these forces or attractions working in a

Digitized by

Google

Minute :l>iviaioni of Matter.

18

mysterious , way. The rotation of the Earth combined with the attraction of the ocean by the Sun and the Moon,, gives rise to tidal waves. I
have tried to show above that all the phenomena of life is chiefly due
to the Sun and my statements have been those which are universally
accepted, because they have all been taken from scientific works. Without the Sun, therefore, there could neither be rain nor springs nor rivers
nor lakes; nor oceans. Rains are dependentfor distribution and intensity
upon currents in the atmosphere and these are due to disturbances of
equilibrium brought about by means of solar heat. If there had been /
no Sun to shine upon the Earth there could have been no winds. The )
Sun has been shown to be the real agent in the formation of ocean cur- 1
rents. So far as we know of vegetable or animal life, we see its mani- \
festation entirely due to solar heat and light. In fact, the great changes \,
experienced at the different epochs of the world's history, whether
natural, political, social, moral, religious or intellectual, are entirely
due to our varying relations with the glorious body with which every
one of us is familiar, but about whose tremendous influence on the
globe the greater we try to know the greater remains for us yet to
know. , It requires therefore no high stretch of imagination to con-J
ceive that our physical constitution. is under the direct influence of
the Sun. When the globe we inhabit is under the direct infiuence
of the Sun, and here we have to remember that only a very very minute
fraCtion of the Sun's light and heat has been shown to have worked
all these ',terrestrial phonomena, how can we say that the individual
body, be it mineral, vegetable or animal is not under the direct influence of the all powerful rays of the same great luminary ? When the
globe itself is formed into its present shape by an infinitismally small
quantity of the Sun's power, it does not require a ve'llY high order
of intellect to comprehend that the individual bodies composing the
globe must also have been brought into existence by the smallest
conceivable power from the same wonderful body called the Sun. It
seems almost incredible that persons living on the surface of the
Earth, should ever be able to learri anything about the chemical constitution of the Sun, which, by the roughest calculation, is more than
92 millions of miles removed from us ; but such has been the power
of the intellect of man that the most mysterious and difficult laws of
the U i.iiverse have been brought within its knowledgt;i and elaborately
treated after a series of indisputable observations. Those who have

Digitized by

Google

Tks Wm* of Sow Ray1,

known something -N gases and their tremendous powen under C8l'o
tain given physical conditions, willreadily agree with me, when I say
that owing their origin to the rays ofthe Sun, they have not been idling
their time in the Universe, but that they b,ave been doing their work
most incomprehensively. There are gases in the earth and the at;.
m.osph.ere a single breath of which will kill a man or any other living
animal instantaneously, and there are others, which .when brought
into contact with each other in the smallest quantities imaginable blow
up not only ordinary structures but break the most hardy rocb in
twaia. With so many forces at constant work, we are not justified :
in asserting dogmatically, that we remain unaffected by their work
and that the results of such work have been lost upon us. The Sun's
rays acting upon the watery surfaces convert water into vapour, va-pour rises into the atmosphere and is there condensed by means of
cold blasts of wind, and falls down as dew and rain, rain supporta T.egetation and vegetation sustains man. Man is the creature of cireuQlatanoes and wherever he is placed, he readily adapts himself to his
Slll'l'Oundings with a wonderful flexibility which is not so richly pos
sassed by other animals and it is plain therefore that he is mftueneed :
by them. A man exposed to the morning rays of the Sun gets aoon
'bilious. We see here that there is some mysterious power in the
morning rays which act on the biliary ducts in man. A person expoeed
to the midday sun not only finds that he has lost water by means
of free perspiration but also feels very thiraty and fatigued The influence is invisible but the result is thoroughly demQnStrable.We feel '
exhilirated on fine mornings and evenings and dejected on gloomy
ones. The great Amarasimha calls sunless days Durdinas or evil da.ys.
One exposesJ. to the evening rays of the Sun
grov1
' healthy instead of bilious. The rays therefore undergo a remarkable change when the Sul). travels in the sky.The apparent movement
of the Sun and his heating powers increasing till noon and decreasing
ever afterw.ards till sunset, have a direct eft'ect upon all objects
exposed to their influences and this is such a simple matter as to re- I
quire no further facts to support it. The chem,ical ~ffects of the refracted rays are co11siderably ilifferent u11der different circumstane:es
,and oa different substances at different times. The calculati.o~
.above given .have .already shown the ntlnu~ees of the Sun's power
that would be required to e1Feot changes iJl the co:mpo1,1i~i~n 9f ~Qe
1

Digitized by

Google

Va''Y'ing .Rilati<ms with t'lw Sun.

JI)

individual object whether mineral, vegetable or animal.

Every ob-

ject in nature offers its surface to the action of the Sun's light and
heat, or their modified pres8111'0 and their combined action is so powerful upon the smallest living or dead organism, that the changes effected
therein have the same bearing on the combination and redistribution
of the .atoms as they have on the bulkiest or mightiest of the animals.
These atoms enter into an infinite series of combinations.
forming parts of organized bodies vegetable or animal, and
after discharging their respective functions, they are thrown
oft' again, mixing with the air, the soil, or other organised
matter, and again and again running through these rounds of physi
cal combinations. The constituent atoms of matter are thus constantly performing their circles of duties in the economy of nature.
with infinitely more certainty and regularity than is observed in the
beat disciplined army or the moet regulated Government. The
minuteness of some of these organisms, animal, vegetable, or
mineral may be noticed here, so that we can see at a glance, that the
most inconceivable fraction of the Sun' light and heat is enough to '
work the greatest wonders. When a body is subjected to the acti~
of heat or light its elements are readily decompo1Jed and its con* )
tuent particlea eeparated so that many of them combine with other 1
particles of matter and form new substances possessing altogetheJ" ,
d.Urerent properties. The microscopic researches have disclosed molf;)
8'111'prising ex&Dlples of the minuteness of which organised matter is
susceptible. ~t many f!pecies of infusorie are so small that millions
of them colleeted into one mass wolilld not e;x:oeed the ~ulk of a
grain of sand, and that a thousand of them might swim $ide by 111i~
through the eye 0 a fine needle. In a :variety of slate foUJld ill
Bohemia, which consists almost entirely of these shells, a cubic
inch contains 41,000,000,000. One cubic inch of this weigh.$ 220
graiu of sand, and oue grain therefore contains one hllndred and
eigaty s~ -millions, and that therefore each of these would w~gb
.
1
t}i~~

.
186,000,000 -~ fm"D
A thread of spider's web four miles long weighs little more than
a grain, and it has been ascertained by very delicate experiments that
this thread consists of 6600 filaments. The diameter of the red J>articles

i:

in .tb.e hllllWlblood u3 00th. ~ of a~ ~ch, imd W.. ~9~e 4;pec.ies ~f

Digitized by

Google

16

W~1

of Natu,,B' Worklhop.

animals it is hardly 121000 th part of an inch. If a drop of the blood

,
.
of the muskdeer be suspended from the point of a fine needle, it
would contain about 120,000,000 corpuscles. Microscopic researches
have disclosed the existence of animals, which are inferior in magnitude to the globules of blood ; and yet, each of these living organisms
is composed of members as admirably suited to its mode of life as
that of the largest animal. 'fheir motions display all the phenomena
of life, sense and instinct. They move with the most surprising speed
and agility, their motions and actions are notblindand fortuit.ous, and
they are evidently governed by choice and directed to an end. Since
they eat and drink, necessary for their existence, they must have been
supplied with a digestive apparatus, and their muscular power far exceeds the strength and flexibility, relatively speaking, of the larger
species of animals. These minute organisms are susceptible of the
same appetites, and obnoxious t.o the same passions, as the superior
animals, and though differing in degree, the satisfaction of these
desires seems t.o be attended with the same results. A soap bubble
floating in the light of the Sun reflects t.o the eye an endless
variety of the most gorgeous tints of color, and each of these
tints therefore must corresp~nd t.o a certain thickness of the
substance forming the bubble, and it bas been shown by very
delicate experiments that almost all transparent substanct's, when ,
reduced t.o a certain degree of tenuity, would reflect these colors. At
the highest point of the bubble, before it bursts, is observed a blackspot
which reflects no color. The thickness at this point is the 2,500,000th
part of an inch. The bubble at this point pbssesses the properties of j
"'ater as essentially as does the water in the grand ocean that surroundS :ns, and conseque~tly the ultimate molecules forming water must
have less dimensions than this thickness, A mile of platinum wire
would not weigh more than a grain of sand. If a piece of marble be
reduced to a fine powder by grinding, and purified by careful washing, I
~ its particles, when examined by a powerful microscope, will .be. found
t;o.consist of blocks bavingrhomboidal forms, and angles as perfect and
as accurate, as the finest specimens of calcareous spars. Even when
the process of pulverization is pushed to the utmost practical 'limits, it
is s~ill found that the same forms are most remarkably repro~uced. A
grafu of ordinary musk will impregnat.ethe atmosi)here of a room, With
1

Digitized by

Google

17

AUracti-On of Oosm,ical Matters.

its scent, for twenty years or more without suffering any appreciable
loss in its weight ; consequently every particle of .the atmosphere
which produces the sense of the odour must contain a certain quantity
of the musk. I can adduce further illustrations of the extreme
minuteness of the atoms, which under the action of the Sun's light and
heat, have been producing all the terrestrial phenomena. Here the
work of the Sun's rays is well defined and directed towards the accomplishment of certain objects. How then can we say that our
bodies are not under the influence of the all powerful rays of the Sun,
.when the smallest animalculre are under his direct control, and exhibit the phenomena of life as we have been doing? We can plainly ,
see the solar rays falling on the skin;' warming it, and affecting thereby our sense of touch, they illuminate it, and affect our sense of vision, :
they tan it, but the effect is not directly cognisable by any sense we
possess though indirectly sensible both to vision and touch. In this )
way the different senses of the human body are created, developed, :
sustained and destroyed by means of the solor rays which not only act !
directly on our bodies, but also indirectly affect them by means of i
reflection from the surfaces of the other planets, which, as we know,
shine by borrowed light from the Sun. Gravitation is not confined to
the Earth, but is exerted in various degrees by every mass of matter
in the Universe. When two bodies attract each other, the greater the
mass the greater is the attractive force; and gravitation varies inversely .
as the square of the distance: The Earth is completely subject to the
Sun's attraction, .and consequently every atom in it, however minute it
might be in magnitude, must necesarily be subjected to the same influence. The Sun is a gigantic mass of matter and attracts all the
cosmical bodies which move round it.
The Sun not only draws all the cosmical materials towards himself
but also imparts to them tremendous velocities, the greater the distance
from which they come greater is the velocity he imparts to them.
fo their onward course they are subject to the influence of the other
planets, the patrols of the solar system, and under such disturbing
influences they must necessarily be compelled to follow either tem. porarily or permanently the directions indicated by the combined influences. In this continual rush of matter, this constant interchange
of attendants, it is possible to recognize the progress of processes, ex3

Digitized by

Google

18

Motion due to the Sun.

ereising the most potent .influence on the welfare of the tmTestrial

phenomena. It is also probable that the bodies which are :finally
[ drawn into the solar domain perform highly important functions in
the economy of NatUl'e. We have seen that everything on the surface of the Earth is subjected to terrestrial and celestial gravity and the
other components of the Universe have also been shown to exercise
their attraction upon us. The creation, development and decay of all
compounds must therefore be determined by the balance of these
forcea or attractions. Recent scientific researches have strikingly
shown us that in all terrestrial phenomena, we see the action of a
certain proportion of the su:nforce. One of the greatest modem
aatronomers thus writes upon the Sun's influence on the Earthly
/ phenomena. "The Sun's rays are th& ultimate source of almost every
( motion which takes place on the smface of the Earth. By its heat
are produced all winds, and those disturbances in the electric eqilibrium
of the atmosphere which~ve rise to the phenomena of lightning, and
probably also to terrestrial action and the aurora. By their vivifying
action vegetables are enabled to draw support from ino.rganic matter
and become in their turn support of animals and man, and the source
of those deposits of dynamical efficiency which are laid up for hu.m&Jl
use in our coal strata. By them the waters of the sea are made to
( circulate in vapour through the air, and irrigate the land, prodooing
) springs and rivers. By them are produced all disturbances of the
t chemical equilibrium of the elements of Nature, which by a series of
1
compositions and decompositi<me give rise to new prod'uets and originate a transfer of materials. Even the slow degradation of the solid
constituents of the surface in which its chief geological change consists,
is almost entirely due on the one hand to the abrasion of wind or rain
and the alt.eration of heat and frost, on the other to the continual
beating of sea waves agitated by winds the results of solar r~diati.on.
The eftect of oceanic currents (m8inly originating in that infl.11.en.ce).
though slight in abrasion, is powerful in diffu11ing an.d transporting
the matter abraded, and when we consider the immense tra.ufer of
inatter so produced, the in.crease of pl'essure over large spaces in th.e
bed of the ocean and. the diminution over corresponmng pertions Qf
i the land, we are not at a loss to percieve, how the elastic force o-f
1ubterranean fires thus repressed on the one hand and released on. the

Digitized by

Google

19

Supply of Solur B'Mrgy.

other may break forth in points where the resistance is barely adequate
to their retent.ion and thus bring the phenomena of even volcanic i
activity under the general law of solar influence." The amount of j
solar heat received per hour at noon under the equator would melt
890,000,000,000, tons ofioe. Expressing the same resUlt by another
method we might say that the Sun's heat received during one year
would be able to heat an ocean of fresh water sixty miles deep from
the temperature of melting ice to the boiling point. Yet this enormous annual supply of heat is but the 1-2,138,000,000th part of that
which the Sun actually radiates into space in the course of a single
year. I have already said that the rays of the Sun, in ~be morning,
noon and evening produce percept.ably different effects upon the
physique of man. Want of bis rays makes us inactive and melancholy. The feeling of exhiliration on fine mornings and evenings
are simply indescribable. Such sensations of pain or pleasure must
be said to be due to solar influences. Pleasant moonlight acts
powerfully on our minds and makes us happy. The Negroes of
Africa owe their thick lips, ugly forms and curled stout hairs to the
influence of the Sun's rays, as do the fair creatures of the Nonh of
Europe, their fine forms, regular features and inviting looks. The
Patagonian owes his tall body to the solar rays as does the pigmy his
stunted form. Fruits get racy by exposure to light and heat and flowers
blossom under similar influences. All these facts have their scientific
pl&ce and value. Food, clothing, climate, seed and other surround- 1
ings determine the character of not only the man but also of the
animal. . We thus see that we are incessantly acted upon by the
invisible and inconcievable forces that surround us, and when we say .
that we are under their influences we do not require the readers to ,
believe alllfthing D10re than what they actually see and feel. I can \
wultiply many interesting facts in this connection but I have already \
grown lengthy.
I now proceed to show the influences of the planet:e on
tnan'a int.ellectual peculiarities. This is a very important subject
and volumes might be written in its elucidation. I.have here neither
time nor space to devote much to its explanation but the Introduotion would not be complete without a few observations on this all
a~bing subject. It is, not only a very important subject, but it

Digitized by

Google

20

What i.s Mind.

is also a very difficult one to treat. Without entering into the

niceties of psychology or physiology in its definition of mind and
matter, we all know that our mind is different from our body. The
distinction is broad enough and is easily understood in a general way
by all men of ordinary abilities. H "mind" is to be accepted as a
something, which is not the result of our birth, breeding, education
and surroundings, then we have to credit its presence in our bodies
__ to some Unknown Hand, to which, we are quite welcome to give any
dignified name as God, Nature, etc ; but if on the other hand we
have to consider our "will" as the result of birth, breeding, education
and surroundings, we can easily trace its work to the circumstances
1 under which it has been first called into existence. This, I admit, is a
~ very difficult problem to solve and I had better leave it to abler
heads. I shall here, however, confine myself to its workings so far
as we can trace them through our bodies and directly under the
control of the nervous system. Brain is the seat of sensation and
feeling, and these sensations and feelings are centered there by means
of external impressions conveyed to it through the nervous system,
which has its principal seat in the head and from which springs the
Spinal-Column which distributes its net-work of nervous channels
throughout the human body. In insects, birds and animals sexual
union, with few exceptions, has been considered indispensable for the
propogation of their species. In man it is found to be absolutely necessary. Whatever may be the process for the formation of the vital essence
in parents, one thing is certain, 1Jiz. that without food and nourishment,
the human body never acquires this active principle of prolJogating
( its species. .After coapulation and impregnation, the mother requires
1 generally more nourishment and delicate treatment than when she
I was not pregnant. It is therefore clear, that food, climate and other
; physical conditions are necessary for the development of the young
. fretus. Without entering into the details of such development, which
\ are beautifully sketched out in the Pindotpathi Adhyam or Treatise
i on the devel,opment of foetus and in the astrological works, and which is
' irrelevant for our present purposes, we know that after a certain stage
1 of growth in the womb of the female, the infant is thrown out by internal
forces and it sees for the firat time the light of the Sun. Henceforward
the mysterious bond of union which served to meet all the demands of

Digitized by

Google

llefracti<>n of Sunlight.

21

nature, while the foetus was in the womb, is now severed and the infant /
will have to be cared for as any other object which has a separate indi- ,
vidual existenQe. It is very material therefore to see, where the child '.
is born, for much of its success in future generally depends upon its !
surroundings in the commencement. The matter of the accident of ./
birth, 11.s some are pleased to call it, is a matter on which the whole :
future of the man depends and therefore ought never to be despised (/
by any sensible person. As its mother and father were under the direct
influence of the Sun, as it had to be fed through the maternal
channels since the commencement of its existence in the womb and asj
it is no~ under the direct influence of the solar rays, the babe even
before its birth, experienced the effects of the planetary influences
not directly but indirectly through its mother. At the time of its birth
we see in it the rudiments of an undeveloped brain, ready to receive
external impressions through the senses and store them in the brain cells
for its future use. While the soul has been placed by astrologer~
under the direct influence of the Sun, the mind has been credited to the
direct influence of the Moon. It is stated by scientists that as the
Moon is nearer to us than the Sun, the influence of her rays is grea- /
ter than that of the Sun. But the Moon borrows her light from the )
Sun and therefore can only produce such effects, as are attributed to
the rays of the Sun; with this difference that as she has the power of
reflecting the Sun's rays she does so with considerable change in their I
chemical and physical effects. The air is the same all over the world,
but as it is considerably affected by the contact of local objects, so
also are the rays of the Sun by their contact with other bodies. They
give something of their own and take something from the bodies with
which they come in contact. Water gives us an excellent example of
the modifications by the nature of the soil on which it flows. When
the solar rays are refracted, the spectra oflight contain seven different
colors, which not only bear no resemblance to the white light, which we
see around us, but which also possess great differences in their heating
and chemical effects. The seven colors into which white solar light is
broken are represented by a short formula which caneasilybe remembered by the student, and every letter of which stands for the name of
a color which begins with it. VihgyO'I' countains 7 letters, V stands for
violet, I for indigo,B for blue, G for green, Y for yellow, 0 for orange

Digitized by

Google

22
and R for red. The violet rays are the most refrangible, while the red
rays are the least refrangible. The heating power of the refracted ray
seems to be diminished towards the violet while they increase towards
the red end; and hence it is probable that red objects, whieli absorb all
other than the red rays, heat our visual organs considerably and affect
them. On the other hand green objects refresh the eyee andstrengthen
them. Because at the green part of the band the effects of the two extremes seem to be perfectly neutralised. Nor are the heating and chemical effects of the rays confined to the visible spectrum, but extend
far beyond the colon. The greatest heat is felt-beyond the red nys,
after which we see no bright colors but dark bands. Therefore the
solar rays, besides illuminating and heating substances on which they
fall, produce considetable changes in the appearances and constitution
f()f many substances. The real nature of this action is not yet clearly
understood by the modem chemist, but the observed results are modi.ii.cations of the chemical condition of the substances acted upon. "It
is worthy of notice however'' remarks a great t!cientist "that we ba\te
.a sense by which the action of the longer light waves corresponding
to tbe r.ed ead and the parts beyond the red end of the apectnun
:recognized by us, and another sense enabling us to recognise the action
medium waves correspondingtotheyellowpart of the11pectmm,and
in gradually diminishing the waves correoapondingtopartsuptothered
oend on one side and the violet end on the other side, but we. have no
ense enabling us to recognise directly the action of the shorterwaves
corresponding to parts of the spectrum beyond the violet end. Is it not
c.onceivable that some creatures, eTen among terrestrial beings, may
possess a sense, enabling them to recognise the action of these short
waves and that such a aenae may give them powers as distin~ from the
powers we possess in virtue of the sensea of touch and of sight, as
the sense of sight is diatil).ct from the senfil8 of touch ? A man born
blind. may not be more incapable of conceiving the nature of the sense
of sight and of the powem it CQnfers upon those who p688688 it, than
those who have all the fi'V'e senses are, of the powers which may be
actually ~ by craatlll'es having org~ns auitM to appreciate
the action of the shorter light.-waves." The soul is considered higher
by the philosophers and religionists of all ages and countries than
the mind or will, and soul-sirangthening rays can only ~JBS ffoJn the

Digitized by

Google

Rel.atWn. of Mind lo Body.

23

Sun wh~ is by universal consent, placed at the head of the planehry

system. We have seen by experience, that idiots and lunatics are considerably affected on new Moon and full Moon days, more so on full
Moon than on new Moon days. If we take a small needle and bring
it before a magnet we see an invisible cause of motion on the part of
the needle towards the magnet. We know the effect but not the cause.
We call it magnetism but we do not know why that phenomenon is
produced. In the same way, by the combination or contact of certain
substances we see .a force generated which we call electricity. Our
nervous cahents are identified with electrical currents and the greater the nervous energy the greater will be the willforce or strength
of mind in man.. Weak men have weak minds while strong ~have
strong minds. .A aoU'lld mind in a sound body says the proverb. Here
the word sound or strong will have to be interpreted with :referene& to
nenoua energy. It is . not the quantity of flesh in the body that.
makes a man: really useful or courageous. but it is the quantity and
quality of the brain and the nervous system that make the great man
he is. We have seen that the rudiments of th0 brain in the infimt:
are conatantly under the influence of the external as well as internal force.s, which owe their origin and existence to the iniluence of
the Sun's rays. The mind therefore takes its strength or weakneaa
from the in:flu.enc& of the planets. Shall we say tliat the human mind
is not a5'cted by the sunstroke, mirages, heated: atmosphere and poi
llOllOW! gases in swampy and damp ple.ces? shall we affirm with ny
show of sense that it is not affected by the luxuriant growth of the
tropical vegetatiQD or the stunted shrubbery of the- frigid regions P
Shalt we say that the mighty riven, the seas of sand, the ex!Ubitiolt.
of vitality among the loweat formB of insects, the storing of eletrroal
enrrents among the marine animals, the great virtues .of the medical
herbs, the powers of the plants and animals m the selection: ud aBSi.,.
milation of their food, and the convulsio.ns of the llla.rth, with their
rapid motions, Bometimeis from one end to the. other, aometiJJles eoafined iX) natTo.iP areas, leave no traces upon the hum.an intellectl and do
not in the least affect human mind? & will be a.grand sceptic iadeed
who can boldly aftinn that hi11 mind ia notaffueted by the surroundiag
Nature and its constant work. 'l'hat om mini is fully affeded by-tile
e.xtel'JW feea ii riehly illlustrated by the Dltlital varietiea uhil>i--

Digitized by

Google

"

24

Featal Devel,opment.

ted by the different typea of mankind. The formation of the brain

matter depends on the past and present conditions of life and as
these differ in different countries, we come across a great variety of
intellectual phenomena which otherwise would be simply inexplicable.
Europeans living in tropical climates exhibit a change in their intellect
in the short space of two or three generations. Negroes in temperat.e
Zones do the same and we can quote examples, wherefu the brain
of man, by change in food, clothing and climate has undergone
material alterations, in some cases showing sigas of clear deterioration and in others perceptible progression. How 'are we t.o
account for this strange phenomena in the human intellect !
Are we to suppose that these phenomena are not effected by
the light and heat we get from the Sun ? How can we
account for these changes, if not by the influences from the Sun.?
When the Earth is itself formed into its present shape by the solar
rays, what logical argument could we adduce to prove that the bodies
on the face of the Earth are not affected for good or bad by . those
universal forces.? We have seen: that slight variations in the thermometer produce happiness or misery to tholisands or millions of people. I
A trifling change in the weather brixigs on neuralgia, headache, bronchitis, sore eyes, fever, small pox, cholera, dylientry, plague and a host
of other diseases. and when persons are affected by them by the change I
of weather through solar causes, shall we say that their minds remain
intact and thereby escape the effects of these influences? We had infl.uenza ten years ago sweepl.ng all over the world and carrying away
hundreds and thousands of people and can we safely say that it produced
. no change in the minds of men and affected none of their relations in i
the world. Can we say that similar visitations are not the results of I
changes in climate brought about by the solar rays ? Some years ago
the solar light from being pure white, exhibited a strange phenomenon I
and appeared yellowish. I may not be correct in attributing the prevalence of the influenza to the change and . physical conditions thus
effected in the solar rays then, but who can say that such changes in I
the composition of the Sun's light produced no results immediate or
remote on the jlma and the fauna of the country where it prevailed.
During the last three years plague, famine and war have been doing
a great deal of havoc among the people. These were foretold by me'
j'

Digitized by

Google

Brain ii controlkd by the Sun.

25

long be.fore t~ey happened as also by some other European astrologers,

and my predictions were solely based on the combinations of planets,
and their various aspects. In by gone ages people had similar visi~
tations. The Black Death in Europe in the middle ages was a not.orio_us example of this kind. The ware prevalent show a similar mfluence.
Statesmen may remain calculating, kings may be unwilling to enter
the battle field but a sudden madness seizes the nation, and the
standard of rebellion is raised and millions of people enter the arena
with death floating before their eyes, and for months or years they
go on killing and murdering each other, as if they had nothing
nobler to engage their attention. We may call it the age of rebellion,
war, or pestilence or anything we please ; but how can we account
for such occurrences unless the combined action of certain planets
influences the brains of people in a particular locality, state or country
and makes them rush on a work which generally ends in their utter
ruin and the distress of thousands of their beloved families? Not only
villages and towns are ruined in this way but nations haTe ceased to exist
and their names have been erased altogether from the pages of the
world's history. We know that the quantity and the quality of the brain
determine the mental calibre of each individual and these will be
developed under the influence of the solar rays. I do not mean to
say, that I have exhausted the grounds on which I base my
opinion, but I have thrown several suggestions; which if carefully
investigated, will give us much food and perhaps might give
us better insight into the truths of astrological formulas than we
know them at present, I shall here quote one or two remarks from
eminent writers which illustrate the truth of my observations about
the effects of climate and food on the mind of man. Reffering to the
Bengalis a writer says. "Living on rice in a hot steamy climate
they are physically one of the weakest races in India. They are
however industrious and intellectually occupy the foremost rank.
One peculiarity about their dress is that they generally go bareheaded." "From their climate and food, the people (Beharese) are
taller and stronger than the Bengalie." Here the writer admits that
they are intellectually inferior to the Bengalie. The development of
the brain therefore depends entirely on the influences exerted upon
it both before and after birth by the great planets which g0 011
4

Digitized by

Google

26

Influences of So/,a,r EMTgy.

moving continually round the Sun; If on the other hand, we grant

that there is a separate thing called "mind or will1' which is not the result
ofthese forces working on the body through the senses, but implanted
in it by a Higher Power, it is very difficult for us to suppose that
even such a thing, if it exists, could remain unaffected by the sur
rounding body which holds it, and which is entirely subjected to the
(several influences already enumerated in the preceding pages. In
either case it must be granted that the intellect of man is direc~Iy
affected by the surrounding influences both physical and mental.
' We know by science, that magnetism and electricity, which have
been playing such important part& in the formation and destruction
of the terrestrial phenomena, come directly from the Sun, through
his rays, and when the latter are refracte_d, their chemical effects
/ must necessarily be different on the different parts of the human
y_ system. The Sun is considered to be very powerful on newmoon
days, and a reference to the world's history will tell us that the
greatest men have generally died before newmoon days. In spite
of the difficulties which surround the position of an ordinary man, he
can rise above them by a large store of nervous energy or will force.
The biographies of great men give us ample proofs of this statement.
They were born under a favourable conjunction of the planets, and
their mental energies, due to such influences, raised them far abo,e
their fellow creatures. Astrology says that a man becomes great
when the horoscope has exalted planets in it and loses money when they
have debilitated planets. Planetary exaltations and debilitations are
demonstrable facts and those who watch the solar rays in April and
May, find that astrology has spoken only the Trutli.
In a forest we see some trees growing tall and majestic, while
others almost sp1-inging in the very same beds showing all the
symptoms of decay and stunted growth. Here the reasons for these
marked changes a.re not clear and no amount of botanical knowledge
will enable us tO trace it to their final causes. Previous causes,
which have been at work in the spot, must be satisfactorily explained
before we can make an attempt to umavel the mysteries of this
apparent deviation from a general law. In a field which is carefully
ploughed, manured and watered, we see the same marked differences,
certainly not attribut.a.ble to defects in culti"ation or weakness in the

'l

Digitized by

Google

27

Mi'ltd Moukled by SurroundingR.

seed but to something else whi~h the scientist has not yet explored.
In the same way forces, minute to a degree, produce wonderful

differences in nature and these must be determined carefully before

we can account for the variety we witness in this world. Astrology
says that the mind of man is under the control of the Yoon. The
slightest obliquity in her rays, with other influences favouring or
count;el'acting them, produces great and perceptible changes in
the mind of man and the art by which we calculate these
previous forces under a symbolic language constitutes the subject
proper of astrology. The determination of the obliquity of
the rays of the difrerent planets expressed in the symbolic
language of quadrants, trines, &c. enables the adept in this science
to predict with certainty how they work out their results and \Vhat,.....- \
effects they produce upon the child. It is not the time of birth alone I
that ne<5ds to be ~ken into consideration, but the influences of the ./
planets as they move along from day to day, from month to month \I
and from year to year, must also be recorded. The combinations and _
permutations of these Planets, Zodiacal Signs, their divisions and
sub-divisions and the Constellations of stars produce an endless
variety in the life of man and, if properly worked out, can satisfactorily account for all the terrestrial and celestial phenomena by which
we are surrounded. The seed is prepared under the influence of the
Sun, the bed is prepared under the same influence and the child
before and after its birth is placed under the same all pervading in1luence. The mind, whether it be the result of education and circumstances or implanted in the human body by an Unknown andan
Unknowable Hand, must necessarily partake of the nature of its
surroundings and be affected considerably by t.hem. The intellectual
peculiarities of man, therefore, are the direct result of the action of
the Sun's rays. It has been alleged by scientists that our tastes and
dislikes are due to the elevation or depression of the nervous centres
and these elevations and depressions are directly traced to solar light
and heat, magnetism and electricity. Mind cannot sit separately
from our tastes and our dislikes. They affect mind and mind affects
them. We have yet to consider how planets affect our success and
failure in life. We know that the Sun is the fountain head froni
.which we get all our electricity and magnetism. Our nervous cur-

Digitized by

Google

28

I>iviftonl of Solar EMriY

rents have been shown to be identified with electrical currents.

Electricity is divided into two Kinda, positive and negative. Electricities of the same kind repel each other \Vhile electricities of the
opposite nature attract el:!Ch other. This can easily be illustrat.ed bya
simple experiment. If two substances, silver and sulphuric acid are
brought into contact with each other, a force is generated, which can
be induced in to a small pith ball by means of a copper wire. Similarly,
charge with electricity another nicely balanced ball with the same
kind of electricity and bring the two balls together. The two balls
repel each other and fly apart. Now, instead of silver, dip zinc, we
get another force of a similar nature, but exhibiting different propel'ties and the .two balls electrified by means of this process show an
inclination not to meet each other but to fly away from each other as
did the first set of balls. But if we bring a ball of the first electricity
close to a ball of the second electricity, we at once observe a marked
change in their behaviour. Instead of flying away from each other
they attract one another, and remain in contact, until we separate
them with the necessary force.
Here we observe certain laws. Electricity gene~ated by the
contact of silver with sulphuric acid differs from electricity derived
from zinc and sulphuric acid. The first kind of electricity is called
Positive or North, and the second is called Negative or South electri( city. In the Universe, there is no object which is not pervaded by
/ this great physical agent called e'lect1icity, and in all objects, whether
, animated or not, we see positive and negative electricities combining
/ together, only with this difference th11t the quantities of these two
L kinds of electricities are not equal and constant in those bodies.
.There is also another fact in this connection which is worthy of notice
and that is, that in nature, under certain physical conditions, which
have not been clearly understood by scientists, these two kinds of
electricities suddenly change their sides and exhibit altogether different phenomena. For the sake of convenience, we must call these
objects positively or negatively electrified bodies, as positive or negative electricit.y preponderates in them.
I have already stated that our nervous cutTents do nothing more
than carry these electriool currents, they are identified with them and

Digitized by

Google

Plum<>r1Una of Eleclncal Energy.

29

thus become the most important factors in the constitution of man.

For man could do or say nothing without bringing into play those
electrical currents in some shape or another. . It remains for me to
show bow these affect our pl"OSpects in life, an<i make us successful
or unsuccessful men. Our constitution is the result of our
birth, breeding, climate and food, and these must aflect . the
nervous system for good or bad. Apart from the strentgh
of the seed that is sown in the soil, whose nature must
also considerably affect its growth, other circumstances like ploughing, watering, manuring, exposure to heat and light must also oo
taken into consideration in the determination of i~ produce. In the
same manner the nervous energy of the father and mother, the climate of the place, the effects of food, clothing and various other causes.
detertmine the predominance of the positive or negative electricities
in the constitution of the child born. Some places and objects have
peculiar powers of storing large quantities of positive or negative
electricities and this is most remarkably seen in the virtues of certain
plants, which, on particular days, acquire this power of storing elec>trical currents to a very large extent. On the tops of some hills and
mountains this storage of extra electrical currents is remarkably exhibited by constant electrical discharges. Rivers and ponds have a
similar power of storing large quantities of magnetic or electrical
currents. It is easy for us to call things absurd, which we cannot
understand or explain, but it is not so easy to devote our time and
energy to its study and explanation. It is very commonly believed
by almost all the nations of the world, both in ancient and modern
times, that certain herbs, when picked up on particular days, nave
great medicinal virtues or some magical Elfficacy. The last word
means nothing more than that the virtue of the plant picked up
under certain conditions performs wonders which could not have
been achieved without its help. Among the Hindus, the new
moondays falling on Sundays, are considered to be specially favouraJ>le for picking up of some herbs which have great medicinal properties and which are also credited with the powers of subjugating
the wills of those with whom we comein business eontact or Rajavaayam. It is possible, that since plants have special powers of storing up of $leotrioal enei:gy under oertain conditions~ .we mty, by

Digitized by

Google

'80

Dejfoitdon of Human SucteBS

obeying the laws of Nature, add a large quantity of nervous energy,

by keeping the plant with us and this increase in electricity must

produce the result anticipated, viz. the subjugation of the minds of

those with whom we come in contact and whose will power or nervous
energy will be represented by a lesser degree. Mesmerism gives us
a striking proof of such electrical energy. Here the process is simple
nod easily understood. Say a man is positively electrified, with an
energy which is represented by :i:. He goes to a business man, whose
elect1ical energy is f!:r and who therefo1e does not much care for one
who has only a: energy in him. 'fhe latter, to be successful in his
competition, must increase his virtue, and this can only be done by
the concentration and development of the willforce, or by such
artificial aids which would induce into him a larger quantity of elootricity than he possessed before. Now, by bringing in a plant with a
certain amount of electrical power, he gets more than YJz energy, and
therefore can compete with or subjugate a man, who becomes his in-7 ferior in electrical strengh. Mesmerism is based on this principle.
The contact of energetic people with others of an inferior power, is
always injurious to them, as by the nature of electrical currents, they
are always induced from the greater body to the smaller as water
,always flows from a higher level to the lower, irrespective of its sur, face. Positive electricity has greater virtue than the negative and our
( popularity and success depend upon our store of these' respective
\ electricities, in places and conditions whose electrical currents are
calculable. Our success in life may be defined to be tb,e readiness with
which a proposal is received by the party to whom it is addressed.
If the proposal is not received favourably by the party to whom it is
addi:es~ed, the person making the proposal meets with, what .we call.
a failure. How does this take place? If a positively electrified person
goes to another similarly electrified, he is repulsed in his attempt
even when backed by the strongest letter of introduction. But if, on
the other hand, he goes to one who is negatively electrified, he meets
with a ready consent, even shoul<l he chanae to be a perfect stranger.
Those, in whose horoscopes the Sun is powerfully situated, command
more respect and possess a greater indescribable personal chal'ID which
recommends them to suCQeS!I, than those, in whose horoscopes the gi:eat
luminary is ba4ly . situateq. T~e Moon play!! even a .Ql.Qre ~gnUi~t

Digitized by

Google

Unprofitabk AUractions.

st

pati. Where the Moon is deblilitated, aspected by eyil plants, or

occupies bad vergds nnd has evil conjunctions, the mind of the person,
whatever may be his social or pecuniary position, will be greatly
disturbed and he will always try to be miserable. In the body of.
the work I have clearly explained what is meant by the Sun's exaltation, and his debilitation. We have often seen, that men with
superior intrinsic merits, find no favour in certain localities while
others with inferior capacity get on well there. The astrologer on
consultation predicts, that they would find s~ccess only in a certain
direction and that only with a certain class of people. As in medicine
80 also in astrology, a knowledge of the local cit-cumstances becomes
indispensible for a correct estimate of the planetary influences and
their results. I can quote lots of examples from our da~ly life, which
go to prove beyond doubt, my. state~ent regarding the electrical
theory above adduced. Take the cases of the favourites of an officer.
There is an irresistable attraction by which the 'favourite' is attached
to the officer, and as long as the attracting force acts powe1fully, .the
officer acts like a tool and a fool in the hands of his subordinate.
Ladies and gentlemen have their own favourites. Some cases present
such strange inconsistencies that we cannot really explain the action
by the light of any science we know of. A handsome, intelligent,
w<ill-matched "'oman takes a.fancy to an ugly groom or a cookboy, wh<>
would be shunned for his deformities bi even an ordinary street prostitute. . Here we have apparently no reasonable cause to explain such
infamous conduct. A gentleman, courted for his fine figure and handsome features by the best of the ladies, takes a fancy to an ugly repulsive girl, to whom he seems to be drawn by an irresistable internal
force, which sets at nought all rules of decorum, family considerations
or public reputation. . The elopements we hear, the unequal matches
we reaq, and the infamous scandals we are informed, confirm this
view and these cannot otherwise be satisfactorily e:1;plained.
In all these cases, parties enter into the undesired friendship or
combination with their eyes wide:open and theirjudgments unprejudiced. When pressed hard to e~plain why they have been behaving in this
scandalous way, they tell us that it is their weakness,--and that they do
not know how to mend it. Sometimes the attraction is so great t.ha.t ladies leave their houses, risk all their hont>r and die in the attempt

Digitized by

Google

32

Tastes an.d Dillike1.

to join their favourites. A remarkable inst.ance of this is found in

the life of Shelley, the greatest young poet England ever saw, wherein
it is related that a London lady of great poeition and beauty fell in des.perate love with him, went wherever he proceeded and died without
ever being requited in her love. Such anecdotes are not few in the
annals of the world's history. On the other hand we see, some persons hating the names before they have seen the parties or vowing
revenge without the slightest cause for provocation. In large towns
-where we go for the first time in our life, we like some in the bazaar,
while we shun others. There is of course no reason for this kind
of attachment or hatred and if we carefully scan our own procedure,
we find our individual conduct surprising and without satisfactory
reasons. There it1, what we call, animal magnetism, which is simply
another name for electricity and this attracts or repels us according
as it is positive or negative or north or south. We read of devoted
friends, relations or followers. They risk all their own and never fear
to get themselves into all sorts of troubles for the sake of their friends.
They are not calculating or selfish and we can attribute no personal
or mean motives to them. There is an irreeistable temptation within
themselves and they simply follow the impulse of the moment. Some
of them repent afterwards, when the electricities change their sides,
but others glory in their misery broughtabout by their so called devotion to their friends and relations. What they do in the case of one
man they will not be prepared to do for another, even when they are
likely to gain something from the bargain. It is with the greatest
difficulty that they oould be persuaded to t::hange their views and in
some cases it is simply impossible. Our tastes, on which partly
depends our successes in life, are exampl~ of the same unaccountable influences. In some cases they cost us a good deal and in others
we gain much by them. When there are so many forces at work, sometimes in union, sometimes against each other, the results from such
working will also be favourable or otherwise according to the nature
of the powers that produce them. Good planets Uifluence uli for good
and bad planets for bad and success in life means aothing more than
the resultant force of all these agencies working on man. Two persons
are bred and brought up together as very thick friends and remain
so for a long time, all the while the electricitiell attracting each other

Digitized by

Google

83

Magnetic Attractions.

and makil1g them love intimat-ely. But suddenly they pick.up a

quar1el for a trifling matter and vow deadly revenge against each other,
and may even go to the extent of killing one another. People, who
watched them before this useless quarrel, commonly say that there
was some Vishaghatika, poisonous or evil time and they fell out. On
t.he other hand, when two deadly enemies meet each other, either accidentally or through the intervention of friends after a long time, and
become reconciled, they say there was Amritaghatika or good time.
These expressions are not absurdly used. They have their own signification and a clever astrologer will be able to tell men at what time,
or in what place and in what manner they may expect these quarrels1
or where and with whom they may regain their lost friendship. All
these affairs make or mar human fortune. When an officer likes a
man in a subordinate capacity, if the stars are good, what the subordinate says boldly will be taken for independence and his services
will be appreciated by promotion to a higher grade, but . when his
stars are bad, the same expressions will be taken for impertinence
and impudence and they will be interpreted to his prejudice, and it
may result in his degradation, fine or dismissal. These are all matters
which require an explanation from the educated public. The sayings
of those, who have watched the phenomena in a particular department
of the world, ought not to be rejected as altogether useless, until they
make the same experiments and find them absurd. Relevancy and
irrelevancy must be nicely discriminated. The statements of an expert or adept, on points in his department of knowledge, are perfectly
relevant and deserve the highest credit. We can learn lessons even
from a bull, and if it teaches us anything sensible, I do not see the
logic of rejecting it simply because it comes from a beast. Gold will
be gold whatever might be the channels through which we get that
noble metal, and similarly knowledge must be respected, whatever
might be the sources from which we get it, provided it is true and
useful. A man who watches the beasts, and by observations, associates
the happening of certain events with the performance of some acts by
those animals, is worthy of our respect, because he adds something to
the store of the world's knowledge and, however humble a contribution it migh~ be, still it cannot and ought not to be rejected as useless. All our
present
sciences have had their origin in humble and
,.
.
5

Digitized by

Google

Sol,ar lnfluenaes on Oro-pi.

experimental ways. As the mighty rivers swell themselves by the
addition of vast tributaries, and strike the observer with awe at their
mouths, so also does knowledge strike us with admiration at the present
time by its vastness, the result of the accumulation of individuaffacts,
recorded by the indefatigable observers of all ages and all nations.
The successes and failures of man were keenly watched by the intel
ligent classes at all times and were associated with the appearances
of certain stars, combination of planets and the motion of the Sun
and the Earth. I have simply drawn the attention of the reader to
these singular facts, which find an easy solution in the electrical theory
I have adduced, but which become inexplicable by the light of any
known principles of human conduct. The Sun, shining through his
millions and billions of rays, affects our body, our minds and our
prospects in life. He makes man bold or timic'I, good or bac'I,
learned or ignorant as he sheds a greater or less influence on the
ersonl~in question. In entering the human body, the solar rays
re not uniform in their effects. In some organs they poduce
ealth while in others they produce disease. In the growth of
pulses, this influence is most remarkably illustrated. When they
are about to fruit, the appearance of clouds, while the Sun is in a
particular Constellation, or the fall of a few drops of rain at the time,
destroys the crop by the sudden creation of numberless insects,
which corrode into the seeds and affect the prospects of the landlord
by the destruction of the crop. Appearances, at certain seasons of the
year, of large flocks of birds, locusts or other feathered inhabitants of
the air,or large numbers of caterpillars, also add to the misery of the
cultivator. Have we any authority to say that these swarms of insects
and birds are not called into existence by the- influence of the solar
energy, reflected in various degrees by the other planets and ~orking
in their own inscrutable ways? Before the rain or wind in certain
seasons, some of the above namedinsects were nowhere, while after
their appearance, they swarm like anything, and lead humanity to
infer that they rise or fall with the appearance of certain parts
of the solar rays. Modem'science has been helping in explaining
many of our absurd thoories and great men have begnn to see
tha~ some of the ancient Rishis were really men of extraordinary ,
learning and superior intelligence, and the knowledge they possessed

Digitized by

Google

Power CJ/ Little Things.

SS

approached Truth nearer than any others possessed by the leaders of

modern thought. We have seen already, that the chemical eflec,1is of
the refracted solar rays are different in different parts of the spectrum
and we have also seen that the minutest surface exposed to t~e solar
light, has as much power of refraction . as the huge _sky where we
.witness the appearance of the rainbow. Herein lies the secret of
planetary influences. They fali on the bodies, they aff~t their color,]
they change their constitution produc~g hea!th or disease and the1
make them pursue a certain path, which may or may not be to their
.advantage. When we go to sleep, we are advised to do so with o~
head towards .t he South and feet towards ~he North. We know that
the red magnetic currents attract all bodies, which contain magnetisun
and scientists have shown the world that there is no object which is not
pervaded by m~etism, and which at another stage recieves the name
.of electricity. The advice comes to us in good spirit. We must
prptect our brain, on t}ie strength of which depend our prospects in
life here and hereafter, as much as p~ssible from the effects of magnetic currents with .a yjew to keep its efficiency. If the ancients
had not known the effects of magnetic currents, how ca_t;f we reconcil,e
their various precepts ? The e.ftects of these currents are not perceptible _in one day or even in one year. A morsel of food taken after
a hearty dinner may not produce sickness all of a sudden, or even may
not be felt heavily at all. In some constitutions it may do no ha~.
Distunbances in sleep for a few hours .may not give man ill health at
once. In some hardy constitutions such irregularities in food and rest
may make no impression for even years together, but who .can say that
the constitutions have not suffered any injury by the extra morsel of
.food or want of sleep. In some cases the injury is immediate and perceptible, in others remote and imperceptible, nevertheless the injury is
there and must be felt sooner or later according to the nature of the constitution and its power ofresistance. So also these minute forces, work..
ing on men and through their nerves, produce effects which are sometimes perceptible and sometimes imperceptible. We have also seen som~
cases, where by dint of perseverance and hard wo~k, people have
-succeeded. Here the process is intelligible. When the application
js made, the electricities may even .be in a rep~sive mood, but
gradually, by the development and com;i_entration of the will-force of

Digitized by

Google

36

Development of Will Powf'r.

the applicant, the nature of the electrical currents found in the man
to whom the application is made for help, might be turned and after
a certain time they yield themselves to the superior force of 'the
applicant. Some have succeeded, in this way, while others have
failed. In the latter case, the will force of the applicant never rose
to that level from which it was able to induce its own currents to
subjugate those of the party from whom he expected his success in
business, and the result was failure even after long perseverance.
We commonly talk of a man of uncommon determination, undaunted
energy and unparallelled perseverance. Here the terms are convertible. They mean that the person who possesses these, is determined to overcome all obstacles by the development of his " will
power," and thus gain his object in the end or perish in the attempt.
If such conduct does not determine our prospects in life, to what
then, can we attribute them ? In the change of opinions, dress,
manners, wives, country, religion, modes of life and tastes, we see
the electrical currents playing the most important part. It is effected
in this way. Certain nerves in the brain have been identified with
certain tastes. The undue development of such nerves at the cost of
others, make men pursue a particular line of conduct. Nervous
currents have already been shown to be under the intluence
of the planetary rays and these produce development or depression
according to certain given physical conditions. Thus a particular
nerve, whose growth at the cost of other nerves, helped. men to
pursue mathematics successfully may, after a time, be depressed by
the action of the solar rays by refraction, and another nerve might
now be developed, which changes their inclination or taste and makes
them pursue logic instead of mathematics. A man born with a
great store of nervous energy, which will be the case, if the Sun and
'the Moon are favourably placed in his horoscope, will get on in
spite of all the difficulties that surround his position, while a person
placed in the most favourable circumstances, will lose his all, if he
does not possess nervous energy in the shape of a strong will or
mind, which will be the case when the Sun and the Moon are not
favourably situated in his horoscope. All the infiuences above explained come directly from the Sun and his attendant planets and we
are enlirely subjected to them. In fact, we could not have taken our

Digitized by

Google

37
present exititenQe, if it had not been fur the uni\'ersal influence
of the planets. Now the question is whether the ancients, who
have bequeathed this brightest gem among the sciences which have
been called into existence by the intellect of man, had studied the
physical sciences with all their complicated rules and thus obtained a
deep knowledge of their phenomena or whether they were blessed
with that " divine eight " with which they were able to see the past,
present and future. We are not concerned with the religious
side of this question and therefore avoiding all reference to it,
we have to judge their powers from what they have given us
in other departments of scientific knowledge. Ancients possessed
a deep knowledge in mathematic8, astronomy, logic, grammar,
medicine, psychology, philosophy, physical eciences and religion.
With all the present civilisation we have not surpassed nor even,
equalled them in many of the above subjects. The astronomical tables
found in the possession of Tiruvallore astrologers and taken to
France in the last century, have now been found to be more correct
than those given out by the beet of the European astronomers of the
present day. " Fabulous" cycles of years given by the Hindu astronomers in their Almanacks have been receiving greater and greater
confirmation from the hands of the geologist and the astronomer,
while those named by the Biblical and half informed writers, have
been held tc> be utterly worthless for scientific references. When we
say that the ancient Maharishis, who have left us such splendid
monuments of human skill and energy, were sufficiently acquainted
with the principles of the physical sciences, I do not think we gjve
them any more credit than what they so richly deserved. There is
nothing improbable in supposing them to be acquainted with the laws
of light, heat, magnetism, and elooVicity and when I say " nothing
improbable," I do not think I have put forth any wild theory which
requires 1lo be knocked down at once by the modern scientific youngmen, who treat so lightly our ancient sciences, without the least
effort on their part to go into their details. A Congress of the
Riehie seems to have been held, with the object of thoroughly investigating the physical Phenomena and at its head stood Maharishi
Mathanga with Soubhari for. his assist.ant. They framed more than
twelve. hundrecb,~ousand autf'as or short verses, each containing a

Digitized by

Google

88

Sanllvit Physical Sciences.

good deal of meaning, but very concisely written, for the sake of re, pwmbering th~ same with .little or no effort. A small portion of this
,work is with me and should circumstances allow me, I shall try to
publish their contents shortly for the benefit of the Indian and the
European public. In the portion of work I have seen, the Suftras refer
to Souda:mini Kal.a or treatises on electricity and magnetism. It also
.gives us the composition of the Sun, of the several : planets, of the
,composition of the Earth, its minerals, its plants an~ its ~nimals.
with chapte1s devoted to the physiognomy of man.- The chapter
on electricity is beautifully written and when translated, will reveal
to the W eateru mind, .t hat the hair-splitting and speculative philoso,phers of the East had also a good knowledge of the elements and the
.laws which controlled them.
This part of the work goes under the name of" Bhoutikati Bhouhika Sastram" and means a treatise on the principles of physics and
chemistry. They had also Vadum, a treatise on chemistry and their
works show us ample signs .of splendid progress in this departmentThe Committee that sat to inquire, says the book, into the Final Cause
of the Universe was unable to tirace its existence in the terre~rial or
.celestial phenomena and betook itself to the :yogapractice, wherein
they seemed to have excelled all othex: natiQns of the Earth in the
acquisition of a knowledge, which has not been .even ~.-day completely accep~ by the western scholars. Their ignorance or non.recognition of the existence of this grand sQnrce of knowledge called
,Y<>g_a, of course, in no way affects its own intrinsic m~rits. . I ~eed
:riot dwell upon this branch of lmowledg~. as it is f~miliarily known
to every educated Hindu. It has been my spe<iial privilege, to see a
/ew of the most advanced Yogees, and the feats they exhibit;ed in my
presence, are some of those for which no explana~ions, are even sug-gested by the best scientific publicatiiona. The ancient Rishis,
,therefore, were not.- ignorant of the . physical iiciences and could
;not have made such wonderful .progress, had their knowledge
-been cireumseribed in the department of .'natural sciences.
They paid a great deal of attention to the .sttidy of the heavenly
planets, anft ' the Zodiacal arld planetary . light wltich ,emanateQ
.from them, and by careful observation and close study,

Digitized by

Google

Dange-is of Philoloqical Quibbliny.

extending ove1 thousands of years, and by tlie . special deve1op-ment of power by the Youyic devotion they practised, they
were able to deduce certain pdnciples, which, when applied to the
horoscope of man , predicted his past, present and future events tO a
remarkable extent. Times, manners, custom:$, civilisation, polities
and religion have changed and with them there must .also
be changes in the sciences. Otherwise they will be out of tune as it
were to their surroundings unless they were perf~tly made:
The Sun moves, the Earth mo~es, the planets move, the dark spots'
in the planets move, comets and meteors appear and disappear, new
stars come into existence, while old stars have disappeared and in this
apparent combination of influences and inoveinents, new countries,
new seas, new monntains, new rivers, new customs, new governments;
ne'v minerals, new vegetables and new animals have been called into
existence, while some of the old ones have disappeared altogether
from the surface of the Earth. All this is due to the motion of the
Earth and our varying relations with the stores of solar energy, which
seem to be indispensible for our existence and that of the Earth
on which we inhabit. In those days of astrological ascendancy, the
observations of the Hindu astronomers seem to have extended to India
and its neighbo'uring countries, and here and there in their works of
recent date,' we find references to Yavauacharya or Yavanaswara. Some
English authorities have supposed that such a11usions referred to
Ptolomey of Greeee or the Greek astronomers collectively. But from
the little I have seen of English Philofogy, the British Philologists
generally seem to have an unfortunate knack of creating the most .
absurd combinations tO answer their philological suppositions. The
most absurd instance being in the conversion of poor Hamilton's
Bridge in .Madras, into Umbton's Bridge, and then going through the
process of English translation, arid seriously calling it the Barber's
Bridge, the word Hamilton being first corrupted into Umbtori (in
Tamil a barber) and then seriously translating it into Barber's Bridge;
There is no necessity to pervert these terms. Yavanas were the
ancient Persians with. whom the Hindtis had extensive dealings and
the name Ivan, a town .i n Persia might easily have giYen occasion for
the Persians to'be calied Yavanas or Ivans: The Persians were
celebrated for their early and splendid state of ci'vilisation and it was

Digitized by

Google

Oatts68 Wlifrlt Deyraded Asfrology.

no wonder that their astronomers should have been quoted as authorities by the &nscrit pundits of the more recent times, whenever there
was difference. Men went on improving by deductive or inductive
mt"thods as their experience 01 genius helped them and astrology had
attained perfection long before the W eatems claimed any elements of
civilization or enlightenment. Thousands of years ago, we had our
goveinment and our sciences were well cultivated. There were no
foreign conquests to. disturb their peace and the knowledge they acquired made them the first nation on the face of the Earth. Foaeign
conquests did subsequently a good deal of mischief, and the unhappy
turn, some of the Mahomedan .invaders had, for burning valuable libraries, resulted in the complete destruction of many scientific books of
gieat merit. Such of the books and apparatus which escaped this general
wreck, were stored in underground rooms, so common in the houses
of the ancient Hindus, and these were eagerly devoured by the white
ants, which proved in many instances more terrible than the "bearded
conquerors" themselves. Thus it was a sail for Hindu astrologers between Scylla and Charybidis, which ended in th~ utter loss of a great
many of their valuable books and scientific instruments. People might
laugh at the idea of our ancients possessing any machinary, but they
will be entirely mistaken if they think they had none. I am not one of
those that would praise the past days as "golden" and cry down the present as "iron." But in judging of past civilisations, we have to make very
large allowances for the destroying hand of unsparing Time. The
Hindus were a compact nation of highly civilized and intelligent men,
and could not easily have believed in a science, which had no basis in
solid truth and whose predictions could not have been verified daily in
their political and social lives. The ancient astrologers were men of
very superior intellects and their predictions were invariably fulfilled.
They were men of great religious efficacy and their knowledge of
Joyti$ (First Light) enabled them to sketch the future with remarkable
certainty. This could never have been the case had there been no
truth in astrology. After the Mahomedan invasion, the~Hindu pundits lost their ascendency and became a set of mean flatterers and
wilful liars. The political subjugation continued to produce its
injurious results, and what they lost once in the shape of ;self respect
and confidence has never been regained by them afterwards ..

Digitized by

Google

41

Qualifications of .AstrologeTS.

Various causes were at work, and resulted in the production of a

new set of lstrologers, with 11uch honorable exceptions to
whom my remarks do not apply, who are worse than useless and
who make a precarious living by repeating an elaborate s"et of
lies, which must be the disgrace of any man in any profession. If
there is any sublime science in this world,!it~ is astrology and the
following qualifications have been laid down as ,indispensable in the
astrologer for making successful future predictions.
(1) An astrologer must not be actuated by mean or malicious
motives.
(2) He must be contented (through advanced wisdom and not
through incapacity).

(3) He must have an high proficiency in mathematics.

(4) He must be well versed in the technicalities of astrology.
(5) He must have a good command over the language in which
he wishes to interpret hia predictions.
(6) He must be highly intelligent.
(7) He must have a good knowledge of the times and circumstances in which h~ is placed.
(8) He must be well initiated into the mysteries of astrology
by a proper Guru, and above all, he must be thoroughly
honest, truthful and religious.
These are not qualifications which we generally come across
among the ordinary class of astr,plogers, and unless, these are largely
encouraged and maintained in the class of astrological adepts, the_lost
credit is not likely to be regained.
The literature now passing under the name of astrology-except
such as has appeared in standard books-is anything but satisfactory,
and every fool, who is able to learn a few useless slokas, sets up an
independent shop and attracts customers by his astrological jargon.
The greatest wonder i~ that there is an absence of anything like
a fair public. opinion on these important questions. The attempts
of the ignorant and illiterate classes to encourage, their own
worthless astronomers and astrologers, have been doing a
great deal of mischief to the real progress of the utrological
sciences. Both the professors of astrology and those who consult
6

Digitized by

Google

42

OC>n1UUationa Witk Quacks

Dang~ous.

them are much to blame. The one set for their want of knowledg~, and
the other for their undue anxiety, to consult with<mt offering a fair
remuneration, and thus indirectly encouraging, by miserly payment
dishonest and worthless men. Without entering into the grand project of establishing an institution, where astrology might be pursued
as a science, with such instruments as the nature df the subject requires,
the Hindu gentlemen would be conferring a great boon on themselves as well as on ihe science of astrology, if they only, as a preliminary step, begin to discourage the prevalent practice of consulting every quack who appears before them, and whose knowledge of
the science has not been properly tested and proved. In my experience, I .have come across a set of cheats, who possess a peculiar kind
of knowledge, by which they readily predict most faithfully the past
events of our life, but fail most miserably in their predictions of the
future events. To a scientific astrological mind, this kind of prediction
presents a most ciiicult problem to solve. When the past can be faithfully portrayed why not the future? is a question that has been often
raised in my mind. So far as my meagre knowledge goes, I see no
ground for making such onesided predictions and especially with such
surprisingfacility. On en.quiry and questioning, I found out that it was
not by astrology that they were able to make such predictions, but under
the guise of astrology, they put forth some kind of knowledge, which
at present is utterly unknown to me. It may be thought reading, but
if so, have these quacks mastered it when highly cultivated minds
find a difficulty in explaining that phenomenon ? These men cheat
the poor and the rich classes alike ana also come round the intelligent
section of our community. Even granting such powers of past prediction exist, the uses of astrology are not answered and what ha.s
already been enjoyed, becomes perfectly useless to know again. Others
there are, who are honored for the sake of the distinction their ancestors had attained, but such days are gone and it is by merit and not
by birth, that a man will have to be judged in these days of no God
and no Higher Power tendencies. If there "are sentimental people
who pity the fallen greatness, they may help them for their pitiable
condition but cannot honor them for their present stupidity. There
are others still, who, from an intimate knowledge of the local circumstances, make correct guesses and induce people to honor them as

Digitized by

Google

43

&medial Measures.

listrologers. I need hardly say they do not deserve any publfo help.
They touch upon a tender cord of the ignorant masses, viz, belief and
realize large sums. This is as it ought not to be.
It is very easy to ask a lot of questions, in astrology or in any
other branch of science, hut not certainly so easy to answer them in
the light of known scientific principles. Those who consult their
horoscopes forget that astrologers have the same set of digestive apparatus, with which they themselves have been provided,
and while they give them all the mental worry imaginable,
these gentlemen never consider it their duty to pay tliem for the same,
so that the bodily apparatus might he kept in a working state for the
mental work. Such kind of treatment, even from the highly educated
classes is condemnable on two points, (1) because it considerably
lowers the efficiency of astrology as a paying art, and (2) because it
makes the astrologers careless and indifferent in their calculations and
predictions, since they see no sufficient remuneration for serious mental
work. Honest mental work must be paid with scrupulous self respect
and so long as this is lacking in the consulting public, there is very little
chance ofreally able men to take to these disappointing and thankless
avocations. 'fhere is another important point on which I should like
to say a few words before I conclude my Introduction. Many have
asked me and it has struck me too, that " even granting that astrology
is a true science, and can be satisfactorily proved as such, will the mankind be in any way benefitted by its cultivation and consultation ? "
Here, there is room for much discussion on both sides, and numberless
arguments might be adduced in support of them. I shall however
state briefly a few of the arguments leaving the readers to draw their
own inferences. . Astrology has been considered to be a practical
science and like medicine requires to be proved by experiment.
It is no use to get a prescription from a doctor, however clever he
may be, but it will be of the greatest use for a person to get such
medicine as would give him immediate relief. Similarly, there is no
use of consulting astrologers when their predictions are not fulfilled,
and when they are not able to prescribe suitable remedial measures
by which, the evil influences of the planets may be successfully averted.
This ~ubject opens a grand Vista of debatable points, and I shall state

Digitized by

Google

a few arguments which may directly bear upon this vital question.
Medicine haa been cultivated aa a science from time immemorial, but
the results are far from being satisfactory. The percentage of cures
is not encouraging, and in spite of the enormous sumB spent upon
medical experiments, in princely salaries to its adepts and in keeping
splendid establishments for its cultivation, such simple and all prevalent diseases aa fever, dysentry, small-pox, cholera, consumption and
leprosy have not been explained and successfully treated. It is all
very well to say that the average length of man's life is now greater
than what it was before, that wondeiful cures have been effected,
which the ancients had never dreamt of, and that the general
health has been improved to a considerable degree. It may be so.
But that is not much for the enormous sums spent upon the science
and its supporters. Still, it is a science and every medical man
whether he cure <Yr kills, is entitled to have his bill paid in preference
to all other claimants on the property of the:deceased. This anomoly
arises from the fact of the stamp of government being upon it. When
a person is killed by the stupidity of the doctor or disagreement in
the medical opinion, the punishment for the doctors would.be the immediate payment of their dues in preference to any others. The Doctor
does his best, he rapidly changes his prescriptions and the quantity of
nourishments is:largely increased but all the same the patient as rapidly
sinks under these good offices and dies by their combined chemical aotion. This is very queer, but medicine as a science stands in this position
at present. I have personally witnessed several cases, where the treatment facilitated the loss of life, but where men received payment all
the same. In my humble experience and observation, nearly half
the numbers that present themselves in the hoepitals go back
without being relieved and if more cures are effected than this low
percentage I have named, it is by the general prescription of aqua
pura and the help of mother Nature and not by the known skill of the
medical profession. I do not mean to say that medicine is useless or
cannot be improved as a science, but what I do mean to say is, that it
hl!oS been praised to the skies as a science beyond its real desert and
place in the scale of sciences. While every noble attempt has been
made to raise medicine to the level of a science, (without success)
nothing worthy of record has been done to test astrology as a

Digitized by

Google

lgn<>rance Leads to Misery.

45

~ience. The ancients studied these two together and they

thought that the one c~uld not be satisfactorily understood without the aid of the other. It is surprising that astrology, much as it is
degraded, has stood its ground against so many hostile attacks to root
it out altogether. In spite of the quacks, into whose hands it has unfortunately fallen, its predictions have not been such as to create &
genuine dislike in the minds of those who have really taken pains to
master its details. There is a duty on every educated gentleman,
whether European or Hindu to do something for this fallen science,
or to keep it in reserve until it has been given a fairer trial. "To
know the future" has been the greatest ambition of man, and how can
we BliY that such a priceless knowledge will not be worth our while
to acquire. The most commonplace argument senselessly adduced
by many of the so called educated social reformers is "that we are
better oft'as we are, and thata'.certain knowledge <_:>fthe future will damp
the spirits of those who consult their horoscopes". This is simply
sleeping over our knowledge. There are many diseases which are
declared to be incurable, and which when they attack a person, do
not kill him at once. A knowledge of the coming evil, will not kill
such people before they die. We all know for certain, that we will
and we must die. We also know that we may be snatched away any
moment from the midst of our dangers or our enjoyments. But how
many of us die before legitimate death comes to us. In cases of incurable diseases, the patients know that they are subjected to forms
of diseases, before which the medical men simply blink, but they do
not die because they are subject to them. When an incurable disease
sets in, will the doctor pollute his lips by making a false statement that
the patient is not suffering from it and that he will live for one hndred years to conie ? If not, what difference could it make with the
patient between the statement of an astrologer who says, that the
planetary period is bad and therefore he must suffer from it, and
that of .t he doctor, who says that the patient must shift for himself
as best as he could, since medical science has riot explained even the
nature of such a disease? Sudden dangers, it is true, kill some persons, but let them only smoothly be informed of the fact beforehand,
the sorrow distributes itself and makes its keenness as little felt as
possible. "South Sea Bubbles" often burst, but the share holders

Digitized by

Google

46

AstroloyM Interprets Planetary lnfluencts.

do not die all at onpe. History has taught ua, that human nature is
very pliable, and accommodates itself to the exigencies of every case.
Do we not know that our children will die as well as our wives ; but
this knowledge, than which nothing can be more certain. or more
disagreeable, would not kill everybody that knows it. What
does an ast.rologer say about the horoscope ? He simply inter
prets the language of the planets by the symbols used and predichl
the events that happen to men in future. He foretells our death, our
sickness, our failure and our success, or that of those who are dear
and near to us. What is there here that is not known to us, and for
which we are not prepared ? Will Insurance Companies teach us any
thing more than these facts ? Every sensible man must be prepared
to meet those calamities which he sees around him. He knows, that
he may have to share the same domestic misery as his neighbour, and
he calmly waits for the events to come in their tum to him. It is
not in the power of an astrologer to bring any fresh stores of trouble
on the man who consults him, because an astrologer simply acts as an
interprete'r.
If a man thinks that death and misfortune do not, dare not
invade his homestead, if he believes he is above mankind in the
enjoyment of his pleasures, if he is not bold enough to meet the
stem realities of his life, let no such coward ever consult his horoscope.
Astrology is not intended for weak, worthless or cowardly men. Ifaman,
suffering from some disease which requires a severe surgical operation
for its cure, dies at the sight of the surgical instruments, surely they
were not intended for such a man', and the doctor cannot be
arraigned before the court for committing or abetting murder. But
the ordinary run of mankind are proof against such information and
they coolly bear even death sentences. Men, with halters round their
necks and death floating before their lustreless eyes, have shown utter
contempt for death and if the predictions of an astrologer are more
horrible than the death sentences of the law administering judges,
let not such timid men ever consult their fate. Where ignorance is
bliss it is folly to be wise. Knowledge always destroys our peace by ,
creating one thousand and one doubts and difficulties and if, for the '
sake of this, it is not desirable to cultivate it, then it might be con
veniently .sacrificed for the so called peace of mind which is nothing

Digitized by

Google

47

Oowards Neier Benefit the world

but ignorance and guilt rolled together and which is not prepared
to see the light of knowledge and wisdom.
If a person is afraid to meet a cat in his kitchen, there is no hope
for him, and starvation is the only alternative that ir; left for him, but
if a man has the courage to meet a tiger in a jun;:tle, he has every
contrivance to safeguard his person against. it.sat.tack ancl guns have been provided to kill it. The torments and anxiet.ies of people who
commence some bread giving work, when the results are not known,
can better be imagined than described and what a precious thing it
would be to know the results beforehand. Would it not prove a
grand acquisition to our store of knowledge to know whence we
have come, what we will be here and whither we will go ? Can such
a science be called. stupid or absurd ? . Why ? we have metaphysics,
philosophy and many other subjects which give us no practical help
and~the study of which adds no comfort to our material enjoyment.
But the intellectual treat they give us, compensates for all the labour
we beafuw upon them before we pick up a sufficient knowledge. The
intellectual pleasure in astrology is the greatest we can imagine and
as it affects human interests, working in a million different ways for
their accomplishment, it is worthy of pursuit by the greatest as well
as the meanest of Illa!lkind. Every branch of knowledge has its own
advantages and disadvantages. If the railway carries many, it kills
some, if horsemanship gives agility to our limbs, it breaks them too
at times, if the gun protects us from dangers it kills some by producing accidents, if wealth gives us comforts it carries its own anxieties
and discomforts, if hunting gives us excitement it exposes us to
many dangers, if education gives us respect it makes us weak and
prematurely old, if marriage gives us bliss it brings with it a host of
domestic miseries, if power gives us delight it endangers our position,
if royalty has its " glorious retinue and the parapharnalia of state"
it has its own cares too heavy for ordinary heads to bear. In fact
there is hardly any line or walk of life ?/hich has not its counterpart
in misery and which must be endured for the sake of the advantages
that it might confer on the party striving for its possession. Astro-.
logy stands on a better footing. The remedial portion. worked out_
in the pages of astrology, is the outcome of the best intellectual

labour

Digitized by

Google

48

Superiority -oj Hindu Astrology.

of the greatest .Maharishis. This . places Hindu Astrology on the

highest level, and no other science in the West or East could approach it in utility or interest. Planets are so many indicators of previous Karmaic results, and when the precise natural results are known,
their flow may be diverted or altogether removed by a careful study and
knowledge of the previous causes. If let alone, water in any place takes
its natural coure~ under the laws of gravitation, but when persons want
it at a higher level, they have to bring in such useful engineering skill
which enables them to raise its level and take it for cultivating lands
on a higher level. Necessity is the mother of invention and when the
evils are definitely known, a knowledge to remedy those anticipated
evils is sure to spring up. The remedial portion has been "tested in
a large number of ca~es by me and has been found to be never failing.
Men can manage to live one hundred years-the J1atural term given
to them_:_if they are not carried away by Augantaka Mrutyua or misfortunes and accidents. Kata Mrutyu (Proper Death) comes t;o man
after his hundredth year. But very few live up to that old ate and
preserve their bodily energy. Four kinds of remedies are suggested(!) Medicines, (2) Japa$ (3) Hom~ and (4) Danas.
The last three involve a large number of scientific points to ex
plain them, and I would specially refer my readers to my .Astrological
Magazine, Sarwarthachintamani and Lectures. I have explained at
length the intimate connection between Karma results and, how they
work and how they can be overcome. Performance of any one of these
remedies for the evilR arising from any other cause will not be of any use,
and hence the miserable results so often experienced,' when ,the remedies do. not remove the real causes of danger. That door must be shut
from which the thief is expected to enter. The guarding of.other
paeea~s may be good, and will safeguard the property from various
fresh ~ngers but the thief is not thereby prevented from his nefarious
work. In man there are two important Sakties (Forces) one of which
is Parasakti and the other is Grahasakti. The first is the Brah11uuakti
and Vedas and Mantras (when properly initiated) place extensive I
powers in the hand of man to avert the evil influences indicated by
the Grahasakti. This subject is a complicated and extensive one and I
I would ask the readers n9t to judge of these in an oft' hand fashion.
.

Digitized by

Google

Hindu Intellectual Greatness.

The remedial portion ~f astrology is the:most instructive and most
useful and I cannot introduce this grand subject in a subordinate
capacity in the hasty sketch of an elementary IntroductWn.. I cannot
close-my Introduction without quoting a few remarks made by an eminent European writer on the intellectual greatnessoftheancient Hindu
writers who, gigantic as they were in other branches of learning, did
not consider the study .of ast1ology detrimental to the progress of their
nation or inconsistent with their avowed principles of utility. Astrological predictions did not damp their spirits and the few monuments spared to us by the destructive hand of Time show that they
were, not on Iythe greatest thinkers but also the greatiest actors. The
eminent writer referred to says "our first study is of the Hindu. I have
called the mind of this race ......... the Brain of the East, isolated from
muscle and nerve. By this I do not mean that either of the latter
elements was absent. On the contrary many of the tribes into which
these Aryan Hindus were divided .... ........ have shown very decided
military tendencies, while the race as a whole, is agricultural and
nowise wanting in industry or perseverance, as their development of
the physical resources of the country and the wonders of their arcbitiecture amply prove ......... The latest philosophical and religious
systems lay prefigured in the depths of this Hindu Brain. It exhausted most forms of devotional mysticism and subtle speculation,
In these spheres it left its pupils little to learn from Zeno or .Aristotle
Qr the controversies of later theology ? It created one of the moat
artistic languages and one of the richest literatures in the world. It
compiled elaborate Law Codes in large numbers and besides its volu
minou.s Bibles gathered immense treasures of sacredl-_lore, ritual
philosophical, devotional. Its poetic productivity was prodigious.
Its great (the writer is wrong in his figures. Ramayana has 96,000 and
Mahabharata 400,000 lines of poetry. 36,000 slokas of Valmiki form
Yoga Vasista (Gnana portion) or 144,000 lines in addition to Ramayana) epjcs Ramayana and Mahabharata, containing the one 50,000,
the other 200,000 lines glow with a luxuriance of imagery
which contrasts with the .IlJ.Wl or &neid as the stupendous vege-.
tation of India differs from that of Italy or Greece. .All that this
oolossal people have dreamed or done in philosophy, mythology,
ethics, imaginative or didactic thought, is here transmuted into song

Digitized by

Google

50

Splendid Political and

Scienl~fk

Knowledge .

. .. .. . ... The earlier Hindus had well organised governments, much

lauded by the Greek writers, to whom we owe our earliest reliable
notices of India, for the wise and thoughtful manner in which the interests of trade and agriculture were protected, the wants of stangers
as of the sick and needy, supplied and t.he defences of the state secured.
The law books contain minute regulations for freights and markets
and just rules for partnerships and organizations in trade, for testing
weights, measures and money, and punishing dishonest dealing. And
the organization of the village communities, throughout Northern
India, from very early times was an elaborate system of local SelfGovernment, that showed how large an amount of personal and social
freedom could be maintained,. even under the depressing shadow of
caste .. ........ .... .... India has at all times been famous for its domestic
and foreign trade. In the early days of the Roman Empire, it was the
great commerical centre for the merchants of Italy and Egypt, as it
was at a much earlier period for all Asiatic races from Phoenicia in
the West to China in the East. The oldest codes record a very advanced system of commercial exchanges among the Hindu tribes,
regulated by wise and just provisions and a high respect for trade is
shown by the permission granted to the Brahmans, in violation of caste,
to earn their support by assuming the functions of the Vaisya or
mercantile class. In more than one epoch, the resources of India,
natural and industrial, as well as intellectual, have made the wealth of
great empires. Its delicate tissues, its marvellous colors and dyes,
its porcelains, its work in metals and precious stones, its dainty essences and perfumes have not only been the wonder and delight of
Europe, but in no slight degree helped in the revival of art .... . ..... ..
the intellectual life of India was profoundly felt throughout the
ancient world. Greece, Persia, Egypt even, went to sit at the feet of
these serene dreamers on the Indus and under the banyan shades,
from the time of Alexander downwards and there they marvelled at
the power of Philosophy to achieve ideal virtue. And what treasures
of European fable, legend and mythic drama further testify to the
extent of our indebtedness to India in the sphere of imagination and
fancy down to the magic mirror, the golden egg, the purse of Fortunatus, the cap of invisibility?.. ............ ..... They loved to press beyond material successions or conditions to general forms and essential

Digitized by

Google

51

Unrivalled MathematicalDevelopment.

processes, pursuing with special success, those studies that afford the
largest field for abstraction and contemplation, the orderly movements
of the stars, the laws of numbers, the structure of language, the prooesseQ of thought. They made much progress in analytic arithmetic,
and not only applied algebra toastronomy and geometry, but geometry
to the demonstration of algebraic rules. They seem to have invented
numerical signs and the decimal system, the zero itself being of
Sanscrit descent and the old Hindu figures being still cl~arly traceable in those of the later Arabic digits. The introduction of these
numerical signs in place of the alphabetic characters, before used by
all other nations of antiquity, a change ascribed by old writers to the
Pythagoreans, those orientalists of the Greek world, but probably an
importation from India through the Arabians of Bagdad, was the finest
ideal impulse ever given to arithmetical studies. The decimal system
was developed in India as a speculative calculus so earnestly, that
special names were given to every power in an ascending scale of
enormous reach. The flfty-third power of Ten was taken as a
um:t and on this new base another scale of numbers rose till a figure
was reached consisting of this unity followed by four hundred and
twenty-one zeroes, And these elements were applied to the solution
of ideal problems such as 'the number of atoms containable in the
limits of the world taken as a fixed dimension,' representing mathematical reality none the less for being so utterly past conception ...
. . . . . . . . . . . .Eighteen centuries ago at least, the Hindus had elaborate
systems of .arithmetical mnemonics, based on numerical values
attached to Letters of the alphabet. "They reached a stage of
algebraic science, which was not arrived at till the close of the last
century . and if their writings had been known a century earlier
they would certainly have created a new epoch ? Aryabhatta, their
greatest astronomer and mathematician, (The writer is wron:g.
Aryabhatta is only a Tantraic and so classed by the Hindu
writers as a third rate man) in t.he fourth century B. C. determined very closely the relation of diameter of a circle to the
circumference and applied it to the measurement of the Earth.
They invented methods also for solving equations of a high degree.
In the time of Alexander they had geographical charts and their
physicians were skilful enough to win the admiration of the Greeks.

Digitized by

Google

52

High Medioal and Aatronomical Skal.

Their investigations in medicine have been of respectable amount

and value, lending much aid to the Arabians, the fathers of European
medical science, especially in the study of the qualities of minerals
and plants. In much of their astronomy, they anticipated the Arabi
ans; their old Sidhanthas or systematic treatises on the subject
indicating a long period of previous familiarity with scientific problems. And in such honor did they hold this science that they
ascribed its 'origin to Brahma. They made Saraswathi, their goddess
of numbers, the parent of nearly a hundred children who were at once
musical modes and celestial cycles. They gave:names to the great con
atellations and noted the:motions of heavenly bodies three thousand years
ago. The Greeks appear to have derived much aid from their observation
of eclipsee... . ...... A siddhantha declares that the Earth ie round and
stands unsupported in space~ The myth of successive foundations,
such as the elephant under the tortoise ie rejected for good and
sufficient reasons in one of these works, as involving the absurdity of
an endless series. If the last term of the aeries is supposed to remain
firm by its inherent power, why may not the same power be eupposed
to reside in the first, that is in the Earth itself ? AryabbattB
appears to have reached by independent observations' the knowledge
of the Earth's movement on its axis and to have availed himself of
the science of hie time in calculating the precession of the equinoxes
and the length of the orbital times of planets ............ They alone
among nations haYe paid honors to grammarians, holding them
divine souls and crowning them with mythical glories. Panini in
the fourth century B. C. actually composed four thousand autras or
sections, in eight books, of grammatical science, in which an- adequate terminology, may be found for all the phenomena o( speech.
His works have been the centre of an immense literature of commen
tation surpassed in this respect by the Vedas alone. No people of
antiquity, investigated so fully the laws of euphony, of the composi
tion and derivation of words. The Hindu Grammer is the oldest in
the world. The Nirukta of Y akeha belongs probably to the seventh
century B. C. and quotes older writings on the same subject. In
whatsoever concerns the study of words and forms of thought,
the Hindus have always been at home, anticipating the Greeks
and accomplishing more at the outset of their career than

Digitized by

Google

53

Incapacity of 0"8ntalists

the Semitic races did in two thousand years." We have to

remember that this praise of the Hindu intellectual greatness and
invention comes from a gentleman, who at best has taken only a very
superficial view of the whole range of Hindu thought and knowledge,
and which was transmitted to him by many perverted channels in the
shape of English translations of original sanskrit works, and by very
superficially informed Orientalists. Many of the Orientalists have
created a literature of their own and they have a clever knack of quoting, in support of their own statements, passages, not from the original
works, or from their learned commentators, which would not support
their views but from mistranslations made by men of their own guild
and mood.
In the treatment of ancient Sanskrit works, how an Orientalist
becomes a better authority by his misunderstandings and mistranslations than the well read Hindu Pundits, is a question which had
better be left to the intelligent public to judge ? They commence
late their study of sanskrit, create a strong forte by their jingle
ol word quibblings and then try to command the Hindu scholars
in sanskrit by their self constituted authority. The meek Hindu
Pundit, quietly laughs within his sleeves at the display of their
empty scholarship and takes his leave by a low 1a"laming process. Race
and color prejudices have a good deal to do with the formation of
our judgments, and when a great Eurcrpean scholar writes so
much about the ancient Hindus, with such imperfect means of
getting at truth at his command, and making allowance for the
tremendous periods of time we have to pass over, to gather our
knowledge, we may once for all advise our social tall-talk reformers to think twice, nay ten times, before they open their lips to
censure our native sciences. Sciences are not made of common nonsensical talk, and he who thrust.a his head into the jaws of a scientific
contest must be ,prepared to be crushed by its terrible teeth. We cannot consistantly now say, that a nation so great," and so well advanced
in the different branches of knowledge, as the Hindus of old, could be
guilty of propogating a set of lies, which they knew to be such.
amo'Qg numberless generations ; and its greatest men seriously taking
all the trouble to write more than four hundred thousand stanzas in
support of that science. I have already grown lengthy but the vastness of the subject, coupled with the numerous side issues which had

Digitized by

Google

Man the Creature of Previous Kaf"ma.

to be settled beforehand, compelled me to occupy more space than at
first I was willing to spare. I shall recapitulate here, for the benefit
of the reader, the principal facts, already mentioned, so that he might
at a glance see whether astrology has a scientific basis to calculate.
The Earth moves round the Sun, as well as the Sun on his own
axis. All the planets revolve round the Sun. The Earth receivea
an infinitismally small quantity of the Sun's stores of energy, and
this has been shown to be sufficient to account for all the terrestrial
phenomena. ~~nd~ Gravitation
.is universal as also the forces of cohesion, adhesion and chemical attrac, ion. The Earth has been formed into its present shape by the
action of the Sun's light ap,d heat and these two great physical agents
influence every thing on the Earth's surface. The oceans are under
their influence as well as the atmosphere and marine currents. Metal
lie and non-metallic elements are common to the whole solar syst.em.
All these have their relative influences working in a thousand won
derful ways. Man is the result of previous forces working under
definite laws, with such local modifications as are found to be nece_ssary in each individual case. His physical constitution is under the
direct influence of the Sun, because the seed that produced him, the
bed in which he was nourished, the food with which he is fed, the
clothing he wears, the water he drinks and the air he breathes, are
the result of the Sun's rays working in Nature in their own inscru
table ways. His brain cells and his nervous system are greatly affected by the time, place, seed, food, climate and other conditions of his
life and his intellect is entirely dependent upon the quantity and
quality of the brain cells derived from those sources. Vision would
be worse than useless if there had been no light, and ears would
have been useless without vibrations in the air, due to solar rays and
so also his other senses, each of which has been made to work
under the direct influence of a particular planet. All the !
f planets shine by ' borrowed ' light from the Sun, and while
(, retaining something of their power, they add something of their
own and thus influence mankind in various ways. As the rain
drops are aftected by the nature of the soil they fall upon, and are
inflaenced by its properties, so also the planets, though shining by
borrowed light:' shed influences peculiar to their own. The Moon

Digitized by

Google

Direct Lltna1 <tnd SoW.r lnfluence.q.

exercises great influence over men and affects considerably their
minds. Lunatics, idiots and madmen exhibit marked changes on full
. Moon and new .Moon days. Sick people always pass restless nights
.before new Moon days and if they are seriously ill, every one despairs
of their life until they pass the new Moon day. The world's greatest
men believed in astrology, and could not have done so, had they not
been practically convinced of the truth of the astrological formulas.
No motives could be traced to them for passing a set of lies on countless generations yet to come. Electricity has been declared to be the \
great physical agent, which pervades through the whole Univt-rse and l
which is the cause of the production of the strangest phenomena. The
intellect of man is nothing but a result of the nervous currents, which
pass through the human frame, and which, when largely concentrated,
form what.is called the "mind" or willpower. Will may be a separate
'something' ' state' or ' power' which might have been placed by some
Supernatural Power in the human frame. But whatever it might be,
it cannot remain for any length of time unaffected by its surroundings ; and the food and climate are very important factors in the determination of our mind or willforce. Will, is therefore under the
direct. influence -of the Sun's light and heat and might have been
called into existence by their combined chemical action. The greater
the influence of the Sun. the greater is the nervous energy or willforce in man. The Sun is the great fountain head from which men
get all their electricity and magnetism. When he influences men
powerfully they become P.owerful, when his influence is weak they
become worthless and insignificant men. Electricity is divided into
two kinds, positive and negative. Similar electricities repel each
other while opposite electricities attract each other. The preponderance of these electricities, in objects in Nature, depend upon a
thousand circumstances which cannot be detailed here. In Nature
rivers, mountains, lakes, elevated grounds, forests, plants, villages
towns, cities and even individual houses, gems, animals and wells
have the power of storing large quantities of positive or negative
electricities, due to causes working previously there under \
certain previous and present conditions. They have also been
shown to possess the power of changing their sides, positive be,coming negative or vice-versa. Our tastes, our successes our I

Digitized by

Google

56
failures and our energy depend on these electrical cu1-rent.6. .Almost
inconcievable fractions of the Sun's light and heat have been
shown to be sufficient to produce the greatest perceptible changes
in Nature. The minuteness of the atoms of matter and organisms has
been attempted to be given, and these inconcievable forms of living
beings, cannot have been produced by any other powers we know of
\ than that generated by the solar energy. We have also seen, what
minute fraction of the solar force is enough to keep the Earth as it
is, with all its tlot"a and its fauna, and now we have to concieve, an
inconcievable fraction of this infinitismally small fraction of the solar
power, that is needed to bring an individual into existence and destroy him again for redistribution in Natme. The revolutions of the
planets round the Sun, their absorbing and retlecting powers of light
and heat, the rotation of the Sun on his own axis, the presence or ab1 sence of huge dark spots darting forth vast tlames of hydrogen gu
from the body of the Sun for thousands of miles, and their fall again
upon his disk, the passage through space of the Sun at a tremendous
velocity along with the other planets, the nearness or distance of the
Earth from the Sun in her revolutions round him, all these and
, many more causes must account and satisfactorily explain the diffe, rent historical periods, changes in social life, political convulsions,
differences in morality, alterations in taste, intellectual develop! ments, the creation of new apecies, the extinction of old ones
:and in fact every other thing for which we find no record in the
: past, or no paralell in the coming future. lt has been shown
i that the gigantic minds of the ancients, were sufficiently large enough
(
to store in vast quantities of knowledge of all kinds, and possesaing
as they did an acutely critical turn of mind, they could not have been
deceived by the tissue of an elaborate system of falsehood invenred
by the self-interested priests. There is a wide gulf of difference ,
between our modes of procedure and theirs, but to approach a subject I
persons may have several ways and means at their command, suitable
to their knowledge and local peculiarities. The degradation of the
science of astrology has been shown to be chiefly due to the political
convulsions, the ignorance and greed of astrologers, the unpardonable
anxiety, parsimony of the persons who consult them, and the diffi
cult nature of the science, which requires profotind knowledge I
1

o;9,t>zed by

Google

57

Conclu1ion.

and patient research before predictions could be ventured by the

astrologers. Truth was held in the highest veneration by our
ancestors, and the sin of desertion from its sacred shrine by the
modern astrologers, has been visited upon them. The mean
jealousy that characterises the modern Hindu and his unwillingness
to see others making rapid intellectual advances, have not been without their poisonous fruit, and if astrology has not been as successful
in its predictions, as it ought to have been, the fault lies more with
the professors into whose hands it has fallen, than to any radical inaccuracies which are found in its countless pages. Experience must
be the backbone of every science and a handful of experience is worth
more than cartloads of theoretical knowledge. The rapid sale of my
work encouraged me to issue a much improved and enlarged edition
and a similar appreciation of my present humble labours will in'duce
me to go more deeply into the subject of astrology. A self taught
man, I had innumerable difficulties in mastering the technicalities of
the subject and if I have succeeded in producing a useful book for
the public, I shall consider myself as having been more than amply
repaid for the trouble I have taken in its completion, for the pleasure
of the reader is always the pride of the autlior. I have carefully
examined the remedial portions suggested by the astrological
writers to avert the evil influences of the planets and have great con
fidence-from personal experience-in their efficacy to give undoubted relief if properly performed. The difficulty is to Know exactly
the sources of danger, and in the employment of capable agencies to
do the work under the prescribed forms. I shall always be happy to
offer my advice on this most important question.

B. SURYANARAIN ROW B. A.
M.R .A.S.,M.&..S.B.

MADRAS

etc.

lst June, 1900,

Digitized by

Google