Astronomia Vedica IV

Astronomy, " the science of the Heavens ", was well developed by the Indians
and noted scholar Eirik L Harris remarked that " the Vedic culture was very
rich in astronomical thinking." The Winter Solstice was the base of all
year-long sacrifices and the Vedic knowledge of both winter and summer
solstices were accurate. There is a verse in the Rig Veda stating that
Winter Solstice was in Aries. " The period of the Rig Veda was therefore
6500 BC and it is possible to date the Rig Veda thus " remarks Eirik L
Harris. Astronomy and Mathematics were inspired by Vedic practices.

Another scholar B.V.Subbarayyappa remarked that " Indian mathematics too
owes its primary inspiration to Vedic practices. The Shulba sutras, part of
another Vedic auxiliary called the Kalpa sutras, deal with the construction
of several types of brick altars and in that context with certain
geometrical problems including the Pythagorean theorem, squaring a circle,
irrational numbers and the like. Yet another Vedic auxiliary, Metrics
(chandah), postulated a triangular array for determining the type of
combinations of 'n' syllables of long and short sounds for metrical
chanting. This was mathematically developed by Halayudha who lived in
Karnataka (10th Century) into a pyramidal expansion of numbers. Such an
exercise appeared six centuries later in Europe, known as Pascal's triangle.
Vedic mathematics and astronomy were pragmatic and integrated with Vedic
religio-philosophical life."

"During the three centuries before and after the Christian era, there were
new impulses. Astronomy became mathematics-based. In the succeeding
centuries, while astronomy assimilated Hellenic ideas to some extent
mathematics was really innovative. Indian astronomers were able
mathematicians too. The doyen among them, Aryabhatta I (b.476 A.D.) gave the
value of pi (3.1416 approx., a value used even today) worked out
trigonometrical tables, areas of triangles and other plane figures,
arithmetical progression, summation of series, indeterminate equations of
the first order and the like. He expounded that the earth rotates about its
own axis and the period of one sidereal rotation given by him is equivalent
to 23h 56m 4s.1, while the modern value is 23h 56m 4s.091. He discarded the
mythical Rahu-Ketu postulate concerning eclipses in favour of a scientific
explanation.

Aryabhatta's junior contemporary Varahamihira, was well known for his
compendium, the Panchasiddhantika, a compilation of the then extant five
astronomical works called the Siddhantha- Surya, Paulisha, Romaka, Vasishta,
and Paitamaha. Of them, the Suryasiddhanta, which he regarded as the most
accurate, underwent revisions from time to time and continues to be an
important text for computing pancangas.

Brahmagupta was a noted astronomer mathematician of the 7th Century. His
remarkable contribution was his equation for solving indeterminate equations
of the second order - an equation that appeared in Europe a thousand years
later known as Pell's equation. His lemmas in this connection were
rediscovered by Euler (1764) and Lagrange (1768). Brahmagupta was also the
first to enunciate a formula for the area of a rational cyclic
quadrilateral. In the latter half of the first millenium A.D. there were
other noted astronomers and mathematicians like Bhaskara I, Lalla,
Pruthudakasvamin, Vateshvara, Munjala, Mahavira (Jaina mathematician),
Shripati, Shridhara, Aryabhatta II , and Vijayanandin. The tradition of
astronomy and mathematics continued unabated - determination of procession
of equinoxes, parallax, mean and true motions of planet, permutations and
combinations, solving quadratic equations, square root of a negative number
and the like.

Using nine digits and zero, the decimal place value system had established
itself by about the 4th century A.D. Says historian of science, George
Sarton, "Our numbers and the use of zero were invented by the Hindus and
transmitted by Arabs, hence the name Arabic numerals which we often give
them.' Brahmagupta's Brahmasphuta Siddhanta and Khandakhadyaka were also ren
dered into Arabic in the 9th-10th century. The Brahmi numerical forms with
some modifications along with the decimal place-value system developed in
India have since become universal."

Eirik L Harris remarked that "Additionally, the Vedics, who developed the
Hindu-Arabic number system, were far enough advanced in mathematics to make
many calculations, including that of the complete cycle of the progression
of the equinoxes, though, again, as the Vedas were mainly religious, there
is no mention as to how results like this were derived. Overall, the Vedic
culture was very rich in astronomical thinking, and it is a shame that non
religious texts did not last through the centuries, for they could have
shone more light on the matter of the astronomical accomplishments of the
Vedic people."

The ancient Indians divided the path of the moon into 27 equal parts called
nakshatras, showing the variation of the relative position of the moon in
comparison to the rest of the stars visible to the Vedic people. These
nakshatras were quite important for determining times of the year, as can be
seen in combination with Vedic mythology, and can also be used to determine
how far back in history Vedic astronomy extended.

The myth of the god Janus shows both of these factors, the determination of
the age of Vedic astronomy and different periods of the year. Janus had four
heads, each of which represented a phase of the moon in Sagittarius (one of
the nakshatras) which marked the four seasons. One head was the full moon
(in Sagittarius) which gave the time of the spring equinox, another was the
new moon, during which time the autumn equinox fell, still another was the
half waning moon, marking the winter solstice, and finally came the head
representing the half waxing moon, during which time came the summer
solstice. From current knowledge of the movement of the sphere of stars
surrounding the earth, it can be calculated that the observations leading to
the myth of Janus were made around 4000 BC. Additionally, within the Rg Veda
is a verse observing the winter solstice in Aries, which would have placed
it at around 6500 BC.

It is possible to date the Rg Veda like this because a complete cycle in the
procession of the equinoxes takes place either every 25,870 to 24,500 years
according to modern astronomers (the exact time period is still disputed by
modern day astronomers), meaning that the moon is only full in Sagittarius
during the spring equinox every 25,000 years or so. Modern astronomers,
however, were not the first to make the difficult calculations to discover
the length of this cycle. The Vedics were able to do this and came up with
the value of 25,870 years. How these ancient people were able to make these
calculations, however is "as great a mystery as the origin of life itself".

Further observations which could only have taken place around 4000 BC have
also been recorded. These included the constellation Hydra, the god of
darkness. The only time Hydra was fully visible to the people of northern
India was in mid-winter, when the sun shone the fewest hours, hence the
allusion to the god of darkness. More importantly, however, was the fact
that the rains came when Hydra ceased to be completely visible. This was
very important to the farmers of North India, for they needed to know when
the rains would come, so as to know when to prepare their fields and plant
their crops." ( Astronomy of Vedic India )

Astronomical Mysticism in the Rig Veda

The five fundamental circles, the Celestial Equator ( Vishuvat Vritta) , the
Celestial Meridien ( Khagoleeya Dhruva Rekha ), the Ecliptic ( Kranti
Vritta ), the Nodal Circle ( Vikshepa Vritta ) and the Celestial Horizon
Kshithija ) were called by the Seers as Shahasra Seersha, Sahasra Purusha,
Sahasra Kha, Sahasra Path & Sahasra Bhoomi. This is given in the Hymn, the
Purusha Sooktha, that the Zodiacal Man or Time Eternal lies coiled as the
mighty Zodiac !


The Downward Pull of the Mind

The Downward Pull of the Mind is when the negative elements in the
collective mind or the social mind triumph. Socrates is poisoned. Rimbau
flees to the Abyssinian desert. History is replete with such incidents, when
" the adverse forces " or " the hostile forces " triumph over the positive
forces in the collective or social mind.

The Upward Pull of the Mind

This happens only in the minds of Initiates. " In Ire " in Latin means to go
within. Initiates are those who are always in touch with the Divine Self in
themselves. The four faculites of the Intuitive Reason - Revealation,
Inspiration, Intuition & Illumination - are experienced by them. The river
of inspiration flowing from the Truth Consciousness pulls the mind to the
higher regions of the Superconscient. In Geo-Biology, this is the pull of
the mind from the Telluric level to the Cosmic level. The mind experiences
Bliss during this Upward Pull.

The Upward Pull is the master movement of Nature. The upward movement is
that which pulls us from Death ( the senseless attachment to the sensory
world ) to Immortality ( Self- Actualisation) and realises in this body of
earth the luminous Kingdom of Heaven !

Article by G Kumar, Astrologer, writer & programmer of
www.eastrovedica.com. He has 25 years psychic research
experience in the esoteric arts. His Astro
blog is up at http://www.zodiacastrology.blogspot.com & his
Astro lens is up at http://www.squidoo.com/ZodiacAstrology