Today's Jyotish Astrologers are actually Post Vedic

Below is a request for guidance regarding the question of “what is the correct Zodiac to follow?” which was sent to Aeon Centre of Cosmology and answered by Robert Wilkinson. Below this exchange (which I have obtained permission to publish) I will post several links to other articles on this important subject.

Respected brothers and sisters: Nice to meet you, my name is J. and I'm from Colombia (South America). I thank you very much for the contribution you make in spreading the ancestral knowledge in this dark era. I am a seeker of answers and I am very passionate about Hindu astrology. I read the excellent article by Mr. Robert Wilkinson (Answer to Freedom Cole's Tale of Two Zodiacs) and was impressed. I am writing to request guidance. What is the correct zodiac to follow? I personally use the tropical but I feel confused with sidereal. However, I understand that tropical times were used in Vedic times. Could you give me a guide? God bless you. 

J. (Columbia, South America)

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Robert's response:

Hello J., You bring up a very important issue and your instincts to use the Tropical zodiac are correct. In ancient times the Vedic rishis also used the Tropical zodiac. It wasn't until more recent times that they adopted the Nirayana (Sidereal) system. Today's Jyotish Astrologers call themselves Vedic but as Thea pointed out, they are actually Post Vedic. 

The result of this choice is that the so-called Vedic Astrologer is 23 degrees off in their calculations.

I recently did a reading for an Indian gentleman in London who had begun to have symptoms of Parkinson's disease. His daughter who was in her 20s had just died in her sleep and he was inconsolable. He asked me why none of this could be found in the horoscope his jyotish Astrologer had cast and I explained that his Astrologer was using the Sidereal Zodiac which was off by 23 degrees. When I did his chart using the Tropical system you could see his daughter's death and the cause of his neurological problems in irrefutable detail. He was astonished at the difference between the two zodiacs. And seeing his daughter's death as a clearly destined event allowed him to accept it and bring closure to his grief.

Perhaps more important is the question of Alignment in Sri Aurobindo's, the Mother's and Thea's work. In the last chapter of his Synthesis of Yoga Sri Aurobindo introduces the concept of a Supramental Time Vision that he called the final aid in the realization of the Supramental Consciousness. While he did not reveal the details of that Time Vision in his book, they were given out by the Third member of his line, Thea, in her discovery of the Gnostic Circle which, like the Tropical zodiac, is also based on the Eternal and unchanging foundations of the Solstices and the Equinoxes. As you will know, there are no Solstices or Equinoxes in the Constellations which form the basis of the Sidereal circle.

We just celebrated the Winter Solstice, which is wholly an astronomical event and not subject to interpretation, on the 21st of December but the vast majority of the Hindu faithful won't celebrate the Sun's movement into Capricorn until January 14th. You cannot imagine the loss of knowledge and Alignment that occurs from this error. Much like my Indian client, the Hindu celebrants will have no clarity and no orientation with the cosmic order that surrounds them. And that is the underlying problem of our modern world. So spread the word about this travesty and help us rectify the situation before it gets predictably worse.

As for the Nakshastras, they are impeccable as they are. Use them with confidence. [1]

The best possible guide you could have in these matters is Thea. Read her books and you will obtain the highest knowledge. I will be happy to help you as time permits.

With warmest regards, Robert

[27 December 2017]

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[1] According to Patrizia Norelli-Bachelet, 'the Nakshatras do not contain a body of higher knowledge as the tropical wheel does.' See:  Sidereal or Tropical Zodiac - the Debate Continues.

Other posts/articles on the same topic:

A Message to Astrologers (Thea, March 2012)

There Will Be a Transformed India the Day the Calendar Problem Is Resolved (A short video of Thea and transcript from the Panchanga Ganitam Conference)

The Importance of Makar Sankranti in Hindu Calendar Reform (Thea's paper, presented at the Tirumala Conference, 25 December 2011)

A Delegate’s REPORT on the First National Conference on Hindu Calendar Reform  (Thea, January 2011)

Those Unsettling New Paradigms (Thea, 23 July 2015)

The Origins and Nature of Hindu Decline (Thea, 2006)

Why is Makar Sankranti important for the unity and integrity of India? (Thea January 2016)

A Calendar that Unifies - Questions and answers on reforming the Hindu Calendar (Thea, March 2009)

Sidereal or Tropical Zodiac? - The Debate Continues  (Thea, May 2015)

Miscalculations of Post-Vedic Astrologers & Resetting the Balance and Measures of the World

(Thea, 2009)

Sri Aurobindo on Astrology

The Astrological Flip Side: Shifting Zodiac Questioned in India (Lori Tompkins, January 2011

Restoring the Soul of Vedic Knowlege in the Aquarian Age (Lori Tompkins, originally published as a guest column on www.iVarta.com via the IndiaCause blog, 17 January 2011)