Pardon this digression. The whole of Kerala is in a holiday, festive mood !

Now you can watch Trichur Pooram Live at http://www.keralaheritages.com
The constellation of Delta Leonis is known as Pubba or Pooram, one of the 27
constellations which tenant the Ecliptic. There are more than one million
temples in Kerala. Several temple festivals occur on the Lunar Asterism of
their inception.

The famous Trichur Pooram occurs on the Pubba day of Mesha or Delta Leonis
in the sidereal month of Aries. More than 500,000 people witness this
Festival of all Festivals. It is of 36 hours duration and it is one of the
most beautiful sights in the world, according to UNESCO.

More than 50 caparisoned elephants pass through the center of Trichur Town ,
the Lord Shiva Temple.

Earlier the Pooram was at Arattupuzha and it so happened that the Chief of
Peruvanam Gramam denied entry to the temples of Trichur. This enraged the
Naduvazhis of Trichur and the then ruler, Shaktan Tampuran, integrated all
the ten temples around the central Lord Shiva Temple, Vadakkunnathan (
situated at a hillock ) and created this Grand Pooram. Tampuran created
two Groups, the Eastern and the Western. The Eastern group was called as
Paramekkavu, consisting in addition to Paramekkavu temple, Karamukku,
Chembukavu, Choorakottukavu and Panamukkamppilly. The Western group was
Thiruvambady consisting of Kanimangalam, Laloor, Ayyanthole, Nethilakkavu
and the Thiruvambady temple.

This Pooram is centered around the Lord Shiva temple at the Center, as all
the ten deities pay obeisance to the Shiva, the central presiding deity.
Shaktan Tampuran chalked out the program and the main events of this
Glorious Festival. In Kudamattom, that is changing of colored umbrellas this
year, techonology was used. LED umbrellas were used and it was a glorious
sight at seven pm. 15 caparisoned elephants of the Eastern Group faced the
15 elephants of the Western Group.

The Ten Participating Temples

Along with the main Paramekkavu Temple
& Thiruvambady Temple in Trichur
Kanimangalam Sastha Temple at Kanimangalam, Pookkattikkara
Karamukku Bhaghavathy Temple at Karamukku near Chiyyaram,
Choorakkottukavu Bhagavathy Temple at Choorakkattukara,
Laloor Bhaghavathy Temple at Laloor,
Sree Karthyayani Temple at Ayyanthole,
Nethilakkavu Bhagavathy Temple at Neithilakkavu near Kuttoor,
Chembukkavu Bhagavathy Temple at Chembukkavu and
Panamukkumpally Sastha Temple at Panamukkampilly near East Fort Thrissur

In defence of Astrology !

Another Sir Philip Sydney stuff with the pen.

Our defence consists of the following points

1) Yavanas are not the Greeks, as misunderstood by Western scholars. They are an Indic tribe.

2) Physicalists and Literalists cannot understand the inner essence of the mystical sciences. ( Astrology is never physical, but mystical ).

3) We have seen literalists give literal interpretations, according to their whims and fancies. According to Esoteric Wisdom, Rama and Ravana were mythological characters. Rama is the Emblem of the Almighty Self and Ravana, the Emblem of Ego.

4) Everybody knows that Gregory added 10 days to the Julian Calender. There is no proof that Varaha did the same ( deducting 23 days ) to the Hindu Calender. That sloka is too vague.

5) The date when Gregory did that is 14-10-1582. No date has been given for the " Varahian Jump"  !

6) Astrology is a mystical science, based on Grace. There is nothing reprehensible in adopting Astrology as a profession. It continues to be one of the noblest professions and one of the greatest sciences which human intellect has built up.

8) The algorithms for computing planetary longitudes were first given by the Indian mathematicians, Aryabhata, Brahmagupta et al. Aryabhato Griha Ganitham.

9) The great intuitive sciences of Indian Philosophy are all mystical and their inner essence can only be understood by mystics ( " Wordly Intelligence seeks this Sanctuary in vain. All is undecipherable to the unprepared. He can see nothing, he can read nothing in its interior" ).

10)BG is an esoteric Scripture. The idea is not that a physical Krisha tells a physical Arjuna. They are the direct instructions of the Absolute, Almighty Self ( Krishna ), to the discriminative intellect  (Arjuna) !

11) MBh is another Epic with mystic meaning. There are five positive elements in Man, Truth, Dharma, Peace, Love and Prajna, the discriminative intellect, symbolised by the five Pandavas. The forces of the Kauravas are symbols of Lust, greed, anger, jealousy, avarice, pride and gluttony, the Seven Deadly Sins in the human mind. Duryodhana symbolises Kama, the lust which binds to the sublunar world. Dusshana is Krodha, anger, which is the greatest enemy of man.

Arjuna is the Prajna, the discriminative intellect, fighting with the background of Eternity. In each man, there is a fierce conflict going on between good and evil, where the great struggle for supremacy, between the Spirit and the flesh, is fought out on the ground floor of our existence, between the black and white forces of virtue and vice, light and darkness, prosperity and adversity !

In the great war which is happening in the human bosom, which the great poets of yore, represented as the Iliad and the Odyssey, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, the daivic forces are the positive elements in the human mind and the Asuric forces, the negative.

Only after the negative forces are destroyed, the asuric forces in the human mind, can we get Self Actualisation. For that we need the help of the Almighty Self ( Krishna ) !

Nice day to talk about Esoteric Wisdom. The day when the Sun just entered Sidereal Aries !

Here the defence rests !

The 18 sciences are mystical, not physical !

Astrology is one of the 18 mystical sciences of the Philosophia Perennis. They are not physical, but mystical. We talked about Yoga and Vedanta, are they physical ? 

Physical astronomers and half Professors cannot understand Universal Mysticism. Physicalists are literalists, they think only the Physical Universe is real. It is not their fault, as they believe Esse Est Percii, only their perceptions. Some of them believe in Creationism, the Six Day Creation Theory and some of them in the Big Bang Theory ! How can Everything come out of Nothing ? Creation ex Nihilo ? 

See, none of the mystics talked about anything physical.

Jesus never spoke about the physical Jerusalem. Look at his statement

"The Kingdom of Heaven is within you and whomsoever shall know himself shall find it"  Know Thyself and find It.

He was a Yogi. He declared Ego sum Alpha et Omega, I am the Alpha and the Omega. He was saying Aham Brahmasmi in another language.

So was Prophet Mohammed. He declared " Anal Huq " . In Arabic Ana means me Al means The and Huq means Truth. He was also declaring Aham Brahmsami in another language. He was a Sufi, a Yogi.

Look at his statement. Take the mystical meaning and not the physical meaning

"The Shariat is my body, the Tariqat my actions and Haqiqat my states".

The mystical meanings are known only to the Yogi, to the Sufi, to the Gnostic, to the Kabalist, to the Zen Master. Do not go by exoteric meaning, go by the esoteric !

What does Bhagavan say?

Sarvasya cha Aham Hridi Sannivishto

Matha Smrithi Jnanam apohanam cha

Sarvescha Vedair   Aham eva   Vedyo

Vedanta krityeva mitheha chaham

I am seated deep

In everybody's heart !

I am He whom the Vedas seek to know

I am the revealer of the Vedanta !

He is in the hearts of all, not in the physical Mecca or the physical Jerusalem !

The Helio Geo Centric Universe !

In Western Astronomy, the Ptolemaic Universe was geocentric. The great poet Dante based his cosmology on the Ptolemaic Universe.

Copernicus changed all that with his Heliocentic Model.

In the East, the Indian astronomer, Neelakantan, proposed a helio geo centric Universe, known as the Neelakantan Universe. This was copied by none other than the Guru of Kepler, Tycho Brahe and he called it the Tychonic Universe.

According to Einstein, all truths are relative and depends on the Observer and his frame of reference. Heliocentric means based on Helios, the Greek word for the Sun, which is derived from the Sanskrit Heli, as per the dictum Heli Soorya Chandraama Sheetharashmi. 

Heliocentric means observed from the Sun, with Helios, the Sun,  as the frame of reference. You cant go the Sun, put a chair there and observe from there ( May be the Noble Professor can do it, as he has called his software, Vishnu, which means all pervading in Sanskrit ).

Geo means Earth and geocentric means based on the Earth.

So children are talking about geocentric and heliocentric, without having any knowledge of Astronomy/Astrology. Ignorance can be excused, as nobody is omniscient !

Now we are under attack from the modern Thibeaus and Whitneys. We have to defend our Philosphy/Astronomy/Astrology from their vicious attacks. So let us be intellectual warriors ( Arundhati Roy is an intellectual warrior. She said Kashmir is Pakistan's, but then she is an intellectual warrior for Pak !)

Our friend, Paul Schyter has given algorithms for computing longitudes at his website.

http://stjarnhimlen.se/comp/ppcomp.html

Now let us know the method of computing Algorithms the Vedic Way.

http://www.eastrovedica.com/html/computingvedicplanetarypositions.htm

Similar to the Jihad and Holy War, we have Dharma Yuddha.

Dwavumau Purushau Loke

Soorya Mandala Bhedinau

Parivrad Yoga Yukthascha

Ranaschabhi mukho Hatha

By two methods Heaven is attained

And this Samsara is crossed

One by the Path Yogic

Other by the Path of the Martyr !

So let us be intellectual warrors to defend India and everything Indian !.

Vedanta is more logical than Theology or Science !

Let us understand the Law of Correspondences, As Above, so Below. That each part replicatest the Whole. Both are One. Being from One, they correspond !

More logical is Mentalism( Vedanta ) than both Theology and Cosmology which maintain that Everything came out of Nothing. Vedanta explains that there is no material creation, as Matter or Energy cannot be created or destroyed and that the Sum Total Energy in the Universe is an eternal constant, Brahman, Absolute. 

However, there is a mental creation and that the Unvierse is a dream in the Cosmic Mind.

Avyaktha Namnee Paramesha Shakti

Anadya Vidya thrigunatmika para

Kayanu meya Sudhiyaiva Maya

Yada Jagath Sarvam Idam Prasooyathe.

Unmanifest is the Power of the Lord

Great is the Universal Mind which created
This manifested Universe !

She went forth as Nescience

As the triune attributes of Nature

Satwas, Rajas  and Thamas

And tantalises everyone

As the Consort of the Lord!

Everything did not come out of Nothing, Everything came out of Everything, poornamada poornam idam, both Brahman and Maya are Poornam !

It is more logical than Theology which states the God created the Universe out of Nothing in six days and even more logical than the Big Bang Theory, which states that the Universe was created out of Nothing by Quantum Fluctuations. How can everything come out of Nothing ? ( Somebody said that the Big Bang Theory is nothing but Religion ! )

In his "History of Western Philosophy",  Bertrand Russell defined Philosophy as the No Man's Land between Science and Theology. All dogmas belong to Theology, all established facts belong to Science. In between there is No Man's Land and this is Philosophy ! Ultimately we are on the side of Philosophy, not Theology or Science !

Let us congratulate the World Wide Web for the proliferation of Knowledge ! ( somebody said that www means Wealth, Wine and Women ! )

The Rajju Sarpa Nyaya of Vedanta !

In the West, the divine Hermes Trismegistus spelt out the Law of Correspondences saying " That which is on High is that which is on Below, that which is on Below is that which is on High, in order that the Miracle Of Unity may be perpetual".

The physical Sun corresponds to the Inner Sun, as per the Law of Correspondences. As Above, so Below ! 

I will define Rajju Sarpa Nyaya here. For that,  we have to go to the basics of Vedanta and the definitions of the Self, the Non Self etc.

Let us define the Non Self.

Dehendriya prana sukhonamadaya

Sarve Vikara Vishaya sukhadaya

Vyomani Bhoothani Akhilam cha Visvam

Avyakta payantam idam Hya natma 

All sensory organs, all emotions,

All Five Great Elements

From the Macrocosm to the Microcosm

Is NON - SELF !

So you mean to say  all are Non Self ? Yes ! What about the Universe ? Same.

OK, then what is Self, this Ayam Atma Brahma ?

Here is the definition of the Self

Nirguno, nishkriyo, nithyo

Nirvikalpano Niranjanah
Nirvikaro Niraakaro
Nityor mukthosmi Nirmalah

That which is Attributeless

Devoid of any Relativity

Without shape or Form

That is the Absolute SELF !

Yes,  all this is SELF, Satyam Sat Atmeva Jagath Samastham,  and when seen through the Mind ( Universal ) it appears as the Universe, with its myriad forms and names, as Nama and Rupa ! This is Rajju Sarpa Nyaya of Vedanta. The rope is mistaken as the serpent, the Universe is seen through the veil of Mind, through the veil of Maya ! ( We had talked about Mentalism, that all this is Mind, before ) !

Yatra Bhasayathi Visvam
Kalpitham Rajju Sarpavath
Ananda, param Ananda,
Sa bodhasthwam Sukhe Chara !

In Whom all this is illumined

Like the blueness in the sky

Water in the mirage

The Serpent on the Rope

The Universe is an idea

In the Universal Mind !

Know that Bliss to be Thee

And walk in that Bliss Absolute !

Astrology is mystical !

According to Esoteric Wisdom, by Sun we dont mean the physical Sun and by planets we do not mean the physical planets. The Sun is situated in the Heart Chakra, Saturn at the Mooladhara Chakra, Jupiter at Manipura exactly as in the Solar Logos. Here we are talking about Man, the Microcosm replicating the Macrocosm.

The parts are greater than the Whole ? Undoubtedly. The Whole is greater than the sum of its parts ? Indubitably. We are puny parts of the Great Whole, called by us as the Universe. Wholeness is contained in every part !

Let us thank the Lord for these discussions, which can enlighten all.  In his Neurophysiology of Enlgihtenment Dr Robert Keith Wallace said " Enlightenment is the state of perfect order, zero entropy and depends on the harmonious functioning of every part of the body ! He said India is the home  of the most profound knowledge and procedures for the development of Physiology !

Even the Negative becomes Positive due to Thy Grace!  How strange is Thy Grace, Vichithra roopas thavaghal Anugraha !