A MATTER OF FAITH

SCIENCE OR MYTHOLOGY??

“Scientific research has no boundaries”, a statement which anybody in the right frame of mind, dare not refute. Gleaning through the news, even as a diehard believer of the truth in the  statement , I was startled , rather taken by surprise by a research study. Scientists in the U.K. have identified certain metabolic indicators, 22 to be precise ,which could, sort of sum up, one’s general metabolic profile and disease probability, right at birth.. Well, in short, a medical health bulletin at birth, with a possible prediction about life expectancy, disease affliction and the works.

Years of research and millions of dollars, or, in this case pounds, sterling down the drain and for what— to predict your life expectancy. Before you jump at me to defend the darn good work of these researchers, let me please defend myself first and possibly, when I am done with my side of the story, we might start seeing eye to eye.

About a decade ago, I was talking to a friend [an agricultural scientist] who has always professed immense faith in Indian astrology and in the ability of these astrologers to forecast and predict the future as well as important milestones in one’s life. To my surprise, he added that from the input of one persons prediction, they could foretell the life incidents of your immediate family including your spouse and even your would be spouse. Being a person educated in the nuances of modern science and medicine,I could not take anymore of this but being human, by now, my curiosity had increased and I uttered ,

“How does that work, if at all it does?”

“Easy”, he quipped and he divulged the details.

Let me elaborate. There is an ancient Indian system of Nadi astrology and Prediction, it is believed that every  person born on this planet has his destiny decided at birth. Indian mythology is very rich and people have a lot of faith in it ,even to this day. It is said that Lord Shiva was explaining to his wife, Parvati, the future of all the people who were to be born and a very respected sage, Augusteya overheard and wrote down all the details. This was transcribed onto dried leaves called Papyrus, which are preserved till date, in a small village in the southern part of the country.

Now, the question arises ,how would you have such a vast library and how does one codify such a wealth of information.  The answer to this complex issue lies in the fact that each person has a unique fingerprint. So anyone visiting the Nadi office would have their finger print matched and based on this specific evidence, a specific set or a bundle of papyrus is short-listed. After a few questions, to which you are supposed to answer with a simple yes or no, your astrological prediction is ready to be translated and recorded for you.. Mind you, this entire text is in an ancient Tamil script, so an expert translator sits with the priest to record the entire proceedings. All this and at what cost, a mere hundred Canadian Dollars or even less now, what with the Canadian dollar becoming dearer by the day, compared to the poor Indian rupee. Mind you, all this sans blood samples being drawn by trained phlebotamists. No huge medical bills and no anxious, long wait outside the doctors chamber.

As if, all this is not enough, you would also be informed of your parents health , the time of their future hospitalization, along with some hint of the possible diagnosis and of course, the most likely outcome of each such possibility. Not to mention a reasonably accurate time frame of your marriage, the birth time of your kids and their likely professions can all be predicted with a reasonable level of accuracy.
I am an honorable man and let me make it very clear that cuts and commissions do not contribute to my earnings., I have not been paid by these people nor am I advocating the need to visit India for this. What I want to emphasize is a very simple observation of mine.

What science has achieved today, the wisdom of the East had already solved, centuries back, though in a different way. They had taken the help of an abstract branch of science, called astrology, though possibly to make it more acceptable to the masses a religious flavor was added to it. If only the wisdom of the East and the analytical mind of the West would come together, more and more secrets of our unique universe could be unravelled. God willing of course!

Still ,what an achievement by both the civilizations. The human intellect can not be tamed nor can it fathom all the intrigues that God has entangled its magnificent creation in.

Amen!