Demand to set up astrology varsity

Haridwar, April 5
At the 13th All-India Astrologers' Convention, which commenced today at Kankhal, Haridwar, astrologers from from around the country mooted the demand for having a specialised astrology university in the country where authentic study of this age-old subject is imparted to the students.

Being held at Shri Maharshi Parashar Jyotish Research Centre, the two-day convention is witnessing astrologers from different states of the country as well as from host Uttarakhand.

Astrologers are dwelling upon the ways to make astrology closer to the people as well as add to it the scientific-arithmetic aspect as it is not a mere a guessing art but is derived from scriptures of Vedas.

Noted astrologer Pandit Vipin Kumar Parashar, in his address, put forth the demand of having a separate astrology university that caters to development of this art in India as well as globally. To this all the participating delegates agreed, and in view of delay in this process, decided to form a private astrology university in Haridwar only.

Pandit Parashar elaborated in detail about the three branches of astrology - Siddhanta (Indian astrology), Samhita (Mundane astrology) and Hora (predictive astrology).

He also predicted the various events that will be of importance politically,socially and nitty-gritties of the ongoing Hindu New Year (Vikram Samvat 2069).

Pandit Sumit Mishra, Sub Editor of renowned astrology annual book ‘Ganga Panchang’ pointed to the cheap publicity methods being used by many fake astrologers to gain personal mileage and earn money.

He said that this is doing harm to the astrologers who have laboured hard for years to gain this knowledge. This is also damaging the art of astrology more.

Various other veteran astrologers also condemned making of astrology a business or fooling people by creating pre-enacted television advertisements where talk is not of art of astrology but more of the charisma of the so-called astrologers, who portray themselves as key to all the problems.

The convention primarily dwelled on five topics namely - how will this year be for the whole country, impact of the sun on planet earth, why astrological methods fail sometimes, impact of celestial positions and how to draw common man closer to astrology so as to remove his problems and guide him towards religion, morality, work ethics and salvation.

On the sidelines of the convention, free ‘kundli’ analysis is being done by participating astrologers, drawing people in large numbers.

Tomorrow, on the concluding day, Vinod Giri Maharaj of Siddeshwar Temple, will launch a new edition of annual astrology book ‘Ganga Panchang,’ which is compiled by a team of renowned astrologers.

Among other renowned astrologers who are participating include Dr KPS Mudgil, Dr Vinayak, Dr Girija Shankar Shastri, Pt Rakesh Bandhu, Pt Diwakar, Dr Ram Bhagwan Malhotra, Krishan Kumar Ojha, Pt Vishnu Sharma and Shiv Kumar Sharda.