Learning from Pundit

The first training I did in Vedic astrology was a correspondence course with David Frawley. David's books on the Sanatana Dharma are excellent reading and I found that his approach to Jyotish integrated the spiritual aspect of the Dharma, so that it wasn't mere fortune telling.  Jyotish, ( "the science of light"), along with yoga and ayurveda form the three practical aspects of Vedic lore and are extremely effective in their respective purposes.

Unexpectedly, the night before I received the course in the mail, I had a dream in which my wife Mai transformed into Sarasvati the Hindu goddess of learning and I propitiated her (Sarasvati) by placing a garland around her neck. That morning the first package arrived in the mail and the course began, so it seemed to have been an auspicious start to my Jyotish education! David's course was very good for developing a foundation in Jyotish, but I felt the need to learn directly from someone and that is how I came into contact with Pundit.

I had come across his name in the Yellow pages (its not everyday you find a Pundit there), rang him and he invited me over for a chat. Making sure to take something to the "guru",  I arrived with some chocolates, which Mai later informed me was more appropriate for a child. He laughed good naturedly at my gift and welcomed me into his home, part of which he had set as a sizeable temple, so that local Tamils could conduct pujas there. Pundit was, as he put it, a "strong"  devotee of the Sri Lankan saint Yogaswami, and the shrine, with a pair of the gurus sandals on the altar, was his offering to his gurus and the community. So again, I was to see how astrology is built into the religion as a seamless part of it. In fact, it is not seen as a religion by Hindus but as a way of life.

Pundit looked at my chart and said he would be happy to teach me, for a fee of course, and so for the next 6 months I would visit him once a week and absorb his understanding of Jyotish. As it turned out he also taught me his own unique form of Hindu numerology which I have found very helpful. Pundit, like Jyotish itself, was a unique combination of the sacred and mundane. He would pay as much attention to someone's sex life as their spiritual nature and regarded all aspects of life as important.

I suspect he found it strange that an Australian was interested in learning the subject and he invited me over for some services in his temple to show me his way of life and worship. As a rather strong personality it was interesting to observe how the tender part of his nature came out when he was involved in worshipping the Gods. He spoke with reverence about Yogaswami and some of the lessons he had learnt from the "Ramana Maharshi" of Sri Lanka. He told me how Yogaswami had once gone to see Ramana and the two had sat in silence gazing at each other for some time. Yogaswami had then left and on being asked what happened by a devotee said that they had had a very interesting conversation!

Pundit would invoke the Hindu God, Ganesh, known as the Remover of Obstacles (karma), before doing a reading and his intuition was very well developed. He was also very attached to Muruga (Mars) and showed me how one can find signs of the clients' specific deity and associations in the chart. For me it was Shiva through my Sun and Saturn. It was interesting to learn about an approach which had similarities to ancient traditions where the planets are regarded as deities and are propitiated due to the astral influence they have on our lives. Pundit made no bones about the fact that the Hindus regard our lives as predestined by our chart, which is essentially a blueprint of our karma for the current (and other) lifetimes. 

I had to learn by heart the 27 Nakshatras (lunar mansions), which are very important in delineating the chart and identifying marital compatibility and various other factors. We also spent some excruciating time learning how to draw up the various sub charts which Pundit insisted could turn around the influence of the main rashi chart and therefore had a central part to play in predictions.

Pundit had some amusing anecdotes about his life and clients and our lessons would be constantly interrupted by phone calls from Hindus all over the world wanting an opinion on a timing or other matter. He would speak with great assurance and sometimes bellow down the line at the hapless callers. He would discuss issues related to everything from their marriages to their spiritual growth. It showed me how earthy and mundane his approach could be, while at the same time dealing with more esoteric matters.

He also had very strong views on B.V. Raman, the doyen of Jyotish astrologers. Pundit's teacher had contrary views to Raman and Pundit had apparently had an ongoing verbal debate with him about them but had lately stopped it in deference to B.V.'s advancing age. My own experience of Raman's work is that while he appears to have had great success in his predictions I just couldn't get his system. 

What my time with Pundit gave me was a deep understanding and belief in the predictive power of Jyotish and its ability to help us understand both our personality nature and our spiritual destiny. I will always be grateful for the lessons I learnt from him and his teachers. The way Jyotish and even more so, Yoga, resonates within me indicates my past deep association with them.