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Srimate SrivanSataopa Sri Vedanta Desika Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:

The Crystal Gazers

We sit in suspense before him, tense with anticipation and anxiety. We stare at 
his bent head, waiting for the moment he would speak out and provide us answers 
to the myriad questions we have. We linger with impatience while he pores over 
our horoscope, our mind teeming with queries-would I go abroad and find a 
lucrative position that would enable me to settle down financially for the rest 
of my life, would the daughter, for long in search of an ideal groom, find one 
early, would the chronic disease that has crippled life and limb give me a 
respite, would I build the house of my dreams at last, would I secure admission 
in a reputed college for a course of my choice-these and a hundred other 
questions like these haunt us day and night, for which we desperately seek 
answers.

Fortunately or unfortunately, the answers lie not in the realm of the present, 
but belong to the Future. And the problem is that Future is a closed book, the 
leaves of which cannot be opened and perused till the appointed time arrives. 
It is a blind turning, with little clue as to what lies round the corner. This 
makes us more anxious, for it is the suspense that is unbearable, not even the 
actual future event, whatever it be and whenever it happens. It is this anxiety 
and suspense about how things would turn out, that drive us almost insane. It 
is then that we turn to the Astrologer, who, we believe, is capable of 
foretelling our prospects and putting us wise to what the future holds for us, 
whether it be bouques or brickbats, whether it is a harbinger of good tidings 
or bad, whether the portents are auspicious or ominous. Since the very course 
of our lives depends upon what the soothsayer is about to pronounce, we hold 
him in high reverence and regard, clinging on to every word of his.

It would appear that the wisdom of the present day man has contracted 
considerably, compared to that of his forebears. We are told that Rishis of 
yore knew not only what had happened, but also what the future held in store 
for anyone-what is popularly knows as "GnAna Drishti". When we consider this, 
our own plight of poor memory of things past, our lack of comprehension of even 
present day events and our total ignorance about the outlook and opportunities 
the future holds for us-all these put us to shame. Thus, the eagerness to know 
our prospects drives us to the astrologer, in the obvious belief that 
forewarned is forearmed.

Without in any way casting aspersions on fortune-tellers, whether they are mere 
gypsies in tents gazing at crystal balls, the one under the banyan tree who 
puts our entire future in the beak of a parrot which picks up a card on which a 
stereotyped message is printed, the way-side wonder wielding a magnifying glass 
with which he is able to read a wealth of information from our open palm with 
apparently little effort or the learned vidvAn of JyOtisha ShAstra, well-versed 
in HOrA skandam, professing the capablity to predict the events of an entire 
life , with data on just the hour and second of the subject's birth-without in 
any way belittling these worthy gentlemen and ladies who specialise in this 
rather dicey profession, we must agree that most of the time, what we are fed 
by way of predictions is just tripe, pure and simple. If we ask ourselves the 
important question as to whether these gentlemen would be where they are, if 
they really knew their own future, the answer would tell us what degree of 
credence we should attach to their soothsaying. In many cases, it turns to be a 
case the blind leading the blind-"andhEnaiva neeyamAnA yathA andhA:"


Astrological consultations are not only strewn with the aforesaid pitfalls, but 
also lead us at times to forbidden paths forsaken by our elders, especially in 
the name of PrAyaschittam. Many a time we are told that the only way to avoid 
some inauspicious future event or other is to perform a hOmam, to wear a 
particular coloured stone, to worship a particular demigod. All these, apart 
from being of dubious efficacy, lead us away from our chosen path of Prapatti 
and may well result in a significant setback in the Pilgrim's Progress.

In tailoring our attitude towards anything, we should be guided by the conduct 
of good people of impeccable standing and superiority-"yat yat Acharati 
shrEshtta: tat tat Eva itarO jana:"says the Gita. Going by this maxim, if we 
scour the scripture for instances of great people consulting astrologers for 
learning this or that aspect of their future, we are unable to find any 
significant indications in this regard, search as we might.

When His coronation failed to materialise, when He was forced into exile in the 
inhospitable jungle for fourteen long years, clad in little more than tree bark 
and deer skin, when His beloved wife and the apple of His eye was abducted by a 
notorious rAkshasa, when both He and His beloved brother were felled by the 
foe's nAga pAsa and the outcome of the bloody war became uncertain-even when 
faced with all these trials and tribulations, Sri Rama did not rush to a 
soothsayer even once, to find out whether the day that would dawn would hold 
better hope than the day on which the Sun had set. True, we hear of Sage 
VasishttA taking into account the movements of planets for fixing the ill-fated 
Coronation of DAsarathi, but there does not appear to be any mention of 
recourse to fortune-tellers, for divining what was in store.

Similarly, when the Divine Toddler was beset by one marauder after another, 
sent down to GOkulam by the cruel Kamsa, we do not hear of Yasoda or Nandagopa 
trying to peer into the foggy realm of the future, with the aid of an 
astrologer, for what might happen to their "iLam singam". Nor did the PANdavAs, 
despite all their unending travails, having lost their thrones, their vast 
kingdom, untold riches and their very wife, seek the services of a soothsayer 
for finding out when their troubles would end.

Nor even do we hear of our learned Acharyas consulting jyOtishIs for learning 
this or that aspect of their future.

Hence, if we are indeed to follow the example set by Great Ones, we should be 
content to wait for the future to unfold itself, without attempting to obtain a 
sneak preview with the aid of those who profess to show us the same.

While it is natural for a person beset with apparently insurmountable problems 
to try and find out whether the status quo would improve or not, an 
appreciation of the causative factors for such a state would surely dissuade 
him from any such attempt, for whatever we reap today is indeed the crop of 
what we sowed yesterday, in yesteryears or in our previous births. "DEha yAtrai 
karmAdheenam" our Acharyas tell us, clarifying that whatever happens to us now, 
good or bad, is but a result of our accumulated KarmA, over which we have 
absolutely no control and which has to be lived through, whether it is 
pleasureable or painful. "adukku karaya vENdA"-Acharyas forbid us from worrying 
about the current state of affairs or living in a constant state of suspense 
about what the future would hold for us, for every happening, past, present and 
future, and every intricate detail thereof, have been preordained by our mixed 
baggage of good and bad deeds, and no amount of tears nor of peering into the 
future would make an iota of difference to the course of life's events.

Hence, as surrendered souls or Prapannas, what we need to have is absolute 
confidence in the Lord's dispensation. We should stand secure in the belief 
that whatever happens in future, palatable to us or not, is for the best. If it 
is something not to our liking and results in unhappiness and despair, we must 
take it that the Lord, the impartial arbiter that He is, has chosen this way of 
washing off our Karma. If the future turns out to be a rosegarden, with nary a 
care but filled with fun and happiness, this too should be accepted as a mode 
of exhausting the merit acquired earlier. It is only when puNyam and pApam are 
either worked off by being experienced or the sins being pardoned by the Lord 
as part of the Prapatti package, that a person becomes eligible for 
emancipation-"puNya pApE vidhooya niranjana: paramam sAmyam upaiti".

Thus, from a layman's viewpoint, it appears as though we Prapannas have nothing 
to fear about the future, having dumped on Emperuman's everready shoulders the 
responsibility as well as the fruits of our future lives ("aham mad rakshaNa 
bharO mad rtakkshaNa phalam tathA...na mama, SreepatErEva iti AtmAnam nikshipEt 
budha:"). The Future holds a terror only to those who are afraid of the slings 
and arrows of fortune, who lack the equanimity to accept the good with the bad 
and those who are beset with familial and other obligations. To us, however, 
who have not a care in the world, having accepted the Lord as our Saviour and 
the one responsible for our welfare, whatever He deals out is accepted as 
Bhagavat Prasadam-the question of its being liked or otherwise doesn't arise, 
for it is indeed His will, and He can never put us in harm's way. When the 
world around us might await the dawn with brows lined with care and thoughts 
muddled with fear of the future, we Prapannas, when we lay our heads down to 
sleep, enjoy the slumber of the newborn, our minds unclouded by what the morrow 
holds for us, secure in our maxim, "nirbharO nirbhayOsmi".

Srimate Sri LakshmINrsimha divya paduka sevaka SrivanSatakopa Sri Narayana 
Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:
Dasan, sadagopan


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