Note by H.P.B. on an article by Morarji Gokuldas
The facts given in the present article were communicated to a friend and by him written out in Mr. Morarji’s presence some time prior to his untimely and regretted disease. It would be very interesting to know how far his own horoscope forecast his demise. We will also glady receive the testimony of other reputable Hindu gentlemen upon the subject of their horoscopes.
My uncle, Premji Jivan, was a great believer in astrology and a patron of learned Brahmins, whom he consulted on all important matters. One of these, named Nana Joshee, was renowned for his skill. He would cast horoscopes and read the past and future as though they were an open book. When my uncle was about 30 or 35 years of age, Nana cast his horoscope and prophesied, among other things, that at the time of his death he would leave an estate of a certain amount, which was at least six times as much as he was then worth. He even stated the exact sum in rupees, annas and pies. He died at the age of 54 and his estate was administered by me as executor. Upon calculating the assets it turned out that the exact sum named by Nana, nineteen years before, not one anna more
or less, was in the estate.Another instance. A gentleman, occupying a very high position in India, relates the following:—My horoscope was drawn more than forty years ago at the time of childhood. It mentioned that at the age of 19, I would have a daughter. This proved true. The horoscope of my son was drawn. A certain bad aspect of the heavens was prophesied for a specified day, which caused his mother and myself great apprehensions. Until two days before this time the child was well, and we had him out riding in the carriage; but on the evening of that very day, he was taken ill and on the fatal day of prophecy, was taken from us for ever. Thus, let there be as many false prophets and lying prophecies as you will, there are still men left in India who are able to forecast human destinies. How they do it I
will not pretend to say; perhaps it matters little if they only do it at all.
It may be news to some readers that there is supposed, by modern astronomers, to be some connection, not unlike that dreamed of by the old astrologers, between the position of the planets and the fortunes of our earth. Not, of course, as used to be supposed in Christendom, and is still believed in this and other Eastern countries, that the lives of individual men are influenced, but that the period of perihelion, when the superior planets approach the sun, is one of misfortune arising from natural causes. It is alleged that the history of great epidemics, for example, confirms this theory. The view is that, at such times, the temperature and other conditions of our atmosphere are so seriously disturbed as naturally to engender irregularities. It is not without a rather creepy sensation, therefore, that we learn that the perihelia of the four greater planets are now about to coincide for the first time during about two thousand years; and if the theory be true, we may look for extremes of wet and drought followed by famine, and intensified by pestilence. . . .
Note: The next step will be for the modern astronomers to discover that no mere change in atmospheric temperature accompanying the conjunction of planets affects human destinies, but a far more important and occult power, the magnetic sympathy between the various planetary orbs. Astrology may have fallen into contempt under the influence of improved modern science, but undoubtedly the time is coming when it will again have the attention it deserves and recover its ancient dignity as a sublime science. Perhaps the following paragraph from The Banner of Light may serve as a help to those who would understand the occult forces that pervade our globe, and make it sensitive to solar magnetism.
“It is reported that Mr. H. C. Strong, of Chicago, has invented a telephone by which electric earth-currents can be utilized to transmit messages without the use of wires. A magnetic survey has been commenced, forty-five stations for observation established, and a system adopted by which to record the variation or declination of the needle. The hypothesis is that the magnetic needle is acted on by earth-currents, which bend round the dry hills and mountains, taking by preference the course of the damper valleys and the streams. According to a well-known law, the needle tends to set across the stream-lines of an electric current: and, if earth-currents exist, having a general direction from east to west, the abnormal deviations of the needle are thereby fully accounted for. It is proposed to search for these currents according to Matteucci’s method, employed in Europe many years ago; that is, by long telegraph lines grounded at each end and without a battery. That earth-currents do exist is a well-known fact. It remains to investigate their direction and strength.