Hindu Astrology, Vedic Astrology, or Indian Astrology is referred to as Jyotish in the Sanskrit language. Jyotish is commonly referred to as Falit Jyotish, literally Predictive Astrology. Thus Hindu Astrology or Vedic Astrology is also called Predictive Astrology.
Hindu Astrology basically is predictive astrology, which means the primary aim of Vedic Following is the breakdown of the effect of each Vedic planet on human life. Vedic planets are different from the planets in astronomy.
Astrology is to make predictions about the events and happenings in individuals’ life as well as the world. For example, Hindu astrology is used to make predictions on celestial happenings such as eclipse, weather forecasting, and events in human beings’ life. While planets’ position, planetary cycles, constellations, etc. are used to make a prediction on the celestial occurrence and weather forecasting, a birth chart is used to make predictions on an individual’s life. Hindu birth chart, which is drawn according to the planetary position during the birth of an individual, shows 9 planets placed on 12 different sections.
What is Predictive Astrology?
In the Vedic period ( c. 1500 – c. 1100 BCE ), Jyotish (astrology) was basically used for timekeeping so that the Vedic people could know about the day and time when they could perform sacrificial rituals. It was only during the post-Vedic age ( between 1400 B.C to 600 B.C) that Hindus began using a more advanced form of astrology that included Zodiac and birth charts. Currently, Hindu Astrology is basically used to make predictions of celestial events (eclipse, for instance), predictions of weather, determine planetary movements, as well as make predictions of events in human life. Since Hindu astrology is more focused on predictions, it is referred to as Predictive Astrology. By the way, how accurate are the predictions?
Well, according to Vedic Astrology, the predictions made according to Hindu Predictive Astrology are correct because the predictions are based on planetary cycles (referred to as dashas and maha-dashas in Hindu astrological term).
Why Is Hindu Astrology Called Predictive Astrology?
In Hindusim, Astrology is mainly used for two different things, one to calculate planetary position, planetary cycles, etc., two to make predictions in human life. A Hindu Astrologer predicts the events in your life based on the position of planets when you were born (as recorded on the birthchart) and the current or future he cycles of planets. Hindu astrology can predict anything from at what age you will get married and have kids, to what profession you will choose, or when you are going to buy a car or house, or how long you are going to live. It might be hard to believe the predictions made according to Hindu astrology, however, predictions made by a learned Hindu astrologer can be almost 100 percent correct. Due to this major characteristic of Hindu astrology, it is referred to as Predictive Astrology.
Elements of Predictive Hindu Astrology
In Hindu Astrology, there are various factors involved in making predictions, however, the most important factor is the planetary cycles, or dashas. Dashas, or planetary cycles, are categorized as dashas, maha-dashas, and anter-dashas. These three different types of dashas define specific stages in your life. Dashas are the major factors that have tremendous influences in Predictive Hindu Astrology.
According to Hindu Astrology, human life is defined by Dashas, and Dashas are governed by specific planets and depend on the planetary cycle.
Hindu Astrology also makes use of Yoga, literally, Sum (different from yoga as in yoga exercise). Yoga determines the planetary placements in your birth chart as well as the current and future planetary cycle. There are 27 birth yogas and they are determined in the birth chart by the distance between the sun and the moon.