If you’ve heard of Vedic astrology before, odds are you’ve heard of a book called, “Autobiography of a Yogi” by an Indian Hindu monk named Paramahansa Yogananda, founder of Self-Realization Fellowship…
If you haven’t read it, I suggest you give yourself a spiritual boon and do!
Especially if you’re finding yourself worried or anxious about the things most of us are worried and anxious about – like love and money – you’ll feel much better, I promise!
Yogananda (his Swami name) lived from the early 1890’s to the early 1950’s and is one of the first great Indian saints to bring the powerful teachings of yoga and meditation to the West.
And, one of the first to introduce the West to the body of knowledge known in India as Jyotish – the influence of the stars on the affairs of man.
Which is actually pretty ironic.
You see, as a young spiritual seeker, Yogananda was extremely annoyed at the very idea of astrology.
He resisted it fervently, in fact.
As is common in Hindu families even to this day, his was looking to his horoscope and trying to arrange a marriage for him.
They had been told that his chart indicated that not only would he marry, he would marry THREE times.
But Yogananda insisted this would not be so, only wanting to live a life as a monk (which included vows of celibacy), in the divine bliss of union with God.
So, three different times they tried to arrange marriage plans with three different brides, and all three times he refused to participate.
Not only that, throughout his life, he would purposely have astrologers pick the very worst dates to accomplish specific tasks, and he would go about accomplishing them anyway…
…as if to PROVE that his sincere faith in God, and the ensuing support that would provide, was mightier than all the planets and stars…
Of course, Yogananda admitted that he was only able to still achieve his goals in such cases after a great deal of trouble and difficulty, but that was no matter – what mattered to him was that they were achievable…
One day he went so far as to burn his horoscope.
Yogananda truly believed that if he aligned himself fully with God, his “fate” could be transcended.
Well, perhaps you’ve heard the saying, “That which you resist, persists…”
It applies to even the most exalted of spiritual beings.
So, what happened?
Yogananda found a true spiritual master to be his guru.
This man, also a great saint, was named Sri Yukteswar.
It just so happens that Yukteswar was one of the most brilliant, knowledgeable Vedic astrologers that ever lived.
So, he taught Yogananda a lesson – he could not completely “beat the planets” and escape his fate, but he could have RIGHT UNDERSTANDING of their influence and do what he could to best protect himself.
He warned Yogananda that he would have a grave liver ailment, and prescribed a kind of bangle he should wear to allow the illness to be minimized.
Yogananda agreed and obtained the bangle, not expecting the illness to occur, and letting the entire matter slip from his mind.
So, what happened?
A month later, he became extremely ill, and experienced agonizing pain for weeks, which was only removed by a healing from his guru.
So, Yogananda came to appreciate the powers of the stars, but to still rightfully know that it was his alignment with his creator that was the most important power in his life.
Yukteswar says many beautiful things about astrology in the book, and my favorite is, “The message boldly blazoned across the heavens at the moment of birth is not meant to emphasize fate… but to arouse man’s will to escape from his universal thralldom… He can overcome any limitation…”
Now, I think, by “universal thralldom” he means what I touched on before – the stuff most of us get distracted by – the worries and fears that truly make SLAVES of us all.
The hope is that astrology can help you GET OUT of that, and lift you to a higher point of view.
Now, if you’re wondering what made Yogananda such a spiritually spunky warrior, one clue is his Moon sign.
The Moon sign, more than the Sun sign of a person, reveals their deep emotional and psychological nature…
His Moon fell in the sign of Leo. When you tell a Leo they have to do something, if they don’t want to, they’ll respond by saying, “Oh yeah? Not gonna happen…”
Not only that, his Moon is in a smaller sign within the sign of Leo called, “Magha,” that is considered one of the DEMON constellations.
“Demons” are not evil or bad – not at all – but they are here to break the rules and find the REAL truth.
So, they gladly buck tradition and break from all past restrictions to find a better way.
Not surprisingly, Gandhi (who received spiritual training from Yogananda) also had his Moon in a Demon constellation.
Another thing that’s fascinating about Yogananda’s horoscope is that Magha is one of the most spiritual positions of the sky.
It’s translated to mean, “The Mighty One.”
It’s commonly associated with people who lead or found spiritual traditions, including L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, and the Indian guru featured in the best selling book, “Eat, Pray, Love.”
Like I said, I strongly suggest you read Yogananda’s book, but I will tell you – he never did marry…
He did “beat the planets” in that regard.
And the world was blessed with a great teacher as a result.
If you’d like to learn the most important thing in your chart, or the charts of those you love, then find out about the profound constellations of Vedic astrology – which are far more nuanced, detailed and revealing than just the twelve signs of the zodiac.
I have an eight-CD series on them entitled, “Signs Of Compatibility – A Celestial Guide To You And Your Relationships Using The TRUE Love Zodiac.”
In this audio program, I teach you all about all twenty-seven of these original signs of astrology, as well as the most empowering things you need to know about the twelve “normal” signs of the zodiac, and what they all have to do with relationships.
When you know this information about yourself and the people you care about, it’s like having a window into your (and their) very SOUL.
So, learn more about it, or order yours by going here: Signs of Compatibility.
Photo By: Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
