My Views on Astrology – A Perspective Based on Science

I am often asked about how someone like me who has been a student of science and is deeply connected to technology and innovation; talks so ardently about astrology.

So let me try and answer this question today.

All through my life, till the age of 42 – I kept myself at a measured distance from astrology, without being involved or being critical. Circumstances and a well-wisher asked me to see an astrologer, and I was appalled by the things that an astrologer could predict from the planetary positions at the time and place of birth and the current planetary transits. And then I happened to connect with a few more astrologers and that’s how I developed the curious mindset which made me want to study the subject.

As a student of science, you tend to appreciate that every event and occurrence in nature, is an outcome of cause and effect.

When Newton proposed that gravity was the reason things fell to the earth and held the moon in its orbit, the theory was dismissed by a large number of his contemporaries.

Their argument centered around the “action at a distance” issue. In the case of a ball whirled around in a circle while tied to a string, the ball experiences a centripetal force that is transferred from the hand “through” the string, to the ball. The string is the mechanism for the transfer of the centripetal force. Newton was asked to explain what was the mechanism that transferred “gravity” from the Earth to the Moon.

His response was that he could “feign no hypothesis regarding action at a distance. It is enough that it works.” He then went on to quantify his law of gravity, which we all know.

Just as the moon and the sun cause the tides in the unending oceans and the waters of the world, our body too has ~60% fluids, with key organs such as the brain, kidney, lungs, and heart having ~75% water; skin and muscles ~ 70% water, and blood ~ 50% water. It is the same gravitational effect of the planets (in the distance), that causes the fluid in the body to behave in a particular manner – we’ve heard about the adrenaline rush, the dopamines, and how they cause changes in emotions and feelings. There is no proof for this – but the energy field exists – just like electricity, magnetism, and radiation which are also invisible.

To sum up – here’s my take on the influence of planets in our lives, or so to say – my quote on astrology, “Planets influence our environment and circumstances, But it is our actions that shape our destiny.”