Premble
Let me offer my respectful obeisance to Guru, Gauranga and Krishna, the primeval Lord of the universe, who is the fountainhead of all knowledge, and who is the source of the Vedas and the sciences. May the right conclusions be drawn from this article, which is intended for the benefit of all living beings, and may it dispel the darkness of ignorance.
Introduction
Before understanding science behind astrology we should first understand the cosmic creation and why this exists, conception of soul and life. In Bhagvad Gita 2.12 Lord Krishna says- "Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor all these kings; nor in the future shall any of us cease to be." And in the next verse 2.13 he says- "As the embodied soul continuously passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. A sober person is not bewildered by such a change." From these two verses we can understand that we are spirit soul and we are eternal. We never die. Our body is just a temporary covering. Based on our karma we get different bodies in different births. As soon as we take birth we immediately comes under the control of Maya Sakti or illusionary energy of Lord, we forget our real identity as spirit soul and start identifying ourselves with this temporary body and mind or intelligence. As a reasult we get entangled in this material world and transmigrate from one body to another. The same bhagvad gita also explain the way to get rid of this cycle of birth and death and return back to our original home, back to Godhead.
Laws of Karma
As soon as we are in this material world we are bound by the laws of karma or actions. We can't stay a moment without doing any action, even if we try to do so our body will not cooperate. Karmas can be of 3 types- Karma, Vikarma and Akarma. Karma means good deeds, performing which we accumulate good karmafal in our karma account. Vikarma means bad deeds, performing which we accumulate bad karmafal in our karma account. Akarma means such actions which neither accumulate good nor bad karmafal. These are spiritual activities like chanting, hearing, worshipping etc performed for the satisfaction of Supreme Lord and not for material gain. We do our karma but we don't decide when the results of that karma will fruictify. God decides that timing. He is the one who remembers and delivers the results of our karma in correct timing. As soon as we take birth we forget our past karmas. In Katha Upanishad it is said that there are 2 birds sitting on the same tree, one eats the fruits and other just watches. The first bird is our individual self which eats the fruits of karma and the second bird is Supreme Lord who just watches and delivers the results of our karma in correct timing. Astrology is the divine science by which we can understand when those perticular karmas will fruictify, what accumulative effect of our past karmas is on our present life.
Role of 9 Planets in our Life
In the astrological bible Brihat Parasara Hora Shastra it is said that the Supreme Lord (Vishnu) has incarnated as 9 planets to deliver the results of our karmas. These 9 planets are- Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, Rahu and Ketu. Modern astrologers however thinks that ancient people did not know about planets beyond Saturn and they included Uranus, Neptune and Pluto in their calculations. But this is not true. Ancient seers had divine vision and they knew about all the planets in our solar system and their influence on us. But they did not include these 3 planets because they don't decide our karma results. They are just physical bodies revolving around the sun and have no divine influence on us. That's why western astrologers often fails to predict correctly as their science are adultured with speculations and human imperfections. Among the 9 planets Rahu and Ketu are not physical bodies but they are shadow planets. They are the north and south lunar nodes respectively. They have great influence on us as they represents our desires and attachments in life. The placements of 9 planets in the 12 constillations as seen from the place of birth at the time of birth decides what karma fal to be enjoyed or suffered by that individual. In vedic astrology birth time needs to be accurate to the minute to get correct ascendant and planetary positions. Even a few minutes error in birth time can change the ascendant sign and planetary house positions which can lead to wrong predictions. It is very sensitive. As there are lakhs of people taking birth daily, by inputting inaccurate time you will essentially view chart of someone else and not you. You should not believe in Vedic Astrology without belief in God as it is the science of God.