Prognostication is part of the ancient Hindu gestalt. The mystical origins of Indian astrology goes back to rishis such as Parāśara, Varahamihira, Garga and Jaimini. Fifty-year-old Vedic astrologer Sanjay Rath follows Maharishi Jaimini’s Upadeśa Sutras, once the esoteric and zealously guarded preserve of certain Brahmin families in Odisha. Brhat Parāśara Horā Śāstra, Jaimini Upadeśa Sūtra, Brhat Jātaka and Kalyānavarmā’s Sārāvalī form the basis of his astrology. Insights are arrived as a result of eclectic scholarship, that combines the Bhagavad Gita, Upanishads, Puranas with esoteric astrological classics.
Rath is a contemporary astromancer. He combines technology with Vedic astrology. He believes old forms of knowledge are lost if not disseminated judiciously; ‘let all knowledge be shared’ is his mantra. The Jaimini Scholar Program initiated by him seeks to continue the Jyotish lineage of Maharishi Parāśara and Maharishi Jaimini propagated by Jyotishi Sri Achyutananda Das of Odisha; passed down uninterrupted within some of Odisha’s Brahmin families for 500 years. “These sutras actually explain the correct method of applying many of the techniques found in Parāśara’s text, Bṛhat Parāśara Horā Śāstra. For centuries many erudite astrologers have struggled to interpret what Parāśara and Jaimini really meant. Some even thought that Jaimini had created his own tradition separate from that of Parāśara. However, the true meaning of the word Upadeśa is ‘instructions and advice from the master’, clearly showing that the sutras are the teaching of the tradition and thus coming down from Parāśara,” says the scholar who has written over 12 books.
Born to Sasan Brahmins in Puri, his grandfather Pandit Jagannath Rath was the Jyotish Ratna of Odisha. “The royal family would consult him often and so did the British. His knowledge was immense and he became my guiding light,” says Rath, who wasn’t the least bit interested in astrology as a young man, despite his aptitude for numbers.
For an astrologer, Rath is a sceptic by nature. He doesn’t trust the authenticity of all horoscopes. He needs at least three incidents in a native’s life with the exact time and place to predict. Many times, he adjusts the time of birth by some minutes. Rath often asks those who consult him to also cross-reference his findings from nadi readers of the Agasthya Naadi in South India.
What is unique about Rath is that his predictions are not limited to current lives. He says he can see past lives. “Everybody has a karmic record. The fact that you are born at a particular time and place, generates a pattern on your chart and from it we can calculate your entire life pattern. I also do spiritual readings that give initial crucial information about whether a person is headed towards moksha or not,” he says, adding that everybody’s life has a purpose and he can detect what their purpose is.
It’s not just the destiny of human beings that interests Rath. On the future of India, he emphasises a major reversal of negativities. India will at last be able to undo all the bad it created. “The young seem energetic, the old seem wise and education reforms will change the face of this country in the next 10 years. There will be an awakening of a kind which will transform a lot for the country’s future,” he says and on that positive note he retires back to fulfill the purpose of his life—to spread the knowledge of Jaimini to all its waiting seekers.
(E-mail: srath@srath.com)