Is Jyotish a Science?

Does Jyotish have any place in the scientific world? This debate is not new, rather as old the time
humans learnt how to read, write and communicate. My purpose here is not to get into the same
stereotype debates, rather offer an approach science as we know it gives us to prove or disprove
anything

When in school was introduced the topic of theorems, I was fascinated. So, let’s see what a theorem is?
In layman terms a theorem is a statement that has to be proved. How is this done? Well, to prove a
theorem, we in mathematics start with previously accepted statements or even based on axioms. Thus
we start out to prove something on the basis of statements made in the past! It is only when the
theorem symbolically equates we come to agree that it actually is true!

Wikipedia says this about theorems “The proof of a mathematical theorem is a logical argument
demonstrating that the conclusions are a necessary consequence of the hypotheses, in the sense that if
the hypotheses are true then the conclusions must also be true, without any further assumptions.”

So does Jyotish and theorem’s have something in common? In jyotish, we too start by accepting certain
previously accepted statements. At this point of start, we do not know (like in theorems) if our accepted
statements are actually true or not. Just like in a theorem, the results of jyotish are actually seen at the
end in the context of predicting an event.

Jyotish is very similar to an empirical science. Empirical study is a way of gaining knowledge by means of
direct and indirect observation or experience. Many branches of chemistry are based on the empirical
hypothesis. These empirical formulae cannot be tested or proved in a laboratory, but it is eventually
proved by the passage of time and experience.

So it jyotish is all science, many questions come into play. First and foremost being, why dint the
prediction an astrologer told me come true? Or why do 2 different astrologers give such divergent views
seeing the same horoscope? Why was this astrologer so vague that any of the events actually apply to
everyone and not just to me?

Two doctors don’t give the same prescription for the same disease. Two doctors (hopefully not more else
you would actually go mad and be so much poor) also can give such divergent views. But we do not go
around proclaiming entire medical science as superstition. It makes more sense to blame an astrologer
for a failed prediction and not the science of Jyotish.

There is however some truth in the fact that today’s jyotish world is besieged by many problems,
controversies et al. For example even the most genuine astrologers don’t seem to agree on what is the
correct ayanamsa. To add to the already serious problems in the jyotish world, most of the classic works
in jyotish are cryptic at best. At the same time, we do have classics like the “Surya Siddhanta” which is
the oldest work on astronomy by our ancient seers. It is a wonder that this document mentions the
distance between earth and sun is simply 108 times the sun’s diameter. How did the ancient sages give
this formula when during those times there wasn’t even a simple telescope!!!! The result of this formula is
very close to what the modern value is!
Dr. B.V Raman led the way and showed us how jyotish can be useful tool in our lives. So is my guru Pt.
Sanjay Rath of Sri Jagannath center (SJC) who continues to open secret door in Jyotish based on the
parampara or traditional learning.