Vedic Astrology: A Beginner’s Guide to the Fundamentals of Jyotish and Hindu Astrology

Vedic Astrology: A Beginner's Guide is well worth picking up if you are curious as to the differences between western astrology and one of the most predominant eastern methods of doing astrology. As someone who is much better versed in the western counterpart to these methods of interpreting our place in the stars, I was pleased to see there is truly a great deal of commonality in these ancient systems. The patient and careful definition of terms was a very welcome thing to see in a quick reference book like this, and the definitions and explanations of the concepts were excellent; truly well done. The author’s suggestion to simply use a calculator to work your chart is also a great one; the Vedic chart is complex and it seems like detailing how to do that would have doubled the length of this book, and why would you? It’s an introductory volume, and there are many online calculators you can use, and double check the results with.

Another good question is; why astrology? Well, I am very interested in human behavior, and I would argue that it doesn’t matter if the position of the heavenly bodies has any influence upon people’s behavior, because so many people believe it does. In particular, when doing business in India, it would be foolish not to pay attention to the predictable cycles that the heavenly bodies impress upon the calendar, if only so you can work against the trend when it is to your advantage. I would argue that this applies to almost any belief system; ignorance of a belief system puts you at the mercy of the cyclic behavior that is characteristic of so many of them.

At any rate, if you are curious about human behavior, or you intend upon doing business in India, it would be helpful to have a basic understanding of this material. Whether it is a science or a pseudoscience doesn’t matter a bit.