Today, we continue with Paramahansa Yogananda’s accounts of the significance of astrology and the importance of believing in and finding the Divine within for spiritual upliftment.
“‘For general purposes I counsel the use of an armlet made of gold, silver, and copper. But for a specific purpose I want you to get one of silver and lead.’ Sri Yukteswar added careful directions.
‘Guruji, what “specific purpose” do you mean?’ ‘The stars are about to take an unfriendly interest in you, Mukunda. Fear not; you shall be protected. In about a month your liver will cause you much trouble. The illness is scheduled to last for six months, but your use of an astrological armlet will shorten the period to twenty-four days.’
I sought out a jeweler the next day, and was soon wearing the bangle. My health was excellent; Master’s prediction slipped from my mind. He left Serampore to visit Benares. Thirty days after our conversation, I felt a sudden pain in the region of my liver. The following weeks were a nightmare of excruciating pain. Reluctant to disturb my Guru, I thought I would bravely endure my trial alone.
But twenty-three days of torture weakened my resolution; I entrained for Benares. There Sri Yukteswar greeted me with unusual warmth, but gave me no opportunity to tell Him my woes in private. Many devotees visited Master that day, just for a darshan [glimpse of a Holy One to receive blessings]. Ill and neglected, I sat in a corner. It was not until after the evening meal that all guests had departed. My Guru summoned me to the octagonal balcony of the house.
‘You must have come about your liver disorder.’ Sri Yukteswar’s gaze was averted; He walked to and fro, occasionally intercepting the moonlight. ‘Let me see; you have been ailing for twenty-four days, haven’t you?’ ‘Yes, sir.’
‘Please do the stomach exercise I have taught you.’ ‘If You knew the extent of my suffering, Master, You would not ask me to exercise.’ Nevertheless, I made a feeble attempt to obey Him.
‘You say you have pain; I say you have none. How can such contradictions exist?’ My Guru looked at me inquiringly. I was dazed and then overcome with joyful relief. No longer could I feel the continuous torment that had kept me nearly sleepless for weeks; at Sri Yukteswar’s words the agony vanished as though it had never been.
I started to kneel at His feet in gratitude, but He quickly prevented me. ‘Don’t be childish. Get up and enjoy the beauty of the moon over the Ganges.’ But Master’s eyes were twinkling happily as I stood in silence beside Him. I understood by His attitude that He wanted me to feel that not He, but God, had been the Healer.”
“I wear even now the heavy silver and lead bangle, a memento of that day long past, ever cherished when I found anew that I was living with a personage indeed superhuman. On later occasions, when I brought my friends to Sri Yukteswar for healing, He invariably recommended jewels or the bangle, extolling their use as an act of astrological wisdom.
I had been prejudiced against astrology from my childhood, partly because I observed that many people are sequaciously [blindly] attached to it, and partly because of a prediction made by our family astrologer: ‘You will marry three times, being twice a widower.’ […]
‘You may as well be resigned to your fate,’ my brother Ananta had remarked. ‘Your written horoscope has correctly stated that you would fly from home toward the Himalayas during your early years, but would be forcibly returned. The forecast of your marriages is also bound to be true.’
A clear intuition came to me one night that the prophecy was wholly false. I set fire to the horoscope scroll, placing the ashes in a paper bag on which I wrote: ‘Seeds of past karma cannot germinate if they are roasted in the Divine fires of wisdom.’ I put the bag in a conspicuous spot; Ananta immediately read my defiant comment. ‘You cannot destroy truth as easily as you have burnt this paper scroll.’ My brother laughed scornfully.
It is a fact that on three occasions before I reached manhood, my family tried to arrange my betrothal. Each time I refused to fall in with the plans, knowing that my love for God was more overwhelming than any astrological persuasion from the past.
‘The deeper the self-realization of a man, the more he influences the whole Universe by his subtle spiritual vibrations, and the less he himself is affected by the phenomenal flux.’ These words of Master’s often returned inspiringly to my mind.
Occasionally I told astrologers to select my worst periods, according to planetary indications, and I would still accomplish whatever task I set myself. It is true that my success at such times has been accompanied by extraordinary difficulties. But my conviction has always been justified: faith in the Divine protection, and the right use of man’s God-given will, are forces formidable beyond any the ‘inverted bowl’ can muster.
The starry inscription at one’s birth, I came to understand, is not that man is a puppet of his past. Its message is rather a prod to pride; the very Heavens seek to arouse man’s determination to be free from every limitation. God created each man as a soul, dowered with individuality, hence essential to the Universal structure, whether in the temporary role of pillar or parasite. His freedom is final and immediate, if he so wills; it depends not on outer but inner victories.”
