On Marriage Compatibility
BY: HAMSAVATAR DAS
Feb 05, OCALA, FLORIDA, USA (SUN) — I felt that someone with maybe a bit more experience actually counseling through the use of jyotish and dealing with the job of trying to help people make good choices in life should comment on Dharmapad das's recent posting entitled "Marriage Compatibility: Forging a Destiny or Recognition of the Same".
I am by no means an advanced jyotishi, regardless of the over 3 decades of my attempts at study and practice. The sastras say it takes 9 lifetimes to become fully proficient and Srila Prabhupada himself said there are no perfect astrologers around anymore.
However I have met with some success at using what little proficiency I have in jyotish as a tool for preaching and counseling those that come to me, besides making some accurate predictions as far as my abilities have permitted.
Using jyotish as a tool to determine whether or not a couple could possibly make a go of a marriage is the best one I believe available to us, IF someone even has the knowledge, faith or "karma" to be able to consult someone that can properly compare the two horoscopes. "Kuta" matching is important, as I have literally NEVER seen a happy marriage if the points were too low, yet a high score by no means "guarantees" a happy marriage either.
A couple must have both the social skills to bring proper communication between them in marriage as well as mutual desires and similar directives that they wish to follow in life. As Dharmapad rightfully said, it is far more important what we see as to the implications of the entire horoscope, rather than only using kuta matching as a basis. The Moon signs should be compatible, the general natures as seen by all the planets should be compatible, and the dashas should portend the ability for these two people to get along and have some possibility of prosperity together on a long term basis.
As to affecting the karma or "changing" it, of course that is impossible. But is it not also karma that someone has the opportunity to consult a good doctor when some disease they cannot cure without medical attention is present? Have we never seen that a serious disease that could terminate a life is cured by medical attention? Of course we have! At the same time, one's time of death cannot be changed and if one is meant to leave their
Body, no doctor can extend the allotted time past that which destiny dictates. Not one breath more!
It only seems to be sensible, though, that if one has a medical problem requiring attention they seek medical help, not just say that, "Oh well if I die it's my karma". If you have a legal problem that is serious it only makes sense to consult an attorney and not to just say "Oh well, if I lose all my assets or go to jail, even if the charges are bogus, that's my
karma". Can it not also be one's karma that it is a lesson and that through the legal counsel one defeats the accusations and wins out over the adversity?
An astrologer today should be someone who can provide a service that helps people to make good decisions in life. He or she can do that by not only seeing the karma as to "events", but also the talents, personality and opportunities that lie ahead and can be utilized by the person coming to them. The way we use jyotish in the west has become more of a tool for counseling that carries with it knowledge of a higher nature that other
types of counselors would have no access to. Marriage compatibility comparison is one of the services that a qualified astrologer can offer. Then, as rightly said, it's karma that dictates the "suffering or distress", but that is not necessarily due to the partner or some incompatibility between them.
It is absolutely correct that no astrologer can prescribe any remedy that will change destiny. There are remedies, though, that can help one become healthier, increase facility in certain areas of life, and above and beyond all that it is the knowledgeable and experienced advice concerning "action" that a good astrologer could give that becomes the most valuable part of the service.
What are the general prerequisites for marriage in the west? Generally it is
purely sexual attraction with a bit of practical consideration as to whether
or not the other person can offer certain things to a union, be it security
financially, protection, nicely prepared food, children, etc. and of course
in the case of those on the spiritual path, that the partner also share this
most important desire and drive for ultimate success.
However some people just cannot be partners together. They end up "driving
each other around the bend" as is a common phrase in England. Some
personalities complement each other and some are like "chalk on a
blackboard" to each other or as my wife would say "like chalk and cheese".
Who can disagree with that? Marriage compatibility chart matching will
easily tell whether either of these will be evident, that is if the
astrologer has enough experience (both as a counselor and in the science of
jyotish) to analyze them. They are generally done for arranged marriages and
not for what I used to call "go bump in the night" liaisons. In such cases
the couple have already made up their minds to take the plunge so even if an
astrologer warned against it, they would not take any notice anyway.
For devotees knowing there is at least a good "playing field" in which a man
and woman have the chance to have a harmonious marriage is very important,
for we do not get married simply for sexual attraction or other material
considerations. Don't get me wrong as these will also play their part, but
they're not the "all in all". We all know that after a while it all becomes
"chewing the chewed", but for most people a natural, "functional" and
healthy human life is best lived along the guidelines of the sanctity of
marriage during most of the years of life.
I believe that to discount the service a marriage compatibility comparison
can offer is naive, just as to discount the service a doctor, lawyer,
accountant, or many other service professionals can offer would be as well.
We should do all we can to become successful in every endeavor in life as
much as is humanly possible, seeing it as our duty to act in the most
efficacious way possible all during our lives, and at each stage of life.
Then at the end of the day we leave the results up to Krsna for He is the
real "doer".
Respectfully submitted,
Hamsavatar das
