Should we believe in what this astrologer is saying? Does islam talk about astrology?
You’ve found your soulmate, settled on a date and even a dress.
The only hitch?
Thousands of years of tradition dictate there’s no worse time to get hitched. Astrologers in India and Canada are saying that due to the alignment of planets there has never been a worse time to get married, causing many couples to postpone the big day — at least until mid-January.
In India, where people visit astrologers and roadside palm readers for every major life decision from when to plant a crop to when to form a government, the planets are wreaking havoc.
The country’s multi-billion-dollar wedding industry is posting huge losses, the issue is being hotly debated in the press, and tens of thousands of weddings are being postponed.
“The stars are sometimes good and sometimes bad,” says Mohan Mishra, an astrologer and doctor of philosophy who immigrated to Canada from New Delhi nearly 10 years ago.
The questions that Mishra is asked most often are: Will I be rich? Will I be happy? Will I find love? When should I marry?
Mishra, who dispenses astrological advice from a strip mall on Islington Ave. near Albion Rd., answers the first few questions based on mathematical calculations of birth charts, yielding infinite possibilities.
But the last question has a universal answer, he says.
“For the next few months, the stars are no good. Nobody should be getting married now,” he explains, thumbing through his Indian astrological almanac.
The almanac shows how Jupiter’s entry into the sign of Leo and the nearness of Venus to the sun along with other planetary complications make this a bad time to get hitched, he says. Astronomically bad.
In fact, most stargazers are ruling out marriage until at least mid-January when the planets change to a better position.
“We must wait for happier times,” Mishra concludes, echoing the matrimonial forecasts of others.
He estimates more than half of his clients heed his advice and are holding off on marriage until the stars cast a more favourable spell.
Here in the Greater Toronto Area, home to 400,000 South Asians, children of immigrants eager to tie the knot are dismissing their parents’ astrological beliefs as superstition.
“It’s definitely creating friction in many families,” says Jassy Kabli, a wedding planner who has noticed a slight drop in business to coincide with the problematic planetary position.
“The children want to go ahead with the ceremony but their parents and their grandparents still want to postpone,” she says.
“To a lot of people from our generation it’s a little like Ripley’s Believe It or Not. Some are saying we should stick to the tradition to please our parents, but if you do that you can find yourself in a bit of a bind,” she says.
Astrology, which claims a person’s character and fate are determined by the position of the sun, moon and planets at the time of birth, is steeped in the Hindu tradition. The religion includes strong beliefs that cosmic events influence life on earth. Indian astrological science is itself derived from ancient scriptures spoken by Lord Vishnu, god of preservation.
In India, astrologers wield heavy influence. They intervened in no less than the granting of India’s independence when they rescheduled the date from Aug. 15, 1947 to the stroke of midnight Aug. 14, which was thought to be more auspicious.
“Indian people consider the placement of the planets very important because the universal energies have an influence on life on earth,” says Raj Sharma, a pandit who has selected wedding dates for tens of thousands of couples here and in India over the years.
“Weddings are extremely important in Indian society. The reason so many Indian marriages survive through tough times is because we marry on auspicious days,” he contends.
But for the second generation those beliefs ring hollow.
Shalini Ahuja, a 26-year-old employee of Toronto Dominion Bank, didn’t think twice about scheduling her wedding for Aug. 29 even though the date is astrologically doomed.
“I don’t follow astrology so strictly, and besides that’s the only date the hall was free,” says Ahuja who is planning an interfaith ceremony.
Rohit Sharma, a computer engineer who proposed to his high school sweetheart on Valentine’s Day, doesn’t know what to do. The couple consulted an astrologer before the engagement to ensure their birthcharts were compatible. Now the same astrologer has advised them to put off their wedding until 2004.
“Our families are heavily involved and have basically forbidden us from getting married unless the pandit approves of the date,” he says.
Vic Parashar, a 31-year-old DJ with Guru Productions who spins music at about 50 local weddings each year, says business is down. “It’s definitely been a little slower.” Fortunately this unlucky planetary alignment only happens every dozen years or so.
Says astrologer Mishra: “So this gives people enough warning to mark it in their calendars for next time.”
oh me god!!
:k: