India is a nation of many faiths.  Though there are many religions, people have several things in common.  Like making public places dirty.  Like never being on time, and calling it "Indian standard time".

Topping the list, perhaps, is something that is very disturbing: blind faith in astrology.

Indian astrologers have never had it so good. Some of them own huge houses, they need appointments, their time is so precious that they charge by the hour.  Come to think of it, even the most wealthy of Indians have fallen prey to it.  They would like to believe that the "seven and a half years itch" as they call it, can haunt them.

What is astrology, and is it a science?  Well, even those who really swear by it, do not claim that it is fault-proof.  For example, in most of Tamil Nadu, and the entire South India, the marriages are made only after "matching" of horoscopes.  This has continued for centuries.  Is it always true that those who have "matching' horoscopes are very successful in marriage?

Of course not.  There are even divorces that happen, even when the so-called horoscopes match.  

So, what do we do?  I guess that excess belief in horoscopes or astrology or any other modified form of it including numerology, is something that we better avoid, or simply, forget about.

Better said than done, as my own family members would just admonish me.  Astrology has gone to the next level.  In South India, the 'precious stones' business is very famous.  The rings that one wears on his or her fingers are supposed to bring him or her luck, and keep evil forces at bay.

Quiz such believers as to why the Americans or Japanese do not have faith in these things or astrology at all, pat would come the reply: there is a huge interest now, in astrology in those countries, and you better try to find out further details on internet.

Blind faith in astrology, am afraid, is vastly misplaced.  We do not have control over certain things like floods, or earthquakes or even the tsunami.  However, we can be better prepared to handle any eventuality though hard work, and persistence.

We need to wake up to modern realities.  Does every single business man believe in astrology?  Yes, when the most important imported technology and associated machines are installed, in many corporate organizations, the Panditji comes calling, and some pooja is done, after observing the ' auspicious" time.  This is a one-off event.

However, if the same machinery were to work only according to "auspicious" times, everyday, we would never have any factory, and much less, production.

If Mr E. Sreedharan, the Chief Architect of the Delhi Metro and the Konkan Railways were to have followed astrology, he would not have completed such superb projects with all his devotion and excellent team of engineers.

Rational thinking has to challenge astrology as it were.  For example, in one small town, in the Tanjavur district of Tamil Nadu, there is a growing tribe of astrologers who read out your entire past from some ancient script, faithfully preserved on palm leaves.  This industry attracts people from all over India, and of late, am told, foreigners too.  

Well, the past is always correctly done, and even the names of our wives and children are clearly given.  The past is sometimes described in minute detail.  However, the vital future is cleverly explained in generalities, often put in "this may happen" scenarios.  Quiz the experts for specifics, and you would get very vague answers.

So, what is it all about?  One does not really understand how someone could zero in on our past, based on what is written on palm leaves.  A bigger puzzle is the craze that is associated with whatever is being said, even when most people discover that nothing much happens in the past, as per predictions.

There are those who believe that astrology, at best, can and will predict, only trends.  This seems to be largely true.

And if that were the real truth, why should we be so much obsessed with horoscopes?  Even when inter-state love marriages happen in places like the Indian Institutes of Management where the man and woman get to share several common thoughts and ideas and decide to get married, and live very happy lives, can we not open our eyes and be done with blind faith in astrology?

If at all we were to seek some solace, as many do, we can possibly consult some Panditji, who might prescribe some special poojas for the family, or some donation to some orphanage and so on.  This sort of advise is not based on astrology, but on some deep knowledge of spiritual knowledge of the Panditji, who normally does not have any hidden agenda.

Astrology is a very complex subject and those who even think of totally giving it up, do not do so.  In the North of India, there does not seem to be so much of a faith in astrology, but the "precious stones" business seems to have caught the imagination of some people there as well. I do not, for one, believe that the precious stone business can be meaningful at all.  It is based on some form of numerology and astrology, that one often fails to understand.  More so, when the astrologers manage to speak the jargon language.

It is not that astrology is totally bad.  But its claim as a science is still wide open.  The rationalists have tried to challenge many astrologers and there are some cases pending in courts as well.  However, there is absolutely no evidence that total faith in astrology, can predict the future of human beings.

The reasons are not far to seek.  The world is very complex, and there are vested interests in every place.  Witness what is going on in West Asia, for example. Can astrology ever predict what one country in this region will ever do, when we all know that Israel has the full backing of the USA?  It is high time that we bury blind faith in astrology.  However, how we do it, has to be debated, for all meaningful action to follow.