How much effect do Jyotisha and the planets have in human life?

Question

Our Puranas and stories don't mention too much about them.

Is fate or bhagya inevitable or can it be overcome with karma ?

Or is it just that people try to justify their problems via jyotisha?

Answer 1

Here is a passage that might be considered a partial answer.

Grahas in Mahabharata

Markandeya answered, ‘There are three kinds of purity, viz., purity in speech, purity in deed, and purity achieved by use of water. He that has recourse to these three kinds of purity, attains, without doubt, to heaven. That Brahmana who adoreth the goddess Sandhya in the morning and the evening, and who recites meditatively the sacred goddess Gayatri who is the mother of the Vedas, sanctified by the latter, is freed from all his sins. Even if he accepts in gift the entire earth with her oceans, he doth not, on that account, suffer the least unhappiness. And those heavenly bodies in the sky including the sun that may be inauspicious and hostile towards him soon becomes auspicious and favorable towards him in consequence of these acts of his, while those stars that are auspicious and favorable become more auspicious and favorable in consequence of such conduct of his.’

Mahabharata, Vana Parva, Section CLXLIX

Answer 2

Your karmas decide your future therefore, perform your duty without any attachment, this is what Sri Krishna taught in Bhagavad Gita.

Swami Vivekananda:

In London, a young man used to come to me and ask me, “What will become of me next year?” I asked him why he asked me so. “I have lost all my money and have become very, very poor.” Money is the only God of many beings. Weak men, when they lose everything and feel themselves weak, try all sorts of uncanny methods of making money, and come to astrology and all these things. “It is the coward and the fool who says, ‘This is fate'” – so says the Sanskrit proverb. But it is the strong man who stands up and says, “I will make my fate.” It is people who are getting old who talk of fate. Young men generally do not come to astrology. We may be under planetary influence, but it should not matter much to us. Buddha says, “Those that get a living by calculation of the stars by such art and other lying tricks are to be avoided”; and he ought to know, because he was the greatest Hindu ever born. Let stars come, what harm is there? If a star disturbs my life, it would not be worth a cent. You will find that astrology and all these mystical things are generally signs of a weak mind; therefore as soon as they are becoming prominent in our minds, we should see a physician, take good food and rest.

Be strong, don't dwell on planetary positions.

Is fate or bhagya inevitable or can it be overcome with karma ?

Yes, fate can be overcome with karma. There is a type of karma known as prarabdha karma. You can't overcome Prarabdha entirely but you can change the intensity of the effect.

Sri Sarada Devi:

One has to suffer the consequences of one’s deeds. But by repeating the Name of God, you can lessen its intensity. If you were destined to have a wound as wide as a ploughshare, you will get a pin-prick at least. The effect of Karma can be counteracted to a great extent by Japa and austerities.

Answer 3

Many think that believing in astrology make one believe in fatalism and conclude that it is hindrance to progress. But this is pessimistic call, in my personal experience in this field for 40 years, astrology is other way i.e. astrology helped many individual to take better decision based on their inherent strength. To explain this with an analogy seeking astrologer’s guidance is like taking map with you during your travel which helps to reach the destination quickly with less confusion. One has to understand Karma theory to appreciate this aspect of astrology, I will touch up some portion of karma today, please refer our previous post here to know how Karma theory relates to astrology.

There are three types of Karma viz., Sanchita, Parabdha and Agami. For the present topic of interest we will consider Sanchita & Parabdha and leave Agami for now. Sanchita is stored karma based on our past acts whereas Parabdha is what we do with our present state of existence. Planetary position in the horoscope are simply indicating the karmic results that are stored based on previous karma, one can augment or minimize the past karmic results by Parabdha karma by the aid of will power.

Let me explain with a simple mathematical equation, let us consider person A is bestowed with equation 5X2+10X in one aspect of life. What outcome that person would get based on his equation is purely depend on what he substitutes to X which is complete free will of person A. Thus to conclude astrology is not about fate or destiny, it simply indicates the good or evil effects of previous karma and leaves it to man to build his future.

Please read our article "Astrology and Fatalism" for more details