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You, or any one, interested in subject dealt with in my three books, in Marathi, titled VIGNAN ANI BUDDHIVAD, VIGNAN ANI CHAMATKAR, and VIGNAN ANI ANDHASHRADDHA-NIRMOOLAN, are prmitted to quote from those books, either in Marathi or in English through transalation.

Adwayanand Galatge

On 05/12/2009, shashikant oak wrote:

in reference to: Blogger: Dashboard (view on Google Sidewiki)

नाडीग्रंथांवरील अभिनव विलक्षण किस्से १ - १७ डिसेंबर

ईश्वरन यांचे डहाणूकर कॉलनीतील केंद्र
वर्धापनाचा हवन व गणेशयागाचा सोहळा संपल्यावर जे घडले ते विल्रक्ष्रण म्हणावे लागेल.

in reference to: Free Janam Kundali | Janam Kundali | Free Janampatrika | Free Janampatri | Free Kundali | जन्मकुंडली | जन्मपत्री (view on Google Sidewiki)

'मिपा ताडीमाडी पुरस्कार!' 'माडीग्रंथ'! सर्व विडंबकांना एक विनम्र आवाहन...! :) | मिसळपाव

'मिपा ताडीमाडी पुरस्कार!' 'माडीग्रंथ'! सर्व विडंबकांना एक विनम्र आवाहन...! :) | मिसळपाव: "ओक साहेब, मला तुमच्या त्या नाडीग्रंथाच्या साहाय्याने एक सांगा की मला एखादी 'आयटम', 'देखणी', 'फटाकडी' मुलगी केव्हा पटेल?

Wink

आता कस बोललात - घ्या

साडी प्रेमी संगीतरत्न तात्या यांना -
आचार्य नाडीनंदाचा
नाडीबोध -

चला माडी चढाया नाडीची ।
येऊ द्या नशा धुंद माडीची ।।
नको शुद्ध नाडी सुटल्याची ।
नको तमा मंद दुर्बुद्धींची ।।

टंच टंच येती हाताला ।
'नंतर' दाविती अंगठ्याला ।।
फिटेल शंका कोण त्या आयटमची ।
मिळेल उब कोणकोणत्या देखणींची ।।

चट्यापट्याची वा इलास्टिकची ।
तट्ट वा घट्ट, तंग वा रुंद ।।
कशीही चालेल पण काढाल हुकाचा ताण।
मग घडेल दिव्यदर्शन नाडी ग्रंथ प्रमाण ।।

चला पटापट उरका फराळ मिपाचा ।
जाता काळ कराल विलाप ज्वानीचा ।।

संपर्कासाठी - मिपाचे ज्ञानपीठ"

ऩाडी ग्रंथ भविष्य

INDIA'S ANCIENT BOOK OF PROPHECY - Bhrihu Nandi Nadi astrology -Maha Rishi Brighu AN INCARNATION OF Sri Vishnu:

ऩाडी ग्रंथ भविष्य

सन 1959 मधे अँडर्स बी जॉनसन यांनी बरनाला येथे भृगु संहितचा अनुभव विषद केला आहे. तो वाचायला आवडेल.

INDIA'S ANCIENT BOOK OF PROPHECY - Bhrihu Nandi Nadi astrology -Maha Rishi Brighu AN INCARNATION OF Sri Vishnu:

Chapter 1.

"Have you ever heard of Bhrigu?" Raja Mrigendra Singh's voice carried a note of suppressed excitement.
It was in that eternally fascinating country, India, in the town of Patiala, Punjab. The date was November 29, 1959. My questioner, a local prince, had come to visit me at my temporary residence on Press Road. Tall, of striking features, smartly turbaned after the custom of the Sikhs, his eyes expressive of a character in which strength and kindness were pleasingly blended: I had felt instantly attracted to this man from the moment I had first seen him.
"Bhrigu?" I echoed my friend's query somewhat uncertainly.
"Bhrigu was a noted rishi (sage) in ancient India", my guest explained.
Now I remembered. This venerable name appears often in Puranic Scriptures. It is also mentioned in the ancient Bhagavad Gita, the "Hindu Bible".
My guest continued: "Bhrigu wrote a book. It is thousands of years old. It contains prophecies about the lives of millions of people, many of whom are living today".
I lowered my gaze in sudden embarrassement. How simply preposterous! Even if such a book could be written, how much would it manage to say about "millions of people"?
I cast about for some ground on which to take my friend's comment with suitable seriousness. Then I recalled the prophecies of Nostradamus.
Nostradamus was a seer in medieval France. He wrote in terse quatrains predictions that supposedly covered world events for centuries to come. Everyone seems to agree that these forecasts were remarkable. They were so cryptic, however, that there is little unanimity of opinion on what they actually mean.
Assuming Bhrigu's prophetic book to be genuine - so I concluded - his predictions might be along the same order as those of the French seer: Short sentences that could be applied to any number of people by one with enough faith or imagination, or both, to make them fit. "How long are these prophecies?" I inquired. "A line or two?"
My friend smiled sympathetically at my skepticism. "Most of them fill one or two pages. They are so detailed that there isn't the least doubting that the information given for a person actually refers to him, and to no one else".
"I found myself mentioned in the book," said the raja. "I actually found my own name written there. (And you know, Mrigendra is an unusual name.) My wife's and my father's names also appeared in my reading. My birthplace was given correctly."
The raja went on to tell of a number of other cases where people had found their own lives described in this book. In some instances only their initials had been given. Even these references, he said, were anything but vague.
He told me about a prominent lady of Patiala, Mrs. Gurdial Singh of Tehsil Road, who had gone to Bhrigu for a reading. Accompanying her was her brother. Any stranger seeing the couple would naturally have assumed them to be man and wife. They said nothing to the pandit in charge of the book concerning their actual relationship. Yet in her reading it was stated that she had come with her brother. (This was later corroborated by Mrs. Singh personally to the narrator of this story).
"But," I expostulated, "how can millions of lives be described in such detail in a single book".
"Oh, it isn't a bound volume like those of our present age. The books in ancient India consisted of loose leaves tied together into bundles. This 'book' of Bhrigu's is made up of many such bundles. It requires whole rooms to house it. There are several portions of it in various parts of the country. It is known as the Bhrigu Samhita".
"Of course," he added, "not all these portions are equally reliable. There are persons, in fact, who only pretend to have possession of Bhrigu's book, but who read from something quite different."
"I can imagine!" In my mind's eye I could picture the scores of penurious fortunetellers I had seen in the streets of India's crowded cities. What an edge it would give them over their competitors if they could claim exclusive possession of part of so marvellous an ancient document as this!
"These fake custodians of the Bhrigu Samhita daren't, of course, let you examine their pages," my friend continued.
"They will put you off with some pretext or other - perhaps that the readings are too sacted to be passed about, or that they are written in a style which only those with special training can decipher. Of course, frauds will tell you nothing that they couldn't have found out about you during the course of your conversation with them. Beyond that, they will be studiedly vague."
"But if there are frauds," I suggested, "some of them will doubtless be beter at this 'art' than others. So how can one be perfectly sure of any of them?"
"The final proof, of course, rests in the results. I've searched far and wide for genuine samhitas. I'm satisfied that I've found at least one, and possibly two or three."
"In this one particularly, there are none of the disadvantages one so commonly encounters. The pandit allows you to examine your page carefully. He has even permitted me to take mine home and get a photostatic copy made of it (though this is a privilege he seldom grants anyone). A convincing factor, also, is the time it takes him to locate a page. He rarely has any way of knowing in advance who will be coming to him. Yet, unlike other readers I have met, he finds one's reading on the spot. There is no opportunity for him to write it out after having come to know you. And I am impressed by the fact that his fee is low. He cannot be using the book to become rich"
"Finally, of course, many of his predictions have come true."
"Where is this portion that you say you've found?" I inquired.
"It is in a small town called Barnala, only sixty miles from here. Would you like to go there?"
The raja seemed quite in earnest. But could such a exotic manuscript possibly be authentic? I struggled to apply my friend's strange story to what I knew of India's spiritual teachings.

The Hindu scriptures, I recalled, state that time is a mental concept. In their view, life may be compared to a book, the events of which we are conscious only as we pass from page to page. The pages are turned for us. Could we ourselves hold the book, we would be able to look ahead and read what is written in later chapters. Essentially, there is no past, present, and future. These all exist simultaneously. But for practical purposes we may say that the present is where the book is presently opened.

A natural question arises: What about free will? If the future is already determined for us, doesn't this make us all just puppets in the hands of fate? Not so, say the ancient teachings. For it is man himself who determines how his role shall read. The operative principle is the law of cause and effect, known in India as the law of Karma.

Even in creations by human artists whimsical fate is ruled out. Any truly competent author lets his characters work out their own destinies. He may see clearly before he ever writes the first page of a novel, all that must occur to them as the story unfolds. But his book always in a sense "writes itself." He will not force his creations to act "out of character" to suit the predilections of his own nature. Nor will he impose on his characters destinies that they haven't themselves in some way invited.

If God did not know the entire future of His universe and of all its creatures, He would not be omniscient. Foreknowledge need not contradict the doctrine of free will. The human race deteremines its future by what it is, not by what some Higher Being decrees it shall be.

Countless persons have had uncanny feelings - and other, vivid dreams - that something unexpected was going to happen. And it did actually come to pass. Great prophets may be considered simply to have perfected this natural power, infrequently expressed in the lives of ordinary men. In other words, sages have attuned themselves more exactly to the omniscience of God.

I began to wonder seriously, as I struggled through this philosophical hinterland, whether Bhrigu could not, just possibly, have written such an improbable book as this Samhita. If he had, I thought, what impressive support it would give to the claim of modern Hindus that their ancient wisdom was as realistic, in its own way, as out Twentieth Century sciences! The matter seemed well worth the small effort of investigation.

"How can I get to Barnala?" I asked my friend.
"I am going there tomorrow morning," he replied. "I came here today to ask you if you wouldn't like to come along".

Here follow some important excerpts and quotations from the book, a copy of which can be ordered here:

"Bhrigu never tells you anything negative unless there is some positive good that may come of the revelation. He has warned my brother of something serious that could happen to him, but he has also suggested a way out of the predicament."

"The raja continued: "Numerous persons go to the Bhrigu Samhita in Barnala. Very few are reproved by Bhrigu for their weaknesses, moral or otherwise. Bhrigu was a man of God. Like all saints, he preferred encouraging people in their virtues to condemning them for their faults."

The highway to Barnala, though paved, was so uneven it made conversation difficult. The country on both sides of us was mostly flat and uninteresting. Broad, semi-arid fields made way occasionally, as if grudgingly, for tiny, poor villages that clung piteously to the roadside. The people living here seemed to eke out only a bare subsistence from the soil.
I thought sadly of the need of Indian villages for Western technical skills.
And then I found myself meditating on the peace reflected in the faces of so many of the villagers. Have not they, too, something tangible and worthwhile to offer to us in the West? Can we, for all our material glory, honestly say that we have found fulfillment - lacking, as most of us do, contentment and a peaceful heart?
The harsh, dry countryside around us, seemingly resentful of man's intrusion, finally surrendered to the swaggering conquest of the little, bustling town of Barnala. We bounced through narrow streets until we reached Gaushala Road.
Here, in a typical Indian home of modest proportions, lives Pandidt Bhagat Ram, custodian of the Bhrigu Samhita."


"It is a sort of advertisement, telling people that in the Bhrigu Samhita they will find information relating to three incarnations: past, present, and future."
A strange place to advertise, I thought - inside the house! But apparently the Samhita requires no publicity. Already the room was beginning to fill up with people anxious to secure readings for themselves. They squatted quietly in hopeful expectation, like patients in a doctor's parlor.
It would be digressing from our story here to enter into a serious discussion of transmigration of souls. The point may be conssidered, however, that if the Bhrigu Samhita is proved to be genuine it will add considerable weight to the case for this doctrine.
"Speaking of reincarnation," Raha Mrigendra remarked, "there was a woman in here when I first came who was told by Bhrigu that in her last life she lived in Patal-Desh, (ancient Sanskrit writing meaning "the country on the under, or opposite, side of the world" - the Americas)
in the town of 'Wash-ing-ton.' In Sanskrit characters this ancient reading actually spelled out the sounds of the name!"
There were by my side a few loose pages of the Bhrigu Samhita. I examined them. They seemed old, I thought - yet not so ancient as I had expected.
"This is only a copy of the original," someone explained to me. "The actual book written by Bhrigu is believed to be hidden somewhere in Tibet."
The pandit finally entered the room, apologizing for having kept us waiting. We stood up to greet him. He welcomed Raja Mrigendra first, with a trace of deference in his manner for his visitor's rank. Next he was introduced to me.
The pandit's face and bearing impressed me favorably. I was sorry to find that he spoke no English. Others had to translate our conversation, which took time and probably left many thoughts uncommunicated. Nevertheless, we were able to converse together with a fair degree of fluency."


"Taking the page, the pandit began to read. Raja Mrigendra translated for me. This is what I heard:
"AUM. Sri Shukra (the son of Bhrigu) said: 'In the dark half of the month of Margshirsh, on a Monday of the Amavasya, at eight ghatis and thirty palls, (by our reckoning it was November 30, 1959, at about 10.30 a.m.) what is this combination of planets called, and what is the reading of the person who asks a question at this time? What was his last incarnation, and what thoughts has he in his mind on this occasion?"
"Sri Bhrigu answered: 'O Shukra, this planetary combination is known as "Guruka Yoga". According to it the person concerned was born in his last life in the western part of Bharat (India), in a town the name of which begins with the letter K. This city is now ruled by the Yavans, (in ancient times this referred to Karachi, the capital of Pakistan), and is the capital of their country.
"This jiva (individual soul) was born into the arrura branch of the Kshatriya caste. His family was well-to-do. His name was Pujar Das. He was an astik (one having faith in the Vedas) and a religious person...
"After passing years (in that place), he and his wife went together on a pilgrimage. Ultimately their travels took them to the desert, where they visited the ashram (hermitage) of the sage Kapila ..... Here this person remained for many years".
The story took Pujar Das to the time of his death. I have given only such excerpts as may perhaps be of interest to others, particularly from the standpoint of glimpsing the style of which the Bhrigu Samhita was written.
The account then continued: "In this life, after much traveling, he has arrived in my presence, having been coaxed to come here by one of my devotees, a member of a royal family".
I swallowed hard. This part, at least, applied: the extensive travelling; the fact of my having come only after being coaxed; Mrigendra's rank.
"This person's name," the pandit continued, "is Kriyananda".
Stunned, I took the card and passed it to several persons in the room who had come in hope of finding readings for themselves, and who said they were familiar with Sanskrit characters. They all confirmed that it did in fact say Kriyananda. This name is, so far as I know, unique.
The pandit took the page again and continued reading. The account defined correctly the type of spiritual discipline I follow; it mentioned that I had been lecturing in foreign countries; it gave various facts of a personal nature, and made certain predictions. At least as far as the known facts of this life went, the reading was correct.
Bhrigu also answered specifically the questions I had put to him mentally.
As regards my supposed last incarnation, I have at least the following facts to ponder: In this life I never glimpsed a desert until I grew up. Yet the first desert I ever knew, at the age of twenty-two, seemed strangely familiar to me; more than once I mentioned to others that I felt more at home there than anywhere else on earth. Why this sudden love for bare sand and tumbleweed? I had been accustomed to rich greenery, flower gardens, and mountain slopes. Again, the Hindu scriptures exercised an immediate and unusual appeal for me the day when, as a young man, I first read a few excerpts from them in a book called The Short World Bible. My religious upbringing had been orthodox: Episcopalian, mostly. I can think of no influence in this life that would explain either of these spontaneous interests. Doesn't Bhrigu's account offer an intriguing answer?
(It might be of interest here to add that I obtained another reading a few months later, from another portion of the Bhrigu Samhita. In this one a much earlier incarnation was described - because, Bhrigu explained, he had already told me ("in my Yoga Valli") about my last life. My place of birth in this life was correctly given, though misspelled: Rumania was written, "Rumanake". The reading stated that my father named me "James" - my actual first name at baptism. The reading said that I have lived in America. It gave my monastic name, Kriyananda. A fact was brought out about my family that I myself did not know, but that I was able to verify some months later after my return to America. This reading made a number of unexpected predictions, several of which have already since come true.)
Bhagat Ram's usual fee for finding a page and translating it is Rupees 21, which comes to a little over four American dollars. In my case he refused payment because I am a monk

This is in part one of the eight million stories that are stored in the aksha records as given by the Saint Maharishi Brighu in his treasure Brighu Nandi Nadi which has been translated for thousands of years according to ancient Vedic tradition by scholars in persuit of the true Vedic virtues.
For further reference you may contact Metatron concerning the sale of books in English, Sanskrit and Swedish. Besides there is also available from Metatron investigative journals conducted by the San Fransico University of California. Especially by Professor Jurgensmayer
in the department of religious education and furthermore by author Christopher David Lane ("Your life recorded in the world's oldest astrological record").

If you have a serious interest in travelling to India and discover your own records, Premasagarlight.com arranges three week tours to India every year since 1974, conducted by Anders B. Johansson.

Naadi Predictions - Google Books

Naadi Predictions Edn 2005 Excerupts

Here you can read some pages of book (earlier Edition 2005) "Naadi Predictions - A Mind Boggling Miracle" Latest revised and enlarged edition 2009 is available.




Naadi Predictions - Google Books

ऩाडी ग्रंथ भविष्य

Naadi Predictions Edn 2005 Excerupts

Here you can read some pages of book (earlier Edition 2005) "Naadi Predictions - A Mind Boggling Miracle" Latest revised and enlarged edition 2009 is available.

http://books.google.co.in/books?id=r0GTvPgBaYkC&pg=PA5&dq=naadi+preditions&as_brr=0&sig=ld92i_Ko-y2kB8N5xt9PVqrpj00#v=onepage&q=naadi%20preditions&f=false

ऩाडी ग्रंथ भविष्य

Paper III - Indian ola (palm - Naadi) leaf horoscopes

Paper III - Indian ola (palm - Naadi) leaf horoscopes

Parallels between Quantum Theory and ‘predictions’ in the ancient Indian ola (palm - Naadi) leaf horoscopes

S. N. Arseculeratne

MBBS (Cey.), Dip. Bact. (Manch.), D.Phil. (Oxf.)

Emeritus Professor, Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka

chubby@sltnet.lk

Background

The aim of this paper is to document a prominent feature of the ancient Indian ola (palm) leaf (Naadi) horoscopes on which two previous articles have appeared in this Journal (Arseculeratne 1998/1999; Arseculeratne & Sambandan 2001/2002); possible parallels between this feature and Quantum Theory, as discussed by physicists, are documented in the present paper.

The striking feature of these horoscopes is that data on the past, up to the time of their reading, is invariably and remarkably accurate, including names, events, attitudes of the subject. The accuracy of predictions for the future varies from accurate (for upto 32 years in one of the cases referred to earlier – Arseculeratne 1998/1999), to predictions that were partially accurate or inaccurate; reasons for this difference were suggested in that article were non-fulfilment of propitiatory measures, or accumulation and operation of new karmic accounts in the present birth. But these do not totally explain why the past was so accurate while the predictions for the future vary in their accuracy. The contrast with conventional astrology is marked; readings by the latter methods seldom or never, in the experience of the author, have this dichotomy.

It was suggested by some physicists at an international conference on parapsychology in Vishakapatnam, India in 2006, where this phenomenon and its study were presented, that the ola horoscope ‘dichotomy’ problem with an accurate past but a variable future has a parallel in Quantum Theory, in the physics of fundamental particles. A discussion of this problem with two academics, a physicist and an engineer, is summarized below, while the author of this article makes no claim to be an expert on Quantum Theory.

The parallels

Newtonian mechanics is capable of dealing with macro-bodies eg. billiard balls or planets. Prediction of all the mechanical properties associated with such an object is, in principle, possible provided (a) the forces acting on the object (including the location of the forces for a finite-sized object) and (b) say for example, initial information (velocity and position) is known. “… in the old ‘classical’ physics, particles had definite properties. They had precise velocity and precise position… However, from the viewpoint of quantum mechanics (which, with Relativity theory, is the basis of modern physics) this is not so. Before a measurement is made – an observation of the system – the properties of a particle are indefinite. It is the case that the particle covers, or fluctuates over, a range of positions (or velocities) simultaneously” (Eysenck & Sargent 1982). Werner “Heisenberg showed that, at the subatomic level at least, you can’t ever know all the initial conditions of a situation – at best, you are dealing with probabilities and statistics” (Macrone 1994); commentators on the variability in accuracy of predictions in the ola horoscopes also regarded these ‘predictions’, in contrast to the accurate readings of past events, in terms of probabilities rather than specific predictions.

With subatomic particles, Newtonian Formalism (or its variations such as those of D’Alembert, Lagranges, and Hamilton) fails to deal with the dynamics of them, whose ultimate nature is controversial; eg. is the electron a particle or a wave? Quantum Theory was developed to deal with these entities. It was not possible to make accurate predictions, eg of the position or velocity of an electron; only a spectrum of several ‘probabilities’ could be derived from Schrödinger’s equations, expressing the probability of occurrence of the possible values in terms of a ‘wave function’, or more elegantly from the Dirac’s formalism which shows the equivalent of Heisenberg or Schrödinger formalisms of Quantum Mechanics. When one of these ‘values’ or alternatives is realized (measured) by an actual experiment, the other probabilities ‘collapse’. Which value will be realized in the experiment? Quantum Theory can only predict the probability of occurrence of each possible value and nothing more. As the sum of the probabilities must be unity, at least one of the values should always be realized.

A quote from Einstein “Was Einstein a Buddhist?” appears to be relevant to this problem: (http://home.btclick.com/scimah/einstein.htm):

“… Both quantum theory and Buddhist teachings on sunyatā suggest that as soon as an observer’s mind makes contact with a superposed system, all the numerous possibilities collapse into one actuality. At some instant one of these possible alternative universes produced an observable life-form. The first act of observation by this mind caused the entire superposed multiverse to collapse immediately into one of its numerous alternatives”

Could there be an analogy of future events in ola horoscope predictions with subatomic particles in that probability theory could deal with both of them? If so, then an ola horoscopic prediction might fail as much as only one of several alternative ‘probabilities’ concerning the behaviour of subatomic particles might prevail while the others fail. The key word in both instances is the ‘future’, dealings with which necessitate a theory of probabilities for the future. To repeat the quote from Eysenck & Sargent (1982); “… in the old ‘classical’ physics, particles had definite properties. They had precise velocity and precise position… However, from the viewpoint of quantum mechanics (which, with Relativity theory, is the basis of modern physics) this is not so. Before a measurement is made – an observation of the system – the properties of a particle are indefinite. It is the case that the particle covers, or fluctuates over, a range of positions (or velocities) simultaneously”. Does this qualification “… before a measurement is made…” equate with the ‘future’ in the ola reading, and in which the events are equally indefinite? Eysenck & Sargent added: “… the particle we measure only acquires a precise velocity when we measure it”; does this equate with the accurate past in the ola horoscope at the time of the reading, and the uncertainty of future events?

As a commentator on the ola horoscopes wrote: “The question remains that at the time the ola were written, everything was in the future. How then did the writer predict so accurately the (past) events that would be given at the time of the reading? I do not think the fundamental puzzle has been fully resolved”. The problem deepens when it is seen that up to the time of reading, which is sometimes remarkably foretold in the leaf, (‘you will get this reading in your mid-fiftieth year’) the facts are accurate; it is only in the future, from the date of reading, that the variations in accuracy occur.

In the case of conventional astrology that deals with the transits, location of the ‘planets’ in the native chart, asterisms in which planets at birth are deposited, and planetary rulership periods and sub-periods, given that the motions of the planetary macrobodies are amenable to Newtonian mechanical calculations, the problem of the dichotomy between past and future does not arise; if analyses are wrong with this method (for both the past and the future), the reason is probably a faulty horoscope or an incompetent astrologer.

Some statements from Explaining the Unexplained by Eysenck & Sargent (1982) seem apposite to this problem and, generally, to the interface between psi [= paranormal phenomena, that include the ola horoscope phenomenon] and Quantum Theory:-

- “Nevertheless, John Hasted has argued that the many-universes interpretation of quantum physics may help us to explain psi…”.

- these authors consider ‘hidden variables’ in the quantum system, that cause collapse of the wave function; they state that “there are certain reasons for thinking that there might be a link with parapsychology here”.

- they refer to the Einstein-Podolski-Rosen (EPR) paradox – “an observer can affect an event taking place at almost any distance away from him. The collapse of the wave function can be spatially invariant. In certain treatments of this paradox the collapse can have features of temporal invariance”… “These look very like psi events”. “Olivier Costa de Beauregard goes yet further; he states categorically that psi events must occur as a result of the spatial and temporal independence aspects of the EPR paradox”.

H. R. Nagendra commented on these views (personal communication 2006): “This is exactly what I explained to you. The past events have happened and therefore belong to the Reality realm of our world. Therefore they are deterministic and can be dealt with by Newtonian mechanics.

The future events are probabilistic. There is an element of freedom given to everyone of us. If we exercise it we will be able to change the course of events.”

Acknowledgements

The author thanks R. P. U. Karunasiri and Arjuna de Zoysa for discussions on Quantum Theory

References

Arseculeratne, S. N. 1998/1999, Studies on the paranormal- 1: The Indian ola-leaf

horoscopes and the ideas of karma and reincarnation. Sri Lanka Journal of the

Humanities, 24/25 (1&2): 231-246.

Arseculeratne, S. N. & Sambandan, S. 2001/2002, Studies on the paranormal- 2: Further

investigations on the authenticity of the ancient Indian ola (palm) leaf (‘Nadi’)

horoscopes and the question of ‘free will’ versus ‘determinism’. Sri Lanka

Journal of the Humanities, XXVII/XXVIII (1&2): 185-196.

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mysteries of the paranormal. London, Book Club Associates. pp 133 - 154

Macrone, Michael. 1994. A Little Knowledge: What Archimedes really meant and 80

other key ideas explained. London, Ebury Press.

ऩाडी ग्रंथ भविष्य

Paper II THE ANCIENT INDIAN OLA (PALM) LEAF ('NADI')HOROSCOPES AND THE QUESTION OF `FREE-WILL' versus `DETERMINISM'

ऩाडी ग्रंथ भविष्य

Faculty Publication and Seminars, University of Peradeniya, SriLanka
>
> Tel. 0094-8-388302 Ext. 2005, Fax. 0094-8-388933
> STUDIES ON THE PARANORMAL- 2: FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS ON THE AUTHENTICITY OF THE ANCIENT INDIAN OLA (PALM) LEAF ('NADI')HOROSCOPES AND THE QUESTION OF `FREE-WILL' versus `DETERMINISM'
> INTRODUCTION
>
> A previous paper in this journal (Arseculeratne 1998/9. Studies on the Paranormal: The Indian ola leaf horoscopes and the ideas of karma and reincarnation) described the phenomenon of the ancient Indian ola (palm) leaf horoscopes – their history, selection and identification of a subject's leaf, and the reading of the leaf. These leaf writings in ancient Tamil are claimed to be hundreds of years old, and are thought to have been written by Indian sages (or by their astrological pupils as tutorial exercises) and recovered from Hindu temples, mainly in South India. Fourteen case studies from readings provided in 4 centres, 2 in Sri Lanka and 2 in South India were included to illustrate this phenomenon. The readers in Sri Lanka are South Indian Tamils, in temporary residence in Colombo, Sri Lanka's capital city. One of them had worked for forty years in this country before his demise.
>
> The selection of a leaf as `belonging' to an individual is done through the subject's thumb prints which are claimed to bear codes also contained in the leaves. The subject's past was invariably described with startling accuracy, while, in some readings, the future as predicted on the leaf was also accurate for many years, though in a few cases, they were not always borne out as accurate by subsequent events. Reasons for this discrepancy were discussed. It was also pointed out that these leaf readings differed from contemporary, conventional `mundane' astrological readings made off a chart, constructed on the basis of the time and place of birth, giving the planetary distribution in the subject's native chart of the zodiac at the time of birth. The latter readings seldom make the impressive statement of facts relating to the subject (e.g. names of the subject, of parents and of family members) with personal details concerning the subject (e.g. his religion, and place of birth, profession, ill-health, number of children and their progress) as described in the leaf readings.
>
> The following possibilities of fraud or other bases that might underlie spurious `readings' were considered in our attempts to `falsify' (in Karl Popper's sense) the idea that these leaf readings are authentic writings:
>
> 1. Fraudulent ascertainment by the reader of the history and personal data relating to the subject, (through reference to computerised or documented state records pertaining to the subject, or questioning of the subject's relatives) during the interval (which could be many days) between supplying of the thumb print and the selection of the corresponding leaf. This type of fraud was excluded on the grounds that no personal information, including the full name and address which could have been used in such fraud, was given by the subjects to the leaf-readers. In some cases, the readings were made on leaves selected within 1 or 2 hours (which would have not given sufficient time for such fraudulent ascertainment of data) of supplying of the thumb prints; moreover correct readings were obtained by persons who had never visited that centre before and on occasions the subjects were Sri Lankans who visited the Indian centres for the first time.
>
> 2. `Fishing out' of information from the subject by discreet questioning of the subject by the reader, under the guise of needing such data to confirm the identity of the leaf. Subjects, whose cases were discussed in the previous article, carefully avoided giving of information on which a spurious reading could have been built.
>
> 3. Construction of a horoscope. If the reader is a competent astrologer, he could make a chart at the time of reading and provide the subject with a conventional reading on the basis of his `instant' chart. This seemed improbable because the time of birth, which is critical for the construction of a conventional Indian astrological chart, is not supplied by the subject for the search of his/her leaf; only the thumb prints, birth date and a name for reference are supplied; the name need not be the real name of the subject or even the complete name, and it is given for the `calling-up' of the subject for the reading. `Mundane', conventional astrological horoscopes, according to the Eastern system of astrology, are made on the basis of the place, date and, crucially, the time of birth. Because these (except the date of birth and place) are not given to the reader, the possibility of an instant construction of a chart by the reader is remote.
>
> 4. Guesses and inferences. In addition to facts which were on the leaf, extrapolation to other facts through guesses and inferences are possible; the latter facts would then not be documented on the leaf. Guessing of names would be difficult or impossible.
>
> 5. Telepathy. This was excluded because some readings were made after the initial providing of the thumb print in the absence of the subject (Case No. 15 described below) while the readings were recorded on an audio-tape. In addition, in other cases, correct facts read off the leaf were unknown to the subject at the time of reading.
>
> The facts, obtained by mechanisms 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 would, of course, not be written on the leaf; hence the confirmatory test done as reported in this paper was to confirm or dispute ("falsify") the question whether the `correct' facts were really written on the leaf..

>
> The accurate predictive capacity of the leaf-readings, which sometimes spanned a period of ten or more years, indicated that mechanisms 1 and 2 at least were not operative, and that they were genuine astrological readings.
>
> Evidence given in the earlier report, supporting the tentative conclusion that the readings were made from a script actually written on the leaf, included the following:
>
> (1) On repetition of the readings, sometimes months later, the facts and their sequence were approximately 80% and 75% respectively, in correspondence. Translational or interpretational variations might have accounted for the short-fall from 100%.
> (2) The report also stated that in two cases, the subjects, both Tamil professionals who were familiar with the Tamil language's script, and who were also familiar with these leaves, read the names of either themselves or their family members on their respective leaves, indicating that indeed the readings given were made off a script which was documented on their leaves.
>
> Another case (No. 15) further supports the view that these readings are made from a script written on the leaves. The subject obtained the reading of the first, general chapter which correctly stated facts about himself. The reader then suggested that the reading be continued on the next day as it was now late in the evening. On the next day the original reader gave the leaf to another reader who re-read the first chapter that was read on the previous day; the second day's reading of the first chapter was identical with that given on the first day, suggesting that the readings were made off a script actually written on the leaf.
>
> Yet, despite the remarkably accurate statements and predictions, and evidence summarised above for the fact that the readings were based on a script that was really written on the leaf, Professor Ian P. Stevenson (Division of Personality Studies, Department of Psychiatric Medicine, University of Virginia, USA) stated (personal communication to SNA, 1999):
>
> I believe that it would be difficult to persuade an editor (and reader) of a scientific journal that the correct statements made by a reader of ola leaves were not the result of a combination of paranormal cognition, guesses and inference.
>
> Stevenson then suggested a final test of the authenticity of the leaf readings:
>
> To show that these correct statements were written in ancient Tamil one would need to have photographs of the Tamil text together with translations by an expert on the Tamil language. Moreover, the photographed text should be that of the correct statements.
>
> Further, Stevenson pointed out that:
>
> Such a demonstration would be a remarkable event. I do not doubt that it would
> have extraordinary reverberations in philosophy, science and religion.
>
> This report describes this test done by one of the authors (SS) of this paper, in a centre in Chennai, South India, in February 2002.
>
> RESULTS
> (The significant facts relevant to this paper are italicised)
>
> In February 2002, SS called at a centre in Chennai, South India, which he had not visited before; nor had he met its readers before. He gave his right thumb print at 8 am, with his first name, the shortened version Sidha, used by his friends. After about an hour SS was called in for the reading. Several leaves were unsuccessfully tried for his father's name. Another bundle of leaves was then brought in. Midway through this bundle, the reader asked, "Is your father's name Sambandan?" SS replied `yes' as Sambandan is his father's surname which was not given earlier to the reader. The reader then asked, "Is your mother's name Saraswathy?" SS confirmed it, though he had not supplied it earlier. He then asked, "Is your name Sidheswara?" SS again agreed, although he had not given his full name earlier. "Is your wife's name Sosapin?" (Figure), and on being told "yes" by SS, the reader then said "This is your leaf". His wife's name too was not supplied to the reader earlier. He then went out for about five minutes to call in a scribe for audio-recording and the writing out of the reading.
>
> The first, general chapter, containing the personal and family details, was read. The reader readily agreed to show SS the leaf and script and to allow SS to photograph it. The most decipherable name was SS's wife's name which was an English name. Her real name is "Josephine". There is no letter "j" in the Tamil language, and when present it is a borrowing from Sanskrit. The letter "s" is substituted for "j". (Professor C. Sivagnanasunderam, novelist in Tamil, 2002, personal communication); hence "So-sa-pin" instead of "Jo-sa-pin". The letters "So" were similar to the modern Tamil with which SS was familiar. The second syllable "Sa" in the Figure, is under the point of the pen. The "Sa" too was decipherable to one familiar with modern Tamil. The third syllable "pin" differed slightly from that in modern Tamil. The other sentences and words (other than names) in the text were difficult for SS to decipher. The facts in the rest of this first chapter, the past and up to the present, too, were accurate.
>
> A few days later SS called at a different centre, also in Chennai, South India, which dealt with these leaf horoscopes. SS had not visited this centre before nor had he known its readers. SS showed a reader at this centre, the photograph of the leaf which was read at the first centre and which contained accurate facts relating to SS. This reader (at the second centre) read, slowly, "So-sa-pin". He also read SS's father's name, SS's name, and his mother's name with ease.
>
> The reader at the first centre did not give the leaf to SS as it was claimed that another person's horoscope might be on the reverse. It should be stated that on a previous occasion in a different centre in South India, SS was given his leaf after an accurate reading.
>
> The results of this test were communicated to Prof. Stevenson who first suggested the test. He then posed the possibility of the reader having had access to the `facts' telepathically or by `normal' guesses, and then written these `facts' out on an old (blank) leaf. This would have meant that the reader left the room where the client was, spent some time to write out a `new' leaf with the `facts' that he telepathically retrieved, and brought it back and read the same. This was not the case as after the client (SS) sat with the reader, the latter went out of the room during the reading for approximately a minute and only once, to answer a telephone call. Moreover, he left the leaf which had the correct facts on the table while he was away from the room for this brief period; it was during this period that SS photographed the writing on the leaf; above all, the reader did not bring any other leaf when he returned. The etching on a palm leaf is a tedious process with a metal stylus, more time consuming than writing on paper. The etching then has to be blackened with soot (carbon powder), and the excess soot rubbed off from the leaf with oil. It is unlikely that the `new' writing could have been made by the reader during his one-minute absence from the room, apart from the fact that he did not bring back with him another leaf, the putative fraudulent leaf.
>
> A further refutation of the suggestion that data could have been obtained telepathically from the subject, arises from a case (No. 16) in which the subject, having had a reading of a few chapters, requested that the readings of the further chapters be recorded in her absence on a later date. These subsequent chapters had been read by the reader and recorded as requested by the subject, and were also found to be correct. Since the subject was not present at the latter readings, a telepathic process for retrieval of this data is probably unlikely.
>
> DISCUSSION
>
> Supplementary to the anecdotal and personal evidence recorded in our first (1998/9) and in the current paper, the test prescribed by Stevenson and the results accruing from it described in this paper, apparently demonstrated that the readings were made off a script actually written on the leaf.
>
> An attempt will be made to have one of these ola leaves, in the possession of SS, carbon-dated. Even if the test reveals that the leaf is indeed centuries old, it could be construed that, as Stevenson hypothesised, the reading could have been made off a `new' instant script made on an old blank leaf, from data retrieved by the reader, telepathically. However, the cogent evidence described in the preceding paragraphs relating to SS, that the correct leaf was not recently-written on blank fraudulent leaf, appears to us to be strong enough to discount Stevenson's explanation and to regard these leaf horoscopes as authentic.
>
> One of the Indian readers resident in Sri Lanka, when confronted with this `telepathic' explanation of the accuracy of the leaf readings, replied: "If I can get all the correct information from a subject, telepathically, I do not need to dabble with ola leaves". Indeed other practitioners of the paranormal do indeed provide clients with verbal astrological and perhaps numerological and telepathic readings (Sinhala - nimittas) which are accurate.
>
> Epistemology in the East and West
>
> Paranormal practices are firmly embedded in the South Asian culture. Eastern epistemology is perhaps of a wider scope in South Asia than in the West; for example, in Buddhism,
>
> …the Buddha urged his followers to strive to go beyond faith in rebirth and to verify it through extrasensory capacities which, he claimed, one could cultivate by practising meditational techniques. In this sense, Buddhist ethics, and the whole of Buddhist epistemology that underlies it, are as empirical and as amenable to scientific method as is Western ethics, or even more so since sense-perception in Buddhism (as in most other Eastern epistemologies) is far broader than that defined and accepted in the West". (Hall, 1987)
>
> Determinism
>
> The implication of the result of our investigation that, at least, the major events in a person's life, are `determined', again raises the perennial questions of `free will' versus `determinism' (this matter was briefly touched upon in the 1998/9 paper) and of `moral responsibility' in decision-making through `free-will'. Ayer (1965) wrote: "It seems that if we are to retain this idea of moral responsibility, we must either show that men can be held responsible for actions which they do not do freely, or else find some way of reconciling determinism with the freedom of the will".
>
> The implication from this paper's finding that major events are pre-determined will inevitably engender strong opposition from those who are confronted with the possibility of determinism. The primary purpose of this investigation, however, was to test the authenticity of the ola leaf horoscopes and not to attempt to resolve, if that is at all possible, the debate on `free-will' versus `determinism'. However, some comments, might seem to be necessary on this problem of `determinism'.
>
> Consider the following (real) example. The selection of medicine as a career by a Sri Lankan subject A was based on his liking the subject, and the examples of relatives who were successful doctors. He later turned to academic medicine and research, through interest in experimentation, long before his undergraduate medical work began. His choice of a medical career was thus seemingly, in conventional terms, a free choice made of his `free-will'. His ola leaf read 36 years later in South India stated that the subject will qualify in medicine and will give instruction in medicine to others, and that he will have two higher degrees (which indeed he had acquired). If, as demonstrated here, these leaf readings are authentic, and were written decades or more probably centuries before, then his choice of a medical career was, in this sense, determined. Further determinants that underlay his choice of medicine were the examples of his relatives and his prior conditioning, through his reading of books on scientific discovery and experimentation. Thus, his choice of medicine as a career, though seemingly made through his `free-will' was in reality `determined'. Searle's (1984) question is topical: "Is it ever true to say of a human being that he could have done otherwise?…. Is all behaviour determined by such psychological compulsions?" Searle answers the second question negatively. If this debate is intractable to resolution, could at least the compromise of "compatibilism" (Searle 1984) give us any relief, though Searle thought it was an inadequate solution to the problem?
>
> One of the criteria on which the operation of `free-will' is claimed to rest is the availability of alternatives which a subject could choose from in a given action. His choice of one option is then regarded as reflecting his `free-will' in making that choice while it remains a possibility that he could have made a different choice (see Searle 1984 for a discussion of this topic, p. 98). But the fact is that he did make the choice he made (the `factual'); the existence of `counter-factuals' i.e. the alternatives, is a philosophical problem which will not be discussed here.
>
> If indeed the idea of `free-will' is delusory and that determinants of many kinds operate in the making of a choice, then there appears to be a parallel in the derivation of conclusions from observations and formulation of theories in science. This relates to the question of `objectivity'. As Grinnel (1987) states, "In any event, the observer can look at the scene in a multitude of ways, each of which involves different hypotheses regarding what he/she sees. Therefore, it has been suggested that an observer imposes a particular meaning on a scene according to his/her interest and interpretation of what is going on…. The point to be emphasised is that, in large part, an observer's previous knowledge and experience determine what aspects of a scene will be interesting to the observer". In discussing some ideas of the philosopher of science, Paul Feyerabend, Jones (1989) wrote: "This leads him to the controversial conclusion that competing theories are equally reasonable alternatives, with one being eliminated in favour of another only as a result of subjective choice. `What remains are aesthetic judgements, judgements of taste, metaphysical prejudices, religious desires, in short, what remains are our subjective wishes'".
>
> Some comments (italicised) of the philosopher A.J.Ayer (1965) are also apposite to this discussion. "For it is not always the case that when a man believes that he has acted freely we are in fact able to account for his action in causal terms"
>
> The possibility that Subject A's choice of medicine was determined by the circumstances described above, might here be considered.
>
> "A determinist would say that we should be able to account for it if we had more knowledge of the circumstances, and had been able to discover the appropriate natural laws. But until those discoveries have been made, this remains only a pious hope".
>
> Although the palm leaf readings indicate that his choice of a medical career was determined, the `natural laws' and the mechanism underlying such determinism, as well as of the leaf writings themselves, are of course unknown.
>
> Finally, as Ayer (1965) wrote: "But now we must ask how it is that I come to make my choice. Either it is an accident that I choose to act as I do or it is not. If it is an accident, then it is merely a matter of chance that I did not choose otherwise;…. But if it is not an accident that I choose to do one thing rather than another, then there is some causal explanation of my choice: and in that case we are led back to determinism".. This appears to be the challenging situation that the palm leaf horoscopes have confronted us with.
>
> Since the publication of our first paper in 1998/9, a commentary "Nadi Astrology (an overview", appeared in The Times of Astrology, New Delhi, January 2002. (see also http://www.sanskritionline.com/nadi/History.htm) Some facts in the Times of Astrology, which are supplementary to those in the 1998/9 paper are quoted verbatim in italics below, followed by our comments:
>
> -Leaves were found "lying idle" in the Vaitheeswarankoil (South India) around the 13th century.
> -Translations from Sanskrit were made into Tamil and Telugu.
> -Only about 40% of persons are likely to get their leaves. (This implies that several million leaves should be available).
>
> The author then posed some questions, some of which are answered in our present and the preceding articles.
>
> "Are they actually reading what was written on the leaves?" This is the central question which the present article has apparently answered.
> "Why don't nadi readers give your leaf to you, if it really belongs to you?" Indeed one of us (SS) had his leaf given to him after the reading in a South Indian centre.
> "Can you read what is written there?" "Will they show it to you?" The present article has answered these two questions.
>
> "Is it possible to do any research at all in this field?. The scientific approach to research on these leaf horoscopes was also discussed in the 1998/9 paper. A more general discussion "The scientific approach to research on the paranormal" was written (by SNA) in Trends in Rebirth Research, Proceedings of an International Symposium, 2001, N. Senanayake ed., Peradeniya, Sarvodaya Viswalekha Press.
>
> "Are there other aspects, natural calamities, political set ups, wars, countries etc. written also nadi granthas (sic) other than about persons and if so why don't they publish it beforehand?" Yes in Case No. 10 (Arseculeratne 1998/9), the nadi reading referred to political events in Sri Lanka, 7 years into the future.
>
> Why cannot the nadi readers tell the exact names of the wife/husband before marriage, but can tell the names (of) after marriage?" In Case No. 7 (Arseculeratne 1998/9) the nadi reading had given the name of the girl the subject would marry. It is of great interest that the girl he married had a different name but it was the case that the name specified by the reading was indeed the family name, to which an original name had been changed decades before this reading and before the subject's marriage to the girl. The name change was known only after his marriage.
>
> Topics for Future Research.
>
> "Whether we or the experts in linguistics can read the same and understand?" "Whether there is any script at all in the leaves?" These two questions have been answered in the present article.
> A statement on the origins of these leaf writings is from the introduction in a leaf reading obtained by a Sri Lankan in India in the 1930s:
>
> "Stanza 1- These are horoscopes written down by Agasthya Muni in his discourses to his disciple Machakendran:- `I had known the Shastras as dictated by Narayinal Goddess Parvathi wife of Narayanan to Nandi Devar [the Bull God that is the medium of Hindu worship of Shiva] and I am telling same to you. If you find in the palms of a male, the lines known as
>
> adukku visiri sakkara
> iratti yoga sangu paali
> irai ligithamsam
>
> he will be born in the race that sprang up in Ceylon through Buddhism in the capital town or near about'".
>
> ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
>
> We are thankful to Professor Ian P. Stevenson (Division of Personality Studies, Department of Psychiatry, University of Virginia, USA) for having suggested the test which was performed, and discussed in this investigation, and to Professor P.D. Premasiri (Department of Pali & Buddhist Studies, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka) for discussions on the question of `free-will' and `determinism'.
>
> REFERENCES
>
> Arseculeratne, S.N. 1998/9. "Studies in the paranormal. I: The Indian ola leaf horoscopes and the ideas of karma and reincarnation." The Sri Lanka Journal of the Humanities XXIV and XXV, 231-246.
>
> ---. 2001, "An alternative approach to the study of rebirth through the Indian ola leaf horoscopes." In Trends in Rebirth Research. Proceedings of an International Symposium, N.Senanayake ed., Ratmalana: Sarvodaya ViswalekhaPress. 117-120.
> Ayer, A.J. 1965, "Freedom and necessity." In Philosophical Essays, London: MacMillan & Co. Ltd.
> Grinnel, Frederick, 1987. The Scientific Attitude. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press Inc.
> Hall, Vance D. 1987. Western ethics confronting Eastern society. (unpublished lecture), University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
> Jones, Richard. 1989. "The Historiography of Science. Retrospect and Future challenges." In Teaching the history of Science. Michael Shortland & Andrew Warwick eds, Oxford, Basil Blackwell.
> Searle, John R. 1984, "The Freedom of the Will." In Minds, Brains and Science. The 1984 Reith Lectures, London, The British Broadcasting Corporation.
>
>
> S.N. ARSECULERATNE & S.SAMBANDAN
>