Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.wpost From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Foreign Journal Foreign Journal I discovered recently that my life is being complicated by the extremely poor behavior I exhibited in my previous life. Seems that while I was the head priest at a temple in south India, I embezzled too much money and had my way with too many women. That, at least, is the verdict delivered by Sage Agasthiyar, an astrologist who lived more than 3,000 years ago. It is said that his powers were so great that before he died, he and his disci- ples wrote down the future for everyone, no matter how famous or insignificant, no matter when they lived or where they will be born. The sage doesn't pull a lot of punches. "You were too proud and arrogant," he chastised through the ages. "You've separated some mothers from their children. You've si- phoned off temple funds. You have also, because of your ego, made many women pregnant, by deceit, by force." Apparently I repented in my later years, but "all those who were wronged by you cast a curse on you, a woman's curse, and even if you live honestly and well now, you'll have confusion, distur- bances in your life." I gained this new insight into my previous self after visiting Sage Agasthiyar's thatched-roofed branch office in Tiruchchirap- palli in southern India and giving his latter-day disciples $25. Whereupon, after I spent 90 minutes answering about 200 detailed questions about my personal and professional life, a disciple discovered a palm leaf inscribed in an ancient hand that no one but the sage's disciples can read. He translated the writing, and it revealed all sorts of details about my personal and "With good deeds, you will achieve your release from this cycle of births and deaths."< - Sage Agasthiyar's advice> professional life that the sage had foretold more than 30 centuries before. It is hard not to become curious about astrology when you are surrounded by 700 million Hindus who believe in a cycle of births and deaths, in which ac- tions in this life are affected by the previous life and will determine what happens in the next. The accumulated good and bad deeds are weighed against each other and tip the scales so that, for instance, a bad taxi driver might come back in his next life as a wombat, while a good one might return as a Sanskrit profes- sor. The ideal is to steadily improve over a series of lives until the cycle of death and rebirth is broken and salvation is achieved. With so much at stake, it seems that almost everyone in India, from the prime minister to the lowliest street sweeper, consults the stars - if not on a daily basis, then at least on important occasions. Matching a bride and groom's horoscopes is as much a part of planning a marriage as choosing the flower arrangements. It is routine for Indians to consult the stars about the best day to close on a house or sign an important contract. When it was re- vealed that an astrologer helped Nancy Reagan set her schedule, Americans hooted with derision, but when Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao delayed naming his cabinet because an astrologer warned that the intended day was not auspicious enough, no one here batted an eye. "Clearly astrology has come to represent one of the greatest preoccupations of a society torn by the pressures of modern-day living," said a recent article in the Indian Express newspaper. Astrology is "one of the greatest preoccupations of (Indian) so- ciety torn by the pressures of modern-day living."< - Indian Express newspaper> "Like the traditional family doctor, today almost every family has a family astrologer, despite any skepticism regarding the veracity of the predictions." Many Indians consult an astrologer on how to end a string of bad luck, cure an illness or get a job. Hindu priests are treated as the supreme astrologers, and they often ascribe current problems to sins in a previous life and order penance that includes dona- tions of food, clothing and money to temples and priests. I did not recognize myself in the mirror Sage Agasthiyar held to my face, but it was clear that the sins of my previous life must have been pretty awful for me to fall from Indian priest to an American newspaper reporter. In his wisdom, however, the great sage laid out a personalized penance plan. I am to visit nine temples across India, lighting lanterns, feeding cows, monkeys, birds and ants and giving beds, pillows, rugs, gold and silver to the priests. This will cure me of my past sins, Sage Agasthiyar wrote. I ap- parently have not gotten over my philandering ways, however, be- cause he foresees two affairs over the next 15 years. He also predicts fame, fortune, scheming colleagues, adoring wife, one son and death at age 70 or 72. My wife was repulsed at my previous life, distressed at some predictions for my current life and amused at my next life, when I will be born in Sri Lanka. I will be a doctor named Thyagara- jan, which means King of Sacrifices, and I will marry another doctor, and she will in fact be the reincarnation of my present wife. "Her name will be Rosy," the sage wrote. "With love and kindness from your wife, with good deeds, you will achieve your release from this cycle of births and deaths."<08:55 11-23C9999- ---- Copyright 1992, The Washington Post. 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