Author(s): Dr. Nagesh Rajopadhye

Abstract: This article examines few fundamental principles of Vedic astrology through a systematic empirical experiment conducted on 742 birth charts of people who have been celebrities and 509 charts of people who have not been celebrities and have led ordinary lives. Each of the 21 fundamental principles of Vedic astrology we tested was found to be invalid as the compliance was not significantly different between both groups. These principles include some of the most commonly used principles, such as planet in conjugation or opposite to Jupiter or Venus gives beneficial effect, exalted lord of house is beneficial for its significance or auspicious planets in the house give benefits for which the house is significant, etc. Further, to examine whether these principles act together to give differentiation, the comprehensive test consisting of the comparison of astrological positivity and negativity of all planets, houses and lords of houses was demonstrated as a potential empirical approach. If the principles we have tested were true, we should have seen significant differences in the total negativity or positivity of at least one planet, house or lord of the house in the test, but there were none. Thus, our results proved that neither these principles are valid individually nor in combination. Two of our earlier experiments on similar lines for other pairs of the groups, namely mentally disabled versus intelligent and Cancer versus no cancer, had shown the similar results for the same set of principles. It shows just how invalid they are across the board and beyond any doubt. Since the principles we tested are something that one cannot do away with, in the everyday practice of astrology, their invalidity proven through our test raises many questions about the accuracy of the predictions of Vedic astrology in general and career in particular.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.22271/24564427.2021.v6.i1b.114