,<\/em> tanpura — 8:03<\/mark><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nWhat asks — about outwitting the stars<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
“A child is born on that day and at that hour when the celestial rays are in mathematical harmony with his individual karma. His horoscope is a challenging portrait, revealing his unalterable past and its probable future results. But the natal chart can be rightly interpreted only by men with intuitive wisdom; these are few.
“The message boldly blazoned across the heavens at the moment of birth is not meant to emphasize fate — the result of past good and evil — but to announce man’s will to escape from his universal thralldom. What he has done, he can undo. None other than himself was the instigator of the causes of whatever effects are now prevalent in his life. He can overcome any limitation, because he created it by his own actions in the first place, and because he possesses spiritual resources that are not subject to planetary pressure.
“Superstitious awe of astrology makes one an automaton, slavishly dependent on mechanical guidance. The wise man defeats his planets — which is to say, his past — by transferring his allegiance from the creation to the Creator. The more he realizes his unity with Spirit, the less he can be dominated by matter. The soul is ever free; it is deathless because birthless. It cannot be regimented by stars.
“Man is <\/em>a soul, and has <\/em>a body. When he properly places his sense of identity, he leaves behind all compulsive patterns. So long as he remains confused in his ordinary state of spiritual amnesia, he will know the subtle fetters of environmental law.
“God is Harmony; the devotee who attunes himself will never perform any action amiss. His activities will be correctly and naturally timed to accord with astrological law. After deep prayer and meditation he is in touch with his divine consciousness; there is no greater power than that inward protection.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n— Autobiography of a Yogi<\/em>, Paramahansa Yogananda (1893-1952), paperback pp. 161-162<\/p>\n\n\n\n