Do the Stars Control Our Destiny?

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Someone has their astrological
chart done, and by that they are

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able to determine the location
of the various planets and the

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sun and moon and the
constellations in relation to

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their birth.
They will learn about the

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hardships they will face, the
major life events they can

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expect, and the opportunities
that lie in front of them.

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Some people reject the entire
concept of astrology, while

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others treat it as a true
relation of their future and

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take the information they
receive from their chart to

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heart.
What is rarely, if ever, taken

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into account is any role for the
individual to make choices that

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may change the destiny laid out
in their chart.

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The unspoken assumption is that
the destiny is fixed and already

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written, and thus it will occur
that way.

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There is, however, a clear
distinction between coincidence

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and actual causality.
The astrological chart may,

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assuming it properly captures
actual astrological influences

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active in an individual's life,
let the individual know what

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forces are active in his life
and what influences will tend to

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play upon his future destiny.
This is more or less like a map

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which is A2 dimensional
representation of a

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three-dimensional reality in the
world.

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We may be able to chart a route
across a map, but when we

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actually get on the ground to go
somewhere, we find that

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innumerable things that were not
actually clear on the map

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determined changes in the route
or the issues to be faced, or

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the time it takes to accomplish
the route we have chosen.

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Astrology is more of a potential
map than an actual causal force

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in anyone's life.
Those who choose to accept

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determinism as the sole force of
development in the life will see

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astrology as the instrument for
describing that predetermined

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reality.
Those who believe in the

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exercise of free will will tend
to reject the importance of

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astrology and deny its ability
to predict their future.

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Once we acknowledge that there
is a truth and a place for both

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determinism and free will, we
will see that while large

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patterns are laid down through
the will of the divine and the

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creation which impact everyone
and everything, and thereby show

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us the correspondences that
astrology reveals, there are

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also all the details that
provide an individual the

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freedom to modify, adjust,
change, or outright reject

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certain influences, forces, or
choices.

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Shriorobindo writes quote.
I just, however, guard against

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the idea that the signs and
planets determine a man's

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character or fate.
They do not.

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They only indicate it because
they are the sensational

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celestial and astral influences,
or nervous force in nature,

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which becomes the instruments of
our karma.

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That is why the European Mystics
gave the name of astral planes

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to the plane of sensational or
nervous existence, and astral

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fluid to the magnetic power or
current of nervous vital force

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In a man.
It is the same vital force which

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pours upon us from all parts of
the solar system and of this

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physical universe.
But man is mightier than his

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sensations or vitality or the
sensational or vital forces of

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the universe.
Our fate and our temperament

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have been built by our own
wills, and our own wills can

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alter them.
End Quote Reference Shriorobindo

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and the Mother, The Hidden
Forces of Life, Chapter One,

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Life Through the Eyes of the
Yogin, pages 14 to 15.