Nadi jothidam is something that has fascinated me for a long time. The whole concept is mind blowing : reading the past present and future of a person through the writings on palm leaves written thousands of years ago by ancient sages who had the ability to reach beyond the boring reality of their everyday lives and have a peek into the workings of the Universe.
I was around tenth standard when I came to know about nadi jothidam. Those were the times when I was fascinated and awed by both Indian and Western astrology. However with growing years the skeptic inside me grew and I realized that most of astrology was done through either intelligent guessing, random choices or generalizations. There was certainly no method to it and certainly no way of proving or disproving anything.
However I’ve got many friends and acquaintances who will vouch for the authenticity of nadi jothidam. They are not uneducated illiterate people, most of them are doctors and engineers and some are academicians. I’ve never had the time to visit Chidambaram and check this out for myself. A few days ago an article appeared in The Indian Express about a journalist’s experience with Nadi jothidam in Chidambaram and like many of my friends she was shocked to realize that the astrologer was predicting several incidents which were happening in her life with unnerving accuracy only by having her thumb impression and sifting through hundred of olai chuvadis to find her correct match.
My question is if nadi jothidam was as accurate as people say it is, why is this claim not being rigorously researched by scientists? If this were to be proved true after rigorous testing just imagine what a sea change it will produce in the world. I for one will quit being an atheist and people like Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens will be rendered jobless. If rebirths are proved to be true ,then surely the presence of a superpower to set your destiny in motion is unquestionable, therefore God’s existence will always be unquestionable.
But we as a people are always satisfied with half truths and miracles. The spirit of enquiry is dead in our country. We don’t want to question our astrologers and godmen lest they be proved fake. It is the duty of our government to set up a commission to investigate such claims so that the few of us who are actually interested in knowing the truth should know it. Freedom does not only mean we are free to rule ourselves, it also means freedom of the mind to explore all things, question everything and come to our own conclusions. How long can we remain ambiguous in our beliefs and close our eyes to logical and rational thinking?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
15 comments:
There is a difference in speculating a first hand experience and a second hand opinion that can be prejudiced. Let me tell you my experience. First of all, Nadi jotisham that you mention is all about question and answers. In the name of searching for the right leaf, you will be asked a lot of questions. Then your leaf can be located or not. Then there will be lot of bull regarding your past birth as the reason for your present troubles. It would be so fantastic and wonderful, and of course there will be remedies, which involve time and money. There will be some mention of right things that happened in your present life, jumbled with a lot about your past. While I don’t know how they talk about certain things in your present, just because I don’t know will not make me conclude that it is because of the intuitive wonder of nadi jotisham. I have studied certain amount of astrology, and realize that some basic things about a person can be concluded by their horoscopes. It is more like a mathematical probability, than the games of planets. But they have as much chance of getting my future right as I would when I say I will succeed in my endeavor. Needless to say their future predictions have not changed the fortunes of my life. And Nadi Jotisham is not just about what happens in Chidambaram. There is a subject in astrology that deals with Nadi jotisham and plenty of books on it.
Science can never prove or disprove it, because it is a matter of faith and not of repetitive confirmed success of an experiment
You have struck home with this one. I have also heard stories about how accurate nadi jothidam is from many of my close relatives. They told me that the jothidars were able to tell them the names of the members of their families quite accurately, by just reading them out of some palm manuscripts. I was deeply skeptical. So I decided to check this out myself several years ago. I went to Kanchipuram from Chennai to check out one famous jothidar. I didn't even inform my parents since I wanted to rule out any kind of info that might be used by the jothidar. Well, the trip turned out to be a bummer, unfortunately. I was told that I had to take an appointment well in advance. The date I got was some 3 months later. At that time I was visiting India from the US, so there was no way I could go again after 3 months. So, till this day, it remains an unsolved cold case.
Being in the field of research, I too found this idea of Nadi Shaastra-as they call it very unscientific and wanted to prove it wrong.
I went to Chidambaram in 2005 and I had a check list- of the questions I would ask them and a resolution that I would not divulge any information.
Knowing my thumb print, the closest water body (mine was called Gokarna-teera), they told me a lot of things, including my parents' exact names and their education. They told with almost near-perfect accuracy of the events in my life.But whatever they told of my future turned out to be utterly wrong.
It has to be noted though that these Naadi Shastrajnas do not really know how it works. The works and the ways to read them are passed on from one generation to the next and so on and all these people know is how to find your leaf and read it out.
I dont care if this is total guess work bull crap or probability working, but it is indeed amazing that some illiterate old-leaf-text wielding villagers can tell me my whole past life with exact details accurately looking at my thumb print.
And as to why there is no real investigation of these :
1) they are considered holy and no one gets to access them
2)the families that own these naadi granthas are extremely possessive and wont part with their granthas
3)because of people like you who sit in front of the comps and dismiss things off without actually seeing for themselves
I don't know the probability of success of their readings, but it was totally true for me when it comes to the past. They got the future all wrong.
Just give it a shot..for the non-believers like us, astrology can be fun(/ny) !
Hi thought room,
you said
"have studied certain amount of astrology, and realize that some basic things about a person can be concluded by their horoscopes".
Is this the Linda goodman type of guessing i.e. attributing certain charcteristics to a sun sign? Besides how does being born on a certain day influence the kind of people we are? That means we are influenced by the planets right?
Hi ledzius,
Ya I know, I am never going to come to a conclusion unless I try this out for myself at Chidambaram.:)
Hi blaageshi,
"because of people like you who sit in front of the comps and dismiss things off without actually seeing for themselves"
This is the most optimistic post I've ever made about pseudo- scientific beliefs. That is because nadi jothidam is extremely intriguing and fascinating. I will check this out for myself when I have the time.
Hi
Let me tell you that the reason I studied astrology was because, I badly wanted to know how it worked. Not because I was obsessed with my future or any such stuff, but because there is a secrecy surrounding it that I could not resist. I studied Indian astrology of divining by charts and its various branches in a course offered by the hydrabad university some 6 to 7 years back (Go figure). I still remain skeptical about it, but let me tell you the basics that “might” be common. Now if you give the 12 houses certain characteristics, (much like the ego centric way of believing that the planets are out to get you), like say friends , partners, education, money and the 9 planets, 3 characteristics, like say +, -, and 0 or neutral. A mathematical chart, you produce based on your date of birth, and place of birth, will result in a permutation and combination of character traits with the +,-,and neutral aspects to these traits. But divining characteristics does not end there. Each of the 12 houses, in themselves have +,- or neutral traits, which yield further diversity in terms of permutation and combination of results, that sound complicated, but are easy to decipher. Thus the basic stuff like how much education the individual has had could be found out- which again has a 50% chance of being right. If you have an interest in math and permutation and combinations, you will undoubtedly find it fascinating, but as a tool to find the future, it is as useful as a crystal ball, with the added perks of a method to the madness, that’s all.
"a method to the madness"
That sums up astrology and most pseudo sciences. :)
I have heard similar stuff as blaageshi.. the nadi jothidars were able to tell past facts and names with seemingly good accuracy.. and these are the first hand experiences of people I know well, so I don't dismiss them right away. Rags, hope you try it out for yourself at Chidambaram and let us all know :)
Hi Rags,
Current practice of nadi astrology is "a Cheat'.
They get all information from your mouth, in the name of verification of data. Later they encode your information in a way looks like a classical or ancient Tamil script.
They ask minimum 15-50 questions.
1. With in 12 question they identify your month of birth and fix SUN in your horoscope.
2. Then similarly SAT and JUP will identified in your horoscope.
3. Then do the pattern matching with old panchangam/ astronomical data.
4. Your horoscope is ready.
5. Encode the data collected from you and the conventional astrological predictions based on your horoscope.
6. your "Nadi" is ready to get money from you.
Note: So far none of the nadi astrologer will give nadi reading only with thumb impression and they never do it.
Tell me even if you get your horoscope accurate only with thumb impression without any other data, for example rasi or age.
" CAREFUL WITH NADI READERS , DO NOT WASTE MONEY, UNLESS OTHERWISE, YOU HAVE NOTHING ELSE TO TIME PASS OR FUN WITH YOUR MONEY"
- Seek divine with in you
-RGS
Hi all,
Well, after researching a little about nadi jodhidam here and there, I got interested so much as to know it by myself, but in vain, it is a complete hoax (I do not know as to the authenticity that not all are hoax, but some are authentic).
They just have a bundle of palm leaves, (may be the same 2 or 3 bundles they have after all) and just show it to you for the dramatic effect to lure you into a little belief if you are doubtful as to the authenticity. Only a good old Tamil reader could tell for the script is in 'old Tamil' and only some people can read it properly (which is again to our disadvantage) as to know whether it is authentic at all, we do not even know whether they really read from the leaves or just pretend so as to give the great dramatic effect, and in the meantime try to side guess all they need for making it look authentic when they ask those 10 to 15 questions to make a guess about you by verification of data.
By doing this, they get the moon sign, nakshatra, approx time of birth, and date of birth etc., and cast a horoscope in front of you and give you a rough prediction about future (again a lot of guesswork to please you). This is a lot worse than astrologers, at least they accept to the limitations of astrology, here they say it is true and authentic whereas it is a hoax completely. In all this, also the mind wants to know the complete truth of this whole thing, is it really true somewhere, or is it is totally useless and a big sweetened hoax.
Dear friends,
I see most of you in this forum are against or atleast dont belive in this naadi jothidam stuff...
Belive me im 26 now and i have all characteristics of you like enthu of what is it all about, will he be able to tell my past,present,future..etc.. . I along with my friends(4 guys) went to vaitheeswaran temple for experimenting this..our trip started with lot of fun and joy, but when we returned it was absolute silence and not a pinch of smile in anybody's face..
Naadi jothidam has become a serious profession there, so dont think the people who read those stuff are divine guys...its business business and only business.. Its upto you like how much u are able to get from him..
If you are lucky enuf to get a good naadi jothidar u will get 100% of your past data.. ur family members name come out with no difficulty...and they dont forget to tell you about the future accidents that are gng to happen in your life.. Once you hear the past im sure u will have 200% trust on that guys word and when he suddenly says something bad about your future u r gone forever.. u keep thinking about that and basically u will lose your charm forever.. He will not forget to say that this accident can be defended by doing a pooja which will cost some Xthousand rupees... Im not sure if they will really do a pooja or if that pooja really has effects,bcoz i didnt try it....
Group My only kind request is dont ever try this,face the life as it comes..
Hi Thot room,
Let me say I am the non believer type and the sole purpose of my visit was to question the authenticity of the whole exercise. But I came out amazed at the accuracy with which they predicted the present. Obviously I dont know about the future as it is yet to happen. For eg, they told me my exact time of birth while the only question regarding this they asked me was I born between 3 and 4 pm. No more questions on date and they confirmed the time of birth(which I was also not sure of and confirmed with birth certificate). Similarly to tell the names of parents is truely amazing. Well, I still am not a believer but there seems to be some science/art by which the leaves are written. Anyways, these guys are only readers and do not contribute much to the whole reading.
I have narrated my expeirnce here. I don't belive it. They are milking money
http://swamykujrananda.blogspot.com/2009/05/nadi-astrology-jyosium-busted.html
see why to argu whether it is true or not, just check it for yourself as i did.
i went to arround 6 nadi jothidam readers of different places in tamil nadu with assuming different combination of name of mine, father, mother and their occupation and other personal/family profile (because you need to give "yes" or "no" reply for all his questions for converging), surprisingly he could find out the leaf for all those imaginary fake profiles.
this is the one way of testing the system, you can come up with more efficient/powerful benchmarking methodology if you are really interested to explore sincerely.
you no need to even believe whatever i said, so have some money, maybe RS 1000/- (it is just Rs 100 to 200 they charge to find/take out your leaf), you can find out yourself.
from my experience, i concluded that "nadi jothidam" may be true but commercially available atmost "nadi jothidam" readers are fake.
Does the Govt investigate the cosmetic companies that claim you can become fairer and marry a more sucessful husband by using their products? Why should government interfere in their profession. You are at complete liberty to approach them or not? Mostly they dont even advertise and the ethics of most companies advertised in the media is lower thean theirs.
They dont claim to predict anything, just read what is there. After having visited over half a dozen times ( I happen to be engineer in the US ) I can say that they are pretty good with respect to identifying names and most signigicant events in the past. But when it comes to the future are bets are off. I also do not take up their offers of doing some puja to ward of evils. I believe I can do my own prayers. If they suggest any parikaram ( penitence prayers, I do it myself, and any charity they suggest, I do but not give to them but other deserving organizations). Alos they do not charge much (100-300) so they are not ripoff artists. GO if you are curious or dont, but dont bad mouth their profession - how many lies do shopkeepers and highly educated and paid marketing folks say to sell their product - they are much better than that
I am Christian. We have been taught not to believe in this stuff. But I am also a curious person. I came across Naadi jothidam through my friend. First I checked it in Bangalore. While they totally off tangent with predictions for my sister and a cousin my mine, they got few things right for me. They gave me my wife's name 2 years before my marriage. I recorded the reading and got it transcribed in a note book. My marriage was arranged and I noticed the name only after seeing the picture and agreeing. I also validated the jothidam by trying out at a different location, this time, in Kumbakonam. The predictions were not exactly the same, but they got my job (rather changing of line) and the time of my marriage correct. There may be some truth in this, but I wouldn't call it a science... yet.
Post a Comment