Tag: Predictions

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Nobody can predict the Future – no Astrologer and no Clairvoyant! – 3 Jan 12

Yesterday I wrote about New Year’s resolutions and described it as a good idea to have a plan for the future. Around the change of the year newspapers, magazines and other media channels are full of predictions of what is going to happen in the New Year. There are astrological predictions for each of the twelve zodiac signs, often describing very much in detail what will happen to those who were born in that zodiac signs.

I really wonder how it is possible to categorize the seven Billion people of this world into twelve groups. How can it be that whatever they predict for the twelve different groups really applies to each and every individual? It is not possible. For the media this is of course just another popular way to fill their pages with entertainment around New Year. I have even read stories of the editors sitting together and randomly choosing predictions for the different zodiac signs.

While these general predictions are clearly too general to be true, there are also individual predictions based on one person’s horoscope with his exact time of birth and the exact birth place. I actually don’t believe in this kind of predictions anymore, either.

What these astrologers do is to take what they read and learned in astrological scriptures and with their formulas about the situation of planets, mix that with what they see in the person and what he or she tells them and then give a their prediction. Depending on their skills, this usually fits the person sitting opposite them quite well because they have practice in making a rather accurate psychological analysis according to the other one’s appearance and behavior.

I don’t say that these people are cheaters who consciously tell people something that they themselves don’t believe in. No, they have faith in astrology, in the planetary constellations and in those things that they have read about in their scriptures. They believe it is a science and according to that they give their predictions. It is not however a science, it has no proof. There is no way to prove that the location of Mars, Saturn and other planets combined really means you would be lucky, healthy or successful.

If you read this and don’t know much about me, you may think that you read the words of someone who grew up in an environment that taught him not to believe in such things. You might think my parents taught me to be skeptical and critical and never believe anything without proof. It is however not like this. On the contrary, my brothers and I studied astrology, I believed in it and in the past we even had an astrological department. I grew up with this belief. In that time I had no doubt that this all was true. There was however one turning point in my life and that is the death of my younger sister. I had studied her birth horoscope and there was no sign that she would leave this world at the age of 29 in a car accident. This and other events in the course of time made me change my mind.

If you have an open mind and are ready to accept change in life, you are able to realize and see things in other ways, too. You can find that you believed in something that was wrong. Now I believe it is very unscientific – even though it is presented as a complex but accurate science. How could it be? If there were two children born at the same place, with the same longitude and latitude and at the same time, will they have exactly the same fate?

Astrologers are not the only ones, clairvoyants also like this time of the year. Everybody who in any way says that he predicts the future, likes to give predictions especially at the turn of years.

For me everyone who claims to know the future or the past is a liar. It is just impossible and I challenge everyone to tell me my or someone else’s past without knowing about it before. I can give you the exact birth time and place and I can tell you that nobody will be able to tell me about my past. It is difficult to prove someone to be wrong with future predictions – there is always the chance of a lucky guess – but I know my past and can tell you whether that person tells the truth.

Again there is the question, if someone knew the future, why could they not predict nature catastrophes and wars? In the past year we have faced tsunamis, earthquakes and more, how come the eastern and western astrologers as well as clairvoyants all over the world were not able to predict this all? Afterwards they all explain that it was logical with the constellation of these or those planets but nobody warned people before.

Some people, who have lost faith in accurate predictions, say that it is not an indicator of fixed events but can show you a tendency. It can help you a little bit with decisions and the general trend of your life. The reality is however that you already know it is not true. If it cannot predict certain events, why would it be able to show you even a vague direction?

I recently read in an article that media now has to show advertisements of clairvoyants and astrologers clearly marked as ‘entertainment only’ and not as real facts. They want to limit the bad effects of such predictions – people get addicted to them! I have seen people who did no step in life without consulting an astrologer or clairvoyant. It is however only a guess – because nobody can ever know what will happen in future.

This is however exactly the beauty of life: nobody, except you, knows what happened in your past and nobody, including you, knows what will happen in the future. See the beauty of this mystery! If we knew what would happen tomorrow, the whole mystery, the adventure, the surprise and the beauty of life would be gone! So why would you want to get to know this? You would miss the beauty of not knowing!

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Muhurat – widespread Superstition of the right Timing – 9 Dec 11

Yesterday I mentioned that people schedule the birth of their child according to star and planet constellations so that the baby has a good horoscope and a bright future. This seems extreme to some of you but this is by far not the only action that people schedule according to planets, stars and moons. They go much more in detail and there are many more insignificant actions that they plan exactly to the right time. This time, the auspicious timeframe that they believe is right for a certain action, is called ‘Muhurat’.

I was recently asked what I thought about Muhurat, about this scheduling of events, of this specific time frame which is good for one action and bad for another. Let me first explain how deep this idea influences some people’s lives.

Muhurat, the right timing, is a concept that is deeply connected with Indian culture. Especially religious people believe that the situation of the planets has a big influence on your life. Obviously your birth horoscope is made according to the date and time of your birth and depending on the planetary situations in that time it is said to be able to show you certain character traits and more. In the same way people believe that each date and each time of each day has certain qualities from the constellation of stars.

So there are certain times that are good for certain actions whereas other times are not good for them. Every person here usually knows the basics, for example on which day of the moon it is good to start a journey or which day of the moon is absolutely not good to purchase something for your home, like a new cupboard. Only experts however could tell you more details. They could tell you that on the third day after the next full moon it is good to start travelling South in between ten and twelve o’clock.

There are so many examples for which situations you can find the right Muhurat. If you want to start a new business, the moon should be there, if you move to a new house, the sun should be there, when you marry and even when you should conceive your child – a right time for everything. And there is a very wrong time which is called Rahukaalam – an inauspicious time, practically the worst time for your actions.

So now you know what Muhurat is. I see it as superstition, just like the thought that it would be bad luck to see a black cat. The problem is that some people believe in this very much and that their lives get controlled by it at some point. Obviously, if there is a right time to do things, there are other times which are wrong. You go to an expert for the bigger events in your life but what about smaller, also important decisions? When is the right time? They go to experts regularly but with each time there are more decisions about which they are not sure – is it now the right time or later?

In the end this thought spreads fear and insecurity. It can create psychological problems because of all the doubts whether it is the right time or not. In my opinion it is nonsense and clever, educated and positive people should not stop themselves from acting just because of such superstition.

It is however not only common among uneducated people but, as other superstitions, too, does not stop form rich, successful, highly educated people either. Many politicians, businessmen and celebrities are known to consult their experts about the right Muhurat for their projects.

Many people only take care of the right timing with the important events of their lives like a new business, marrying or the birth of a child. But if you think that it is right and important in those situations, why wouldn’t it be important in others, too? You cannot just believe a little bit that this is true. If you believe it is important to build a new home at the right time, it should also be important to cut your toenails at the right time. Something could go wrong there, too, you could cut yourself, go to hospital, have an infection and a serious illness because of it! You see, superstition can make you nervous!

I have seen people who did everything at the right Muhurat but did not have success. And I have seen people who showed others that although they start something at the wrong Muhurat they had success. If something goes wrong although you did it at exactly the right time with exactly the right ceremony and listening closely to your expert, believers will always tell you some reason. Another expert will tell you that your previous counselor only looked at Mars, not at Saturn or something similar. There are so many details that you can always find something that was maybe not interpreted in the right way. It is inaccurate and that is in my eyes the first sign that it is just wrong. If it were right, wouldn’t everybody predict the best day to win in the lottery? Wouldn’t then everybody play the lottery and win at the same time? Then everything could be predictable, everything would be like a fixed match. No, I cannot believe this!

It may be a comfort to some people to believe they do something at the right time so it will turn out well. I believe however that you should have enough confidence in yourself and your actions to know that what you do is right. You cannot change certain things in life just by starting later or earlier. Do your best, with love and your full effort and you have the possibility to be happy.

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Is there a bigger Plan? – Our Need for Security – 24 Jun 11

In a counseling session some weeks ago, a woman said to me ‘I believe there is a plan for everything that is going on now and for what will happen in future. What do you think?’ I told her that I had a very different idea. Let me explain you my thoughts on this topic.

Who do you think has a plan? Usually religious people will answer this with God and people who are less religious will say the universe, the higher energy or something similar. It is thus not an idea that is depending on religion. There may be some religions that tell us God has made a plan but also people without religion believe it.

Where does this idea come from? I think it comes from people’s basic need for security. People want to know that whatever happens is in someone’s plan. They want to have rules. If I do this, something good will happen, if I do that, something bad will happen. The concept of heaven and hell provides security because it means that someone is there who has a plan. Religions were made because people saw that there was a need for this security. They provided it and people came.

Astrology and horoscopes were also made because of this need for security. People want to get to know what will happen tomorrow. They have trust that the stars will tell it and that the bigger plan is written in the stars. Others believe in the clairvoyant power of an individual, someone who reads the cards, someone who predicts the future out of a crystal ball or someone who says he has contact with angels who know about the bigger plan. The problem is that with such predictions depend often on how much money you can give to the one who makes the prediction. The more you give, the more successful you will be in future.

I actually believe that there is no plan and that nobody knows what will happen tomorrow. We can take our decisions and have to take our responsibility for the consequences. Nobody knows before what will happen if you go one way or the other. I believe that everything happens for good, which means that even something that in this moment does not seem like a good thing to you, has some aspect that is positive. But you don’t know about this before and it is not ‘planned’ that this happens. Every event is the result of previous decisions or events. There is no plan.

If nobody can know anyway what will happen on the next day, why should we worry about it? There will never be an answer! We will see what will happen and we will deal with whatever comes. The past is past and tomorrow will come. Live in the presence, today, now!

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Predictions come after the Catastrophe – 2 Aug 10

Today we will fly back to India, so we upload the diary already in the morning and tomorrow’s diary we will write from Vrindavan. We are looking very much forward to be back at the Ashram in India again.

I wrote yesterday that you are complete as you are and I really mean it. I mean that you have everything inside yourself to cope with this life. You need to have trust and love, you do not need to go to any healer, psychic or any such person.

I have previously expressed my opinion about psychics and told that I absolutely do not believe in future-telling and fortune-telling. Nobody except for God can say what will come. After each big event and catastrophe, for example 9/11, the earthquake in Haiti or the big Tsunami, you can hear predictions and of signs and that Nostradamus or someone else had told this before. However this kind of prediction always comes afterwards! If it was possible to predict the future, why did nobody say anything before?

When I express this opinion, people could tell me: but you believed in astrology yourself! And it is true. I have made studies in it, as well as Yashendu, but as life is, it is always full of change. With times also belief can change. I may have believed earlier that your horoscope can tell you something about your future and destiny. Now I do not believe this anymore. My belief changed with the death of my sister. Nowhere in her birth chart did I read about this car accident. Nowhere was it written or indicated that her life would end in such young age. I think I am remembering her like I always do especially when I am ready to fly India.

No, nobody can predict the future, nobody knows it. The future is written in the stars but you cannot read and translate it. Don’t you think that may also be good like this? Maybe life would be much more complicated if you knew about tomorrow. It has its own beauty, the mystery of what will come next.

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How to truly Predict the Future – 20 June 10

When I wrote yesterday’s diary entry, I also remembered a joke about gurus and their predictions but it is difficult to translate it into English. I will try my best anyway. A pregnant woman comes to her guru and asks ‘Is it a boy or a girl?’ The guru looked at her and then answered with these Hindi words ‘Ladka na ladki.’

It is even difficult to write the Hindi pronunciation in English. ‘Ladka’ means boy. ‘Na’ can mean not, no and neither nor. ‘Ladki’ means girl. And now it depends on how you say the sentence and it can have three different meanings: ‘Boy, not girl.’, ‘Boy not, girl!’ and ‘Neither boy, nor girl.’

You see how clever this guru put his answer! No matter how the parents understood it and no matter what will happen, his sentence will be right. Of course he will predict the future! And of course each of these gurus has 360 degree vision, can walk over water, materialize gold and ashes depending on the wealth of their disciples and make statues bleed.

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Gurus under Pressure to Predict Future – 19 June 10

When I yesterday thought and wrote about our role in the world I also had to think of my time as a guru and of all those gurus who are still in this ‘profession’ or ‘business’. I wrote already many times what a guru should be and what the average guru that you see today is and is not. A guru is a teacher for you, someone from whom you can learn however one mistake made is to think that the guru is God himself.

Yesterday I mentioned that you are not the one who has the big plan in the hands and you are not the one to move the puppets. You are just one of those puppets. Unfortunately as a guru, many people believe that you know the plan, that you had at least a look on it before. Now imagine the pressure that a guru can have when someone comes to you with their sick daughter and says ‘My guru, tell me, will she be fine?’ I have heard of a case in which the guru, an old woman, said ‘Yes, she will be fine and I will pray for her’. The family left and all were happy and confident but a week later, the daughter passed away.

Nobody can predict the future. Claiming that you can and believing that another person has the power is both dangerous for your emotions and mental situation. What if he or she fails? You can believe that another person has a better guess than you because of experience. You can believe that the other one has seen and heard more than you, has just more knowledge, intuition or experience than you. But you can never put this responsibility on another person’s shoulder to tell you the future.
Live in presence and accept the coming moments as a future that comes anyway. Do your best and accept what comes.

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Robots Gaining Consciousness – 18 June 10

Yesterday I talked with my friend about our role in this world. Don’t we seem to be like robots in this world, following the system, following our role? We are like puppets playing our piece in this big play. My friend said that in most of those science-fiction movies with robots, the robots gain consciousness while humans are less and less conscious. Those who are conscious become more and more like machines, leaving consciousness. Aren’t we all just robots in this game, trying to find consciousness? Or are we those humans who have left this path?

You can sometimes see that human is just like a puppet in a big play. You think you are in charge but there is something bigger than you. Nature, God, Universe however you want to call it but certain events just show how you are not the one in charge. You can know your body but even if you do, you don’t have full control over it. Nobody knows when, what can happen. Nobody can predict anything. Obviously everybody makes plan but you never know if your plan works out the way you wanted or if there is some other plan planned for you. You may not see it and feel bad that your plan broke apart but the other, bigger plan has planned something good for you. Our plan always changes but I live in the presence and am open to accept whatever comes.

Sometimes this can make it difficult for me to answer what my future plans are.
I believe that if you realize that you are only a part of this big game, you become humble in front of that bigger power. And maybe that is the first step towards consciousness.
 

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Kumbh Mela in Vrindavan – 31 Jan 10

At the moment in Vrindavan and in Haridwar the Kumbh Mela is going on. This is the biggest and most crowded spiritual fair on earth. It is a fair which takes place each three years in one of four Indian cities. And when it takes place in Haridwar, they also come here to Vrindavan.

A big crowd of pilgrims always gathers for this occasion and of course a lot of ceremonies and spiritual discourses take place. Many Sadhus join the festivities, too. I have explained the concept of Sadhus already on another day in my diary. The original idea is that they are fully detached from any worldly things be it money, clothes or even relations to others. And they usually live from what people donate to them.

Unfortunately nowadays in this field, too, people are getting lazy and in a way cheat and disrespect this old concept. It is very common on the Kumbh Mela that there are some so-called Sadhus who do future predictions. And not only some vague prediction about the client’s future, no, people come to them to get to know the numbers of the lottery! This lottery is actually even illegal here in India.

I said that people are getting lazy and it is like this: those who predict the lottery numbers get money for it so they don’t need to think anymore about their spiritual practice or the whole concept of being a Sadhu. And those who come to get the numbers want to be rich and that very quickly without making an effort.

Unfortunately this is going on and additionally some people enjoy taking drugs to reach their idea of a spiritual experience. I don’t really have any interest in going to this fair, I am happy to just be here at the Ashram, enjoy the nice weather, doing my work and being with my family.

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Do Not Cheat Yourself – 30 Jan 09

I like to work. In India many people nowadays become preachers or Swamis in a very fast way. They don’t really want to learn or study anything, they want to make money. This is how they look for a shortcut and they find it by just learning some hours of talk by heart which they have heard on a cassette a dozen of times. When they know this text by heart they just go and give this speech. They get their money although nobody of them can answer any question about what they just said.

Somehow I see this also in the west where people, who want to make a living in a quick and easy way, become healer, psychic and clairvoyant. Everybody has to do something in his life to survive, to earn money and to live, I understand that. I don’t understand however why people cheat themselves.

If all the people who do predictions and say that they have extraordinary powers are that much blessed with these powers, then why can’t they help our society in a more creative way? I could have been really very happy if someone could have predicted what happened in Haiti. Then we could have saved so many people and would have saved so many more from much grief and sadness. No, I don’t think it is possible and unfortunately there are still so many people who are cheating others and also themselves in this way.

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Fortune Telling on TV – 9 Dec 09

I am happy to write about these topics like ghosts and more. Of course, everybody who meets me after hearing only what we do has some expectations and many people simply assume that I believe in whatever they believe in.

However this is sometimes very far from what I believe because nowadays things like card reading, clairvoyance, other ways of fortune telling and generally a lot of ‘spiritual business’ is getting more and more popular in the west.

Unfortunately I see there and also here in India how this is supported even by the media. There are programs in which this kind of belief is taken advantage of. Someone is sitting in front of the camera, dressed like a good old-fashioned witch how you can read about in fairy-tales and in front of her a crystal ball, a set of cards, stones with runes or a chart with different colours and signs. At the bottom of the screen you see a number scrolling from right to left inviting you to dial for getting to know more about your future.

Suddenly a ringing tone sounds and the lady asks with a soft and somehow mysterious voice what the caller’s question is. No matter what the question is, there will be an answer, advice, a prediction and finally a warning of the future before the next caller is served.

I think media should become more responsible to reduce this kind of belief instead of making people more confused. The person who decides to run this show, does he really believe in it or does he only want to make money?

The media should make aware and educate people. I would like to ask everybody who watches or even calls at this kind of programs: what do you think how this works? Did you have to answer questions before you could talk with the fortune teller? Don’t you think that this could be the reason for the precise answers? Or think about the answers: couldn’t anybody make a vague guess towards the future after your question? Why would that woman be able to take a decision for you?

It is sad to see but it is easy to cheat people. I always tell people to listen inside themselves, to find out what their wish really is and to follow the heart. Please trust on yourself and believe me when I say that only God knows what the future will be.