Thousands of years ago, unknown to most of the gold medalist MBAs and MBBSs, in the land of Astrology, the Indian Astronomers were far ahead of the best Astronomers of today. The ancient seers had listed 1000s of comets in Brihat Samhita along with their names, when comets were a puzzle to western Astronomers even 400 years ago and they just saw the light at the tail of the comets. The formula by Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) is a duplicate of what our Astrologers knew 5000 years ago or perhaps much before. Due to the absence of proper documentation, the credit went to others who came in late but had the advantage of the print media and European domination. In the Rig Veda there are statements such as Oh Sun, you are the centre of our worlds, you are fixed and unmoving. Sun refers to our Soul, the unchanging factor in our life.
Someone once asked me So, are you telling the Sun is a planet? I replied, We never call them planets my dear , we call them Grahas. So the Moon is also a Graha and neither a planet nor a satellite, according to Ancient Astrology. Rahu and Ketu are also called Grahas, though they are only shadows in the solar system, which eclipse the Moon and Sun. So there is no confusion. Vedic Astrology just believes in the seven grahas (loosely referred to as Planets) and the two shadows called Rahu and Ketu.
Grahaparam Kotayahah Mukya Saptah meaning We acknowledge the existence of crores of heavenly bodies but consider only seven is linked to Karma and Astrology. How can we know which are the seven important grahas? If you don’t known them, don’t worry. You already know them as the seven days of the week – SUNday, MOONday, TUESday, WEDNESday, THURSday, FRIday and SATURday.
RAHU and KETU are shadows so they decided to keep them in the shadows with no corresponding weekdays. In Vedic Astrology, RAHU co-rules Saturdays, while KETU co-rules Tuesdays.
Sun (Sunday) is the brightest and most important and therefore listed first in all panchangas even from Lord Rama’s time. That is the 1st day of the week (though a holiday). Next graha in the panchang is the Moon (Monday), as it is the second most prominent luminary in the sky. Saturday is linked to Saturn, the farthest graha in Astrology and hence the last weekday.
My question is simple. Why are the weekdays named after such grahas? What is the origin of weekdays? Do they not correspond to grahas? If yes, whenever more planets are discovered do we increase the number of weekdays in a week? There are 12 months in a year because there are 12 Janma Rasi as per Vedic Astrology. They discovered the 13th sign ‘Ophiuchus’ but did they make it 13 months a year?
Ancient astrology called an Hour as Hora. Please note the close resemblance. A day is divided into 60 Ghatis and each Ghati is sub divided into 60 Vighatis. Currently, our clocks have a 60 minutes and 60 seconds division. One Vighati is 24 seconds, so the ancient astrologers used the 24-hour clock. What I am trying to tell is that timings and dates are all based on astrological findings of ancient India (the oldest civilization).
The planets in your horoscope are not the cause of your destiny as much as the needles of a clock are not responsible for time. Suppose a new watch company decides to increase the number of needles in the clock, what effect will it have on time? If you break your watch, even then time does not change or cease to exist. If you change the time by simply turning the needles, does time change?
The seven grahas along with two shadow grahas are used to measure your Karmic balance brought forward into your current life. Let Pluto get out or Mickey Mouse come in , there is no effect on Vedic Astrology because there are only nine grahas in your horoscope and Vedic Astrology will remain unchanged forever.