An Indian Nobel laureate Dr. Venkatraman Ramakrishnan at a seminar conducted by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan in Chennai said that astrology even today continues to misguide people and uses the phrase positive and negative energy for no apparent reason.
WITH THE New Year closing in, rest assured, majority of the people across the country will be seen flocking around the offices of numerous astrologers for seeking a ‘better future’. Astrology and science do not have a very good past as both have been at loggerheads since time immemorial. The case was once again exemplified as Nobel laureate Dr. Venkatraman Ramakrishnan took a tough stand against astrology in Chennai with his talk on ‘The Sceptical Scientist’.
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At the event Dr. Ramakrishnan called the practice of astrology and alchemy as fake and emphasised more on homeopathy as according to him the latter was more based on belief and the former depended on propositions, reported The Times of India. Calling astrology practitioners as quacks, he vouched for science claiming that it had a particular definition for energy while referring to the positive and negative energies, which are seldom used by these ‘astrologers’.
However, his thoughts have not gone down well with certain set of people who were not hesitant in calling him an atheist. One particular comment that appeared on The Times of India website read, “This person seems to be a atheist (atheist). He does not belive (believe) in himself. Does he know what actually Homeopathy and Astrology is.(?) Should not point the fingure (finger) to other when you really do not understand what it is. Nobel does not mean that you he has the licence to shout out what ever (whatever) he feels.”
Nevertheless, the reasoning that Dr. Ramakrishnan gave was based on hard facts and figures arising from the latest research on this subject.
Here it is pertinent to understand that as far as it is astronomy it is an absolute science though it ceases to be an absolute science and becomes more an empirical science when it becomes astrology with umpteen number of things under the sun and the sky have an influence; like the intuition right thinking, so on and so forth. For that matter even the medicine which we call the allopathy is also not absolute in the sense that most of the treatment is empirical ; especially in the light of the fact that excepting certain branches like the nutrition, anasthesia; still it is in it's infantile stage. The most unfortunate thing with our people is that they with their occidental education; with the prejudices they developed for the oriental culture, it's education ; prompt them to focus the beacon on themselves for their personal aggrandizement. Burges one of the leading figures, in such fields, stated that with the little equipment at theri command the Indian astronomers could calculate the phenomenon like the ecclipses, most complicated calculations to such degree of accuracy 'hats of to their genius'. I appeal to all the " scientists" to have an open mind and equip themselves fully well with such things before they try to cast aspersions against such invaluable tools we have inherited from the great visionaries. May my land prosper with such good thoughts from all my fellow citizens, so as to have a clear understinding of all our subjects for which several great souls toiled till this day.