Astrologers back in demand as anxiety mounts in pandemic times
I did not make any prediction about Covid-19 as my calling is to be a soothsayer and not a doomsayer.
P KHURRANA, astrologer
CHANDIGARH: In the backdrop of many commenting on the worldwide failure at predicting astrologically the onset of Covid-19, P Khurrana, a seasoned astrologer and father of actor Ayushmann Khurrana, says: “I say with pride that I did not make any prediction about the pandemic because my calling is to be a soothsayer and not a doomsayer”.
Khurrana, who returned to foretelling what the stars say on May 18, adds: “Come September and the people will see some relief from the pandemic and life will start returning to normal.”
ONLINE COURSES
Chandigarh-based tarot card reader and astrologer Poonam Sharma says: “I did predict that 2020 would be a difficult one but the prediction of pandemics, natural calamities and public health fall in a line of astrology called mundane science. It’s different from individual astrology done through birth charts that is usually practised by astrologers.
Poonam, who is the president of Jyotish Prangan, an organisation of occult sciences, however, dismisses that silence on the pandemic may have shaken the faith of believers. She says, “In fact, more people are now reaching out to know what the future holds for them individually in the changed circumstances. In times of anxiety, people turn to either psychologists or astrologers and I practise in both areas”. She adds that she holds online courses in tarot card reading, vastu and aura cleansing and the number of students in all three classes has grown in the lockdown.
NAMASTE INDIA
City astrologer Madan Gupta Spatu, who belongs to the nearby Spatu town in Himachal Pradesh, says: “The prediction of the pandemic is a thing of the past but now what is being asked of astrologers is when will the pandemic go. To this I will say scientists, doctors or political leaders can’t forecast the exact timing of departure of Covid-19. But where science stops, astrology starts so the countdown will begin in September but the adieu will happen only in November.”
Spatu adds that he had predicted that it would be an unusual year and now he predicts that India will lead the world in this decade. “The world is looking up to India for medicine for coronavirus besides practising our age-old rituals,” he says.
FAITH NOT LOST
Astrologers were indeed caught on the wrong foot and the city’s jovial astrologer Bharati says: “People do ask why astrologers couldn’t predict such a big calamity. One explains to them the scope of the science. But the faith of people is not shaken. As long as there is anxiety, want and unhappiness, people will continue to visit astrologers for their share of hope!”