First, let us consider what Srila Prabhupada has written in his purport to Srimad Bhagavatam 6.2.26 (emphasis mine)
“The men of the higher classes — the brahmanas, ksatriyas and vaisyas — do not beget children in the wombs of lower-class women. Therefore, the custom in Vedic society is ≫ to examine the horoscopes of a girl and boy being considered for marriage<< to see whether their combination is suitable Vedic astrology reveals whether one has been born in the vipra-varna, ksatriya-varna, vaisya-varna or sudra-varna, according to the three qualities of material nature. This must be examined because a marriage between a boy of the vipra-varna and a girl of the sudra-varna is incompatible; married life would be miserable for both husband and wife. Consequently, a boy should marry a girl of the same category. Of course, this is trai-gunya, a material calculation according to the Vedas, ≫but if the boy and girl are devotees there need be no such considerations. A devotee is transcendental, and therefore in a marriage between devotees, the boy and girl form a very happy combination.≪”
So as Srila Prabhupada himself says we do chart compatibilities for marriages but it is not so necessary for “devotees.” I have put quotes “” around devotees because it is quite apparent from the number of failed and unhappy marriages in ISKCON that Srila Prabhupada is talking about a much higher echelon of devotees than is currently found in ISKCON and that such “devotees” are actually quite rare in our society. Thus there is actually great need to use jyotish to do astrological compatibilities for us lower level aspiring devotees who make up the mass of ISKCON’s members.
The problem is that none of the astrolgers in ISKCON and the vast majority outside of ISKCON simply do not know how to compatibilities correctly. I say this based on my 38 + years studying jyotish as my exclusive service to Srila Prabhupada (I was recruited into the Bhaktivedanta Institute in 1978 specifically to study Jyotish as per Srila Prabhupada’s request that the BI study jyotish and I was picked to do it).
As soon as you see an astrologer say that you have a 58% or 72% match with your prospective partner you can be sure that they do not know what they are doing. Why? Because they are using a very simplistic method that only takes into account one index, the Moon, leaving out many other factors. For more details about this go to this link https://shyamasundaradasa.com/jyotish/services/explanation_services/matchmaking.html
It should be pointed out that in the past some gurus purposely mismatched couples into “deranged marriages” so that they would be miserable on the assumption that it make them more serious in Krishna Consciousness. Instead, they became disillusioned by such misguided leaders and left the movement leaving behind a shattered marriage and angry children as collateral damage.
Another point is that it is incorrect to think that planets do anything. Astrology is a very complex symbolic language given to us by Lord Krsna. It is literally the symbolic representation of Vedanta and Sankhya philosophy. You could say it is a divine cryptogram needing special training to decrypt. Just as it would be wrong to say that the thermometer makes you feel hot or cold, because actually thermometers just measure the ambient temperature, they don’t make the temperature. In the same way the planets do not make you do anything, rather they just describe the situation.
Finally, in a properly arranged marriage one must look at four basic factors, there are other details depending on community etc. but these are the four basic ones. They are (no special order):
- Physical attraction –sexual compatibility
- Emotional sensitivity to each other – emotional compatibility
- Ability to communicate and exchange ideas — intellectual compatibility
- Spiritual commitment – spiritual compatibility
If one of these four is missing it would be like trying to sit on a chair that has one leg missing – not very stable.
I could go on but do not want to take any more of the readers time.
Here are links to two educational texts about how to maturely use Vedic Astrology:
http://akincana.net/essays/343-astrology.html
http://shyamasundaradasa.com/jyotish/what_is_jyotish/what_is_vedic_astrolog/what_is_vedic_astrology_1.html
dasa dasa anu dasa
Shyamasundara Dasa
krsne matirastu
http://www.ShyamasundaraDasa.com
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