If, according to Vedic philosophy, the world is an illusion, why bother with Jyotish?
It is true that the Upanishads, Puran, etc., describe the world, the universe, including all sentient beings, as an illusion, much like a dream. From the perspective of Vedanta, while the creation may seem real, it is but a temporary manifestation of a deeper, unseen ‘Reality’. In its unmanifest state, this Reality is termed variously the ‘Absolute’, the ‘Self’, ‘Paramatman’, and ‘Parabrahman’. When manifesting as the creation, the Absolute functions as Universal Consciousness, or Universal Life Force. In whatever state, the Absolute remains unchanged, much as water remains water whether as a liquid, steam, or ice. Within the manifest creation, numberless sentient, conscious beings continuously arise and disappear like waves on the surface of an ocean. Among these, Human beings are unique in that through them awareness of the Absolute can happen. We experience consciousness as a sense of beingness or knowingness, a self-awareness which tells us that we are. It is a sense of presence, o
