Faces
Dixit Bhatta | Non-Believer
If you were a parent with a son that is exceptional at physics, but decides he wants to be a footballer instead of being an engineer or architect, you would probably feel a tinge of dissatisfaction. The incongruity of it would itch a bit, wouldn't it?
No, we're not parents. Dixit Bhatta is certainly not our child. But that doesn't deter us from wanting to intervene. Dixit knows the science of astrology like the palm of his hand (and ours, actually); it’s as if he tumbled out of his mother's belly holding janam patris (birth chart) in both hands; the way readings roll off of his tongue with a single glance at our hands makes us wonder what he is doing studying for an MBA instead of pursuing astrology as a full time profession.
But Dixit will explain. That's what he is here to do – to clarify his non-believer's stance on astrology. He starts out by sharing his excitement for learning astrology. While his interest could have been sparked by the fact that his grandfather was also an astrologer, he confesses it was the desire to hold young women's hands while reading their palms that initially triggered this journey. What started out as a frivolous interest turned into a deep inquiry as Dixit joined a proper institute to study astrology. After mastering and practicing it for a while, Dixit eventually began to find loopholes as reflected in his conversation with his guru.
"'Sir, if I see in someone's chart that he is going to die in the near future, is it possible to change that?' To this my guru said no. This made me very frustrated – if I can see someone's future but can do nothing to help him, isn't it the same as being a doctor, knowing that your patient is about to die, but being able to do nothing to save his life?" This, he claims, is what gave birth to his negative feelings about astrology."With all the progress that science has made – I mean the average lifespan of a human has increased by decades in the recent past – so for astrologers to say that nothing can be done – they have no right to say that."
This dissatisfaction compelled him to dig deeper into the science of astrology and find out how it works – what is the connection between a person's life and their chart – and to his surprise, he couldn’t find any evidence anywhere. "There's nothing related to science. It's a pseudo-science," he says, and we can hear the frustration in his voice. "The mathematical aspect is accurate, it is related to physics, but when we get to the part of fate, there is no logic. Nowhere does it say exactly how the sun, moon or planets affect our personality and our future. This is how I lost faith and my fascination with astrology started reversing."
When he refers to astrology as a pseudo science, both of us wriggle in our seats a bit, "But there are people out there who really believe in it. What would you say to them?"
He admits that it is fun up to a limit but cautions against taking things too seriously or taking astrological readings as absolutes. Almost teasingly, we venture to present our hands to him, show us, then, how to not take readings too seriously.
A large portion of the "interview" is Dixit reading our palms, answering endless questions from eager-to-be-distracted interviewers. He is so good at it, we're left wishing we had a dozen charts between us and four pairs of hands each.
As he takes turns looking at our palms, pressing a confident finger against the various mounds with names derived from objects in outer space, measuring our character according to the depth and direction of the lines, the crests and troughs of the mounds, we realize that there are many things he's telling us about our characteristics that only people who know us intimately would be privy to.
"When we look at our hands, we can just see lines, and you can see into the kind of people we are. Isn't it fascinating?" One of us asks rhetorically.
Pulling ourselves away rather unwillingly from palm reading, we ask him about the different kinds of people that come to him for readings.
With gleaming eyes, he tells us, "Oh, some of the people are crazy! There are a few that have to show me their chart every time they meet me. When I say good things they won't believe it. And when I say unpleasant things, they immediately get upset. So either way it's difficult to convince them."
"At the same time," Dixit continues, "it is easy to exploit anyone who is an eager believer. If you want to manipulate someone, you can tell him something negative." So astrologers have a great amount of power in that sense, and need to be constantly aware of the ethical dimensions of engaging with clients. When you foretell what will happen in the future in a roundabout, poetic, slightly abstract way, people can look at it retrospectively, and see similarities, and link ambiguities in the prophecies with what happened in the past. This is what I feel makes the prophecies of Nostradamus so popular. In a similar manner, say, I tell a client that he will have an accident in the future. And he forgets it. In case he does get into an accident, then he will remember what I have said and believe that my prophecy has come true in retrospect.
It turns out that most people are eager to believe in anything astrologers say. There are also people who say they don't believe it but secretly they do. "Also, tell anyone you know that they will have an accident, no matter how much they might not believe in astrology, it is bound to affect them in some way. So it is very easy for astrologers to locate vulnerability in the client and manipulate them according to that."He reflects, "If I wanted to, I could easily earn lots of money by doing this. I could put up a board and promote myself as a brilliant astrologer and start exploiting people from today if I wanted to."
"Yes, add to that a chattering parrot and there's no way you will not succeed!" we suggest and the room fills up with laughter as the stereotyped image of an astrologer with a parrot comes to mind.
On a more serious note, though, we are struck by how unusual all this is - to interview a non-believing astrologer, to get our palms read by him, to feel the sting every time he says something accurate, to hear him proclaim that he's distancing himself from his readings – "I'm only saying things according to what I've learned. I'm not going to say that astrology is a bogus science. But it has not yet given me a convincing reason to believe in it."
And yet, why is it that his lack of faith in astrology makes us trust what he is saying all the more?
Interview by Ayushma Regmi and Elipha Pradhananga.
( Feb 4th 2011, 09:54 AM ) says:
Wonderful interview. While the interviewee is amazing, the writers are no less. Very well written piece.
( Feb 4th 2011, 10:06 AM ) says:
Being good has physics has nothing to do with architecture.
( Feb 4th 2011, 10:33 AM ) says:
dixit le haat ta padhcha,, tara keti haru ko dherai,, hehe coz gurls are interested in these stuffs,, lucky u dixit,, wish i was in ur shoes and holding girls of beautiful ladies,... envy u sometimes...
ani anjan ta k hasaira...
( Feb 4th 2011, 11:38 AM ) says:
Wonderful interview. I have forgotten what Dixit said about me when he read my hand. I think I will have to show it to him again.
( Feb 4th 2011, 11:59 AM ) says:
m proud of u dixit!!! :)!!!
( Feb 4th 2011, 12:13 PM ) says:
@nirajanBK: hasaauna mann laagyo .. ani "..and holding girls of beautiful ladies .." ?? k bhanya tyasto??
( Feb 4th 2011, 12:42 PM ) says:
Nice article. He truly is a good person for not exploiting others as it is evident that most of us are being exploited. But I am curious what he will tell about my future if he reads my palm. Well, I should make an appointment with him. May be.
( Feb 4th 2011, 02:18 PM ) says:
For sure, he is best astrologer i know so far
( Feb 5th 2011, 02:10 PM ) says:
thank you all for the wonderful words...
( Feb 5th 2011, 05:05 PM ) says:
absolutely amazing and well written article.... proud to have astrology in our class...who reads our palm just for friendship rather than money :)
( Feb 27th 2011, 06:24 AM ) says:
Creative and constructive attempt of Dixit but his argument lacks logics unless he specifies whether he is talking about Indian/Nepali Astrology or any Non-Indian/Nepali. Non-western astronomy like ours poses solution as well as has potential to change our future (if you believe in astrology). We all can recall our own experiences..... when astrologer foresees any problems or critical events in life he/she suggests certain things to do like- fasting, worships, and any other sacrificial things to please the deity and suppress the negative power so that one could either eliminate such probability or minimize the impact. However I do not know about Western Astrology. I'm assuming Dixit is arguing from Non-Western astronomy point of view given his background and line of argument he is making in the article. If it is so his argument is a mere fallacy.
( Feb 27th 2011, 01:16 PM ) says:
it is strange that I used to give the same argument to a non believer back then when i had a strong belief about this subject with remedies like birthstones, fastings and even tantrik consultancy to change the whole fate of a person, but the picture is much clearer now...
I am not only talking about vedic astrology and palmistry which studied i am talking about the whole notion of fortune telling and forecasting the future..be it the solar astrology, the lunar or our vedic astrology and even numerology for that matter..
If you read article again I am not talking about the remedies or the positioning of planets in kundali or anywhereelse I am talking about the science behind that which I have not yet found..
( May 7th 2011, 01:31 AM ) says:
Dixitji, I was truly fascinated by your interview--and actually by the very interesting way in which the interviewers presented it. I won't say much, but here's what I said in a Facebook group where Sanjana shared the link to you all's magazine:
Excuse me, but here is another OMG quality article in VENT site that Sanjana shared--of course omg to me because of how much I agree with the author, Dixit Bhatta, about rationality, but I also liked the way the article is written. Here's a quote that gave me a pause: "With all the progress that science has made – I mean the average lifespan of a human has increased by decades in the recent past – so for astrologers to say that nothing can be done – they have no right to say that." I thought, hm, if I change my lifestyle from, say, a drunkard to a highly health-conscious person, thereby increasing my lifespan, say, by ten years, somehow my "china" has got to change its letters quietly inside the nice little poko where my mother has carefully put the exact descriptions of destinies of all her children. Dixit definitely made me think: http://www.ventzine.com/faces/dixit-bhatta-non-believer .
( Jul 10th 2011, 11:24 PM ) says:
well said Dixit. With your honesty I am completely sold and regaining my faith over astrology. Keep it up!! The article was well composed.
he surely reads the palm like a pro! n he's not just an astrologer. A guitarist, flutist, sketch artist, painter, poet and not to forget, a good person at heart.
i was there wen this interview was taken. this is so well written .. everything Dixit said that day just flew back to my mind as i went thru this.