NARASIMHA P.V.R. RAO- ASTROLOGY TEACHER

My passion: I am a software engineer living in US. I came to US from India. I have been passionately conducting researches in India's Vedic astrology since 1993. My father is a brilliant astrologer. I learnt astrology from him. I learnt the basics when very young, but I always had doubts about astrology's worth. Several things did not make any sense to me. Sometimes I would be impressed with astrology and sometimes I would think it was just a superstition. I vacillated from admiring and believing in astrology to doubting the very basics of the subject.

I decided in the second half of 1993 to pursue astrology in depth and I have never had any doubts since then. The more I studied Vedic astrology, the more I was convinced that it was a fascinating subject worthy of research. I realized that it has enough degrees of freedom to model the complicated human life, though most astrologers ignore most of them. The skeptic in me was satisfied. But I realized that what 90% Vedic astrologers use today is significantly different from what ancient sages taught. I realized that contemporary Vedic astrology needed to be reformed. Having passed two examinations equivalent to Bachelor's degree in Sanskrit - one of them with a distinction - at the ages of 10 and 11 years, I am very comfortable with India's ancient language Sanskrit. This helped me to read the classics myself instead of depending on someone else's translations. My background in computer software helped me in my researches.

In the last 6 years, I spent as much time on astrology as I did on my primary profession. I would read books and extract theories, think of missing links, integrate it all in my mind, meditate and think of new interpretations and try out various principles on as many charts as possible. After six years, I am thoroughly convinced that Vedic astrology is a great subject. But it has been corrupted in the last few hundred years and I am determined to contribute to the restoration of its pristine glory. I am getting more and more convinced that a day will come when Vedic astrology is taught at several universities.

Astrological activities: I manage an internet discussion list called vedic-astrology. You can get some info and archives here and check the latest discussions here. I am trying to write a book, but it is going very slowly. I write articles for "Astrological Magazine" and "Express StarTeller" magazines of India. "Express StarTeller" magazine published an interview with me in October 1999 issue (p.13-18). I spend a lot of time discussing and teaching the little I know on my list. We have 180 members (as of 24 Oct 1999) and some of the members are distinguished scholars of Vedic astrology.

My birthdata: Astrologers among you may be interested in my birthdata. I was born in Machilipatnam, AP, India (81 E 12, 16 N 15) on April 4, 1970 at 5:50 pm (IST: 5 1/2 hrs ahead of GMT). This data should be enough for astrologers among you to figure out why I became an astrologer.

A good student: When I was young, I won sevral prizes at local and state levels at various essay writing, elocution, debate, poetry and painting competitions. I also did well in academics. Mathematics was my favorite subject. By an age of 11, I had passed two examinations (conducted by reputed boards) both equivalent to Bachelor's degree in Sanskrit literature (one of them with a "distinction") and, at an ge of 13, I passed an examination equivalent to Bachelor's degree in Hindi literature. Sanskrit is supposedly India's most ancient language and Hindi is India's national language. I feel today that familiarity with Sanskrit language and literature at a young age helped me significantly in my spiritual and astrological pursuits.

In 1987, I stood state first in Intermediate (higher secondary school) exams in the state of AP in India with a record aggregate of the decade and with 300 on 300 in mathematics. I went to India's prestigeous Indian Institute of Technology in Madras (now known as Chennai). This institute is one of the very best in Asia. I did my B.Tech. in Electrical & Electronics Engineering from 1987 to 1991. I stood second in my branch there with a GPA of over 9 (out of 10). I did my masters at Rice University, Houston, TX, USA during 1991-1993.

Disillusionment in life: I always wanted to become a researcher and reach new frontiers in science. Newton and Einstein were my role models. However, I realized after coming to US for masters that things were different from what I imagined. Today's research is dominated by discipline and hard work than brilliance.

One who wants to search for genuine gems on an ocean beach is frowned by today's academic system and one who patiently gathers 10 stones in a bag for five years is rewarded with a PhD degree. If you search for a gem, you may or may not find one. If you start to systematically gather stones, you are guaranteed to succeed. Today's system seems to favor the latter.

Of course, some people are happy with this and some even achive great heights with this system. But I figured it wasn't what I wanted. I did not want to do something routine. I wanted to do something special and something in which there is no guarantee of achieving anything in one whole life. That is true research to me. I found that this is not what most people do in their 5 long years of PhD pursuit. After PhD and several years in pursuit of funding, I may get to do what I want.

I was disillusioned. I dropped from an Ms-cum-PhD program with masters and went back to India. I worked in India for about one year, I worked in Seoul, South Korea for about 9 months and came to USA for the second time in Aug 1995.

Hooked to astrology: I learnt the basics of astrology from my father when I was quite young, but never pursued it seriously till I went back to India after my masters in USA. I spent about 16 months in India before taking off to South Korea and that was when I seriously learnt astrology from my father. My interest in astrology never subdued since then.

Astrology research has given me immense satisfaction. My zeal for research in science and engineering was replaced by zeal for research in astrology.

My personal life: I got married in August 1993 to Padmaja and my daughter Sriharini was born in February 1996. My son Sriharish was born in August 1998.

There is a small story behind the name of my son. My wife wanted to give him the name of Lord Hanuman (a Hindu deity - Monkey God). My guru suggested naming him after Lord Vishnu (another Hindu deity). My father wanted to name him after Lord Narasimha (the Lion-Man God). I wanted to name him after Lord Hayagreeva (Horse-headed God of knowledge).

My father suggested a name which satisfies all the requirements! The word "hari" means monkey, lion, horse and Lord Vishnu and "Sriharish" can be interpreted to mean all the four suggested names!

My profession: By profession, I am a software engineer. I specialize in mathematical algorithms related to a field called DSP (Digital Signal Processing). Digital audio, digital video, multimedia, digital phones - all these latest digital technologies were possible only because of the breakthroughs in DSP technology in the last decade!

I work at ThinkEngine Networks, a young start-up in Marlborough near Boston, USA. We make next generation media servers of high density. They will be ideal for automatic call centers, voice portals etc and will offer connectivity through both internet (VoIP) and standard phone lines. These media servers will be very inexpensive compared to current alternatives. Before joining ThinkEngine, I worked at PictureTel Corporation, a global leader in videoconferencing systems, for more than 5 years.

Hobbies: Apart from astrolgoy, my current hobbies include music composition on computer and poetry in my mother tongue Telugu (in case you also like poetry in Telugu language, don't forget to visit my Telugu poetry homepage!!). I like listening to any kind of music. I particularly enjoy Hindi film songs from 50s-70s.

Goals: I am embarrassed and disappointed by the stigma (of being a superstition) imposed on astrology in the last century. But I am more embarrassed by the superstitious and unscientific attitude of some astrologers.

One of my goals in life is to promote scientific temper among astrologers and to promote goodwill for astrology in the scientific community. I hope to see Vedic astrology taught in universities oneday!

Don't let the sight of the heights you reached
Make you dizzy - you'll fall then
Don't let the sight of the heights to be reached
Make you scared - you'll fall then

-- Narasimha P.V.R. Rao, 1996