Srila Prabhupada explains in the purport of Srimad Bhagavatam 1.12.12 that the most auspicious constellation of stars takes place during the appearance of the Lord in this material world, and it is specifically called jayantī, a word not to be abused for any other purposes. He continues that as a proper place and time is selected to receive a respectable personage, so also to receive such a personality as Mahārāja Parīkṣit, who was especially cared for by the Supreme Lord, a suitable moment is chosen when all good stars assembled together to exert their influence upon the King.
So, He makes a point that when great personalities or even when the Personality of Godhead Himself appears in this world, it does not happen randomly regarding time , or with a random horoscope, but that it is a very special astrological combination or „certain constellations of good stars“ when this event takes place.
Of course a nondevotee astrologer or a mayavadi astrologer may conclude that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is also „under the influence of stars“ therefore, but we know that this is not the case. It is a lila and He is just playing according to the rules of this material world. He is actually the controller of the stars.
But interestingly Srila Prabhupada is not speaking only about the specific time, He also mentions that a proper place is selected to receive extraordinary personalities.
The following is a humble attempt to explain how the Lord’s birthplace may also be indicated by astrological calculations.
Many devotees probably know that Sridham Mayapur is located almost exactly on the Tropic of Cancer.
What is the Tropic of Cancer?
Widely known Equator is an imaginary line on the Earth’s surface equidistant from the North Pole and South Pole, that is dividing the Earth into Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere. Similarly, the Tropic of Cancer is an imaginary circle of latitude on the Earth that marks the most northerly position at which the Sun may appear directly overhead at its zenith.
In other words, it is not something that you can touch or something that you could even see. It is just a mathematical line or circle on the Earth. It is a concept, like a ’PI’ in trigonometry is a concept but this doesn’t make it meaningless or useless.
It is actually very useful as it marks the areas on this planet which are ’tropical’ or very hot. So, tropical areas are located between the Tropic of Cancer which is also called the Northern Tropic and between the Southern Tropic on the other side of the Equator.
And these areas are extremely hot for a simple reason that the Sun is going very high there.
In this way, Sridham Mayapur is exactly on the ’edge’ of tropical areas.
Why is this significant?
Astrology is a science of symbols and symbols are to be interpreted. The Tropic of Cancer is symbolically a line where the Light and the Darkness meet. In tropical areas it is not only hotter but there is also more Sun or more Light. The Sun reaches its highest position there which never happens outside of tropical areas, like Europe or North America, for example. And Sridham Mayapur is a place exactly on that borderline which separates those areas of „more Light“ from „more Dark“. Sridham Mayapur is also known as a place where Caitanya Mahaprabhu appeared. But who is Caitanya Mahaprabhu? He is a combination of Krishna who is very dark and of Radharani who is very effulgent. Symbolically, it is the same thing. Now, this can’t be just a coincidence! In this way the „birthplace“ of Caitanya Mahaprabhu also seems to be marked on the Earth by astrological calculations. The combination of Radha-Krishna appeared on the line of combination of the Light and the Darkness! And this is not just „somewhere near the Tropic“. The Tropic of Cancer is nowadays located exactly in Yogapith, going through the kunda there! This can be seen in Google Maps satellite photos http://horoskoop.ee/astromap/?lon=88.392949&lat=23.437340&zoomlevel=0
It is also interesting that a very unusual temple is being built in Sridham Mayapur. All the temples in the world are dedicated to one or another diety so far. But Mayapur temple is a combination of religious deities and a scientific Vedic Planetarium. Very unusual! In this way we see again the Light and the Darkness being combined. Material science is clearly darkness but self realization and deity worship are a light of consciousness. Well, materialistic persons view it exactly the opposite way — they see a religion as darkness and a science as light. This makes things even more interesting as now these two will melt together!
All this is not just intellectually or esoterically interesting but this may very well be an additonal proof that Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s actual birthplace is exactly where it is considered to be, so expertly found by Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur and Jagannatha das Babaji Maharaja and not in the Navadwip where some pandas have claimed it to be.
By Abhirama das