Generally speaking, astronomy is the measurement of celestial motions. But the majority of cultures and humans alive today continue to accept astrology, which is the assessment of the relevance and meaning of those motions to life on planet Earth.

Regardless of your opinion about astrology it should be obvious that plotting stellar positions is the basis for both astrology and astronomy. Neither practice can be effective if the celestial mechanical model for calculating time is wrong.

From about 300 AD to 1600 AD the true timing of the spring equinox was gradually lost in Europe, because Western astrologers and astronomers had lost the knowledge of how to keep their calendar system in tune with Earth’s tropical year.

And a little over a hundred years ago Priya Nath Karar, later known as Swami Sri Yukteswar, discovered a crucial error in the equinoctial position given in the old astronomical almanacs of India.

He noted that due to a phenomenon that modern science calls precession, the spring equinox no longer occurred around March 21st in India’s old kaliyuga system but was off by about 22 days, now coinciding with a date of around April 13th - a fact that has far-reaching implications.

In 1894, Sri Yukteswar wrote an enlightening book entitled "The Holy Science". He tries to show the compatibilities between the spiritual quests of the East and the West, and introduces these teachings with a revolutionary astrological and astronomical explanation of the Yuga cycle. He declares that the cause of the so-called Precession phenomenon is the celestial motion of our solar system relative to both some dual star of our Sun and a Grand Center.

From a philosophical and spiritual perspective his book conveys a profound message of hope for our times.

Yet from an astronomical or scientific perspective, his explanation is so extraordinary that even the most avid scholar is hard pressed to find compelling evidence for this hypothesis in extant records of oriental astronomy - never mind western astronomy.

What is Yukteswar’s purpose in leading us through a stellar maze to comprehend a celestial phenomenon which we might intuit is true, but have no rationale to support it?

I will not answer this question now, but rather offer you ‘my version of the story’ about this astronomical phenomenon that in its essence is as esoteric as it is empirical.

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