DRESSED
in a spotless white kurtha and panche and a smile that refuses to be
wiped off his face, he ushers visitors into his tidy office at the Shankar
Mutt in Bangalore. This cell phone toting, English speaking man is the
image of the quintessential new age guru. He knows why you’ve come
to him even before you mention the reason. As an astrologer that’s
his job. Questions are answered with a wacky sense of humour and with
the patience of a man who seems to have the whole day to himself.
In reality
Mr K N Somayaji is a busy man and consultations on astrology and vaastu
have only been neatly fitted into an otherwise tight day. He is a much
sought after astrologer going by the people who patiently wait outside
his door for an audience. Twenty-one years ago, when he started out,
he dealt with the personal problems of people but over the years he
diversified into the corporate world. So much so, he says he’s become
a ‘corporate astrologer’ by playing saviour to sick industries.
He claims to have salvaged several sick industries from the brink of
collapse, though he will not divulge the names of his beneficiaries
as a matter of principle. MDs and CEOs of big business houses, marketing
and engineering degrees carefully dumped at his doorstep, come to this
man, who has not had a formal education, for advice and guidance on
venture capital, portfolio management, primary and secondary market,
international trade... you name it.
Mr Somayaji
began seeing people with problems because he wanted to work for the
welfare of the people. For the same reason he does not charge a fee
and thus contribute to the further commercialisation of a much maligned
profession. People take him to their homes, factories, industries or
wherever they need him to apply his vaastu and jyothisha skills. They
pay him voluntarily of course, but he puts the money away for charity.
His predictions are based on the vibrations
he is able to receive from a person. “Congratulations”, he tells
a young woman who comes to him. “What for”, she wonders. “You’re
pregnant”, he says. It takes a day for the woman in question to confirm
the news to herself.
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K N
Somayaji knows why you’ve come to him even before you mention the reason!
VEENA PRADEEP meets the man who’s much wanted for his vaastu and jyothisha
skills.
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He saw the Gujarat quake before it came’
and the burst of the dot com bubble, he claims. Further, he also saw
the rise of Bio Technology in India, he claims.
Will
India’ go to war with Pakistan? No. But considerable tension can be
expected from not only that part of the border but also from Nepal and
Bangladesh, he says of the year 2002.
How
accurate are his predictions? About 95 per cent of the people who come
to him go away happy, he says. However, he is modest enough to admit
that around 5 per cent of his predictions prove wrong. He is known to
present bitter truths without mincing words or telling people only what
they want to hear. Some sugar coating of the bitter pill is necessary
as people come to astrologers for some solace, but outright lying is
out of the question.
If
the future runs along pre-determined paths wouldn’t that mean people
have no choice and that tragedies are inevitable? He believes catastrophes
can be contained with some amount of effort. Big problems can be minimised
by getting wind of it early. Rituals and prayers go a long way in containing
the ill-effects of karma. In fact, he believes in worship
that is traditional and ritualistic. His day begins with
an elaborate puja that lasts hours. “The temple and the toilet are
the two most essential things in a man’s life. One
to cleanse the mind, the other to cleanse the body,” he says tongue
in cheek.
He scoffs
at people who privately consult astrologers while publicly dismiss them.
It is his unshakable belief that astrology is a science that has to
- be studied in a disciplined manner in a proper atmosphere. It cannot
be made a subject of study in a university which does not have the facilities
for it just as one cannot learn journalism or engineering in a mutt.
Though
he has had no formal schooling he is a vedic scholar of considerable
standing, specialising in astrology, vaastu and tantra. He is the editor
of the Rashtriya Panchanga brought out by the Government of India and
also of the Kannada version of the Asthana Panchanga Kartha brought
out by the T T Devasthanam, Tirupati. He is also a Government of India
nominee of the national standing committee of CAPART and a member of
the Kendriya Samskrutha Vidyapeetha,Tirupati.
He established
the Kalpatharu Research Academy, an oriental learning centre, in 1981,
to promote and study veda, agama and shastra. He is at present the director
of the academy which is a division of Sri Sringeri Sharada Peetham.
He has also established a vedic school on traditional lines in his hometown.
His life’s ambition is to establish a Sanskrit and Vedic university
in India where different classical disciplines like nyaya, vyakarna,
veda, jyothisha and vedanta are not only taught but also researched
into.
He believes
astrology transcends religious and national barriers which is possibly
why people of all faiths flock to him. He’s received with the same
love and respect in the US as in Russia or the Middle East during his
numerous travels abroad. “I am a deeply religious person, but I keep
my religion at home,” he says.
Mr Somayaji
can be contacted at: 080-6507464
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