From Corporate Life to Cosmic Lessons : How Astrology Found Me… And What I Found in It, reveals how an unexpected encounter with astrology transformed my perspective on leadership, management, self-discovery, and life’s deeper purpose.

One of my father’s closest friends, Mr. Malhotra, was an astrologer. Soon after my birth, he prepared my first Janam Kundli. On my 12th birthday, while reviewing it once again, he made a prediction that seemed rather unusual at the time. “One day,” he said, “astrology will come to him.”

Nobody paid much attention to the remark. To my parents, it was just another prediction. But he was serious. He encouraged me to learn Urdu because he owned an original copy of the Lal Kitab, written in Urdu by Pandit Roop Chand Joshi. He promised that once I learned the language, he would personally teach me astrology from those books.

The idea fascinated me. I approached another friend of my father—a renowned Urdu poet—and began learning the language. It felt as though an entirely new world was opening up before me. But life had other plans. On the very day I started my Urdu lessons, Mr. Malhotra suffered a heart attack and passed away unexpectedly. With his passing, that journey came to an abrupt halt. His son eventually sold his treasured collection of astrology books to a scrap merchant. The books disappeared, the teacher was gone, and the chapter seemed to close before it had even begun. I gradually moved on.

I stopped learning Urdu, focused on my studies, completed my MBA, and entered the corporate world. Astrology faded into the background and eventually became a distant memory. Years passed. Then, in 2019, life took another unexpected turn. My father slipped while taking a bath and fractured his femur bone. I had to relocate to our native place in Punjab to be with him. Since working from home was proving difficult, I rented a small office to continue my professional work. Coincidentally, the office was located in a building owned by a temple. Every month, Pandit Ji would visit to collect the rent. One day, after finishing his visit, he accidentally left a few astrology books behind in my office. I immediately called him and told “Pandit Ji, you’ve forgotten your books.”

“Keep them for now,” he replied casually. “I’ll collect them the next time I come. Feel free to read them if you like.” The books remained on my desk. A few days later, on a quiet Saturday afternoon, I was alone in the office. Out of curiosity, I picked up one of the books and started reading. Within minutes, I was captivated. The idea that planetary combinations could reveal patterns and possibilities intrigued me. Equally fascinating was the concept that certain remedies could potentially reduce unfavorable influences and strengthen favorable ones.

Yet the science student in me remained skeptical. Was astrology really a science? The more I read, the more I realized that whether one views astrology as a predictive science or not, it offers a remarkable framework for understanding archetypes, cycles, and human behavior. And that is where I found its greatest value. I noticed that every planet has a distinct role to play. No single planet defines an entire horoscope. Diversity creates balance. Timing matters. Strengths and weaknesses often coexist. Every planetary energy teaches a different lesson. The more I studied astrology, the more management lessons I discovered within it.

• Sun teaches leadership, purpose, vision, and accountability.
• Moon teaches emotional intelligence, empathy, adaptability, and people management.
• Mars teaches action, courage, execution, and decisive leadership.
• Mercury teaches communication, learning, adaptability, and informed decision-making.
• Jupiter teaches wisdom, learning, growth, mentorship, and long-term thinking.
• Venus teaches relationships, harmony, attraction, and value creation.
• Saturn teaches discipline, patience, accountability, perseverance, and the value of long-term success
• Rahu teaches ambition, innovation, disruption, and the courage to challenge the status quo.
• Ketu teaches that wisdom is not just knowing what to pursue; it is knowing what to leave behind.

Gradually, I realized that astrology was teaching a principle that applies equally to organizations. Success is never created by a single planet acting alone. It emerges from the harmonious interaction of many different forces.

The same is true for organizations. Successful companies are built when diverse individuals, skills, perspectives, and personalities work together toward a common purpose. Great leadership does not come from creating uniformity; it comes from understanding differences, respecting them, and aligning strengths. Perhaps that was the most valuable lesson astrology offered me.

Just as a horoscope is not judged by a single planet, an organization is not defined by a single leader. Success emerges when every force plays its role in harmony. And when I look back now, I sometimes wonder whether my father’s friend was right all along.

I never went looking for astrology. Somehow, astrology found me.

And in astrology, I discovered not just planetary wisdom, but countless lessons about leadership, management, relationships, and life itself.

Over the next few days, I’ll be sharing some of those lessons.

Stay tuned.

 

First Published on LinkedIn