Starry, starry blight

Maharashtra’s Ashok Kharat is the latest in the long, inglorious line of godless ‘godmen’. Having caused so much shok , he has fittingly come to grief himself. ‘Rigged’ out as an astrologer too, he claimed twice the heavenly access. Under cover of this, he allegedly raped, robbed, and killed, including ghoulish human sacrifice. There’s enough unhappiness and unvarnished greed for the indigent and the influential alike to fall prey while being told to pray.
Prime and chief ministers have infamously come under the sway of charlatans in saint’s clothing. In the current case, while senior names have been dropped, only a comparatively minor official has dropped out. Guess what? She was state president of NCP’s women’s wing.
But, ji, could all this actually be some kind of professional hazard? If astrologers lie – and forcibly lay – does the fault lie not in themselves, but in star-signs per se ? The Western/Vedic zodiac does seem to reflect criminal behaviour of the Kharat kind.
Like Aries/Mesha, they are battering ram. They ram themselves into women rendered helpless; Kharat did so with drug-laced water.
Virgo/Kanya? Nah! Mostly, the victims are/were married.
Like Taurus/Vrishabha, the bull, these sexual predators may fancy themselves as studs, but they are only horny.
Like Gemini/Mithun, Kharat presented the usual ‘twin’ identities of godman and astrologer, also twinning sexual abuse with cheating. A Kharat victim was promised ‘charged’ stones; they were only charged for, never delivered.
Like the Cancer/Karkata crab, followers get lulled into a pincer grip.
Leo/Simha? Ardent devotees see them as the power-suffused ‘Lord’, never suspecting that they’ll get the jungle instead.
As for Libra/Tula, guru-chela balance is never equal. Hope the scales of justice are.
Like Scorpio/Vrischika, this fake-o’s sting is in the tail.
Like Sagittarius/Dhanu, he’s man above, beast below.
Capricorn/Makkar? The Sea Goat is ruled by Saturn; remember Shani’s malefic influence?
Unlike Aquarius/Kumbha, these nasties have little ‘flow of wisdom’.
Liken their actions more to fishy Pisces/Meena.

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