Numerology is a Hoax and it is not a Substitute for Astrology

Numerology is a New Age fad which many people mistake as substitute for Astrology or Horoscope Reading . Unfortunately , it is a poor substitute bordering on superstitition without any unique parameter or theory to substantiate its claims of predicting or changing the life of person . In fact , it may cause OCD ( Obsessive Compulsive Disorder ) if person is too much obsessed with some numbers.

Sanjay B Jumani , The Celebrity Numerologist

His Claim to Fame is described as below

Sanjay B Jumaani, he is on Television, News papers and Magazines. He even writes a weekly column for the leading Hindi & English newspapers of India, The Times of India, Dainik Bhaskar, leading Bengali Newspaper, Ananda Bazaar Patrika, a monthly column with a US based Magazine, Tathaastu and a live radio program on Dubai and another with MY FM for all their 17 stations.

He even hosts a weekly show on Numerology, ‘Jumaani Kii Zubaani’ on News 24.

He has made predicting and enhancing people’s future through numerology his profession. In India he is known for prophesizing the future of the country and beyond, the politicians, the films, the game of cricket, and events that rock the world. He has politicians, business honchos, the reigning and not upcoming wanna by stars from Bollywood, television the sportstars, and more than half of the Indian cricketers wearing their lucky Numbers.

And of course the common man…all queuing up to obtain their success formula. Yes, that’s what Sanjay trades in – the potent success formula. He sells you your lucky numbers and if needed spells out to you your name the way it should be to bring you luck and not the way your parents had spelt it out for you!

Unbelievable as it may seem but the Jumaani effect is showing at the RTO and the passport offices too. People flock asking for specific numbers plates fortheir cars. People flock to apply for a new passport with their name spelt differently. The obstetricians in India are faced with a strange requests from expectant mothers – Can you please do a caesarean on the 30th please instead of the 31st? You see that is the lucky day and time for my baby ! Wow!!

Let us now read what he says in his Interview and check his claims one by one ..

Question

First of all what is your prediction on Numerology itself? How long is this fad going to last?

Answer

Numerology is not a fad.It is a science which is 5000 years old. It cannot come and then disappear. Though I must confess, I had popped the same question to my father too, when I did not believe in numerology. But having seen the way it works I feel it is something we should believe in and take help from. Well it is true people are flocking the RTO and the passport offices , but what is the harm?  They are doing it to better their lives. People come to us and ask to suggest names for their new born babies. I think they are doing it right? It is a valuable gift they will be giving it to their children – a right name.   My father, Late Mr Bansilal M Jumaani, who single handedly revived this age old art back in India realized, just 10 years ago, that my name should have been Sanjay B Jumaani and not Sanjay Jumani.

 

If only he had realized this at the time I was born, my life could have been much better right from day one. Today with the name change, my life has transformed. 

 

I left my 17-years-old sales and marketing job and made numerology my profession, a science I never ever believed in, in the past. There is reason for this. My numbers earlier didn’t suggest an inclination towards occult science. The new numbers do. I concentrate on media because the planet of communication – number 5 and Jupiter, {Guru} 3 which denote knowledge rule me. And I am doing well. Life is good, no complaints. With my sales job, I was only able to barely make two ends meet, I couldn’t dream of buying a house or a car. Or being in a position to help so many people with this fascinating science. Looking back I can only say, if I had this name earlier I didn’t have to waste so many years.    

 

What about your father’s name? Did he bring in any change there? Is that how he became successful? 

 

Yes,  my father’s name was spelt Bansilal Jumani, but ever since he changed it to Bansilal M Jumaani in the year 2000 with a double ‘a’, better sense prevailed on him too. Until then he was practicing numerology as a hobby, using it on friends and family. After changing his name, he made numerology his profession and he got his first major assignment from Rakesh Roshan.  Rakesh Roshan used to consult him in suggesting titles for his films. It was my father who suggested to him the spelling of Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai   – double ‘a’ in Naa and double ‘a’ in pyaar, and told him that this is going to be a bigger blockbuster than Dil To Paagal Hai…of course nobody believed him when he said that. Everybody thought – ‘How can a film with newcomers compete with Dil To paagal hai’ But the prediction came true. It was a super hit. No changes were required in  Koi Mil Gaya It is because of these hits Rakesh Roshan introduced my father to his friend Jeetendra’s daughter – Ekta Kapoor who had made a foray into Television. We were introduced to EKTA after Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai To her, we suggested the right combination of alphabets in her titles like Kyunki  Saas bhi kabhi bahu thi. Kahaani ghar ghar kii, Kahiin To Hoga, Kasamh Se Kkusum, etc.   Karan Johar uses  Numerology too, and got success in the form of  in  Kabhi Khush Kabhie Gham, Kal Ho Naa Ho, few people know that Yash Chopra the moghul of Bollywood has always followed numerology. 

Objection 1  : Numerology is neither 5000 year old nor it is of Indian origin ! 

Proof :

This is first book Numerorum mysteria (1591), a treatise on numerology by Pietro Bongo and his most influential work as per https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numerology

Numbers have been mentioned in Bible briefly but not as a science for numerology and fate prediction. It is all modern invention , that is why it is called New Age fad .

Modern numerology has various antecedents. Ruth A. Drayer’s book, Numerology, The Power in Numbers says that around the start of the 20th century Mrs. L. Dow Balliett combined Pythagoras’ work with Biblical reference. Balliett’s student, Juno Jordan, helped numerology become the system known today as Pythagorean, although Pythagoras himself had nothing to do with the system, by publishing “The Romance in Your Name” in 1965, provided a system for identifying what he called key numerological influences in names and birth dates that remains used today. Other ‘numerologists’ including Florence Campbell (1931), Lynn Buess (1978), Mark Gruner (1979), Faith Javane and Dusty Bunker (1979), Kathleen Roquemore (1985) expanded on the use of numerology for assessing personality or events. These different schools of numerology give various methods for using numerology.

There is no reference of any type that it existed in Indian mythology and it is a clear import from western countries in 19th to 20th century with western education . It is specific to Roman numerals and Gregorian calendar system .

Q2. What role does luck play in numerology. Can one have a bad number and still be lucky? 

So, numerologist himself not sure , which number makes one lucky or what exactly theory behind numerology . It is all guesswork .

Q3 .Which was your first major achievement in numerology?

Ans :  My prediction on India – Sri Lanka match. I had predicted a tie which came true. This was a major feat because it is not everyday that a match ends in a tie. Out of 200 matches maybe one can end up in a tie, and to actually predict that one, was indeed a great thing – literally hitting the nail on its head. No astrologer in the past had done that. Another big achievement was that of at least 27 childless couples becoming proud parents after we suggested a name change to them. Then Big B stomach problem, SRK’s bad 44th year, {shoulder injury, Bilu and Knight Riders debacle} Hrithik Roshan cutting his wrist, all this came true in the first month of the prediction itself.

Objection : He does not tell what principles he used to arrive at his predictions . Was it astrology but advertised as numerology ?  Again proof of prediction is missing .

Q4  
Is there scope for a miscalculation in numbers and could a change in name cause a disaster in one’s life.  

Answer Well yes, that is why one needs to be very careful. We check five times before suggesting a name change to anybody. You cannot take numerological suggestions from a feng shui practitioner. It is like going to a carpenter when you have a problem in your bathroom. In fact that is what happened with Nausheen Ali Sardar. She added an extra r in Sardarr because a feng shui expert told her to. Now that was not a right suggestion. Her first name is in 35 which is 8 and that is where one had to bring about a change not in Sardar. Similarly in Viveik Oberoi’s case, somebody told him to add an I in Vivek, which again was wrong. For Karishma Kapoor too there was no need to play around with her name. It was right the way it was, but she dropped an ‘h’ from her name and she lost her professional ground – her serial in Sahara didn’t do well, even her domestic life was in doldrums. In fact when I realized that her new numbers were not in favor, I personally called her up to tell her to resort to her old name, but she said the media would ridicule for her actions and that she cannot now go back to changing her name. 

Objection : So, it again confirms that it is a hit and trial run method based on guesswork and waiting for the change in luck in due coarse and if bad or good things happen they are projected to name change and lucky number .

Q5 Are there chances of your predictions failing ?

Of course. There is a scope for Amitabh giving a “Boom”, a Sachin Tendulkar getting out on a zero, Sanjeev Kapoor burning his dishes, so one can go wrong in predictions too. But fortunately for us our predictions have always been right- at least 90 per cent of the time. We had predicted Vivek-Ash break up; we had predicted Abhijeet Sawant’s success – he is a number 7, he was in his 25 th year when he won and he won in the year 2005 which was also number 7. We had predicted Saif’s success. We had predicted the success and failures of so many films and most of the time we have been proved right, except in stray cases like “No Entry” where we had predicted the film would fail, but it didn’t. That’s because it was released on the 8th, and number 8 is like a joker. It can either take you to dizzying heights or crash you down. All the major calamities of the world like the tsunami, the earthquake, the floods, the Gujarat riot all have a relation to number 8. Number 8 is dangerous. It brings in more disaster than luck. For instance in Amitabh Bachchan’s case, Saat Hindustani was a number 8 and it flopped, while Zanjeer was an 8 too, but it was a big hit and then there was Coolie which was 8 and he got himself injured in that film. I would suggest that if anybody’s house number totals to 8 then they should either write a K or a B next to it to avoid bad luck.

So, 8 number can be a hit also and miss also . Even numerologist does not know which number will work for you . You just believe and wait .

Q6 You are the one who got Shobhaa De and Kiron Kher to change their name. How did this bring about a change in their life? 

Shobhaa De says that ever since she has changed her name, she has got a song on her lips. Where Kiron Kher was concerned, the change fetched her a lot of awards and lot of work.

Problem is that he advises those who are already a celebrity and take their success as result of his name change suggestion. Why he does not make any ordinary person a celebrity just by changing   his name .

Q7  What about the name change that you are suggesting to the Government vis a vis Kashmir and Gujarat which you feel will aid in reducing the calamities there? 

True, we have suggested to the Government to change the spellings of Gujarat, Kashmir and Sri Nagar. It would do good to add an extra a in each of these places –Mumbai, Kashmir , Gujarat, and Sri Nagar. All are currently in number 18 – which is a number of destruction. By adding an ‘a’ it will add up to19 , a number of sun and recognition. Bengaluru was used on our suggestion from Bengalooru.

Though I am hoping the Govt follows my suggestions for changing spellings of Kashmir, Mumbai, Sri Nagar, Gujarat which all add up to destructive Numbers.

What a cost effective way of solving chronic problems of our country ? Why not change name of country from India to Indiaa and solve it in one step ? What is the proof that Bangalore was changed  to Bengaluru on his suggestion and how it has made it better than earlier . As far as I know , it is becoming worse in terms of traffic and water problem .

Lack of evidence

Skeptics argue that numbers have no occult significance and cannot by themselves influence a person’s life. Skeptics therefore regard numerology as a superstition and a pseudoscience that uses numbers to give the subject a veneer of scientific authority.^[2]

At least two studies have investigated numerological claims, both producing negative results: one in the UK in 1993,^[11] and one in 2012 in Israel^[12]. The UK experiment involved 96 people and found no correlation between the number seven and a self-reported psychic ability. The experiment in Israel involved a professional numerologist and 200 participants, and was designed to examine the validity of a numerological diagnosis of learning disabilities, like dyslexia and ADHD, and autism. The experiment was repeated twice and still produced negative results.

Arbitrary Methods for  Name Change

In South India, mostly Tamil Nadu, the numbers assigned to English alphabets are different. The list is shown below:

• 1 = A, I, J, Q, Y
• 2 = B, K, R
• 3 = C, G, L, S
• 4 = D, M, T
• 5 = E, H, N, X
• 6 = U, V, W
• 7 = O, Z
• 8 = F, P
• There is no assignment for the number 9. Numerologists analyze double-digit numbers from 10 to 99.

In Latin method, numbers can be assigned to letters of the Latin alphabet as follows:

• 1 = a, j, s,
• 2 = b, k, t,
• 3 = c, l, u,
• 4 = d, m, v,
• 5 = e, n, w,
• 6 = f, o, x,
• 7 = g, p, y,
• 8 = h, q, z,
• 9 = i, r,

So, which method is to be used . Arabic and Chinese alphabets have different sequence . They do not follow Roman alphabet .

That is what I wrote in a Quora Answer

a numerologist may keep on experimenting by changing spellings of your name , spouse name, children’s name, dog’s name, city’s name, apartment’s name,flat number and so on . Probably, in the mean time, favourable change comes naturally because of astrological reasons and credit will go to numerologist.

 Media brought him in limelight in 2000-2002 period for his contribution to Bollywood and Ekta Kapoor’s TV serial naming , which all had starting with letter ‘K” .

 Bollywood is highly superstitious and it believes in everything from ” Muhoorat Shot” ,numerology, astrology, tarot cards , Ajmer Sharif , Golden Temple , Vaishnodevi and any other shrine or system.

 So, when TV serial or movie is hit , everybody including numerologist , advertises his claim to fame but despite all this , nobody shares blame for 80 % movies , which are flop on box office .

 Jumaani ji and Ektaa ( Ekta ) Kapoor is still there in Bollywood and letter “K” can still be used but why there is no blockbuster film and serial in last many years ? Ekta Kapoor then went on making films / TV serials without using “K” letter.

Numerology system is not only full of foolish assumptions and experiments, but it has inherent limitations, like which calendar and date system you use for date of birth ,or name is to be written in Roman alphabets only and not in any other language and script and so on…

In the interview also, he warns that bad destiny may follow after name change and he tests it 5 times ( How he does that ? ) before final change.

I wrote above Quora answer and one of the reader put following comment , who had availed his service

So, dear readers , see yourself the possibility of correct predictions and changing destiny by number or name change.
 
People keep on asking me about numerology predictions and I have written this article to state my views on this. In my opinion, planetary astrology (ज्योतिष), palmistry (हस्तरेखा) and your body-signs ( सामुद्रिक शास्त्र ) are the three ancient Indian predictive methods in decreasing order of accuracy for predictions.