Atheists or unbelievers may be serious or causal. In a verbal contest a believer challenged his unbelieving friend. "My dear friend, I cherish your opinions, but I beg to differ here. For example, I know Sundays and Thursdays are auspicious for you. You may be irreligious or non-religious, but these astrological facts are inexorable. Tell me the most significant event or events of your life. They will be on such days." His eloquence charged the atmosphere and the listener was mellowed by the authority of the other's conviction, if not humbled by the remembrance that confirmed the challenge.
"Yes, Sir, you are right. The most significant event in my life, apart from my marriage was my Darsan of the Divine Mother. It was on a Sunday, August 15th, 1958 and my wedding was on a Thursday", was the corroborating reply. People who consciously defy the inauspicious hours pay dearly. The believer here was an orthodox government officer who, on the request of his Sanskrit teacher had recited Subramanya kavasam to successfully relieve the teacher's fever when the teacher's own repetition had failed. The auspicious hour announces a powerful subtle truth, but it has its limits. The above believer was a teacher and the unbeliever was his student.
The teacher's father was suffering from a fell disease when the son's pious recitation of the kavasam failed. The father, without the knowledge of his son, wrote to his son's student requesting a blessing packet which cured him. The Spirit NEVER fails, while the powerful auspicious hour which is an expression of Subtle Life has limits, as subtle life ends where the causal plane begins. The Spirit dwells beyond the causal plane, the plane of cosmic consciousness. Civilised life in the West, partly even in India, is more powerful than these subtle truths, as civilisation has moved beyond the subtle vital life. The claim of astrologers that events of history good as well as bad will confirm the truth of auspicious hours, is no longer true in the West or in India, where superstition does not hold its sway due to tradition.