Ravinder Kumar Soni

Ravinder Kumar Soni (Hindi: रविंदर कुमार सोनी ), is a scholar devoted to the study and interpretation of traditional Hindu thought and Jyotisa. He is also an Urdu poet.

Early life
Ravinder Kumar Soni (Hindi: रविंदर कुमार सोनी ),the eldest son of Mehr Lal Soni Zia Fatehabadi (1913–1986), was born on 5 April 1944 at Delhi. He completed his school-study at Chennai (formerly Madras). He was introduced to Vedanta and Hindu Astrology by his father at an early age. He was a disciple of his father.

Literary life
Ravinder Kumar Soni is a scholar devoted to the study and interpretation of traditional Hindu thought and Jyotisa. He has been writing on these subjects and has to his credit three significant books: a) In search of True Happiness - a collection of his essays on the thought and concepts of the Upanishads, b) The Illumination of Knowledge, which is a reflection on the role of Agni highlighted by the Vedic Seers and c) Planets and their Yoga Formations, which is a treatise on Hindu Astrology dealing with select yogas i.e. planetary combinations, in the context of the twelve Zodiac signs rising in the lagna or ascendent. He had picked up these threads from his teachers as the 1954-1959 alumni of The Hindu Higher Secondary School, (formerly Hindu High School), Triplicane, Chennai.

His writings disclose his study of the ancient texts conducted in the light of Vedanta Philosophy to be in line with the Advaita school. He has not only deliberated on the Vedic Mantras but also shown how they are interpreted to draw out their true essence. According to him the prime Vedic text, Rig Veda, is shaped in the likeness of the mind, it reflects the intricate and complex working of the mind and the process of thinking, for which reason purification of the mind is advocated by the Vedic Rishis through gain and spread of knowledge. Knowledge purifies the mind.

He was also taught Jyotisa by his father to help hone and train his intellect and to make him rely on his intuition. Though not a professional practitioner of this science, he has often, whenever specifically asked to do so, foretold future events e.g. his early 1989 prediction of the unexpected downfall of the Rajiv Gandhi regime, which was distributed by the News Agency, VICHAR. He follows Parashara’s methods of prognostication.

At a 1982 seminar held in the premises of St. John's College, Agra, in connection with Seemab Centenary Celebrations Ravinder Kumar Soni, participating in the seminar, had presented an astrological examination of Seemab Akbarabadi’s horoscope that determined the actual year of birth of Seemab to be 1882.

He also writes Urdu ghazals using Ravi Soni (urdu: روی سونی) ( hindi: रवि सोनी ) as his takhallus (nom de plume).

Assisted by his brother he has translated from Urdu to English in Free verse select quatrains of Zia Fatehabadi.