Is the Outcome of Life Predetermined?
Hindi Version — क्या जीवन का परिणाम पहले से निर्धारित है?
What is destiny?
Where a person is born, to which parents, in which family, what resources they have access to, how much knowledge the parents have, where the child studies, what knowledge the teachers have and pass on, what kind of people the person meets, and the subconscious mind that all these things eventually shape: this is destiny.
There is no doubt that it exists. It is the name given to the events of life over which we have very little control.
But does your destiny bind you? limit you? stop you? or make you weaker in any way? No, for sure.
Is the outcome of life predetermined?
In the strongest words, with all my outrage and all my courage, the answer is: No.
Destiny is a very trivial part of life. The outcome of life comes from karma (action), from the knowledge earned through action, and from the values formed out of that knowledge, refined by discernment (viveka), which build our character.
Every scripture, every Veda, every wise person and every sage has always said that every human being has the capacity to be the soul that is Sat-Chit-Ananda: existence, consciousness and bliss. Destiny cannot take this capacity away from anyone, and in this capacity every human body is equal. Destiny is only the circumstances of life. It has no lasting effect on the capacity of life or of the human body.
Through karma, and karma alone, a person can reach any destination. Destiny, or circumstance, keeps walking alongside a person. It may be favourable or unfavourable to their goal, but it can never bind or stop them. In the life of a determined person, destiny has no importance.
So what is destiny?
Destiny does not stop anyone from doing anything. Through knowledge and hard work (karma), anything in life can be achieved.
A goal in life can be reached either through karma or through destiny. Few examples:
Marriage and life partner. One person leaves finding a good life partner to destiny, and decides that whoever they end up with is acceptable to them. A decision left to destiny like this can turn out good or bad. Another person searches and tries on the strength of their own knowledge and experience. Their result is limited by their knowledge, but there is something to learn and a way to become better. And even after marriage, what the relationship becomes is decided by the thinking, understanding and effort of both people. That is, by karma.
Job or career. One person thinks that whatever job is in their destiny will come to them, and simply waits. Another works on their skills, applies in the right places, and learns something from every interview. The first person’s result depends on chance. The second person’s depends on their karma.
Health. One person says the illness was written in their destiny, and changes nothing in their habits. Another understands and improves their diet, exercise and daily routine. The body we are born with may be destiny, but taking care of that body is karma.
Exams. One student believes that which questions will come is a matter of destiny, and studies only a little. Another studies and understands the whole syllabus. Whatever questions come, the second student’s result comes from their preparation.
Financial situation. Being born into a poor family is destiny. One person accepts that poverty is their fate, while another changes their situation through education, skill and hard work. The home you are born into is destiny. Staying in that situation all your life is not.
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Farming. A farmer has no control over when and how much it rains. That is destiny. One farmer only waits for the rain. Another arranges irrigation, chooses the right seeds and keeps track of the weather. Both face the same circumstance, but karma makes the outcome different.
Spiritual growth. One person thinks Self-knowledge comes only to the fortunate. Another practises meditation, self-study and satsang every day. The path to the soul, too, opens only through karma.
In every example, a decision left to destiny can turn out good or bad. But the path of karma teaches us something every time and makes us better.
The choice in every situation
In every situation of life, we have this choice: to act, to gather knowledge in order to decide, to decide, or to do nothing and leave it to destiny. Life can be lived either way.
By leaving life to destiny, a person insults their human capability and their body, and lives like a lower form of life, like an animal. A person who lives by the strength of karma, falling and learning, learns a great deal. By falling again and again, recovering and learning, they slowly achieve every goal, small or big. Such a person becomes strong, and through continued effort reaches even the soul (Atma). No one has ever attained Self-knowledge through destiny, and no one ever will.
कर्मपुरुषार्थाश्रयेण मुक्तिः प्राप्यते, भाग्याश्रयेण तु अज्ञानं भयं च॥
By relying on karma (and purushartha, one’s own effort), liberation can be attained; by relying on destiny, only ignorance and fear.
Destiny can do nothing to anyone’s soul, to the “I” (ego) that arises from the soul, or to the mind, the senses and the body. Every human being always has the freedom to make decisions, to do anything, and to write the story of their own life.
I condemn every person and every book that makes destiny out to be anything more than this.
I hate anyone who says that destiny, or the outcome of life, is fixed. Such a person makes their listeners cowardly, lazy, timid, inactive and weak.
Every scripture, every Buddha, every enlightened person has always described the capacity of every human being as limitless. Some people use destiny is merely a tool of keeping people from knowing their own freedom!
A hardworking person can change destiny at any time. The impressions (sanskaras) of the subconscious mind, and our thoughts, can also be changed. In this way, destiny can be completely erased from life.
Who is a Guru?
The person who tells us this, explains it, and helps us truly absorb it, is the Guru.
A Guru is one who tells us that karma is far more powerful than destiny, and that through karma and knowledge, anything can be achieved. A Guru reminds us that we are always completely free to act. And a Guru frees us from fear: the fear that makes us accept ignorance as truth, see ourselves as weak, believe destiny is stronger than karma, and think the outcome of life is already fixed.
Whatever your destiny may be, through karma and knowledge you can reach any place, any goal. You write the story of your own life.
Destiny is only the circumstances that come into life. They can neither take away your capacity nor stop you. The outcome of life is decided by your karma, your knowledge and your values.
So stay away from people who predict your future based on your stars. They disrespect God and your ability to do anything. They deny what the scriptures teach: that anyone can realise the soul.
