Chioce of Destiny 006

Altering Destiny

G: Though we commonly agree that there are rules of destiny in this world, I have a slight objection to accepting the concept of the destiny. According to my understanding, the birth and death are part of destiny as our living and the attainments are. But, there is also a rule of exception and there are ways to alter this destiny.
S: You are bound to have difficulty in accepting the absoluteness of the principle of Destiny. Even that is as per destiny. So do not worry or get excited.
G: This is what we see in the case of Nachiketa, Dhruva, Vishwamitra and so many others. There was a destiny for them, but they altered it. It is by good thought and determination through meditation.
S: No, they did not alter their destiny. They could not have done so. They acted as per their destiny only. It was destined that they will have a major change in their lives. This happens in many human lives as also in stars. There is no exception to the Law of Destiny in the entire Universe. The examples you have given all the more prove this. The persons you mentioned were destined to turn to good thoughts, to imbibe determination and to do meditation. One cannot have determination unless one is destined to so have.
G: In Tamil, one of the words for God is “Kadawul” where “Kada” means going beyond or cross and “Wul” means inner part (internal) or inside part denoting the mind. If we go beyond and search for Him, then only we can see him. In one of the books, I read that God lived with human beings, but human beings began to pester him asking for silly things and complaining about silly things. So, he decided to hide himself. But because of the intelligence He has given to the human beings, wherever he hid, he was traced. Therefore, he thought about a place where these human beings would not discover him. Thus, he hid himself inside each living being. Men searched everywhere externally but not internally.
S:This is a nice story. It captures the essence of Sanatana Dharma. The Principle of Destiny and God are to be sought inside. The observations may be outside. But, the discovery of the Law of Gravitation was from inside.
G: Now also, the destiny for each individual is to be as a doll. But whoever wants to be a rebel and know the secrets of Nature and alter their destiny, the Nature after testing them enough rewards them. To choose their destiny and live by it or not always lies in the hands of the individual. The Rishis and the siddhas knew the secrets and they worked and altered their destiny. We can see like this, there is a tide in the affairs of each men, either we can reach a new shore or give up and be killed by the tide. If killed by the tide, it is destiny but if we reach new shore it is our alteration of destiny.
S: Well said, but this is incorrect interpretation. Human beings will always have problem in accepting the Rule of Destiny but no option but be bound by Destiny. This is also a part of Destiny. In Sanatana Dharma this is called Illusion or Maya. Look, accepting Half Destiny and Half Human choice is a logical mess. This may give me great satisfaction that as a Man I am great because I have choice and freedom. But then it is better to say that we always determine our destiny. Unfortunately, no one can claim this. So, when one succeeds in his aim, he says he has achieved this by his effort and determination. So he has altered his destiny. If he fails to succeed, he says this is because of ill luck or accident or fate or destiny. This kind of reasoning is fallacious even in scientific endeavor. No Rishi has ever altered destiny. They did and act and lived as per their individual destiny. They also did not have any choice. You cannot be a Christ or Buddha, or Vivekananada or Bill Gates or Bin Laden or Saddam unless you are so destined. Mind you, don’t think that Destiny is arbitrary. Like Law of Gravitation is not arbitrary, Law of Destiny is a coherent, logical principle.
G: The greatest thing about God is that He dwells in each one of us. He has hidden great powers in us. We need to search and invoke it. We face so many trials and ordeals in this life that we abandon our search and we fall in the hands of destiny. He has given us the mind that is so powerful.
S: You are talking about the principle of destiny only but becoming illogical while talking about the power of destiny. If God has given all powers inside us, why we fail searching it. It is because the Law of destiny does not make it possible that all human beings realize all the powers given by God at the same time. It is the Law of destiny that makes one struggle and fail or succeed. No entity or element is independent in this universe and cannot exercise any choice. All elements and entities have to function as per the Law of destiny. The mind is powerful because it derives its power from the Law of Destiny, which is the Ultimate, and the Supreme power/ force/ principle/ intellect.
G: We would have come across some old people who are in the deathbed but still not dying. The elders and religious people used to say that they have some bondage for gold, so they dissolve gold and pour in his mouth. Even after that if a person did not die, they would say he had attachment for the land and they would dissolve the soil and pour in his mouth. Even then if he did not die they would ask his beloved ones to pour milk. Then he would give up the last breath. This is not a story. This has happened in many people’s lives. Sometimes, when we truly wish for something in the mind, it happens. Certain things appear to us in dreams; some indications are given by nature in the form of omens. I am not talking about superstition. Because we lost our knowledge to interpret the things before us, many things are not known to us. Sigmund Freud made a few attempts to read the mind. Psychoanalysts call it ESP. But ancient Indian rishis had made larger contributions in this field of knowledge.
S: Assume what you have said just now is completely true. But the Law of Destiny can explain all these. Remember that Law of Destiny is a logically consistent and coherent principle. Destiny Principle is not for blaming fate or hiding failure or depriving credit of success or consolation for the unlucky. You have to strive hard to understand it and will understand it only if you are destined to do so. But if you are destined to understand the Law of Destiny, you will be first destined to realise that no man can really make any choice independently: all choices are the result of a process over which no human mind has any control.
G: True, destiny has created the planets in this world and also specific orbits created for them. The Saturn in its orbit should have some impact, similarly other planets, on human beings. But this destiny is also subject to alteration when the man knowing it circumspectly determines to alter it with the sense of devotion and determination. If we assume all the happenings are because of destiny then we may have to justify the suicide as part of destiny.
S: To commit suicide is to alter destiny. But one cannot commit suicide unless one is destined to do so. Whether planets have impact on individual human beings is not the issue. The simple Truth is that whatever a person does is only as per the principle of Destiny. I X tells Y that Y will be affected by Saturn and will be soon killed, and then Y goes and wears a stone and worship Lord Kali and then lives for hundred years. The story only proves and does not disprove operation of the Law of Destiny and its absoluteness. The entire sequence of events from X telling Y was all destined.
G: According to me God is some combination of gravitational force, electricity and magnetic force. Each man has some combination of these energies or forces, but when it is acquired beyond the average level, he is able to perform some inordinate tasks, which could not be performed by other human beings. Therefore, by discovering the self we may be led to know the purpose of our lives. Once we know the purpose of our life, definitely we know our destiny and we may alter it. So our duty lies is exploring us. What do you think?
S: We will talk about this next.