Choice of Destiny 002

Dharma & Destiny

S: How do we learn about Dharma?
G: You search yourself to find out the Knowledge or read the scriptures supposedly containing help and guidance to acquire that Knowledge.
G: I am always of the opinion that we need Guru in this world to acquire Knowledge. Guru can spot out his students and make them contribute to the Humanity. In Ramayana, Rama’s skills came to the knowledge of his father when the sage Vishwamitra told him. Those sages preached Sanatana Dharma or Universal Principles of Life. The principles are in the nature of Guidelines. These do not constitute a Manual of Procedures. Religions may prescribe manuals for life. Dharma does not. Similarly, Drona spotted Arjuna as his elite student and Krishna chose Arjuna to fight the war of Kurushetra. The Guru spotted the student. Narendra transformed into Swami Vivekananda is only because of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa spotted him.
S: None spotted any. The teachers and their disciples were destined to meet for the continuation of the cycle of human civilization. Guru is there in the Atman of every living being. No body contributes to humanity. Humanity progresses as per Natural Law or God. We are in the illusion thinking that Rama, Vishawamitra and Ravana are different, that Drona, Arjuna and Duryodhan are different, that Narendra (vivekananda) and Ramakrishna are different. Truth is that all these persons are the same. All are the manifestations of the Natural Law or God. Ultimate Goal of practicing Sanatana Dharma by a human being is to realize that Truth.
G: I do not agree with you that Guru-Disciple combinations do not contributes to Humanity. It is the same with the case of Chanakya who chose Chandra Gupta. Chanakya’s contribution is a lasting contribution. Since Chandra Gupta’s descendants did not follow Chanakya’s preaching, the same dynasty’s rule could not last long.
S: So you agree that Chanyaka’s preaching was not followed after a while. Really speaking, no one except God can make any lasting contribution. And, the Guru-Disciple combination cases you have cited are definitely cases of contribution to humanity. But there cannot be any lasting contribution. Even Krishna’s contribution of Gita is not a lasting contribution. We do not follow the preaching of Gita all the time. The Principles of Dharma or Destiny is the only lasting, permanent contribution. But these principles make all other actions, forms, ideas or contribution as non-permanent, non-lasting. Great sages have come, but over time the society forgot the preaching of the sages. Fresh sages came to preach the same things again and again. That is the
Principle of Destiny.
G: Sir, I am still unable to accept your view. You seem to undermine the greatness of Great people. The Ego and Pride or rather the Self-respect and the Conviction are positive sides of Great men. They also have a noble cause that they seek to serve.
S: Yes, everyone has some reason to do something.
G: It is like the Mother’s feeling for her Children. It’s the inner feeling that gives her the right and motivation to do the best thing for her children. In this world we know, every entity born has to die, be it a corporate or individual. Even Gods who have taken human form were no exceptions. However, the institution created by these Men of Pride and Ego also continues in this world. Even after forgetting the names, their role model /service to humanity is carried on. Example: Woods introduced educational reforms in India in 1857. This helped create so many barristers and intellectuals that ultimately led to the downfall of the British Empire. Lord Rippon’s reforms on local management gave the confidence to the Indians that they can govern themselves. Or, consider Napoleon’s care for his subordinates and his show of skill from the front.
S: I am not undermining great people. Great people are indeed great. They are of superior qualities than you or I. But what they did was nothing but what they were destined to do. Whatever happened was destined to happen. And the people with self-respect and conviction in the positive sense had to do what they did. But in general people with self- respect and conviction have a problem of being biased to their own point of view. Their ego and pride make them think that they are greater than others and sometimes they say that they are doing for the society but actually they want to do these things to earn fame for themselves or establish that they are great. That is the problem. Krishna did all the things; he was criticized, cursed and yet he was not all affected by praise or criticism. He knew that everyone is playing his or her role as per his/her destiny as part of natural law.
G: I believe that only the neutral people are forgotten by the world, e.g. Vidhura in Mahabharatha. The good and bad will always be remembered by the world. Therefore, the Pride and Ego should be used to serve the Humanity. It is the infinite love or hatred leads to the positive or negative Ego and Pride. It is the right that we try to muster courage to call all the human beings as Brothers and Sisters, as Swami Vivekananda did. Courage comes from self-esteem, ego and pride.
S: But there were neutral people like Vidhura and Krisna who had no Ego or Pride. They never lacked of courage. They also did what they were destined to do.
G: You seem to say, “ the work you do is on the destined path of emerging/ unfolding future but the realization of your objective or desired result of your work may not be on the destined path of future.” About this, I would like to submit that desired result or objective might be like Thomas Alva Edison’s invention of Bulb after 999 failures. In every “end” there is a new “beginning”. Putting an end to each experiment we need to write a new story with a beginning to serve the humanity with a noble objective. And each story may be new and unique with a tinge of emotions, sacrifice, failures, successes, betrayals and touch of reality, but one day to be discussed by human beings. But at least one story of our life may be on the destined path of future.
S: Your understanding is only partly correct.
G: Please explain why you have a different view?
S: One of the Fundamental Principle that is part of Knowledge or Dharma is that the Destiny Process is part of Natural Law. Your actions are all destined including the way you think, decide and do things (and the consequences like the state of your happiness or sorrow). So only in the future you come to know that what you did was what you were destined to do. The objective of any of your actions or thought may not materialize. The actual results of your actions may be different from what you thought of when you did something (action). So the actual results are those that are destined and were lying in destined path of your life or future after your action. You may remain happy irrespective of what results your previous actions lead to: your destiny makes you happy or sad irrespective of what action you do or what results those actions bring.
G: You are talking of Fate or Luck. No body will accept such things in the twenty first century.
S: Even that somebody does not accept something is because of destiny. Whether Edison or anyone else, all did what they were destined to do as these actions were on the path of their life cycle destiny. In history we write them as successes and failures, we feel good or bad. These are interpretations we give but they are only patterns that we identify by looking at past incidents and our lives. These may help us predict the future to a certain extent. But such predictions are probabilistic only. We cannot know the future with certainty. There may be examples of Great persons making discovery without any failure and others who have tried 999 times but could not discover anything