Choice of Destiny 016

Prelude to Destiny of Choice


G: In this round, I wish to clear out the mess your discussions on God and destiny principle, have created in my mind. Would you consider giving me some straight answers? I wish to make a summary of what all you have said.
S: Yes, I will do that if I am so destined. Shoot your questions.
G: Is there a God? Who else is there in this Universe and beyond?
S: There is a God. And, there is only one God. And, there is nothing, except this God, in this Universe and beyond. There are numerous things you can or cannot see or hear or touch or feel or conceive or perceive or imagine or taste or conceptualize or analyze or manufacture or paint or write. All these and whatever else are nothing but God.
G: If that is so, then why are there different things?
S: Because, God can manifest Himself in different ways.
G: Why does the God do so?
S: As yet I do not know. Probably, He cannot but do otherwise. He is that way only. I do not know why?
G: In that case, do you admit that your God has a limitation?
S: Yes, I would admit that if I knew that there was never was a time and there will never be a time when the Entire Universe did not or will not contain different things. It is quite possible, there was at certain time only one thing. The process of destiny principle is consistent with a time when there are no different things for God to manifest. He just manifest as one thing.
G: What could be that one thing?
S: I really do not know. But I guess that is pure knowledge of the destiny principle.
G: Where will that knowledge lie?
S: It lies in itself. In other words, that is the one that I referred to as permanent existence that is infinite, indivisible, indestructible and never changes.
G: I do not know whether I can really imagine that situation. I better skip now to a different question. What do you do with your God? Do you worship that God or pray to Him?
S: I am not sure what is really meant by worship. There are a number of ways one can feel the need to worship. First, because one fears God’s immense power to harm him, one worships God to please him. Second, one thinks that by pleasing God, he might gain materially because God will use his power to benefit him. So, one worships God. Third, one is so overwhelmed and awed by God’ immeasurable diversity, size and beauty of the entire Creation that one worships God out of great respect. Fourth, one tends to develop love and affection for the great power that he respects so much. Fifth, one worships God to forget the earthly, material losses and sorrows. Sixth, one worships God because he wants to participate in the race among people who worship God. Seventh, one worships God because he wants feel the presence of God in his Self. I worship God for some of the above reasons. But I think I worship my God in the sense that I really love to think about and explore God. And, of course, I am at present destined to pray to God.
G: What do you pray To God?
S: I pray that that certain good things happen to my near and ones, to others, to the World and, of course, to me. I also pray that certain bad things do not happen.
G: Does your God listen to you and grant what you pray for?
S: My concept of God allows Him to be aware of everything that happens in this World and therefore of what I pray for. That I pray for is part of the Destiny Principle and therefore part of God’s Creation. Similarly, the extent to which some of my prayers may or may not come true is also part of the process of Destiny Principle. I worship and pray to God notwithstanding my doubt whether God exists to grant my prayers and wishes.
G: This last part of the answer is not very clear. Maybe I should ask you differently. What is your religion?
S: All along I have been declaring myself as Hindu. But that is because of family tradition. No body told me that I should consider something else as my religion.
G: I understand. You did not consciously choose a religion for yourself. But are you religious? Do you follow what Hindu religion preaches?
S: I do participate in some Hindu religious activities. But I cannot really claim to be religious in the popular sense. Nor can I say that I practice what Hindu religion preaches. In fact, I do not have very clear idea what all Hindu religion preaches. From my childhood days, however, I have carried over certain practices followed in my family those days, which many religious Hindus also follow. But following certain so-called Hindu traditions may not mean that I am religious.
G: You seem more like most people who do not know much about their religions. Fine, but you may have read Hindu scriptures, mythologies and holy books.
S: Hindu scriptures are supposed to be written in ancient languages. I do no know these languages. But I read some of these in Bengali and English languages. These are translations and interpretations by authors born in 18th century or later.
G: That is enough for you to be eligible to answer my next set of questions. What do you understand from the saying like “ God appears in every age to protect the good and the weak and destroy the wicket and the strong”?
S: To my mind, it means that God is always there throughout all ages and times and He manifests Himself in various forms in accordance with the Destiny Principle. This Destiny Principle binds him and all his manifestations.
G: Hindus believe in fate and destiny? Your Destiny principle seems to suggest that you believe in fate and destiny.
S: I do not know exactly how different Hindus define fate and destiny. But for me, destiny is the path. Between any two points of time, there is a time interval, however small or large. One of these time points is the initial point of the time interval. The later point is the ending point. Something happens at these two points and during the time interval. The ending point is the destination and the experience and the journey through to the destination point is destiny. The principle governing these experiences and journeys is the Destiny Principle. Nothing happens which is not consistent with this principle. Irrespective of and not because of our belief that we choose or make certain things happen, all things happen only as the fallout of the operation of the Destiny Principle over which no one has any influence or control.
G: But in the end all this means that no one made history and no one can make the future. It is only the Destiny Principle playing out. In that case, how do interpret the saying “ one has the right to do/ act and no right to the consequences of action”?
S: To me this saying means that the right one really enjoys is to do what he is destined to do. It means one has no other option to do as one is destined to do. The second part of the saying means that one cannot change the outcome or the consequence of what one does. It does not matter whether one can predict with certainty or with some stochastic confidence, the outcome of an action. If one cannot really choose an action but do what he is destined to do, the consequences of actions are not also within his control. The relationship between a person’s actions and what lies ahead in the future is not definitive. The intended consequence of a person’s actions may or may not be realized. It all depends on the interactions among so many sub-processes of the Destiny Process of which a person’s action is a also a sub-process.
G: But to act or do something you need some motivation.
S: Yes. Desires and capability within lead to an action. No one without desire and capability can act. But desires and capabilities one has is not his choice but imparted to him by the process of Destiny Principle. If you have certain desires imparted in you and certain capabilities in you, in a given situation you can act only in a certain ways. That is what we are doing all the time. These desires imply a desired outcome or consequences. The desired outcomes may not exactly match the actual outcomes or consequences. The consequences cannot be avoided even if they include some that was not part of the desire motivating an action or intended consequence of an action.
G: Do you have desires?
S: Yes, I do. But the number of desires has come down with age. And, most of my desires have always been of week intensity to spur me into action to get them fulfilled. The intensity of desire is important for the intensity and quality of action.
G: You have a desire to discuss all this with me.
S: Yes, I do. This desire is linked to my desire to explore God.
G: Why do you upload all this on your web page?
S: There is a week desire that some other persons like you may interact with me to help my exploration of God.
G: Why don’t you circulate your thoughts on these to many more by publishing a book? Why are you not trying to get your ideas across to many people?
S: Ii seems that I am destined not have that desire. I do not have a strong desire to become an author of such a book. I have no desire to let many people read about what I think. What I think about God may not be interesting or may be completely useless to others.
G: If you know that for sure why do you think about God the way you are doing?
S: I am destined to do that only for my pleasure now.
G: But what is the harm in publishing?
S: No harm to me. But I do not have that desire. If you have that desire, you publish what you discuss with me.
G: Fine. Let us now discuss about you desire to explore God. What is your objective and what is your methodology?
S: My objective is to be in a state where my body, mind and intellect are synchronized and attuned to the knowledge that each and everything in this universe, though apparently different in form and structures, are nothing but finite manifestations of the Infinite Existence. My objective is to be in consonance with that State of Infinite Existence.
G: Can you illustrate this a bit for me to understand you?
S: Yes, take the example of a hypothetical tree. This tree has life. It has a body. It grows. It takes certain things from the environment and gives back certain things from the environment. It, however, does not move, or see or touch or feel or imagine or think or hear or conceptualize or feel or desire or take decisions or actions the way we human beings do. It does not become jealous or happy or sad or feel hurt. We assume therefore that the tree does not have a mind, ego or intellect. It has no knowledge. Let us now assume that it has the knowledge that everything in this Universe is nothing but different manifestations of Infinite existence. It has the knowledge that this knowledge is what runs the Universe. It identifies itself with that knowledge. What will this tree think and do if it is given an intellect and mind. Its mind and intellect will be filled with that knowledge. It will therefore see all things including itself as one and the same, although all are in different forms, acting differently and show different behavior. The knowledge-filled mind and intellect of the Tree will not change the behavior of its body. It will continue to respond to external environment the way it has been doing so long. It will continue to generate flowers, fruits, lose leaves, grow fresh leaves, breath in air, breath out what it does, draw water and food from the soil, remain mentally and emotionally unmoved by rain, storms, extreme temperatures, axing of woodcutters or nests formed by birds on its branches. The Tree can now look at all that it does as its destiny and as part of the process that the Destiny Principle as it plays out. My objective is to attain that state where the Knowledge of oneness with God or Destiny Principle or the entire Universe completely influences my intellect, mind and body.
G: Will you be able to achieve your objective?
S: Maybe not. Maybe I will make some progress towards that and ultimately fail. It all depends on how the Destiny Principle works out in my case.
G: OK. But how will you make progress and measure your progress.
S: I still do not know how I will make progress. But it is easy to make out whether I am progressing or regressing.
G: Why do not you adopt the standard methods of achieving progress towards that state?
S: I will follow the method I am destined to follow. At present, I will only explore the concept of God and Destiny Principle in my mind further and further.