Some of us believe that we have
full control over our lives. However, this may not be entirely true. Destiny or
fate plays a very important role in our lives irrespective of our gender, race,
religion, nationality etc. To explain the concept of destiny, we need to
understand what destiny is. The popular western view is that we are in control
of our lives and everything that happens to us is because of our own choice. On
the other hand, the popular eastern view is that not every thing that happens
to us is under our control and that we are nothing but
puppets in a preordained plan.
However,
neither of these views are completely correct. According to the science of
Spirituality, in the current times 65% of our lives are ruled by Destiny and
35% by wilful action. However, we can overcome the 65% of the Destiny part, by
using the 35% of our wilful action to undertake the correct spiritual practice.
Destiny is when one has no
control over life situations. Wilful action is that portion of ones life,
which is still under ones control.
An
example of wilful action: Let us take an example
of a person who is drunk and has a poorly maintained car. In this state he
decides to drive his car down a steep mountainside, crossing speed limits. He
loses control of his car and skids off the road down the mountainside. Would
that be an accident caused by destiny or wilful action? It would be due to his
wilful action and not due to Destiny as he could have chosen not to drink and
drive. He also had the option of keeping his car well maintained and could have
driven it within the speed limits.
An
example of an event influenced by destiny:
Let us take another example wherein the person does not drink, drives his
well-maintained car carefully, down the same mountainside within speed limits.
All of a sudden, a portion of the road collapses due to a landslide and he
meets with an accident. In this case, the person had no control over the landslide
that occurred and hence this is a destined event.
Destiny heavily influences many
aspects of our lives, such as the decisions that we make, with whom we spend
our lives etc. All major events in our life such as birth, marriage, major
illnesses, accidents and death are pre-destined.
Now, let us see why and how Destiny
is created by us.
Destiny and the rule of
Give-and-Take
According to the Law of Karma,
every positive deed generates a merit while every negative deed generates a
demerit or a sin. Subsequently one has to reap the results of ones deeds as a
part of destiny. Whenever one does a good deed to others, it is bound to give a
positive return (in the form of some happiness). Whenever one inflicts harm, it
is bound to give a negative return in the form of sorrow in some form. It
cannot be undone by a simple Sorry! The law of Karma is infallible. Throughout our lives, we are either
settling an old account i.e. fulfilling our destiny, or creating a new one. If
for some reason, the account cannot be settled in this birth, it gets carried
over to the next birth. We are not consciously aware of the give-and-take
accounts or the destiny that is generated in our previous births.
All major events in our lives
such as the time and place of birth, our spouse, death, etc. occur as planned
in our Destiny. One is born into a particular family, where conditions are
conducive to undergo ones destiny and where one has a significant
give-and-take account with each member of the family. In addition, one also has a different
give-and-take account with different individuals with whom one comes across
such as relatives, close friends, neighbours, colleagues, etc.
If we continue to use our
wilful actions without undertaking spiritual practice then we will keep
accumulating a give and take account thus increasing our destiny, and our
spiritual growth will stagnate. This will keep us trapped in the vicious cycle
of birth and death and away from the basic objective of achieving Liberation.
As Destiny is a spiritual root cause of difficulties in our life, we can nullify or reduce the effects of destiny only by undertaking the spiritual practice most conducive to the times. This is because destiny is completely a spiritual aspect, and can be overcome only with a spiritual remedy, which is undertaking spiritual practice as per the basic principles of Spirituality.
For details about destiny, the
law of Karma, the percentages of give-and-take account with various
individuals, how correct spiritual practice helps reduce the impact of destiny,
how to stop generating new accounts etc. please visit the website of the
Spiritual Science Research Foundation.