Do we have a fixed destiny?
We often say this is my destiny, particularly when things are not going in our favour. Do we truly have a fixed destiny?
Sometimes it feels like the world is unfair to us while favouring others. We encounter many factors beyond our control that significantly impact our lives. Why do some people enjoy the privileges of a wealthy family background, good health at birth, and a normal lifespan, while others suffer from a poor family background, serious health issues from birth, and an untimely death? Is the world truly unfair to some and favourable to others?
These fundamental questions about our lives remain unanswered by science, psychology or philosophy. However, understanding them can significantly change our outlook on life. Our happiness or sadness largely depends on this perspective.
Where do we find answers to these questions? The law of karma, from the wisdom of spirituality, provides insights into these fundamental aspects of our lives. However, our rational minds often refuse to accept them. I consider the law of karma a sound scientific framework that governs everything in our lives ( I have discussed the scientific basis of spiritual knowledge in the chapter “Source of Knowledge” in my book “You Are Free”). Whether we accept it or not, the law of karma is always working on us. If you want to know whether a fixed destiny governs us or if the world is fair or unfair to some, you might like to read the following blog.
Our past actions have shaped who we are today, and our current actions will determine who we become tomorrow. This core lesson from the law of karma explains why we find ourselves in our current situation, whether good or bad, in the context of our lives. We are absolutely responsible for who we are today.
This implicitly means that we have rebirth and our conditions in this life are influenced by our actions in previous lives. Similarly, our actions in this life will affect our future lives. If we think deeply, we might wonder: who is it that is reborn? We understand “I” in the context of our physical body and mind, but if I am reborn, who am I?
I am an ever-existing consciousness. My body is a manifested form of this consciousness. Everything else we see in the physical world and even what we don’t perceive with our senses are manifestations of the same consciousness. We don’t realise ourselves as consciousness because we strongly identify ourselves with our body and mind. It’s similar to the sea and its waves: the sea takes the form of waves, and we call them waves, but they are inseparable from the sea. When the wave disappears, only the sea remains. Similarly, when our physical form disappears, only the consciousness remains. It is consciousness and some subtle manifestation of that ( the energy and causal body) which is reborn to the physical world.
The effects of our karmas (actions, thoughts and emotions) remain in our consciousness as samskaras. These are like ripples on the surface of a lake: they may disappear but not completely and can reappear. As long as samskaras exist in our consciousness, we will continue to manifest in physical forms.
What determines our karma? If you look at yourself, you will realise that there are broadly three factors that determine our karma – our character which is internal to us, the external environment around us and our free will. How does the present karma influence our future? Character, environment and free will determine the current karma and this karma, in turn, shapes our future character and environment, thus establishing a cause-and-effect relationship.
Every action we perform produces an inward impression and an outward impression. The inward impression, which remains as samskaras in our consciousness, moulds our future character. For example, an act of kindness now will strengthen our kind character in future and vice versa. The outward impression that goes out to the environment (akasha), comes back to us as future life experiences following the principle of “as you sow, so shall you reap”. The seemingly uncontrollable factors, such as family background, health condition at birth or an unfortunate incident, are the results of the outward effect of our past karmas.
What is the end of this cycle? Each karma is an opportunity to learn. Karma prepares our mind for the supreme knowledge. Eventually, our mind will become pure and we will realise our true nature of oneness with Cosmic Consciousness. Until we reach that level, we need to keep learning. Life experiences are opportunities to dispel our ignorance and they come in such a way that eventually our mind becomes ready for the supreme knowledge.
Spiritual wisdom divides karma into three levels. Sanchita karma is the overall backlog of all karma which we need to complete before we can attain the supreme knowledge. In a given physical life, we have only a part of this entire backlog which is called Prarabdha karma. Prarabdha governs our current life. Our actions in this life will produce more karma which is called Agami karma. This will get added to our backlog.
This is how we find ourselves in the cycle of karma and rebirth. What is the way out of this cycle? Free will. How we use our free will determines what kind of person we become and what life experiences we get.
We have one of the two options to follow – one is slow and one is fast. The rate of slowness and fastness can vary significantly from person to person. The slow path is our normal way of living. Without much understanding of who we are and what the purpose of life is, we go through life performing good and bad actions. This way, we make very slow progress, although eventually, karma will lead us to ultimate freedom. However, the time will be longer and depends on our current progress. According to spiritual wisdom, it could be millions of years!
Spiritual practices can accelerate the slow path and make it faster. Practices like meditation and kriya can burn karma from our backlog, accelerating our progress. As we develop spiritually, we will make fewer mistakes and accumulate lesser karma. When a spiritual practitioner achieves the supreme state of nirvikalpa samadhi in this life, all sanchita and agami karma will be wiped out, meaning there is no need for further birth. The remaining prarabdha will still govern the rest of the practitioner’s life, but it will not have any further influence.
In summary, does the world treat some people unfairly and others more favourably? Though within the span of a single physical life, it may seem like the world favours some while being unfair to others, the truth is that in the scope of our eternal life, everyone has equal opportunities. We are responsible for who we are today and who we will be tomorrow.
Do we have a fixed destiny? In the normal course of life, what we often refer to as destiny is not fixed and is shaped by our actions. The only destiny that is truly fixed is the realization of the supreme truth. Our karma guides us toward this ultimate destiny. However, the path to this destiny will vary from person to person and will be determined by how we exercise our free will.
References:
- Practice of Karma Yoga by Swami Sivananda
- Karma Yoga by Swami Vivekananda