How do our present actions affect the results when our happiness and distress are fixed by destiny?
Transcript
Disclaimer: This transcript was generated using AI and may contain occasional errors or inaccuracies.
Question, how does our present karma affect the results when our happiness and distress are fixed by destiny? Answer, when we say the happiness and distress are fixed by destiny their overall quantity is fixed not their specific form and ultimately what is destiny? Destiny is not something static that is hanging up there in the sky. Destiny is something which we only have created by our own actions. So just as in the past our actions have contributed to our destiny so even the present also contributes to our destiny.
So just as the past actions have reactions the present actions have reactions. Now although the quantity is fixed of the happiness and distress that we are going to get the specific form is not and the specific form can be changed by the way we act or react in this world. And so how exactly this will happen is a little difficult for us to understand in its specifics but in broad principle the whole point is that suppose a person has a stockpile of say one lakh rupees now that person can choose to spend that one lakh rupees on going on some picnic or some free way of freaking out and squander the money or that person can use that money carefully making cautious investments drawing what is necessary for expenditure and then utilizing the remaining money so that the money can be regenerated.
So the one lakh amount which is the asset was fixed but although the one lakh asset is fixed how it is spent will affect the person. Now the person may have one lakh rupees but if that person gets drunk and goes on riding and then not only did the person spend the money but the person meets with an accident also gets in trouble with the law because of driving drunk. So that money is there but on the other hand if the person uses that money to invest carefully and then that person can use that money and not only be in a safer condition in present but also be having better prospects for the future because the money has been invested and it is being returned in a better quantity, greater quantity.
So similarly if we consider destiny to be like a stockpile of karmic reactions here I am taking the example of one lakh amount as a positive karmic reaction as an example for a positive karmic reaction. So our positive karmic reactions are there for us to use but how we use it will vary some person might be born in a wealthy family but that person may just waste everything because of becoming infatuated and spoiled by the wealth that has been so readily achieved without any work. On the other hand another person may have that same wealth and use it carefully.
So the way our past reactions will come upon us is not fixed. Some broad pattern of events may be fixed like at a particular time we may face some major danger at a particular time there may be some good fortune that may come but the specifics of these events are not fixed. The broad contours, the broad principles are fixed but the specifics are not and the changing of the specifics can make a lot of difference in the unfolding of events in this life.
Earlier I have given the example of how a person may be destined to meet with an accident at a particular time but if the person is driving drunk or careless that accident can be fatal but if the person is sober and driving carefully the accident may still be there but the damage, the wounds because of that accident may be lesser. So same way our actions do make difference. Now if you want some scriptural basis for this idea it is Krishna when he is speaking to Arjuna he doesn't speak the Bhagavad Gita in a way as if Arjuna everything is destined.
Krishna tells Arjuna that if you do this this will be the consequence if you do that that will be the consequence and now you choose what you want to do. Krishna also tells when he is talking at the Karmakanda level he is telling that if you don't practice spiritual life, if you don't practice Dharma then you will not get Swarga, you will not get Sukha even in this life because you will become a laughing stock for others. You lose the honor in this life and Swarga in that life.
So Krishna doesn't say oh anyway Arjuna by your destiny you are supposed to go to Swarga so why bother whatever you do Swarga is sure for you. Now Krishna doesn't say that and this is not just at the Karmakanda level even when Krishna is talking so this is Krishna talks about this in second chapter at the start 2.31-3.7 onwards but as Krishna evolves the discussion and he brings it to the level of Bhakti also. So before he brings it to the level of Bhakti he talks about general following of Shastra in 16.23-24 there also he says you do this you will become happy if you do this you will become miserable that means Krishna now is Krishna talking only about long term consequences no he is talking about consequences now also.
So now the whole philosophy of Karma is a complement to our day to day observation of cause and effect. It is not a cancellation of the observation of day to day cause effect. For example if I over eat and I suffer now medical science tells us and common sense tells us that the obvious cause effect correlation is that I have over eaten that's why I have got some digestive upset, digestive problem now stomach upset.
So now in some cases there may be exceptions as I have talked in the earlier Karma Destine lecture because some people are trying to have sickly health so they may not eat appropriately and still get stomach upset and some other people are meant to have good health so they may eat inappropriately and still not get any health problems but the exceptions do not disprove the rule the exception simply prove that there is some other rule also that is involved over here and there are other factors involved but overall the cause and effect that we observe in this world doesn't have to be denied in the name of Karma it is accepted and Srila Prabhupada also did not just go about ascribing destiny to what was caused by a responsibility now when the devotees bungled and made mistakes with respect to acquiring the land for Mumbai temple Prabhupada was angry with them he did not say this is all destiny he wanted to train them and correct them now if our actions in this life don't have any consequences then the whole idea of scriptures asking us to behave responsibly and scriptures also telling that these actions had these consequences that these consequences came from these actions that becomes meaningless so it's a compliment not a cancellation compliment means that in this life sometimes we see cause and effect not producing a not correlating so why they do not correlate then we understand that the karma from previous lives are also involved and how those karmas are involved that is because the karmic reactions are stored as a stockpile of destiny so because of destiny some effects may come even when the cause in this life is not present and because of destiny some causes may not produce effects in this life but overall cause effect principle always works so now in general if I put my hand in fire then is it that by my past destiny my hand got burnt no if I have put my hand in fire the cause is my putting my hand in fire the effect is my hand getting burnt sometimes I may put my hand in fire and at that very moment suddenly maybe the roof cracks open and shower of water falls on the fire and my hand doesn't get burnt so I could say that is by destiny that my hand did not get burnt on the other hand if I am sitting on a chair and suddenly at that very moment an earthquake occurs and the earthquake throws my chair me off the chair and it throws me in such a way at that time I could have my chair on the chair I could have been facing any direction but I am facing in the direction of a fire that is there on the stove in the kitchen and I get thrown on that fire and I get burnt I could say that is my destiny because there was no direct cause in my case for me to go into the fire so the principle of destiny we bring in as a complement to the cause-effect correlation that we find in this world it is not a cancellation of the cause-effect correlation and most importantly instead of splitting our hair over what is right and how destiny plays out in our life what we should focus on is what is the best course of action for me right now so that we understand through guru sadhu shastra and through prayerful consultation of Krishna within our heart and that is what we should act on we should not really get too much into the mode of bothering about what is destiny and what is not destiny you should think more on what is my duty and how I can best execute it thank you.