Is our life duration determined by past karma?

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So, if our duration of life is determined by past karma and if, say, they went to live for 30 years and somebody dies at the age of 30 and that’s why the person has to stay as a ghost for 50 years, then is their dying at the age of 30 also determined by past karma? See, destiny is not something which is completely set out in iron. Destiny is dynamic. It is not static.
It’s not like, it’s like a weather forecast that rains are going to come but whether I’m going to get fever because of the rains or not. You know, if I go into the rains foolishly, without any protection and just let myself get soaked for hours together, then I get fever. So, it’s not that every single thing that is going to happen to us is destined.
Now, certain things will happen to us, but our response to those things will also determine the magnitude of the gravity of that event happening. So, even this whole idea that our exact number of breaths are fixed that also, that’s one fact. But even we can’t just take one fact and absolutize it.
One statement from scripture and absolutize it. In scripture itself, there is Ayurveda. Ayurveda is the Veda of Ayu.
The whole idea is to increase your Ayu. If our Ayu is fixed then how can the Ayurveda increase the Ayu? The whole idea is that there are certain actions which when done, they will enable us to live more healthily and the body is a machine. So, if it’s well maintained, it will live longer.
So, we can’t take one fact and absolutize it. Yes, it is a fact that generally, I have got a whole three-part seminar on destiny because it’s a very carefully understood destiny concept. So, that’s one thing.
We should not think that, like one devotee is asking me, his doctor has told him to exercise, to jog, because he has got heart problems. But some other devotee told him that if you jog, you are breathing faster. If you are breathing faster, then you will die.
Because now, this is ridiculous reasoning. The Pandavas they would exercise every day in the forest. Now, the Kshatriyas they have to maintain their bodies and their exercise is not just going for a stroll in the forest.
They would do physically severe exercises. So, it’s not that we have to take one principle and absolutize it. That is the first point.
So, taking that point further, some souls, because we do have free will and our free will affects how we function. So, when some devotees were going on good distribution, while they were going on good distribution at that time, they just drove very fast, very recklessly. Sometimes the devotees have this idea that I am doing this for Krishna.
Krishna will take care of everything. Yes, Krishna will take care of everything but one way Krishna takes care is by giving us intelligence about how to take care. Isn’t it? So, if there is a red signal and I just run through the red signal, Krishna will take care.
Well, Krishna has given you intelligence to take care. So, some of these devotees drove very recklessly and unfortunately they met with an accident and they died. Several devotees died in that bus party accident and when the news came to Prabhupada, all the devotees were very grief struck.
Some of the devotees asked Prabhupada, was it their destiny? Prabhupada inquired about the circumstances Prabhupada said, it is their irresponsibility. They should have been driving more carefully. So, by our misuse of free will, by our acting irresponsibly, we can worsen things and we are meant to take care of things.
So, same way, suicide is one way by which we can cut short, by misusing our free will, we can weaken or strengthen our body by the way we handle it. Similarly, we can destroy our body. It is interesting that I gave a seminar in Ohio State University on the topic of suicide.
So, actually only one out of ten suicides are successful suicides. Now, what do you mean by successful suicide? Because suicide itself is a defeat. But when people try to commit suicide, somehow things don’t work out.
You know, they decide to do something and then somebody comes along and this happens, that happens and they don’t commit suicide. So, even sometimes we may decide, somebody may decide to do it, it may not work out. So, the point here is that we do have free will.
We don’t have absolute free will. I may decide to commit suicide, but I may not be able to commit also. You know, I tie my leg to a rope and the rope breaks.
Or there is one boy who tied his back to a fan and the fan only broke. Right now. So, sometimes, in every situation in our life, there is something which is in our control and something which is not in our control.
And, so suppose somebody commits suicide. We have the free will and by using our free will sometimes we may destroy our body. So, if I destroy my body, then, because I have prematurely destroyed my body, I do not get an next body.
So, it’s not, ok, you could say that I was just trying to live for 80 years, but that question, that statement itself has to be carefully understood. It cannot be made into absolute truth. It has to be counterbalanced with other things.
How we act also matters. But even if somebody assumed that just for simplicity, we take it mathematically this way, somebody is meant to live for 80 years and then they destroy their body when they are 30. Then for the remaining time duration, they will not get a next body.
And that’s how they may get, they may have to exist in a disembodied state. And Sri Prabhupada also explained that suicide is not the only way. Sometimes some people live very much in Tamoguna, in the lower modes.
They may also get a ghost, they may not get a physical body in the next