Does destiny determine our free will too?

Any other questions? So how do we know the difference between destiny and free will? You may say that, if it rains or not, it is destiny. Whether we carry an umbrella or not, it is a free will.

But whether we will have an umbrella to carry or not, is that also destiny? Yes. Say for example, somebody is too poor to possess an umbrella. Or somebody is suddenly caught in a storm where they don't have an umbrella with them.

So then we could say it is destiny. Broadly speaking, for us in every situation, there is something that is in our control and something that is out of our control. So the scope of what is in our control and scope of what is out of our control varies according to time, place, circumstance.

And we can say whatever is in our control, therein is the scope of our free will. And whatever is out of our control, the way that turns out is destiny. The scopes can vary.

So are the scopes destined? Yes, you could say at one level. I compare sometimes this to a tennis match. In a tennis match, sometimes the player is serving and sometimes the player is returning.

So when the player is serving, they have much more control. They can serve to the forehand, backhand, into the body. When they are returning, they have very little control.

Wherever the ball comes, they have to get their racket there and get the ball back into the court. So for one who is serving and who has more control, right now, they will have to return after some time. And those who are returning will have to serve after some time.

So similarly, by the arrangement of destiny, sometimes you are put in situations where we have greater control and sometimes lesser control. So, yes, the magnitude of what we have control over, that is determined by destiny. For example, sometimes we fall sick.

And then, what we can do, even at that time to, say, take care of our health, if you are told to exercise, we did not even have the strength or the capacity to exercise at that time. But when we were healthy, relatively speaking, we had that capacity. So, our falling sick and thereby decreasing our capacity to control our body, decreasing the scope of our control, that is by destiny.

So when the player is, say, returning, at that time, we could say destiny is more in control and the person's control is much lesser. So we all have situations in our life and sometimes it is up to us to take initiative. Should I do this? Should I do that? Say, for example, you decide, I have two or three career options.

Which career option I choose? There is a time when I can say that I have more free will. That is the time when I am serving. But once I choose a particular job, then the specifics of what kind of work I have to do, what kind of colleagues I will have, what kind of boss I will have, what kind of workload I will have, that is something which is fixed.

So when we commit to a particular job, at that time, we can say we are moving to the position of returning. Whatever is handed to us, we manage that. So sometimes destiny may be so overpowering that a person may just not have access to an umberland and the rain will lash them terribly.

But even in then, there may be some free will. That person may just lose hope and get soaked or might even then find some tree in which they can get a little shelter. That's how this varying interplay of the scope of destiny and the scope of free will, that is what makes karma more complex than what it might now appear at first glance.

Sometimes we say karma is you do action A, you get the reaction B. But it's not necessarily like that. Because in between, destiny may intervene. So some people may eat a lot and still they always remain slim and healthy.

Some people eat little but still they bloat up and become unhealthy. So normally how much we eat reflects on our health and our physical size. But sometimes a person by their past karma may be destined to have a healthy body.

And although A in terms of overeating is there, B in terms of obesity does not manifest in them. That does not mean that A is not having any result. But sometimes by karma or by destiny you could say, when a particular favorable situation is going to come in a person's life, the result of unfavorable actions may not come.

Conversely, a person is trying to have a sickly body and then A is not really any serious problem. The person is eating average food with a little disorientation. And that leads to a big reaction.

So we see that sometimes in some relationships we make some small mistakes and they lead to big misunderstanding. Sometimes we make some big mistakes also and then a person is forgiving, understanding, things don't escalate out of control. So destiny does shape the connection between action and reaction.

And that's why rather than worry too much about whether something was destined or not, we can all simply focus on what is in my control right now. And if we are doing our part well, then we are moving forwards. And sometimes despite our doing our part well, some unfavorable results come, then we understand that.