Can someone be destined for failure?
Can someone be destined for failure? Well, failure is a multi-form word.
What do we mean exactly by failure? Some of us may be in a particular vocation for which we are not really suited. So, somebody is an intellectual and they get into a business field. But they may not really be successful in that field.
They are not made for that. So, it is said that do not judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree. So, if you are going to judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will be a failure.
But if you judge a fish by its ability to swim, it will be successful. So, we can say that by our destiny, we have a particular kind of psychophysical nature. And that makes us more suited for certain things and less suited for certain things.
So, that means in certain areas, we may not be successful. But that does not make us a failure. As I said, failure is an event in our life.
Failure is not our life. So, when we face failures, we basically have various options before us. We perceive we are in the same field, we change to some other field.
Or we just keep doing the same thing again and say, I will go to some other field. Now, what to do in this situation? That depends on our own circumstances, our own intelligence, our own inspiration. Sometimes we feel driven to something, to do something, not just because it is our inspiration, our calling, but it is because the world glorifies, glamorizes that particular activity.
That is why we want to do something. So, if it is social pressure that is inspiring us and impelling us to do something, then, I mean, it is not worthy. We cannot say that somebody is just trying for failure per se.
We all have certain good, certain bad karma which we have to work out in this life. And some people may have more bad karma to work out in good karma. But that does not necessarily mean that their life has to be a failure.
Certain vocations may not work out in their life. Ultimately, life success is how we go towards Krishna. So, if we are taking shelter of Krishna, even if our life is repeatedly a failure in the material life, if that failure makes us take shelter of Krishna, then that is the ultimate success.
In Jatayu, he was killed. That was a failure. But he was serving the Lord.
And the Lord, He blessed him that, the Lord performed the last rites and he was healed. So, from the ultimate perspective, material failure or material success is not the most consequential. We focus on Krishna and try to serve Him, then we will be guided how to make the best of whatever life hands to us.