​How is daiva different from destiny?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Okay, yesterday I was asked a question. I would like to answer that. The mic is going somewhere? Till then I will answer.
The first lecture was titled that Daiva is greater, Daiva is not just destiny. So I did not go into that. What is the difference between Daiva and destiny? So yeah, I did not go into that because it’s slightly technical.
The word destiny in English basically refers to the idea that there are things which are beyond our control and they are just going to happen to us. But when the Bhakti tradition uses the word Daiva, it refers not so much to some unknown, unpredictable, arbitrary force which is going to bring some suffering upon us or bring something happening upon us. We understand that Daiva is something we ourselves create.
Daiva is the aggregate of our own past karma’s reactions which are coming upon us according to a particular plan. So Daiva is a much more philosophically precise concept than the vagueness that is associated with the word of destiny. So in that sense, Daiva is more than destiny.
Yes, there are some factors beyond our control which do shape our life. But those factors are not malevolent. Those factors are not unknown.
Those factors are something which we only have contributed and created. Okay. Yes.
Who has a question? Okay, you can speak. I’ll repeat the question.