If God’s inscrutable will is good for everyone,what’s wrong with letting whatever is happening happen?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

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Does this answer the question? If the inscrutable will of the Lord is good for everyone, then what’s wrong with the attitude that whatever is happening, let it happen? See, there are two different things over here. Whatever is happening and what am I doing? There are two different things. So, before the Kurukshetra war, Vidura desperately tries to persuade Dhritarashtra to stop Duryodhana from antagonizing the Pandavas.
So, at that time, Dhritarashtra tries to take recourse of the argument of destiny. And he says, if it is the will of almighty destiny that our dynasty be destroyed, then who am I, a tiny mortal, to stop the will of almighty destiny? Now, Vidura cuts through Dhritarashtra’s rationalizations. And Vidura says, okay, destiny determines the consequences of our actions, not our actions themselves.
Destiny determines the consequences of our actions, not our actions themselves. Now, if a student does not study for the exam, the parents say, why are you not studying, you will fail. No, it is my destiny to fail.
And it is not your destiny to fail, it is your irresponsibility. So, that means our actions are for us to choose. So, the implication over there is, Vidura is saying, Dhritarashtra, yes, if it is the will of destiny, it may happen.
But the important thing is, are you doing your duty? What is your duty as the head of the Kuru family? You know, your duty is to not, to protect your nephews also. You are like a father for them. They don’t have a father.
So, what is your duty? So, in our life, there are two aspects. One is that things are going to happen, they are not in our control. And we have to accept what is happening.
So, as I talk about resentment, overcoming resentment, that is analysis of that. But there is also, there are things which are in our control, and we are meant to do them. And if we don’t do them, we are irresponsible.
So, what is happening is by the Lord’s will. But that does not mean that whatever is happening is, it does not deserve any response from our side. No, we have to see what is my duty and what is my response in that situation.
I will give another example to conclude this answer, that you most of us know the incident when Kamsa tried to lock off the head of Devaki. He caught her by the hair. And at that time Vasudev was trying to stop Kamsa and he was using various arguments.
So, one of the arguments he uses is, oh Kamsa, if you are destined to die, then who can avoid destiny? And what will you gain by committing such a grievous activity of killing your own sister in order to avoid destiny which is unavoidable? Now, Vasudev could very well have turned his argument around and he could have said that if Devaki is destined to die, she is going to die. Why am I trying to persuade Kamsa? He didn’t do that. Why not? Because the point is not, the Vedic culture of spiritual wisdom is not destiny centred.
It is duty centred. So, sometimes we may do our best duty and still the result may not come. Then we understand that it is by destiny.
So, Vasudev was sticking to his duty and he did not use destiny as an argument for giving up his duty. His duty was to protect his wife. On the other hand, Kamsa was giving up his duty, was doing the opposite of his duty just to try to protect his wife.
So, what was Vasudev doing? Vasudev was trying to get Kamsa back to remind him of his duty. So, destiny and duty both are there in our life. Both are there present in our life.
And our focus is that we always do our duty. But sometimes when our duty does not provide the result, we understand that destiny is not favourable, so I’ll accept it. But just because the destiny is not favourable doesn’t mean that I don’t do, I just don’t attempt to do my duty also.
We should always do our duty. So, the inscrutable will of the Lord is for everyone’s good. But what is the second part of it? He says, if you do his will, then you will understand this in due course.
So, there is something which I also have to do and that is do my duty, do my material duty, do my devotional duty. And by that, that will work out for the good. So, if I don’t do my duty, then it may not work out for the good.
It’s like the doctor is doing the surgery, that is for my good. But if I don’t take the pain medicine, if I don’t take the proper medicines, then that surgery may actually cause, may not work out, may not be good. So, we accept things which are beyond our control as the will of destiny.
But we do that which is our control as our duty. That’s how we can harmonize duty and destiny together. Okay.
So, thank you very much. Aishwarya Prabhupada ki. Jai.
Gaur Bhakta Vrindaki. Jai. Sai Gaur Prema Anandi.
Jai.