Is destiny inescapable Dasratha’s Curse Ramayana ACT acro || Houston || Chaitanya Charan || 11.5.23

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
So the speaker is late. A good speaker takes responsibility.
A bad speaker blames the driver. And the worst speaker blames the GPS. So I’ll speak today on the theme of destiny.
And the theme will be, does destiny leave room for free will and for responsibility? I’ll speak based on the Ramayana. And… I hope this is visible. Is it there also? Let me see if we change this.
Is this better? Yes. Okay. So, we’ll be discussing that if… So, first of all, are some things distinct? We’ll discuss that then.
And at this time, does that mean that the people who are involved, because of whom those things happen, or to whom those things happen, is it that they have no choice about it at all? Are they not responsible? Can they do nothing about it? And… When I travel across the world, I come across many different devotees and different people, and they talk about their different issues. And in that time, I’ll try to offer them some counsel, guidance. I’ll also try to see how… there are situations that may be similar in our spiritual.
So, for example, say two people have a conflict. Two people have a misunderstanding. It could be within a family.
It could be within a community. It could be within two leaders. And then you can see that almost this thing happened, and this thing happened, and that thing happened.
And almost things seem to be moving in a way as if it was destiny. And then you can say, was this conflict just unavoidable? Was this confrontation, was this breakdown, just unavoidable? So, sometimes when something happens, after that, some devotees, some people in the world have seen those who say, it was only destiny, what can you do about it? So, to what extent that when things happen, can you say that they are due to destiny? So, before I start, let me begin with a question. So, how many of you have heard of the word destiny before? Others have not heard of the word destiny? I was giving a class over there, one person, a person sitting right in front of me raised his hand.
Have you not heard of the word destiny? He says, it was by the will of destiny, he said. Okay, so if you have heard the word destiny, let’s begin by, let’s share your understanding of what do you think destiny means. Any thoughts? What is destiny? Pre-programmed life.
Pre-programmed life. It means you are saying that destiny means that our life has been programmed beforehand. Okay.
It’s a disturbingly precise definition. I will explore it. Yes, please.
I heard destiny is the height and will is the weight. Okay, it’s an example. So, you could say, Okay, so you could say, so destiny, what you are trying to say, it’s a good example.
Destiny. So, you can say that destiny determines our height that we can’t change. But then, our free will that determines our weight.
So, that means there are some things we can change and some things we can’t change. So, destiny, what you are saying is, it does leave some room for freedom. So, it does not control everything.
It’s a good example. Yes. Destiny is that part of our Sanchita Karma body, Prarabdha, that we are going to work out in this particular life.
Okay. It is, it is, it is a good answer that raises more questions. Okay.
So, if you are saying Sanchita Karma, part of Sanchita Karma which is? Prarabdha. Prarabdha. So, it raises multiple questions about what is Sanchita Karma, what is Prarabdha.
But, so basically we have a stockpile of past karma and out of which the Prarabdha is a part. So, you could put it this way, that we all carry some baggage with us from the past. So, some of us have check-in baggage, some of us have carry-on baggage.
More or less. But then within that, there is something which comes to us. So, the overall baggage is Sanchita Karma.
And something from that which comes out to us in this life, this is the Prarabdha. And you are saying, this is destiny. That’s, I won’t go to technicalities, but definitely we will try to explore this.
Anything else? Yes, please. Analysation of endeavour plus divine intervention. That will be the factor which will determine the result, isn’t it? So, how is that destiny or amalgamation of endeavour plus divine intervention.
Okay. Fair enough. In fact, you know, you could say the word destiny itself has many meanings.
One is, say, for example, if somebody is a very talented sports player, maybe somebody is a very talented cricket player, or somebody is a talented musician, whatever, music player, and then they grow up and say that person, somebody is a talented cricket player, that person gets selected to a cricket team and scores a century, or does very well. Then you may say, you have fulfilled your destiny. So, there, in that sense, when we use the word fulfil your destiny, that means that the destiny can mean there that which was potential.
And then it became actual. Now, can we say sometimes we may say some people are beast in talents. They have a lot of talent, but they don’t have much discipline.
And then they don’t really do well in their lives. Then we say, you have so much potential. You do not necessarily know you have not fulfilled your destiny, but your destiny is beckoning you, your destiny is calling you.
There is so much more you can do, use in that sense. So, we were using it as that which is meant to happen. So, are you using this in the second sense? So, when we endeavour, and then there is some set of factors that work together.
And then things work out. So, that was destiny. Okay.
So, any other thoughts about destiny? Destiny? Reactions to our past deeds. That’s karma, isn’t it? Okay. We’ll come to this.
Reactions to past deeds. We’ll explore this. Thank you.
So, now, say, Okay. One or two more answers, then we’ll move forward. Predetermined course of events.
Predetermined course of events. Beyond human control. Okay.
So, is it similar to pre-programmed life? Predetermined. So, predetermined course of events. Beyond human control.
Yeah, beyond human control. Good way of putting it. It’s a good combination of answers.
Any last comment anyone has? Any of the Mataji’s? I don’t know if this fits, but whatever choices we make early will decide our future. Okay. So, that would be karma, isn’t it? So, karma and destiny are somewhat different concepts.
So, choices determine results. There is something which comes in destiny here also. And we’ll discuss that.
Some role destiny plays in this. We’ll talk about it. Yes, please.
So, the endeavour and divine intervention looks more like endeavour is the free will of the soul and divine intervention is the free will of the Supreme Soul. Okay. That’s a nice way of putting it.
God’s will is also free, supremely free. Thank you. So, this is human free will and this is divine free will.
Yes, please. Something that’s not in our control. We might want to be having it or not, but still we have no control over it.
We have to. Okay. Basically, things beyond our control.
So, yes, thank you. These are all very good points. You know, my encounter with this concept of destiny happened right in my childhood.
Some of you may notice that I need crutches for walking. So, when I was about one, I was given a polio vaccine. I was living in a small town in India.
In the middle of India and Maharashtra. And there, basically the hospital, the clinic where the vaccine was given, some of the previous day, the electricity had gone off. Because of that, the fridge where the vaccine was supposed to be kept, the fridge’s power had gone off and the vaccine, the germs within that increased beyond capacity.
So, the vaccine ended up giving me the disease. And I have an uncle in America. I don’t remember his address.
I was less than one at that time. So, when he came to know about this, the first thing he said, he should sue the doctor. But then, my father is a very stoic kind of person.
My father said, what is the use now? It’s already done. It’s destiny. So, which was an interesting way of looking at it.
But then, my first memory of this is that probably I was two and a half, three or something like that. Where some neighbours had come to our home and neighbours or relatives, whatever it is, that part of the memory is fuzzy. But they were consoling my mother saying, it’s so sad that your son got polio.
And I remember my mother’s voice being clear, confident, saying that whatever he lacks physically, God will provide him with the ritual. So, probably I was two and a half, three. I don’t know what intellectual side I had shown at that time for my mother to make a statement like that.
But somehow, because of that statement, I never identified with my physical side so much. So, of course, I couldn’t play with other kids. But I could study, I could read, I was good at my studies.
And my self-identification with my intellectual side became much more. And that’s how I was able to move forward. So, the theme that we’re going to discuss today, that we are the makers of our destiny.
But we are not the masters of our destiny. We are the makers of our destiny. I’ll explain what this means as we move forward in the talk.
Makers means that our actions do shape the destiny that we’re going to have in the future. But we are not the masters. We are not fully in control.
So, I’ll discuss this based on the Ramayana. And then we’ll come back to how it applies in practical life. So, in the Ramayana, is there any incident that you can think of which plays out almost as if it’s the will of destiny? Or some character says, oh, this was the will of destiny.
When it starts happening. Mantra. Okay, who says that it is the will of destiny? Maybe Dashrath? Dashrath, yes.
Mantra is also a part of it. But basically, Dashrath, what happens is he is cursed. Most of us know that story.
I won’t go into the great details of it. But Dashrath is a king and he goes out hunting. And while the king had to be ready to defend their citizens.
So, they had to hone their skills. And only a certain amount of training can be done with fixed targets. So, just like now, aircraft pilots have to learn.
They can learn only this is an aircraft, fighter aircraft is there. You can do some other simulation. But you actually need field runs to be able to train effectively.
So, the kings would train for fighting by going hunting. And there are different things they would try in hunting. So, one of the particular skills that Dashrath was trying out at that time was the skill of attacking only by sound.
Of shooting a target. Because it’s not necessary that when you are fighting, the enemy will attack from the front. Sometimes the enemy may attack in the dark.
So, we can’t see. So, we have to be able to detect by sound. So, he was practising that skill.
And he had chosen a desolate lake, a desolate part of a forest, where there were practically no human beings in that area. Human beings would not frequent that area. So, whatever comes here would be an animal.
And he would shoot that animal. And he was lying concealed, waiting. And then he heard the sound of water being lapped up from the lake.
And within a twitching of a fist, took a bow, took his rosy bow and placed it there and shot. And then he shot. He could hear the sound of an arrow thudding into flesh.
And there was a moment of exaltation as he had hit the target. But that exaltation turned to utter horror when he heard not any animal screaming, but a human sound. He jumped up and ran and he saw there was just a young boy lying over there.
And the young boy said that in the last that he said that I was carrying my blind parents and they were extremely thirsty. So I came searching for water over here. Can you please go and get the water? So, in the same way he just lived his life.
So at that time this boy was, what was his name? Shri Ram Kumar. So, then Dashrath Maharaj did that and although Dashrath Maharaj was striving to sense by sound but the parents were blind and they could already sense by sound. He said, hey, you are not sure.
He could sense by the very footsteps, by the very demeanour that he could sense. He told them what had happened. And they were so aghast.
They said that the father was like a sage and he said that your father, the king is meant to protect citizens. And you have killed my son who was our only shelter. What is the point? We will not even live without him.
We are going to die. And heartily they said to end their lives. But then before that he cursed him saying that for the pain that you have caused I curse you that you will suffer similar pain and you will die in separation from your son.
But the sage did not say this. Shri Ram’s father did not say this in a mood of anger or vengefulness. It was more in the sense of you need to account for what you have done.
So now this had happened many many years ago. And Narsad Maharaj remembered this much later. Now we wonder if we have killed someone accidentally how can you possibly forget that? Killing itself is a terrible thing.
Killing someone accidentally is a terrible thing. It is much it is still bad. It is terrible.
I have friends who are cops. In America there is a lot of concern about violence by cops especially if it is unwarranted or it is targeted against particular communities. But this is not that.
You know every person that I have attacked, if I have wounded I still remember the face of that person. That memory is etched within me. In fact soldiers who go out to fight often they get PTSD because those memories stay with them.
So in this case Dashrath Maharaj seemed to have forgotten that. Now of course he was a king with heavy responsibilities. He had fought many wars.
And it had happened many years ago. So sometimes the memory is a mysterious thing. Which details we remember and which details we forget.
That is very difficult to see. Yes. I am sorry to interrupt.
But Dashrath Maharaj’s intent was not that. That intent was not that and his intent was only to train himself. And he had made sure that there is no one else.
And even if it happens after that why would he get cursed for that? That’s a good question. See the Maharaj talks about this in his general ethical theory. That generally the ethics, ethics means the rightness or wrongness of action.
Whether action is right or wrong. That is determined by broadly three factors. One is the content of the action.
What actually we did. The other is the intent of the action. Why we did what we did.
And the third is the consequence of the action. And each of these three matters in its own way. And in different situations, different things may be prioritised.
Some actions some people operate under the idea that only one of these matters. So this, only this matter, this is called as categorical ethics. So categorical ethics means that this is right and this is wrong.
So for example, speaking lies is bad, speaking truth is good. That’s categorical ethics. But then, there’s a variety is coming to target people from particular community and we have a friend in that community.
And then that friend comes running to our house and we please him. And we get that friend hiding in our basement. And those rioters come and knock it down.
Is he here? What should we do at that time? Should we speak the truth? No. No? Is that so confusing? Is that question so difficult or are you so exhausted? So, yeah? I mean, little connected but this is how… No, wait, wait, wait. We’ll make a different comment.
We should not speak the truth, isn’t it? No, that’s what I was coming to. Truth, if somebody wants to put it in the right… I don’t know how to say it in the right word. So, a reference to Mahabharata where it says, अश्वत् धामा खताः नरोवा कुञ्जरोवा Now, what was that? Okay, so you are making me topic question.
You are taking me away from the discussion. Anyway, that is one part of it. There is categorical ethics.
This is right, this is wrong. But there is another kind of ethics which is called as contextual ethics. Now, contextual ethics means that we can’t just decide what is right and wrong based on that particular action itself.
We have to look at a bigger context. So, what happened before? What happened afterwards? So, when, for example, this is a particular instance that you are talking about. We’ll come to that.
So, when अश्वत् धामा when Dhritarashtra was told that अश्वत् धामा has been killed, now that was in one sense a lie. अश्वत् धामा was alive. But, Dhritarashtra had spoken to King Dronacharya to stop fighting.
Because Dronacharya at that time had become extremely enraged. Because Dronacharya was the commander and as the commander he had promised Duryodhana that I’ll arrest Yudhishthira. And that’s why he had formed a chakra.
And when he had formed the chakra view, he had been not going to get Yudhishthira, but he had got Abhimanyu. That was the 13th day. And the 14th day, Arjuna single-handedly has penetrated through the entire military arrangement and had killed Jagannath.
So, now this was not only a devastating defeat for the Kauravas, it was also a disgrace for their commander. I think the entire army couldn’t defend even one person. Just one person.
And Duryodhana had launched a no holds barred attack on Drona. And he always had this that if you are not sincere, if you don’t want to fight because you are affectionate with the Pandavas, then please step down. Let Karna become the commander.
Karna has promised to keep him. This is unbearably painful for any honourable person. It is one thing to tell that you are not good enough for this, but to tell that somebody who was very junior, that person is better than you.
So, Drona had just lost his temper. And he started fighting fiercely. And not only fighting fiercely at that time, he had started using celestial weapons against ordinary soldiers.
And that was such a serious violation of war codes, that even the sages had appeared in the sky. And the sages told, Drona, what are you doing? Stop. This is close fighting.
So, it was at that time Krishna said that the way Drona is fighting today, if you don’t stop him, he will destroy an entire army. So, the point is when Drona started using celestial weapons against ordinary people, that is something like say, in today’s war. There are multiple wars going on right now.
And there are nuclear weapons available. Fortunately, nobody has used them till now. But, against ordinary civilians, somebody started using weapons of mass destruction.
That is a heinous thing to do. So, that’s what Drona had done. And that’s why Krishna said he will stop him.
So, basically now here things become more complicated. Then, the plan was made. The plan was never to kill Drona.
The plan was primarily to curb Drona. So, Arjuna’s plan was that Drona will become dejected and he will lower his weapons. And then we will place him under house arrest.
Arjuna had never wanted to fight any Bhishma and Drona. Already Bhishma he had to kill. He didn’t want to do this.
And, the plan seemed to be going accordingly. But then, when Drona lowered his weapon, there was one person who just sprang in. Who was that? Dhristadyumna.
And, Dhristadyumna had been fighting, fighting, fighting with Drona. He just didn’t seem to be able to win against Drona. And, he was frustrated.
So, he just raced towards Drona and Drona praised him. And, when everybody realised what he was trying to do. On both sides, Arjuna said, Dhristadyumna, stop! On the other side, Nagarjuna asked, what are you doing? Stop! But, Dhristadyumna was blinded by frustration and he charged forward.
And, he lopped off the head of Drona. Now, later on, after this happened, Duryodhana told Ashwathama that the Pandavas had planned in cold blood to kill your father. And, that is why eventually Ashwathama said, you killed my father when he was not conscious.
That means, I will kill your sons when they are not conscious. Or, I will kill your entire army when they are not conscious. In fact, I will kill you when you are sleeping.
So, he thought, you deserve this. So, the thing was that in this case, the intent was not bad. If you look at the bigger context, they wanted to end the war.
At least, they didn’t want Drona to do further terrible things and harm their army. But, the intent might be good, but sometimes the consequences work out terribly. Sometimes life happens in a different way.
The intent might be bad, but the consequences come out good also. So, life is complicated. So, in Categorical Ethics, basically, there are two further sections in this.
This terminology is Western, but the principles are still Vedic. One is Consequentialist Ethics. That means that we look at what is the consequence and then we decide.
If this consequence is good, then we should do it. And, Krishna also talks about it at times. When he says, for example, Utsideyon me loka, mahurya karmachitaham, sankarsa chakartasam, bhanyama prajaham.
So, Arjuna, if you do not fight, then everybody will follow you. And, if people follow your actions, then society will go into disruption. And, therefore, you should do your duty.
You can look at the consequence. And, Vishadanya says, Consequence, don’t fight. So, this is 3.22-24. Now, there is also the idea that we should look at the intent.
And, this is where sometimes we say, that if somebody is devoted to the Lord, then that means that intention is good. And, if that intention is good, even if they do something bad, we shouldn’t criticise them. So, this is where the intent, this is called virtue ethics.
We look at the virtuous nature of the person looking at action. And, therefore, we say that action is not wrong. But, life is complicated.
The whole Mahabharata is basically a search for understanding what is Dharma, what is the right thing to do. And, it is not easy. It is complicated.
So, basically, the Bhagavad Gita’s understanding is that we focus, we try to connect ourselves with the Lord and act in the mode of service to Him. It’s a complicated subject. But, the point is that ethical issues are not very easy to resolve.
But, if you understand that, ultimately, the Lord has a plan and we are meant to play a part in that plan, then we act accordingly. So, what they did at that time to answer your question is that was based on the intent. You could say it was to deceive.
But, the intent was also to minimise the damage. But, things didn’t work out according to plan. Now, coming back to your question that suppose a doctor gives some medication and the medication has some side effects.
Is the doctor responsible? Well, it depends. If the patient dies, at the very least, there has to be an investigation. And, the patient dies and could the doctor have… Was it because the patient did not reveal their cases? Was it that the doctor couldn’t figure out that there was a complication? So, in real life, things are complicated.
So, Darshad Marat’s intention was to… Intention might not have been bad at that time. But, that’s what happened. So, now this is the question.
Was that act itself destined? That he should shoot a child and then be cursed by that? Was it destined? Could he have avoided that? Maybe, if he had been training not just the sound of the drinking of the water. Or, basically, if he had been more trained, then when an animal yaps up water and a human being puts a vessel, Shravan was not yapping up water. Like a dog takes from a play, a bowl will be put in front of it.
He was… He put a container with drinking water. The sound is different. Maybe he could or should have noticed that sound difference.
So, exactly what was the degree of culpability? That can be debated. So, generally speaking, when some bad things happen, or when some mistakes happen, mistakes can be because of various causes. And we can’t really precisely determine what was the cause of the mistake.
So, we have to have a whole different seminar on mistake management. So, basically, we have to try to become as fit as possible. Fit means that in general, when mistakes happen, they can happen because of finiteness.
Which is true. None of us can know the future. So, those mistakes which happen because of finiteness, like a doctor gives a prescription and it has some side effect.
Now, suppose there are no medical papers in which it will be published at all. So, this is the first time this has happened. So, we are finite.
We don’t know what the future is going to be. So, what can we do about it? Sometimes, the mistakes happen because of our ignorance. Then, we try to counter our ignorance.
Okay, the doctor said, I understand this medicine, but there was some paper which was published about this particular side effect in this particular case. I had not read that paper. I was not aware of it.
So, I should become more well-read. And sometimes, mistakes happen because of our thoughtlessness. When we didn’t think clearly.
Hey, I should have thought about this. I didn’t think about it and that’s when the mistake happened. So, say we are driving a car and the car slips off the road and there is an accident.
Then, why did it happen? Maybe my car’s tyres were worn out. Maybe my car was not serviced properly. I should have thought about servicing.
I didn’t service it. Life is like that. But the point is that it should not have caused.
So, how much time do we have? I am definitely going to continue without your permission. But how much time? So, I am calling you. Tell me.
Are you sure? Because we also came late. I don’t want to delay this. If you want to serve prasadam, I am quite okay with that.
I can serve prasadam and you can continue your talk. You are able to serve prasadam here? Yes, we can serve there. Serve there means? We want to continue while serving prasadam.
So, you tell me how we want to go ahead. What was the timing of the programme? I think I can stay late until 1 and maybe I can take a break before the next time. Okay.
How many of you? We can take a few minutes break and you can serve the prasadam and come back. Are you okay with continuing till 1 and we all order prasadam at 1? Yes. See, when you ask a question like that, those who have to go, what is going on, can’t do anything.
Kids can come. Yes, maybe kids can be taken. You can ask me.
I can serve them there. So, those of you who are feeling hungry, please don’t hesitate. You can go ahead and have the food.
Okay. So, we have gone in a different direction and I am not going to cover the whole topic today but let’s focus on what we are discussing right now. So, now, later on, when Kaikeyi did everything through mantra’s influence, through mantra influenced Kaikeyi and she convinced her that there was a conspiracy.
And when that conspiracy happened, or she thought there was a conspiracy and because of that, she made her own conspiracy. And she demanded that Ram exile Kaikeyi. That Ram, that Ram be exiled and Bharat be made the king.
Dashrath was devastated. How could you, how could you even ask for something like this? And he begged her, if you want Bharat to be the king, let him be the king. But don’t send Ram.
I want you to live without him. Now, Kaikeyi had given coach’s mantra. He said that if Ram is there in the kingdom, Bharat will not accept the kingship.
Even if he accepts the kingship, the citizens, the coaches will not accept it. It’s essential that Ram has to be sent out. And that’s why Kaikeyi became very cold about it.
And Dashrath Maharaj was bound by those words. He was utterly broken. You know, generally as parents, we don’t want even the slightest pain to come to our children.
And if any pain is coming, we want to protect them from that pain. But then if we become the cause of the pain in the children, it just breaks a parent’s spirit. And Dashrath Maharaj said that I am the protector of the entire kingdom.
I couldn’t protect my own son. I caused pain to my own son. He just lost his will to live.
Now, when Kaikeyi insisted on a demand, he said that I am bound by my own words, so I will give this to you. But because you have demanded something that is broken as family apart, he says, I have nothing to do with you. I have rejected you as my wife.
Kaikeyi had become so cold by that time. She was not affected by that. But then when he was talking with Kaushalya, at that time, he was trying to figure out why did this happen? What did I do wrong? He said, I always treated Kaikeyi kindly.
I treated her affectionately. More affectionately than anyone else. Why would she do like this to me? And that’s when he remembered this to me.
When he was with Kaushalya, the wife whom he had neglected all this time, she was there at this time to support him. To be with him. And then he told this incident.
It had been such an embarrassment for him that he had not told it to anyone. He said, that curse is now coming true. Kaushalya was horrified.
She heard this. She was stressed. She was horrified.
She was stressed that all this had happened. She had not been told about it. Horrified at what it meant.
And then it meant that Dashrath was going to die. And that is what eventually happened. Dashrath passed away.
So, now this seems to indicate that curse is that the curse was in one way destiny. The curse was supposed to happen. And so does this mean that KK is not responsible? That Mantra is not responsible? What do you think? They are responsible.
They are responsible. Thank you. So, if you are not doing this, I will be irresponsible.
I got this cough. So, the thing is that destiny even if we say it is going to happen that may be fixed. But how it is going to happen that is not always fixed.
What do you mean by this? That generally I will talk about three principles broadly speaking. And then we will try to wind up this discussion. First is, we talk about general principle of Karma.
That if there is action there will be a certain result of that action. There will be certain reaction of that action. And say if the action is of unit 10 then the result will be also of unit 10.
Say, if you push someone, they move backwards. You push their poles fully, they fall down. So, the magnitude of the action determines the magnitude of the result.
That is general principle. However, real life is complicated. Say, if you push someone and say that person is physically handicapped and we don’t know that.
You just give them a gentle push and they fall. Then what has happened is our action might only be 10 but the result might be 100. And say we push someone and that person is physically handicapped they fall and just behind there happens to be a pointed stone and they fall and crack their head on the stone.
And they get brain damage. There, our push might be as 10 but the result is 10,000. So, now, sometimes a small mistake leads to a catastrophic consequence.
And sometimes a big mistake may also lead to no consequence. One devotee told me that he was very tired. He was driving the car and while driving he fell asleep.
And he was going to the temple. He was telling me in a very different way. He told me that I had to go early in the morning for Mangal Aarti.
Actually, Rudh Aarti. So, I had come back very late from the programme and I was very tired. I woke up and while driving I fell asleep.
But then I woke up and I saw I was right next to the car. Next to the temple. And I said, this is Krishna’s mercy.
I said, well, it may be Krishna’s mercy but don’t expect it to be repeated. Isn’t it? If we are so tired then we should not be driving. We cannot demand.
Sometimes what may happen is the way karma works is that sometimes our action might be 10 and the result might be 100. On the other hand, sometimes our action might be 100 and the result might be 10. So, why does this happen? Because the results of our actions are not determined by our present actions.
Basically, there is something from the past that is also contributing to the result. So, the present small action plus the past big action. They both combine together to give the result.
Like you say, we go to supermarket and we have a freight line over there. Each time we go buy and buy a thing, we don’t pay anything over there. And one day we go buy a $10 thing and then when we are going out at the second point we get a bill of $100.
I have only $10. You have been buying throughout the week, that’s why it’s $100. So, like that, that’s why gahana karma.
So, the point is that present actions combined with past actions lead to the results. Now, sometimes it may also happen that the past actions could contribute to the negative. Negative means what? That they may basically cancel the results of our present actions.
Say for example, normally we say that if people smoke, they will end up in liver issues. They will get liver cancer or other liver diseases. But it’s also possible that if some person is young and healthy, some people by their past karma, they have a sickly body.
Some people by their past karma have a very robust and healthy body. Now, some people, they eat a little bit imbalanced in their diet and this health collapses. Some other people, they treat their tongue like a conveyor belt.
They seem to eat anything and everything and yet, they don’t seem to gain weight, they don’t seem to lose their health. This isn’t perfectly fine. Yes, it will be fine now.
That’s because by their past karma, they are meant to have a robust body. But their actions will have consequences. It just comes later.
So basically, sometimes our past karma can act as a multiplier of our present karma. Sometimes, it can act as a buffer from our past karma. So, Ravan had some past karma by which he did many many wrong things and he didn’t get any results.
Like we say that sometimes, a person’s wrongs they have to reach a particular point before they come out. That’s because a person may have done some good karma from the past that’s what compensates for their negative karma. But eventually, it’s going to spill out.
So, the point here is that just because something is destroyed, that does not mean that the specific way in which it will happen is also destroyed. That it is going to happen is destroyed. But how it is going to happen is not necessarily destroyed.
So, for example, say, somebody by their past karma is to make their own accident. Let’s assume that. Karma is not that simple.
But let’s assume it again. Let’s take it this way. Now, if they have trained themselves to drive very carefully, then they might still admit with an accident.
Maybe their car’s brakes fail or their wheels skid or whatever. But because they have been driving safely, driving at a reasonable speed, so even if the car skids off, the accident may not be that terrible. On the other hand, some people, they have what they call as speed demons.
They get such a thrill. The thrill of speed can kill at times, you know. They just drive super fast.
One of my friends is an orthopaedic surgeon in Mumbai. He was driving a nice car to the hospital. They saw a young boy driving a bike.
You know what is that? Something with an H? Harley? Harley Davidson or something like that. Maybe something like that in India. Somehow, bikes seem to have something which as soon as people sit on a bike, it seems that speed demons possess them.
Some kind of thrill, you get it driving very fast. He was going all the way. Finally, a red signal came and then that young man stopped.
He pulled his car over next to him and he rolled out the window and took out his car. He says, I am an orthopaedic surgeon. You are going to need my services soon.
So, the idea here is that sometimes say somebody has been a reckless driver and then that accident is destined to happen. Then what will happen is the accident will be far worse. So, that’s why destiny is what is going to happen may be inevitable.
But how it is going to happen? How bad is it going to be? What situation is going to happen? That can vary from person to person. So, that’s why there is always room for freedom. So, we could say that Dasyat Maharaj was supposed to die in separation from his son.
Now, it could have happened in some other different way. As I said, Vishwamitra had called Dasyat Maharaj called upon Dasyat Maharaj to give his son so that he could protect his sacrifice. That happened earlier.
Maybe Vishwamitra or some other sage came again and he asked Ram to come and at that time Dasyat Maharaj passed away. So, it could have happened in any way. So, the thing is that the present way we function that our present actions alone may not be the cause of the reaction.
But our present actions do contribute to how the reactions manifest. So, here 100 reactions are going to come. Now, here if my action is 1 then it will only 91.
If my action is 100 it will become 190. So, present actions also contribute. So, the thing is that we need to when we are functioning we need to accept that accept that some things are inevitable.
So, after something has happened there is no need to keep beating other people why did you do that? Now that it has happened it has happened. After it has happened accept that it is the will of destiny. It’s fascinating in the Mahabharata the Mahabharata war occurs.
Now, before that there is a meeting between Vyasadeva and Dhritarashtra. And then after that the same meeting happens again. And at this time Vyasadeva before he is telling him stop your son from fighting stop your son from inciting the Kauravas sorry the Pandavas give them pantheon otherwise your whole dynasty will be destroyed.
And at that time Dhritarashtra tries to play the destiny card and he says if it is the will of almighty destiny that our dynasty will be destroyed then what can we tiny humans do? What can I a tiny human do? So at that time Vyasadeva says okay it is very difficult to determine what is destiny what is destiny. For us humans it is for us to determine what is our duty. Contemplate deeply what is your duty in this situation.
Now after the war gets over Dhritarashtra is in deep lamentation Vyasadeva comes and tells Dhritarashtra to not lament the war was destroyed. So here he is saying destiny is unknowable before the war and after the war he says the war was destroyed. So what does this mean? Was the war destroyed or was the war not destroyed? Well the exact way Gana Karmano says none of us know what is our destiny.
What we can know is are we choosing our actions responsibly? The whole purpose of karma is not to get us to become fixated with what is our destiny. The essential principle of karma or the essential implication of the principle of karma is that our actions matter. That our actions matter and therefore we should choose responsibly.
So now accept that some things are inevitable. When bad things happen bad things will happen sometimes. So when something has happened just accept that it has happened.
Now having done this it’s interesting that in the Ramayana when Bharat comes to beg Lord Rama to come back. Lord Rama refuses and they take his paduka and go back. At that time just before Bharat is leaving Rama pulls Bharat over and he says don’t blame Kalki for this.
That whatever happened was the will of destiny. Now it’s interesting that Ram says this but does Kalki you know I didn’t do anything wrong, it’s all destiny. That is not the mood of Kalki.
Kalki, there are songs written about how Kalki laments what possessed me to do something like this. So basically sometimes our actions may be a part of destiny. But when we are doing it, we are not doing it because it is destiny manifesting.
We are doing it, Kalki did it not because it was destiny. Kalki got it because of her own possessiveness, her own insecurity, her own greed that her son become the king. So basically after an action has happened rather than fixating on what happened and who did this and what happened, just accept that it was destiny.
So in that sense when we accept something like this, this helps us to get some closure. Otherwise our mind can just be like auto-repeatingly why did he do like this, if only I had done like this, if only this had happened, if only that had happened. And that is not at all constructive.
But that is one of the only things. C is I am going to talk about three points as I said. I will use the acronym ACT.
ACT essentially is the principle of karma. So accept that bad things do happen in life and some bad things may well be destroyed. Then commit.
Commit to doing things for other people. Doing those things that will make the situation better. Not worse.
Just because something is destined, doesn’t mean everything is destined. Okay, now this has happened. Now what do I do? So when Aasadev told Dhritarashtra at the war was this time.
The point was now get a closure to what has happened. Now look at it. Move forward.
Don’t blame the Pandavas for what happened. Don’t beat yourself up that you did not control Dhritarashtra. Now move ahead.
Now they took some time for Dhritarashtra to accept that. Eventually he accepted it and that is when when Abhidhura came he was able to receive the instructions from Dhritarashtra. So from Kalki’s point of view she did not repeat that action again.
She did not while 14 years Ram was in Vanvas she did not somehow try to pressure Bharat or allure Bharat. No, now you have to stay on the game. She was there along with Kaushalya to welcome Ram back.
And he came back. So she repented what he had done. So, okay.
Commit to doing. Now that this has happened what can we do to make things better? So, as I said some things may be destroyed but we always have free will. And in this particular situation what can I do to make things better? So I met one devotee in Florida who had a similar situation.
So this devotee’s daughter and she was she was in a mother’s womb. The doctors made some mistake. And because the doctors made a mistake she had a lot of neurological damage and she was born with severe cerebral palsy and other things.
So then at that time he when this happened he wrote to his spiritual master. He said that should I accept this as karma and let it go? Or should I send her off to the hospital? So his spiritual master wrote back and told him that that even if you accept that what has happened is karma for your personal situation accepting is karma. But for your future if you can get some support from the hospital then you do what is required for that.
So karma the philosophy is karma is meant to help us make peace with the past. It is not meant for passivity about the future. So then he he told her there is no denying that the hospital was negligent and you get some valuable settlement and he has got his daughter taken care of for life now with the insurance or whatever.
Settlement claims. Now when I talk about this with my father my father said in India both of us would have died before a court case came for hearing also. So sometimes we just have to function according to the circumstances.
So commit to do that which will make things better not worse. So now what that will be will vary from place to place. So when we talk about destiny what is its purpose? Peace with the past.
What has happened we come to peace with it. It is not passivity about the future. For the future we have to think that what is the way I can move ahead? What is the best way in which from this situation I am in how can I move forward? And that’s why the same Lord Ram who accepts that this was his time that whatever it was he accepted.
But that does not mean that when Sita is abducted this is also destiny. There the focus is on yes the abduction could be destiny but when Lord Ram just quietly went to the forest when he was exiled. But when Sita was abducted Lord Ram didn’t say ok what can I do it’s destiny.
Let her go. Let her stay away. But he fought a war to get her back.
Because that was his duty. So it’s important we commit to doing that which will improve the situation. So in fact your example point about that is that beyond a particular age our height is fixed.
We can’t change that. So accept that this is my height. But that doesn’t mean everything about our body is fixed.
We can better manage our weight. We can try to increase our fitness within limits. We try to do that.
So commit to doing those things that will make the things better. So that is always a possibility. Destiny does not control everything.
Destiny controls some things but destiny always leaves some room for improvement. And that brings so the Lord Ram, what does he say when he is going to the forest? He tells the citizens tells the courtiers Dushyant is your king that if you want to please me don’t follow me into the forest. If you want to please me, serve the king.
Don’t hold him responsible for what has happened. He tried to maintain the harmony in the family. Now that it happened, don’t make things worse.
Try to see how you make things better. Some people fall sick and all of us fall sick at different times. Some people may be hospitalised and sick for a long time.
Some people when they fall sick, they just they just complain and they grumble and they criticise their caregivers and what happens is they make their caregivers sick of them. Now that is something you’ve got sickness, that’s terrible but make peace with it. Because of the destiny I got the sickness, but what can I do to make things better? And that possibility is always there.
And that will be the last part. T is transcendent. Transcendent distress by absorption in the Lord.
By spiritual absorption. So at such times when we are going through the difficulty, it just feels unfair. I made only a small mistake and still big consequences Okay, that’s happening.
But now that it’s happening I’m doing what I can to fix the situation. But even then the difficulty is still there. I mean, I can try to improve the situation, but the problem is huge.
The problem is like 10,000 and my efforts to fix it is like 1. So what is the use of what I’m trying to do? But at that time we need bhakti. So, what is spiritual absorption? So basically all of us if we consider our situation in life if we are here we are living in the world so for us the world is big and God is small. The idea is God exists.
When I was starting to practise bhakti I tried to introduce it to my relatives. Yeah, I believe in God. He’s happy there.
I’m happy here. So the idea is God seems quite often insignificant. So this is the notion of a seeker.
A starter in the future. But one who has become a seer. For them what happens the world becomes small and God becomes bigger.
That God is the far bigger reality. The world is important, but God is much more important. Now we may not be seers, but during times of spiritual absorption we can also get that experience.
When we do our sadhana it is not just to meet a particular target or do a certain number of rounds. It is not to do some rituals. Yes, they are there, but the purpose is during our spiritual practises whether it is a puja, we are coming to satsang, we are reading some japa, we are reading some shastra.
The point is, at least for a few moments every day we need to bring ourselves in the presence of God. We need to get that experience that there is a reality bigger than this reality. Bigger than this reality of what is going through my life.
Now to the extent we get that experience, to that extent the problems that we are facing in life they won’t overwhelm us that much. The problems are there. And we feel, why is my situation so terrible like this.
Yeah, my situation is terrible, but I think everything in this world is temporary and this is small. The bigger reality is that God is present in my life, God is with me, and I can connect with him. So that in Sita, Lakshman, Ram, they are in the forest.
That is the time when they bond with each other even more closely. They are always close to each other, but now they have no royal responsibilities, no social distractions. They come closer to each other.
And of course Lord Ram is playing Narayana, he is God himself, he is playing Narayana, he is God. So for us, when we are put in situations which are limiting, that is the time where instead of just letting our consciousness be caught in, oh, why is this situation like this, why is this person like this, why is this job like this, why is my life like this, that is there. And we do try to do what we can to fix it.
But we don’t, while we are trying to fix a situation, we don’t want to fix our consciousness in that situation. Because that is where what happens is, you see, we want to fix a situation to whatever capacity we can. That is important.
But we don’t want to fix our consciousness within that situation. Because if our consciousness becomes fixed in that situation, then there is a big problem that comes up. That problem is that, see, whatever we fix our mind on, that thing starts becoming bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger.
So fix the situation, yes, to whatever extent possible. Fix our consciousness, no. If we consider this a problem, some problem we are facing.
Now we want to be, we want to be Krishna conscious. That is what we want. We don’t want to be problem conscious.
Sometimes we become so problem conscious that we forget to be Krishna conscious. But now what it is, is that as a part of our Krishna consciousness, we can also be problem conscious. That this particular problem is there and I have to solve it.
But the problem consciousness should not fill our consciousness. Or otherwise put it this way, that if this whole thing is my consciousness, this is my consciousness, then this is Krishna. So Krishna needs to be a bigger presence in our consciousness than the problem.
And that way the problem won’t affect us. The problem won’t torment us so much. So, when my mother said that whatever he lacks physically, God will provide him intellectually.
Now for most of the years of my life, or at least for the first 20-22 years, I focused on the intellectual part. And I identified myself with the intellectual part. But when I introduced Prabhupada and his books to the devotees, then, I said, God has provided.
God will provide intellectually. So that God consciousness, and then Krishna is going to see whatever intelligence I have and try to use it in Krishna’s service. But the focus was that, my mother gave me the foundation that don’t be so problem conscious.
We focus on doing what we can to make things better. And then if we have Krishna consciousness, then it becomes much more easy to pass through that difficult phase. So, for us, destiny may always be there.
But that does not mean that there is no scope for a free will for us. There is scope for free will and especially if we connect with Krishna, then that scope becomes even more. Because we can connect with the bigger reality and thereby go beyond situations.
So, I’ll summarise what we discussed today. So, destiny and free will. That was the topic we were discussing today.
Does destiny leave scope for free will? And we discussed in the beginning various definitions of destiny. But the first key point that we discussed in terms of when things happen, destiny can mean what is meant to happen or what has the potential to happen. So, we discussed how, when we do a particular action, like our present action, and then there is a present result.
Now, the present result doesn’t come from the present action alone. It comes from a combination of present action plus past action. So, now, destiny, when we use the word destiny, it can refer to this, it can also refer to this.
It depends on what context we are using. We have a package of karma from the past that is distant. That’s why the theme we discussed is that destiny is fixed, but how it unfolds, unfolding of destiny, that is not fixed.
And then, in that connection, we discussed about mistakes. So, when we discussed about ethics, what are the three factors in ethics? It is action, the content of the action. Do you remember other things? Intent of the action.
And then, there is the consequence of the action. In ethics, we discussed two categories. There is categorical and then there is contextual.
Contextual means all three things. In contextual, there is virtue ethics and there is consequential ethics. So, basically, the point is, what is the right thing to do is often very difficult to interpret.
But the key point is that when mistakes happen, we need to look at the cause of the mistakes could be what? Finiteness, ignorance and then thoughtlessness. So, basically, when we discuss solution, how we deal with destiny, what are the three things in it? A, C, T, and S. So, A was what? So, deal with destiny. Accept that some bad things may happen.
Accept that bad things just happen. Now, sometimes you may not be able to determine the cause. So, this accept is broadly correct when we look at finiteness.
We don’t know in advance what baggage we are carrying. We don’t know in advance what consequence will come from which action. So, accept that bad things do happen.
And C was? Commit. So, commit to what? Commit to making things better, not worse. Choose those actions by which we can make things better.
So, this is for coming to peace with the past. But, we don’t want to commit, that ensures that we have not become passive about the future. We don’t become passive about the future.
Because we are committing to do that which we can make things better. And the T was? So, commit is basically to counter ignorance. What was it that I did wrong? How can I fix it? T was? Transcend.
So, transcend by divine absorption. So, when we transcend, what happens by that is, the present becomes bearable. Because, if my only consciousness is oh, this terrible situation has come on me, it’s so unfair, then we will just become problem conscious.
But, when we understand that there is some higher reality, that is there within us, then Krishna becomes the bigger presence in our consciousness. And the problem becomes a smaller presence. And in that way, we can have a healthy attitude towards past, present and future by properly understanding this.
Thank you very much. Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna.
Want to make any quick comments? Wonderful. Thank you so much. Thank you so much Prabhu.
So, Prabhu has, as you know, Prabhu has written so many books. And Prabhu has brought some books with him. One is Ramayan and another is Devi Gita course.
I will tell you one thing. So, I don’t know the new version of what Prabhu has written, but this is what we got last year. And I can tell you that this is a life saver.
Every single day you turn the page, you get a new quote. I am just going to read it. You just tell me.
I am going to just do this and I will read it. August 30th. When we impose our spirituality on others, we expose the superficiality of our spirituality.