Destiny - Are we destined (1)

Dr. Sadanandan: Let me first go into the various definitions connected with Destiny:
‘Destine’ means 1) To determine beforehand: Preordain to, or as if to, an inevitable outcome. 2) To assign or intend for a specific end use or purpose. 3) To direct towards a given destination
‘Destined’ means preordained, assured through destiny: Bound for a particular destination. And
‘Destiny’ means 1) The inevitable or necessary fate to which a particular person or thing is destined 2) Preordained or inevitable course of events considered as something beyond human power or control. 3) The power or agency thought to predetermine events, fate.
It is our experience in life that many things happen to us without our planned move or control, and, it might be cause for far reaching consequences in our life. We term this fate or destiny.
At times, what is initially considered to be good for us may in due course turn out to be quite bad, and vice versa. These happen without our control or conscious knowledge, and we attribute the whole thing to some external agency – some supernatural power, e.g. God; so much so, while considering the subject ‘Destiny’ the God-factor in any event has to be understood first. And, the idea of God interfering in between, in a random fashion, in the affairs of certain individuals, is indeed difficult to understand. An omnipresent, omnipotent god, as generally conceived, should be there in all activities of the whole universe. The universe as we perceive is immensely vast. The sun, the planets, the stars, the galaxies, and our tiny earth with all its living and non-living things form, after all, only an infinitesimal spec in this vast universe! Explanations as to how this whole thing, with a life span considered to be millions of years, manifested itself, are only mere theories. We do not know who designed this intricate vastness, who the prime mover is! We assume that a sort of Gas-mixture solidified and life formed from organic compounds in that ocean taking millions of years of churning. And Homo sapiens have hardly a history of 30,000years. And we, with our 80 or 90 years of life span is trying to understand the mystery behind Destiny!
The development of human brain to the present day level is helping us in our enquiry. We get knowledge formed out of experience. Such knowledge is apparently limited. And with this limited knowledge we form ideas. Before we act we plan. To build a house first we should have a plan, a blue print according to which we try to appropriate the final outcome. Similarly, our idea about creation of the universe may be that an architect, out of his imagination, visualizing the whole thing, knowing each and every detail started creating the universe. And this mastermind have the control on every aspect of it, control on each living or non-living thing on it. Here destiny comes into play. But this idea about creation, being only a concept of the human mind, might be entirely wrong.
But logically, we know that we are destined. The inherent limitation to our biological existence is self-evident. The activity inside our body is programmed. The genes decide everything. How long one should live, what illnesses one can contract, what all one can safely eat, -almost everything depend upon the nature of one’s genes. And the genes point towards how an individual would behave too. Certain levels of enzymes, chemicals, neurotransmitters etc. predetermine one’s psychological nature. And mind of course, is part of the biological system. Is its activity not thus predetermined? Thinking has a definite pattern. One thinks out of one’s memories. Experience stored as knowledge conditions one in his activities. This conditioning is naturally, a predetermination. Is there any spontaneity in any of our activities? We pray God to intervene and help us on our preferred path.
If we are destined, towards where are we moving? What exactly is the destination? Are we in a position to comprehend? We are evolving. We are in a process of cause and effect phenomena. We are the effect of a cause. And we move as a cause to some future effect.
Now, is there a possibility of a mutation where one is free from the chain of events, from this cause and effect system? Not freedom from something, but a simple freedom of being free. -not like an instrument A free will operating by itself, an Intelligence in tune with That Immensity.
Prof. Richard Hay: Are we not part of that Universal Consciousness?
Sri. K.V. Kunhikrishnan: Dr.Sadanandan is posing the question whether such a mutation is possible where Man comes out of the cycle of cause and effect.
Dr.Babu Ravindran: The need for the very same freedom from the cause and effect system, or the cycle of birth and death, is tackled also in a different way in our tradition. Destiny, and Destiny as opposed to Individual Effort or Will have been explained in detail, and are referred to very often in the ‘Karmayoga’ philosophy of Hinduism. This naturally is based on the firm belief in the rebirth concept. But yet it would be interesting to examine closely the ideas contained in the philosophy for understanding the subject ‘destiny’ contrasting it with Human Will.
Avoiding all technical jargon, we can broadly divide the purpose of life or the requirements/desires in this life into four items of pursuit. They are,
1. To lead life according to one’s conscience and understanding of what is right/wrong.
2. To acquire material prosperity,
3. To enjoy pleasures,
4. To seek the Truth behind the phenomena of Life.
Out of these, the first three are worldly pursuits, and the last is the spiritual pursuit. The great seers and saints consider and say that the last pursuit of seeking the Truth or Reality behind the phenomena of existence as the ultimate aim of Man in this life.
Individual human effort is the most important factor in living a life according to one’s own nature and conscience. Destiny or fate has only a small part to play. One has to be ever vigilant not to stray into illegitimate pleasure seeking or to go against one’s conscience.
To acquire material prosperity and importance in life, effort is definitely required. But result is not in one’s hand. The result or the fruits of endeavor are with one’s destiny, fate, or God. That is why it is said that you do your duty with utmost effort and with the aim of success, but all the time leaving the result to God, being never sure of the fruits of one’s labor. Too much reliance on good results only may end in disappointments, as the ultimate say is with one’s destiny.
In the case of spiritual seeking of Truth, continuous and incessant effort by oneself only can lead one towards understanding the Ultimate Reality that is referred to also as God. Only at the end of the road, destiny or fate comes into play for making it possible and ready for Grace to enter, and bless.
Therefore, in the Karmayoga philosophy, individual human effort or will as well as destiny, play their part in one’s life in different proportions in different types of endeavours.
But here destiny is not considered illogical. Destiny and fate depend on good or bad deeds did earlier in this life or an earlier life. The deeds of the past are, for purposes of deciding the consequences, divided into three categories, namely, those which are accumulated from the past lives but not yet ready to be compensated or exhausted now, those which are to be lived and exhausted now in the present life, and those which are newly committed or acquired in this life. Thus every action has a reaction, good, bad, or indifferent. All are accounted for, and punished or rewarded as the case may be. And, yet in it individual will plays an important part.
In the Karma theory, the accumulated results of past actions are in the nature of tendencies that lie dormant till they are ripe for working it out or ‘burning’ it out in the present life and time. Those that are ripe for exhaustion are experienced in the present life. Deliberate actions of will in the present create their results or consequences afresh, to be either accumulated for the future or to be experienced in this life, unless no residue of the results are left of the experience, they having been burnt in the righteous awareness of correct action. The theory is a little complicated for those who are not familiar with the belief in rebirth and the system of carrying on the consequences of one’s actions to a next birth. But it seems to have its own well-constructed logic.
To conclude, whether one believes in rebirth or not, it seems that both destiny and Will play their part in human life. Man is not entirely fated to any destiny. Neither is he entirely controlled by his own free will. Free Will and individual effort have their place.

Dr. K.P.Thomas: When we think about Destiny with a Destination, it implies a start or beginning. None will want a failure; but our life is such that several factors affect our journey to the destination of our destiny. Destiny is something of depth and distance. Achievement of greatness is one aspect of destiny. The work up towards it is the preparation that we do in life with available materials and circumstances. Many a civilization had the peak and then a decline. There were various factors controlling the final outcome. Since life is an ongoing process we cannot stop and take stock of the achievements we might have had.
The present frame of time is such that the whole world is like a single village. This happened in a short span of time during the last twelve years or so when computer network became global. Intramural within ourselves, and extramural from outside, knowledge has made us more in tune with the power of the Gods of yester decades. This phenomenon of rapid human progress in all fields of technologies has put us into the task of ‘protecting responsibilities’ in the global context or extra-global context.
The countries with sub-cultures are now being identified, but the common goal is to make life worth living. The restrictions are still there in the Indian community, but the western communities are looking towards occident. Even though there was progress in China and India, a superior culture evolved in the western world had asserted itself over the Indian sub-continent and Asiatic countries.
Search for energy for comfort, search for good living, and search for pleasure has pushed the western culture into a position in which the youth of the occident has an edge over the youth of those countries who burn out quickly with no more ambitions to fulfill.
However we may have to define the destiny of the universe with the destiny of man and beasts, destiny of vegetation and other structures, destiny of the condition of the globe in general etc. Considering ‘intramurally’, we can jump on to the development of nano-technology and its impact on the health sector, that is, our life itself. The genetic engineering has become part of the next generation or even the present generation itself. It has definitely got an impact on the global civilization. The times are such that there may not be a nature for us to paint or draw a picture of hope and solace. Impending doom is lurking. The stronger cultures are looking into the courtyards of the weaker neighbors. A sense of insecurity has gripped the developed countries. The once weaker countries are developing so fast that the world is afraid of a global catastrophe. The projection of this sort of fear is seen in the production of western motion pictures of extreme violence and of aliens take over of the world. Confined between the Sahya Hills and the Ocean the Travancore-Cochinites were not bothered till the early sixties. The two world wars did not make my village poorer or richer. But knowledge seeped through too fast thereafter, and my son and niece reached America and England as engineer and doctor.
The ‘umikkari culture’ of yesterday has now dramatically changed into a consumerist ‘Colgate’ culture. One ‘knickers’ or two and a shirt were all that was required for me till my fifth standard. Then came footwear, toothbrush, and shoes. With occasional dresses for multiple uses, a wardrobe culture evolved. Sharing of soap, towel, and food even in the same family slowly vanished. Single unit families burdened our culture, producing loneliness of old age and childhood with untold miseries. The destination of yester years was up to the nearest town, and now it is up to a distant country seeking better future, or even to the end of the world!
The selfish motive of destiny as far as I am concerned is the progress of my wife and that of my children, and a comfort, which may be equated with optimum sustaining wealth. In this context I can put forward the precept of combined efforts like forming a company or manufacturing unit. The Government has failed, and the individuals are there without any vision, and, perchance even if they have any vision they cannot join together due to the constraints of funds or capital.
Now let us look at the great people who have performed so as to enrich the present global culture. The Religious heads, the Scientists, the Architects, the Kings and Emperors, the company executives, were all driven by a zest for innovation, improvement, for conquering nature with the intent of wealth accumulation. Now the period of conformity in thinking is gone. Even in our own circle of nine there are nine viewpoints on one single subject. How can the world absorb all these varying ideas? In all probability, the strongest among a group or society may dictate to the others to follow his own destiny to pursue his own destination. The Portuguese occupation of Goa resulted in the imposition of a strong and ‘superior’ culture over the natives resulting in the present Goan culture.
Now let us go to the phenomenon of adventures like that of Columbus discovering America, Vasco De Gama landing in Calicut, and in general the Westerner’s opening of trade with Emperor Jahangir etc. the countries of Europe established themselves in various parts of India, and later the British occupied various parts of India as well as Malayasia, Vietnam, China and Combodia. In all this there was not only the spirit of adventure and exploration, but also to a greater degree the element of avariciousness. They were in fact fortune hunting colonialists only and not adventure seeking explorers. I think the least scarred of the area of population in India was the south of Vindhyas. Exploitation was always there and continues. The history of monarchs and their exploits are well known. However the present aggression seems to be in the form of taking up and controlling governmental activities by institutions like the World Bank and A.D.B. There can be a repetition of the colonial exploitation.
Regarding following one’s destiny I would like to say that the motivation for it starts from childhood. ‘Psyching’ it up is the most important factor in reaching the destination provided there is enough brain and brawn.