Destiny- Are we destined?(3)

Dr. Abdulla: Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary defines Destiny as ‘The power believed to control events or fate; something which is inevitable or unavoidable’. References to destiny are often made by poets and writers. “Happy is he who caring not for pope, consul or king, can sound himself to know the destiny of man, and live in hope”, said William Wordsworth. According to Ralph Waldo Emerson, the bitterest element in life is the belief in a brute Fate or Destiny. A vast majority believes that faith in God gives meaning and purpose to human life.
Belief in God is akin to belief in Destiny. Why do we believe in god or nature, or the power that governs the whole universe? And did God create everything? A possible answer to this question is indirectly suggested in the interesting dialogue quoted below:
Did God create everything?
The university professor challenged his students with this question. “Did God create everything that exists?”
A student replied, “yes he did!”
“God created everything?” The professor asked.
“Yes sir”, the student replied.
The professor continued, “If God created everything, then God created evil, since evil exists, and according to the principle that our works define who we are, God is evil”.
The student became quiet.
The professor quite pleased with himself boasted to the students that he had proven once more that faith in God was a myth.
Another student raised his hand and said, “Can I ask you a question, Sir?”
“Of course”, replied the professor.
The student stood up and asked, “professor, does cold exist?”
“What kind of a question is this?” Of course it exists. Have you never been cold?”
The students snickered at the young man’s question.
The young man replied, “In fact sir, cold does not exist. According to the laws of physics, what we consider cold is in reality the absence of heat. Every body or object is susceptible to study when it has or transmits energy, and heat is what makes a body or matter have or transmit energy. Absolute zero (-460F) is the total absence of heat; all matters become inert and incapable of reaction at that temperature. Cold does not exist. We have created this word to describe how we feel if we have no heat. “
The student continued, “Professor, does darkness exist?”
The professor responded, “Of course it does.”
The student replied, “ Once again, darkness does not exist either. Darkness is in reality the absence of light. Light we can study, but not darkness. In fact we can use Newton’s prism to break white light into many colours, and study the various wavelength of each colour. You cannot measure darkness. A simple ray of light can break into a world of darkness and illuminate it. How can you know how dark a certain space is? You measure the amount of light present. Isn’t this correct? Darkness is a term used by man to describe what happens when there is no light present.”
Finally the young man asked the professor, “Sir, similarly does evil exist?”
Now uncertain, the professor responded, “ Of course, as I have already said, we see it everyday. It is the daily example of man’s inhumanity to man. It is in the multitude of crime and violence everywhere in the world. These manifestations are nothing but evil.
To this, the student replied, ”Evil does not exist sir, or it does not exist unto itself. Evil is simply the absence of God. It is just like darkness and cold, a word that man has created to describe the absence of God. God did not create evil. Evil is not like faith, or love that exist just as does light and heat. Evil is the result of what happens when man does not have God’s love present in his heart. It’s like the cold that comes when there is no heat or the darkness that comes when there is no light.”
The professor sat down.
The young man’s name was Albert Einstein.

Dr.Thomas: Einstein’s thoughts came from outside the structure of his brain. He functioned beyond it.
Dr.Abdulla: Well, I gave this anecdote just to explain that innumerable phenomena are there in this universe that cannot be explained or reasoned out. Universe follows great mathematical laws and reveals unimaginable engineering feats that only a gigantic intelligence can fathom. These cannot exist by mere chance. No wonder that scientists like Darwin and Einstein believe in destiny. Life on the planet cannot be by accident. I would like to give here a brief summary from the book, ‘Man Does Not Stand Alone’, on why scientists believe in God or Destiny.
SEVEN REASONS WHY A SCIENTIST BELIEVES IN GOD OR DESTINY:
Since Darwin over ninety years back, the world had been progressing tremendously in science gathering more and more knowledge. The more we know, the more we are fascinated at the super-intelligence of a creator. The probability of choosing at random a sequence of one to ten from a pack of ten shuffled cards in succession is, as we know, the unbelievable chance of one in ten billion! With all the precise and complicated mathematical laws that govern the physical existence of this world as uncovered by science now, the probability of it being a chance is one in infinite, or nil. There is every indication that the whole system is the handiwork of an infinite intelligence, and not that of any chance. The earth’s rotation, its slant for exposing evenly to the sunlight, the moon’s position, the depth of the sea, earth’s atmosphere, why, even the supply of sufficient oxygen on earth to make life possible, point to an unimaginable force of intelligence.
Life is a fantastic phenomenon. It’s roots can crack a rock, even its tiny beings are able to change the chemical structures of almost all matter, it compels elements to dissolve and form different combinations, it creates colourful pictures on leaves and flowers, produces music of the birds, gives tastes and flavours to fruits, and fragrances to blossoms. The life in a single cell, a drop of protoplasm has so much power that it multiplies itself ultimately into all sorts of vegetation, animal, and all life in general. Who put life into it?
Who put instinct into animals to make it capable of survival? What makes some fish to travel all through a river miles and miles to reach the sea, and then ultimately come back to the same place of its birth to breed? What guides the migratory birds to travel thousands of miles in the same route year after year? A wasp stings a grasshopper only numbing it to preserve its meat for its offsprings till the eggs are hatched. Who teaches it the technology?
Man’s intelligence, just a spark of the universal intelligence, makes him capable of thinking all the thoughts. Is not that universal intelligence that of god or God himself?
The wonders of Genetics, Gene and the unraveling of the secrets of Genome are now fairly well known. Who gave the power of self organizing to the double helix DNA, the chromosomes and the genes, the intricately woven patterns which decide the nature of each individual being?
Plants, pests, flora and fauna are balanced by nature, by destroying excess growth of some, promoting growth of others and making yet some others extinct. Some deliberate intelligence is seen behind these checks and balances. Only infinite wisdom could have foreseen this and made provisions.
The very fact that man is able to conceive the idea of god in his wonderful imagination that can perceive the unseen, points towards the existence of the unbounded power that is of God. Behind that imagination there must be that divine force which makes it possible.
“Heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth his handiwork”

The supreme power governing the entire universe, you call it by any name, GOD, Almighty, or even Destiny, is undoubtedly beyond human intelligence, comprehension, or reasoning. Even though science and technology have advanced to such heights, we are nowhere near to analyzing Life as such, from where it comes and to where it disappears.
I think, the most simplest form of destiny – or you might call it Primary destiny- of any living object in this universe is the GENETIC DESTINY, the destiny of being male or female at birth. I don’t know whether this new terminology coined by me is appropriate or correct. But the gender of any organism in this world at birth can be its main destiny, and it invariably cannot be altered or manipulated with any amount of success. Even with the present day advancement in science it is very difficult. In human beings even before birth this gender destiny plays an important role in the sense that you cannot alter it even though you may find it out, the power of that destiny continues till death of the individual.
The much acclaimed ‘Karma Yoga’ of Hindu philosophy, in my opinion points to the role of destiny in our worldly existence. Your Karma is your yoga(fate). Similarly the cause and effect phenomena, where the effect or Karma is the response to the cause, yoga or destiny.

Prof. Richard Hay: There is another angle or approach to the way of thinking. Man, bewildered by the mystery of life, took recourse to the idea of destiny or faith for consolation or relief from his predicament. But it is an escapist philosophy. It was explained here that biology, especially the DNA that determines the structure and behaviour of a being is indeed destiny as living beings cannot go beyond what it stipulates. But that is an old theory exploded long ago by the advent of Stem Cell Research. Science has developed methods to change the very structures of the basic cells making it possible to change everything in a living being. Even the gender of a child to be yet born can be changed. Nothing need be predetermined. What we refer to as Destiny is actually accidental; it is mere coincidence.
Dr. Abdulla: But how the basic cell itself came about? There is a superior intelligence that created the complicated cell?
Dr. Thomas: It can be called the God-point. Brain is the god-point.
Prof.Hay: Man;s creative powers work. Inventions are made. Patents and trademarks are taken. WTO works internationally expanding trade in new findings worldwide. There is the cause, operations, and the effect functioning. Occasional accidents cannot change this view. Of course, death is destiny. Everything ends there. But Man’s progress is through technological advancement. The great powers are fast advancing in powerful nuclear fusion-energy reactors, stem cell research, cloning, and nano-technology The point is that the destiny of Man hereafter will be decided by the super powers, and not by fate. Man has to act to avert any disaster. Destiny is not by accident, but by choice. I shall elaborate the point in my talk in the next discussion. Recently American president Bush came to India. Most people do not know his real purpose. It was actually to seek the help of India in that area of science where intense research is required in genetic and other higher technologies.
Mr. Kunhikrishnan: Science is definitely very much advanced. It is going up and up to reveal the secrets of nature and perhaps ultimately, even God. But the God has to come down to meet it. Science is the external exploration. God is internal. The understanding and probing of the internal makes the God climb down to meet science.