Destiny- Are we destined?(4)

Prof. Richard Hay: Talking about destiny, there is the story of a commander of the Japanese army during the II World war who showed his followers what destiny meant. The brave Japanese soldiers were badly outnumbered by the Allied soldiers in a battle. The Japanese troops were apprehensive about imminent failure. The commander arrayed his soldiers in the field and asking them to pray deep with devotion, said that he is going ro toss a coin, and it will show their destiny in battle. He said that heads would show victory and tails, failure. Heads turned out in the toss. With all enthusiasm and confidence they went for the battle and achieved a miraculous victory. On return one of his colleagues remarked how wonderfully the destiny worked. It was then that the Commander revealed that the coin had head on both sides!
The moral of the story is that destiny is not chance or fate, but sheer will power and perseverance. But in our country destiny has a negative connotation. One’s destiny is supposed to be predetermined and indicated either on one’s palm or in the position of the stars! And just observe the palm. The lines change almost every day. Science says that man changes so fast that a person is not the same next year. But of course there are stories like that of Markandeya in the epics that show that destiny can be challenged and changed by will. .
The legend says that according to a boon granted to the childless couple, Markandeya’s parents belonging to a Rishi family, they had the choice of either having him as a mentally retarded blockhead with a long life of one hundred years or as a short lived child, brilliant and wise, who will live only for sixteen years. They opted for wisdom and brilliancy for their child. When the son became 15 years old, the parents became jittery and panicked. They prayed to the lord with great devotion and intensity, and the lord of death had to yield. To everyone’s surprise he was made a ‘chiranjeevi’, meaning a person who is immortal! Even in ancient times, destiny could be changed. The moral of the story is that destiny can be changed through perseverance.
Now, look at the palm of one’s hand. If you observe it you will notice that the lines change every fortnight, however minute the change might be. Modern psychological theory says that we are not the same person next year, or even next day or next moment.
Dr.Thomas: I have actually noticed it in myself. And the sad part is that the end is more and more nearer!
Prof.Sankarankutty: Wisdom has a relationship to the comb. By the time one is wise there is no need to comb the hair because one is bald!
Prof. Richard Hay: Using the ever changing lines on the palms, the palmists predict the future! My question is, is destiny designed by the lines on one’s palm?

If it is the argument that destiny is perceived as unchangeable and inevitable because it is God’s will or God’s plan, what I would like to state is that destiny is nothing but the bounds created by man that can be crossed by man himself through his will. One succumbs to destiny if he doesn’t use his free will to change it. Will power and ingenuity can help in changing one’s destiny. Man is his own master. If this cannot be accepted, he becomes a slave to his destiny. Destiny per se is superstition.
But we notice that western thinking also was indulging in similar beliefs! Let me quote from Chaucer:
“The destiny a minister general,
That executeth in the world o’er all,
The purveyance which God hath seen before,
So strong it is, that though the world had sworn
The contrary of the thing by yea or nay,
Yet sometime it shall falter on a day
That falleth not oft in a thousand year,
For certainly, our appetite here,
Be it war or peace, or hate or love,
All this is ruled by the sight above.”
Destiny was thus perceived as God’s absolute determination. In the Greek mythology, the underlying concept is absolute belief in destiny. They believed in the ancient saying, “whatever is fated, that alone will take place ‘.
Let me tell you the story of two frogs. The two frogs got caught in a small milk can with a lid. The lid was too high for the frogs to jump at it or open it. The first frog panicked, and in the frustration of hopelessness, drowned in the milk The second frog analyzed the situation, and in the hope of finding some way of escape kept himself alive swimming round and round in the milk. Eventually the churning of the milk produced a lump of butter on which it climbed and escaped from the can. The story goes to show that destiny is not a matter of chance, but it is a matter of choice. This has been proved again and again by achievers in Literature, Commerce, Arts, Sports, and in other fields where we go by the saying, ‘genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.
As regards the Indian philosophic pronouncements that destiny is nothing but the result of past deeds committed in a previous life, acceptance of this would require an ardent belief in re-incarnation. Many in the world would not subscribe to this view. Hence destiny cannot be conceived as an aftermath of one’s deeds in a previous period of life. Whatever Man achieves is the outcome of his decisions, and not the aftermath of his previous life’s misdeeds or deeds.
With the development of science and technology man is able to bring about drastic changes. Stem cell research, nano-technology, etc., presage wonderful change. The boundless talents of men are still to be exploited to invent new products which would change the entire destiny of mankind. So far we were looking at the sky in wonderment. When spaceships traveled far into space and brought home the secrets of nature unknown to us for centuries, we were thrilled at the achievements. Till then we were mere ignoramuses. Whatever limits us we call Fate.
But destiny has definitely helped Man when he faced risk or failure. This is as a defense mechanism to tide over the repercussions of failure, attributing it to destiny or fate. That way it has served a psychological purpose. Nothing more.
People who believe in the concept of destiny do put pertinent questions like why some people are born rich while others are poor? Why are some people lucky and others not? Why are some people smart and healthy while some are otherwise, although sometimes born to the same parents? Why should one of the siblings be blessed with all material comforts while the other is deprived of them all? Why are some countries growing so fast while others still remain much less developed? These are but questions put to confuse the minds of non-believers of destiny. William Jennings Bryan says, ”Destiny is not a matter of chance; it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.”
To be successful one has to break the pattern of the old destiny-centered ideas, and develop a new faith, and pursue it with strong determination and ruthlessness. When a person starts unlocking his hidden talents, he gets on to the right road to success. Look at the present younger generation known as ‘techies’ who are more skilled and knowledgeable than their predecessors. They belong to a rapid growth field when they getr the best out of the new system. Talent, determination and a little bit of luck decide the future of men. Are we to call this bit of luck as destiny?
To me destiny characterizes slavery. Liberty, freedom, fortitude, and free will would help demystify the concept of destiny and free us from the bondages of such imperfect thoughts. When man is weak and fickle minded he has no other go but to depend on destiny as an excuse and aid to failure.
Let me conclude by narrating the story of a girl who fought against her destiny, - the story of Wilma Rudolf:
She hailed from a poor family in Tennesse, USA. Plio struck her when she was a child. Paralyzed, she wore braces. Her mother, determined to change her fate, encouraged her to walk. At the age of ten Wilma told her mother that she wanted to be the fastest woman on track in this earth! At the age of thirteen, she entered the race at district level and failed. Destiny against hopes, she failed several times. Undaunted she tried again and again. At 17 she met coach ED Temple who said that with her spirit nobody would stop her. Such was her strong will to succeed. Rest is history. In 1960 Olympics Wilma won three gold medals, for 100, 200, and 400 metres. This greatest of all events in the history of Olympics reveals the strength of that indomitable strength of man to excel braving all challenges. So, destiny is not a matter of chance, but of choice.

Prof.Sankarankutty: Is not the word destiny limited in itself? Not only does it not throw any light on the concept of destiny it is also a trap to get into the confusion on destiny. Be as it may, to remain in the mess on destiny is itself a beautiful thing. The unraveling of it should be worth it.
Talking about Arobindo on the basis of whose metaphysical and spiritual thoughts I base this discussion, I must say that one cannot directly go into the subject of destiny as his thoughts would enclose all the discussions. So vast is the area he covers. In his younger days he was involved with the destiny of India, participating in the freedom struggle. But he was basically concerned with the destiny of all countries in the sense that what he was bothering about was the destiny of the whole of mankind. Coming out of slavery for India was but a limited purpose. Following the cue from the philosopher Nietzsche (Friedrich Nietzche – German), he believed that the whole mankind was, and is, evolving towards super-manhood.
Sri Aurobindo’s 75th birthday on 15th August 1947 coincided with the dawn of India’s independence. He wrote: “I take this identification, not as a coincidence or fortuitous accident, but as a sanction and a seal of the Divine Power which guides my steps on the work with which I began life.”
To understand the integral quality, philosophical, political, poetic, and spiritual, of Sri Aurobindo, it is necessary to have some knowledge of his life and background. At the early age of seven he was taken to England, along with his two brothers, by his father who was in the medical profession. It is an irony of fate that his father, a fully westernized gentleman, permitted no Indian influence to pollute his children’s minds. He spent thirteen years of his developing days in England returning to India only on his twentieth year. He was also fully westernized in behavior. English was almost his mother tongue to the extent that he was thinking in English. He mastered many western languages. He also prepared for the civil services (I C. S) and passed the examination, but was rejected for failing in Horse Riding! It is said that he deliberately failed himself to escape his father’s wrath in refusing to accept the ICS. It was then he came to India and indulged in the revolutionary aspect of the freedom struggle. He found asylum in Pondicherry when he was banished from India by the British. By that time he had found himself absorbed in spiritual pursuit. This is not surprising when we notice that he was destined to the ‘last of the Rishis of India’ as referred to by Romain Roland.
On reaching Pondicherry and founding the Ashram, he kept silence for 12 rears and spent most of the time in meditation. He wrote several books of which two are said to be the most outstanding and of epic quality, in poetic vision and spiritual insight. They are the Life Divine and the epic poem ‘Savitri’. In this poem he deals with the challenge of destiny by the devoted wife Savitri for the life of Satyavan, her husband. He fights the case against the God of Death and wins with her arguments and dialogue. Metaphysical and spiritual truths are revealed with vision and insight. The challenge to destiny here is another interpretation of destiny.
Life divine has a poetic title. But it deals with the evolution of the human kind. It refers to the supreme zone of intelligence. While in Savitri he challenges the concept of destiny, in Life Divine he shows how that challenge can be approached and understood to get an insight to challenge it. It is like the hardware and software of a computer. The hardware is the nature of the human mind which has to be properly tackled and arranged. The software is the way in which it has to be used to challenge destiny. Indian inheritance of the ideas in Vedas, Upanishads etc. helped him in arriving at methods to tackle the mind.
According to his thoughts, one can be free of destiny through ‘supra-mental manifestation’. This manifestation is a mutation in the process of evolution. The process can be speeded up by meditation. Yoga accelerates it. Sri. Aurobindo has a remarkable way of fusion of the eastern and the western ways of thinking. Nobody expressed eastern thoughts in ways that can be understood by a western mind, as Sri.Aurobindo did.
Aurobindo gave us a huge machinery of ideas, very heavy, yet freely moving on water like a ship on the ocean. Inside is very complex in which one could easily be lost. But yet it is simple and straight to understand when you enter into it. Let me try to explain:
Sri Aurobindo’s philosophy is to turn the current of human progress in evolution towards the goal of Supermanhood. The yogi in him formulated a method for achieving the desired ’total change in consciousness’. In his magnum opus, the Life Divine, he incorporates manifold techniques that would pave the way for the creation of the superman and super-nature. First and foremost, the western notions of the supremacy of the intellect in comprehending reality, is to be dismissed. It has to be replaced by the spiritual intuition in man. It is worth recalling in this connection the sayings of Martian Heidegger: ‘Reasons, glorified for centuries, is the most obstinate adversary of thinking.’ Reason has great limitations. How can reason be used to analyze reason? Staying within reason one cannot observe reason. Archemides said, ‘I can move the earth; but get me a space outside earth, and a lever! Reason is only an instrument. It is an exercise by the mind. And the mind has to be understood in terms of other faculties. It was the ancient Greeks who promoted the analytical scrutiny of detached thinking of things and phenomena, giving rise to the present edifice of civilization. It has it’s own uses, but for which today’s progress in conveniences and technology would not have been possible. But the Indian sages insisted on the very opposite, because they found through highly developed vision and insight that man does not attain truth so long as he remains locked up in his intellect.

The answer to the basic problems of philosophy is not possible to be found by mere intellectual exercise. It has to flow from one’s own experiences and realizations. Sri Aurobindo said, ‘discover your state of being, don’t look for God outside. He felt that it is possible for man to advance further in the evolutionary race and reach a new dynamic status, that of the supra-mental being. But there is a lid of resistance barring the way. It is the veil of what is called Maya, the semi-transparent illusion of the mental consciousness. This lid has to be broken through. The mind, instead of guiding us through the haze of half lights and false lights, should link up with the ultimate source of knowledge and power, and achieve the glory of a new life as supermind and take charge of the planning of the new world.
To quote from the Life Divine:
“ We perceive that our existence is a sort of refraction of the Divine Existence in the inverted order of ascent and descent thus arranged:
Existence
Conscious force
Bliss
Supermind
INVOLUTION > < EVOLUTION
Mind
Psyche (Soul)
Life
Matter
The Divine descends from pure existence through the play of consciousness force and Bliss and the creative medium of supermind into cosmic being. We ascend from matter through a developing life, soul and mind and the illuminating medium of supermind towards the divine being. The knot of the two is where mind and supermind meet with a veil between them. The rending of the veil is the condition of the divine life in humanity.”.
Modern materialism, mainly a western phenomenon, has given us considerable knowledge regarding the lower planes of existence. Asceticism, an Eastern, rather an Indian Phenominon has served us by boldly adventuring into the unknown, giving him intimations of the contours of the spirit. And yet Sri Aurobindo urges that neither the revolt of the matter against the spirit nor the revolt of the spirit against matter can yield a lasting harmony. He gives us two facts. (1) The fact of Pure Existence – Being, (2) World Existence – becoming. To recognize the facts of consciousness and find out the relation between Being and Becoming is the true and useful wisdom.
According to Aurobindo the descent (involution), the ‘original sin’ has already occurred, and the ascent (evolution), the redemption is in process. His vision is that it has begun. The leap from mind to supermind is the spiritual adventure of cutting the knot of the mind and supermind by rending of the veil separating the two. The destiny of mankind is the spiritual evolution in which darkness, ignorance and death give place to light, knowledge, and immortality.
It is a total change that is needed, not only transformation of man into superman, but also transformation of nature into super-nature.