We often use the word 'destiny' . When we see somethings go wrong , or things don't turn out to be the way in which we want or expected , we say that the destiny was predetermined.So then the question comes up , "if destiny is predetermined, then what good is our efforts or for that matter praying "?.Then we talk about law of karma , where we sow the seeds of karma and get the fruits of it . If we do 'bad' karma , then we get bad outcome .So it appears that the "effects " of our past karma is bound to happen then why should we do anything, any effort to change it as the outcome is not going to change .
This question made me think . The answer lies in our confusion about the word destiny and karma . Both the statements are correct . The destiny is predetermined and law of karma does exists. But there is a difference between the these two . The destiny is what is going to happen 'NOW'. What I mean by that is that I can not change what is going to happen 'NOW' .THAT IS DESTINY. This is because this destiny is predetermined by what I have done in past .So the effect is bound to be there and no matter what I do now is not going to 'change' the outcome . So I can't change destiny .But what is going to happen in the future time is dependent upon my NEW KARMA that I will be doing from now onwards.So in that way I can determine my destiny and my efforts will determine my destiny .
But then the question is why do the efforts . Can we change the resultant by doing the efforts ? The answer is yes .Let me explain . Now a days there is a direct flight from NJ to Bombay and Bombay to NJ . The interesting part is the time required to get to Bombay from New Jersey,is less than time taken to fly from Bombay to New Jersey . This has to do with the direction of the wind . The wind direction (and its speed ) helps when flying from New Jersey to Bombay , while the wind velocity and direction causes delay when we fly from Bombay to New Jersey . The speed of aeroplane can be same The speed of the plane is like the effect of the previous karma , but the wind will make difference . Our efforts are like the direction and speed of the wind . If we make more efforts (higher speed ), and in right direction , then it will help , but if the efforts are poor or in wrong direction , then it will change the Destiny even in near future . If we have longer time to work on this change , which means destiny far out , then we can change it or even make it . Now let me warn you of somethings . Let us take an example of a kid who did not study for the whole year, and started studying a month before the examination , he will have less time to 'change 'his destiny the kid that started studying for 3 months before examination , than the kid who studied regularly for the entire school year . We can also take example of painting a wall .If we try to paint a wall , which is all ready painted with some color , then the color that we apply on it will look different than what we have in the paint bucket .So if we are painting a yellow color wall with blue paint , the the color seen will be not blue , but it will be green , which results from the mixture of yellow and blue . But if we continue to paint blue color paint over and over and again , then we will finally get blue color . So what we did in past has an effect , (which is the yellow color of the wall ) , what we paint is the new color blue is our NEW KARMA or NEW EFFORTS .This new effort or new karma will change the destiny. If we have good destiny related to good karma and now do bad karma , then the destiny will get worse , but not as bad as if we had bad karma even in the past . If we have bad destiny due to bad karma of the past , then by doing good karma , we can change the color or the destiny. If the color of the wall -the yellow is too strong or too dark,then no matter how much we try to paint on it , we may not be able to change it much .Again ideally we should use term destiny for immediate future and not the far out future as we don't have enough time to change immediate future , but we do have ability to to change, if if have time and make enough efforts .
So how about prayers , Do they help to change the destiny or the future ? I will attempt to talk about this in next blog.
This question made me think . The answer lies in our confusion about the word destiny and karma . Both the statements are correct . The destiny is predetermined and law of karma does exists. But there is a difference between the these two . The destiny is what is going to happen 'NOW'. What I mean by that is that I can not change what is going to happen 'NOW' .THAT IS DESTINY. This is because this destiny is predetermined by what I have done in past .So the effect is bound to be there and no matter what I do now is not going to 'change' the outcome . So I can't change destiny .But what is going to happen in the future time is dependent upon my NEW KARMA that I will be doing from now onwards.So in that way I can determine my destiny and my efforts will determine my destiny .
But then the question is why do the efforts . Can we change the resultant by doing the efforts ? The answer is yes .Let me explain . Now a days there is a direct flight from NJ to Bombay and Bombay to NJ . The interesting part is the time required to get to Bombay from New Jersey,is less than time taken to fly from Bombay to New Jersey . This has to do with the direction of the wind . The wind direction (and its speed ) helps when flying from New Jersey to Bombay , while the wind velocity and direction causes delay when we fly from Bombay to New Jersey . The speed of aeroplane can be same The speed of the plane is like the effect of the previous karma , but the wind will make difference . Our efforts are like the direction and speed of the wind . If we make more efforts (higher speed ), and in right direction , then it will help , but if the efforts are poor or in wrong direction , then it will change the Destiny even in near future . If we have longer time to work on this change , which means destiny far out , then we can change it or even make it . Now let me warn you of somethings . Let us take an example of a kid who did not study for the whole year, and started studying a month before the examination , he will have less time to 'change 'his destiny the kid that started studying for 3 months before examination , than the kid who studied regularly for the entire school year . We can also take example of painting a wall .If we try to paint a wall , which is all ready painted with some color , then the color that we apply on it will look different than what we have in the paint bucket .So if we are painting a yellow color wall with blue paint , the the color seen will be not blue , but it will be green , which results from the mixture of yellow and blue . But if we continue to paint blue color paint over and over and again , then we will finally get blue color . So what we did in past has an effect , (which is the yellow color of the wall ) , what we paint is the new color blue is our NEW KARMA or NEW EFFORTS .This new effort or new karma will change the destiny. If we have good destiny related to good karma and now do bad karma , then the destiny will get worse , but not as bad as if we had bad karma even in the past . If we have bad destiny due to bad karma of the past , then by doing good karma , we can change the color or the destiny. If the color of the wall -the yellow is too strong or too dark,then no matter how much we try to paint on it , we may not be able to change it much .Again ideally we should use term destiny for immediate future and not the far out future as we don't have enough time to change immediate future , but we do have ability to to change, if if have time and make enough efforts .
So how about prayers , Do they help to change the destiny or the future ? I will attempt to talk about this in next blog.
No comments:
Post a Comment