Destiny
Many of us are fascinated by this term destiny. The Oxford online dictionary describes it as the hidden power believed to control future events, fate. Is it really hidden, or can we understand it’s workings? What does spiritual science tell us about destiny? Is there anything we can do to change it or make it better?
The first thing to understand about destiny or fate is that it is the result of our past lives’ karma. To understand the workings of destiny, we must accept that we are an eternal entity that has lived previously and will live again after we leave this current body. Let us assume we all agree with this, and now lets see what Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj has to say about destiny.
Karma is both the actions we perform and the results of those actions we reap, and it can only be performed by human beings because we can discriminate between right and wrong. All other species, although embodied souls just like us, cannot perform karma and simply act according to instinct. Humans, on the other hand, are not only held responsible for every physical action they perform, but every word spoken and even every thought had! All of this is counted as karma. Karma is classified according to our motive. Whatever we do has a motivation behind it — whether good or bad. Accordingly, the results we endure will either be good or bad.
Scriptures reveal that the results of previous lives’ actions are given to us in this life as our destiny. This means that some physical things are destined, such as the circumstances of our birth, the time of our death, certain characteristics of our body and certain illnesses, etc. and their results must be undergone. What is not destined is what we choose to do, think, and say in this life using our own free will. No matter what is going on around us, we have the choice as to how we behave and react to it. The choice to perform good actions is always in our hands, and so in every moment we can build a brighter future.
So, if you want to handle the destined challenges of this life in a better way, then you must develop yourself spiritually. We all possess the power to change ourselves internally, and this is what we should focus on. We can awaken or improve our spiritual consciousness and come closer and closer to God. By doing so, we will become more impervious to the ups and downs of our outer life that we have brought upon ourselves due to our own past actions.
Although you cannot change your destiny, you can change the way you respond to it and this can be done by evolving spiritually.
Spirituality in Daily Living, Vol. 3, p23–25
Kripalu Bhaktiyoga Tattvadarshan, Vedic knowledge revealed by Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj and presented in English by Dr Vishakha Tripathi, president of Jagadguru Kripalu Parishat.
https://www.jkpliterature.org.in/en/product/spirituality-in-daily-living-3
