“Destiny/Fate” or “Righteous Action/Self-Effort”
- A corporate employee had an important meeting on a particular day. However, on that very particular day, he woke up later than usual, rushed to get ready, then realized that the fuel in his car was very low. He got a taxi with great difficulty during those peak hours and there was unusually huge traffic on the road that day. All this got him very late for the meeting due to which certain opportunities were lost and he got a huge firing from his senior.
- A student gave his all a whole year for an important examination. However, on the day of examination the student was ill and hence the result of the examination turned out negative for the student.
- A sales-person undertook huge business development efforts to get sales orders in a month without much result. However, his colleague (also a sales-person, who did not seem to undertake that much effort) was able to secure a really massive order in that month
Do the above situations in our day-to-day life sound familiar? If you were put in the above situations, what would you do? Would you sulk, get upset and say “It is my karma, my destiny, my fate, my ill-luck” or would you accept the situation positively and move ahead?
The Indian scriptures teach us a beautiful way of dealing with any situation in life.
They declare that what comes to us (i.e. present destiny) is the result or outcome of our own past actions, which we may not even be aware of. In this regard, Bhagavan Shree Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita “Gahana Karmano Gatih” meaning “Inscrutable is the way of Karma.”
However, that is not the end of it all. The scriptures go a step further to state that despite whatever situation one is facing or has faced in life, going forward, he/she is to give the best in his/her life (i.e. put in self-effort) without getting anxious or worried about what will happen further i.e. with even-mindedness/equanimity of mind. The Gita clearly says the following this regard:
- “Karmanye Vadhikaraste Ma Phaleshu Kadachana” meaning “Your right is to work alone and never to its fruits.”
- “Samatvam Yoga Uchyate” meaning “Equanimity or even-mindedness is Yoga.”
Swami Chinmayananda ji also in his book “Kindle Life” says – “‘What’ one meets in life is destiny and ‘How’ one meets it, is self-effort.”
Since the present is the outcome of the past, the righteous actions/self-effort undertaken wholeheartedly in the present will certainly help in changing or reshaping the future. In fact, the Gita beautifully states – “Yogah karmasu kaushalam” – “Excellence in action/work is Yoga.”
The aforesaid discussions are summarized as follows: DO YOUR BEST AND LEAVE THE REST.
The above is only a glimpse of the treasures our great scriptures contain to completely re-mould our lives for the better.
To explore these teachings more deeply, you may enroll in the Foundation Vedanta Course offered by the Chinmaya International Foundation: https://chinfo.org/courses/foundation-vedanta-course-online/
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