Fate and Freewill: The riddle
For centuries people have believed in Fate and Karma. For about the same time people also believed that everything happens only because of effort, freewill, our mind and our thoughts. These people hate the concept of fate or Karma. They say it is just an imagination or a weakness of the mind to assume that there is a fate for all of us. According to them whatever happens is due to effort and has nothing to do with past life, prarabdha karma or even God.
Read the following lines from Mathew (The Bible). The situation is the last supper. Jesus Christ, the all knowing One, says that one of his own disciples will betray Him. So one by one they ask Him, “….is it me…is it me….” and to each one of them He says, “No. It is not you”. However when Judas Iscariot asks the same question, Jesus Christ says, “Yes. It is you”. However in his reply Jesus Christ clearly points out to the power of Fate and Karma.
Jesus Christ: “The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born". please read this line as many times as you can and think deeply. It is loaded with information and has all the answers that you are seeking.
Picture : The betrayal of Jesus Christ by Judas Iscariot is also known as the Kiss of Judas. The soldiers are unable to arrest Jesus Christ because they cannot identify Him. Judas helps them identify Him by his kiss. The place is the garden of Gethsemane, the time is after the Last Supper.“As it is written about” means a predetermined aspect of life that is referred to as FATE. To fulfil the fate of Jesus Christ, a betrayer is needed. Imagine there is a post called the President of The USA. Someone has to fill in the post. The post can never be vacant. In the same way there is space for a betrayer of Jesus Christ. Someone has to get into that position to fulfil the destiny of Jesus Christ. I request you to read the words of Jesus at least 3 times as 3 times is the number of Guru (The teacher).
So Jesus Christ says, “It would be better for him (Judas) if he (Judas) had not been born”. The meaning of this is, Judas Iscariot has been a great sinner which made it possible for him to occupy the post of the betrayer. Randomly any person cannot get into that betrayer seat. Only a great sinner from a past life will be allotted that space. Perhaps someone who has in his horoscope an afflicted 9th house, perhaps Jupiter is also afflicted and the 9th house is afflicted a lot by Rahu ( the anti Guru). So you cannot argue that since the fate of Jesus Christ was predetermined, what is wrong with what Judas Iscariot did. Judas Iscariot the bad guy was chosen to be the betrayer because from past lives Judas was not a good person. I request you now to read the words of Jesus at least 3 times as number 3 is the number of Guru (The teacher). Rahu is the cheater in any horoscope. Rahu always works against Guru (Jupiter).
Effort is supreme and that is the main reason of success.
Some people have told me many times that “I believe more in effort than in the planets, karma, fate and blah blah. So I have no time for planets, astrology and discussions about this nonsense”. Whenever people say this I often noticed the super ego written all over their faces because many of these people are so proud of their effort and success not knowing that Karma was the reason for even the effort that they had put into their lives. Let me tell you that at least 50% of whatever ones goes through in life was predetermined. I doubt if Vedic Astrology ever denounced effort. In fact Vedic Astrology teaches you where to put in your effort. At least no book of Vedic Astrology has ever said that you can stop working, watch TV the whole day because fate will take care of our lives.
Our effort is the arm of destiny. Without effort, destiny cannot unfold itself or manifest.
Ask people who put in much effort for many years. They usually will say, “despite my effort I did not succeed at all”. When you begin to look around you will find that some people put very little effort and got the success that eluded most people who put in tremendous effort. Many will say that such people did not put in the right kind of effort. They were not smart workers. This is the usual complaint. However when people succeed everyone is sure that they were smart workers. The same smart person falls down later on. This is because the time has changed. Time keeps changing everything in our lives. Time is measured in Karma as our MahaDasha and AntarDasha planetary periods. Also you will notice that some people are very successful with very little effort during the Dasha and Antardasha of favourable planets in their horoscope.
Does effort always lead to success?
Effort is the main component of success. Whenever people succeeded in their work, the effort they put in is always noticed by everyone. For example when an athlete wins an Olympic gold medal it is obvious that hard work is the only reason. Does that mean that the people who went home empty handed without winning a medal did not put in hard work. Perhaps you may say not as much as the champion. So your winning and losing is not just determined by your own effort, it is rather determined by how much effort others have put in. So it means that your effort is not just enough. How do you know how much effort your opponent is putting in while you are practicing miles away?
Try answering this question. In your school competition you won because of your talent or because your opponents has less talent than you? Please meditate on this line for sometime before you proceed. The opponents create your destiny.
All others who put in so much effort but failed to make it to the top have never been spoken of and none of us know them.
For example only if you reach Mount Everest people come to know of you. If you have reached a little short of Mount Everest you are not covered by the newspapers. So what happened to all that effort you put in. Waste of time ?
If you are a winner the world loves you and flatters you. If you just miss the final winning no one bothers to even think of you. You just are ignored. Everyone is looking only at the winner. Those who won will tell the world how their effort yielded the success.
If there is a fate for a winner there is also a fate for the loser. In fact the winner’s fate includes the loser’s fate too. The effort that both put in will be in accordance to their fate. The loser of today will win the world championship next time. So that means effort has to be put in continuously until fate also falls in place at an appropriate time. So losing and winning is not the issue. Effort is the most important factor in our life because effort is a long time matter and fate happens in a moment.
It is like the arrow (effort) takes a long time before it reaches the target (fate). Vedic Astrology deals with Karma which in turn deals with when the arrow striking the target.
The entire argument we are having now boils downs to just 1 of the 2 possibilities. An event in life happened because of Fate as seen the life of Jesus Christ for example. An event in life happens simply because of effort. This debate can go on forever as long as man lives on this planet.
We can end this debate if only we say effort only created Karma and now Karma creates effort like the egg and the chicken and that's why we are struggling to get the answer.
Finally the best phrase that helps us all have more clarity is this ...... Buddhih Karma Anusarini which literally means our mind will work in accordance to Karma brought forward by what is called Prarabdha Karma. What you cannot control in this life is Karma, that which is something beyond your effort. Like the traffic jams when you want to reach office on time. The driving is still in your hands. You may have accept that sometimes your effort will not work due to Karma (the traffic Jam).
Life is like Sailing on a Sail Boat
While sailing you will notice that the movement of your sail boat is dependent on the wind factor which is definitely not in your control. The wind has nothing to do with your effort. The other factor that affects your sailing is your effort in harnessing the winds to your advantage. You need that skill to manoeuvre the sails on the boat. In the same way our effort works very closely with fate. When there is no wind, no amount of effort will let you move on if you are sailing. Though the wind and the effort are 2 different factors when it comes to the actual act of sailing they are inseparable. So do not think that if a transit of Jupiter and Saturn is good you will succeed without any effort. It just means that the wind is blowing well and is pushing you forward but only if you have the sail in place and that too in the right angle to take advantage of wind. If there is no wind, even then you can start to row with the help of oars. Effortlessly sailing in life is possible only when the wind of fate is pushing you on. Rowing is recommended when there is no wind at all. So effort is always supreme and highly recommended. At the same time, why use the oars when there is a good amount of wind. Find out which way is better.
Sailing – involves 2 forces.
1. The force of the wind that is not in your control and this is comparable to the prarabdha karma that was brought forward in this life. It was already allotted to you.
2. Your effort that is also dependant on the wind (fate). Without the wind there is no point in the effort.
Napoleon Bonaparte and Fate
There is no such thing as accident; it is fate misnamed. – Napoleon
The torment of precautions often exceeds the dangers to be avoided. It is sometimes better to abandon one’s self to destiny. – Napolean
Somebody asked Napolean, “if you believe so much in fate, then why do you want to fight the war” meaning why don’t you sit back and relax. Napoleon replied, “fighting in all these wars is part of my fate and that is why I am doing it”. So it is clear that if fate has to work you will have to co-operate with it. There is no way you can sit back and relax.
The person who must succeed according to fate, will put in the maximum effort automatically so that his fate is fulfilled.
Karma and rebirth ideas are non verifiable!
Many of my readers and sometimes a few clients have expressed their doubts on rebirth, past life and karma. They say, “no one has really proven all this”. I tell them that your life events are revealed so clearly when I look at your horoscope and that is the proof of Karma. The lives of famous and infamous people of the world whose horoscopes have been discussed by Astrologers and students of Astrology and time after time has proven rebirth and karma because whatever the Maharishis taught us in Vedic Astrology has worked all the time in the life of an individual. If there is no Karma how can can that be. Everyone's life should be unpredictable instead it is predictable and verifiable.
Do you have to see it to believe it?
For example even without seeing my great grandfather, I know that he must have existed. Even without seeing Helium it was said that the SUN has helium using certain methods. Helium was later discovered on earth. We can infer a lot of things using what is called Logic. That is the sign of intelligence. Detectives find out the murderer without actually seeing the murder. Grand-master chess players can visualize the board after 3 or even 10 moves ahead which ordinary chess players cannot which is why they lose. Karma is not an excuse invented by the wisest men from ancient India. It is the reality that explains everything in life which any other method of reasoning cannot. You need to be patient and keep investigating. One day it will become clear to you.
Child prodigies are clear signs of remembering the past lives. In one of our Rotary Club meetings a child about 6 years old, was the guest speaker of the meeting. She was so small that we made her sit on the table instead of the chair. She knew the entire Thirukkural written in Tamil – a very old book of 1330 couplets that have today been translated into so many popular languages of the world. The author Thiruvalluvar was an extraordinary poet and saint. There are 133 chapters each addressing to a particular area of life. We only had to tell the chapter number and poem number and she would immediately recite the lines. We failed in our attempts to defeat her.
Capablanca a World Chess Champion between 1921 to 1927 was famous for his end game skills and speed of play. He was called the human chess machine. He learned the rules of the game at the age of four by watching his father play, pointed out an illegal move made by his father, and then beat his father twice. He must have been a Chess player in his past life. Most of us remember subconsciously the past life. We carry forward many things that are related to knowledge from one life to the next. So knowledge is the most important thing in our lives worth accumulating for it will come with us into our next births. Habits, good and bad get carried forward. So beware of the bad habits. Develop good habits.
The work of Dr. Brian Weiss is proof enough. Most of his books are best sellers which mean people have now taken past life to be a thing of the present. This knowledge was available in India for over 1000s of years and yet no one really cared to acknowledge it. “Same souls many bodies” is one of the books he has authored. Sri Krishna tells Arjuna “you have lived 1000s of lives, but you do not remember them”. Of course Bhagavad Gita is also a bestseller these days thank to the Internet. “Many lives, Many Masters” is another popular book from the same author.
The Buddha The Enlightened Master taught us everything about rebirth.
Sri Krishna in Bhagavad Gita speaks about rebirth.
The list is endless.
Fate and Effort
You may spend a life time debating the cause of your success and everyone’s success. Is it fate or effort? At certain points in your life you may think that fate is all powerful. Such thoughts come to you when your effort does not work. However when your effort pays off, you feel that there is no fate. You suddenly get the idea that believers of fate are really stupid. You will never find the answer. That is because Fate and Effort is one and the same or they are so much intertwined that they are inseparable. Effort becomes your fate at a later stage. Fate forces you to put in more effort. On your fate, your efforts ride like a man his horse. Together they succeed. When they succeed you will never know whether it was due to the man or due to the horse that carried the man. Man is the effort, the horse is the fate.
The horse is a separate entity. Yet the man riding it seems to be in control. He is. Is not the horse also limiting the man. He is completely trusting the horse. If you look closely you do not know who is the limiting factor. The man or the horse? So effort and fate are like these.
To the world or the spectators, the man and the horse are two inseparable unit of either success or failure. When the cup or the medal is given it is given only to man – the effort and not the horse. Nobody realises that the horse was also responsible. So effort alone is visible to people. Fate exists on the background of whatever we do. Effort is the paint on the canvas of fate. Once the painting is done, the canvas and the painting are 2 inseparable things. If you can change your effort you also will be changing your fate. When your fate is changing your effort will also start changing in tune to the fate.
So never stop putting more effort during tough times.
Those who know Vedic Astrology think that during a Sade-Sati period (7.5 years Saturn phase) nothing is going to work. Wrong. All it means is that you got to work harder to change your fate. So rely 50% on the Astrological remedies and for the other 50% you should increase your efforts to the maximum during a tough time like Ketu Dasha endings or a Rahu-Saturn period. The remedies that you do will help you put in more efforts. That will start changing your fate.
Some of my clients feel that only if their fate permits it, they do the remedies. When they do the remedies their problems are solved. So they get the idea that doing the remedies is also part of fate. Remember the fate of this life is actually due to the effort (good and bad effort) put in during your previous life. So good and bad effort done in this life will begin to alter your experiences in the current life. It will also give you credit points or debit points for your next life.
Right knowledge is supreme. Pray to God asking for right knowledge. Right knowledge is essential. Mere argument about fate and freewill is not going to solve our problems.
The case of the Mango Seed
Take a good look at the following picture. If you know it is the mango seed it reveals 2 facts. That photo is of good quality and that you are familiar with a mango seed.
From this seed those who know about plants and trees know that a mango tree will surely come out. They also will know that a coconut tree or a banyan tree will never come out. The seed contains the entire coding for making a mango tree. One who know all this can say that the mango seed will become this at a particular time, then during April flowers will appear on the tree and then the juicy mango fruits will surely be seen in plenty. The result of karma is usually referred to as fruits. Predictions are possible if you know the mango tree very well. So too, if you know human life and Astrology one can make wonderful predictions. It is predictable because millions of times this has happened.
So generally predictions based on a horoscope is possible in the same way one can say that the mango sapling will eventually grow out of the mango seed. In other words a coconut tree will never come out of a Mango seed. At the same time if the mango seed does get a congenial environment like the right kind of soil, moisture and temperature etc, the Mango seed will remain as a seed and you will not see any germination. The yogas in a horoscope requires the right kind of environment for it to manifest. The congenial environment is created by effort in the right place. In Astrology there is a concept known as Kaala Desha Paatra meaning human beings are so much dependant on their gender, religion, nation, family circumstances in which they are born. The right Dasha and Antardasha combination should come at the right age. For example if a Raja Yoga comes when you are in your youth will be a great advantage. Imagine a Raja Yoga comes in old age. An Astrologer should also be aware of these factors. If a person has mighty Raja Yoga in USA he may become the President of United States, if the same Raja Yoga is in a person who lives in India, he will not become the President of USA. The yogas manifest differently for a male when compared to a female. Only a female can bear a child.
Moral of the story:
Match your effort with whatever is indicated in your horoscope. Do not do what you should not do. Follow the do’s and don’ts. Examine the strength, weakness, opportunities and threats in your horoscope. If you have Rajayogas in your chart you should try to work hard until you become a celebrity or a notable person. If you are not supposed to become a business owner then never attempt to become one. If everyone want to be a business owner who will be employed in a business. Did you get this point? If you are the fish you can never succeed on land no matter what you do. If you are the duck you can be both on land and on water, but you will be better off if you are in water. If you are an elephant you better be on land. If in water even a crocodile can hurt you or even destroy you.
By
Guruji E K Dhilip Kumar
Email : ekdhilipkumar@gmail.com
Whatsapp : +91 9841041713
Discussion(3)
This is an excellent and deeply insightful article. Thank you for sharing your wisdom, Guruji!
Dear Nagendar, to live peacefully in this world, we need the people of this world to be peaceful, kind and compassionate. If we are good and others are bad then it is not very helpful. So please educate as many people as possible about the consequences of our actions. Share this article with as many friends as possible.
This is an excellent and deeply insightful article. Thank you for sharing your wisdom, Guruji!