Fate - What Is It?
Contributed By - Sundaranand Mahadevan
I was listening to Ayya (Sir) Ilangai Jeyaraj, a great Saiva Siddhanta teacher. He was speaking on “Fate” and I wanted to share my learning and understanding.
The dictionary defines Fate (as a Noun) “the development of events beyond a person's control, regarded as determined by a supernatural power”. As a verb, Fate is defined as “be destined to happen, turn out, or act in a particular way”.
Before we dive deeper, Fate is well defined by Newton’s Third Law “Every action has an equal and opposite reaction”. I like this definition better than the one above.
In Newton’s physical law, the action and reaction go together, just like the shadow that follows the hoof of the bullock. In the human psychological world, the reaction may come a bit delayed, either in the near future or remote future. Since the Indian system believes in reincarnation, the effect is also seen across lifetimes.
If something comes to you - both joy and sorrow - especially sorrow, and you don’t deserve it, it means that the creation & the laws within is faulty. However, if we see it through the lens of Newton, we can see that our experiences have nothing to do with the Lord, it has everything to do with ourselves.
In the Indian system, Lord is called “Karma Phala Daata”, the giver of results. The result is given based on the individual’s action [more precisely the intent with which an action is performed], it is not according to the whims and fancies of the Lord. So, whatever we experience, it is because of our own past actions, nothing to do with the Lord’s. If the Lord is not objective, how can we call Him “Just”? Even the Lord has no power over what one experiences - it is Individual’s responsibility and accountability.
Myth: “Fate is fatalism”.
If everything is preordained, what is the need to try? Doesn’t the word karma or kismet lead to fatalism?
Jesus had to endure crucifixion to bring life to many prophecies, the crucial amongst them is crucifixion and resurrection. He could have easily escaped the pain and anguish, but he decided to keep quiet and endure. Do you call this fatalism?
Jesus in Sermon on the Mount Matthew 5:38-42 says “You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth." But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.”
Here Jesus is neither advocating appeasing another to avoid pain nor justifying retaliation. He is guiding us to perform a proactive action of kindness and compassion. When we keep quiet (do not resist) or show benevolence, we cut at its root, the web of cause and its effect, consciously freeing ourselves from suffering, while enduring the pain.
Lesson Learned: Accept whatever is happening to us as a response to some action we had done earlier; make an effort to cut the cause-effect relationship at its roots, by keeping pleasantly quiet or perform an act of compassion or kindness. Remember, there are no accidents in this Universe, there are only incidences whose cause is not known to you.
Myth: “Fate can be won through our intellectual prowess or by just surrendering to the Lord”.
As I was growing up, I used to always watch debates titled “Can we win or overcome fate with our intellect?” The rationalist always say “Yes” while religious always had a mixed feeling - some say “Yes” and some say “No” and each one of them has a parable or quotation from the scriptures.
If fate is the recoil of our own past action, how can we conveniently bypass it? Can I just embrace Jesus or Krishna and be totally relieved from all the consequences? If a man keeps committing rape all his life and accepts Jesus as his Lord and Savior at the end of his life, is he saved, absolved of all his sins? This seems like a marketing gimmick, isn’t it?
Accepting our own mistakes and asking for forgiveness is a beautiful act. I struggled with my mistakes when my father died, there were so many items to be settled and I have lost the opportunity to say “sorry” to him. I used to cry silently and ask my mom how I can fix this issue? She said, “Well, Anand, Please do not repeat this again and cause similar injury to others, that is the best way to move forward and be free from guilt”.
Lesson Learned: Repentance and corrective actions prevent us from accumulating negative consequences (aagami) into our bag of sin (sanchita), the Nature’s law is clear: what we sow, so we reap. We cannot neutralize the effects of an action by our intellect or by merely surrendering to our dear Lord. We can always ask the Lord to give us the strength to face the results, but never to get a free pass to be relieved from it.
Under what circumstance one can neutralize the effects of all their past actions (burn them to ashes)? The scripture places the following condition - When we see all beings in ourselves and ourselves in all beings. Jesus has said it a bit differently “Love Thy neighbor as Thyself”. This is the definition of liberation. Only under this condition, the Law of Karma can be neutralized - neither by might nor by faith but by abiding in Life that is All-Pervading.
When we abide in the All-Pervading Consciousness - there is no birth, there is no death, there is no cause-effect and its baggage.