Is everything ordained?

[Guest guest]

There is great benefit when one believes that this is true. Everytime when

things go wrong in my life or I feel blue, I say to my self that this was just

destined to happen; then a modicum of detachment gets me out of that dark space.

Aloha,

Alton

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Is Everything Ordained? By Devaraja Mudaliar

ONE summer afternoon I was sitting opposite Bhagavan in the Old Hall

with a fan in my hand and said to him: "I can understand that the

outstanding events in a man's life, such as his country, nationality,

family, career or profession, marriage, death, etc. are all

predestined by his karma, but can it be that all the details of his

life, down to the minutest, have already been determined? Now, for

instance, I put this fan that is in my hand down on the floor here.

Can it be that it was already decided that on such and such a day, at

such and a such an hour, I shall move the fan like this and put it

down here?"

Bhagavan replied "Certainly." He continued: "Whatever this body is to

do and whatever experiences it is to pass through was already decided

when it came into existence."

Thereupon I naturally exclaimed: "What becomes then of man's freedom

and responsibility for his actions?"

Bhagavan explained: "The only freedom man has is to strive for and

acquire the jnana which will enable him not to identify himself with

the body. The body will go through the actions rendered inevitable by

prarabdha (destiny based on the balance sheet of past lives) and a man

is free either to identify himself with the body and be attached to

the fruits of its actions, or to be detached from it and be a mere

witness of its activities."

This may not be acceptable to many learned people or philosophers, but

I am sure I have made no error in transmitting as above the gist of

the conversation that took place between Bhagavan and me. Though this

answer of Bhagavan may upset the apple cart of our careful reasonings

and conclusions, I am satisfied that what Bhagavan said must be the

truth. I also recall in this connection the following lines that

Bhagavan once quoted to me from Thayumanavar on another occasion:

"This is not to be taught to all. Even if we tell them, it will only

lead to endless discussion."

It may be well to remind readers that Bhagavan has given his classic

answer to the age-old question "Can freewill conquer fate?" as

follows in his Forty Verses. "Such questions worry only those who

have not found the source of both freewill and fate. Those who have

found this source have left all such discussions behind." The usual

reaction of Bhagavan to any such question would be to retort: "Who is

it that has this fate or freewill? Find that out and then this

question will not arise."

- First appeared in the Call Divine, December 1, 1959

The mind is a bundle of thoughts. The thoughts arise because there is

the thinker. The thinker is the ego. The ego, if sought, will

automatically vanish. The ego and the mind are the same. The ego is

the root-thought from which all other thoughts arise. - Sri Ramana

Maharshi