Creating Your Own Destiny (By Badri Narayan, The Times of India)

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Creating Your Own Destiny (By Badri Narayan, The Times of India)

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Many years ago, there lived a man in a village. Everyman that he was, he often

felt sad and forlorn, beset with personal problems and family difficulties.

What would happen to him in the future, he wondered. One day, distraught, he

opened his heart to a close friend, who said: ``Take your horoscope with you

and go to such- and-such a man who lives in the next village. He is outwardly

in humble circumstances and lives in a colony of hutments, where the poor

conglomerate. But I learn that he is a man of much wisdom, a spiritual

instructor to his people.''

 

The villager trekked to the neighboring village, which was a good distance

away. He reached the village all fatigued, just as dusk was gathering around.

The wise man was standing at the door of his hut. Folding his hands in

reverence, the villager began: ``Sir, I have walked many miles to meet you.

Please take a look at my birth- chart and give me advice. What will my future

be like?'' The wise man unfolded the chart, took a quick glance at it,

and handed it back to the villager, saying: ``It is the hour of sunset now,

and therefore not a auspicious moment at which to study a horoscope. Why

don't you come to me again tomorrow, at sunrise?''

 

Dejected, the villager turned homewards. As he walked away, he began to

wonder how he could possibly manage to make the trip back to his village, rest

and return to the wise man by sunrise. In any case, he was far too tired to

make the effort. The man continued to walk in the darkness of the night

until he spotted a temple lighted from within by an ancient oil-lamp. He

entered the temple. The stone floor was well-swept and clean, he found.

Yawning, he spread his upper cloth garment on the floor; and lying down on

this makeshift bed, he lay down and soon fell asleep. He rose a little

before sunrise, bathed in the temple pond, and made his way quickly to the

colony of hutments. ``Greetings to you, sir,'' he called out, standing at the

wise man's door with his birth-chart clutched in his hand. ``Do you remember

me, sir? You had asked me to see you today at sunrise.''

 

The wise man emerged from his door, staring at him with obvious amazement.

``It is difficult to believe that you are back here,'' he exclaimed. ``Go back

to the night and recount your experiences from sunset to sunrise. And don't

miss a single detail!'' ``Sir, there is nothing special worth

mentioning,'' said the villager. ``Only that, since it was too late for me to

return to my own village, I spent the night in a temple nearby.'' ``And

what happened then?'' asked the wise man. ``Nothing in particular,''

answered the seeker. ``Only, as I put my head down to rest, I noticed a broken

pillar in the low balustrade of the temple. And, before my eyes closed in

sleep, I said to myself that when I reached home the first thing I would do

is to ask a friend, who is a sculptor, to fashion a new pillar to replace the

broken one. And, of course, I decided that the sculptor would get his proper

wages for the repair to the house of God.'' ``That's it!'' cried the wise

man in jubilation. ``That's the thought that has done it, the intention that

has saved you!'' ``I don't understand you, sir,'' said the villager.

``My friend,'' explained the wise man, ``I had fathomed your birth- chart in

one quick glance. You were not destined to outlive the night. Now, you have

been given a further lease of life and your problems are at an end! Go in

peace and speak to your sculptor- friend.'' The villager's spontaneous but

intense expression, being performative in character, had done its service.

That is what the wise man, the spiritual instructor, meant. And what is so

subtly enthralling about this little tale is its emphasis on the fertilizing

power of thought determination, the power of the mind to influence events.

 

That a benign performative expression could lead to an unforeseen and

astounding metamorphosis of a life pattern is a sign of hope and faith in

transformation. We may recall, in this context, Sri Aurobindo's lines in The

Life Divine: ``Law and process exist in mental no less than in material

phenomena . . . behind our surface is a freer Life-power, a freer mind-power

which has another energy and can create another destiny.

 

Not for commercial use. Solely to be fairly used for the educational purposes

of research and open discussion. Copyrights The Times of India.