Prediction and Predestination

[Guest guest]

The following exchange took place via e-mail between Sayan Banerjee,

a reader of Living Tantra, and myself. I asked for Sayan's permission

to reproduce it here as I feel it may be helpful to others.

 

Sayan: What do you think about the predictions made about future

events in people's lives, and is our life predestined?

 

Shambhavi: The only thing that is predestined is that we will

eventually Self-realize. This is the life process.

 

The patterns of karma create certain pathways that we naturally tend

to follow. However, none of these are fixed. Our lives are a mixture

of fate and free will. Some patterns have more energy, and so are

harder to change. We call these seemingly fated patterns " fixed

karma, " but they are only relatively fixed, not absolutely fixed.

 

In general, sadhana helps us to change the patterns that create

tension in our lives and creates new patterns that tend more toward

relaxation and Self-realization.

 

Also, we can relax our karmas with kindness. Kindness is the attitude

that most satisfies our ancestors and helps them to release their

hold on us and continue on their own path to Self-realization. The

more sadhana you do, the more you will see the truth in this.

 

Everyone lives in a cosmic situation with an infinite number of

factors. Even the hardest fate can be changed with effort and grace.

 

The ability to accurately see a strong possibility for oneself or

others takes years of study. Any worthwhile reading of an astrology

chart or oracle is the result of deep study and deep attunement to

nature. Any worthwhile astrologer or oracle reader will know that

they are reading the possibilities available in the present moment.

These possibilities are up to us to take advantage of, or not.

 

Sayan: However many times I have observed that seers exactly predict

your future 10-15 years before. How is that possible?

 

Shambhavi: We are influenced by an infinite number of factors, some

very strong, but we also have influence in the choices we make

living every day. If we live properly, in tune with nature, and

follow our sadhana to the best of our ability, many of the tensions

affecting us will relax and not have such a big influence on us.

 

Sayan: So what you are saying is when mystics, tantriks, aghors, etc.

make predictions, it is nothing but a probability. Right?

 

Shambhavi: Some beings are experiencing events outside of time, and

what they see are not predictions in the usual sense. There is a way

of experiencing everything as happening in an eternal now in which

there is no distinction between past, present, and future. But these

are rare persons, such as Anandamayi Ma and Baba Nityananda of

Ganeshpuri. If someone such as this tells you not to take a certain

train and to change to a different one, I would do it!

 

With regard to more average predictions, yes, they are probabilities.

However, as I said, some influences are very strong. A person with a

high degree of spiritual accomplishment can tell you about these

strong influences. These patterns are relatively fixed—still only

probable—but not to be laughed away. You must use your discernment

about who does such readings for you.

 

Then, it depends on the level of clarity of the person receiving the

advice. If someone is cloudy-minded and controlled by their karmas

without any self-reflection, they will not listen or be able to take

appropriate action. And so the probability will come to be a

certainty. Karma will be in the driver's seat! If the person has

clarity from right living and sadhana and grace, they will listen,

hear, and take appropriate action. Then the effects of karma will be

lessened.

 

Very strong patterns, those that influence us every day and are part

of our personality, take a long time and much effort to relax and let

go. None of us, even very accomplished persons, escapes all

uncomfortable karmic patterning, or events. So we must do our best to

live as freely as possible and find a balance between taking

corrective action and not worrying too much about " negative " events

when they inevitably occur.

 

OM Shanti,

Shambahvi

 

http://www.livingtantra.net/2006/10/prediction_and_.html