Destiny and Free Will By Dr. H. Janardana Acharya

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Destiny and Free Will

By Dr. H. Janardana Acharya

'There' is nothing greater than 'Vishnu Sahasra Namam'. Nothing else can

give you in destroyable peace. Nothing can give you freedom from pain

and agony except recitation of Vishnu Sahasra Namam at least once a day.

- Sri Radhakrishna Swamiji

 

Destiny and free will are synonymous. If the life phenomenon is a coin,

the destiny is its obverse and the free-will its reverse. The

relationship between them is as old and good as the relationship between

the plant and the seed. Whether the destiny is the follower of free-will

or otherwise is a never answerable question.

 

What is one today is due to the culmination of the play of one's

freewill enacted yesterday, an yesterday that can be carried to an

action. The product of the free will is called destiny or fate

('Adrishta'). Destiny is invisible but it is the product of one's own

making and therefore one has the capacity to unmake it. The spool of

destiny is wound by him and he himself would be able to unwind it.

 

The Sahasra Nama admits that the problem of fate and freewill is

ponderous and formidable ('Gahano Guhaha'). However it clarifies the

problem in ten words. The words 'Karanam Kaaranam Kartha Vikartha' say

that He is the instrument and implement, He is the cause, He is the doer

and He is the non-doer or undoer. In conclusion these words combine to

say that it is the destiny's hand that is at work and that this phase of

destiny in the phenomenon of life is un-understandable and unknowable.

 

But the seeker should not be discouraged. The reverse of the coin

stamped ('Vyavasayah Vyavasthanah' etc,). It goads him to strive

(Vyavasayah). His efforts will not go unobserved Nothing goes amiss in

orderly dispensation and one's efforts will be rewarded (Sthanadah). The

Dhruva is the final firm reassurance to the seeker that the destiny will

run according to one's industry. It also illustrates the attainment of

puranic Dharma whose persistent endeavor and final reach of Shimshumara

Chakra, the pave of the universe are classically proverbial.

 

This son of mutual relationship between free will and destiny and the

identity of them is the dispensation of His supreme wisdom which is

clear to the saints of the caliber of His Holiness Sri Radhakrishna

Swamiji.

 

What is this supreme wisdom?

We shall bury our past. Let us build our future not allowing the present

(to slip away but making the best of the present. Now is our time, not

tomorrow. [Keeping the classical Dhruva as our ideal, we shall hitch our

wagon to the plot star and not minding the earth to which we are

temporarily bound and pulled] shall try to reach the vault striving,

striving and striving.

Source Shri Sai Padananda April 1992 issue