Dear Reader,
Often we see that some people
who behave very morally and who are very pious are faced with many difficulties
in life. On the other hand, sometimes we find people who are corrupt and behave
badly yet seem to live lavish and happy lives. This makes us wonder, why is this
so? There are many subtle factors that determine the major events in our life,
especially birth and marriage. One of the major factors is destiny. Destiny, in very simple terms, means that for every action, there is a reaction.
This reaction is called destiny. The consequence of any action is destiny. This
consequence has to be faced either in this birth or a future birth. Even if we
do not remember it, we have to pay for all our actions, good or bad.
Types of Destiny:
Sanchit: The entire accumulated account of destiny from all our past births
is called sanchit. Prarabdha: This is the part of our accumulated destiny that we have to experience
in this lifetime. Kriyaman: Our willful actions create new destiny. The willful action that
creates new destiny accounts in this lifetime is called Kriyaman.
As long as we have an account of unsettled destiny, we need to be reborn to
live through it. This is the cause of our rebirth. When an embodied soul is born
for the first time, it has zero destiny and 100% willful action. As it lives
life, it generates destiny and has to be reborn again to live out the new destiny.
Mechanism of destiny:
Say that at the end of our last birth, our accumulated account of destiny
(sanchit) is 100 units. In every birth we have to live out or experience six
units of destiny (prarabdha). With these parameters, mathematically we should
finish all our hundred units of accumulated destiny within 16-17 births, thus
freeing us from the cycle of birth and death. Unfortunately, it does not work
out this way. In each life we add about ten units of destiny due to our willful
action. Thus, at the end of this birth our accumulated account of destiny (sanchit),
instead of becoming 94 units, increases to 104 units.
In this present era of Kaliyug, 65% of all our actions are according to destiny
and the remaining 35% are according to our free will. |
