Is everything pre-destined?
From: Rishabh
Answer Podcast
Transcription
as hindu culture believe in hastarekhavigyan….does it indicate that destiny of a person is predecided….or is that vidya fake…..if so then what’s our role in our own future….or isn’t it like just playing our part in a script in which we can’t do anything to change something we want….kindly resolve my doubt….hare krishna….
The various branches of the vedic knowledge which are concerned with knowing about future, whether it may be palmistry or numerology or astrology, are all based on an understanding that there are signs of the future which are present in either in our bodily characteristics, or in the characteristics of the planetary alignments at the moments of our birth as indicated by the horoscope, or in the figures that comprise our birth date and birth time and similar things like that, but these are signs that’s all signs, they are not compulsions, essentially any method of knowing about the future is like a weather forecastast, if the weather forecast for tomorrow is that it is going to rain torrentially, that forecast , even when it is correct, does not necessarily force us to become wet. We still have the choice, whether to go out into the rains or not, or even if we decide to go out tomorrow , we can equip us with an umbrella or a raincoat and thus avoid getting wet, so essentially any form of future prediction can primarily determine what happens to us, it doesn’t determine, how we respond to it. so destiny essentially refers to us “what happens to us”, freewill essentially refers to “how we respond to it”. Of course , the influences from the vedic perspective are a little more subtle, because our destiny influences us not only externally but also internally. that means not only will it rain tomorrow, but tomorrow I may also get a dare devilish urge to go out in the rain, but again, yes, although destiny may create certain desires within me, but these desires which are created, they are only propositions, they are not impositions. So, the ultimate choice of decision making is with us, and we can always choose to act in a way that is for our higher growth and that freedom becomes more and more increase when we practice spiritual life, and become connected with Krishna, because then our mind and its urges don’t overpower us because we can connect with Krishna and we can resist the emotions and the urges that flood us and impel us to behave in a particular ways. So if our life were just a script in which we could not change any thing, then there is no point in God giving us scriptures, which tell us please do this and please don’t do this, so the very fact that Krishna gives us the Bhagavad Gita, which tells us choices and consequences. Krishna tells us that if you do this , this will be the consequence, and if you do this , this will be the consequences, now it is for us to understand which consequence we want and accordingly make the choice. now the very fact that Krishna gives us the choices and consequences and then leaves the decision up to us, indicate that the decision is actually up to us. So as far life the concerned, it’s a play in which , yes more or less the contours of the play may be fixed, but our role is not fixed. Our role can be changed by our choices, and specially if we practice Krishna consciousness and we take shelter of Krishna and become devotees, then, the power of Krishna’s mercy can even change the effects of the pasts which come upon us through our destiny. Krishna can change the destiny also , so therefore, as devotees we are too much worried, about what the future holds , we are more worried about what we are doing in the present, As it is said that the future is always bright, but it is up to us to make the present bright . For us if we practice Krishna consciousness and make our present bright, and that bright present will create a bright future. Of course although palmistry , numerology and astrology are bonafide, they are not fake , but still in modern times it is difficult to find out practitioners who are sufficiently matured expert and wise to utilize these subtle knowledge systems for the benefit of the individual who is consulting them. Often these become money minting business for the future predictors and the often their clients get fleeced, cheated. So at one level we accept that these are bonafide sciences, but at the same time, it is difficult to find authentic practitioners for these fields of knowledge and therefore as devotees it is not necessary for us to get involved in any of these fields. if we practice Krishna consciousness then Krishna will create best future for us, what ever be written in the lines of our hands or wherever else. Shrila Prabhupada would say that if you just clap the hands in the kirtan, all the lines of the hands will change, this means that actually Krishna personally takes charge of our lives, and then role of the various subtler influences does not influence us, because, Krishna protects us from those influences.
thank you