Are we destined to do certain actions

Dear Satchi,

I agree with you completely regarding destiny. We as mortal has no power to change the effects of destiny except one. That is to pray to the Lord and/or do some noble actions during our life time without expecting anything. Sometimes, grace of the Lord works on top of our good actions to change course in our lives. Savithri Sathyavan and Markandeya stories are perfect examples of beating the destiny with the grace of the Lord and right conduct.

In case of Paramacharya, he always wanted the life of Sanyasi and God's grace was with him to fulfill his actions. Therefore, the parents of Paramacharya were unable to change his destiny. Paramacharya as a child (Swaminathan) only had a childhood attachment to his mother but his main goal was to serve the humanity. The drama of his assuming Sanyasam in the absence of his mother is to break that attachment so that he could fulfill his goal.

Viswa

 

Dear Nalini,

Thank you for visiting this post. Like you, I am a big believer of Karma and I do my best to accept the life as it comes. There are things I can change and there are things I can't change and all I pray for is to give me serenity to understand the difference.

Viswa

 

Dear Sriniketan,

I am not sure whether you saw a movie called "Mouna Ragam" acted by Mohan and Revathi as hero and heroin. In that movie, Revathi is forcibly married to Mohan and moves to Delhi with him but refuses to accept Mohan as her husband. But she demonstrates child like heart to everyone around. But she seeks divorce from her husband. One gentlemen tells Mohan that Revathi is like a child for which Mohan replies, "If the child asks for dress, toys or something else, I can get but she is asking for divorce."

Every parent can fulfill the wishes of the children to the extent possible within their means. What can parents do if the child asks for Sanyasam and break of bondage? It is very painful to the parents.

Having said that, Paramacharya is born to serve the people and show them the direction to the light. He practiced austerity and demonstrated how one should serve the world with humility. If a country can forgo a village to save itself, a village can forgo a family to save itself, a family perhaps may have to forgo a child to save the world.

If the child refuses to let go the bondage, the mother can embrace the child with open arms but when the child wants to go and serve the world, what can they do to stop him? If giving birth to such a noble child is their good Karma, letting that child guide the world with Advaita is also a good Karma.

Viswa

 

Dear Cheeniya Sir,

First, I very much appreciate your taking the time to respond to this post. You are so right about the Grahastha performing his or her duties in life to the best of his/her ability whether it is taking care of parents or spouse or children. It is very painful to hear about what the children did to the old lady in Vishranthi. Like you, I also visit a lot of old age homes and orphanages often during my visits to India. Once I went to an old age home with my mother to feed the elders for my mother's birth day. All the elders in that home told my mother, "You are so blessed to have a child like your son" which I took as the greatest blessing I have received in my life.

If all children were performing their duties right, there won't be old age homes, if all parents were performing their duties right, there won't be orphanages and if all in-laws treat the incoming bridge right, there won't be suffering by young married women. Depending on our age, situation and circumstances, each person sees the world through their prism called mind and it gives the pattern that it wants each person to see.

Regarding mystics who illuminated this world in the past, I agree with you that we should not subject them to scrutiny whether they made the right decision or not. They all led a simple and exemplary life that at least I am not qualified to replicate. However from Adi Sankara to Seshadri Swamigal you listed in your response, not one person escaped comments and criticism but they led their life according to their divine consciousness. Whether an individual is a Mystic or not, when he makes his life public, he gets subjected to all kinds of comments and criticism. But they overcome that and address them as they deem fit. Moreover, they lead a life of austerity as their way of life and are not asking everyone to practice their austerity. Certainly, taking Sanyasam by those mystics are not intended to teach something to the rest to leave the life of Grahastha and take Sanyasam. At least that is not what I intended to say in my post.

A few years back, one of the devotees asked my Guru, "I am living in the United States and I feel bad that I am unable to be with my parents during their old age and physically help them." He responded, "everyone must perform their duties to their families including parents without any question. However, if your professional duties take you to a place where you are unable to access your parents on a daily basis, please talk to them lovingly and tell them how much you miss them. Please take the time to serve the elderly wherever you resides and your actions will be appreciated by the Lord of the Universe".

Every person who is born in this world does soul searching and finds his ways to fulfill his duties. It may not meet the criteria of other individual's perceptions or the norms that are fixed by the society.

Viswa

 

Dear Vijiakka,

Thank you for responding to this post. Paramacharya is destined to be a teacher and practice austerity in life through Sanyasam. He showed signs of his knowledge and love for fellow beings from a very young age indicating that he wants to carry out a mission in his life that he was pursuing even earlier.

The biggest mistake we all do in our lives is to review our life based on what we did and what we didn't do in one life. We fail to remember that we lived longer than the period we think we lived. Obviously, we have carried many actions that were good and bad in our past lives. In our forgetfulness state of mind (which we call as conscious state in real world), we don't recall them and that is why we need to seek conscious state. We think we are this body, others think that we are our minds and who we really are is Atma. When we obtain the ability to live in our conscious state, our mind becomes subservient and become thoughtless. We have the ability to see the past, present and future and beat the limitations of time and space.

It is difficult but not impossible to live in the conscious state. Until we get to that stage, we have to believe that all our experiences are according to the law of Karma and seek guidance from within to understand what we can't change, what we can and have the serenity to understand the difference. The answers to all our questions exist but we don't know how to get to it. That is why we keep praying separating ourselves from the source we all came from. It is like taking a deep breath under the protection of the shadow of the tree and seeking light one step at a time.

Viswa