13. FATE AND FREE WILL

D: Do we have the power to overcome fate? On the one hand, the śāstra-s say that one can conquer fate. For instance, in the Yoga-vāsiṣṭha, it is said:

(YV, II.9.30)

(The river of tendencies flows along the auspicious and evil paths. By means of effort and manliness, one should direct it along the auspicious path.)

This shows that free will is more powerful than fate. On the other hand, the śāstra-s also say:

(P, VII.168)

(What is not destined to happen will not happen. What is to happen will not be otherwise.)

Will Acharyal kindly clarify the position?

A: First of all, one should know what prārabdha (fate) is. This should be understood along with its mechanism of fruition. Those actions of the previous births that are yielding fruits now constitute the cause of this birth. It is this set of actions that we call prārabdha. It does not force one along a good or evil path. Karma-s that have started yielding fruits gradually lead one by stimulating tendencies of likes and dislikes in the mind. Hence, Lord Kṛṣṇa has said:

(BG, III.33)

(Everybody, including a knower, acts according to his nature. Nature compels beings. What can restraint do?)

Having explained this verse, Śaṅkarabhagavatpāda raises the following objection: “If everyone acts as compelled by nature, there is no place for śāstra-s at all. Such being the case, what is the purpose of the śāstra saying, ‘Be righteous’?” He then points out that the next śloka provides the response. That verse is:

(BG, III.34)

(Attachment and aversion are rooted in the senses, towards their objects. One must not come under their sway. They are indeed one’s foes.)

Thus, it is clear that if we conquer likes and dislikes, we will no longer be under their sway. So, we should shed likes and dislikes and then voluntarily function in keeping with the scriptural teachings. You asked whether prārabdha (fate) could be overcome. The reply is, “It can positively be overcome.” If it is that prārabdha cannot be overcome, man cannot be held responsible for his actions at all. He would not have any choice.

I earlier said that the karma that is now fructifying is prārabdha. It is what we did in the previous births. Hence, prārabdha cannot be stronger than effort. We can change the tendency created by our earlier actions by suitable exertion in this birth. However, if the tendency caused by the karma of our previous birth is very strong, we will have to put in a proportionally stronger effort to counter it. This is true in most of the cases. Of course, one’s freedom is not absolute. An illustration is a cow tethered to a post. It can roam about freely only to the extent of the length of the rope. It cannot go beyond. Similarly, the fate of the country, the free will of other people and our former actions place a limit to our freedom.

A person may board a train but the train may meet with an accident. In the same way, sometimes, one might have answered a question paper satisfactorily but the expected result might not materialise. One should not give room to worry on seeing all this. Almost anything may be attained in spiritual life by effort. One may be destined to be a householder but with the blessings of a Guru and by effort, one can lead the life of a brahmacārin and, later, that of a saṁnyāsin. Though the consequences of earlier karma-s have to be experienced, the intensity of prārabdha can be decreased by the grace of Īśvara. The negative effects of prārabdha can also be reduced to a great extent by means of medicines, japa, homa, pūjā, dhyāna and satsaṅga (company of great souls).

D: If, according to one’s horoscope, one would live for eighty years, does it mean that one will not die before that? Similarly, if another is to have a very short span of life, can he not live beyond that age?

A: The reply to your questions is in the negative.

D: Does Acharyal then mean that the horoscope is read wrongly or that casting of the horoscope is itself wrong?

A: Neither.

D: In that case, all that is predicted with the horoscope as basis is useless. Further, palmistry is not sensible. Hence, no purpose is served by the Jyotiṣa-śāstra. Is this Acharyal’s view?

A: Not at all.

D: Will Acharyal kindly explain?

A: The horoscope merely indicates the effect of karma-s that one had done in the previous births. In this birth, by exercising free will, we can definitely change the course of events. If we earn the grace of the Lord, like Mārkaṇḍeya, then we can live longer than we are destined to. Similarly, by falling into evil ways, we can spoil our health and die earlier than we are supposed to. Further, we hear astrologers say, “If one acts as follows, the effect of that karma will be reduced.” If the verdict of the horoscope is immutable, what is the use of such expiations?

Nobody need to fear a horoscope. It is only an indicator of what is to come. We can certainly alter destiny if it is unfavourable. Another point to be remembered is that destiny can very well be favourable. In such a case, our efforts will readily bear fruit.

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❑ Parables of Acharyal

The fields of two farmers were identical in size and had similar kinds of soil. They worked equally hard, tilled their lands well and sowed seeds of uniform quality. The rainfall over the fields was neither excessive nor scanty and so the crops grew well. At the appropriate time, they commenced their harvesting. Before they left for their homes on an evening, they were able to behold with joy large heaps of grains, the result of their efforts. There was hardly any difference in the yields obtained by them.

That night, while they slept, there was a very heavy downpour on one land and only a light drizzle on the other. The next morning, when they went to their lands, one was dismayed to find that the rain had ruined his grains while the other felt relieved that his heaps of grain were intact.

Thus, notwithstanding the similarity in their efforts, the results they obtained were markedly dissimilar. It was the unfavourable destiny of one farmer and the favourable fate of the other that led to the loss of the former and the gain of the latter. Those who have faith in the Veda-s and śāstra-s and are logical do not regard the experiences of humans as just fortuitous.

Two students wrote an examination. The boy who had studied better answered all except two questions well. The other managed to answer just two questions correctly. The examiner was an impartial but lazy man. He scrutinised two of the first boy’s answers. They happened to be the incorrect ones. Assuming the other answers too to be incorrect, he awarded the boy low marks.

Then, he took up the second boy’s answer book. The answers he selected for checking happened to be the correct ones. Taking it for granted that the remaining answers were also correct, he awarded the boy concerned high marks. On seeing the results, the boy who had studied better grieved, while the other rejoiced. Thus, hard work fetched a poor result and poor preparation yielded good marks. Here too the hand of destiny is seen.

Dyumatsena was destined to be blind and live in a forest. By Sāvitrī’s efforts, he regained his sight and his kingdom. Aśvapati was not destined to have sons, but obtained them. Satyavān was to die young, but he lived long, he sired sons and ruled the Shalva kingdom for many years. This story is a striking example to show that what is destined to happen can be markedly changed by human effort.

Mārkaṇḍeya was fated to die at the age of 16 but lived on because of his devout worship of Lord Śiva. Śuka, the son of Vyāsa, was such a great yogin that he attained disembodied liberation at the time of his choice. Numerous instances of the alteration of the course of fate by personal effort and by the grace of God can easily be cited.

Neither destiny nor personal effort singly determines the course of human life; there is great interaction between the two. Destiny or actions of the past that have begun to fructify, human effort and divine grace together govern what happens now. Manu has compared destiny and personal effort to the two wheels of a chariot; a chariot cannot move on a single wheel.

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❑ Experiences of Devotees

Innumerable are the instances where devotees overcame their unfavourable destiny on account of Acharyal’s intervention.

Dharmatma Sri Vaisdyasubramanya Iyer, an ardent devotee of the Math, had the sacred darśana of Acharyal when His Holiness was camping at Nepal. Subsequently, when he boarded a plane and sat down to read a newspaper, he was shocked to find that he could not read anything. He realized that he had lost his eyesight. He then went to Sitapur for treatment. The day he was scheduled to be operated, Sri Padmanabha Upadhyaya, the devout Personal Assistant of His Holiness, had brought the prasāda graced by the Jagadguru. At the hospital, local anaesthesia was administered to Sri Iyer and the surgery commenced. “Śāradā, get me knife number two”, instructed the doctor. As Sri Iyer had some degree of awareness, he heard the doctor’s voice. He was heartened to hear the divine Mother’s name, Śāradā, when the surgery was about to begin and deemed it a special blessing. Acharyal’s prasāda had arrived and, in the theatre, ‘Śāradā’ had come. The doctor told him later that the designated nurse had not arrived and so a nurse from Lucknow whose name was Śāradā had taken her place. Sri Iyer’s sight was restored to him by the grace of His Holiness and this is an incident he simply could not forget. He then sought the blessings of His Holiness that he retain his sight till the completion of certain construction work at Kalady that had been delegated to him by Acharyal. Acharyal graced Sri Iyer that his sight would not fain even after the completion of the work at Kalady and would enable him to do many other good deeds also.

It was Acharyal narrated the above incident to me. He then said, “Look, shall I tell you a hundred such cases? People call these miracles. I do not call them miracles. There was a Rajasaheb who had no children. His father came to My Guru Sri Chandrasekhara Bharathi Mahaswamigal with a supplication for progeny for his son. My Guru directed the supplicant to Me for obtaining prasāda. I prayed to the Mother and gave prasāda. The Rajasaheb was soon blessed with a child. Everyone said, “All this is due to Your grace”. But can I claim it to be so? There was a boy, who never spoke anything, like Jaḍabharata. When I spoke to him, he spoke to Me in reply. Such things do happen. It is wrong to claim that we cause them. When people express their problems to Me and seek remedy, I simply submit their problems before Īśvara seeking His blessings. It is the divine will of Īśvara that comes as remedy. My role in such cases is insignificant.”

[Sri Veerakesari Nageswara Sastry]

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A certain devotee of Acharyal had two sons and one daughter. His first son had no inclination towards religion. Much as the father tried to influence him and put him on the right path, he could not succeed. He had an occasion to have Acharyal’s darśana and submitted his plight to Acharyal. “As parents, you are responsible only for his janma. Each one brings forward his samskāra-s from previous lives. You have no hold over them. You should tell him what is good. That will suffice. Do not be unduly perturbed over this.” Advising thus, Acharyal gave him prasāda. It dawned on the devotee that parents, indeed, have the responsibility to inculcate good values in children. However, if even after their repeated efforts, children do not imbibe the values due to their past tendencies, parents have no choice but to remain calm and unperturbed.

[A devotee]

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A.V. Subramanya Mudaliar was a staunch devotee of Acharyal and he used to have darśana of Acharyal whenever possible. Once he went to Sringeri and stayed for a few days. He was near the famous Vidyāśaṁkara temple when he received a telegram from Madras. It said that he was to leave for Madras immediately as his daughter was going to undergo an operation for appendicitis. Even before he could react to the message, he saw Acharyal in front of him asking what the matter was. Acharyal was proceeding to Ambal’s Temple then and after Sri Mudaliar just said he has received a telegram from Madras, He just nodded and entered the temple. After Acharyal left, Mudaliar felt he could have given the full contents of the telegram to Him. As he did not expect Acharyal to give darśana at that moment, he was short of words. Sri Mudaliar also entered the temple and waited for Acharyal to come out. This time Acharyal asked him what the message was and Sri Mudaliar briefed Him.

Acharyal said, “There is no need for an operation. Come in the evening. I will give you prasāda. You can take it to Madras.”

Sri Mudaliar took the prasāda and left the same night to Madras.

At Madras, his son-in-law and his college Principal were stubborn that operation should be performed. Sri Mudaliar, however, having full faith in Acharyal’s words put his foot down and said there is no need for an operation. Later, it transpired that with proper medication itself she recovered.

[Courtesy: Shankara Kripa]

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Acharyal was giving tīrtha-prasāda to the assembled devotees in the Sringeri Math Pravachana Mandiram at Chennai. There was a heavy crowd and Sri Sharma, a devotee of Acharyal, was regulating the crowd by volunteering himself. His friend Sri Srinivasan approached him with his 3 year old daughter and said, “Please take me to His Holiness and tell Him that my child is dumb and that we are craving for His blessings.” Sri Sharma, however, said, “Come later. It cannot be now.” When Sri Srinivasan was leaving the place, Acharyal Himself called Sri Sharma and asked what the matter was. Sri Sharma explained. Acharyal then called Sri Srinivasan near and gave him a plantain and said, “Everything will be all right. Give the fruit to the child.” The child started talking the same day and went on to recite, in course of time, Śrī-Lalitā-sahasranāma, Śrī-Lakṣmī-aṣṭottara and Soundarya-lahari.

Sri Srinivasan felt happy but had one more grievance. His child was not writing at all. When Acharyal was camping in 1977 at Navasuja, Chennai, Sri Srinivasan again decided to make use of the opportunity and went for the darśana. He found Sri Sharma doing the same job and approached him for help. He recalled to him Acharyal’s earlier blessings and the remarkable improvement in the child. He told him that he has come this time to seek blessings from Acharyal which would enable his child to write. Sri Sharma asked him to approach His Holiness directly and seek His blessings. Sri Srinivasan went in the evening with the child for darśana.

Even before he could seek His blessings, Acharyal called him near and said, “Give the child this apple. She would start writing in an year from now.” Sri Srinivasan’s joy could not be contained. The child started writing in Sanskrit one year later.

[Courtesy : Shankara Kripa]

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Once Acharyal visited my house. I was then bed-ridden with a problem in the spine. Inside the room, lying on my bed I thought that Acharyal might not like to see a patient. But, to my great surprise His Holiness not only entered the room to see me but gently touched my spine saying, “Don’t be worried. It will be alright.” I felt so happy. Later when I was taken to the hospital for the X-ray, the doctor who had insisted on a surgery to be performed, was surprised to find that there was no requirement for the surgery at all! That was the magical effect of His holy touch!

[Sri S.Krishnaswamy]

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