Change your Fate – Aadishri Arun

Fate is made out of a mixture of good and bad deeds. Suppose your previous life had consisted of 70% good deeds and 30% bad deeds, then the state of your happiness and sorrow of your present and future life will also be in this ratio. If, say, the good deeds are 100%, then your life will be full of happiness. And of course the reverse is also true. So this is how the cycle of actions and reaction continues on.

But for those who are tired of being bounced around by their fate, there is also another way to live. There is a way to escape the cycle of action and reaction…

What is this way? It is as follows-What if you renounce the fruits of your actions even as you do your actions? If you are able to do this, no results or consequences will accrue to you… And if that happens, then you cannot be bound to the cycle of birth and death by Kaal since your karma is the very mechanism by which you are tied to the wheel of creation. In the Geeta, chapter 18 verse 12, the Lord says that those people who do not renounce the fruits of their action, those people enjoy the fruit of those actions, whether good, bad or mixed but those people who renounce the fruits of their actions, for such people, there is only Moksha. And what is the way to renounce the fruit of your action? Simple-Become an agent of God and dedicate all your actions-eating, sleeping, working etc, to Him.

Now the question is – how is karma created? Is it formed by the act we do or the intention behind the act? This is a valid question in the mind of the seeker who wants to do the right thing. Let us look at a dramatic act-the act of a man killing another. Will the karma of that act be the same? For example-Both the soldier and the murderer commit the same physical act-that of taking the life of another human being, yet the karma of both the actions is very different. The soldier kills to do his duty and to defend his motherland while the murderer kills out of his selfish self interest. Since the thought behind the action is different therefore the karma and resulting fate are also very different. This is a key point – that the karma of action is created by the thought behind the action. That thought in turn is based on our knowledge we have and that in turn is based on the information we have about what we are doing.

Thus it can be said that the source of action is knowledge and the source of knowledge is the information we possess.

All that we do, whether specific or mundane is based on our knowledge, information and sense of right and wrong. Eating, sleeping, working, speaking, doing charitable acts, doing evil acts, listening, gathering knowledge etc, all these are based on our thoughts and our moral codes. Thus our actions are directly dependent on the quality of our thoughts. Bad thoughts lead to bad actions and conflict. Good thoughts lead to constructive, creative and loving activities that result in happiness and peace… The point is that our karma is created by our actions and those in turn are based on our thoughts.

The position in life that you find yourself today, that point is a direct result of your thought process and the consequent actions that you have taken in your past life.

When we examine the situation today, we find that we have unlimited sources of information. These sources may be providing us with an unlimited amount of information but we don’t question the quality of information that is being beamed into our brains by our innumerable devices. The internet, whatsapp, twitter and the smartphone may give us instant access to information but have we ever questioned the kind of direction this information is taking our thoughts to? Have we questioned the changes that are taking in our moral standards, that are being influenced by the mind-boggling amount of information that we ar accessing? While it is good to have powerful tools of communication in our hand but shouldn’t we use these devices as helps rather than be a slave to them? The point is that the intake of too much of the wrong kind of information is resulting in the people of today losing their sense of right and wrong and the balance of life. We find that the people of today are ignoring what is important in life in the quest for instant gratification. For example people have forgotton their parents. They demand service from even their old and weary parents instead of looking after them in their old age. Why is this happening?

The answer is that when the only desire in the mind is self indulgence, then can those selfish thoughts ever lead to good actions or good karmas? The answer is NO! The sad reality is that the people of today are writing their future misfortune with their very own hands.

The result is that instead of love, happiness and peace, the crop that is being sown today is anger, greed, hatred, back biting, betrayal and self indulgence specially at the cost of others.

Can happiness ever be the result of such thoughts and actions?

Now the choice is in your hands. What kind of fate do you want to write with your own hand? Happy or sorrowful?

If you realize that you have gone wrong and want to change tracks, how do you do so?

It is not too late. I suggest that you go on a fast.. But this fast is not about food. Instead it is a fast against the overload of useless, misleading and disturbing information that you have been eating everyday. I sugggest that you stop wasting time on the mobile phone. I am not asking you to abandon it. Instead use it the way it was intended- like a tool for essential activities and being in touch with people. Please do not use the modern means of communications for indulging in useless actions such as futile chatter, sharing/ watching meaningless jokes and videos etc. Stop wasting time in information gathering all the time or socializing in useless places where people only gossip and bitch about each other. Instead spend your time in good company discussing those things that are constructive and spend your time in those activities that take you somewhere positive in life. Reading the scriptures where all the answers and moral codes of living are given will also help greatly in getting back on track.
Do this sincerely for six months and you will find that like the boy Dhruv, you too will have the glimpse of God in six months.

As your source of information changes, so will your thoughts. And when your thoughts change, so will your action and your fate will follow suit.