Human suffering is one of life’s most compelling mysteries: Why is there so much misery? Is God helpless to act or does He choose not to? What is God’s role in the scheme of things?
We can blame neither God nor devil. Nothing happens by the whim of an external agency. We are responsible for what life brings us.
You are the architect of your own destiny. You make yourself. You destroy yourself. The Law is: As You Think So You Become.
The word “karma” comes from the Sanskrit verb kri, to do. Karma or action is the pivot around which life revolves. Action comes from desire. Desire from thought. And thought from vasana. Vasana is the inborn urge, deep-rooted inclination, inherent tendency. When you have a vasana for music the thought for music arises in your intellect.
This thought crystallizes as a desire in the mind to sing or listen to music. The desire then manifests as action. This action further creates an imprint, groove, vasana for music. Sometimes you are conscious of the imprinting process. Most times you are not. As your vasana so will be your thought, desire and action. Your vasana then creates the environment or circumstance. Thus you are a victim of your vasanas in the present. This is referred to as destiny.
All other species have to act in line with their vasanas. The human being alone is gifted with the choice of action. You can choose to act as per your vasanas or be independent of them. With this choice or purushartha you determine your future. Destiny or prarabdha is the sum total of all your past purusharthas. It is irrevocable. So if you look at your past you are a victim. With reference to the future you are a victor.
At each juncture you are free to choose the way you think, desire or act. Once chosen you are a victim of its effect. The universe gives back what you have given to it. So be very careful how you think. If you anger easily you create an angry mind that is predisposed to anger. As water gathers force when directed into a narrow canal, the grooves in the mind create channels of behavior patterns which become difficult to resist or reverse. Changing an ingrained mental habit becomes an uphill battle.
Think a negative, hateful thought. That moment you have become a little more evil, vile and disgusting. The effect of that thought has to come to you by way of failure, misery and sorrow. You carelessly entertain negative thoughts. When the collective effect of all this negativity hits, you wonder why the tragedy has struck!
Think a positive, loving, elevating thought. That instant you have become a little more divine. The effect of it comes to you by way of good fortune, happiness and spiritual growth. You meet with serendipitous experiences. Spiritual life is not about relocating to an ashram or a hermitage. It is about changing your thoughts, attitudes and feelings. This is far more difficult than a mere shift of address.
So purushartha or free will is the key to your emancipation. Irrespective of your past you can choose to be better, nobler, more evolved.
Excerpted from Vedantavision.org
Jaya Row
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