From Ineffectual Efforts to Allied Destiny

“ This movie is so unrealistic , impractical , cheesy and dreamy. I just don’t like such larger than life cinema”; I made a special declaration to my dreamy eyed and little lost room-mate who gave me “ But I love the movie!” expression. Panorama of this event flashed through my eyes after half an hour into the movie called “Serendipity- a fortunate accident”.

Cut to today, three and a half years later; my biggest belief and sermon to all my near and dear ones is that of “destiny”. “If you are not meant to be with this person or do this job or visit this place; you would not whatever you may do; so just enjoy the best of today” I often tell my agonized friends. The destiny, the fate, the cosmos is where my discourses and reckoning end now.

And here is where I go to thinking; where, how and when did this transition happen and is this alteration for any good?

“What is destiny?” I try to elucidate. It’s a concept of predetermined course of events and a fixed natural order and time. It is the age old belief that every food grain has a name written on it for it’s consumer. It’s the most faithful raison d’etre to the random chance of meeting people who come for a reason and a season; or my dear friend bumping into a crush some umpteen times in spite of all attempts to avoid the soul; or living in a particular city in spite of all attempts towards stepping out.

When and how exactly do we or did I start believing in destiny; I question. Isn’t it when we start realizing and appreciating the unpredictability of our self created plans and do a status check of their process of execution. Higher the disparity, higher is search for reason of divergence. And fate provides the most comforting and convincing answer.

If that’s the case then is this belief of mine not making me absolutely irrelevant? Is it not implying that whatever I do; nothing would change. And if there is no relevance of my action to reactions; then why should I do anything at all. And this in turn means that I should just live for the sake of breathing and put no effort towards my relationships, work or personal self. After all whatever has to happen will happen As a friend verbalizes “it is all fixed; you better learn to manage around it”. That can’t lead me to anything good and encouraging I wonder scrutinizing my recent faith.

As I pass my days swinging between the dictums of “que sera sera- whatever will be will be” and “Fate is for those too weak to determine their own destiny”; I stumble by chance upon the teachings of our very own greatest epic –“Bhagvat Geeta”.

“If destiny is everything why do we need karma” asks Arjun and “if there is no effect on the fruit then why the plant of effort (karma)”. And says Krishna “Dear Arjun, the belief that destiny is decided by god or cosmos is incorrect. Destiny is indeed a calculation of your good and bad karmas spaced over time. It’s the motive of your efforts that finally leads to your fate”.

And here is where I stop considering effort and destiny as mutually exclusive concepts but apprehend the cause-effect as the nature of their relationship. In the end I still continue to live with my new found faith without undermining essence of my actions!