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By Jayaram V
What is the difference between the plants, trees and the animals
out
there and we, apart from a few differences we have with them
in name, form and intelligence? The trees, the plants and the animals
live for a while, perform certain natural functions and then die.
So do we. Does the difference exist in our minds because of the
self-importance we ascribe to ourselves or is there any real difference
between the two in existential and evolutionary terms? We believe
that we are more evolved than the other living beings upon earth.
But that may not be how we are viewed by Nature on the evolutionary
scale. Our natural superiority is debatable, because we may have
more intelligence, but animals have more muscle power, agility and
extraordinary sensitivity. So by virtue of our intelligence we may
have the bragging rights to say that we are highly evolved beings
upon earth, but our claim is not indisputable. This is not to demean
our existence nor our unique abilities, but to suggest that we may
need to be more objective about ourselves and our self-importance.
Every living being has a certain life span, lives according
to certain laws of nature, performs certain natural functions while
it is alive and then suddenly and mysteriously one day dies. Apart
from the individual details and unique experiences, the general
course of our lives is not much different. So, in terms of birth
and death, we are not different from other beings. We presume that
we are eternal and there is life beyond death. We have certain beliefs
about our existence such as the law of karma, the importance of
ethical life, the need to obey the eternal law of God and the existence
of the cycle of evolution and involution.
They may be true. But other than some vague indications, we have
no clue what happens to us after death. We do not know for sure
whether after death we go to heaven as presumed by certain religions
and live there eternally or enter some ethereal zone from where
we return again after exhausting our karma to continue our mortal
existence? In many near death experiences, people saw celestial
beings and visions of heaven and hell according to their religious
beliefs. There are accounts according to which heaven and hell exist.
There also are accounts which confirm that people reincarnate or
return to earth again and again. Perhaps our beliefs and faith trick
us into experience what we strongly believe, for such is said to
be the power of faith.
We are not sure, at least in our mental plane, whether we live
upon earth only once or several times. Whether we live in the heavens
eternally upon death or return again and again to perfect ourselves
and advance into higher planes of intelligence and existence. Despite
our intelligence and evolutionary progress, we are not sure of anything
that is beyond our senses and human intelligence. The physical universe
with its myriad inconsistencies perplexes us. Our intelligence dims
before the brilliance of Nature and the Universe. We stand weakly
in comparison to that which surrounds and envelops us from all sides.
We are overwhelmed by what we are not, what we cannot comprehend
and what we cannot control. We are humbled every minute by the uncertainty
of life and by the challenges we face.
Are you in control of your life?
But despite all the perplexity that overwhelms us and presses
down upon us from the four corners of the universe that exists in
us and outside of us, we are sure of one fact: our thoughts and
actions have consequences. We reap the rewards and punishments according
to our thoughts and actions. We set in motion a chain of events
that can reach out to various corners of the universe and impact
not only our future but also the future of others. We create ourselves
and our lives anew each minute. We are both the cause and effect
of our lives. We are the points in time where the present meets
with both the past and the future in a single moment. In us the
animal becomes the man and the man becomes God by the force of our
individual wills. We are Nature's most beloved children and also
its most accursed because we are subject to the pairs of opposites
and haunted by our own memories. In us the heaven and hell compete
for attention while we struggle in a mire of desires and temptations.
We seek the limits of happiness while light struggles in us in the
shades of darkness. We compete with gods for attention from God,
while our passion for perfection stands uncomfortably in close proximity
with our deluded pragmatism.
A vast part of the universe runs on the principle of cause
and effect. We leave the impressions and footprints of our thoughts
and actions upon others and reap the consequences. Right now what
I am writing is leaving its own impressions elsewhere in the universe.
May be it is the result of an aspiration that has already been set
in motion by benevolent minds or may be it is a thought process
that has found its meeting point and matching expression. What we
are today is largely a product of our own actions and interactions
with the world and what we do at present shapes our lives and our
future.
There is also an element of chance in all these. We cannot take
full credit for all that happens to us in our lives. The chance
element is so pervasive that we can never give ourselves complete
credit or discredit for our actions and inactions or for our successes
and failures. Sometimes even the most notorious criminal gets away
with his audacious crime while an innocent person undergoes a severe
punishment because of someone's mistake. While uncertainty and ambiguity
is deeply interwoven into the fabric of our lives, we cannot also
say that we are entirely at the mercy of chance and the world. Through
our thoughts and actions and exercise of our individual wills, we
can control some aspects of our lives. We can reach our goals and
realize our dreams.
Individual effort vs. chance
What happens in our lives is largely a product of our individual
effort, with some help from others and the world in general. Chance
does play an important role, although we know that we cannot entirely
depend upon it for our success and happiness. Some ascetic traditions
advocate the ideal that we should surrender to God our morbid fear
of the uncertain and let chance dictate everything. There is a certain
sublime beauty and extraordinary idealism in such a stance, in the
total and unconditional surrender to the vagaries of life as a mark
of trust and true devotion to God. But a vast majority of people
are not yet prepared for such exalted idealism. They are not perfect
enough to trust anyone and themselves.
Religious philosophy in India evolved mostly to resolve the questions
surrounding the importance in our lives of individual will and
divine will, or, alternatively, individual effort and chance. Some
ancient Indian ascetics such as the Ajivakas believed that everything
in the world was preordained and that human beings had no alternative
other than submitting themselves to the inexorable movement of the
world or the law of God,which they equated with fate (niyati). So
they asked people to let go of everything and live life as it presented
itself to them. Others such as Jainism and Buddhism questioned the
validity of fatalism and focused on individual effort. They emphasized
the importance of the law of karma and the need to live ethically
responsible life.
Fate and free will in Hinduism
In Hinduism we find a fine blend of both the ideals and an attempt
to portray life as a product of individual actions as well as chance.
In this expansive vision, man is master of his own life but not
completely free from the will of God. Man is responsible for his
actions but being a movement within a larger movement over which
he has no control, he should acknowledge the presence of God and
relinquish his doer-ship to enjoy life (Isa Upanishad). Hindu scriptures
identify three forces that shape our lives. They are:
- Individual actions performed by oneself according to one's
own will,
- Actions of other living beings be they human or non-human,
and
- Intervention of chance or fate which is a direct manifestation
of divine will enforced directly or through various divinities
by God and forces of Nature.
The first one is known as individual factors (adhyatma). Included
in this category are actions we perform as free individuals by the
force our own wills and under no particular compulsion. The second
one is known as extraneous factors (adhibuta). It encompasses all
the actions performed by others, either on their own or in response
to our actions. The others may be fellow human beings such as our
close relations, friends, enemies, strangers, government and also
other living beings such as plants, animals, insects and micro organisms.
The third force is known as adhidaiva or the divine will. All the
acts of nature, acts of God, chance events, fortuitous circumstances,
unintended causes, unexpected turn of events fall into this category.
These three causes are universally present. They propel the wheel
of creation and determine the course of our lives, here and here
after. They act individually or collectively or in some combination
to choreograph the dance of life.
Evolution and fate and free will
There seems to be a correlation between the level of evolution
and the relative importance of these three factors. In case of human
beings, individual will (adhyatma) seems to play a predominant role followed
by extraneous factors (adhibhuta) and acts of God (adhidaiva). Actions
performed on our own according to our intelligences largely shape
our lives and determine our future, followed by the actions of our
friends and family members, society and the world in general. Nature
and elemental forces also play an important role by manifesting
earth shaking events and unleashing the fury of Nature.
We cannot say that we live entirely by our free will. Nor are
we hopelessly at the mercy of fate. Fate plays its own dice on the
checkerboard of our existence, largely as a balancing or corrective
force. But through sustained effort, we can with stand the vagaries
of life and realize our goals. Also by surrendering ourselves
to the will of God and offering Him all our actions, we can remain free
from the consequences of our karma and achieve salvation. The decision
to surrender to God is again an individual decision (adhyatma).
But when the surrender is complete, the distinction between the individual
will and the divine will disappears, and individual actions become
part of God's actions (adhidaiva).
In case of not so evolved beings such as animals, insects, birds
and other life forms, extraneous actions (adhibhuta) become more
important than their individual actions. These beings are semi-evolved
or in various stages of evolution and perfection, below the level
of the human beings. Their intelligence (buddhi) is not as illuminated
as that of humans. They have some ability to exercise their free
wills and determine the course of their lives. But it is not sufficient
enough to give them the freedom to be what they are. They are mostly
at the mercy of extraneous factors such as the acts of man, Nature
and God. with little or no ability to counter them or escape from
them.
Besides God and Nature, man is the most powerful, extraneous
and destructive force for the plant and animal kingdoms. We have
destroyed entire species, tampered with their genetic pools, altered
the ecosystems and manipulated Nature to our advantage. It is an
unequal battle in which they have little scope for victory and chance
of survival against our greed and destructive actions, except through
the intervention of fate. So in case of less evolved beings, individual
actions (adhyatma) carry lesser weight compared to external factors
such as man made disasters and fate or acts of God such as natural
calamities.
Finally, in case of inanimate objects, individual will disappears
completely or remains suspended in state of inertia and their existence
is guided by solely by the remaining two forces, namely
actions of others (adibhuta) and fortuitous circumstances (adhidaiva).
In our solar system the earth is the only planet where you will
see the three forces at work. In the other planets elemental forces
and fortuitous circumstances play a dominant role. The importance
of these three forces is graphically represented in the following
diagrams.
How can you neutralize the three factors in your life?
The three factors, namely individual will, will of others and
divine will play an important role in the life of every human
being, whether they like it or not and whether they believe in
God or not. It is therefore important for us to devise
appropriate strategies to deal with them and minimize their
impact on our lives. We can minimize the consequences of actions
arising from our individual will, by controlling our desires and
by consecrating them to God without desiring the fruit of such
actions. If we acknowledge God as the real doer and offer Him
all our actions, we will not incur any karma. It is important
that we lead morally responsible lives and side with the good by
cultivating the quality of sattva or purity. We should identify
desires as the root cause of our suffering and stay away from
the five enemies, namely sexual desire (kama), anger (krodha),
delusion (moha), pride (mada) and envy (matsarya). This is how
we can deal with the consequences arising from our individual
actions.
With regard to the adhibhuta or the actions of others, we can
neutralize them by cultivating the friendship of people, who are
virtuous, devoted to God and are pure in their hearts; and by
avoiding the company of people who are evil, wicked, weak,
immoral, impure and cruel. We should also stay away, to the
extent possible, from harmful creatures such as snakes and wild
animals. In this information age, we should be careful with whom
we communicatie on the internet, what websites we visit and what
videos and television programs we watch. Internet stalkers,
identity thieves, spammers, computer viruses and spyware are
part of the extraneous factors (adhibhuta) in the virtual world
against whom we should remain guarded.
Finally we can minimize the impact of fate or divine will by
seeking the intervention of God and the divinities with the help
of prayers, rituals and devotional services. We should
cultivate detachment and equanimity so that we can learn to bear
with what we cannot control. The divinities whom we worship in
Vedic rituals, such as Indra, Varuna, Agni and Mitra, reside not
only in the macrocosm of the universe but also in the microcosm
of our minds and bodies. They are real and present in all of us
as subtle forces. They are either strong or weak or active or
inactive according to our actions and aspirations. If we keep
them happy and strong, they will show their appreciation by
actively intervening with our destinies and help us in
realizing our temporal and spiritual goals. But, if we keep them
weak and undernourished through neglect or disrespect, they will
become silent and leave us to our fate.
The Vedic people were well aware of this secret. So they
offered them regular prayers and performed various sacrifices on
daily, monthly and yearly basis. They offered food to the gods (devayajna),
the ancestors (pitryajna) and other beings (bhuta yajna) by
various means. They sought their help by showing their devotion
and loyalty. At the same time, they kept the evil at bay by not
nourishing them and not giving scope for growing strong. From
the Upanishads we learn that gods become victorious in our
bodies against the demonic forces through controlled breathing
and by becoming aware of the real Self. So it is important that
we practice yoga regularly and keep our minds and bodies in
shape. We should nourish our inner divinities well and
keep them active and strong with good thoughts, good words,
sattvic food, sacred sounds, fine fragrances, clean air, pure
water, resplendent light and sincere aspiration.
Suggested Further Reading
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