For instance, if I go the top of the building and I jump. While I am in the air, what is my fate? To hit the ground and die. It’s my fate. I can’t change my fate once I have made in air. But if I didn’t jump then I would not have that fate. If I take poison, what is my fate? To die. I can’t escape from my fate. But if I didn’t take the poison I would not have that fate.
If I go to the airport and get on the flight to London and one hour after the flight takes off, I say, ‘I do not want to go to London.’ What will the flight staff say to me? ‘It’s your fate to go to London, because you are on the plane. There is no way that you can’t go to London.’
Once we perform an act, we will get a reaction. That is our fate. But we have the choice to decide what acts to do. If we do good things, our fate will be good. If we do bad things, our fate will be bad. Destiny is unavoidable after we make our move, after we make our decision. But we have the full spectrum of choice to educate ourself and understand what the best decision to make in life is. Then our fate will be most auspicious, the most glorious.
Our past actions in this life and previous life influence our fate. Two people suffer the same disease, get the same medicine; one lives and one dies. The laws of karma, the laws of action and reaction, take into consideration every detail of what we are doing and what we have done and that determines our destiny.
By Radhanath Swami
