Karma & Humans - Who controls whom? (Karma Series - Part 1)

After a long time, I was going on a trip to a few temples in South India along with my family. To kill time during travel, we started talking about random topics. Quite a lot of them were really thought provoking. I would like to post one such very interesting topic here – “Are you controlled by karma/fate OR do you have the power to change your karma/fate?”

Let us validate each argument separately.

In India, we have always believed in karma as concept wherein the good & bad deeds done in one’s previous life(s) will have a direct bearing on the subsequent life(s).

We are controlled by karma/fate:

Now we start by assuming that we are controlled by karma/fate.

Hence, when a person is born, his fate is already decided. The decision each person takes in his/her life will make sure that the person is moving on the track towards this “intended fate”. This would mean all good deeds & bad deeds that a person would do are already pre-decided so that he achieves the “intended fate”. It would also suggest that, the number of lifetimes to reach the “intended fate” is also known. So extending this logic and working backwards, we can easily say that the deeds done by a person in his first life will affect how his future life(s) will be. Now the most important question which arises is –“How are the actions (or deeds for that matter) done in the very first life determined?”

This leads to two mutually exclusive scenarios:

     1.  Human beings and all other creations are puppets in the hands of a super-power – which/who is doing all these staged dramas/plays for some reason unknown to us.

     2. The entire idea of karma is false.

Since both the conclusions drawn in this scenario seem hypothetical, let’s try to evaluate the other option

We have power to change our karma/fate:

We began with the premise that “fate is already decided” in the previous case. So we begin here by saying that, “When a person is born, his fate is written BUT subject to change under exceptional situations.”

This would mean that though his fate is already decided, his actions in the current life will to a great extent affect his fate. Factors like being blessed by great sages, feeding the poor, donating cows would help reducing the bad karma. The argument kind of fits into the theory that the “Super-power” which controls the entire universe has given us enough freedom to play around with our lives and also unlike the previous scenario, it doesn’t lead us to the conclusion that the idea of karma itself is false.

My Personal view:

I strongly believe that we are controlled by fate. There is no way that someone can change it! Fate or destiny is a highly complex phenomenon that is difficult to decode. There are only a few who have really understood the intricacies of the same. People who claim – “Vidhiya madhiyal vellazham” (an ancient Tamil saying which means “Fate can be changed by channeling the intellect in appropriate ways”) are engulfed in Maya or say so to help alleviate people from misery.

We all know, the doctor never tells his patient –“You will die tomorrow or there is no hope left”. He gives them assurances to make them feel better by telling –“You are getting well soon”/”You will soon leave the hospital” etc. The reason being, human nature is such that once you are engulfed by darkness/difficulties all around(however mentally strong the person might be), he is bound to get broken down sooner or later UNLESS there is that faint ray of hope visible to him to keep moving on in life.

This faint ray of hope is what “Vidhiya madhiyal vellazham” provides.

When we said in the second scenario that factors like being blessed by sages etc would help reducing your bad karma, we never mentioned how such things could occur. For eg: Meeting and seeking the blessings of a great sage named “Sivaramkrishnan” would help you, but, how do you know that you have to meet this sage? How do you know when to meet him? How do you know where to find him?

If you sit back & ponder over these questions, you will realize that we have no control over them which leads us back to one of the conclusions in the first scenario:

“Human beings and all other creations are puppets in the hands of a super-power – which/who is doing all these staged dramas/plays for some reason unknown to us.”

We can conclude with the following remarks:

1.     If the above conclusion is accepted, then what is the reason for staging such dramas/plays with such a fine level of intricacy? We know these days that the cost of a finely directed film inclusive of the perfect cast, story, location and other factors amounts to millions of dollars. This does not take into account the time and money spent by the ensemble of actors, directors, cameraman etc in getting them fit for the role. In such a case, What does the super-power intend to do by creating such fine creations like humans, animals, earth, sky, water, fire and making them act in a pre-decided manner? We can’t even think of the cost of such a film leave alone get an estimate for it!!

2.     The second conclusion of the first scenario stated –“Entire concept of karma is untrue”. Can this be true?

Since both of them require an entire post for themselves, let us discuss them in detail later.

For now, let us decide for ourselves what line of thought we would like to accept with regards to the subject of this post – “Are you controlled by karma/fate OR do you have the power to change your karma/fate?”

Open to comments…………..