Often there are long discussions and debates on free will and destiny. The believers of free will say that our deeds matter and that the worst of the obstacles may be turned into opportunities by hard work. On the other hand, believers in destiny say that everything is destined right from the movement of the hand to the thoughts that come to the mind. The history of world scriptures is full of such debates. This is a question that has intrigued almost every human generation.
I feel that this debate itself is the result of ignorance. Each human being is unaware of a large portion of his existence. Memories and conditioning of the past keep driving his actions. For example, a chronic shortage of money sets the drive towards the accumulation of wealth, insult and rejection by the cruel society sets the motivation for power, and abusive parenting makes a person introvert since he feels threatened by the presence of others in his intimate zone, and so on. Different memories in the unconscious mind keep driving our choices and we call them destiny. Often fear takes over our attention as examinations come near and we are not able to concentrate on our studies and we give it the name of destiny since we do not have the courage to call it a choice. On the other hand, if we work hard and get a good result in the examination, we own that up immediately.
Just like the ignorance inside, we are also unaware of the divine world since we have never given attention to the same. We are so busy in our little zone of the conscious world that we never give time and attention to the world of the divine. We close our eyes to te suffering of other human beings, the chirping of the birds, the call of the mountains, and the silent cry of the valleys. We just want to listen to the DJ of needs and work that our conscious mind has created. Our awareness gets confined to what we know and since we close our eyes to the truth, when anything happens that we are not able to understand, we call that destiny.
For Dhritrastra, who is blinded by the attachment towards his son Duryodhana, Krishna is an enemy. He will take the results of the battle of Kurukshetra as his destiny while for Arjuna, it was complete enlightenment. They both made their own choices. While Arjuna was undergoing many conflicts, he decided to examine them and ask his friend, philosopher, and guide Krishna to help him understand the reality. Krishna helped him understand the reality. On the other hand, Dhritrastra chose to remain ignorant. Out of his ignorance, he thought that Krishna was his enemy.
As we choose awareness over ignorance, we become more and more aware of not only the unconscious dimensions of our existence but also the dimensions of the forces of nature that we are unaware of. The more we become aware, the more we understand their play and the more we enter into the domain of free will. The less we are conscious and aware of them, the more our decisions are taken by one or the other samskara hidden in a deep unconscious and whenever the divine will tries to correct our path, we call it a disaster and consider it as the play of destiny. Awareness brings an appreciation of the interplay of the unconscious and the divine will and with that understanding, nothing is destiny and everything is free will. When the "ego" subsides. "I" and the "divine" become one and then there is no destiny and everything is free will. For Krishna, staying away from his parents, playing with Gopis, and fighting the battle of Kurukshetra without any weapon, are all free will. Destiny is a sweet name given by the "ego" to protect the instinctive choices of the unconscious mind. One always has a choice to remain ignorant and use "destiny" as a tool to defend his choice, or to become aware and participate in the play of "free will".
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