FATE AND FREE

WILL
The Philosophy of Fate
&
The Science of Free Will

HOW TO CONQUER FATE

A GUIDE FOR A Conscious, Happy & Successful
Life

Synopsis of Luck Vs. Hardwork

ACHARYA SESHAIAH KANDAMURU, Ph.D.,

1
FATE AND FREE WILL

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2
 Dedication

To the
SUPREME SOUL
For
Creating this Identified Self

Through the Leela of Life and Death

With the Maya of Attachment and
Detachment
In Time-Space Eternity

To Enjoy the Fruits of Merits

And Suffer the Aches of Sins.
3
SHINE AND SHADE OF FATE AND FREE-WILL
The Monkey attained the God-hood through Devotion - Sri Hanuma
The Young Yogi taught the Gospel of Advaita ‘One without the
Second’. - Adi Sankara
The Sage has created a ‘Thrinsanku Swarga’ - Viswamitra
The Man-Lion-Creature has vanquished an Invincible and
Unconquerable Demon - Narasimha
The sorrow of a poet has created an eternal poetic song and drama of
life -Valmiki
The Singer has created an eternal melody through music -Thyagaraja
The Messiah has relieved the sufferings of the sinners with his mere
touch and love - Jesus
The Sage killed the unrighteous kings and filled five lakes with their
blood to establish the Dharma - Parasurama
The God Incarnate spent the prime life in forest - Sri Rama
The Half-Naked ordinary man won a mighty battle for Independence
through Truth and Non-violence - Mahatma Gandhi
The Emperor-turned-Monk, taught Ahimsa - Buddha
The Prophet taught the peace through punishment - Mohammed
The God descended on to the earth in an Integrated Form or ‘Poorna
Purusha’ for the benefit of mankind - Sri Krishna
All the examples mentioned above are caused out their free-will.
The Ordinance of Fate and the Power of Free-will
are unfathomable shine and shade.
4
The AIMS of this Book

§ To analyse different ways of understanding the subject of

Destiny (Prarabhda) and Right Decision (Sankalpa) from the
viewpoint of Thesis (Fate), Anti-thesis ( Free-Will), Synthesis
(Fate and FreeWill) and Transcendence (Beyond, Metaphysics);

§ To provide enough evidence that the achievement of desired results

can be equated with the self- effort;

§ To expose that strong will- power will lead individuals towards

success; and

§ To provide knowledge to the people belonging to different shades

of opinions for enabling them to view the subject of fate and free-
will from different dimensions for a better use and redefine the
principles of futurology.

5
 PREFACE
How many times did we think about the sins that might have been
committed for undergoing the present turmoils of life? Every failure
that leads to sorrow and agony is considered that it is not the
responsibility of the individual but it is the command of the fate for the
past deeds. Usually, people attribute their success to the self-effort and
competence and the failure to extraneous forces. Thus, the attribution
of success and failure to wrong causes often confuses the mankind.
The manifestation of the Over Soul in the form of Avathars is to
destroy the Anti-Avathars, Demons or Devils that have been indulging
in wicked and atrocious activities due to their power of free-will which
has been obtained by them from the Gods through their austere penance.
This is also the case with the human beings who secure free will and
subdue to the fate in a given context. Fate and free will coexist. Free
will is manure to fate for nurturing and fulfilling its role.
Discipline has a great role in balancing one’s own life
sandwiched between free-will and fate. That is, when a person is
endowed with a balanced structure of senses (s)he can harmonise the
desires, duties, ideals through sensible emotions and intelligence. Then
one can escape from the sufferings of extremes either of fate or of free-
will. If not the misfortunes that are originated from the extremes of
jealousies, factions and intrigues ruin the lives of the people.
The Vedic school of thought provides the beginning of existence
and the origin of life through sacrifice (Yagna) for furtherance of sacrifice
to perpetuate life. This school reveals that the ‘will’ or desire, the
earliest seed of spirit, a self-impulse of Brahma that arose to fill the
void of non-being with and survey air, motion, heat and wisdom through

6
sacrifice of Narayana of moving waters with thousand- headed,
thousand- eyed and thousand- footed covering the universe on all sides.
It is the Maha Sankalpa - idea and ideation, desire and free- will of
Narayana. This exemplifies the free will of God.
The Puranic School provides the picture of incarnation of Avataras
from age to age whenever the righteousness declines and wrong doings
tend to predominate in order to protect the virtuous and destroying the
wicked for upholding Dharma. This school emphasizes how the free-
will of Demons granted by God that troubled the life of all the creatures
including human beings with their diabolic nature has once again been
destroyed by God himself through his free-will. So, the focus of the
Avataras laid in Puranas is the conflict between the free-will of Demons
and Gods in different kinds, forms and degrees.
The stories of Avatars like:
1. The Mina Avatara (The fish that swam the flood)
2. The Kachhapa Avatara (The tortoise which supported the earth
for the churning of the ocean of milk)
3. The Varaha Avatara (The boar that held the earth with its tusk)
4. The Narasimha Avatara (The Man-lion that had torn the giant demon
Hiranyakasapa and vindicated Prahalada)
5. The Vamana Avatara (The dwarf that encroached the universe to
scorn emperor king Bali)
6. The Parashurama Avatar (The sole subduer of the dreaded / the
slayer of tyrants)
7. The Balarama Avatar (The mighty plough man born to support
Krishna)

7
8. The Krishna Avatar (The great Teacher, Warrior, Righter of the
wrong).
9. The Rama Avatar ( An embodiment of Dharma in the human
form).
10. The Buddha Avatar (The role model of Compassion) who
exemplified the intricacies of fate and free-will in different
projections and proportions.
The modern school has been an admixture of Vedic, Puranic,
Historic and Scientific knowledge according to the convenience and
situations in all walks of life. Even in futurology, people are guided by
blending many predictive and remedial systems in order to achieve their
aspirations to overcome from their economic, social, and psychological
and health problems. Nevertheless, these people of the modern systems
are unable to synthesize the issues for want of scientific and
philosophical rigour.
This book is divided into Two Parts and Six Chapters : 1. Concept,
2. Fate, 3. Free-Will, 4. Synthesis, 5. Transcendence and 6. Futurology.

TIRUPATI ACHRYA SESHAIAH KANDAMURU

11-11-2017

8
 GOD DESCENDS
FROM HIS ORIGINAL
PERMA NENT ABODE
TO THIS WORLD
OUT OF HIS
FREE - WILL
AND THROUGH
HIS AMAZING
CREATIVE ENERGY.
9
 FOREWORD
The subject of fate and free-will is highly sensitive. There is enough
and equal evidence to this polemic to prove that fate determines the
lives of the people and also they have a lot of freedom to decide their
future. The author has very tactfully dealt with the subject. There is
nothing that has not been touched by the author as the subject is divided
into thesis (is), antithesis (not is), synthesis (is and not is) and
transcendence (neither is nor not is). The greatest dilemma that has
been haunting the mankind from times immemorial is whether the lives
of the people are determined by something else beyond the control of
human being or by self. Except the enlightened, everybody has been
bothered by this predicament.
No other subject has disturbed people so wider and deeper in
their pursuits of both success and failure. This is due to lack of fuller
knowledge on the subject from all its dimensions. The author with his
acumen has made the topic very simple to enable people to understand
the boundaries of fate and free-will and guide themselves to resolve
their problems in day to day mundane affairs.
In the world of science and technology, people have ample
opportunities to shape their lives. Longevity is prolonged through
medication, peace is procured through meditation, children are chosen
by number and kind, intelligence is improved through education,
character is modified through discipline, status is secured with effort
and development is made possible by the intervention of technology.
This scenario of landing the man on moon and enabling scientists to
explode an atom at will to destroy the universe during 20th and 21st
centuries exemplify the essence of this work of fate and free-will.
Hyderabad
11.11.2017 MURALI K. REDDY, Chairman, MAK Projects

10
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I owe a great deal to my parents for bringing my being into existence. I
express my obeisance to my teachers who have provided the know how of ‘Art
of Living’ and ‘Heart of Loving’.
I thank my Alma Mater, S. V. University and other Business, Social and
Religious institutions for shaping me into what I am today.
I pay my respecful homage to Parama Pujya Late Sri. H.H. .Shri. Ramanuja
Pedda Jeeyyangar T.T.D. for changing my fate.
My whole hearted gratitude goes to Sri.Murali k Reddy industrialists,
(Hyderabad) for awakening my free-will and penning a Fore Word.
I acknowledge the love and service of Prof. R.V.Kumar, (CTS, NIMS).
I express my sincere thanks to Prf. R.V.Satyanarayana & Prf. M.
MuniramiReddy (S.V.University) and Sarvasri. L.Vijaya Kumar Setty, P.
Kodandaramaiah, Hyderabad, S. Subhs Chandrudu (Nellore) for their constant
encouragement and appreciation. I express my respectful thanks to H.H. Shri.
Brhmanand Theertha Swamyji.
I am much beholden to the eminent astrologers Sarvasri. D.Ramachandra
Rao, A.S.N.Murty (Hyderabad), K.Y. Narayana Sarma, Bangalore, for their
help and inspiration.

I express my sincere, grateful and graceful thanks to Dr. C. Rajasekhar

Reddy, Orthopedic Surgeon, Vijaya Hospital, Chennai for making me fit to move
on my fractured leg and knee replacement after surgery and do the academic
work of this nature.
I thank my family members Sri K. Sivanarayana Rao (Brother), Mrs.
K.Padmavathy (Wife), Smt. Meena, Er. R.V. Ravi Kumar and Smt. Vasanta,
Er.M.V. Upendranath and Smt. Anuradha and Sri. P. Srinivas, (Daughters &
Sons-in-law) Ms M. Girija and Mrs. P.Padmaja (Nieces)and Chi. K.V.N. Pradeep.

11
YOU ARE WHAT YOUR
DEEP DRIVING DESIRE IS.

AS YOUR DESIRE IS,

SO IS YOUR WILL.

AS YOUR WILL IS,

SO IS YOUR DEED.

AS YOUR DEED IS, SO

IS YOUR DESTINY.

- Brihadaranyaka Upanishad IV. 4. 5

12
 INTRODUCTORY

The quest to know the unknown is an unending process to the

mankind. The achievements of human beings over several millennia have
been astounding. In a way they has been trying to conquer time and
space in terms of fastest movement by road, water , air and space
through different vehicles, to talk, to hear and to see people from far off
places with the help of many methods and techniques discovered and
invented through science. All these designs and measures have been
facilitating humans to enjoy life in its fullest measure. Their advancement
has been a great help even in prolonging life by curing several incurable
diseases hitherto. Yet, the competence of (wo)men along with its baneful
attitude of competition to control the environment is becoming more
severe. As a result the future happenings are becoming highly enigmatic,
inscrutable and unpredictable creating a serious threat to the very
existence of life through enormous stress, strain and restlessness. The
final effect of all these exercises is a conflict of both inner and outer
nature of human beings. The inner conflict is poverty amidst plenty,
misery amidst comfort, and envy amidst enjoyment and so on making
life a hopeless and unhappy episode. The outer conflict is competition
and non-cooperation between individual vs. individual, group vs. group,
organization vs. organization, nation vs. nation and many such situations
making physical, psychological, and environmental climate unworthy
for human inhabitation. Thus, the curiosity to investigate and shape his
own future is more serious than ever before.
Towards this several methods and systems of futurology have
been evolved from time to time to provide a succor to the people.
However all these methods are based on deductive assumptions and
calculations that can never track and crack the overriding force called
“Change in Unchanged”.

13
 “Samam sarveshu bhuteshu tishtantham parameswaram
Vinasyatsv avinasyantam yah pasyathi sa pasyathi!”
(“ ... the changeless in the changing : the changeless Parameswara in
changing jeevatman.)

- Gita. C. XIII.27.

The reality is: change changes change. Change is the input, Change is
the process and Change is the output. Change is certain, but, the degree of
change is uncertain. The volume, value, valence, velocity and vector of change
are unfathomed and unfathomable. The uncertainty and certainty of change
are termed as fate and free-will.
But, the main problem that has been bothering mankind is whether man’s
role in this world is just to watch the happenings or determine the happenings
with his own will and effort.
More than any other logic, the Maha Mayas of Vedas and Upnishads
confirm that the free-will is also a part of life and it is in no way an outside force
of the human power.

The Maha Vakyas like Aham Brahmasmi, Ayamatma Brahma,THIS

SOUL IS ATMA, Prajnanam Brahma, KNOWWLEDGE IS Brahma; Thvame
Vaham, Tatmavasi (THOU ART THAT) and Soham emphsise the presence
of Universal Soul in the heart of all individual souls like the ocean hidden in
every drop of water.

To present the ideas, teachings, messages , gospels and commandments

of Avatars, Messiahs, Prophets, Sages and Maharishis and to discuss the
related issues like Prarabhda, Samchita and Agami and draw conclusions along
with an inductive analysis of futurology, this synopsis is designed and
presented in the following pages.

14
 BENEDICTION

I bless thee, Acharya Seshaiah

Kandamuru, for making available a work
which is highly useful at the present juncture
when the mankind has forgotten that it is the
sheer free-will of the saints and monks of the
yore enabled them to demonstrate that from
renunciation to conquer of mundane things
and also attain the Godhood are within the
reach of human being. Let mankind get
immense benefit out of this work.

AUM NAMO NARAYANA

H.H. Shri Shri Shri Hari Harananda

Theertha Swamy,

15
 CONTENTS
Dedication
The Shades of Fate and Free-Will
The Aims of this Book
Preface
Foreword
Acknowledgements
Introductory
Contents:
PART-I
FATE AND FREE WILL
Chapter 1 : CONCEPT
Chapter 2 : FATE (THESIS)
Chapter 3 : FREE-WILL - (ANTI-THESIS)
Chapter 4 : FATE AND FREE-WILL (SYNTHESIS)
Chapter 5 : TRANSCENDENCE

PART-II

PSYCHO-SOMATIC AND ASTRO-NUMERICAL

Paradigm to Tune Future

Epilogue
Annexures : I, II , III and IV

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 TIME IS A SERIAL
OF
‘NOWS.’
SPACE (UNIVERSE)
IS A SERIAL
OF
‘CHANGES.’
LIFE IS A SERIAL
OF
‘EXPERIENCES.’

MIND IS A SERIAL
OF
‘THOUGHTS.’
THOUGHT IS A SERIAL
OF
‘WAVES.’

17
 PART - I
FATE AND FREE-WILL

18
THE FATE AND FREE-WILL

IS AKIN IN SUPPORTING

EACH OTHER TO THAT OF

HAND AND EYE. WHEN

THE HAND GETS HURT EYE

WEEPS AND WHEN THE EYE

WEEPS THE HAND WIPES

THE TEARS.

19
Chapter-1
CONCEPT
The dichotomy between fate and free-will is as ancient as human
civilization. Man’s enquiry and investigation into different spheres of
existence has been puzzling by many revelations through both philosophy
and science from time to time giving almost equal support to both fate
and free-will. The statistical theory of probability proves the chances
of equality. The philosophy emphasizes that ‘we reap what we sow’.
The basic issue is: what is in man’s control and what is not? The dilemma
of fate and free-will has been unresolved due to its deep rooted and
mysterious issues which are incomprehensible to ordinary minds. Even
those who have been successful in their endeavours after prolonged
failures could not unravel the secrets of success and failures. If they
could understand, they would have evolved formulae that would
guarantee success and avoid failures at every stage of life and in every
action of mankind. For want of an understanding the art, science and
the philosophy, the interest of this subject has been increasing day by
day.
For many centuries, God and Religion have been linked to the
concepts of fate and free-will. They were misunderstood, distorted
and consciously manipulated by mankind. God’s name, perhaps the
ultimate symbol of peace, love and compassion, has been invoked to
solve the innumerable problems of life and used to wage countless
wars, murders and genocide. Even today, the medieval plague of “holy”
wars is infecting our planet. Can a war be ever holy?
The fate and free-will or luck Vs hard work or destiny Vs self-
effort has been the subject matter for the debate from times immemorial.

20
There have been both the arguments and the counter arguments to this
issue in all the scriptures of the world.
FATE AND FREE-WILL
Fate and free-will are the numerical expressions of the
thoughts and results of human actions. Fate is the numerical
expressions of happenings. Free-will is the numerical expressions
of doings. Fate is also termed as the luck, destiny, fortune, etc. Free-
will on the other hand is to denote voluntary choice or decision for
action, hard work and so on.
The fate and free-will originate from the body and psyche or
structural and functional systems of life. Both body and mind, which
have their own structure, nature and functioning create their own
functions and dysfunctions. As a result, the man’s experiences are dual
or twins of life like joy and sorrow, good and bad, success and failure
and other similar pairs.
Many arguments that have been advanced by many God-men
through Vedas, Upanishads, Bhagavata, Ramayana, Mahabharata,
Bhagavad Gita, Panchatantra, Bible, Koran, etc. to support the validity
of fate (thesis), free-will (anti-thesis) and their roles in shaping the
human nature and life. In between a ground has been established for a
grand synthesis.
Fate is held to determine events beyond man’s control. It is also
termed as the luck, destiny, fortune, disaster, outcome, etc. Free will,
on the other hand is treated as an opposite term to fate denoting voluntary
choice or decision for action and hard work. Generally, ‘fate’ is viewed
as a patterned, programmed, dependent, fixed, static, closed and steady
as against the ‘freewill’ as non-patterned, dynamic, non-programmed

21
independent and open. But it is not so. Fate is an alternative term for
free-will and they are supplementary and complimentary to each other
like two wings of a bird. When one goes to fundamentals, the existence
appears to be formed by the opposites. In Chinese Philosophy, it is
called Yin and Yang.
YIN YANG
FEMININE MASCULINE
CONTRACTIVE DEMANDING
RESPONSIVE AGGRESSIVE
COOPERATIVE COMPETITIVE
INTUITIVE RATIONAL
SYNTHESISING ANALYSIS
DEMOCRATIC AUTOCRATIC
Similarly, prakriti and purusha, positive and negative, hot and
cold, light and darkness, earth and sky, white and black , east and west
and so on are considered as the polar opposites. But, the essence is
that they are not two separate entities, they are the two sides of the
same coin like light and darkness. Normally they are equal. But, the
reduction in light is darkness and reduction in darkness is light. One
provides an opportunity to the other and one absolves the other. In
Sankhya philosophy it is known as ‘Dwandwams’ or pairs of existence.
No fate can exist without free-will or free-will without fate. Fate
originates from free-will and free-will comes from fate. But, how much
of fate and free will depend on the level, degree and kind of ‘matter-
spirit-consciousness’.
If anyone dimension is the thesis, the second one is automatically
the anti-thesis. But, between the extremes of thesis and anti-thesis
there is synthesis or equilibrium. The fourth dimension at the supreme
level is the one to transcend all these mundane aspects of life.

22
 The concept of fate or destiny has been divided into three patterns
in Viveka-Chudamani by Adi Sankara: Prarabdha (Karma
already incurred in a previous incarnation) is indeed very powerful.
Samchita (Karma incurred during the present incarnation) and
Agami (future Karma). (S. 454).
So long as the notion, that body is the Self, prarabdha continues
to exist. When that notion is not cherished any longer, prarabdha is
abandoned. Even the notion that prarabdha belongs to body is a delusive
one. (S. 461.)
The fate and free will concept is not new even to scientists. It is
treated in terms of Locus of Control. In 1954 J.B.Rotter (What is important
is that this perceived locus of control may have a differential impact on their performance
and satisfaction. For example, studies by Rotter and his colleagues suggest that Skill versus
Chance environment differentially affect behaviour. In addition, a number of studies have
been conducted in recent years to test the attribution theory-locus of control model in
work settings. One study found that internally controlled employees are generally more
satisfied with their jobs, and more likely to be in managerial positions, and are more
satisfied with a participatory management style than employees who perceive external
control. Other studies have found that internally controlled managers are better performers,
are more considerate of subordinates, not to burst out, and follow a more strategic style of
executive action. In addition, the attribution process has been shown to play a role in
coalition formation in the political process of organisations. In particular, coalition
members made stronger internal attributions, such as ability and desire, and non-members
had enunciated a theory called
made stronger external attributions, such as luck.)
‘Social Learning Theory’ or ‘Locus of Control’. Whether people
perceive that their outcomes are controlled internally or externally.
People who perceive internal control feel that they can influence their
outcomes through their own ability, skills and effort. People who
perceive external control feel that their outcomes are beyond their own
control. They feel that their outcomes are subjected to external forces .
The fate and free-will dimensions in this existence can be examined
on a wide range at different levels starting from the static structure to

23
functions of ‘total awareness and consciousness or supra-
consciousness’. The lower level of life is probably ridden with fate and
the higher level is facilitated with free-will.
Kenneth E. Boulding in his article “General Systems Theory -
Skeleton of Science” has elaborated the concept of system from the
basics to advanced state in nine stages. (* The first level according to him is
the ‘static structure’, ‘geography and anatomy’ of the Universe followed by the second
one as ‘clock -works’, the ‘solar system’, and ‘cybernetics’ or ‘thermostat’ at the third
level. The fourth one being the ‘open system’, ‘self maintaining structure ‘ or ‘physico-
chemical equilibrium’ as against the fifth level of ‘genetic-societal level’ or ‘cell-society’
typified by the ‘plant’ with differentiated and mutually dependent parts covering ‘equifinal
or ‘blue printed’ growth phenomenon. The upward move from plant, pass to animal
charaterised by increased mobility, teleological behaviour and ‘self-awareness’ at the sixth
level. The next level is the ‘human’ incorporated nearly all the characteristics of geo-
plant and animal systems added by the ‘self-consciousness’ with ‘self-reflexive’ quality. At
the eighth level the ‘social organisation’ system functions with greater diversity. The last
stage according to him is a final turret of ‘transcendental system’, which is characterised
by the ‘ultimates’, ‘absolutes’ and the ‘inescapable unknowable’.)

If one believes that fate is more powerful, no achievement or

success of any kind is possible on this earth. No enlightenment is
achievable. The Rishis, Sages or Demons out of their sheer effort and
free-will undertook the penance and convinced the Gods and secured
many boons. Of course the boons of sages have helped them to realize
the God and experience enlightenment. The free-will of Demons and
their resultant boons have destroyed them due to their wicked activities
and weaknesses.
Ekalavya was an autodidact. He has learnt things from his own
practice by creating his own Guru with extraordinary free-will. The
remarkable examples for free-will are Buddha, Gandhi, Sri Ramana
Maharshi, who became gurus without having any gurus of their own.

24
 For those whose left brain is active they are fate ridden and believe
that everything is patterned and fixed. On the other those with an active
right brain are free-will oriented.
In the Ashtavakra Gita, Ashtavakra tells Janaka , “as you think so
you become”. Thus, ‘sankalpa’ or conception is the important force.
Fate is the real nature of every object in this world. Free-will on
the other hand is the makeup given to a thing. Water cannot be like
rock. But, if solidified it can become rocky. Air is invisible, but its
manifestation is visible. Everything moves with its own tendency as long
as there is no intervention. Fire can be blown out by air. But it can be
extinguished by water and also by air. Any object thrown into the sky,
comes down. But, flame goes up. Everything is allowed to act and
move according to its nature, behavior or tendency as long as the fate
operates. If any change is caused through intervention it is free-will.
Birth and death, joy and sorrow, success and failure are opposite
pairs or ‘Dwandwams’ that life provides in its journey. Neither the
origin nor destination for the existence can be traced either through
physics or philosophy. However, it cannot be simply brushed aside the
reality of life, its products and processes, that easily than said as the
patterns of life can be changed. The subject of Anthropology provides
ample evidence regarding the customs, traditions, habits of people
in different cultures and their change over a period of time under
changing environment. But thoughts of love, joy, sorrow, hatredness,
fear and other feelings of people are maintained intact irrespective of
time and culture. In such aspects we find no difference between the
caveman and satellite man. The change is conspicuous in art form,
scientific methodology, political systems, but not in the feelings about
them. The reaction of man even to the doings by self and happenings
by circumstances has been the same. When you get something you

25
want, it is the same delight you experience irrespective of the influence
of time – past, present and future.
Further reaction of people to the present, past and future in terms
of fate and free-will is also the same. But the mystical side of nature
confuses human beings by attributing certain causes and effects. The
basic element that binds the cause and effect in myriad forms is the
‘Self’ of individual whose nature is unknown to many. As a result,
some people attribute through logical explanations to prove that the
fate is the predominant force that shapes human beings. On the other,
some others also equally show evidence that it is utopia as the free-will
has its own power to thwart the forces of fate. Indeed, the fate and
free-will are interconnected. The problem arises when we look at them
as separate entities. The existence yields life through its machinations
of life and drives the system and its sub-systems in a desired manner.
If the human mind can be stretched a little further, it can conclude
that this mind has created this external world. When mind ceases to
operate all physical world activities and mental images disappear. Then
there is neither fate nor free-will. So the attachment of mind to a particular
frame of thinking gives a specific picture wrapped by cause and effect
in their relative roles. Of course, the thinking of these aspects changes
due to the changes either in physical or in mental world or in both
serially and simultaneously. To be subtle the fate annihilates the weak
free-will and free-will accommodates and embraces the fate so as to
become stronger to fight against fate.
Fate and free will are two aspects of the same energy or force.
Strong becomes stronger in order to become either weak or strong to
serve the purpose. Duality always creates the thoughts of dilemmas
and trilemmas, confusion and contradiction and action and inaction.

26
Precisely, the thought is the base to provide an opportunity to understand
this matter of every kind and mind of every type. The thought could
understand, analyse and explain the secrets and demystify the nature of
this matter, but it has no power to reveal itself. Because, the moment it
tries to do it through some yoga, it absorbs into it or it can’t come out
of it. It is the state of liberation.
Matter is created by particles and particles are created by waves
of thought. Physical body including brain functions through mind and
the soul seated in heart through waves. Fate or free-will responds to
each other in a desired manner. For every action there is a reaction. In
both fate and free-will there lies an order and disorder. There may be
continuity or discontinuity between them. There may be a procedure
or an accident. If fate is a compulsion free-will becomes a choice and
vice versa.
The consciousness envelops the brain. Then the responses of each
with the experiences of environment either embrace or reduce the
intelligence. It is not the other way, brain creating consciousness. The
brain is not relevant in schizophrenia. It is consciousness that matters.
Thus, doctors do treat the brain but not consciousness. The
consciousness is the information about past memory, present experience,
future imagination, input and output, purpose and process, effort and
consequence, fear and fantasy, pain and pleasure, self and other selves,
promises and performance and ethics and immorality. Similar to matter,
consciousness also has its own evolutionary, revolutionary, and accidental
processes.
For he, who has that highest God in all things found, that man will
himself, upon himself inflict no wound. For he, who has believed the

27
higher order believes that progress of everything is God. That person
will apply his free-will to progress to reach that domain.
True Knowledge
Nistraigunye pathi vicharataam
Kah vidhih kah nishedhah?
(To one who moves in the supreme realm of the Absolute, which
is beyond the three modes of the manifest nature, what matter the licenses
or the taboos of the mundane world?)
Similarly, the Isa Upanishad declares:
Yasmin sarvaani bhootaani Atmaa eva abhoot vijaanatah
Tatra kah mohah kah sokah ekatavam anupasyatah?
(To realise soul, who look upon the whole creation as the
manifestation of the Supreme Self, where is joy and where is distress in
his unitary concept?)
The destructions of three aspects of Karma (Destiny) is said of
the Jeevanmukta’s (the men who attain Liberation even while alive),
but not of the ordinary men. And among the Jeevanmuktas only a few
still indulge in penance. The others just watch their overt actions like
godly witnesses.
All the same, even those who take to penance have no ulterior
motive all the time in self-awareness – may be said to be part of their
‘praarabdha’.
“Praarabdham bhogatah nasyet tattva-jnaanena sanchitam
Aagaami dwi-vidham proktam tat dweshi-priya-vaadinoh”
(The predestined effect of this birth cease to exist when they
are experienced now; the accumulated effects of Destiny are

28
dispelled by the light of knowledge; and the two kinds of future
destiny, as the result of present thoughts and present actions are
exhausted by the external reactions of friendship and hatred to
which one is liable), says “Siva Tattva jnaanam”.
“Aparoksha-anubhooti” adds:
“Tattva-jnaana-udayaat oordhavam praarabdham na eva vidyate
Dehaadeenaam asattavaat tu yathaa swapanah nibodhatah”
(Just as the things seen in the dream do not exist to the awakened
dreamer, so also the effects of the pre-destined ‘praarabdha’ do not
bother the man who attains self-knowledge).
“Karma janma-antereeyam yat praarabdham iti keertitam”
(In as much as there is no future birth in the man of
knowledge, that destiny which is called ‘praarabdha’ - effects- which
have to be gone through from the beginning of the present existence
has no effect on him).

29
“THAT HE WHO
CONSIDERS HIM-SELF
FREE BECOMES FREE
AND HE WHO THINKS
HE IS BOUND REMAINS
BOUND”
-ASHTAVAKRA GITA (A DIALOGUE BETWEEN
KING JANAKA AND ASHTAVAKRA)

30
Chapter-II
FATE (THESIS)
Many arguments have been advanced to the topic of fate and
free-will from time to time by scholars and God-men in this world.
Some of the statements relating to fate are purported in the following
passages.
Krishna said, “They are not only great generals but also very
wise men. I have come to make a last supreme bid for peace. If after
my advice, this fool, Duryodhana does not give the Pandavas their
dues, he will meet his fate.” Further He said, “Because it was all destined,
they had to pay the penalty of their Karma. There was no reason for
me to prevent it any more than for preventing the Mahabharata War.
Karma must work itself out”. His statement clarifies that Krishna could
use his free-will and avert the disaster, but did not like to do so as the
outcome of such action is undesirable.
“There is a time for everything to come and go, Arjuna,” said
Vyasa. “Did not Krishna’s Discuss go away from him before His
departure? So, too went your power over the Gandiva and the
inexhaustible quivers of arrows”.
A few excerpts from Panchatantra, a famous work by
Vishnusarman in Sanskrit , translated into many languages of the world,
are as follows.
“With lions, imprisoned in cages, their wretched faces pining away
from the humiliation; with elephants, the sides of their heads torn by
goad hooks with serpents, charmed to stillness; with wise men, fallen
into helpless misery, and with men of prowess ruined by ill-luck, fate
plays with, as toys tossing them to and fro at her sweet will”.

31
 “Whencesoever, and by whatever means, and whenever, and
however, and whatever, and to whatever extent, and wherever a man
does - be the deed, good or evil; even thence and by that means, and
then, and thus, and that, and to that extent, and there - it comes back to
him by the power of fate.”
“From a distance of a hundred and ten leagues a bird sees here
the carrion-flesh; that same bird, when its time arrives, sees not the
snare-thong”.
“How the moon and the sun are subject to eclipse, and how
elephants and serpents too are taken captive, and how wise men are
poverty-stricken; verily, mightily is fate!
“What can’t be done can’t be done; only that which can be done
can be done. A wagon will not go on water or a ship on dry land”.
“What man is not touched by calamities when his time comes”?
“Blows rain incessantly on a crippled man; when food is all gone
the fire of the belly rages. Enmities spring up in times of disaster; in hard
times misfortunes come thick and fast”.
“Now why does fate thus rain its blows so unceasingly upon me?
For first, you know I lost my money; because of my poverty I suffered
the contempt of my followers; from despair begotten of that came exile
from my native land and separation from beloved friend; behold, this is
my chain of misfortunes”.
According to Viveka Chudamini, “for all those, born and dead,
there is a common process consisting of “ Six stages - birth, existence,
growth, change, decline and death”.

32
 Adi Sankara says: “Sons and others are capable of discharging
a father’s debts; but no one except oneself can remove (his own)
bondage”. (S. 53.)
Duryodhana replied to Bheeshma:
“Janami Dharmam na cha me Pravrti,
Janami Papam na cha me Nivrtti”.
(I know what is dharma, what is righteousness, what is good,
but I have not the inclination to do it. I know what are unrighteousness,
adharma, evil and sin, but I cannot desist from doing it).
It is not enough if one knows about life, science but must also
have intelligence and will-power to do the right things and avoid the
wrong ones.
Buddha says,
“ Not in the sky, nor in the depths of the sea,
Nor in a mountain cave, can one seek shelter:
For there exists no place on earth
Where a man can escape from the fruits of his Karma.”
“Count all life a thing unstable: This is the law - that all
must pass away”.
“What, without asking, hither hurried Whence!
And, without asking, whither, hurried hence!
There was the Door to which I found no Key;
There was the Veil through which I might not see;
Some little talk awhile of Me and Thee
There was- and then no more of Thee and Me”
- Fitzgerald’s - Omar Khayyam

33
 “Death is the first stage of the journey to Eternity”.
Prophet Muhammad.
“Death comes to everyone. He accepts neither flattery nor
bribe. He respects no persons but strikes down impartially-”. -
Zoroaster.
In King Lear, Shakespeare was interested in the force called
fate, which controls so much the lives of men. There is an expressed
view that destiny can crush a man: “As flies wanton boys are we to the
gods. They kill us for their sport.” And in Hamlet: “There’s a divinity
that shapes our ends.”
Did Shakespeare mean that those tragic heroes in his plays were
in the grip of cruel fate, over which they had no control? Was Brutus,
Caesar, King Lear, Hamlet controlled and pushed on by fate? If he
intended this, we must put his tragedies in the same class as the Greek
drama of Aeschylus and Euripides where their heroes are shown as
victims of powerful Gods who scheme against men. The heroes of Greek
tragedy are the prey of destiny, and have no choice. But, such is not the
case with Shakespeare’s tragic men. Each one has a choice. But each
one suffered because of the ‘Tragic Flaw’ in their character. All the
tragic heroes suffered the doom because of their own follies, which,
had they intended could have been averted. Macbeth hesitated long,
urged by his better spirit not to proceed with the killing of Duncan. It is
only after he has taken the wrong path that the grip of destiny seizes
him. King Lear meets his tragic end as he turns blind to the brutal instincts
of his two elder daughters because of his egoistic nature.
Brutus thinks very deeply over all the issues involved in the Killing
of Ceasar before he joins the conspirators. He too makes the wrong

34
choice. After making that choice he is swept along by a stream of
circumstances, which he cannot resist. And so it is more reasonable to
regard the plays as tragedies of character rather than destiny.
Shakespeare does not try to show that destiny is something inevitable,
for it is only inevitable nature, readymade, for him. Shakespeare decided
to take as his plot, the events of history he had obtained from Plutarch.
It only remained for him to put own interpretation on the various
characters.
Power of Providence
According to Upanishads, this existence is the will of God. God
as Kshetrajna in the bodies as well as the conscious souls is both
Purusha and Prakriti. At first, this universe was only one,
undifferentiated Self, the Universal Soul. Nothing else.
He willed “May I create worlds!” and He brought forth the
worlds. -Chandogya Upanishad.
He willed, “I will be many; I will manifest Myself”. He meditated
and meditating, created everything existing, and after creating them,
entered into them. –Taittiriya Upanishad.
However much one might be endowed with foresight and is
meticulous about planning one’s life there is no guarantee that everything
will happen according to one’s plans. Destiny takes its own course and
it is not possible to circumvent it by human effort. One may wonder
whether this will not make one resigned to one’s fate. Acceptance of
the role of Providence need not necessarily make one a fatalist; on the
contrary one will be able to appreciate how an unseen power – the
Divine will – controls the destiny of man.

35
 This can be clearly seen in the manner in which the events unfolded
in the Ayodhya Kanda in the Ramayana, leading to Rama’s exile to
the forest. When all the preparation for Rama’s coronation were over
and the invited guests had reached Ayodhya for participating in the
celebrations, by a strange quirk of destiny instead of the joyous
celebration of Rama’s coronation the whole kingdom plunged into
grief when kaikeyi prodded by Mandara pressed Dasaratha to fulfill
the two boons given to her.
In the Ramayana, Rama Himself had pointed out the irrevocable
nature of destiny while trying to convince Lakshmana. “Providence alone
should be regarded, O son of Sumitra! as responsible for sending me
into exile as well as for taking back from me the sovereignty of Ayodhya
offered me. How could the resolution of persecuting me enter the
mind of Kaikeyi, if this idea of hers were not prompted by providence?”
“That which cannot be foreseen is surely decree of Providence
and it cannot be set aside by human beings. Evidently, therefore it is the
will of Providence that the unexpected has befallen me as well as her.
Joy and sorrow, fear and anger, gain and loss, birth and death and
whatever similar experience comes to a particular individual that is
unquestionably the work of Providence.”
But Lakshmana was not easily convinced. He tried to argue
pointing out the injustice meted to Him by Dasaratha. But in the end he
had to relent seeing Rama’s determination to fulfill their father’s promise
to Kaikeyi. Kausalya was inconsolable in her grief, unable to bear the
cruel twist of circumstances when she had to accept the news of Rama’s
banishment to the forest instead on the eye of His coronation.
She begged Rama to take her to the forest along with Him since
could not bear to be separated from Him. But Rama consoled her and

36
advised her about the impropriety of her and requested by pointing out
her duty to her husband and implored her to serve Dasaratha with
great care, since He would also be away.
Mother earthasked the Lord Vishnu,
“How to overcome from prarabhda karma, his deeds in
“How to overcome from the Prarabdha Karma, for the deeds
in previous births?” Vishnu replied: “He who practices the
teachings of the Gita is not stained by Karma; but liberated and
happy.”
According to many like Krishna, Buddha, Vivekananda, etc.
“Work is the only source to get rid of the Karma.”
Swami Vivekananda cried out to the youth of India,
“Do not talk; Work! Work ! Work! Work unto Death!”

“Work apace, apace, apace, apace,

Honest labor bears a lovely face” - Thomas Dekker.
The enemies that are ridden with Fate cover seven in number
like: 1. Lust, 2. Greed, 3. Anger, 4. Delusion, 5. Intoxication, 6.
Competition and 7. Fear. They must be abandoned before man can
exercise his Free-will or take refuge in God.
“Miserable are they who work for fruit.” (Gita II.49).
“He who sees no work in work, and work in no work, is wise
among men and is a Yogi who can accomplish all his work”. ‘(Gita
IV.16-18)
Some people blame fate. Although our lives travel along
predetermined course, fate is not responsible for our actions. And just
as we must take complete responsibility for our negative and harmful

37
behaviour, so we need to take responsibility for our positive and loving
behavior. No one else can do this for us. No devil can harm you and
ultimately no Guru can save you. The destination is destined by fate.
But the course of journey is designed by free-will. However, all the
additions and deletions ultimately play their roles in reaching the end.

“WHEN YOU WANT SOME

THING ALL THE UNIVERSE
CONSPIRES IN HELPING
YOU TO ACHIEVE IT.”
-Paulo Coelho (The Alchemist)

38
Chapter-3
FREE- WILL - (ANTI-THESIS)
There are many convincing arguments advanced by eminent
scholars and supreme personalities who have left not only their foot
prints on the sands of the time but also their finger prints, hand prints,
head prints and heart prints in the annals of history to prove the
enormous power of free-will in shaping the future of mankind. Passages
from some of the great works on the significance for self-effort are
given in the following paragraphs.
In the Mahabharata there has been a debate ‘whether man
makes the time or time makes man’. Bhishma replies to Yudhistra’s
doubt: It is as old as civilization.
“Kalo va karanam rajo va kalakaranamu
Ithi tho sanjayo mabhoodu raja kalasya karanamu”.
(Is the time cause of king or is the king the cause of time? Let no
such doubts trouble thee. The king makes the time).
According to Maitrayana Brahmana Upanishad,
‘What a man thinks, that he is’. “Heaven is not for the
weak or the cowardly”, say the Upanishads.
The mission of Vivekananda was being the alleviation of human
suffering as that of both Buddha and Sankara. He expressed to Nivedita
the possibility of acquiring the divinity by mankind. “My ideal indeed
can be put into a few words and that is to preach unto mankind their
divinity and how to make it manifest in every moment of life.” Further,
he emphasizes the free-will component in the human mind in his final
summary of Vedanta in the following sentences.

39
 • “Each soul is potentially divine.
• The goal is to manifest this divinity within, by controlling nature
both external and internal.
• Do this either by work or worship, psychic control or philosophy,
by one or more, or all of these – and be free.
• This is the whole religion.”.
Swami Vivekananda says: “This will is caused by
character and character is manufactured by karma or work. As
is the karma so is the manifestation of the will”. Also says, “Stand
up, be bold, be strong! Know that you are the creator of your
own destiny. All the strength and succor you want is within
yourself”.
Swami Paramananda says, “The use or abuse of this force
determines the destiny of man. When the thought is properly
controlled and directed it lifts him ever higher and higher; when
it is ill- directed and uncontrolled, it drags him down and bars
his growth, for verily man is what he thinks.”
Swami Budhananda said “That we all want to succeed.
Success though we all desire, it will be noticed in various spheres
of life, truly successful men are only a handful. Many are those
who attain only a moderate degree of success. And many more
just fail... “Our whole life is nothing but the outer manifestation
of our inner thought, weather this is conscious or unconscious”.
Buddha says: “An impulse comes; a desire awakens in the
heart and at once the whole thought is carried away by it; it
takes possession of the mind and if the man had sold himself to
it”.

40
 Scriptures say: “Mind alone is the cause of the bondage
and of the liberation of mankind.”
Mahatma Gandhi also extolled the same idea. “I have imbibed
through the central teaching of the Gita that man is the master
of his own destiny, in the sense that he has freedom of choice as
to the manner in which he uses that freedom. But he is no
controller of results. The moment he thinks he is he comes to
grief”.
The oft quoted sloka in the Gita implies the same.
“Karmany evadhi karas te
Ma phalesu kadacana
Ma karma-phala-hetur bhur
Ma te Sango’Stv akarmani”. (Gita C- 2. 27).
(You have a Free-will (right) to perform your prescribed doings
(duty), but you are not entitled to the fruits of action fate (happenings).
Never consider yourself to be the cause of the results, of your activities
and never be attached to, not doing your duty.)
The secret of this preaching is that inaction will bring no result.
Your right (free-will) to work is your doing. But the results need not be
in accordance with your expectations. But they are the happenings.
That is, there may the deviations from expectations, which may be either
Positive (+) or Negative (-). If one fails to use one’s own power, the
power in him is worthless.
The lord Krishna says,
“Uddhared atmanatmanam
natmanam avasadayet
atmaiva hy atmano bandhur
atmaiva ripur atmanah.” (Gita, C. VI. 5).

41
 (Let a man raise himself by his own self, let him not debase
himself by his own self. For a man himself is his best friend, and he is
himself his worst foe.)
“Bandhur atmatmanas tasya
yenatmaivatmana jitah
anatmanas tu, satrutve
vartetatmaiva satruvat.” (Gita, C. VI. 6).
(For him, who has conquered the mind, a mind is the best of
friends, but for one who has failed to do so, his very mind will be the
greatest enemy.)
When Krishna narrated his woes and problems to Narada, he
spoke thus! “One comes from outside and the other is created by
oneself. Your misfortunes are of your creation”!
Koran: Says “Do you love the creator? Then love and serve
his creatures. The best man is he, from whom the most food
accrues to humanity. God is not kind to the able-bodied man
who will not work, but beg. Man’s actions are judged by his
intention”.
In ancient literature also a mention has been made to the power
of thoughts, words and deeds, in creating a desired personality.
Watch the nature that creates your thoughts; Watch your thoughts
they become your interests; Watch your interests they become your motives;
Watch your motives they become your words; Watch your words, they become
your actions; Watch your actions, they become your habits; Watch your habits,
they become your character and personality.

A few statements that are drawn from Panchatantra in support

of ‘free-will’ concept are presented hereunder.

42
 - “Unless a man works with his hands and brain, his intentions
are not carried out, and he lives a useless existence like the flabby
breasts of an old virgin widow hanging uselessly on her chest, unfit for
sucking babes. You cannot clap with a single hand or do what have you
planned without action. Even if fate provides a richly loaded plate, the
hands must cooperate and eat. Through work alone, every plan is carried
out. There is no such thing like easy joy. Man must strain and make the
body pain. Fate is only a name for the result, given by God to our
effort. No deer walks into a sleeping lion’s mouth”.
- “Let no one sink into idleness, depending on fate. The oil will
not come out of the sesame, though it is there, till it is pressed out.
Suppose a man does his best and yet his labours prove fruitless, he is
free from blame and fate alone is to blame. This much of effort -I must
put forth; I have the power; I can, so think, then act!”
- “What burden is too heavy for the strong? What is distance to
the resolute? What land is foreign to the learned? Who is an enemy to
them that speak kindly?”
- “What is the use of an elephant whose temples are flowing with
the must-fluid, but who does not do an elephant’s work? On high
ground or low ground, better is one that does his work”.
- “The disaster that follows from the exhibition of bad plans and
the success that follows from the exhibition of good plans, are connected
with the principles of polity, and shine forth in advance, so to speak, so
that the intelligent can point them out”.
- “Whatever the native disposition of a man may be, the wise
man by making use of it can force an entrance and quickly get him into
his power”

43
 - “The ability or competence of an individual to use the things to
their maximum capacity is neutral as: “A horse, scientific knowledge,
speech, an arm, a lute, a man and a woman are either useless or useful
according to differences in the men to whom they belong”.
- “Let resolution guide the great, however desperate his state
and however grim his fate! By firm resolution and calm acceptance of
whatever Fate brings, he finally sees the troubles dissolve. Bravest
bosoms do not falter, fearing even Heaven’s threat. Summer dries up
the small ponds, but the Indus rises higher in summer. Brave mothers
bear sons brave in battle and undepressed in grief, sons who will never
droop low in adversity or crisis like the mean long grasses in a storm.
This is the greatness of the really noble ones that they see an undertaking,
through despite all obstacles and difficulties, unaffected by grief or
dejection. In fortune and in calamity, the great ever remain the same.
The sun is red when it rises, red also when it sets”.
- “It is hard to know the self, and to appraise one’s capacity or
incapacity for a given task. He who has this kind of discernment does
not come to grief even in a difficult situation”.
- “In as much as you show compassion to your dependants and
readiness to share the same with them, by reason of this disposition
you are fit to rule over even the whole universe”.
- “What can be called the native land or a foreign country, for a
man who is steadfast and wise? What so ever land he lingers in, even
that he makes his own by the power of his arm”.
- “Like frogs to a pond, like (water) birds to a full lake, so to the
strenuous man come of themselves both helpers and money”.

44
 - “ A man energetic, prompt to act, skillful in performance, free
form vices, bold, grateful for favours, firm in friendship, - then fortune
herself seeks him out to dwell with him”.
- “If capable of energetic action, a man can acquire wealth in this
world, even though he is foolish. No respect is paid to a man whose
energy fails him, even if he has a mind like Brahaspati’s, the preceptor
of the gods and god of wisdom”.
- “Even without riches a resolute man attains a place of high
honour and distinction, whereas a weakling, though surrounded with
riches, falls to a place of contempt. A dog may put on a golden collar,
but it does not thereby attain the majesty of a lion; for that is born of
native endowment and increases through the acquisition of a mall of
noble qualities”.
- “He who abounds in valour and resolution, has energy and
power as well, and who thinks always of the ocean as no more than a
tiny puddle and the Himalayas as no more than the peak of an anthill,-
to him fortune comes willingly, but not to the faint-hearted”.
- “Meru’s peaks is not too high, nor hell too deep, nor the vast
ocean too boundless, for men who are seconded by firm resolve”.
- “He, who apportions properly his income and outlay, whose
agents are secret and whose counsel is private and who speaks not
unkindly to his ministers- he shall rule the earth to the edge of the ocean’’.
- “The first mark of intelligence to be sure, is not to start things;
the second mark of intelligence is to pursue to the end what you have
started”.
- It is a well-known saying that “If fortune comes to you unsought
and is rejected, she curses you”.

45
 - “Since opportunity comes only once to a man who is looking
for an opportunity, it is hard to find the opportunity again, when he
wishes to do the deed”.
Free-will is neither to love things with all attachment nor
live with total detachment.
Milton says, “Nor love thy life, not hate; but though liv’st
live well, how long or short permit to heaven”.
Long fellow says, “In the world’s broad field o f battle, In
Bovouac of life, Be not like Dumb Driven Cattle, Be a Hero in
the strife”.
“Dejection is the wretchedness of the policies”.
-Bernardshaw

Yogavasishta is the Dialogue Between Rama And His Guru

Vasishta. Yogavasishta, also known as Vasishta Gita or Vasishta
Ramayana, in which Rama, asks certain cryptic questions which are
the questions of every thinking man. To the questions, “What is the
method, what is the science, what is the art of saving this life from
undesirable occurrences”? Vasishta replies.
“Wisdom or true knowledge, which is the ultimate remedy of
all sufferings of life, can be attained only by making efforts for its
attainment. It does not come of itself, nor does any agency like “destiny”
bring it unto ourselves. We have to make ceaseless and earnest efforts
not only to acquire wisdom but also to obtain anything else in life. There
is nothing like a fate or destiny making us miserable or happy in
spite of ourselves. We are the makers of our own destiny by our own
efforts. There is no other way to bring about the end of all misery than

46
one’s own efforts (purushartha). There is hardly anything in existence,
which is not attainable through right and earnest exertion. One gets
only what one has striven for; nothing is ever achieved by sitting idle.
Everyone is his own friend or enemy; if one does not save oneself,
nobody else can save him.
A few more statements from other texts in different
contexts cover the following.
“The Lord gives us liberty to act as we please. There is free-will
given to us. We misuse it and bring about karma, which acts like destiny
dragging us along in the swift current of the fruits of our own selfish
actions”.
And also, “Sow an action and reap a habit; Sow a habit and
reap a character; sow a character and reap a destiny”.
“Make hard work a daily habit, instead of lying idle and waiting
for a chance fruit to fall in your lap. Water the plant of fortune with
drops of sweat. And see it grow and bear fruit”.
“Lady-Luck smiles on those who have the ‘will’ “to strike, to
seek, to find and not to yield!”
“Know what you want for it. - then the earth will yield its treasures
miracles happen and the impossible becomes possible for those who
work ceaselessly and never give up to you”!
Those who depend upon “Fate” for getting their desired objects
and do not exert themselves are their own enemy. They depend upon a
thing, which neither does exist nor does bring about anything. There is
none among the brave, the successful, the learned and the wise, who
ever waits for destiny. They, who always depend on fate, lose all their

47
merit, wealth and enjoyments. The fools who believe that everything is
in the hands of destiny are utterly ruined.
The types of men can be seen in this world cover: one who
shoulders the responsibility for their behavior and another who throws
the blame on others.
In place of the dreary materialistic picture that horrified and
repelled many readers, Freud and other psychologists offered a portrait
of humans that was a more satisfying, more helpful, and far more
complimentary. Their conception of the nature of personality coincided
with the popular idea that individuals can be the masters, and not the
victims, of their fate. Fate is a non-entity. There does not exist anything
like fate. It is absolutely unreal. Fate does not do anything; it exists only
in imagination. Apart from a consolatory contrivance fate has no reality
of its own.
Our fate or destiny, but the inevitable consequences of our own
already accomplished efforts. Expressions, such as, “It shall be so”
and surely predictable, have given rise to the concept of destiny. Ignorant
people have, on the basis of such expressions, come to believe in the
reality of fate as a self-subsisting entity, in the same way as one perceives
a snake in place of a rope, where there is none. The real fact is that
there is no other destiny than our own past efforts, now fructifying in
good or bad results. Our previous actions alone constitute our destiny.
This being the true meaning of fate, it can be overcome by our
present efforts as easily as a child by a grown up man. The efforts
already made in some direction (now our destiny) and the efforts now
being made in a different or opposite direction oppose each other like
two contesting rams; and those which are stronger in force will surely

48
overcome the other. Just as wrong acts of yesterday can be rectified
today, so the present efforts can rectify the previous ones. It is the
stronger of the two – the past and the present efforts – which subdues
the result of the other. In either case, however, it is our own effort that
succeeds. Further it is quite evident that, of the two – the past and the
present – the present effort can be more powerful, and can succeed
against the other, as a youth can vanquish a child. the past has already
been determined by its own past but the present is still modifiable by
the present.
One should, therefore, set to overcome one’s undesirable fate
by taking recourse to greater effort with unflinching and strong
determination. Everyone should exert himself to the extent of completely
eradicating the evil efforts of his previous acts. There is hardly any
doubt that the evils, which are the legacy of the past, can be absolutely
destroyed by efforts in the living present.
Vivekananda says, “Therefore the better explanation is that
one is responsible for the miseries one suffers. If I set wheel in motion,
I am responsible for the result. If I can bring misery, I can also stop it.
It necessarily follows that we are free. There is no such thing as fate.
There is nothing to compel us. what we have done, that we can undo”.
Personality Development
The modern literature on personality development and human
development is woven around the concepts like self-will, power of
subconscious mind, positive thinking, influence of mind, self-control,
etc. There is a plenty of literature advocating many principles, methods
and techniques through which, one can achieve the goals in life according
to his or her own interests. Dale Carnegie, Vincent Peale, Nepolean
Hill, Deepak Chopra and many others who have been attempting to

49
demonstrate that there is a free-will to improve one’s own capacity
and accordingly performance.
Joseph Murphy, in his famous book “The Power of Your
Subconscious Mind” emphasizes, the methods to free oneself from
the negative attitudes that block one’s progress to ‘win riches and
prosperity’ and regain former ‘youthfulness and vigor’. He suggests
certain principles to make people happy, peaceful, confident, rich,
popular and healthy. He advocates prayer to lift people from confusion,
misery, melancholy and failure. He suggests that through scientific prayer
one can tap the realm of infinite power within oneself enabling him/her
to get what one really wants in life by impressing the subconscious
mind. According to him ‘the law of life is law of belief’ and ‘law of
belief’ could be summed up briefly as a thought in one’s mind. Further
he stresses that every thought is a cause, and every condition is an
effect to change your thoughts and your destiny. ‘Think good and good
follows, think evil, and evil follows’. Never say, ‘I will fail; I will loose
my job; I can’t pay the rent’.
One must also remember that all efforts are not productive of a
particular result. There are some which are the most appropriate ones
for the purpose, and others which are not so. It will be a mere waste of
energy and its dissipation in wrong directions, if wrong efforts are made.
One should take resort to the appropriate methods as described in the
Sastras alone”.
How to Conquer Fate through free-will. ?
Illustration-1
Ludwig Van Beethoven is one of the finest examples in history
who had opposed and conquered the fate by his free-will.

50
 Beethoven was born in 1770. His father Johannes Beethoven
was also a musician, but of limited talent. He was violent man given to
alcoholism and bouts of uncontrollable temper. The father also
disapproved of his son’s attempts to create his own music, and showed
his displeasure by forcing him to practice other people’s compositions.
Visitors to the Beethoven home reported having witnessed young Ludwig
being woken up in the middle of the night, to practice. It was also
known that the father often used to physically assault the son. In modern
parlance, Ludwig was, in every sense of the term, a battered child.
At the age of 16, Beethoven’s mother died, and he lost the only
person who seemed to have had genuine affection for him. In his mid-
twenties, when his musical prowess was just beginning to blossom, he
was afflicted with a crippling hearing impairment. By the age of 32, he
knew he was deaf.
Fate appeared to have chosen Beethoven as an example, for he
reduced his threshold limits to the bare minimum or even less. At
physiological, safety and belongingness level, he had been subjected to
the most severe denial of needs satisfaction. History records how
Beethoven dealt with Fate, for this is what happened.
In October 1802, Beethoven retreated to a place near Vienna,
Heiligenstadt, where he was to write a heart-rending document
addressed to his brothers:
“For the last six years, I have been afflicted with an incurable
complaint which has been made worse by incompetent doctors. From
year to year, my hopes of being cured have been gradually shattered
and finally I have been forced to accept the prospect of a permanent
infirmity….obliged to seclude myself and live in solitude…could not
bring myself to say to people : Speak up, shout, for I am deaf. Alas !

51
how could I possibly refer to the impairment of a sense which in me
should be more perfectly developed than in other people, a sense
which at one time I possessed in the greatest perfection…on the point
of putting an end to my life.”

“Yet, Beethoven did not give up. He overcame what was the
lowest point in his life by vowing “to take fate by the throat”, and entered
a phenomenally purple patch of his creative life. In the six years that
followed the Heiligenstadt testament, Beethoven composed some of
his best music – The Violin concerto, and the Third, Fifth and Sixth
symphonies. He was a master craftsman who could not be denied. His
works during this period can only be described as profound, or miao
according to the Chinese classification.
Pitrim Sorokin in his famous book ‘Power and Morality’
writes about the man’s status from animalistic to a creative figure with
super-conscious on the basis of the values- sensate ideational and
idealistic- (s)he pursues.
He is not only an unconscious and conscious creature, but he is
especially a super conscious master-creator capable of controlling and
transcending his unconscious and conscious energies in the moments of
his divine inspiration, in the periods of his highest and interests creativity.
As mentioned, man’s greatest discoveries and creative achievements
have been largely due to man as the super conscious master-creator,
assisted by man as a rational thinker and by man as an empirical observer
and experimenter. If man were only and organism, motivated and guided
only by the libidinal or other forms of the unconscious, he would have
had a little chance to become the highest creative agent in the total
universe as other biological species endowed only with the reflexo-
instinctive unconscious and with the rudiments of the conscious mind.

52
Exactly, the endowment of Homo sapiens with a developed rational
mind and with the super conscious genius is responsible for a truly
astounding and ever-growing creativity of man. As we seem this now-
integral-theory of human personality again appears to be quite congenial
to the religious idea of man as a son of God, created in the image of the
Supreme Creator. This triadic theory of personality is a more precise
formulation of the triadic conceptions of man prevalent in great religions.
These conceptions viewed man as a triadic creature having three forms
being: a) the unconscious (reflexo-instinctive mechanism of body), b)
the conscious (rational mind), and c) the supra-conscious creator
(‘Nous,’ ‘Pneuma,’ ‘Sprit.’ “Soul,’ ‘Divine self’). In the rational and
the super - conscious properties of man lied the answer to the ancient
question: ‘What is man, that thou should magnify him?’ Similarly, all the
Avataras are self-willed to destroy the evil and uphold Dharma.
Ras Kocha said :
“Both action and reaction always
Follow each other like night and day;
Karma too operated the same way,
Holding all creation, in its sway”.
But human beings possess free-will,
By which they can their Karma make still;
They have to perform actions with skill,
Without worrying how they fulfill.
God created man in his image,
And gave him too this hopeful message;
Now your destiny you can manage,
I’ve given you wisdom of the sage.

53
 If for all trouble one blames his fate,
He will not do anything that’s great;
It but shows his indolence innate,
His tendency to procrastinate. -Karma and Rebirth
Ask what is Man; ask what is God?
These are questions to answer hard;

Man and God

Man and God are shine and shade
First God made Man, then Man made God!
Philosophy says that the world is self-evolved by God
Science says the world is caused by evolution in which God has no
role;

But both created doubts, riddles, dilemmas and paradoxes

This left many unsolved problems,
Then they look to God resolve them.
This gives no man from doubt relief:
Which to choose reason or belief?
Perhaps in his subconscious mind
The answer he will someday find.
Violence, poverty and in-fighting;
With all the suffering that they bring;
These men have to face with resolve;
These are problems no God can solve.
All his problems are but man-made
These may one day this earth degrades.

54
 He needs no prayer other than
Almighty God, save man from man.
Heavenly bodies move on their course
Guided by gravitational force;
They have no concern for human fate
Being lifeless and inanimate. (Astrology)

The Buddha also agrees with this view, for he says:

“By ourselves is evil done,
By ourselves we pain endure,
By ourselves become we pure,
No one saves us but ourselves,
No one can, and no one may,
We ourselves tread the path,
Buddhas only show the way”.
There are some teachers, who say that, fate or destiny
alone determines everything in this world and the worlds beyond,
and say that good and bad deeds are alike and make no difference,
and ask us to eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die,” said
Bhaddiya. What do you say about them?”
“These are liars. They propagate deceit, and fools believe
the fictions they repeat”, said the Buddha. “These teachers are
like the blind leading the blind. The whole lot of them have not a
single eye between them. Of these teachers we can truly say:
They blindly grope their way along a road
By some huge inundation overflowed!

55
 For that which will not go into their head
A pompous word, Fate, they substitute instead!”
The ancient explanation to the great drama of life of individuals
and the nature of existence is knitted around the view of how weak and
small, the life of an individual, though he is invincible and unconquerable
from different dimensions. The mythologies of every religion have laid
more and more thrust on a simple aspect that God is more powerful
vis-à-vis his counterpart Demon or Devil. However, God finally destroys
the Demon by using the inherent weakness of the Demon. The moment
that the demon fails to use his free-will, it is subjected to the fate, which
is the free-will of God. That is, the fate of Demon is in the hand of God
which is more powerful due to its higher free-will. In physics also, this
difference can be found in terms of strong and weak forces. Strong
forces control the weak forces.
Fate and Free-will are two forces. If one adopts a force the
other adopts its apposite. Further, when the fate is ripen free-will starts
operating and vice versa. If demons’ evil ripens it becomes weak and
the power of free-will of God predominates. If God’s free-will ripens
the demon’s is weakened. This is the centre theme of all the Avatars in
Puranic literature and also the essence of Gita.
“Yada yada hi dharmasya glanir bhavati bharata
abhyutthanam adharmasyatada tmanam srjamy aham.”
(Whenever there is decay of dharma and rise of adharma, then I
embody Myself, O Bharata.)
All the stories of Avataras including the Hiranyakasapu, a Demon
king, who was destroyed by God through his free-will by employing
the inherent weakness of Hiranyakasapu’s free-will.

56
 Story-1
NARASIMHA AVATARA
The demon Hiranyakasapu became very angry by hearing the
death of his brother Hiranyaksha and vowed to destroy Vishnu, and
undertook a terrible penance for hundreds of years. Brahma appeared
and said: “Ask what you want.” Hiranyakasapu replied ,” The boon of
immortality that no God, man or animal then existing could kill me
during the day or night, on the land or in the air, inside the house or
outside the house, or with a weapon .” Brahma nodded with his four
heads in agreement. Being confident about his safety, he compelled
everyone to worship and obey him alone and no other God. All those
who refused to do so were mercilessly beheaded. So, he had a good
time and the rest of the world had its bad time. But God wrought
Hiranyakasapa’s fall through his own son, Prahlada. Prahlada refused
to obey the injunctions of Sukracharya (Rakshasa Guru) and began
repeating “Harithi Om”,”Om Narayana”. This made Hiranyakasapa
intoxicated with fury and ordered to behead the boy. The boy told his
father, “You are afraid of Death, but I do not. Not a blade of grass can
move without His will” and bent down his head. The sharp sword that
had descended on his neck could do least harm. Hiranyakasapa tried
to kill Prahlada in many ways and methods .But, he failed miserably in
all angles. Finally Hiranyakasapa asked Prahlada, “Who is this Hari,
my boy?” Prahlada replied, “He is the Lord of all created beings, whose
shelter is immortality and whose shadow is Death”. The vexatious father
finally roared, “Stop all this nonsense”. Again he asked Prahlada in
rage, “Where is this wretched Hari of yours”? “He is here, there and
everywhere, father. There is not even an iota of Space where He is
not. He is Omnipresent and Omnipotent and Omniscient”, said

57
Prahlada. “Is he in this pillar”, asked Hiranyakasapa. “Yes, father”,
said Prahlada. In towering rage he kicked the pillar with roaring sound.
But lo! from the broken pillar God came as Sri Narasimha, Man-Lion,
not man, not God, or animal and seizing the terrified Hiranyakasapa,
tore his rectum and pulled out his entrails with claws. Thus, he was
killed by converting the boon into a bane by killing not by God, man
or animal then existing, not during the day or night but at twilight, not
on the land or in the air but on the thighs, not inside the house or
outside the house but at door step of the house and not by weapon
but with claws.
(End of story)
Another relevant Indian Folk Tale that emphasizes how the free-will
can deal with life and death in specific situations is presented here.
Story - 2
IT IS IN YOUR HANDS
In a small village, there was an old man who seemed to know
the answer to every question. A group of young men set out to confuse
him. One of the youths hid a bird behind his back and asked the old
man whether the bird was alive or dead. If he said it was alive, the
youth would kill it; if he said it was dead, the youth would let if fly. So
they came to the old man and asked: “What does he have in his hands?”
“A bird”, the old man answered. “Is it alive or dead?” And the old man
answered:
“It is in your hands;
It is in your hands; and
It is in your hands.”

58
 Normally, the successful persons claim that their success is the
result of their sheer effort. On the other hand people who are
unsuccessful pass the buck to fate. The attribution some times, may be
to wrong things. The Aesop story “The Farmer and Fortune” provides
some insights in this aspect.
(End of story)
Story – 3
THE FARMER AND FORTUNE
A farmer was ploughing his own land. His plough uncovered a
treasure, which had been hidden there. He seized upon it with joy and
fervently began to thank the land for being so generous to him. Fortune
passing by, observed the behaviour of the farmer and could not bear
showing her displeasure at him, “You stupid creature,” said Fortune, to
lie thus thanking the land, and take no notice of me! If you had lost such
a treasure, instead of finding one, you would have laid the blame upon
me first.”
(End of story)
Many of the problems that cause a lot of damage to the people
are self-made. The wrong decisions create many maladies without
reasonable remedies on the basis of faulty information. In all such cases
people attribute their sufferance to the fate, destiny, God or other animate
and inanimate forces and agencies. This aspect is well illustrated in
three stories of Panchatantra.
The ‘Asadhabuthi’ ‘Jackal by the Rams’fight’ and ‘The
Procuress by the Weaver’. All these three afflictions were self-made.
Karataka said: ‘How was that?’ said he:

59
 Story-4
Monk and Swindler
In a certain region there was a monk named Devasarman. In
the course of time he had gained a large fortune through the acquisition
of fine garments of excellence, which various pious people had
presented to him. and he trusted no one. Now once upon a time a thief
named Asadhabhuti observed this wealth, which he carried in his waist-
pocket, and meditated: “How can I steal this wealth from him?”
And he presented himself to the monk as a pupil, and in time
won his confidence. Then the monk decided to make a pilgrimage to a
holy place with Asadhabhuti. And in the course of the journey in certain
wooded region he left Asadhabhuti with the wealth near the bank of a
river and went aside to get water.
Story-5
RAMS and JACKAL
And there by the edge of the water he saw a great fight of rams.
And as they fought with all their strength and without rest, a great quality
of blood flowed from between their branching horns and fell upon the
ground. A certain foolish jackal saw this, and his mind was aroused by
the hope of eating it. In his eagerness for meat he ran up between the
two rams. Rams as they separated leaving some distance between the
two, the Jackal was killed by the shock of their impact. Then the monk
was filled with amazement.
And having purified himself he returned to that place. But as for
Asadhabhuti, he had taken the whole pile of money and ran away.
Thus, Devasarman could not find him. But all he saw was a discarded
triple staff, a water-vessel, a sieve and a tooth-brush. And he reflected:

60
‘where is that Asadhabhuti? He must have robbed me.’ And in great
distress he said:
And I by Asadhabhuti’(…..)
Story-6
Cuckold weaver and Bawd
Then that monk, having nothing left but has half-skull (used as
drinking-vessel) and the (empty) knot in his robe ( in which he carried
the money), went off searching for the rogue’s tracks, and as the sun
was setting entered a village. As he entered he met a weaver who
lived in the edge of the village and asked of him lodging for the night.
And he showed him a quarter, a part of his house, and said to his wife:
‘While I am gone to town and am drinking liquor with my friends, until
I return, do you carefully take care of the house.’
After thus instructing her he departed. As his wife was unchaste
when a procuress came and pressed her to go, she started out to go to
her lover. Just then her husband came home and met her, his garments
awry, with staggering gait, and so badly under the influence of liquor
that he could not speak his words plainly. And when she saw him with
presence of mind she deftly took off her adornments and put on her
ordinary grab as before, and began to wash the feet of the guest, prepare
his bed, and the like. But the weaver entered the house and began to
scold her: “Harlot! My friends have been telling me of your evil actions.
All right! I will pay you back richly!” So saying he beat her with blows
of a stick until she was black and blue, and tied her with a rope to the
post in the middle of the house, and then went to sleep. At this time the
procuress, a barber’s wife perceived that the weaver was asleep, came
in again and said: ‘That fellow is consumed with the fire of longing for

61
you, so that he is like to die. So I will release you and bind myself in
your place; do you go there and console him and come back quickly.’
So the barber’s wife released her from the bonds and sent her off to
her lover.
After this the weaver awoke, sobered, and began to scold her in
the same way as before. But the procuress was frightened and did not
dare speak with her strange voice (lest she be recognized). And when
she gave him no answer at last he cried out angrily: ‘Are you so proud
that you will not answer what I say? And he rouses and cut off her nose
with a sharp knife, and said: ‘Have that for your decoration! Who will
be interested in you now?’ So saying, he went to sleep again. Then the
weaver’s wife returned and asked the procuress: ‘what news with you?
What did he say when he woke up? Tell me, tell me!’ But the procuress,
who had received the punishment, showed her nose. ‘You can see
what the news is! Let me loose and I will go.’ she departed taking her
nose with her. The weaver’s wife however arranged herself as she had
been before, with a semblance of bonds.
The weaver awoke again and began to scold her in the same
way as before. Then she said to him angrily and reproachfully: ‘You,
wicked man! Who could dare to disfigure me, a pure and faithful wife?
Hear me, Gods! As purely as I know even in my thoughts no strange
man, no one other than the husband of my youth by this truth let my
face be undisfigured! Having spoken thus she said to her husband again:
‘O most wicked man! Behold my face! It has become just as it was
before! Then that stupid man’s mind was bewildered by her tricky
words. He lighted a torch, and beheld his wife with her face
undisfigured. His eyes bulged; his heart was filled with joy, and kissing
her he released her from her bonds, and fell at her feet, and embraced

62
her passionately and carried her to the bed. But the monk remained
on the spot, having seen the whole occurrence from the very beginning.
And that procuress with her nose in her hands went home, thinking:
‘What can I do now? How can I conceal this great blemish? Now her
husband, the barber, came back home at dawn from another place
and said to his wife: ‘Bring me my razor-case, my dear.’ Then she
threw the razor from inside. And because she did not hand him the
razor, barber’s heart was filled with wrath, and he threw that same
razor back at her. Then she raised a loud cry of anguish, and rubbed
her nostrils with her hand, and threw her nose dripping with blood on
the ground, and said: ‘Help! Help! This wicked man has mutilated me;
through he had found no fault in me!’ Then the police men came, and
saw that she was obviously mutilated and beat the barber with their
sticks, bound him firmly and took him along with her to the seat of
judgement. And the judge asked him: ‘why did you ill-treat your wife
so cruelly’? And when, in spite of repeated questioning, he made no
reply; then the judge ordered for execution. Now as he was being
taken to the place of execution, the monk, who had observed the whole
course of events, saw him, and went to the court and said to the judges:
‘This barber is innocent of wrong-doing; do not have him impaled.
These three strange things: The jackal by the rams ‘fight, and I by
Asadhabhuti, and the procuress by the weaver: these three afflictions
were self-caused’.
And when the judges had learned the true facts of the case, they
spared the barber.
(End of story)

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 Often people blame fate. They replace free-will with the ill-will
methodolgy in selecting the purpose and process in their endeavours.An
illustration from Sri Rama Krishna magnifies this idea very well.
Story - 7
A MAN AND WELL
A man was digging a well. When he has dug a depth of 20-feet,
another man comes and says, “Why futile exercise? You are not going
to get water here even after you dig 100-feet”. Accordingly, the digger
began his work at another place shown by him. Even after 30-feet not
even a drop of water was found. In the meantime, another person came
and repeated the same version and showed another place. Again digger
started doing his job at the new spot. Even there, no water was found
at the depth of 40-feet. Driven by despair, digger started cursing again
and again his own fate without realizing that he made a fruitless effort
on the advices of others and as a result he failed in his endeavour. Had
he dug at one point 90-feet or even less tha that , at any one point, his
toil might have borne fruits.
(End of story)
TRANSITION OF FATE AND FREE-WILL
Fate and free-will play their roles according to their freedom in
the play ground of nature. Human beings in their embodied souls pass
through childhood, youth and old age. Shakespeare compares the
world as stage and all men and women merely players with their exits
and entrances. He says, “And one man in his time plays many parts,
and his acts being seven ages. At first the infant, the school boy, the
lover, the soldier, the justice, the slippered pantaloons and the last
childishness - sans teeth, sans eyes, sans everything.

64
 Free-will facilitates every individual to achieve the desired result,
in proportion to the volume, valence and vector of free-will. So, it is the
relative strength of free-will to the effort put in. The balance among
them yields good results and the imbalance bad ones. The fundamental
problem with free-will is that it moves on in a geometrical proportion as
against the achievements in arithmetical progression. That is, a little
achievement due to the exercise of free-will will assume the Demons
of greed, ego, pride passion, thirst for goals, cleave to shadows, dote
on dreams, false-self, envy, anger, hatredness and so on
disproportionately making hard mould and control to the size of success.
As a result, the fate becomes powerful making free-will weak. This
results in the failure of the efforts and endeavours of the people. This
teaches a lesson that it is not the resources alone that bring the success
by minimizing the limitations and weaknesses of individuals. This is
known as ‘self-effort’ ‘purusha praythna’, connotes that a right and
earnest exertion and ceaseless and earnest effort with Wisdom or true
knowledge alone yield the desired objects. This attitude is known as a
mix of ‘Satwic’ and ‘Rajasic.
Nevertheless, the fate becomes powerful and controls in the
sense that the power of free-wiil passes into the hands of fate due to
overconfidence, lethargy, vices like drinking, gambling, profligacy and
so on. According to Gita, this known as ‘thamasic attitude’This is the
mechanism of ever power physical or mental. When one aspect
becomes powerless other becomes more powerful not because of its
originality but duet to the weakness of its opposite. That is, the power
is distributed according their relative strengths and weaknesses. This
theory is applicable to the power of both the mind and the matter.

65
THE UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE
OF GOD CONTAINS THE WORDS
LIKE LUCK, FORTUNE, KARMA,
FATE AND DESTINY.

THE WORLDLY LANGUAGE

OF HUMAN BEINGS CONTAINS
THE WORDS LIKE CHOICE, FREE -
DOM, DECISION AND FREE-WILL.

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Chapter-4
SYNTHESIS
Synthesis is meant for understanding the fact of life and to avoid
the confusion caused by fiction and fantasy. The life is a great compromise
to change the masks (behavioural patterns) to suit the circumstances to
gain more and more in mundane life. The life is made by the interaction
of opposites. Thus, the feeling of mere ‘fate’ or mere ‘will’ is choosing
an extreme which is always problematic. To overcome this problem,
best method is choosing the ‘middle path’- accepting both the fate and
effort and mixing them appropriately.
The mystical expressions like “Nothing is big or small, noble or
ignoble, pure or impure, superior or inferior’; ‘within or without are not
two things but one’; farther you go nearer you come’; ‘if you want to
stretch yourself you have to bend first’; and ‘the seeds of death are in
life’ would convince us to think that fate is within freewill and freewill in
fate.
Towards this in end, a few passages drawn from great works are
as follows.
In Panchatantra, “Why exalt in the thought that you have wealth,
or why be cast down at the loss thereof? The ups and downs of men
are like a bouncing ball that is struck with the hand”.
- “The body embodies disaster; fortune plays the tune of
misfortunes; associations have their dissociations, everything that is born
dies”.
- “Be a man irresolute, slothful, relying of fate, and without manly
courage - then fortune is unwilling to embrace him, as a charming woman
her aged spouse”.

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 - “The varying conditions of life, brought about by the continuous
train of men’s deeds, and successively good or bad at different times,
appear, to be sure, in this (single) life, yet they seem to me as shifting as
different reincarnations”.
- “Or who that lives in this world is unceasingly happy? Fortune
and misfortune come in natural revolution, like the circle of the
constellations revolving in the sky”.
- “A wise man who desires success, even though, he be full of
courage and prowess, should put aside his dignity and stand carefully
watching his step in the situations ordained by fate”.

-“If he acts like the reed, that bends before the storm, he is not
deprived of his possessions; if he acts like the moth, that flies into the
flame, complete destruction awaits him”.
“Fear not! Life still
Leaves human effort scope
But, since life teems with ill
Nurse no extravagant hope.” -Mathew Arnold

“We are here told that we are not to waste our time to find
out the meaning of life but give life a meaning by doing the deed
demanded of us and by such action to solve the riddle of life “
-Hauer.
Nivedita has also expressed the uniqueness of the Vedanta of
Vivekananda in a few lines of unparalleled clarity and depth. “It is this
which adds its crowning significance to our master’s life, for here he
becomes the meeting-point, not only of East and West, but also of past
and future. If the many and the one he indeed the same reality, then it is

68
not all modes of worship alone, but equally all modes of work, all modes
of struggle, all modes of creation which are paths of realization. No
distinction, henceforth, between sacred and secular. To labour is to
pray. To conquer is to renounce. Life is itself religion.”
“Do not have both your feet firmly planted on the earth, and
become earth-earthy, and too worldly to get to heaven: nor have both
your feet off the earth and become unfit for living on earth. Balance
your-self between this world and the next, just as the staff of life is seen
half above the water, the other half being hidden below it”.
Like fate and free-will, God and Man can be seen in ONE.
Alexander the Great asked a Kashmiri Brahman gymnosophist, in
the 4th century B.C “How can we know a man to be God?” and the
Brahman replied “When he does what no man can ever do”.
In the Bible it is said: “With men this is impossible; but with
God all things are possible”,. This amplifies that God and godly men
can act with free-will and need not be bound by fate.
Truly, in such a case “He that saveth his life shall lose it, and
he that loseth his life for My sake the same shall save it”.
Sankara says: “Therefore wise men should endeavour by
using all efforts to free themselves from the bondage of conditioned
existence just as all efforts are made for the cure of diseases”. (S.
68.)
From the life of Buddha, it appears that it is evident that there is
a freedom zone between the extremes of destiny and self-effort.
Suddhodana, father of Sidhartha, had his sons’ horoscope cast by
eminent astrologers. They confirmed what the soothsayers have already
said, namely, that the boy would become either the Emperor of the
world or a prince among ascetics.
69
 Asutosha Nanda said “Man has the free-will either control
the sense and be their master or succumb to their pulls.”
“The ignorant man works from attachment and the enlightened
works for Lokasangraha. Without attachment, one may maintain and
guide the world “ (III 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25-Gita ).
A few excerpts from ‘The Alchemist’ by Paulo Coelho are of
great worth in this context. He writes:
“It’s a book that says the same thing almost all the other books in
the world say,”...”It describes people’s inability to choose their
own destinies. And it ends up saying that everyone believes the
world’s greatest lie.”...”at a certain point in our lives, we lose
control of what’s happening to us, and our lives become controlled
by fate. That’s the world’s greatest lie.”

70
 YOU ARE YOUR FATE
AND
YOU ARE YOUR FREE-WILL
THAT
YOUR FALL LIKE A WATER DROP
ON HOT IRON EVAPORATES;
A FALL ON LOTUS
GLEAMS PEARL-LIKE ;
A WAY INTO A SHELL
BECOMES A PEARL.

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Chapter-5
TRANSCENDENCE
The fate of a man begins with birth and ends with death.
However, the free-will of a man lies in shaping his life in between the
birth and the death through selection, organisation and control of different
variables.
When the mathematics of permutations and combinations of
extremes of fate and free-will and their synthesis to achieve the desired
goals of human beings fail, then the human being strives to keep oneself
in the hands of God. In this process, there is a possibility of attaining
the status of God-hood. This is of course, made possible through certain
austerities like surrender and sacrifice. Every super soul has invariably
mentioned about this and explained the process.
In the state of transcendence, though there is an action and so
fruits; nothing is yours. And the difference between being and becoming
is lost; doer and done disappear. You are doing under the command of
Lord and it is a sacrifice done by you. Then, you are your real. Then,
there is no fear of fate, will or effort, or the combination of all these.
Surrender to God by adopting Him as the means to liberation
has been prescribed in the scriptures as an easy and alternative path to
the other methods for realizing Him. Every spiritual path has certain
prerequisites to be fulfilled by the aspirant and he has to make a constant
effort to progress. On the other hand, surrender to God (Prapatti,
Saranagati) transfers the entire burden of the seeker’s spiritual progress
in the Almighty and hence absolves him of his efforts and from his sins.
The following are the some of the preachings to have some insights
on this philosophical issue.
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 In Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism, there is no such thing like
vicarious sacrifice or suffering. God by his grace, can save without
asking for equal suffering from others. Usually, man’s ascending merit
is met by God’s descending grace.
Christ has said, “I am the Way, the Truth, the Life”, and has
thereby made the task of his devotees difficult, in all conscience,for
“Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth into life, and
few there be that find it,” with the result that “many are called, but few
are chosen”.
Krishna has made the test more rigorous and the way still narrow.
He has not only said, “I am the way (Gita IV.11 and IX.18), “I am the
Truth”(X.14) and “I am the Life”(VII.9), but has gone on to say, “I am
seated in the heart of all”(XV.15) and “I am the witness of all their
actions”(IX.18), and has commanded:- “Worship and adore Me, doing
unselfish acts of service to suffering humanity, as My Instrument, as a
Sacrifice to Me”. (XVII.65 and XI.33). No wonder, He has said that
only one in a thousand million men know Him in essence, that is to say,
Knows his way, His Truth and His Life.
“Manmana bhava mad-bhakto
mad-yaji mam namaskuru
mam evaisyasi satyam te
pratijane pryo’ si me”
(Fix your mind on me, be devoted to me, sacrifice to me, prostrate
yourself before me, so shall you come to me. I promise you truly, for
you are dear to me.) Gita, C. XVIII. 65
“Sarva - dharman paritrajya
Mam ekam saranam vraja

73
 Aham tvam sarva-papebhyo
Moksayisyami ma sucah”
(Surrendering all duties, come to me alone for shelter do not
grieve, for I will relieve you of all sins.) C. XVIII. 66. It is the greatest
message of the Gita to mankind. This invitation is to lose everything in
order to gain everything.
In the Gita IV. 25 to 30: “Sacrifice to me. Do work for
lokasangraha for me, do dravyayajna (sacrifice of wealth) or tapoyajna
(sacrifice of austerity) or yogayajna (sacrifice of yoga); or svadhayaya
jnanayajna (sacrifice of reading and wisdom), pranayajna (sacrifice on
one’s own life for others) or some other yajna prescribed in”
Tagore has said beautifully: “Fix your mind on me. Away from
the sight of thy face my heart knows no respite and my work becomes
endless in a shoreless sea of toil”.
“Be devoted to me; devotion makes of harmony”. Tagore says:
“All that is harsh and dissonant in my life melts into one sweet harmony
- and my adoration spreads wings like a glad bird on its flight across
the sea. O Fool, to try to carry thyself upon thy own shoulders! O
beggar, to come to beg at thy own door! Leave all thy burdens on his
hands who can bear all, and never look behind in regret.”
As Tagore has said: “ Leave this chanting , singing and telling of
beads! Whom dost thou worship in this lonely dark corner of a temple
with doors all shut? Open thine eyes and see thy god is not before thee!
He is there where the tiller is tilling the hard ground and where the path-
maker is breaking stones. He is with them in sun and shower, and his
garment is covered with dust. Put off thy holy mantle and even like him
come down on the dusty soil !”

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 “Prostrate yourself before me: fall down before him, and sing a
song in his praise and shed your tears to wash out your sins. I touch by
the edge of the far-spreading wing of my song thy feet which I could
never aspire to reach. Drunk with the joy of singing I forget myself and
call thee friend who art my lord. Life of my life I shall ever try to keep
my body pure, knowing that thy living touch is on all my limbs. I shall
ever try to keep all untruths out from my thoughts, knowing that thou
art that truth which has kindled the light of reason in my mind. I shall
ever try to drive all evils away from my heart and keep my love in
flower, knowing that thou hast thy seat in the inmost shrine of my heart.
And it shall be my endeavour to reveal thee in my actions, knowing it is
thy power gives me strength to act. It was only the other day that I
came to your earth, naked and nameless, with a wailing cry. Today my
voice is glad while you, my lord, stand aside to make room that I may
fill my life. My bonds are cut, my debts are paid, my door has been
opened, and I am ready to come to thee.”
Adi Sankara cries out, in Sivanandalahari, “O lord, born with a
dull intellect and absence of insight, I am whirling about in this world of
births and deaths. You should, in your infinite mercy, save me. Is there
any creature more suffering than myself? Is there any one more skilled
than you in saving the suffering? Who else in all the world but you can
save me? You are the master and also the friend of the suffering. What
else is required to establish a relationship between us? O blessed Lord,
forgive all my sins, and bring about my salvation by your grace. I take
refuge in you. You are my only refuge”.
Sri Ramakrishna says beautifully:
“ The essence of the Gita is : ‘O man renounce everything and
practise spiritual discipline for the realization of god’… Yes, the way to

75
realize god is through discrimination, renunciation and yearning for him.”
A famous Sanskrit verse says:
“ Anyatha saranam nasti,
tvameka saranam mama:
tasmat karunyabhavena
raksha raksha Mahesvara!” (or Janardhana)
(Other refuge have I none, you, you are my sole refuge: So, by
your grace and mercy Save, O save me, lord of Lords!)
Ananyas cintaynto mam
Ye janah paryupasete
Tesam nityabhiyoktanam
Yogaksemam vahamy aham
(But those who worship me with devotion, meditating on my
transcendental form - to them, I carry what they lack and preserve
what they have) - Gita : C. 9.22
Sri Ramanuja heard a voice say: “ I am the supreme reality, and
I am distinct form my creation. Self- surrender is the unfailing requisite
for salvation. Individual effort will not do.”
The Koran says: “ All those who surrender to Allah and so his
will, they shall not grieve. His hand will be laid upon their heads and
their sins purged like dross being taken away by fire.”
The worldly bonds and duties, the conventional relationships of
parent and child, husband and wife, brother and sister, etc., have all to
be discarded as having no meaning on this higher plane. So, Sankara
asks: - “who is your wife, who is your son? This life is most
astonishing. Who are you, to whom do you belong, whence did you
come, whether are you going, think of these things calmly, brother.”

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 The following episode from the life of Christ also shows the same
truth. “ Then one said unto him: Behold thy mother and thy brethren
stand without, desiring to speak to thee. But he answered, ‘ who is my
mother? Who are my brothers? For whosoever shall do the will of my
father who is in heaven, the same is my brother and sister and mother.”
Jesus too insisted on such surrender of worldly duties by people
who wanted to follow him.
“And as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, I shall
follow thee whither soever thou goest and Jesus said unto him, the
foxes have holes, and the birds of the heaven have nests; but the son of
man hath nowhere to lay his head.” And he said unto another, ‘ Follow
me.’ But he said, ‘Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.’ But
he said unto him, “ leave the dead to bury their own dead; but go thou
and publish abroad the kingdom of god.’And another also said, “ I will
follow thee, lord; but first suffer me to bid farewell to them that are at
my house.’ But Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the
plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”
When we compare the Fate-Freewill continuum with inanimate-
animate continuum there is a possibility to understand the higher level
of consciousness vis-à-vis the lower form of life, the former has the
power of free-will as against the lower level life form ridden with fate.
This idea is expressed in several forms in great texts. A few of them are
presented in the following paragraphs.
Mother Earth, in the form of a cow went and with tears rolling
down her cheeks, implored Brahma, the creator, to put an end to
Kamsa’s oppressions. Brahma went with her to the lord Narayana,
who was having his cosmic Yoganidra on the sea of Milk, the Milky
way, and said to Him:- “Lord , you have promised to the world from

77
age to age to save the virtuous, to destroy the wicked, and to uphold
dharma. Pray do so now. Kamsa’s atrocities cannot be stopped by
mere men. He is another Ravana in might and requires an avatar to
tackle him”. Narayana plucked a white hair and a black hair from his
head, and said, “These will go out into the world, the white hair as
Balarama, the fair, and the black hair as Krishna and shall descend into
the womb of Devaki, the cousin of Kamsa, and shall save the virtuous,
destroy the wicked, and establish dharma on a firm basis for ages by
delivering the Bhagavad Gita to the world.”
Sankaracharya :”Salutation to thee, O Lord, full of
compassion, O friend of those who bend before thee. I have fallen
into the ocean of birth and rebirth. Rescue me by thy never failing
glance which rains the ambrosia of sincerity and mercy. (S.37.)
“Protect him from death who is heated by the roaring wild fire of
changing life so difficult to extinguish, him who is oppressed and
buffeted by the blasts of misfortune, since no other refuge do I
know”.(S.38.)
“ O Lord, sprinkle me, heated as I am by the forest fire of
birth and re-birth, gratify the ear with ambrosial words as they
flow from the vessel of thy voice mingled with the essence of thy
experience, of the pleasure afforded by brahmajnana, sacred and
cooling. Happy are they who come into thy sight, even for a
moment, for (they become) fit recipients and are accepted (as
pupils)”. (S.41.)
“ How shall I cross this ocean of birth and re-birth? What is
my destiny, what means exist, O Lord, I know not. O Lord, kindly
protect me lighten the sorrows arising from birth and re-
birth.”(S.42.)

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Tulasidas writes:
“My honour, O God, is in Thy keeping:
Thou art ever my refuge,
For Thou art Protector of the weak.
It is Thy promise to listen to the wails of sinners.
I am a sinner of old, help me
Thou to cross this ocean of darkness.
It is Thine to remove the sin.
And the misery of Mankind.
Be gracious to Tulasidas
And make him thy devotee!”
“The concept of fear has been easy only to those who have
surrendered themselves to the Supreme Will”. – K.M.Munshi.
Sri Tridandi Srimannarayana Ramanuja Jeeyar Swami,
in a discourse, mentioned the difference between God and a human
being. The latter is bound by the Law of Action and Reaction and has
to make his sojourn here, according to his acts, ‘past and present.’
Why he has come to be subjected to these fetters has been explained
by the example of two birds perched on the same tree, one in bondage
and the other free; one with joy eats the golden fruit and the other is
merely sitting and gazing silently. Likewise sunk in the sea of ignorance
man grieves, being tied by the consequences of his pure deeds but
when he sees the Lord of glorious divine form, freed from all sorrow,
self-annulled as he is, he shakes off the evil tendencies within. To get
himself released from worldly coils, a human being, aspiring to reach
God’s domain, should member the triple chief qualities of the Lord. He
is changeless unlike man, whose body perishes while his soul is
permanent. The Law of Action and Reaction neither affect God, nor is
He controlled by anyone. He has limitless powers.

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 THE METAPHYSICS OF FATE AND FREE-WILL
The analysis of fate and free will by linking with Prarabhda, Samchita
and Agami and applying the knowledge of Metaphysics with the phases
of past, present and future provides many insights in understanding the
role of human beings in terms of cause, effect and beyond.
The application of Metaphysics and Matrix by adding, multiplying,
crossing and decomposing different elements of ‘change’ between
matter and energy in various permutations and combinations to the
fate and free will in terms of prarabhda, samchita and agami, in the
context of a time frame of past, present and future, help realise the
truth of human experience and existence.
Metaphysics is the ‘change’ after, beyond, higher or transcendence
between matter and energy in the universe. The change being eternal,
even the tested knowledge of science-experimentally proved
formulations- with new additions of discoveries and inventions provides
scope for further reality like Matter and anti-matter, gravity and anti-
gravity, attraction and repulsion of magnetic forces. Such revelations
confirm that human brain can unravel many secrets, if its use is improved
from the present 8 to 12 per cent to 20, 30, and so on in future.
Time is a division into past, present and future in all contexts is
illusory. In fact time is illimitable and indivisible (Akhanda in Sanskrit).
Even a moment (a fraction of a second) or infinity can’t be divided into
past, present and future as every moment in the form of present
continuously, constantly and consistently flows into past.
Seemingly, the present recedes into the past and the future recedes
into present like a river flowing constantly. The only difference is,
apparently the river flows forward and the time backward. In fact the
past, present, and future of time is in ONE and not many and it has no
forward or backward movements as viewed by this world.

80
 Astrology is a a humanistic science that discusses the path of the
Karma involved with the evolution of the soul. So, metaphysics of
Astrology is a discussion which is beyond reality or a further reality or
a future reality. It is a search from the truth (reality) to further truth
(reality).

Life is an experience, a linkage process between the experiencer

and the experienced. Every moment is an experience. In this process,
the present is an experience of awareness. Past is an experience of
memory. Future is an experience of imagination. Further, today is an
outcome of yesterday, tomorrow is the consequence of today. The
time and space are eternal and infinite. The division of Prarabhda,
Samchita and Agami is also notional rather than a reality. For every
result caused by the actions and effects at different points of life,
people attribute to Prarbhda only. But, they forget that the effects are
the results of their decisions and actions belong to Samchita (a decision
in the present life) and not Prarabhda- a decision in the previous life.
The decisions of today results into tomorrow in the form of
actions. In other words, the present is shaped by the past and the future
by the present. Of course, the quality of results -favourable or
unfavourable- depend on the purposes and perceptual tendenceies of
people.
Thus, every decision at every moment in one’s own life is a
turning point that leads to all the consequences throughout of his life.
These turning points and their consequences are inscrutable. For
example, a decision taken by an individual at a point of life, say 5th,
15th, 25th, 40th, 60th, and so on will have its impact till the end of life.
In both fate and free-will there is a repetition as everything has
to complete its own cycle in order to reach its origin. For instance, a

81
wrong decision at early age of life, that has caused a great damage,
may finally at the latter age of 60, may compensate earlier loss in some
other form. Besides, your prarabhda and free-will need not be purely
of your’s but they may be the legacies of the parents also. So, these
intricacies of life are not understandable by an ordinary mind except by
a meditative mind.

FATE AND FREE- WILL AND RAJAYOGA

Raja yoga is the process and means to expiate past sins of

the soul and liberate it from all bondages so as to establish a
single-minded, passionate and purposeful mental freedom to
achieve the Sankalpa for the attainment of the lasting peace and
bliss. It is a purposeful mental remembrance of God to wash
the sins of Prarabhda. It is a faith and rational understanding
through thought energy to exercise one’s own free will for
transforming, purifying and spiritualizing the life. It is an
exercise of free will to attain the state of soul-consciousness
from body-consciousness for an elevation of soul to undertake
noble deeds with no renunciation of Karma. For a Rajayogi
‘now’ is never and ever.

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IN DARKNESS, LIGHT PERSISTS;

IN DEATH, LIFE PERSISTS;

IN UNTRUTH, TRUTH PERSISTS;

IN HATREDNESS,

LOVE PERSISTS;

IN UGLINESS, BEAUTY PERSISTS;

IN FATE, FREE WILL PERSISTS.

83
 PART-II
PSYCHO-SOMATIC
AND
ASTRO- NUMERICAL
Paradigm to Tune Future

84
COMMON THINGS & UNCOMMON
THINGS OCCUR ALIKE.
OCCURRENCE OF COMMON THINGS
IS ATTRIBUTED TO SELF-WILL.
OCCURRENCE OF UNCOMMON
THINGS IS ATTRIBUTED TO FATE.
NEVER LET YOURSELF DEPEND
PURELY ON FATE OR FREE WILL.
IF YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO,
DON’T DO ANYTHING.
ALLOW THE NATURE TO TAKE CARE
OF YOU.

85
Chapter - 6
FUTUROLOGY
Mankind has been bothering with a doubt whether the role of man
is just to watch the happenings or decide the happenings with his own
will and effort. In other words, it is the dichotomy of fate vs. free will,
luck vs. hard work. In modern nomenclature, the self or free will is
termed as personality development. Personality development is shaping
up of physical, intellectual, social and spiritiual aspects of people.
Many factors including the heredity, learning and environment affect
people in terms of cognitive, connative, and affective components either
to accept or reject fate or free-will. To understand the personality,
Psychologists like Kretschmer, Sheldon, Jung, Freud, Adler, Cattells
and Eysenck have tried to analyze the physical structures and mental
framework in terms of inheritance and environmental influence and
identified many types of behaviour.
The quest to know the unknown and shape the future has also
paved the way to evolve several systems of futurology. However all
these methods are suffering from certain unrealistic assumptions due to
the interpretations made and inferences drawn by adopting the deductive
analysis. The deductive method hitherto followed has to be changed
to inductive method so as to meet the challenges of change of life in all
spheres of existence.
The purposes of this part cover :
1. To analyse the validity of the traditional systems of prediction
which are based on deductive analysis; and
2. To evolve a new paradigm of futurology on the basis of inductive
analysis.

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COSMIC ENERGY
The Universe subsists of the cosmic energy. It is believed that the
vibrations emitted by such energy have an effect on the waves of other
radiation energies. Although we cannot see these energies through our
eyes, we can feel them. In the same manner, planets emit rays of cosmic
energy, which can be known through the study of astrology, numerology
and so on. Similar to planets the letters, symbols, numbers, shapes,
sizes, sounds and many other factors influence people by exchanging
the energies and vibrations. These vibrations affect the thinking, emotions,
characters, ambitions, likes, dislikes, health, career and luck of people.
If these planets’ vibration forces are in harmony, people will experience
harmonious life. If on the other hand, these vibrations oppose to each
other, then people will not be allowed to live in harmony. Thus, the
individuals’ name, date of birth, place of birth, time of birth, and so on
influence thoughts, behaviour, activities, knowledge, structure, stature,
and all other relevant variables of life.
Further, many forms of energy will be generated from physical
and structural parameters like size, shape, colour, taste, smell, and
volume. Such energy manifests itself into behavioural and functional
expressions like joy, sorrow, laugh, weep, anger and love.

METHODS OF FUTUROLOGY
The extremes like Joy and sorrow, good and bad, success and
failure and so on are common denominators of human life. But, mankind
accepts joy alone and tries to reject the sorrow and tries to find out
some solution or other. This passion of human beings to be successful
and happy has led to the creation and development of Astrology,
Numerology, Palmistry, Nadi Jyothishyam, and many other systems of

87
future prediction based on Astronomy (Engineering of Galaxy with
Solar/Lunar energy/vibrations).
The methods of futurology cover: 1) Predictive: Drawing
inferences from the past and the present , the future occurance of
incident is predicted by anlysing the data of numbers, date of birth,
day, name, and so on. 2) Prescriptive: Evolving and suggesting some
solutions and remedies to overcome the problems.
ASTROLOGY
Astrology is a foretelling science. It is considered to be a divine
science. It is said that it is the branch of Vedas. Astrology is viewed by
some people that it is a science of tendencies and not a fatalism. The
astrology is based on the zodiac and the solar system with its twelve
signs. It deals with the planets, their retrograde and direct motion.
Astrology is a subject that revolves around planets, signs (rasis) and
constellations (nakshatras) –Yogas, Tithis, Ritus, Solar months, Lunar
months-Shukla and Krishna pakshas- Role of Star’s planet and Rasi’s
planet.
It takes in to consideration of many aspects covering dependence
on natural characteristics of Rasis, their classification viz. Movable,
Fixed and Dual; Fiery, Earthy, Airy and Watery, Prishthodaya,
Sirshodaya and Ubhayodaya and forms of horoscope used in Northern
and southern India.
It also takes in to consideration of the natural characteristics of
planets like sex, caste and nature (benefics and malefics), their qualities,
directions, colours, humours, seasons, gems, metals, tastes, ages,
presiding deities, dhatus, senses, aspects, their own houses and signs
of exaltation and debilitation.

88
 Further information used in astrology covers about the planets,
planetary limbs, shape and stature, planetary bodies, planetary periods,
diseases caused, relations signified by planets, general ‘know how’ about
planets, friendship and enmity among planets. Modern astrologers have
assigned Herschel as the ruling planet of Aquarius and Neptune as the
ruling planet of Pisces.
NUMEROLOGY
Numerology is a science of numbers. It is a language by itself. It
reveals the immense potentialities of numbers. It enables people to
understand the physical emotional, intellectual, economic, social and
spiritual horizons. The numbers are symbolic to reveal the words,
thoughts, actions habits, character, state of consciousness and so on.
Numbers are both absolute and relative. Numbers are capable of
creating and also destroying the things. They are both concrete and
abstract.
There is always a link between astrology and numerology. A
person’s date of birth lays open an amazing amount of information. The
beginning of human life is intertwined with date and time of birth. Even
the name comes second. Thus the birthday is the basis for astrology
also. At the same time, the prediction of a particular event in Astrology
differs from Numerology as the former deals with relationships as against
the latter with ‘self role’.
In a way Astrology analyses the dimensions of time as against
numerology, that counts the space-divisions. The combination of these
two leads to a comprehensive comprehension.
There are different systems of calculating numbers for different
purposes. For example, from a person’s date of birth the Destiny
number, the Key number, or the Life Path number are calculated.

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 LIMITATIONS OF ASTROLOGY AND NUMEROLOGY

Many are the limitations to the predictions of Astrology,

Numerology, and all other occult sciences when the predictions are
based on deductive analysis (General to Specific) instead of inductive
analysis (From Specific to General). The accuracy of predictions of a
method depends on many permutations and combinations. However,
many predictions are becoming erroneous due to some missing links
that are persisting in deductive analysis.
Thus, apart from the date, time and place of birth and the planetary
position, the physical, psychological and social aspects that act as the
sources of the problems are also to be considered. The Astrology and
numerology which are treated as separate branches is an erroneous
application. For that reason the author wishes to suggest the inductive
analytic method, combining both Astrology and numerology along with
other subjective and objective factors including somato- psychich aspects
moving from specific to general, for better solutions to over come the
problems involved in predicting and curing the problems.
Normally, all human beings invariably enjoy or suffer from three
aspects like Health, Wealth and Relationships in terms of either good
or bad. Nevertheless there are umpteen subjective and objective forces
that affect these problems like physical, emotional, intellectual, social,
spiritual, and environmental and the interactions between subjective
and objective worlds. A few limitations, only suggestive and not
exhaustive, of existing deductive system of futurology are listed out.
1. The fundamental limitation of both astrology and numerology is
their separation. As a matter of fact, both are intertwined. The
numbers of time and date of birth are used to draw the planetary

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 chart in Astrology and planets are attributed to numbers in
Numerology. But one can’t exist without other.
2. There are 27 Nakshtras 12 Rasis and 9 planets apart from their
other charecteristics. The number of variables governed by the
permutations and combinations amount to billions and trillions.
From such an array of alternatives is it possible to interpret the
variables and infer the predictions by any modern mortal.
3. The identified 9 planets in Astrology and the recent addition of 2
to 3 planets like Pluto, Neptune, and Uranusso on show that
astrology lacks standards and hence has no scientific base. The
present deletion of Pluto from the list is also relevant in this context.
4. In fact, the Sun is a self-illuminating star and not a planet. In that
case how can the sun be included in the list of the planets? Even if
it is to be included in the list of planets what is the difference between
Sun (star) and other planets.
5. All the planets in our solar system rotate anticlockwise, except
Venus, which rotates clockwise. Does Venus make any difference
from other planets
6. Suppose a person’s life is studied separately through different
systems like astrology and numerology, is there any guarantee of
consensus in their predictions.
7. One of the major limitations of futurology is the degree of the role
of fate. The thoughts and intentions of human beings (Sankalpa
and Vikalpa) in many cases prove more powerful than fate-ridden
events with certain determinations. For example, in the past,
there used to be many children in the families. But today it is
restricted to 1 or 2 in many cases. Thus, the number of children,

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 profession, devepment of wealth, health and relationships is not a
chance or compulsion but has a choice. What happens to the
predictions on the lives of human beings if they are based on the
fixed planetary positions? Is the pro-action of individuals not
subjected to destiny/fate? Similar logic can be applied to the
education of children, professions and their proficiency.
8. The medical technology and facilities that are contributing to the
health and longevity of human beings, which were never dreamt
by our fore fathers. Is it not against to the principle of definiteness
of predictive sciences?
9. How can we fix the date of birth by calculating between two
midnights (GMT)? Whether the day-break (sunrise) is to be taken
or the midnight for fixing the date of birth for fixing the date, as is
the case in lunar system. More than midnight, the day and night,
dawn and dusk, darkness and light that are important for human
existence provided by nature are negated and an arbitrary mid
night is considered for the daybreak. Accordingly the number theory
and planetary positions are fixed and calculations and interpretations
are made.
10. Further, the most difficult thing in predictionology is fixing of the
time of birth for a baby on the basis of moving planets. How difficult
to fix the accurate time? The prediction made on the basis of time
fixed for birth is bound to be wrong due to the differences in
technical and human actions .
11. For example, Anu was born on 16th night at 12.05 a.m. whether,
she was born on 16th or 17th. But, according to sunrise her date
of birth is 16 and not 17. According to mid night theory it is 17th.
Then the total as per numerology is 8 and not 7.

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12. The principle of reductionism adopted in numerology by reducing
all the numbers into a single digit one to nine is highly unscientific,
illogical and ridiculous because 1 is always lesser than 10, 19, 28,
37, 46, 55, 64, 73, 82, 91, 10000 and so on. For example: 7
are always smaller than 16, 25, 34, 43, 52, 61 and so on; 9 are
smaller than 18, 27, 36, 45, 54 and so on. This principle is also
applicable for all reductionisms for all combinations from 1 to 9.
It appears to be a farce?
13. In numerology, a single digit number is to be distinguished from
multi-digit number. The arithmetical progression of any number
the single digit number from the number with more digits gives a
different meaning. Thus, the occurrence of a particular number in
a multi-digit number is an important consideration in numerology.
14. Hence, totaling and reducing the numbers will not give a correct
result as every number is both good and bad and suffers from
many limitations both positively and negatively.
15. Further, the reduction into single digit in numerology negates the
realities of the world transactions. Any number is to be recognized
from its face value, place value, functional value, time value,
occurrence value and the exchange value. For example the number
9 ,are 9 for everyone as its face value is 9. But its place value
differs with its affinity. For example if number 9 is put in different
combinations its value undergoes a change though the reduced
value of it may not be changed. For example, 0 9 = 9, 9 0 = 9, 19
or 91 =1. Thus, reductionism of numbers gives a nominal or
presumed value and not a real value, which one is closely knit to
the day today transactions.

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 Again the function value also gets changed with the change of
functions. For example the value of
9+9 = 18
9X9 = 81
9/9 = 1
9-9 = 0 (Zero)
Simply if two 9s are placed side by side it becomes 99 or one
number is less to 100 and not 9+9= 18 or 9. Similarly the reduced
value of 100 is 1 (1+o+o=1).
Every number is to be evaluated by its context. For e.g., Rs 9/-
as profit is different from loss.
When some characteristics qualify a number the results will undergo
a change. For e.g. Rs.9/-. It may also be 9 thousands, lakhs, millions,
billions or trillions. But in all the cases the reduction number is
equivalent to 9. From time dimension Rs 9/- today is not the same
in the year 1947.
Today $9 is equivalent to Rs360/- @ Rs.40/- per dollar, but not 9
(3+6+0). Thus, ignoring the characteristic values mentioned above
(face, place, function, exchange) the number theory of numerology
is illogical and unscientific. The application of basic mathematical
symbols and the systems used in numerology for prediction purpose
may improve the predictive ability of futurology.
16. Small numbers and big numbers like 369 and 963 respectively
are to be differentiated according to the situation for the sake of
predictions, though their total digit is the same.
17. Strong numbers and weak numbers are to be differentiated from
their value and occurrence in order to arrive and evaluate their
right strength.

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18. The same error of reductionism is committed even in the case of
letters in the names of people for predicting the future. According
to the traditional system A is 1, J is1, S is 1 and z is 8 (2+6). But
Z is 26 and not 8. Thus the calculation method is to be modified.
A to Z is to be presented with its full number without any reduction
to a single digit. For e.g. A is 1, B is 2, J is 11, R is 18 and so on
and finally Z is 26.
19. Every number has both positive and negative aspects. Thus, all
numbers are equally good and equally bad. In every number, there
are great men of all kinds-kings, commanders, writers, politicians,
teachers, painters, artists and scientists. And also many,
unsuccessful, innocent, unworthy, unpopular, unknown persons
to this world are found. That is many great and inferior people are
born with same names and on the same dates. But the differences
are caused due to their composition and chemistry.
20. With the help of planetary and number position, the differentiation
of men and women and the prediction of their future is only an
attribution. In fact, such attribution is not as clear as their unique
physiological and mental make-up and the life patterns and
parameters, which differ significantly. The future of the people in
different age groups are also predicted but with the same planets
and numbers leading to different inferences. That is, if a person
with out the knowledge of sex, age, creed, colour, religion, climate,
trade, profession, interests, vocation, riches, success and so on of
an individual whose future is to be predicted the observations and
inferences are bound to be erroneous.
21. But in many fields, a number of persons who have achieved
greatness are men vis-à-vis women. Do we mean that women are

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 born on the same dates are incompetent to men because of their
positions placed in the astrological chart or the gender they belong
to or any other extraneous consideration. This is an absurdity. Here
comes the shaping of people by self -will and other forces through
face, place and functional values of life. So the numbers and planets
with out being qualified cannot be used for the purpose of
predictions of success or failure.
22. There are certain facts like begetting children by women alone,
selection of certain people by nature for certain purposes with
some exceptional characteristics like beauty, blindness, lame,
ugliness, etc. Even great parents can’t guarantee of giving birth to
great children.
23. From the infant to teen age an individual’s horoscope is insignificant
as it is not independent. It is dependent on his parents or others.
It is in the age of 20 to 60 a man is normally independent and the
results of predictions are fully relevant. Again from 60 and above
he has to depend on children or others. If so how the predictions
based on simply planetary positions and numbers that govern an
individual will become true? Thus sex, age, structure, caste,
position, status, and other parameters, which are specific and
factual, are crucial while dealing the subject with inductive analysis
- Specific to General- for accurate predictions.
24. Zero is a supreme figure. It is nothing and also everything. It is
valueless (sunya) and also it is priceless or invaluable whole or
poorna. Thus, more zeroes carry high power. But, its associated
number is more important as the governing number zero is both
sunya (nothingness) and poorna (completeness). But when zero
is associated with smaller ones or bigger ones. For example, 10 is

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 different from 90 or 100 or 1 billion. That is, ‘Zero’ can create
wonders out of nothing subjected to other factors instead of
deductive analysis.
25. Does zero not equal to the adjacent number and position? For
example: 10=ten; 100=10 tens; 1000=100 tens. That is, in 10
times, in 100 it is hundred times and in 1000 it is 1000 times.
26. The above analysis does not preclude to apply the basic
characteristics and principles of planets and numbers. they are
relevant for prediction as well as remedial action.But, the
methodology adopted so far is illogical, hence,it is to be
reconsidered.
THE CHARECTERISTICS OF ALPHABETS, NUMBERS,
COLOURS , SHAPES AND SIZES.
The alphabets, numbers, colours, shapes and sizes have their
own characteristics representing different qualities, feelings, thoughts,
approaches, behavioural patterns and other physical, emotional,
intellectual and spiritual dimensions of human beings that are essential
in predicting the future and prescribing solutions.
ALPHABETES
Though each letter has its own romantic and logical characteristics,
for the sake of convenience letters are divided into Soft, Hard and
Soft and Hard. The characteristics of all letters are mixed instead
of providing seperately.
SOFT LETTERS COVERING A, B, C, E, J, K, O, P, S, U, Y
symbolise creativity, initiation, will power, ambition, passion , constructive
attitude, positivism, shyness, timidity, imagination, co-operation,
introspection, optimism, beauty, energy, intelligence, wisdom, anxiety,

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tension, fearlessness, balance, scholarship, talent, art, eloquence,
enthusiasm, a desire for name and fame, sincerity, cunningness, flexibility,
tenderness ,self orientation , sympathy, affection, love, impatience,
alertness, self-reliance, egoism, rebelliousness, dignity, decorum,
impressiveness, firmness, materialism, introspection, discipline,
affection, exaggeration, balance, friendliness, novelty, and creativity,
bright, prosperity, magnetism, independence. They also signify
dynamism, determination, strength, clarity, ego, success, concentration,
strong-will, adjustability, spirituality, selflessness, feminity, co-
operation, kindnes, softness,pleasantness, inconsistency, confusion
receptivity, grasping, wisdom, command , hard work, skill, control,
friendship, sympathy, concern, romanticism, fear and fickle
mindedness, mysticism, emotion , empathy and sympathy.
SOFT AND HARD LETTERS LIKE F, H, I, L, M, N, Q, X, Y
characterize dynamism, enthusiasm, imagination, initiation, domination,
ego, introspection, observation, attention, creativity, benevolence,
intuition, impulse, flexibility, reasoning ,un-controllable attitudes,
,working like a quick fix, self-sufficiency, thoughtfulness, materialism,
tolerance, hard work, slow, steady mood , love, affection, devotion to
family, patience, responsibility, protectivity, calmness, quietness,
simplicit, magnetism, sacrifice, patience, culture orientation, nobility,
character, intellegence, talent, emotion, luck, materialism, aspiration,
reason, power, strength , hope, exaggeration, attraction ,spirituality ,
logic, versatility, success and insight. If associated with other hard
letters, it becomes too strong and with soft, too soft and firm, successful.
HARD LETTERS INCLUDE D, G, R, T, W, Z, denote strength,
stamina, impulse, unsympathy, rudeness, purpose orientation, imbalance,
egoism, passion, dynamism, power, pomp, generosity, will to work

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hard, sacrifice, anxiety, ambition, frustration, devotion, generosity,
unorthodox, interest, introvert, exciting, adventure, enthusiasm,
eager to help, respect, greatness, tradition, potentiality, enthusiasm,
risk bearing, trouble inviting, tact and ruthless.
The validity of these characteristics can be known from the
verification of the names of the people and places, meanings of the
words, etc. known to readers. Towards this several examples can be
drawn from mythology, history, religion, science and so on.
NUMBERS
Similar to the alphabets the numbers also have their origin, nature,
characteristics and influence. The composition and flow of both ordinal
and cardinal numbers are of paramount importance in predicting the
future of individuals. For better predictions different aspects of numbers
are to be considered with an objective of prevention and cure the ills of
human beings.
• The ascending (01234) or descending order (98765) of numbers.
• If big numbers frequently appear the situation is dominating and
if small numbers appear frequently it is a submissive trend.
• There are Male numbers like 1, 3,5,7,9 and the female numbers
like 0,2,4,6,8 .
• The numbers from 1 to 9 are to be divided on basis of age-group
like Balya, yavana, kaumara and vardhakya. For example, a
person in the age of 60 may behave with a mind of 16 years and
vice versa. Among males 1 to 9 the odd numbers are to be treated
appropriately according to age of a person like from infancy to
adulthood and in women similar approach is to be adopted with
the even numbers like.

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COLOURS
Similar to the planets and alphabets the colours also have their
origin, nature, characteristics and influence on human beings.
1. Red represents vitality, anger, desire, aggression, and strength,
impulsiveness, emotionality and responsiveness.
2. Orange represents spontaneity, affection, extroversion,
externalization, lower level of anger , emotion and aggression.
3. Yellow represents cheerfulness, uninhibited expansiveness,
relaxation, stability, goal-direction, resistance, lower anxiety
and action-orientation.
4. Green represents controlled emotions, cheerfulness in moods,
regulatory, neutral, elastic, tension free behaviour, being in control
and regulation and not repression and affective tendencies.
5. Blue represents quietness, coldness, calmness, sensitivity,
emotional apathy, well-controlled impulses, cheerfulness and
balanced mind.
6. Purple/violet represents identification, inner emotional and
affective stimulation, internalization of affect, anxiety, tension, bold,
exterior, mastering anxiety.
7. Brown represents sensuousness, security, fixation, rigidity, strong
primitive impulses, handling issues by negativistic responses,
sadness (not depression) and guilt.
8. White represents passivity, apathy, sympathy, empathy, emptiness,
de-personalisation, expulsion of feelings, emptiness, ignorance of
reality, contact, emergence from depression.
9. Gray represents Non-involvement, emotional neutralization,
depression, denial, evidence of fiction.

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10. Black represents oppression, depression or suppression,
renunciation, accumulation of feelings, inhibition, blocking,
inadequacy, self-depreciation, harsh, drive and steadfastness.
SHAPES
Those persons who prefer certain shapes are endowed, oriented
and controlled with some characteristics.
Square : They are routine, punctual, good planners, scientific,
systematic, well dressed, neat, less sociable, lonely, not
subjected to change, desirous of writing every thing on paper.
Circle : They are good human beings, good conversationists,
lovers of reading , watchers of TV. listeners of music, crazy
for human touch and warmth, friendly, easy going, crave for
many things, handle too many things at a time, involve in many
activities like cooking, playing, writing, etc. and empathetic.
Triangle : They are ambitious, leaders, play politics, power
oriented, play power games and politics, hard working,
competitive, choose best seat, career oriented, likes drinking,
involves in vices, early raisers and athletic. They like attractive
jobs, like jokes and tellers of jokes, move in small groups to
dominate .
Rectangle : They are slow, forgetful, pretend listening,
withdraw from crowds, difficult to understand, religious,
meditative, research oriented, with low self image, iternals,
excessive in eating and drinking etc., always like thinking.
Wriggle : They are creative; share information, simulation
seekers, think differently, move practically, attractive,
spontaneous, dreaming, like parties and friends

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SIZES
Persons who prefer certain sizes are endowed, oriented and
controlled with some behavioural styles driven by their traits and
characteristics. The sizes for the sake of convenience are divided into
big, medium and small. These sizes are related to both being and
becoming states.
The characteristics of big are: utopian, dreamy, ambitious,
greedy, hypothetical, out going, more intelligent, emotionally stable,
dominant, happy-go-lucky, conscientious, venturesome, sensitive,
suspicious, imaginative, shrewd, apprehensive, experimenting, self-
sufficient, controlled and tense.
The characteristics of medium are: balanced, harmonious,
passivity, cautious, careful, brood too much, debate, discuss ,
consultation oriented, patience, perseverance, politeness, activity
oriented, independent, diverse in behaviour, deeply interested, long
term perspective, super ordinate positions, self awareness and self
control.
The characteristics of small are: conservative, weak, Doubting
Thomas, reserved, not intelligent, sensitive, submissive, serious,
expedient, timid, tough minded, trust worthy, practical, forthright, self
assured, conservative, group dependent, uncontrolled, relaxed, passive,
dependent, few ways of behaving, shallow in interests, short time
perspective, subordinate position and lack of self awareness of nature
with the power of his own ‘will’, ‘consciousness’, or ‘yoga’. The
survival, progress and prosperity of individuals in different jobs, roles
and positions result in either successful or unsuccessful on the basis of
knowledge, skills and know how.

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 IRON IS STRONG, BUT
FIRE CAN MELT IT;

FIRE IS STRONG, BUT

WATER EXTINGUISH IT;

WATER IS STRONG, BUT

FIRE CAN EVAPORATE IT INTO CLOUDS;

CLOUD IS STRONG, BUT

THE WIND CAN BLOW IT AWAY;

WIND IS STRONG, BUT

MOUNTAIN CAN BLOCK ITS COURSE;

MOUNTAIN IS STRONG, BUT

MAN CAN CONQUER IT;

MAN IS STRONG, BUT

FATE CAN CONQUER MAN;

FATE IS STRONG, BUT

FREE-WILL CAN CONQUER FATE.
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 EPILOGUE
Nature regulates every human being in a deserving way. But, man
can arrest the operation through intervention to a greater degree. That
is ,human beings by triggering their free will and developing super-
consciousness, can achieve many impossible things in this world. A
person, a family, an enterprise or a nation is endowed with a choice to
act in a desired path at a given moment of time for a desired result. But
at the same time no individual can escape from the forces of compulsions.
The mystical expressions provide us the wisdom of ‘everything comes
from its counter part’. The theory of causation also states that ‘every
advantage has a disadvantage’ (Latin Proverb) and ‘every action has
its own opposite and equal reaction”( Newton). Nevertheless,
Newtonian equation is fully applicable only in physical laws related to
matter. But, in human transactions they are partially applicable and as
such, action and reaction need not necessarily be equal. That is, it has
relevance when other things being constant (Ceteris Paribus). But,
the intervention of human will can change the route.
Further, ‘the destiny and choice are the two wings of a bird’. One
cannot operate with out the other. The seeds of fate are in choice and
vice-versa. Fate comes from choice and choice comes from fate. Fate
leaves a lot of free zone for free-will and free-will leaves a lot of scope
for fate to operate. That is, a person can achieve many things by
operating in a free zone with free- will.
Nature has no bias. For nature, a beggar is as good as an emperor.
It finds no difference. It provides equal opportunities and circumstances
to all. But, we find fault with others as the proverb goes’ Blind man
blames the post’. It is the individual’s intention and effort that would

104
finally match and muster health, wealth and good relationships of people
in a given environment. Nevertheless, only a few people who are
acquainted with the ‘know how’ of life or ‘the art of living’ are
reaching the destination and others are suffering for want of this ‘know
how.’
Even a man constrained by fate, the liberation from pure passion
of self, will facilitate a person to exercise free will. Man can conquer
fate through free will but not vice versa. That is, for a stone (Geo-
sphere) fate is cent percent; for a plant and animal (Biosphere) it is
lesser. But, for a human being there is higher freedom and for a supra
conscious person the free will is absolute.
On one hand fate is viewed as a chance and on the other it
considered as a choice or compulsion. The concepts of Fate and God
have provided a firm anchor to human beings from ancient times to
modern era to give a meaning to life and a solace for the tragedies and
injustice they undergo. So, people have to believe that man is the
finest handiwork of God and the centre of this universe. Hence, human
being believes that he is eligible to become God. However, the basic
hang over to the mankind is: weather God created man or man created
God. Certainly both are correct. One created the other for their own
purposes. For some, God is in man and for some others, man is in
God. For some more God is everywhere.
The history is with full of examples of people in all walks of life,
who have either believed only fate or only free-will or both or none.
However, modern science had been establishing its own rationality to
disprove the religious beliefs. For example, Copernicus proclaimed
that earth is not the centre of solar system and the earth moves round
the sun. Newton proved that the universe was not the sportive work of

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God , but a self-guiding and regulating mechanistic system governed
by the laws of motion and gravitation. At the micro level, Darwin proved
that human being is not the acme of creation and he was an evolved
beast. Freud argued that human being is not a master of his own
behaviour but a servant of his own primitive and irrational impulses.
Anthropologists have introduced the dichotomy of Nature Vs Nurture.
As a result of all these and many other scientific revelations on one
hand and the multi-dimensional forces like religion and god on the
other, man has been oscillating between faith and reason through a
combined cognitive- behaviouristic- and- social learning processes. The
wonderful aspect of life is that even the great scientists like Newton
and Einstein have accepted both faith and reason by believing both
God and Science. Thus, it is beyond doubt that ‘every thing in this
universe is in every other thing’ and ‘evry thing is linked to evry other
thing’ both at macro and micro levels.
There have been many political leaders who believed both in
God and self-effort. Gandhiji, a common man, without any pomp,
power, wealth, caste and religion became a Maha Atma with the help
of his own means and ends of truth and non-violence. Buddha, Ashoka,
Lincoln, Shivaji and many others are in that order. Karl Marx, on the
other hand believed only reason but saw God in man and labour.
Most of the schools of Indian Astrology emphasise that
Longevity of life (Ayurdaya or Ayush) is not beyond human control.
Astrological works repeatedly stress that attitudes and life-style have a
great influence on the quality as well as quantity of life one enjoys. No
one will dispute the fact that most anti-social elements and gangsters
whose lives are a confusing mix of violence, hatredness, anger, jealousy,
greed, and arrogance, rarely cross their forties. In strong contrast,

106
there are countless examples, including those of the respected souls in
the ashrams, where a life of spirituality, piety, peace and regulation has
given spans nearing ninety and even more. Jataka Parijata aptly sums
up the philosophy of Ayurdaya.
This Ayush has been declared by wise men in respect of those
who are engaged in the practice of virtuous actions, who are devoted
to the pious and to God, who eat wholesome food, who keep their
senses under control and who preserve the noble traditions of character
and conduct of their families.
Premature death overtakes those who are sinful, covetous,
thievish, who revile God and the virtuous and who are addicted to
gluttony. Sudden death seizes those that are skeptical of the force of
moral law, who are vicious and hateful of God and the pious, who steal
others’ goods, who are a source of dread to all, who are foolish and
indulge in calumny, who have abandoned their duties and observances,
who live by sinful sources and those who would not wholly abide by
the tenets of the sacred scriptures.
To sum up, the theory of free will has no relevance for a man
who is idle with no ideas and ideals. He is a hypocrite, a thief, or a
parasite.Further, it is also not prudent to rely on fate and become fatalistic.
But, at the same time it should not lead to arrogance of believing that
one can do any thing one wants to do in this world. Because, this belief
in many egocentric people has driven them to undertake many
undesirable and atrocious activities resulting in the destruction of many
societies, nations and organizations.
But, the information available at present and passed on from
generation to generation in science, law, art, politics, religion, god, fate

107
and free-will is bereft of nobility, positivism and truth. It is at best,
helping to accentuate the negativism, dogmatism, materialism,
parochialism, and ethnocentrism making people lethargic and accusing
fate and God due to their tunnel vision in many aspects of life. Hence,
wisdom should prevail upon everyone to maximize the individual effort
with faith on God and develop positive attitudes in the minds of people
so as to provide maximum good to maximum number in order to enable
all to live with peace and in harmony.

Better be happy than rich

Better be happy than wise
Invest wisdom and reap happiness
Invest greed and reap sorrow

Sarve jana sukhino bhavathu.

Oum Santhi, Santhi, Santhihi !

108
“A MAN SHOULD NOT
COURT DEATH, OR
CLING TO LIFE. LIKE A
SERVANT AWAITING HIS
MASTER’S COMMAND,
HE MUST BIDE HIS
DUTY.”
- MANU

109
 ANNEXURE-I
The Mental Blocks of Fate and Free-Will
A million dollar question is : Why people fail to apply their free
will for a positive outcome vis a vis negative direction. The reasons are:
Firstly, it is much easier to use the energy towards negative aspects
which srarts yielding the results instantaneously. Secondly, positive
use of energies is an uphill task, a delayed process and the outcome
appears only at the end.
People transgress the laws of nature in wealth accumulation,
health maintenance and relationships management and create problems
for themselves. Further, it is much easier to exercise the free will in a
negative direction and throw life into failures. This is due to the misuse
of one’s own reason and power and the development of attitudes,
people suffer from illeteracy, poverty, ill-health, hatredness, jealousy
and ignorance. However, people instead of owning their mistakes try
to pass the buck to others and finally to God.
The physical body in the material world is subject to the science
of fate. The non-physical being ( spirit, thought, sankalpa) has a freedom
for free-will as it can plan, implement and review.
Free-will is a positive attitude, developed over a period of time
by adopting different methods and techniques.The secret of free will is
to foresee, embrace, adopt to and adapt change. The negative attitudes
that are formed due to indiscipline create blocks to free will and give a
free way to fate.
The List of Physical and Mental Blocks
Many are the mental blocks that prohibit people to exercise their
free will for positive results. The blocks imprison people to act inde-
pendently. They are :

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 1. Physical Blocks: Poor health, strength, stamina and dextery
of limbs and muscles.
2. Mental Blocks : Laziness, obsession, fear of success, fear
of failure, blaming others, claiming success for self, fickle mindedness,
indiscipline, attachment, insecurity, greed, contentment and obstinancy.
3. Cultural Blocks : Beliefs, customs, traditions and habits ac-
quired as a member of the society.
4. Technical Blocks : Lack of technical knowledge,skills and
aptitude and suffering from technical phobia.
A few attitudes which block people to exercise their free will are
enlisted hereunder. The list is not exhaustive but suggestive .
1. Nothing is in my hands.
2. I can’t overcome the crisis.
3. I am in the hands of destiny.
4. This is only for highly evolved people.
5. The environment is not congeial.
6. The rich and influential alone can perform this.
7. My resources are not enough to deal with.
8. My own kith and kin don’t cooperate with me.
9. My prarabhda will not allow me to live peacefully.
10. The sins of my forefathers are still haunting me.
11. I can’t compete with my fate.
12. I am not the captain of my fate
13. I am not the master of myself.
14. I have tried before and it has never worked for me.

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15. No one including God is not favourable to me.
16.My religion doesn’t accept it.
17. My family traditions are different.
18. I can’t undertake such a tedious work.
19. It is a latest technology with which Iam not acquainted.
20. The future is uncertain, So, it is better to play a safe game.
The determination that I have no free will and therefore Iam
incapable to do any thing, comes from the active left brain. That is,
every person whose right brain is active has a free will to think. Destiny
has no role to stop people to think. Thought (Sankalpa) is the base
for every action of every person. No God and no destiny can stop to
think and act. Thus, even the power of destiny can be nullified by
thought power.
Occurance of failures and a constant memory about it also
has an advantage of forcing people to think and react with free will.
Similar to the hole made in a stone which is not by violence but, by
its repeated falling, constant desire and action with perseverance can
achieve even the impossible.

DEPENDENT CERTAINITIES
ARE CONTROLLED BY FATE.
INPENDENT UNCERTAINITIES
ARE CONTROLLED
BY FREE - WILL

112
 THE REMEDIES FOR THE MALDIES

The remedies for the maladies of futurology are to be simplified,

understandable, involve no exorbitant costs, nearer to accuracy, logical,
assumption-free, eco-friendly, time-saving, complex-free, useful to the common-
folk. The remedies suggested by futurologists at present include Mantra,
Tantra, Yantra, Yagna, Yaga, Yoga, Meditation , Medication , etc. Many methods
relating to Earth, Water, Air, Ether, Fire, Mind, Deep cosciousness , etc. based
on the deductive analysis suffers from many limitations.
In order to make the predictive system more accurate the inductive system
is to be developed. It should take in to consideration of both concrete and
abstract aspects. It has to embrace the fundemental elements and forces like 5
elements, 3 gunas, 5 karmendriyas, 5 jnanedriyas, and also the abstract
dimensions of mind like experiences, incidents, events, phenomena and so on
for proper analysis, interpretation, inference, diagnosis and remedial action.
The methodology should cover the nature and nurture of the individual self,
the problems confronted by the individual and their matching. Any mismatch
among them is to be identified and suitable methods are to be inducted in to the
curative system so as to change our thoughts, desires, words, actions, habits,
interests, tastes, associations and affinities for a better future.
The problems of wealth and illth of individuals may be either notional or
real. So separate systems are to be adopted to tackle them independently. This
can be made possible by bringing various changes both in structural and
functional spheres of life. The solutions that are in vogue at present are to be
evaluted after analyzing the causes for the ills of individuals on the basis of the
data drawn through inductive method, which is a reality rather than an
imagination.
A schedule is designed by the author to collect the data from the
individuals and use it by applying inductive method of analysis to solve their
problems. The schedule covers the frozen side of information of the individuals,
their preferences and their physical and mental problems. The data is to be
processed through a multivariate analysis by applying an advanced information
technology packages.

113
 ANNEXURE - III
SCHEDULE - 1
A SCHEDULE IS DESIGNED FOR THE PURPOSE OF SELF
ASSESSMENT OF THE READERS TO UNDERSTAND
THEIR ORIENTATION TOWARDS FATE VS FREE WILL
BY GIVING A SCORE BETWEEN ONE(1)TO NINE (9).
EACH SPECIFIC STATEMENT IS ASSESSED ON A TEN-
POINT SCALE.
I ACCEPT THE FOLOWING STATEMENTS :
AREAS SCORE
1. A working ant is better than a sleeping
elephant. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
2. The only sure thing in life is luck. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
3. The harder you try, the luckier you are. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
4. They can, those who think that they can. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
5. To defeat fate, knock out the ‘T’ of the can’t. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
6. Fortune smiles on those who put their
shoulders to the wheel. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
7. Luck cooperates when you coordinate
your efforts with others. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
8. A right direction with a right speed in a right
environment yields right results. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
9. Luck is not an act but a habit. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
10. Be ready to catch the right ball of luck,
lest you lose your game. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
11. Success is to be extracted drop by drop like
milk of the cow. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
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12. If luck fails, one has to take a U-turn to win. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
13. Lack of belief in your own will is sin . 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
14. We can’t direct the wind of luck, but we can
change our will for a safe sail. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
15. You change your will before luck changes
its will. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
16. When the goose of luck does not lay the eggs,
the goose of will lays the eggs. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
17. God will do half of the work , the second
half is yours. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
18. Having too much belief in luck is a crime. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
19. To change your luck, change yourself first. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
20. The parachute of Luck opens when you will to
open it. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
NOTE : IF YOUR SCORE IS IN BETWEEN 20-80, YOU ARE
A FATALIST AND 120-180 , YOU ARE A SELF-WILLED
PERSON AND BETWWEN80-120, YOU ARE IN A NEUTRAL
ZONE.

115
 ANNEXURE - IV
SCHEDULE - 2
A SCHEDULE IS DESIGNED FOR THE PURPOSE OF
COLLECTING THE DATA ABOUT THE READERS
REGARDING THEIR PERSONAL IDENTIFICATION,
PROBLEMS OF WEALTH, HEALTH AND
RELATIONSHIPS.

116
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119
 BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. ASP AYYAR, Sri Krishna, The Darling of Humanity, Bharatiya
Vidya Bhavan, Bombay, 1984. PP. 57, 281, 359, 381, 382, 383,
384, 385, 386, 387, 388, 391 & 495 .
2. BHAGAVN DAS, KRISHNA, A study in the theory of Avataras,
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3. BHAKTAVEDANTA SWAME PRABHUPADA, Bhagavad
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5 ED. GARDNER LINDZEY, ELLIOT ARONSON, The Hand
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wisdom of Sri Samkaracarya ,1995 19, 20, 21, 22 172, 174.
13. SWAMI JITATMANANDA, Modern physics and Vedanta,
Bharitiya Vidya Bhavan, Bombay, 1992.
14. SWAMI PARAMANANDA, Power of Taught, Published by Sri
Ramakrishna Math, Chennai, 2001.
15. SWAMI SRI KANTANANDA, What is Real Personality?
Published by Vivekananda institute of Human Excellence,
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16. The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Advaita Ashrama,
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“IF I COULD, WRITE A
HUGE ENCYCLOPEDIA
JUST ABOUT THE WORDS
LUCK AND COINCIDENCE.
IT’S WITH THOSE WORDS
THAT THE UNIVERSAL
LANGUAGE IS WRITTEN.”
-Paulo Coelho

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