Whatever happens in this world, happens only due to God’s will and not due to man’s thinking. Irrespective of what you wish, things will happen only if God wishes it. If He wishes that you remain entrapped in the affairs of the world, you will remain entrapped. If God wishes to set you free, you will become free.
Don’t worry about spiritual matters, because you know nothing about them. Your learning has come from books. If people come to you with problems, teach them yoga, asana and pranayama, but don’t worry about God. If you exist, it is God’s grace. If you are rich, beautiful or ugly, it is all God’s grace. There is no use wondering about things like ‘what happens after death’. Just do your duty.
Good karma, bad karma – these are all philosophies. But in fact, all is God’s will. Whether you are good, poor, a sannyasin or a householder, you are God’s will. Even genetic science is coming to the conclusion that all diseases of human beings are predetermined. They are bound to happen. The basic thought of vedic religion is the same. Disease and grief, birth and death, happiness and sorrow all are considered predetermined. We could not understand the essence of these thoughts until now, but as we are going deeper into science, we are coming to realize the truth of these statements.
Every human being, every flower and leaf, every nation, society, religion, every single object in this world has a certain destiny. An individual’s effort, purushartha, is related to destiny. There is no effort without destiny. This is a difficult thing to understand or explain. It should simply be believed.
You will ask, then why should anyone pray or make any effort at all? You don’t have to. Who asked you to? But you cannot help it. Your mind will not let you sit idle the whole day long. That is why Maluk Das has said:
Aajagara na kare chaakaree, panchhi na kare kaama;
Daasa Malukaa yaha kahe sabake daataa Raama.A python does no servitude,
Neither does a bird work anywhere.
Malukadas declares,
That the Lord is the caretaker of all.
It doesn't matter whether you go somewhere or stay at home. You have to be somewhere. Similarly, you have to work to live. If there is no work, you will go into depression, you will find life useless and commit suicide.
I am not refuting the idea of karma. These are philosophical theories propounded in the Upanishads and Puranas. And now there is also a scientific theory about destiny, indicated by genetic science. Although this science is not yet well developed, on the basis of what they have found so far, scientists are saying that diseases are predetermined. They can now tell whether a person will have cancer by a genetic examination.
A good action or a bad action is not performed by a person; he is only a tool. Your knife might slit my throat and his knife could perform an operation. The knife is not at fault. The fault lies with the one who holds the knife. You and I are not doers. Thus it has been said:
Shokolee tomari iccha,
Icchaamayi taaraa tumi.
Tomaar karmo tumi karo maa,
Loke bole kari aami.
Panke baddha karo karee, pangure langhao giri.
Kaare dao maa brahmapada, kaare karo adhogamee.
Aamee jantra tumi jantri, aami ghara tumi gharani.
Aami ratha tumi rathi maa, jemani chaalaao temani chali.Whatever is happening is Your wish,
You are desire incarnate.
O Mother, all is done by You,
But people say that they are the doers.
You can confine an elephant in mud,
Yet make a lame man climb the mountain.
To some You offer Brahmapada,
Yet make others go to the nether regions.
I am an instrument, You are the player.
I am the house, You are the indweller.
I am the chariot, You are the rider,
I will go to the destination as You wish.
Destiny is a law. We are so small before this universe. What is the scope of our existence? In this huge, infinite universe there is a sun, an earth, within which there is Asia. Within Asia is India, within India is the state of Jharkhand, within Jharkhand is the city of Deoghar, within Deoghar is the village of Paniapagar, within that there is a house in which a small person called Satyananda lives. And they say, ‘I am the doer’! Do you see the point? This ‘I’ is non-existent. In that huge map, you are not even a point.
Whatever you have to receive, you will. Whatever you have to lose, you will, whether health or disease. You are just passing time. So eat some peanuts, read the newspaper, watch a little TV, do a job, get married, have children. The time will pass. Don’t get serious about life. There is someone controlling your destiny. When a dog is taken out on a leash, the owner tries to prevent it from going here and there – you are like the dog and your owner is God. This is not my philosophy. Every prophet, whether Jesus Christ, Mohammed or Guru Nanak, has said this. Even the best of scientists who revolutionized the world, whether Einstein or Max Planck, said that there is a big power that controls creation.