Destiny is an elusive issue. It is difficult to come to terms with it. That is what makes it interesting and challenging. Applying ourselves to this matter can help us bring about order in our life and move into an expanding awareness.

Most people would like to get hold of their life and bring in some order into it. They strive hard in that direction but, more often than not, feel that they are unable to go far enough. Is there a way to alter this sad state of affairs?

Reflective people apply themselves to the above question. This brings them face to face with the question of Destiny. They do see the place of Destiny in human life when they observe that, in spite of all their efforts, things can take a turn towards unpleasant results. They also see that all things are connected in some way. Randomness appears to be there only because of insufficient awareness, and that is a kind of ignorance. This brings us to the question: Is Destiny inexorably fixed, or can we introduce changes in it? The more we explore into this, the deeper is the clarity in that direction. We listen to what the believers have to say as also to the non-believers. We observe the movement of life through ourselves and through others and relate them to what the spiritual philosophies have to say. There are also the messages from paranormal phenomena, such as the Near death Experience and the Out-of-Body Experience, to guide us on this issue. Such explorations imply that we keep ourselves free from all preconceived notions, be they of the religions or otherwise.

In such an exploration, we soon find that Destiny is fixed and that it is not fixed! A clear paradox! This may be termed as a case of Divine Dichotomy – to use a phrase from the book “Conversations With God” by Neale Donald Walsch. We see the fixed nature of Destiny from the fact that, watching an unruly child on to his teens, one may feel that this person will probably end up in jail, and it happens exactly as predicted. This cannot be put down to mere coincidence - the term that skeptics often use to hide behind. The same thing can be said of some astrological predictions which come astonishingly true. For them to be coincidences, the probability-reckoning would put it down to one in a million, but they occur far more frequently than that. Again, we also notice that not all predictions, be they astrological or otherwise, come true. This points to Destiny not being so rigidly fixed.

It can be noticed that, in terms of what can happen in the future, there are usually many possibilities with a probability attached to each possibility. As we come closer to an event in time, the probability converges on one of the possibilities. Thus we may say that while the possibilities are fixed, the probabilities are not. So, that is where Destiny can be changed.

If we can understand the factors that introduce rigidity in the Destiny, perhaps we can see how changes in it are possible. One of the main factors that seems to bring in a sort of inexorability to the Destiny is the state of mind. If the mind is heavily tethered to the past through the conventional thought process, then Destiny seems to derive a certain inexorability from it. Pure self-awareness has the capacity to alter the situation to the point that the constantly chattering mind falls quiet. This cannot happen through any control of the mind because, then there will only be inward conflict, between the controller and the controlled, augmenting the noise. Something in the quiet mind deflects the Destiny to better grounds. Those who have applied themselves to the matter of the non-interfering self-awareness know its power to influence the Destiny. That is how they sit in the Driver-seat of their lives.

The above paragraphs may appear to be a matter of over-simplification of the issue of Destiny. Yes, that is true. However, when people explore in their own way, they will discover for themselves the hidden harmony that helps them harness the forces behind Destiny. The avenues of discovery are many but only those who free themselves from both beliefs and disbelief can come upon a different spiritual dimension that can handle Destiny in an ego-free way. Interested people may visit the website http://spirituality.yolasite.com

Author's Bio: 

Gopalakrishnan T. Chandrasekaran received his doctoral degree in Coastal Engineering from the North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA in 1978. He served on the research and teaching faculty of the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, India, the North Carolina State University and the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, Kuwait. Aside from his professional involvements, he was interested in the philosophic issues of life for the last forty years or so. This led him to the messages of Ramana Maharishi, Lao Tzu, J Krishnamurthy, UG Krishnamurthy, Nisargadatta Maharaj, Eckhart Tolle, Marcus Aurelius and similar Masters. His book "In Quest of the Deeper Self" is the outcome of his reflections on those and his wish to share the outcome with others. Gopalakrishnan is a member of the International Association for Near Death Studies, Durham, NC, USA. He lives with his family in Kodaikanal, a hill town in South India.
Blog: http://nde-thedeeperself.blogspot.com. Email: gkrish2005@yahoo.co.in