Can we control our destiny?

We know that sometimes we are put into a very difficult, suffering condition against our will. There are so many examples of that: a car accident, severe disease, war, or just emotionally heart-breaking situation of losing a beloved one…there are countless examples of that. And there are also times when we enjoy happiness.

Is our happiness or distress in this world under our control?

Actually, the results of whatever we do in this life are enjoyed in the next life.
How is it possible to enjoy or suffer the reactions of our activities, if the body, which performed this activities, has already died?

In order to understand that we need to first explain that every living being in this material world has two kinds of bodies:

1. gross material body
2. subtle material body

1. Gross material body is a body that we can see and it is composed of gross material elements: earth, water, fire, air and ether.

2. Subtle material body is composed of subtle material elements – mind, intelligence and false ego. This body is also material, but because these material elements are very fine matter, it is not visible to our eyes.

When we act in this world, we act with our gross body. This body is forced to act by the subtle body. This practically means that every action is first contemplated within the mind and determined by the intelligence and then we actually perform it.

With our thinking process we are therefore creating our physical activities. When we meet with death, our gross material body dies, but the subtle body does not die, what to speak of the soul, which is eternal.

The subtle body carries the soul to the next destination and within the subtle body there is the reference of all that we have done in our life. Therefore we literally carry our past with us and become subjected to the reactions to our activities according to the Law of Karma.

There are three kinds of activities that we can perform in this world:

1. karma
2. vikarma
3. akarma

1. Karma
Is that kind of action that binds us to this world and creates another body, for mixture of happiness and distress, exactly according to every action we performed.

2. Vikarma
Is forbidden action which also causes development of new body for hellish suffering.

3. Akarma
Is the art of acting in this world which makes us free from the law of karma and enables us to regain our eternal, spiritual body and return back to the spiritual kingdom of God.

It depends on our knowledge whether we are performing karma, vikarma or akarma. In complete ignorance we may perform many forbidden actions and thereby suffer severe punishment, but as our knowledge of transcendental matters grow, we are able to act in such a way to extricate ourselves from the bonds of karma and become immortal, enjoying life of spiritual bliss.