Chance vs Choice

You’re standing at the supermarket aisle, and myriad choices stare at you. You enter a garment store, and multiple colour combinations of apparel are stacked neatly in different sections. A visit to the book or electronics store will probably leave you more confused than certain of your purchase. In life, we have a lot of choices. At least when it comes to mundane, day-to-day living. But what about the deeper, more meaningful aspects of life? Relationships, Career, Sickness, Health, Money. Do we choose these, or are they simply a result of destiny? An ancient Hindu saying goes, ‘On every morsel of food, the eater’s name is written.’ If this is true, then it is also true that you get exactly as much as is written in your destiny, not an ounce more or less. This, instinctively, makes sense. Consider this: Two people out of college, both brilliant, both equally hard-working. Yet, one makes it to the top, the other struggles. One has riches, fame and glory, while the other tries to make ends meet. Only one thing explains this, and that’s karma. I believe that karma is firmly linked to your destiny. Take a highly competitive industry like the film world. Millions of strugglers come to Mumbai from all across India in the hope of making it big. All view the world with their rose-tinted glasses, the glimmer of hope evident in every eye. Yet, some make it, while others perish. And some make it without even having tried for it. ‘I got spotted at a coffee shop’, ‘A director randomly approached me at a party’, ‘I never wanted to be an actor’…we’ve all heard of such examples. And if destiny doesn’t explain this, then what does? Of course, ‘success’ itself is subjective. Who’s more successful, the brilliant academician who dedicates his entire life to teaching underprivileged students in a village or the corporate honcho who rakes in the big bucks? Both probably have their own roles to play in life. And that again is destiny. We all come here to experience something. So if someone struggles all his or her life to ‘get somewhere’ and yet doesn’t, then maybe that’s the experience: to struggle. Yet, society will be quick to judge these people, deeming them as ‘failures’ who couldn’t make it. The people judging them forget that karma and destiny are unavoidable, and sooner or later, in this lifetime or the next, it’ll catch up with them too. A managing director of a huge multinational could have been a peon in the previous lifetime, or be one in the next. Everyone experiences everything at some point of the life-death cycle. So why judge? To judge is to insult destiny.


When things don’t seem to work out in life, we get impatient, and many of us visit tarot readers, psychics, palmists and the like who offer us a glimpse into the future. If it’s something we want to hear, our spirits lift, but if it’s doom and gloom in store, then we’re disheartened and begin to fear the future. Sometimes, it’s more comforting to not know the answers to certain things in your life. I believe that most answers only lie with the almighty. And if he has to communicate it to you, it’ll come from within and not an outside source. Why rush things and allow doubt to enter your mind? If he’s created you, can’t you trust him enough to take care of you? We have all tried to ‘make things happen’ in our lives, but how often has it worked? It is said that if you really want to make God laugh, tell him what your plans are.


While I do believe in destiny, I also believe that thinking positively is immensely beneficial. It may not change what’s written, but it definitely helps in accepting the future. The ultimate goal in life is to return to the creator, with nothing more left to experience. Till you reach that point of enlightenment, why judge someone else’s experience, and more importantly, why judge your own? Don’t be a good person so you can reap the benefits of your noble actions in the next lifetime. Be a good person because it’s the only way to be.