In the previous episode, we had witnessed the extension of Sage Kapilaachaarya’s major point of ponder, wherein he explains how the Atman and the physical body are independent of each other in terms of performing their respective actions, but interdependednt on each other in terms of co-ordination of execution. With the help of our Atman thus, we should come to the conclusion and take a resolve here that we should only focus our mind, body and actions that derive out of them, only in the right direction that would ultimately take us to Bhagawan. In due course of yesterday’s episode, we had also witnessed whether this is always possible for us to do! Of course, we have innumerable disturbances and “n” number of issues that we keep facing day in and day out, and it does become difficult to have our entire focus on our Atman and the physical body’s co-ordination in the right direction. Here, Sage Kapilaachaarya in this context, explains how we’re bound by the “Karma” that we have accumulated over previous births. He says that we take birth in the mother’s woumb, grossly based on whatever the nature of our “Karma” is. Mostly, our entire life would also revolve grossly over our “Karma” that we’ve carried into this birth. However, day-to-day activities, successes, failures, etc. cannot be attributed to our Karma directly. These day-to-day incidents in our lives are grossly because of our carelessness many a times! This should not be confused with our “Karma”.
Yesterday’s episode had culminated with an important set of questions thus: I’ve born in this family, with this lifespan, health conditions, etc. Can we not change all of these at all throughout our life? Do we need to undergo the entire suffering, just because we were born in this particular state of affairs? We shall witness the answers to these questions in today’s episode, as we move on further. To answer the first question – Can we not change our fate at all throughout our life? We can change it! But this requires lot of determination, focus and willpower! But is it still possible? We have quite a few instances of this sorts in our Sanaathana Dharma literature itself! What happened in the case of Prahlaadha? By nature, he was born in the clan of “Raakshasas” isn’t it? Hence, given his nature, he shouldn’t have fallen into the path of Dharma. But what happened here? Although Prahlaadha was born to a Raakshasa by name Hiranya Kashibu, he still was able to focus on Bhagawan and ultimately attain Moksha too! Readers might be very familiar with the story of Prahlaadha and how Bhagawan incarnated as Narasimha Moorthy to save the little child from his wretched father. I’m not going into the details of this story as of now, because this is going to be explained in much detail at a later stage in the Shrimad Bhaagawatha Puraana text itself. In the same way, what happened to Vibhishana? He was also born in the Raakshasa clan as the brother of the treacherous Ravana! However, wasn’t Vibhishana able to focus on Dharma and achieved the greatest feat of being Bhagawan Rama’s ardent devotee?
Thus, it all depends on how we take life to be. If we’ve to blame our fate and keep the same status-quo going, then nothing productive is going to happen! Even if we consider modern-day examples too – What happened to Dr. Abdul Kalam? He was of course born out of a poor family in a small village called Rameshwaram in southern Tamil Nadu, India. Didn’t he work his way up to become India’s most successful scientist? Wasn’t this a remarkable achievement? What happened to our great former Indian cricket captain, Mr. Mahendra Singh Dhoni? He was once a porter at Kharagpur railway station, and with his hard work and focus, became one of the most successful cricket captains India has ever produced till date! Thus, if we have to look into the life stories of many successful people, all of them would have had a very humble beginning, and with their steadfast attitude, focus, determination, hard work, dedication, etc. these people became successful in their respective fields. Thus, we should understand here that there is no use in blaming our “Karma”, or “Fate” and sitting in one corner without doing anything! If we have the right attitude and the desire to change our suffering into an opportunity to succeed, not even Bhagawan can stop that from happening! In fact, upon seeing us making a dedicated and a conscious effort, Bhagawan Himself would melt in happiness and joy, just like how He did for the little Prahlaada. Upon seeing this little child craving for Bhagawan’s presence, inspite of innumerable tortures metted out to him by his father, Bhagawan’s heart melted down to tears! He was waiting for an opportunity to save this innocent child from the clutches of his wicked father! Similarly, if we too make the right effort with the right focus, Bhagawan’s grace would automatically shower upon us and we too would be able to make a remarkable turnaround in our fortunes in our lives too!
So for today, let us ponder over this important eye-opener from Sage Kapilaachaarya and we shall wait till the next episode to take this point further! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 